Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard

[Fractal M@]

[/QUOTE]

Addendum. Don’t be a dummy and just hold the two leftmost FS’s down and go to Scene mode to….. demo scenes… with the FS’s…. without needing to enter list mode or hit enter.

I was gonna say... ALWAYS remember the footswitches! They're basically soft buttons and add a lot of flexibility to what looks like it's going to require button presses. They also do their thing when you're in areas like "Scene Levels" "Mix Overview", etc.

Conversely, don't miss that you can change the mode SUPER quickly on the home page by just turning SELECT.

SELECT Scene Name. Tap Switch 1 >BAM<
SELECT an Effect. Tap Switch 3, then Switch 4 >BAM<
SELECT Scene Name. Tap Switch 2 >BAM<
SELECT Effects. Tap Switch 1, then Switch 4 >BAM<

You just made two Scenes without needing to wait an agonizing 4 seconds!

 

[laxu]

Some have nice extras, like this:
View attachment 31234


(Also, in my experience, one does not tend to use ABCD in practice on a menu page unless you actually need to turn two knobs at the same time. Instead, you turn SELECT which re-assigns "A", and it's a total breeze.)

Anyone who would gravitate towards a studio compressor will FLY around that vertical layout in no time.

I always hated those list views on the Axe-Fx 3, felt I had to tilt my head sideways to mentally map the under screen controls so I just used the navigation buttons and big knob instead. IMO you should avoid those views as much as you can for anything that isn't a setup menu.

The pic above of the Analog Compressor is way more in line for what you should aim for, though even that could be improved by swapping Mix and graph so Mix is on row one - one less row swap needed if you want to adjust mix.

Could you post a pic of what the onboard UI for the Multitap delay looks like? I haven't seen this in any videos afaik. As a Strymon Volante fan, that was a block that sounded great for similar things but was just a total pain in the ass to work with on the Axe-Fx 3 without Axe-Edit.

 

[mbenigni]

...an exotic multi scene, custom FS...

...bow chika wow wow..

 

[king_wombat]

In Scene Mood is it possible to stay in the list view of the scenes? It seems to go there and then when you select a scene go stratight into the view of the stomp boxes? If there's a bunch of songs I'd set up for scenes , with 4 scenes ie


Scene 1 : song name Verse
Scene 2 Song name Chorus,
Scene 3 Song name Middle,
Scene 4 Song name Solo

I'd rather be able to just see the scene names so I know which one I'm in and what the other scenes are for rather than selecting a scene and it going into a view of the blocks. From the cooper carter video a second or two after you select a scene from the list, it goes into the stomp view which is kinda pointless as I've set the scenes up to do a specific job and am just going to select them as I need them.

 

[Hapless]

The delivery people that service my neighborhood straight up ignore the signature requirements. The $4k Tom Anderson guitar that I had delivered in August was left on the porch with no signature collected despite it saying that a signature would be required upon delivery.

The delivery people that service my neighborhood consistently leave our packages at our neighbors' porches, and our neighbors' packages on our porch. I live on a court with three houses and have our house numbers in stone over our garage and also in a sign in our front yard. They never fail to fail. If it's something important, I do a hold for pickup at a Walgreens or whatnot. Also, if it's something I don't want the wife to know about.

 

[Fractal M@]

Could you post a pic of what the onboard UI for the Multitap delay looks like? I haven't seen this in any videos afaik. As a Strymon Volante fan, that was a block that sounded great for similar things but was just a total pain in the ass to work with on the Axe-Fx 3 without Axe-Edit.

My phone photos are crappy quality so I made you some drawings :-) Last one though, because I need to go do what Cliff calls "REAL WORK"

The concept behind the MTD is that everything you REALLY NEED is knobs on a single page. If it were an analog pedal, what would it absolutely need? Here's an example:

(Note: Master Pan is Stereo Spread, essential in an effect that can be wildly stereo but will be used in mono by MANY people on the VP4.)

Across the 30+ types of MTD, there are a few variations of what felt right and tested well for this page. For example, the "Sweep" flavors needed Rate and Depth and Q. The "Tape" flavors needed Motor Speed. And so on.

Then, you get a second page for most types. Not quite "Expert" but more than a vanilla pedal would have. It's a very simple MATRIX that does this cool thing where SELECT changes the parameter by row, and ABCD control that setting for each of the four delay taps.
It all fits nicely in one page with no hidden params or scrolling:

PS: It uses the same sized font as every other parameter on the VP4, so if you're like me, you can wear one pair of glasses and know you'll be OK

Finally, there's what we call the "Bonus" page, because Neal Schon will really really want an easy way to attach a pedal to "Input Gain". So to round things out, we added simple tone controls, plus a "one-knob ducker" (which is a very FUN feature and underutilized by most MTD tweakers of our more complex products):

We placed these and other VP4 layouts before a whole range of real people covering a broad range of different effects experience. A literal old man who lives on the mountain by my house. Two kids from Berklee school of music. Some decidedly non-Fractal guys who play in a cover band. Some bedroom player types. Some "all-vintage" cats in Texas who hang out with Austin Buddy. Several endorsing artists and/or their techs. The G66 gang. The Independent contingent. A veritable Mandlebrot of Fractal Audio beta tester regulars. Conclusion: the VP4 works. And as you know, Fractal Audio is certainly committed to constant improvement. (But let's let the paint dry first, eh?)

 

[Fractal M@]

In Scene Mood is it possible to stay in the list view of the scenes?

No, but there is some consideration about making the large preset and scene name displays have a "Sticky" option so that they stay on the screen until you tap EXIT or change the mode.

 

[laxu]

View attachment 31241

Thanks!

In 2022 I wrote on the FM3 wishlist the following in this thread:

Multitap Delay

• Rearrange Delay and Mod pages to use the same column format as cab block. It would be easier to edit when you have one row for Time 1,2,3,4 then another row for Tempo 1,2,3,4 etc. Easier to see and compare with less need to move the cursor.

I'm happy to see Fractal taking usability more seriously.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Thanks!

In 2022 I wrote on the FM3 wishlist the following in this thread:

Multitap Delay

• Rearrange Delay and Mod pages to use the same column format as cab block. It would be easier to edit when you have one row for Time 1,2,3,4 then another row for Tempo 1,2,3,4 etc. Easier to see and compare with less need to move the cursor.

I'm happy to see Fractal taking usability more seriously.

 

[mbenigni]

It’s all in good fun.

No such thing as bad publicity...

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

You clearly love this HX narrative but you're missing something, imho.

When you put on the market a floor multi FX unit you compete with all of them not only the ones you think you're competing with.

And while we might agree that the VP4 is aiming to the strymon,, eventide & crowed the everyone-else-crowd doesn't disappear.

Therefore, when a player form the everyone-else-crowd look for a floor multi FX unit compare the VP4 with the hxfx he might prefer the latter because costs less and offer more (from his needs).

Some players just need tools that makes gigging easy.

With love,
HotRats.

The digital/modeling subform more than any other is filled with people comparing signal processors based on features that are far outside of the actual signal processing. Not finding fault with that because people buy things for different reasons - some are much more interested in how their processor can also be a controller and that's totally fine.

There are loads of paths/tools one can choose to make their life "easier". Some folks use a smart phone with lots of lists/notes/reminder apps/calendar apps/blah blah blah to keep their life in order. Others use sticky notes all over the place. Still others just have a white board calendar.

The folks that really love the Helix Ecosystem are much more into the "my smart phone is linked to my smart watch and integrated with my car's infotainment system and my google calendar and cross-platformed to my apple calendar, all handled by this one widget to make my life simpler" approach to things. There is nothing wrong with that. Others still just put up a few sticky notes, or use a whiteboard calendar hanging on the refrigerator door to organize their life and they get by just fine.

But when a non-Helix; non-control-focused brand releases a new signal processor that is pretty darn impressive as a signal processor, and folks respond with "wow, its really lacking in features" rather than "that's cool, but I can't really give up the processor/controller mindset", its kind of like being on a camera forum when a camera company releases a small, compact camera with pretty staggering camera specs and folks reply with "but my iPhone camera does everything I need and so much more". Or, in the other analogy, reply in a thread about a new whiteboard calendar with "but its just a cool whiteboard...it might tell me that I have an event to attend on Tuesday night, but it doesn't store my e-tickets to the event electronically, or give me directions to the event!"

There clearly is still LOADS of market space for devices that are focused mostly on signal processing and how the device can control its own signal processing -- see: Eventide, Strymon, Meris, etc. To the extent they are "competing" with control-focused signal processors that are aimed not just at controlling themselves but being the brain for an entire rig, those companies have all conceded that battle in the "competition". This isn't short-sighted on the part of those makers, its a decision with the recognition that there is plenty of room to make and sell products and achieve whatever their internal sales/financial goals are without having to own all or even most of the signal processing market share.

 

[king_wombat]

No, but there is some consideration about making the large preset and scene name displays have a "Sticky" option so that they stay on the screen until you tap EXIT or change the mode.

From an on stage pov it would make more sense (to me anyway!) to be able to view what scenes are on what switch or at least be able to choose that. I play in multiple bands and would look to potentially have multiple songs setup for scenes. Once I've set them up correctly i don't really care whether I can see which effects are on in that scene (especially as I can't change what effects are on or off in that screen on stage anyway?) I mean its not a show stopper as I'd probably setup with scene 1 being verse/intro, 2 bridge etc.... but it would be useful if you can feed that back at all if there are discussions ongoing? Or is there anywhere we can feed requests/comments back officially?


the other question I have is there any possibility/conversation of being able to rename blocks? for example If I got 2 delay blocks, one for slap and one for 1/4 note tap.. I'd really like to know which block was which rather than just see 2 DEL blocks. As an aside, I'm going to have to use an external switch for tap I think as it looks too many clicks to get to tap tempo screen. Again that's not a show stopper, and as there is a flashing led on the screen it'll work absolutely fine using an external tap tempo switch.

 

[GTR37]

I've never been called an ambient ram god before. Is that like... Peter North with a 7 string and a shimmer pedal??

No, Ron Jeremy 8 string and a Big Sky

 

[Hapless]

Just got my shipping notification.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Picked up some salami.

Oh yeah, and a FedEx delivery.



View attachment 31176

HOW DID IT DO WITH THE ELECTRADYNE?!?!?!?!?

 

[luckymethod]

The digital/modeling subform more than any other is filled with people comparing signal processors based on features that are far outside of the actual signal processing. Not finding fault with that because people buy things for different reasons - some are much more interested in how their processor can also be a controller and that's totally fine.

There are loads of paths/tools one can choose to make their life "easier". Some folks use a smart phone with lots of lists/notes/reminder apps/calendar apps/blah blah blah to keep their life in order. Others use sticky notes all over the place. Still others just have a white board calendar.

The folks that really love the Helix Ecosystem are much more into the "my smart phone is linked to my smart watch and integrated with my car's infotainment system and my google calendar and cross-platformed to my apple calendar, all handled by this one widget to make my life simpler" approach to things. There is nothing wrong with that. Others still just put up a few sticky notes, or use a whiteboard calendar hanging on the refrigerator door to organize their life and they get by just fine.

But when a non-Helix; non-control-focused brand releases a new signal processor that is pretty darn impressive as a signal processor, and folks respond with "wow, its really lacking in features" rather than "that's cool, but I can't really give up the processor/controller mindset", its kind of like being on a camera forum when a camera company releases a small, compact camera with pretty staggering camera specs and folks reply with "but my iPhone camera does everything I need and so much more". Or, in the other analogy, reply in a thread about a new whiteboard calendar with "but its just a cool whiteboard...it might tell me that I have an event to attend on Tuesday night, but it doesn't store my e-tickets to the event electronically, or give me directions to the event!"

There clearly is still LOADS of market space for devices that are focused mostly on signal processing and how the device can control its own signal processing -- see: Eventide, Strymon, Meris, etc. To the extent they are "competing" with control-focused signal processors that are aimed not just at controlling themselves but being the brain for an entire rig, those companies have all conceded that battle in the "competition". This isn't short-sighted on the part of those makers, its a decision with the recognition that there is plenty of room to make and sell products and achieve whatever their internal sales/financial goals are without having to own all or even most of the signal processing market share.

The mental gymnastics needed to pretend the HXFX and the VP4 don't compete with each other are exhausting to read so I stopped halfway through.

 

[TubeStack]

HOW DID IT DO WITH THE ELECTRADYNE?!?!?!?!?

I have not even had time to open the box yet.

Tonight is going to be a blast, though!

(Although first in line will be the MKVII in MBII mode… )

 

[TubeStack]

(^^^ MIIB is remarkably Dyne-like, I’ve found so far.)

 

[Hapless]

I have not even had time to open the box yet.

Tonight is going to be a blast, though!

(Although first in line will be the MKVII in MBII mode… )

DID YOU RESET THE AMPS?

 

[mbenigni]

What if I told you that going to IKEA to eat is one heck of a good deal (if it’s the same standard as here).

Everybody in this forum should go eat at IKEA today. Go now!

I think it may have been good food 15 years ago... or maybe it was just the novelty of it... or maybe I was starving to death that day. The last time I ate there it was like eating a TV dinner past its sell by date in a hospital cafeteria. At an extra skeezy hospital.