To me this update is more about the huge leap in interface design. So, I've never complained about Fractal's interface. I know some people who have, but I've always preferred Fractal's (and particularly, Axe Edit's) interface for Amp and Effects tweaking. For cabs though, the new system is just so much better to work with. Of course Fractal wasn't the first company to setup a cab interface this way, let's not go the way of Apple fans and act as if Fractal invented the method. But, out of all the companies that have presented cab software with "move the mic" interfaces like this, I have no idea which ones actually did it right and which ones simply took a very small handful of IR's and just added a bunch of EQ filters to it, giving the user, like, a High Cut knob and simply naming it the "Cap <-> Edge" control or whatever in order to fake it.
Whatever, the point is that I find the workflow of "pick a cab -> then pick a mic -> then place it in the best spot" infinitely more usable and intuitive than "here's a clickable wall of a billion different IR's of vague description, choose wisely and remember to rest your eyes every 30 minutes and take bathroom breaks when needed."
My point is that last night I fired up the new Fractal DynaCab beta and, in maybe three minutes, I was able to get a better core tone out of the newly available cabs and mics than I have been able to get from the core tones in all my previous favorite patches. Of course it doesn't hurt that I know exactly what I like, and that all my favorite cab types are included in the beta. Also, just so this post isn't seen as hyperbolic, it's worth noting that the DynaCab system didn't instantly make me sound light years better than my current IR blend, but it was better, and I was able to get there in almost no time at all, where I used to spend way too much time auditioning through lists of individual IR's. That's huge.
Also, and this really should be acknowledged... there is no zippering effect or audible gaps when moving the virtual mics around (aka transitioning around between lots of individual IRs representing the current mic placement). This is great, and I think it's a significant key to the new system working as well as it does compared to the List method. When you can move a virtual mic around in real time and listen to the change in sound as it happens, it's easy to really zero in on the best tones. When you're manually clicking on lists and hearing hard transitions between one IR and the next, your ears really have a tough time adjusting and evaluating what's happening.
Basically, I can't say enough good things about the new system, and I really can't wait to sit down and nerd out for a couple hours when the full release goes live.
