Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard

Snax Panther said:
*sigh*

I spent a couple of hours with this bad boy, and I don't love it. Granted, I've only got a few pedals here to test it against, but they ALL sound better than the counterparts in the VP4. Beyond that, there is definitely some high end loss with the VP4 between my guitar and amp - I tried different cables and such. No bueno.

The biggest thing is that the effects feel and sound almost... distant? It's hard to describe. It feels like there is a minor disconnect between my fingers and what I'm hearing.

I may end up just sticking to a traditional pedalboard after all. It makes me sad because I LOVE the idea of ditching all the cables and power related nonsense that goes along with a full board.

Pour one out for me tonight, fellas. :D
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What effects are you using? I've always thought digital was good for post but always prefer physical for pre effects
 
Mongillo19 said:
What effects are you using? I've always thought digital was good for post but always prefer physical for pre effects
Click to expand...

So I'm a big delay and reverb guy. I don't dislike the delays and verbs in the VP4, and it's nice having so many options, but they just sound disconnected from my playing. Hooking up the Keeley Halo side by side really makes it obvious.

I'm not upset about it at all or anything - it's good to know where I stand. :)
 
Snax Panther said:
*sigh*

I spent a couple of hours with this bad boy, and I don't love it. Granted, I've only got a few pedals here to test it against, but they ALL sound better than the counterparts in the VP4. Beyond that, there is definitely some high end loss with the VP4 between my guitar and amp - I tried different cables and such. No bueno.

The biggest thing is that the effects feel and sound almost... distant? It's hard to describe. It feels like there is a minor disconnect between my fingers and what I'm hearing.

I may end up just sticking to a traditional pedalboard after all. It makes me sad because I LOVE the idea of ditching all the cables and power related nonsense that goes along with a full board.

Pour one out for me tonight, fellas. :D
Click to expand...
It just felt exactly the same to me. There is something wrong with the dry signal, loss of high end, of dynamics. I tried everything, different cables, power supplies. Change of input pad, bypass mode etc.... No good. Have you ever tried the H90 ? I t sounds a lot better and even if it is capable of very complex sounds it is doing a perfect job at emulating the simple effects. Tremolo, BBD delay, Flanger, Tape emuation are perfect !
 
sunking73 said:
It just felt exactly the same to me. There is something wrong with the dry signal, loss of high end, of dynamics. I tried everything, different cables, power supplies. Change of input pad, bypass mode etc.... No good. Have you ever tried the H90 ? I t sounds a lot better and even if it is capable of very complex sounds it is doing a perfect job at emulating the simple effects. Tremolo, BBD delay, Flanger, Tape emuation are perfect !
Click to expand...

I can assure you that the VP4 has no effect on dynamics and high end (unless you want it to).
Must something in your chain or an issue with the VP4.
 
yek said:
I can assure you that the VP4 has no effect on dynamics and high end (unless you want it to).
Must something in your chain or an issue with the VP4.
Click to expand...
If you have a series loop and everything else is top end analog you can hear it and feel it. It just looses the crunch and a hair of dynamics. But my experience trying to find in invisible mixer is coming back with different shades of different not transparent either.
 
Snax Panther said:
So I'm a big delay and reverb guy. I don't dislike the delays and verbs in the VP4, and it's nice having so many options, but they just sound disconnected from my playing. Hooking up the Keeley Halo side by side really makes it obvious.

I'm not upset about it at all or anything - it's good to know where I stand. :)
Click to expand...


Fractal isn't plug and play, it requires tweaking. I had the same issue trying to replace an Eventide Micropitch. Had to do some deep diving in expert mode to adjust HI/Low cut, delay times and modulation. Now it nails. it.

As for the disconnectedness I don't know, I maintain an analog dry path so this is never an issue.
 
Eagle said:
If you have a series loop and everything else is top end analog you can hear it and feel it. It just looses the crunch and a hair of dynamics. But my experience trying to find in invisible mixer is coming back with different shades of different not transparent either.
Click to expand...

Could be the series loop itself?
 
yek said:
Aha, weird.

Both aspects (high end, dynamics) can be easily more scientifically tested though.
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It’s what it sounds and feels like to me is what matters. I’ve never played through a DAC that I couldn’t tell the difference between it being there and not.
 
I did a null test. Recorded a loop in my looper. Then recorded it in Logic, Once thru the VP4 in in bypass, then directly to logic. The null test is not good....
 
The null test will probably fail because no device with a buffer (analog bypass has a buffer) will be exactly 100% identical to the completely bypassed not-buffered signal.
 
yek said:
The null test will probably fail because no device with a buffer (analog bypass has a buffer) will be exactly 100% identical to the completely bypassed not-buffered signal.
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It's the DAC that I am concerned about. Buffers can sometimes help DACs never do.
 
An interesting null test would be analog bypass vs. DSP bypass. I'm trying to decide if what I'm experiencing is signal loss or a bit of tone loss.
 
Shredder777 said:
You could try putting another pedal in front of the VP4 to use its buffer and you might get a closer result. Use that pedal in both chains.
Click to expand...
It’s the DAC on the dry signal. Some FX can’t avoid this but most can. H 90 is way worse , sent that back faster than you can say garbage.
 
Shredder777 said:
Like everyone else who has upgraded their gear over the past several decades, I have heard improvements every time I've upgraded conversion.

I have purchased two audio gear over past couple years. A couple years ago I got a Zoom G11 with 123db dynamic range which sounded better DA than my old original RME ufx 118db. It was an eye opener that a mid grade consumer device from Zoom would sound better than a ten year old high end interface. The zoom sounds especially good with headphones and is the first modeler that I could stand to play with headphoens.

This prompted me to upgrade to a Presonus HD8 124db dynamic range which also sounds fantastic (with better preamps as well), giving it the edge to the zoom, but mostly in usabilty and features. Just five years ago this would have been reference level conversion for pro studios, now its run of the mill prosumer gear.

Unknown what conversion the VP4 is using, but if they aren't using the latest gen (because reusing old design or supply chain or something) it would sound worse than good consumer conversion you get in zoom processors, phones, televisions, etc. I know there is much more to audio design than converter specs, but converter specs usually align with what I hear in terms of clarity and punch.

Anything prosumer made more than 2-3 years ago is probably sounding pretty shitty right now in terms of adda quality. The fractal reverbs are the best and most expensive outboard guitar reverbs, whever there is a reverb going, the fractal has the edge in room ambiance, but alot still depends on conversion quality.
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Bricasti M7 sounds better than my Axe 3 to me . Axe is by far the best guitar specific processor though and it’s incredibly versatile.
 
all grown up nicksplat GIF
 
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