Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard

JiveTurkey said:
Here goes....


I have replaced pretty much all my analog components with digital then found out I want the analog stuff back. I can live with digital effects in the loop because you know why but tubes and guitar speakers and with the IR-D a "lower gain" tube preamp combined with the :chef VP FXis completing that circle again for me. Whether or not it makes a difference to the "audience(?)" or myself :bag
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The heart wants what the heart wants!!!!!!!!




...no matter how dumb it is.

run away go go go GIF
 
JiveTurkey said:
Here goes....


I have replaced pretty much all my analog components with digital then found out I want the analog stuff back. I can live with digital effects in the loop because you know why but tubes and guitar speakers and with the IR-D a "lower gain" tube preamp combined with the :chef VP FXis completing that circle again for me. Whether or not it makes a difference to the "audience(?)" or myself :bag
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Nothing wrong with that! Would this replace your FM3 live rig? Would you run the IRD into the Fryette?
 
@Hapless tried the panning trick as we discussed. I thought the Volume/Panner block could do it but there is no L/R panning/level control in that block. So that route is a no go unless I am missing something obvious? A/B box is probably going to be your best bet.
 
JiveTurkey said:
@Hapless tried the panning trick as we discussed. I thought the Volume/Panner block could do it but there is no L/R panning/level control in that block. So that route is a no go unless I am missing something obvious? A/B box is probably going to be your best bet.
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Thanks. What's a good cheap AB box? Lol.
 
JiveTurkey said:
Whether or not it makes a difference to the "audience(?)" or myself
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I know you’re not saying this but it gets said a lot that we as players shouldn’t care if the playing experience isn’t what we look for as long as the “audience doesn’t care.” That’s the biggest load bullshit because if the player isn’t enjoying themselves then the audience can tell. So IMHO “the audience don’t care” is not true and just a straw man argument.
 
ejecta said:
I know you’re not saying this but it gets said a lot that we as players shouldn’t care if the playing experience isn’t what we look for as long as the “audience doesn’t care.” That’s the biggest load bullshit because if the player isn’t enjoying themselves then the audience can tell. So IMHO “the audience don’t care” is not true and just a straw man argument.
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If you are happy with the tones you are getting, and it all works in a manner that you like using, then you are likely to be able to put on your best performance.

Funnily enough, to me the best tone is when you don't think about your tone or gear. That's when you can just play. That will translate to something the audience will care about, even if they won't care about the gear you use or your tone as long as it's not total mud or a shrill mess.
 
ejecta said:
I know you’re not saying this but it gets said a lot that we as players shouldn’t care if the playing experience isn’t what we look for as long as the “audience doesn’t care.” That’s the biggest load bullshit because if the player isn’t enjoying themselves then the audience can tell. So IMHO “the audience don’t care” is not true and just a straw man argument.
Click to expand...

laxu said:
If you are happy with the tones you are getting, and it all works in a manner that you like using, then you are likely to be able to put on your best performance.

Funnily enough, to me the best tone is when you don't think about your tone or gear. That's when you can just play. That will translate to something the audience will care about, even if they won't care about the gear you use or your tone as long as it's not total mud or a shrill mess.
Click to expand...
We've read all the tropes on forums for probably decades at this point. I think the "truth" on this lies somewhere in the middle. What you hear, how you sound relative the other instruments, how it (uh oh) "feels" when you play through a rig all makes a difference. Especially in a live setting with other instruments that are using traditional amplification. Gear foruming is funny in that you get tired of hearing the same old crap but then you realize the same old crap you are tired of hearing is a lot of times 100% true :ROFLMAO:
 
Hello - I gig (classic rock cover band) with a Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb along with a pedalboard of mostly Wampler overdrive pedals. I use a bit of reverb from the amp and some delay on some solos. I'm wondering if the VP4 would be a suitable replace of my current pedalboard? Meaning - are the drive pedals on the VP4 good enough to justify the switch? From the demos I've seen, most of them concentrate on modulation and ambient stuff. At least initially, I'm less interested in that and more interested in the drive sounds of the VP4.

Appreciate any input.
Pretz
 
PretzelLogic said:
Hello - I gig (classic rock cover band) with a Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb along with a pedalboard of mostly Wampler overdrive pedals. I use a bit of reverb from the amp and some delay on some solos. I'm wondering if the VP4 would be a suitable replace of my current pedalboard? Meaning - are the drive pedals on the VP4 good enough to justify the switch? From the demos I've seen, most of them concentrate on modulation and ambient stuff. At least initially, I'm less interested in that and more interested in the drive sounds of the VP4.

Appreciate any input.
Pretz
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You can check out demos of the Axe-Fx III / FM9 / FM3 drives, as the VP4 effects are the same.

Here's a demo that popped up on a search, from @2112 starting at 6:30 on video:
 
My first impressions are it was a little wonky to get started, and I’m a long time Fractal user, going way back the the Axe FX Ultra. You really have to pay attention to the knobs because that’s how you navigate now between presets, scenes, and effects, not just the page or home buttons like the Fractal modelers.

Only 2 drawbacks so far, one I get, the other I don’t. 1) You can either be in 4CM mode or standard routing, you have to select this in the setup menu. The presets for standard routing are bypassed in 4CM mode and 4CM presets are bypassed in standard routing. It’s fine I guess, but I don’t like the extra step. This routing change is 5 pages deep on the setup menu, so I was sitting there for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to un-bypass the 4CM presets like an idiot. I even touched the screen where it said BYPASS a few times hoping it would just unbypass lol! I like to play around with a device before reading the manual, but I’ll deep dive the manual soon.

The second drawback is there is not a gate on each input. There should be. I shouldn’t have to dedicate a whole block, 25% of the processing power to a gate. Us metal guys use 2 gates, one in front and one in the loop. The gate on the input block is awesome, @FractalAudio @Fractal M@ please upgrade this by putting the same gate on the second input in 4CM. Or let me know if I’ve missed something.

Consider these absolutely minor gripes in what is an absolutely amazing piece of tech. The sounds are exactly what I expected, phenomenal, and the unit plays super nice with the Road King’s FX loop. Awesome device, and I can’t wait to see how Fractal grows the unit’s functionality from here.
 
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