Axe-FX III Dyna-Cabs

[Lysander]

@2112 uploaded a video with a quick review of Fractal's new "Dyna-Cabs" available on the public betas for firwmare v22.



Sounds really damn good to me, and i like how you can blend up to four of these in a single block. The final release of v22.00 is expected to ship with 35+ Dyna-cabs, all with adjustable cab type/mic/position/distance.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

It’s a nice addition for sure, but IMO a missed opportunity to have multiple speakers from a cab (especially in slanted cabs where the differences between speakers can be more pronounced). Just 3 microphones is also significantly less than what Helix/Amplitube/Neural offer in their cab sections.

It’s a vast improvement on the old cab system with some innovative aspects to it, but I’m not sure there’s enough for it to be considered a front runner in cab IR’s

 

[Orvillain]

I've not tried it yet, but my typical go to is a mix of SM57 and Sennheiser 421, so only having SM57 is a bit... well, it's okay. But I'd hope for more flexibility in terms of what a user can install - for instance, I never use ribbons on guitar, it doesn't work for high-gain tones IMHO. So I'd give up the ribbons (and probably the condensers too tbh!) to have more dynamic options, or as @MirrorProfiles says, different speaker choices in the same cab.

It's definitely cool though, and heading in the right direction!

 

[James Freeman]

As a non owner I'm curious to hear how a smooth sweep from center to side sounds like.
I am very familiar with how an SM57 sounds like when moved in front of a cab, every millimeter matters.

Line 6 implementation sounds good (to me) and is very workable in a sense that they chose like 4-5 (if I see correctly) radial sweet spots that represent the most change in sound and sound good for that particular speaker/cab, ie. actual cone edge is mostly useless but 'Edge' in Helix still sounds usable.
Is it completely realistic? No, a real SM57 will change sound if you look at it funny, but the sweet spots Line 6 chose are good enough to sculpt a great sound, along with a good selection of mics and a 45deg switch and other parameters.

Now before anyone says "a Line 6 fanboy jumps in defense", trust me bro, I have a very balanced 'relationship' with my modeler and company of choice, I probably called out the stupid things Line 6 did/does and caused an uproar more than anyone else.

 

[Lysander]

Line 6 implementation sounds good (to me) and is very workable in a sense that they chose like 4-5 (if I see correctly) horizontal sweet spots that represent the most change in sound and sound good for that particular speaker/cab, ie. actual cone edge is mostly useless but 'Edge' in Helix still sounds usable.

Agreed. I'd go as far as saying that Helix has the best stock IRs of all units i've tried, after the 3.5 update - just gorgeous sounding. The Quad Cortex ones are good too, but noticeably boomier to my ears. Awesome UI though.

These Fractal cabs look really promising. Do we know if they'll make their way to the FMx line? I'd love to borrow one just to try them out.

 

[James Freeman]

Do we know if they'll make their way to the FMx line?

I'm sure they will, even if they will have to be trimmed either spatially or number of samples.
If I would guess, FM owners are probably outgrowing the full size AxeFX owners.

 

[eggpl@nt]

I've not tried it yet, but my typical go to is a mix of SM57 and Sennheiser 421, so only having SM57 is a bit... well, it's okay. But I'd hope for more flexibility in terms of what a user can install - for instance, I never use ribbons on guitar, it doesn't work for high-gain tones IMHO. So I'd give up the ribbons (and probably the condensers too tbh!) to have more dynamic options, or as @MirrorProfiles says, different speaker choices in the same cab.

It's definitely cool though, and heading in the right direction!

I don’t particularly like 57s. More of an SM7 guy. I like the direction Cliff is taking and I’m going to have to experiment with this, but on paper I think the Helix version of this is better for my purposes, as it provides more options that appeal to me.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Now before anyone says "a Line 6 fanboy jumps in defense", trust me bro, I have a very balanced 'relationship' with my modeler and company of choice, I probably called out the stupid things Line 6 did/does and caused an uproar more than anyone else.

We don't do that here.

 

[eggpl@nt]

 

[laxu]

I don’t particularly like 57s. More of an SM7 guy.

So is Cliff. In the fw thread he said he preferred the SM7 captures they did but picked the SM57 because it's such an iconic mic. Personally I like the SM57 because it's one of the more adjustable mics, meaning there isn't a specific narrow point where it sounds great compared to say a Royer 121 which tends to be bassy unless set in a very specific way. SM57 + BD M160 is my go-to pairing.

Cliff says they used 6 mics making captures, so that might mean more mics in future updates or it means they had to consolidate the list to less mics for memory/storage reasons.

Huge amount of work capturing a lot of positions for that many mics on a single cab let alone 25 different cabs. And that's still missing e.g 4x10 Bassman, Super Reverb, Vox AC30 2x12 and bass cabs.

 

[eggpl@nt]

So is Cliff. In the fw thread he said he preferred the SM7 captures they did but picked the SM57 because it's such an iconic mic. Personally I like the SM57 because it's one of the more adjustable mics, meaning there isn't a specific narrow point where it sounds great compared to say a Royer 121 which tends to be bassy unless set in a very specific way. SM57 + BD M160 is my go-to pairing.

Cliff says they used 6 mics making captures, so that might mean more mics in future updates or it means they had to consolidate the list to less mics for memory/storage reasons.

Huge amount of work capturing a lot of positions for that many mics on a single cab let alone 25 different cabs. And that's still missing e.g 4x10 Bassman, Super Reverb, Vox AC30 2x12 and bass cabs.

Yeah, I totally get the decision to lead with the 57 over any other dynamic mic. However, I do hope the SM7 option makes it into a full release some day. Fortunately, my go-to IRs didn't stop working overnight, so I can continue to use those while also appreciating the massive undertaking that this is.

 

[James Freeman]

We don't do that here.

Cause an uproar?
But that's my favorite.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Cause an uproar?
But that's my favorite.

No; being a FASshole

 

[metropolis_4]

The problem is I haven’t been excited about this, new Helix cabs, or QC cabs, because I’m so happy with my York IRs.

Justin’s mixes are so good I don’t see a need to try to create my own when I can just quickly pull in one of his.

With Helix at least it helped save a block on the Stomp.

I’m sure these are great, just not something I’m personally excited about

 

[laxu]

The problem is I haven’t been excited about this, new Helix cabs, or QC cabs, because I’m so happy with my York IRs.

Justin’s mixes are so good I don’t see a need to try to create my own when I can just quickly pull in one of his.

With Helix at least it helped save a block on the Stomp.

I’m sure these are great, just not something I’m personally excited about

Justin's mixes are great for sure, but having just gone through a good bit of them last weekend, I find that the movable mic system is much more straightforward to work with because it becomes less of a "try it out and see" process and more deliberate "what this should sound like" process.

I think the multi-mic movable mic thing becomes complicated only when you get beyond a few mics where extra mics can become way too subtle to make much of an impact. 2-4 mics is more than enough.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’m definitely not looking at this to revolutionize the way I go about dialing in tones, but more of an area I’ll have that much more control over. There are times I’m picking IR’s and the difference between IR #2 and IR #3 isn’t huge, but neither are exactly what I’m going for because I want what’s between 2 and 3. Or sometimes I’m thinking “Man, if I could just angle this mic a pinch it’d be there!”

Just some finer detail that wasn’t available before.

Definitely anxious to see what the 3rd party market does with this. If York rents that robot I’ll have no problem re-purchasing some cab packs I already own.

 

[metropolis_4]

Justin's mixes are great for sure, but having just gone through a good bit of them last weekend, I find that the movable mic system is much more straightforward to work with because it becomes less of a "try it out and see" process and more deliberate "what this should sound like" process.

I think the multi-mic movable mic thing becomes complicated only when you get beyond a few mics where extra mics can become way too subtle to make much of an impact. 2-4 mics is more than enough.

For me it’s just kind of a “if it ain’t broke” kind of thing.

Pulling up the mix IR I already know I love is always going to be faster/easier than making my own mix. Even if it’s just a single cab + mic.

I haven’t cycled through IRs in years, I’ve got a favorite mix for each of my go-to cabs and I stick with those.

That’s just me personally and the way I do it. I’m sure for many others this is a great new feature

 

[JiveTurkey]

laughs in Boss IR

 

[jellodog]

For me it’s just kind of a “if it ain’t broke” kind of thing.

Pulling up the mix IR I already know I love is always going to be faster/easier than making my own mix. Even if it’s just a single cab + mic.

I haven’t cycled through IRs in years, I’ve got a favorite mix for each of my go-to cabs and I stick with those.

That’s just me personally and the way I do it. I’m sure for many others this is a great new feature

I hear ya.

On the other hand, FAS has been criticized for their on-device IR management and user experience in the past - so this is them responding to that. It might not be for you but it will help many other users and potentially attract new customers that have stayed away because they've heard that the UI is hard to work with.

 

[laxu]

I hear ya.

On the other hand, FAS has been criticized for their on-device IR management and user experience in the past - so this is them responding to that. It might not be for you but it will help many other users and potentially attract new customers that have stayed away because they've heard that the UI is hard to work with.

That doesn't mean they couldn't also improve the regular IR management. All the file browser type views are not very good. Just too much stuff without proper grouping, tagging, search, sort, favorites etc features.

The new cab sims solve a different problem, namely figuring out how to get a great sound out of cab sims. Moving a virtual mic is more intuitive than figure out if IR file X is going to give you what you need.