Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard

Los-D said:
I know a few folks swear by these. Ever considered something similar?

Click to expand...
I took note of those a while ago and saved the link for future consideration.

The only reason I haven't gotten one is that one of the reasons I went with Fractal is that I wanted to have everything in one box without any additional interconnecting cables and the Suhr MIDI control would be yet another thing to bring,

Sadly, these days I don't spend enough time playing through my 100 watt heads to remind me of considering that option. I'm pretty much exclusively playing through my FM9 and Archangel V3 Fender FR monitors.
 
TubeStack said:
It’s difficult to make sense of the various electronic notices. They’ve all said something different. I’m waiting to go and ask in person, once it arrives back. So frustrating and annoying.

Also imagine I’m going to have to pay another $50+ to try and ship it again…
Click to expand...

Should maybe save this for a “FedEx sucks thread”, however, it’s useful for potential buyers to know some of the ramifications of not having an international dealer/repair network.

Latest update: I brought the returned VP4 package to the FedEx location where I had shipped it from. They said it was a problem with Customs but were not able to determine why there was a problem, and referred me to their 1-800 customer service number. I called that number, and the department that answered referred me to a department that only communicates via email. So, I've sent an email and am waiting for a response.

This is now over a month from when I first shipped it.

Frustrated Fuck My Life GIF
 
forum.fractalaudio.com

VP4 V4.00 Beta 3 Release

The VP4 V4.00 Public Beta 3 Release is now available: VP4 V4.00 Public Beta 3 Please note: This is a beta release, and as such may contain unintended bugs or defects. Please backup your System, Presets and any user IR's before installing this firmware. You can download the supporting VP4-Edit...
forum.fractalaudio.com forum.fractalaudio.com
 
FractalAudio said:
FM-9 Firmware 11.0 is currently in private beta. We expect public beta any day.
Click to expand...
Sweet.

I just spent a few days deep diving some new sounds and ideas that had been kicking around. Took it to a rehearsal last night and it worked out great.

Looking forward to checking out the new stuff when it makes it to FM9.

D
 
I know I'm being a bit precious and silly... but man... I had practice tonight, and because I disassembled my board for some work stuff, and ran out of time to put it all back, I just went with volume pedal, wah, and the VP4.

And yknow what... I didn't really enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It is hard to explain, but there's a certain darkness to the effects that really doesn't suit what I do. Even the reverbs... crank the EQ treble region, crank the high decay time, cut the lows a little bit but not too much, open the filters all the way.... and it just doesn't get close to that Boss RV-5 brash ugly but fucking cool brightness. I don't know why. It really should be able to do this.

I really liked the DM2 and Graphite Copy delays. The digitals were great. I even had a huge Cumulonimbus thing set to 100% wet at one point, and those were all amazing.

But then the defaults for the 100% wet stuff is, you end up losing your dry sound when you bypass the block. I understand why, and I understand more or less how to work around it, but man is it annoying when you're right there jamming.

All in all... it is a great sounding unit, but there's a particular use case that I look for, that it doesn't do very well, and a pedal that is a 7th of the cost does it perfectly. I guess that fucking RV-5 is really imprinted on my musical tastes, because it has always been the benchmark for me for a huge splashy reverb that you can put into the front of an amp, and really mush up your high-gain trem picking.
 
yek said:
Seems something with your setup because when you bypass the blocks, the entire processing is bypassed (no digital conversion or processing), if set right in Setup.
Click to expand...
I'm not using the automatic true-bypass preference. My settings are fine. Load a block. Set it to 100% wet. Bypass it. You won't get any dry.

1764811410607.png


It is to do with the bypass modes. As the manual says, mute FX results in the mix control affecting the dry, even when bypassed.
 
Orvillain said:
All in all... it is a great sounding unit, but there's a particular use case that I look for, that it doesn't do very well, and a pedal that is a 7th of the cost does it perfectly. I guess that fucking RV-5 is really imprinted on my musical tastes, because it has always been the benchmark for me for a huge splashy reverb that you can put into the front of an amp, and really mush up your high-gain trem picking.
Click to expand...

I know exactly where you're coming from and I'm having a similar problem with delay. I bought that DD-500 a few weeks ago and so far absolutely love it, however, there's one sound I use a deep blue delay for and so far haven't had any joy replicating it with the Boss.

It's a super simple tone but there's a grittyness I haven't been able to get out of the Boss yet so I've had to keep both on my board. I can get close but not quite right.
 
In that mode, with Mix at 50%, Input Gain maxed and Level at 0, the wet is equal to the dry. Don't know if that's enough for you. But it will keep the dry at unity gain when bypassing the block. The RV-5 isn't 100% wet with E.level cranked, is it?
 
yek said:
In that mode, with Mix at 50%, Input Gain maxed and Level at 0, the wet is equal to the dry. Don't know if that's enough for you. But it will keep the dry at unity gain when bypassing the block. The RV-5 isn't 100% wet with E.level cranked, is it?
Click to expand...
The particular point you're responding to, I was running 100% wet. Nothing to do with RV-5 comparisons.
 
Orvillain said:
I know I'm being a bit precious and silly... but man... I had practice tonight, and because I disassembled my board for some work stuff, and ran out of time to put it all back, I just went with volume pedal, wah, and the VP4.

And yknow what... I didn't really enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It is hard to explain, but there's a certain darkness to the effects that really doesn't suit what I do. Even the reverbs... crank the EQ treble region, crank the high decay time, cut the lows a little bit but not too much, open the filters all the way.... and it just doesn't get close to that Boss RV-5 brash ugly but fucking cool brightness. I don't know why. It really should be able to do this.

I really liked the DM2 and Graphite Copy delays. The digitals were great. I even had a huge Cumulonimbus thing set to 100% wet at one point, and those were all amazing.

But then the defaults for the 100% wet stuff is, you end up losing your dry sound when you bypass the block. I understand why, and I understand more or less how to work around it, but man is it annoying when you're right there jamming.

All in all... it is a great sounding unit, but there's a particular use case that I look for, that it doesn't do very well, and a pedal that is a 7th of the cost does it perfectly. I guess that fucking RV-5 is really imprinted on my musical tastes, because it has always been the benchmark for me for a huge splashy reverb that you can put into the front of an amp, and really mush up your high-gain trem picking.
Click to expand...
SillyOctpuss said:
I know exactly where you're coming from and I'm having a similar problem with delay. I bought that DD-500 a few weeks ago and so far absolutely love it, however, there's one sound I use a deep blue delay for and so far haven't had any joy replicating it with the Boss.

It's a super simple tone but there's a grittyness I haven't been able to get out of the Boss yet so I've had to keep both on my board. I can get close but not quite right.
Click to expand...

Yes, sometimes a pedal or a specific brand’s version of an effect just does what you want in that special way, that is difficult to replicate. It’s like me and the L6 Transistor Tape delay. I just love that delay and find it super inspiring, with very little tweaking.
 
TubeStack said:
Should maybe save this for a “FedEx sucks thread”, however, it’s useful for potential buyers to know some of the ramifications of not having an international dealer/repair network.

Latest update: I brought the returned VP4 package to the FedEx location where I had shipped it from. They said it was a problem with Customs but were not able to determine why there was a problem, and referred me to their 1-800 customer service number. I called that number, and the department that answered referred me to a department that only communicates via email. So, I've sent an email and am waiting for a response.

This is now over a month from when I first shipped it.

Frustrated Fuck My Life GIF
Click to expand...

Ok, happy to report super fast turnaround time from Fractal. The VP4 finally got to them ($240 Cdn + 1.5 months later, damn you FedEx).
Fractal fixed it under warranty and has it heading back to me in one day. Nice! :pickle

Still waiting to see if the original $50 shipping fee will get refunded by FedEx.
 
TubeStack said:
Ok, happy to report super fast turnaround time from Fractal. The VP4 finally got to them ($240 Cdn + 1.5 months later, damn you FedEx).
Fractal fixed it under warranty and has it heading back to me in one day. Nice! :pickle

Still waiting to see if the original $50 shipping fee will get refunded by FedEx.
Click to expand...
Hope you enjoy it!

Its Been A Long Time Waiting GIF
 
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