It took a bit of work to optimize the Velocity sensitivity of the Axon to my playing style, but once I did, I found the Axon's speed and accuracy a dream. I used my Koll Tornado, which is equipped with a Ghost Hexpander 13-pin pickup, to play both Wave XTable VI standalone and software instruments in Apple Logic Pro, and what I played was always what I heard.

But overall, guitarists interested in using their main instrument to control software instruments owe it to themselves to give the Axon AX 50 USB a serious look.

"You'll be blown away by the incredibly quick translation of your playing"

Verdict:
Despite a few hitches, we think the AX 50 USB is brilliant. It's a genuinely inspiration and useful tool for guitarists - especialy those who are also computer musicians.

9/10 points
Performance Award

Star performer

In use the AX-50 performs very well, and we experienced only the tiniest fraction of latency (and even then not all the time). ItŽs certainly low enough for just about any style of playing or recording application, and itŽs likely that with careful setting up you could more or less eliminate it altogether. We tested it with several applications and the results were consistently good.

Verdict: Guitar-to-MIDI is still a relatively specialised area, but the AX-50 USB performs brilliantly, simplifying setup and performance while delivering exactly what it promises.

9/10 Points