Fender TMP Firmware v1.7 Released

[JiveTurkey]

There are great synth sounds on all of these boxes. The hitch is always that they are monophonic. There are playing caveats and they do work generally speaking but you are always playing with those in the forefront in mind. Fender looks to have added the buzzword polyphonic but if every synth they add is as fast reacting as a slug; it really doesn't matter if you can play more than one note at a time.

 

[mikah912]

I envy TMP users so much for this. Here's hoping Line6 ever adds poly synths to Helix.

I hope to see that as well. But I think that they will respond strongly as always to The gauntlet being thrown down by competition. I really can't see them. Only relying on the old m-class synth effects for the next 10 years.

 

[Frodebro]

There are great synth sounds on all of these boxes. The hitch is always that they are monophonic. There are playing caveats and they do work generally speaking but you are always playing with those in the forefront in mind. Fender looks to have added the buzzword polyphonic but if every synth they add is as fast reacting as a slug; it really doesn't matter if you can play more than one note at a time.

Honestly, I don’t think that the majority of people who are drawn to the TMP would be all that interested in a synth to begin with.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Honestly, I don’t think that the majority of people who are drawn to the TMP would be all that interested in a synth to begin with.

It seems like a dumb add when there are Fender amps missing.

 

[Jarick]

I posted elsewhere, but this is a pretty sweet update. I completely forgot they were going to release one.

Appreciate them fixing the Pitch Shifter and retaining IR settings when browsing. Those were two big complaints gone.

New amps don't do much for me but the new effects look really cool. I appreciate having some character boosts available and the Blues Driver will be fun to play with as I've been wanting one for a while.

Stereo digital delay is nice, it's like a Boss DD-3 it just kind of is a normal delay. The tone knob is very subtle but works well.

Echelon delay is AWESOME. It's got a ton of features that will be really useful. There's different modes for the stereo so you can kind of get the Strymon Dig thing. Prime is similar but a lot darker/lo-fi.

 

[Jarick]

It seems like a dumb add when there are Fender amps missing.

But then it's just a boomer pedal?

 

[JiveTurkey]

But then it's just a boomer pedal?

 

[Frodebro]

But then it's just a boomer pedal?

This isn’t TGP.

 

[ChordInversion]

But then it's just a boomer pedal?

The interface kind of set it on that course, though. It's not outlandish to think that someone who grabs the pretty pictures/don't want to learn anything modeler is not the same person as the one who wants to dive deep into guitar synths. But I'm not in marketing, so I admit I don't know beyond my own intuition.

I got mine specifically. because I thought they'd grow it as a simple "plug in and dial in" box, not a mega deep dive MIDI-and-everything box like all the others. I figured they'd take pride in Fender, and effectively provide me with a cool room full of amps and pedals to just jam with and use to try out song ideas. I was wrong.

 

[mikah912]

It seems like a dumb add when there are Fender amps missing.

They can't catch them all. I imagine the priority list for the next however many updates is how to heck as many as possible boxes that the competition already has checked.

Synths were a big blindspot with nothing to show, whereas they do have a selection of Fender amps already.

No, it's not comprehensive yet, but they'll get there. To stay aloft in the YouTube/quick attention span landscape of today, they want a certain amount of flash in each update.

I understand people who want more vintage Fender amps, I really do. I'm sure even after this update there are high-gain friends who want more choices than one Diezel, a SLO100, EVH Stealth, one Mesa and a Friedman. There are people demanding NAM since every other platform has at least pledged to support some type of profiling.

Someone is always going to come up short every 6 months. Just the nature of the beast.

 

[BROCKSTAR]

I'm just happy to see the tech getting out there still in more units. Mooer ge-300 can do polysynth, of course boss sy-300, sy-200, sy-1 and even sy-1000 input without hex pick up, the ehx stuff, eventide H90 etc.. etc.. And now TMP.

The only way to keep up for future devices is to now ADD polyphonic synth because people will expect it! Looking at you fractal and helix etc.

 

[dk_ace]

There are great synth sounds on all of these boxes. The hitch is always that they are monophonic. There are playing caveats and they do work generally speaking but you are always playing with those in the forefront in mind. Fender looks to have added the buzzword polyphonic but if every synth they add is as fast reacting as a slug; it really doesn't matter if you can play more than one note at a time.

So if someone is synth-curious, wants it to be poly, and doesn’t want to put a midi pickup on a guitar, is there anything out there that is good?

 

[Frodebro]

So if someone is synth-curious, wants it to be poly, and doesn’t want to put a midi pickup on a guitar, is there anything out there that is good?

I think one of the newer BOSS units might tick those boxes.

 

[JiveTurkey]

So if someone is synth-curious, wants it to be poly, and doesn’t want to put a midi pickup on a guitar, is there anything out there that is good?

SY stuff is all I have regularly used.

 

[ChordInversion]

They can't catch them all. I imagine the priority list for the next however many updates is how to heck as many as possible boxes that the competition already has checked.

Synths were a big blindspot with nothing to show, whereas they do have a selection of Fender amps already.

No, it's not comprehensive yet, but they'll get there. To stay aloft in the YouTube/quick attention span landscape of today, they want a certain amount of flash in each update.

I understand people who want more vintage Fender amps, I really do. I'm sure even after this update there are high-gain friends who want more choices than one Diezel, a SLO100, EVH Stealth, one Mesa and a Friedman. There are people demanding NAM since every other platform has at least pledged to support some type of profiling.

Someone is always going to come up short every 6 months. Just the nature of the beast.

This is true. However, I think catch-up is a losing strategy. Because even now, they're still far behind targets that are moving fast. One could argue that their synth capability is now staking distinctive and leading territory in one area, I admit. But that's it.

Meanwhile, the huge advantage they had out of the gate - their name - has been all but completely squandered. They have mostly put in the Fender amps that have physical Tone Master equivalents - including two "models" that are really just Tone Master models, and those only lightly modded (speaker swap and bright cap mod) versions of previous ones, not any kind of vintage amp reproduction. I would argue those should just be easily chosen settings (a cab and a switch). And then multiple Blues Juniors and Bassbreakers. They insist every new amp takes three months, but they spent those resources on items nobody would have complained about or missed if instead they'd included actual famous Fenders. It's like the development team actively dislikes Fender's amp history. It's just weird. To me.

 

[Whizzinby]

That's a pretty kickass update. The synths and reverbs look cool, and I'm sure I'll hear a good demo video soon. I'm loving the way that top-tier amp modelers are just leaving it all out there as of late. The first half of this year was sleepy city, but it is banger after banger now.

Congrats to TMP owners, and yeah...might be time to pack it up, @ChordInversion. Don't wait another 6 months to be bummed out again, bro.

It’s really quite amazing how badass almost every platform is. Something for everyone.

From @stilwel , this is pretty cool - Wait for it

Stilwel gets its.

 

[Jarick]

This is true. However, I think catch-up is a losing strategy. Because even now, they're still far behind targets that are moving fast. One could argue that their synth capability is now staking distinctive and leading territory in one areas, I admit. But that's it.

Meanwhile, the huge advantage they had out of the gate - their name - has been all but completely squandered. They have mostly put in the amps that have physical Tone Master equivalents - including two "models" that are really just Tone Master models, and those only lightly modded (speaker swap and bright cap mod) versions of previous ones, not any kind of vintage amp reproduction. I would argue those should just be easily chosen settings (a cab and a switch). And then multiple Blues Juniors and Bassbreakers. They insist every new amp takes three months, but they spent those resources on items nobody would have complained about or missed if instead they'd included actual famous Fenders. It's like the development tam actively dislikes Fender's amp history. It's just weird. To me.

Honestly, you'd probably be a lot happier if you just sold the TMP. If you're looking for a comprehensive collection of Fender amps something like a Tonex or Kemper would be a better choice. You'd have hundreds of different amps to choose from, vintage to modern.

 

[Frodebro]

This is true. However, I think catch-up is a losing strategy. Because even now, they're still far behind targets that are moving fast. One could argue that their synth capability is now staking distinctive and leading territory in one areas, I admit. But that's it.

Meanwhile, the huge advantage they had out of the gate - their name - has been all but completely squandered. They have mostly put in the amps that have physical Tone Master equivalents - including two "models" that are really just Tone Master models, and then only lightly modded (speaker swap and bright cap mod). I would argue those should just be easily chosen settings (a cab and a switch). And then multiple Blues Juniors and Bassbreakers. They insist every new amp takes three months, but they spent those resources on items nobody would have complained about or missed if instead they'd included actual famous Fenders. It's like the development tam actively dislikes Fender's amp history. It's just weird. To me.

They’ll never catch Fractal or Line 6, but they have shot past Neural.

 

[synthpenguin]

From the TMP Discord, one of Fender's TMP deve team:

"the cool thing about our synths is they actually don’t “trigger” notes like some other guitar synths with midi do. they actually transform your input signal into the synth tone through specialized processing. this gives you the best tracking experience you’ll find on the market and also allows you to create synths out of any audio input even beyond guitar"

It's a cool feature, no doubt about that. I am not a guitar synth payer, but for people who are, it's likely something special.

this is more or less how the Boss stuff works, which is a good thing imo. I think this is much better than the pitch tracking approach for most things (at least polyphonic things).

 

[AlbertA]

Meanwhile, the huge advantage they had out of the gate - their name - has been all but completely squandered. They have mostly put in the amps that have physical Tone Master equivalents - including two "models" that are really just Tone Master models, and those only lightly modded (speaker swap and bright cap mod) versions of previous ones, not any kind of vintage amp reproduction. I would argue those should just be easily chosen settings (a cab and a switch). And then multiple Blues Juniors and Bassbreakers. They insist every new amp takes three months, but they spent those resources on items nobody would have complained about or missed if instead they'd included actual famous Fenders. It's like the development team actively dislikes Fender's amp history. It's just weird. To me.

I'm not a Fender connoisseur - which Fender amps are missing ?