Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard

[HotRats]

Here's what I've got in mind for a board with the VP4 and Mark VII.

VP4 in the VII loop, everything else in front and Ampero for switching amp channels + EQ on/off on the VII. TC Helicon for vocal processing.

HX One is kind of, "why not, I have it and it fits"... would save me switching some presets on the VP4 and allow me to have octave-down pitch stuff in front, which I prefer. Also gives me access to my beloved Transistor Tape delay, which I still can't totally replicate in a Fractal unit, as well as HX Reverse delay, which I love. It could also maybe replace the Stowaway as a first-in-line buffer, but I tried that the other day and didn't love it. Really enjoying keeping the signal in front of the VII as simple/analog as possible, so we'll see.

(MXR Phase would actually be the black Whirlwind Orange Box, but pedalboardplanner doesn't have it.)

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Makes sense with amp like yours.
Do you plan to integrate the ampero with the vp4 or just live them do their thing?

 

[TubeStack]

Makes sense with amp like yours.
Do you plan to integrate the ampero with the vp4 or just live them do their thing?

For now, I’m going to keep it simple and just use the Ampero to switch MkVII channels + the EQ in/out. I think it will be easiest live? Then maybe integrate the VP4 down the road.

 

[luckymethod]

Sure but I personally would assume a effects only unit to be able to do 4cm. And then if I wasn't sure I wouldn't state that it can't on a forum

Again, the fact that I don't give a fuck about potentially being wrong doesn't mean nobody is ever going to miss stuff and just not say anything but also not pay. The suggestion to add a little set of secondary serigraphies to avoid confusion doesn't seem so outlandish to me but yeah keep trying to dunk on me if it makes you feel superior, you're welcome.

 

[Orvillain]

The FM9 is better for someone who wants to replace an entire pedalboard. The VP4 is probably better for most people if you put it on a pedalboard with some of your favorite pedals. Using it solo is for someone who doesn’t need much or is ok to work within some limitations.

I could get buy with it alone for a gig, but I couldn’t do the stuff I normally do and it wouldn’t be my favorite way to do things. Give me a few gain pedals with it and I probably can do everything I want to live with that on a small board.

D

You could achieve a heckuva lot with a VP4 and a small midi controller like the Morningstar MC6, MC8, or MC6 Pro.

Remember - full spillover and gapless switching. Definitely not to be sniffed at.

One button could give you 4 drive pedals, with your expected one activated at the same time, and the other 3 turned off.

Then another button could switch the entire preset, and you've got pitch, drive, delay, reverb, with pitch and drive enabled and delay and reverb ready and waiting.

Then the next one could do some weird telephone EQ thing in the effects loop of your amp.

Then a final preset to jump to a chorus, tremolo, delay, delay... whilst also switching the amp to clean using the relay outputs on the MC6 Pro.

I'm genuinely thinking of doing that, and selling my GigRig G3.

 

[TubeStack]

Again, the fact that I don't give a fuck about potentially being wrong doesn't mean nobody is ever going to miss stuff and just not say anything but also not pay. The suggestion to add a little set of secondary serigraphies to avoid confusion doesn't seem so outlandish to me but yeah keep trying to dunk on me if it makes you feel superior, you're welcome.

(Looking up "serigraphies"...)

 

[Orvillain]

(Looking up "serigraphies"...)

I did the same!

 

[TubeStack]

Oh, so @Orvillain gets a laugh quoting me, but my original post gets nothing, @Mongillo19?

 

[Orvillain]

 

[TubeStack]

 

[Mongillo19]

(Looking up "serigraphies"...)

Oh, so @Orvillain gets a laugh quoting me, but my original post gets nothing, @Mongillo19?

@Orvillain has a certain......Je ne sais quoi

 

[TubeStack]

@Orvillain has a certain......Je ne sais quoi

 

[Frankencat]

I get wanting to use a multi effect with an amp in 4CM but, to me the Fractal “sound” is about fidelity and pristine time based effects. This is great for a direct rig but don’t you lose some of the benefit going back through a guitar amp and cab setup in 4CM?

 

[DrewJD82]

I get wanting to use a multi effect with an amp in 4CM but, to me the Fractal “sound” is about fidelity and pristine time based effects. This is great for a direct rig but don’t you lose some of the benefit going back through a guitar amp and cab setup in 4CM?

Nah, ya just get badass effects coming out of a cab. Unless the amp has a shitty effects loop, anyway. At most you’re just adding some coloring from the speakers, but there’s ample room for the quality to shine through.

 

[Frankencat]

I did play a Strymon Mobius/Timeline setup for a while through a couple of different amps (Bogner) so I can dig that. It’s just that my ears are tuned to the FM3 effects coming through "FRFR" nowadays.

 

[Whizzinby]

Was finally able to fire it back up for a quick bit this evening.

Haven’t bothered connecting to Edit yet, which is a good sign.

The default FS behavior in Effect mode, where the long hold opens that particular block channel list, already mapped to the four footswitches, is perfect. I started building out the channels for the couple of presets I have, and being able to swap the channels out quickly on the fly is great, and decidedly better than the FC increment/decrement option I use on the FC12. (Which is cool in its own right, but this is moar betterer foot controls)

This kind of unlocks its potential, once you have a couple presets setup in various block configs and start building out channel variations. Surfing between all the reverb, delay, pad types, mixing and matching, is fun and easy to get lost vibing in.

I’m chunking a Golden Ratio, OCD and Octa PSI into the front and then letting the VP4 handle everything else in a stereo loop. It’s a beast reverb/delay/pad pedal. I’m just using two preset variants atm, a Reverb, MegaTap, MultiDelay, Plex and a Pitch, Delay, Reverb, Plex in another.

Just need to setup a couple expression pedals to control mix and feedback and I’ll be at a proper boil.

 

[MadMaxG79]

I'm far from a hater of Fractal stuff but I'm not super impressed by this product, it has plenty of competition that is better featured like the HX Effects or the stomp XL both having more switches and the effects can control the loop of an amp. The unit also comes with super high quality effects but less variety than the Line 6 options, I'm not sure the premium components story is going to do a lot of heavy lifting for Fractal but who knows, I'm not an expert in this market. The positive side for us axe fx owners is cliff will have to focus on closing the effects gap with line 6 hopefully. Anyways feel free to disagree, I have no horse in this race since this thing is clearly not for me.

I agree. I feel like all the praise this gets around here are from people who already own fractal gear. In which case this product isn’t really expanding the customer base, just upselling to existing customers who need an excuse to buy more fractal gear.
Had it been able to also run amp modelling, this would be a totally different product. As is, I don’t really see the appeal over something like the HX Stomp / Stomp XL…

So this just replaced everything currently on my board ....aside from wah..... awesome.

I know I haven’t read all 36 pages of this thread but isn’t this only able to run 4 effects at any one time? Either you have a very small pedalboard (and around these parts, that’s just weird…) or you never run more than four effects simultaneously.

Again, I don’t get it. What is it about this particular product that has everyone so excited?

 

[laxu]

I agree. I feel like all the praise this gets around here are from people who already own fractal gear. In which case this product isn’t really expanding the customer base, just upselling to existing customers who need an excuse to buy more fractal gear.
Had it been able to also run amp modelling, this would be a totally different product. As is, I don’t really see the appeal over something like the HX Stomp / Stomp XL…

I know I haven’t read all 36 pages of this thread but isn’t this only able to run 4 effects at any one time? Either you have a very small pedalboard (and around these parts, that’s just weird…) or you never run more than four effects simultaneously.

4 effects with 4 channels each + noise gate + EQ.

Each channel can be either different settings of the same effect, or a different effect of the same category.
Channel A is spring reverb, channel B is plate reverb, channel C is the same plate reverb with higher mix etc.

Again, I don’t get it. What is it about this particular product that has everyone so excited?

Fractal effects quality in something cheaper and smaller than the FM3. Fractal does not get enough praise for their effects when most discussion is centered on their amp modeling. HX Stomp or HX Effects are IMO not in the same category as the top tier of pedal effects, whereas Fractal is, even surpassing some of them.

 

[Orvillain]

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

I agree. I feel like all the praise this gets around here are from people who already own fractal gear. In which case this product isn’t really expanding the customer base, just upselling to existing customers who need an excuse to buy more fractal gear.
Had it been able to also run amp modelling, this would be a totally different product. As is, I don’t really see the appeal over something like the HX Stomp / Stomp XL…

I know I haven’t read all 36 pages of this thread but isn’t this only able to run 4 effects at any one time? Either you have a very small pedalboard (and around these parts, that’s just weird…) or you never run more than four effects simultaneously.

Again, I don’t get it. What is it about this particular product that has everyone so excited?

Cool ...but I do. And that, for me, is all that matters. Sorry for you. Guess you should get something else and move along.

 

[MadMaxG79]

Cool ...but I do. And that, for me, is all that matters. Sorry for you. Guess you should get something else and move along.

You do you - no need to get testy. I am just asking a question. I am genuinely curious as to what the hype is about. And as far as I can understand, it's about having access to 4 simultaneous Fractal effects in one box and either running it stand alone or integrated into a pedalboard - and with all the flexibility that the Fractal platform provides through those 4 switches.

I'm not trying to bring anybody down from their excitement over this new product - been around long enough to know that that's not how it works. I was just wondering why all my "peers" were slobbering all over this new release while I was scratching my head.