Lysander
Shredder
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- 2,443
...Wrestlemania?
Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard
- Thread starter laxu
- Start date
...Wrestlemania?
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- 7,555
I will give some rolling commentary. I'm still feeling pretty under the weather, so not sure how detailed I will get. But:
Plugged it in. Using the stock PSU until I can get a Cioks DC7 and Crux.
Turned it on. Very fast boot time.
Preset one. Went to effect 3. Switched to the Graphite Copy delay. Wondered where the EQ was, because I always tweak that when using the analog delays. Couldn't find it. Look at the two buttons HOME and SAVE... see that the lettering on top says to press both to access the mode selector. I figure I'd try it with the two page switches. Expert editing mode activated. I promise you 100% I didn't know this before hand. Just figured it out by a process of deduction. Very nice to be able to flip between each mode like that.
Tweak my EQ. Go back to simple mode. Increase the mix and feedback.
Go to effect 4. Change it to Cumulonimbus. Open the high cut, and up the mix.
Boom. There you go. The washy ambient tone I've been using on Fractal gear for the last year or more.
Plugged it in. Using the stock PSU until I can get a Cioks DC7 and Crux.
Turned it on. Very fast boot time.
Preset one. Went to effect 3. Switched to the Graphite Copy delay. Wondered where the EQ was, because I always tweak that when using the analog delays. Couldn't find it. Look at the two buttons HOME and SAVE... see that the lettering on top says to press both to access the mode selector. I figure I'd try it with the two page switches. Expert editing mode activated. I promise you 100% I didn't know this before hand. Just figured it out by a process of deduction. Very nice to be able to flip between each mode like that.
Tweak my EQ. Go back to simple mode. Increase the mix and feedback.
Go to effect 4. Change it to Cumulonimbus. Open the high cut, and up the mix.
Boom. There you go. The washy ambient tone I've been using on Fractal gear for the last year or more.
![[Nathan]](/data/avatars/m/0/613.jpg?1726885163){kind=avatar}
[Nathan]
Roadie
- Messages
- 576
Keen to hear how it goes once you get around to using it with 4cm. I always had noise and gain staging issues with the fm3 and I know this is meant to be a lot better. Totally a “I don’t need it” pedal but that’s never stopped me before
- Messages
- 7,555
- Messages
- 7,555
@[Nathan]
So 4-cable-method. Not as noisy as the Quad Cortex, but not as clean as the Axe FX III IMHO. If they gave you the boost/pad feature, maybe that would help. Not sure. @FractalAudio is that possible?
It is perfectly acceptable as it is, but could always be better.
I did have a ground loop. Humbuster cable didn't really address it. I used an Orchid Electronics Isolator box to break it. Worked fine.
I would say that when in 4-cable-method, an extra gate specifically for input R would not go amiss.
I don't really use 4-cable-method myself to be honest.
One cool thing - you CAN enable auto mute in the tuner. I was concerned about that, because from the videos it looked like every time you went into the tuner, it didn't mute.
I'm now pondering how to setup my patches. Right now I really just need delay and reverb. Once the band gets more heavily into writing and recording, I'm sure there will be more.
I have my Morningstar MC6 Pro which I was hoping to setup to activate tuner mode, tap tempo, and switch amp channels.
So 4-cable-method. Not as noisy as the Quad Cortex, but not as clean as the Axe FX III IMHO. If they gave you the boost/pad feature, maybe that would help. Not sure. @FractalAudio is that possible?
It is perfectly acceptable as it is, but could always be better.
I did have a ground loop. Humbuster cable didn't really address it. I used an Orchid Electronics Isolator box to break it. Worked fine.
I would say that when in 4-cable-method, an extra gate specifically for input R would not go amiss.
I don't really use 4-cable-method myself to be honest.
One cool thing - you CAN enable auto mute in the tuner. I was concerned about that, because from the videos it looked like every time you went into the tuner, it didn't mute.
I'm now pondering how to setup my patches. Right now I really just need delay and reverb. Once the band gets more heavily into writing and recording, I'm sure there will be more.
I have my Morningstar MC6 Pro which I was hoping to setup to activate tuner mode, tap tempo, and switch amp channels.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 18,452
Not a complaint but enough blocks to worry about 4cm, imo. Though it does work fine on my amps.
- Messages
- 7,555
Well I can't play guitar anyway, so all effects up front into my gainy channels makes it sound like I can.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 18,452
Someoldqueenorother
Groupie
- Messages
- 70
You and me both good sir. Except for that part about fx up front
I cut out the FX and the gain. The lack of talent is on full display though.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 18,452
Someoldqueenorother
Groupie
- Messages
- 70
Laid bare, as it were
Playing naked would distract from my lack of talent even further.
Naked shoegaze without any FX would be a pretty niche genre. 'Drynudegaze' maybe.
Desertdweller
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,335
I have absolutely zero issues with mine with any of my amps. It’s excellent in 4CM.
laxu
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,495
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- 7,555
I managed to get the MC6 Pro up and running with it tonight. Got one switch doing tap tempo, and another toggling the tuner. Not sure what to do with the other switches. Maybe set them up as midi CC's and tie them to external controllers, so I can have hold/stack modifiers on a per preset basic. Dunno.
- Messages
- 7,555
I didn't get much action with it today because I still feel pretty crappy, and sods law, I've now pulled something in my back and have that sharp stabby sciatic pain stuff. Probably resting too much coz of the noro. I hate the human body.
But the bit of time I did have to quickly check it out, an hour or so, I'd say Fractal have kinda knocked it out of the park for me. Every awesome Fractal effect in a box that is not much bigger than a DD-500 or Meris LVX or Line 6 DL4, 4-cable-method support, midi support, a huge great whackin' tuner display with the fantastic Fractal tuner, really great and intuitive footswitching capabilities, with customizable hold actions if you so choose.
I really like the press the page buttons to unlock expert mode thing. I know it sounds trite.. but usually, the top level controls are what you want 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, you want to just quickly tweak 2 or 3 deeper edit things. This gives you the ability to do that, and then hide them again afterwards. I don't think I can overstate how cool that is.
It is brilliant. I know I'm in the honeymoon period, but also... kinda not really, coz I've had an Axe FX III since 2022 (time flies!) so I knew what I was getting into.
But the bit of time I did have to quickly check it out, an hour or so, I'd say Fractal have kinda knocked it out of the park for me. Every awesome Fractal effect in a box that is not much bigger than a DD-500 or Meris LVX or Line 6 DL4, 4-cable-method support, midi support, a huge great whackin' tuner display with the fantastic Fractal tuner, really great and intuitive footswitching capabilities, with customizable hold actions if you so choose.
I really like the press the page buttons to unlock expert mode thing. I know it sounds trite.. but usually, the top level controls are what you want 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time, you want to just quickly tweak 2 or 3 deeper edit things. This gives you the ability to do that, and then hide them again afterwards. I don't think I can overstate how cool that is.
It is brilliant. I know I'm in the honeymoon period, but also... kinda not really, coz I've had an Axe FX III since 2022 (time flies!) so I knew what I was getting into.
- Messages
- 7,555
So I did manage to get the MC6 Pro setup with the VP4:
I had it switching my Mesa Boogie Mark V to the clean channel when rhythm or lead was turned off, or to the respective channels when I hit those switches. I had it turning on the tuner, and then even the top two spare switches were assigned to external 1 and 2 controllers on the VP4.
But the tap tempo... man... the MC6 kinda sucks for tap tempo - midi clock doesn't update fast enough, so the VP4 doesn't update fast enough... and when you use a midi CC to tap the tempo, the MC6 is quite slow to send the messages, even at the fastest switch sensitivity. So what this means is, if you want to tap a tempo faster than say, 140bpm... it is actually borderline impossible. So if you wanted to quickly double tap a switch to set the VP4 to a slapback (even if the delay is set to a quarter note sync for example) then you can't. And I tend to do that quite often.
Maybe I'll do some more investigation, but right now I'm annoyed at it and took it off the board.
I've plugged in my old trusty Boss FS5U into the VP4, and that works perfectly. Great tap tempo performance, and it can tap right up to 250bpm, which is the max the VP4 supports. I put another SPST switch on there too, and assigned that to external 1; which in my first preset is the HOLD modifier on the 2nd delay.
I had it switching my Mesa Boogie Mark V to the clean channel when rhythm or lead was turned off, or to the respective channels when I hit those switches. I had it turning on the tuner, and then even the top two spare switches were assigned to external 1 and 2 controllers on the VP4.
But the tap tempo... man... the MC6 kinda sucks for tap tempo - midi clock doesn't update fast enough, so the VP4 doesn't update fast enough... and when you use a midi CC to tap the tempo, the MC6 is quite slow to send the messages, even at the fastest switch sensitivity. So what this means is, if you want to tap a tempo faster than say, 140bpm... it is actually borderline impossible. So if you wanted to quickly double tap a switch to set the VP4 to a slapback (even if the delay is set to a quarter note sync for example) then you can't. And I tend to do that quite often.
Maybe I'll do some more investigation, but right now I'm annoyed at it and took it off the board.
I've plugged in my old trusty Boss FS5U into the VP4, and that works perfectly. Great tap tempo performance, and it can tap right up to 250bpm, which is the max the VP4 supports. I put another SPST switch on there too, and assigned that to external 1; which in my first preset is the HOLD modifier on the 2nd delay.
