Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard

TubeStack said:
As an "amp and pedals guy," who has been mostly left out of Fractal releases for a long time , I'm really enjoying seeing the modeling crowd get left out for once. :grin
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JiveTurkey said:
When we were discussing dual detune the other day; this is the Boss stuff I was talking up. It's timestamped

I could never get anything this rich out of the MicroPitch. User error I would hope. FAS does a great job as well.
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Wait what, excuse me, GX-10? So they have the GT-1000(Core) and its sexy cousin GX-100, and now Boss's flagship tech has been whittled down to $400?
 
yeky83 said:
Wait what, excuse me, GX-10? So they have the GT-1000(Core) and its sexy cousin GX-100, and now Boss's flagship tech has been whittled down to $400?
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Cool, so I’m not the only one who saw JTs post and went “wait, what is that thing?”
 
norminal said:
Yep. I focus on my playing. Ain’t nobody got time for tiptoeing in the heat of battle.

“Pedals” are referred to as “stomp boxes” for a reason.
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IDk man, I've always just used the front part of my foot where my shoes get a little pointy and never had an issue.
 
the swede said:
Omg, i wish i could find that clip with the Australian guy who wipes with one finger through a piece of paper and then clean the finger with the paper…. Such a funny thing.
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Years ago on UK kids TV, Blue Peter to be precise, someone in the army did this. It was a fucking great thing to see on mainstream non-cable telly at just after 5pm in the afternoon.
 
Orvillain said:
hahaha wtf. I don't remember that!!
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It was well over 30 years ago so you'd have been a wee bairn then :) but yes, it actually happened. It was a segment on surviving outdoors and the Army guy demonstrated the whole 'tear off a corner, wipe with one sheet, then clean under the fingernail' approach. It probably stays in the mind because Mum's reaction to this was one of abject horror. I wasn't a regular BP watcher, not really my thing, but I'm glad that I saw this monumental episode.
 
I'm still very conflicted if I want the VP4 or not, and it's not even available to buy in EU yet.

I've been rewatching Leon's and Cordy's videos because they are the few videos out there that show the onboard UI in action, as well as reading the VP4 manual.

Pros:
  • Fractal fx quality!
  • Smaller and cheaper than my current pedalboard.
  • Ducking for delay/reverb is nice.
  • Better visibility to fx. Channels = presets on my pedals, and I can't easily see what each preset is doing until Strymon releases a Nixie 2 compatible with the pedals I have.
Neutral:
  • More fx options.
    • I don't need a ton of different delays or reverbs.
    • I definitely don't need more drive options. Considering keeping Strymon Compadre (comp/boost) + Riverside (drive) and using VP4 for other fx.
    • Pitch options would be nice.
  • Easy to rearrange fx.
    • I don't do this much in the first place. I imagine most of my presets would be something like comp/drive, mod/pitch, delay, reverb in a 4CM, 2 pre + 2 post block split.
  • Easy parallel routing. It's a nice-to-have feature but not essential.
  • No cable mess.
  • Setting up switching is easier. I have a pretty comprehensive setup already using the Luminite M1.
Cons:
  • Size is a poor fit for my Nux Bumblebee M. It too tall/deep to fit 1st row, and too deep for 2nd row to not obscure 1st row pedal controls.
  • No dedicated knobs.
  • No click on knobs = improving usability of the device with fw updates might be challenging.
  • I might grow to resent editing fx with the onboard UI, just like I did on the FM3 and Axe-Fx 3.
  • Currently missing features:
    • Can't send whatever MIDI messages you want on preset/scene changes.
      • Can be replaced by other devices.
    • No block reordering via onboard UI.
      • No biggie, I rarely do this anyway.
    • No way to cycle between fx blocks when you are editing a block. It's a lot of Enter-scroll-Exit-scroll-Enter.
      • Hated this on Axe-Fx before the "go back a block" feature was added.
    • No quick params similar to Performance View, or just showing 4 currently selected block params without entering the block.
    • No user-defined defaults, or ability to save/load favorites without using VP4-Edit.
      • This is a big one. It was tested you cannot just dial in blocks that are not in use and have those settings saved in a preset to have custom defaults.
    • No copy/paste/swap of scenes and especially channels using the onboard UI.
      • Again pushes more functionality to requiring VP4-Edit.
  • Currently inconvenient features:
    • Modulation fx are in separate blocks instead of a single MOD block, so swapping from chorus to flanger means separate presets or wasting blocks just for that.
    • Switching channels while editing a block seems inconvenient: You need to go to page 1, change channel, then go back to page 2 to adjust it. Not sure if you can use the hold functions on the pedals to do this instead?
To me a good chunk of the unit is built around making a preset from scratch and that's easy, but after you are done thing get increasingly inconvenient. In Effects layer, all the knobs under the screen become "useless" once you have selected your type of effect for each block. Editing fx is still buried under several steps you need to take.

I'm on the G66 waitlist but go back and forth between wanting to buy one, not buying it, or waiting to see what firmware updates bring.
 
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