Axe-FX III Dyna-Cabs

[Foxmeister]

This is likely going to be most interesting for those of us who grew up placing physical mics, where a UI in the box (or editor) like this is a big time saver due to familiarity when dialing in new tones. For others, not so much.

I've never miked up a cabinet, but Mikko (followed by the QC, then Helix cabs) allowed me to experiment with how miking a cabinet works, at least in the virtual domain, to find out what I liked/didn't like, and I learned so much in the process

This also made picking an IR from a pack so much easier, which is what I tended to do with my Fractal units because I really didn't like the "anonymity" of the Fractal "stock" cabs.

I'm sure that if I still had my FM9, I would have been greatly anticipating the arrival of Dyna-Cabs!

 

[laxu]

Even if you don't have the MIKKO plugin, this is a great crash course on the behavior of different mics and how to find sweet spots. It can be helpful when working with the movable mic systems on other software.

 

[James Freeman]

Thanks Laxu.
Mikko knows his shit for sure.

I've been saying for ages, a speaker sounds different in all 360 degrees from center.
I too look for the smoothest response with the least amount of frequency spikes particularly where the slope starts and also the least steep slope response.

I will add that Pink Noise and FFT are your best friends if you don't have a trained ear for mic placement but that means you have to know what to look for too.

 

[Metron]

Really hoping the final release sees choosable mics. My guess though is too much memory or something similar has nixed that idea, and we won't see that until the IV and it's new hardware. Would love to be wrong though.

 

[laxu]

Really hoping the final release sees choosable mics. My guess though is too much memory or something similar has nixed that idea, and we won't see that until the IV and it's new hardware. Would love to be wrong though.

Fractal has said they used 6 mics to make those IRs.

• We already know the "dynamic" option is a SM57, but they had a SM7 mic as well.
• That means the other 4 are likely to be two ribbon and two condenser mics.
• Royer 121 and Beyerdynamic M160 are likely candidates for ribbons, though I wish they used the Shure KSM 313 because that sounds great on some of the Fractal factory IRs.
• For condensers Neumann 184 and/or Audio Technica AT4047 seem likely, possibly an AKG C414 as that was used on some of the factory IRs.

Fractal says that along with the 25 cabs in the beta, they plan to add about a dozen more.

That means that either:

1. They need more work to release more mics for each cab and now want to just release all the cabs with a limited set of mics to get the feature out.
2. There's a memory/storage constraint that prevents more mics. Fractal would want to allocate some space for future cabs, 3rd party Dyna-cabs etc so that space might be better left available by not having as many mic options on the factory cabs.

After trying the feature yesterday, IMO 3 mics is more than enough. Most users are not particularly picky about the specific mic model but would be interested in the character differences between the mic types and the 3 mics cover that very well, giving you plenty of options to set up the mics to complement each other.

 

[DLC86]

Fractal has said they used 6 mics to make those IRs.

• We already know the "dynamic" option is a SM57, but they had a SM7 mic as well.
• That means the other 4 are likely to be two ribbon and two condenser mics.
• Royer 121 and Beyerdynamic M160 are likely candidates for ribbons, though I wish they used the Shure KSM 313 because that sounds great on some of the Fractal factory IRs.
• For condensers Neumann 184 and/or Audio Technica AT4047 seem likely, possibly an AKG C414 as that was used on some of the factory IRs.

Fractal says that along with the 25 cabs in the beta, they plan to add about a dozen more.

That means that either:

1. They need more work to release more mics for each cab and now want to just release all the cabs with a limited set of mics to get the feature out.
2. There's a memory/storage constraint that prevents more mics. Fractal would want to allocate some space for future cabs, 3rd party Dyna-cabs etc so that space might be better left available by not having as many mic options on the factory cabs.

After trying the feature yesterday, IMO 3 mics is more than enough. Most users are not particularly picky about the specific mic model but would be interested in the character differences between the mic types and the 3 mics cover that very well, giving you plenty of options to set up the mics to complement each other.

I agree with you, but I think we could see more options in the plugin version of this, since memory constraints aren't a problem on a PC.
And maybe even longer/full-res IRs

 

[DLC86]

I've been saying for ages, a speaker sounds different in all 360 degrees from center.

But is it the speaker itself or the influence of nearby speakers, cabinet shape and room reflections? Will it be different also in a perfectly square 1x12 cab in a perfectly anechoic chamber?

 

[DrewJD82]

In regards to more mic options, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see those coming from 3rd party vendors rather than Fractal. Even FAS’ own IR’s are more of a collection of specific cabs/mics rather than having a ton of the same cab with various mics and 3rd party guys are where you’ve had to get multiple IR’s of the same cab w/ different mics.

Come on, Justin! Get that DV77 goin!!!

 

[James Freeman]

But is it the speaker itself or the influence of nearby speakers

Speaker itself.

 

[DLC86]

Speaker itself.

It could be but it's hard to say with certainty considering the influence of those other elements I mentioned. Were you able to test this somehow?

 

[Stone]

Are more Mic's that Important ? I dunno I find I have 4 that are always my go too and those are plenty, even if the Helix has a lot of Mic's
YMMV

 

[laxu]

Are more Mic's that Important ? I dunno I find I have 4 that are always my go too and those are plenty, even if the Helix has a lot of Mic's
YMMV

I'd say the 3 on Fractal cover what most would want out of them. Like with having tons of amps people get nerdy about this stuff but there's certainly no need to have a huge ton of mics to get great results.

 

[James Freeman]

It could be but it's hard to say with certainty considering the influence of those other elements I mentioned. Were you able to test this somehow?

Yes I personally tested this with my own 1x12 cab.
I rotated the speaker itself but not the cab and replaced the SM57 exactly at the same spot with a ruler, the sound changed quite significantly, I also confirmed that the sound was the same when I placed the mic on the rotated spot, which it was.

First post on second page:

Woody 1x12 - SM57 Steps IRs

Note: Please don't click the 'Reply' button on this post to not quote the entire post, I may change or add stuff. This time no tricks, just normal IRs captured with sweeps, deconvolved and normalized, the IRs are raw, no eq or processing whatsoever. Each speaker captured individually with a...

thegearforum.com

 

[2112]

I've really been enjoying dialing in a mic/cab, adding a second mic/cab and playing with the align function to smooth out the high end.

 

[James Freeman]

The phase align parameter is so powerful, people fear to touch it.

 

[fretworn]

Thank you Leon.

Be DL on the beeta later today

 

[Will Chen]

But is it the speaker itself or the influence of nearby speakers, cabinet shape and room reflections? Will it be different also in a perfectly square 1x12 cab in a perfectly anechoic chamber?

It's a function of the axial response of the speaker relative to the mic position. The speaker doesn't sound different, it sounds like the speaker. Stand in front of a speaker and listen move 5 steps to the right and listen. Notice the change? Room reflections can reinforce frequencies as well, but that's not what we're talking about here.

 

[2112]

The phase align parameter is so powerful, people fear to touch it.

Not even a millimeter!

 

[yek]

For a good laugh, read "Ron Frey"'s reaction under John Cordey's video:

 

[KFF]

Not even a millimeter!

In your last video, you moved it a mm and your cat started crying. Coincidence?