Fractal Audio Systems AM4 - Amp Modeler

Boudoir Guitar said:
Ditching the redundant enter/edit buttons is a pretty big step forward.
Click to expand...
For sure, but I hate that they chose that scroll dial instead. It's more annoying to turn something like that than spam a button a few times to cycle between mere 4 blocks, or cycle a row.

I really hope Fractal makes that "Amp mode" behavior a universal thing so you can use it on the VP4 and AM4 for effects as well.

To me the biggest hurdle with Fractal onboard UI has always been "getting to the thing you want to edit". By being able to press one of the footswitches to immediately get to the editing view of one of the blocks is a huge improvement in workflow speed. Then you don't have to do some Scroll - Enter - turn knobs - Exit - Scroll - Enter - turn knobs dance.

Scenario: "I want to tweak my overdrive, then I want to tweak my amp a bit to work with that overdrive. My preset is WAH - DRV - AMP - DLY"

If there was a "Edit mode" that applies to all fx blocks, this would become:
  1. Press footswitch B for Drive.
  2. Turn knobs
  3. Press footswitch C for Amp.
  4. Turn knobs
  5. Scroll to 2nd row (less than ideal but what can you do)
  6. Turn knobs
  7. Press fooswitch B to go back to Drive
  8. Turn knobs a little again.
That's pretty fast.

If Fractal were to combine that with the "hold to choose channel of currently selected effect" then that would make tweaking any block and channel pretty quick.
 
laxu said:
For sure, but I hate that they chose that scroll dial instead. It's more annoying to turn something like that than spam a button a few times to cycle between mere 4 blocks, or cycle a row.

I really hope Fractal makes that "Amp mode" behavior a universal thing so you can use it on the VP4 and AM4 for effects as well.

To me the biggest hurdle with Fractal onboard UI has always been "getting to the thing you want to edit". By being able to press one of the footswitches to immediately get to the editing view of one of the blocks is a huge improvement in workflow speed. Then you don't have to do some Scroll - Enter - turn knobs - Exit - Scroll - Enter - turn knobs dance.

Scenario: "I want to tweak my overdrive, then I want to tweak my amp a bit to work with that overdrive. My preset is WAH - DRV - AMP - DLY"

If there was a "Edit mode" that applies to all fx blocks, this would become:
  1. Press footswitch B for Drive.
  2. Turn knobs
  3. Press footswitch C for Amp.
  4. Turn knobs
  5. Scroll to 2nd row (less than ideal but what can you do)
  6. Turn knobs
  7. Press fooswitch B to go back to Drive
  8. Turn knobs a little again.
That's pretty fast.

If Fractal were to combine that with the "hold to choose channel of currently selected effect" then that would make tweaking any block and channel pretty quick.
Click to expand...
Meh, I don't think the intention here is necessarily gaining outright speed but making it easier to approach and intuitively use not just for the first time user, but for the user that spends a lot of time NOT editing, then after weeks returns to tweak some things and remember how to do that.

I love the AxeFx III most when I'm using it every day including going in and making small tweaks to things; or if I've got everything set up and don't have to touch it. I like it least when I've been away from it for even for just a couple of weeks and no I need to do some editing on it.

And to be fair, that's not just a Fractal thing. In Helix if I've been away for a minute and I have to do anything more than just add blocks to a series signal path and assign an on/off footswitch to blocks that need them, I'm having to think more than I'd like, too.
 
Okay thanks @yek and Brockstar (really hard to tag your weird formatting of your username!) for letting me cantankerously work through how I might use this thing. I while I would looooooooove to see the channel-toggle function added back as an option for the amp button in effects mode, once I started thinking "how can I use this switching" instead of "can this switching do what I want?" solutions came more easily:

(1). In terms of uses that have me wanting one-button-press access to amp channels and effects, I could definitely make that work using the two-button latching switch for effect bypass and keeping the AM4 in amp mode. the third block is most likely an always-on reverb

(2). In terms of times when I JUST want to use the AM4, while I generally hate using scenes, on a four-block device I can keep my head wrapped around it and accomplish everything I need in such a stripped down scenario in scenes.
 
Vic Winters said:
Can you show the different GEQ options?
Click to expand...

geq.jpg
 
Getting Funky With The Fractal Audio AM4 Amp Modeler

SIGNAL PATH: Kiesel Tim Miller M6 Guitar - Fractal Audio Face Fuzz - Fractal Audio Hipower Jumped Amp - Fractal Audio 4x12 1960TV Cab - Fractal Audio Stereo Tape Delay - Fractal Audio Room, Medium Reverb



NOTE: Forgot I made this video before I did the other one I posted first haha.
 
Lysander said:
There's still a lot of Fractal menu-diving™ at play, but damn, the UX looks really well though out. I'm impressed.
Click to expand...

Boudoir Guitar said:
Ditching the redundant enter/edit buttons is a pretty big step forward.
Click to expand...

I think Fractal probably did what they could in regards to:

1. Not be completely different experience from other Fractal gear (current generation)
2. Work within the limits of current gen architecture
3. Not introduce too many changes at once

Personally I'm very happy Fractal is working on improving their UX. Their UI has always been great but the UX is what's needed improvements and we're currently seeing it happen, very nice to see.

I think this bodes very well for next gen where they will probably introduce bigger changes. Partially because it's a new generation so they can make larger changes since it's a new product, but also because they will probably be able to change the architecture to allow them greater freedom in changing things that just wouldn't be possible currently.
 
I assume you can use an expression pedal to control all the same parameters/block bypass state that you can in the III, FM9 and FM3?

For a friend
:farley
 
Tanax said:
I think Fractal probably did what they could in regards to:

1. Not be completely different experience from other Fractal gear (current generation)
2. Work within the limits of current gen architecture
3. Not introduce too many changes at once

Personally I'm very happy Fractal is working on improving their UX. Their UI has always been great but the UX is what's needed improvements and we're currently seeing it happen, very nice to see.

I think this bodes very well for next gen where they will probably introduce bigger changes. Partially because it's a new generation so they can make larger changes since it's a new product, but also because they will probably be able to change the architecture to allow them greater freedom in changing things that just wouldn't be possible currently.
Click to expand...
I think you are seeing a glimpse of the next Gen
You can see the bigger icons and how they could be made into a touch screen that FAS already confirmed
The consolidated amp models w all the switches in one spot
Obviously there will be a whole lot more and this is likely the tip of the iceberg
But I think this is kind of a bridge
 
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