Fractal FM: what’s the point of channels, with that big ass gap?

TubeStack said:
And it's fast enough for me when going from clean to crunch, using two different amps on two different channels.
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I should clarify: it's fast enough for me using two different amps, on two different channels, of the same amp block.

(ie. not dual amp blocks for channel switching; although I do use dual amps, but not for switching channels: I have the second amp block optimized for FOH, while the first is set up for ss+pwr amp + real cab).
 
TubeStack said:
As mentioned, real amps often have a gap. Also, keep in mind, each channel of the real amp is its own model in Fractal-land, so expecting it to seamlessly load the whole model instantly is expecting a lot.
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The only possible Fractal "fix" would be a switch from a model being 1 channel of an amp to modeling all channels of an amp within a single block. Of course that comes with it's own limitations vs having unique blocks for each amp in cases where amp channels share EQ controls, or master volume settings, etc. I wouldn't expect anything from Fractal in this regard in this generation of products.
 
Will Chen said:
Which? The Boss GT was the closest I tried. Can't recall if the KPA does. Line 6 stuff absolutely does not unless using 2 amp blocks, something you can do on the FM9 and AXEIII



A great many real amps delay/fade in the channel switching or have a pop up of varying degrees of loudness when switching channels. Mesas we're notoriously bad for this and on the flip side lots of older EHX pedals opted not to use a pull down resister and you get a very loud pop when they are engaged.
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KPA and Atomic are gapless. Commonality: fixed(ish) signal path.
 
I may be totally wrong, but what I’ve always assumed is the gap is due to the application loading the model from memory, and the reason Kemper can do it seamlessly is because the size of the data of a Profile is much much smaller than the size of the data for a model so it doesn’t take as long to load from memory

I’m assuming the FM has a certain amount of memory allocated for the active amp model and it has to swap the data for one model out and load the next one into that memory.

But that’s a total guess
 
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And with real amps and switching between them, one can get some nasty cracklepops (more like gunshot sounds) if not going serious on the switching itself. A simple a/b/y can be nasty as hell with real amps… or is it the amps haha… can’t remember. But I remember nasty…
 
Will Chen said:
Cool. I thought the KPA was, but it's been a long time. Of course both those devices have very different feature sets than Fractal devices.
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metropolis_4 said:
I may be totally wrong, but what I’ve always assumed the gap is due to the application loading the model from memory, and the reason Kemper can do it seamlessly is because the size of the data of a Profile is much much smaller than the size of the data for a model so it doesn’t take as long to load from memory

I’m assuming the FM has a certain amount of memory allocated for the active amp model and it has to swap the data for one model out and load the next one into that memory.

But that’s a total guess
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For channels, yes. For presets the gap is larger because the whole shebang, including signal path, has to load. Atomic has always used similar processing power to Helix, so doubt their amp models are as miniscule as KPA
 
Desertdweller said:
Yes you can. Every amp channel can be another amp.
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His entire complaint is about the gap when using channels. Some folks get around this by using scenes to alter the control settings of the amp on channel A, which happens without a gap. This can work for some sounds with some amps with some compromises. It can't work from going pristine clean to monster gain.
 
Boudoir Guitar said:
His entire complaint is about the gap when using channels. Some folks get around this by using scenes to alter the control settings of the amp on channel A, which happens without a gap. This can work for some sounds with some amps with some compromises. It can't work from going pristine clean to monster gain.
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The best option for that is too have a clean amp and dirt block

The clean amps you can push to EOB or Crunch by using the scene controllers method

Then have the second amp block with all your high gain stuff

But I can see the point you can’t have 8 different amps with out some gaps or heavy work arounds
 
I guess some may find a use for a patch that has a gap in the switching but I can’t find one except for maybe in the studio but again why? Might as well just have a separate patch and punch in because you’re not going to want to have a gap on a continuous take. My main use for modelers is live use so I solely use scenes. I never use separate amp patches or channels for that matter. For the sensitive YMMV.

TubeStack said:
As mentioned, real amps often have a gap. Also, keep in mind, each channel of the real amp is its own model in Fractal-land, so expecting it to seamlessly load the whole model instantly is expecting a lot.
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Some amps do but I beg to differ with the “often”. Amps I own or have owned like a Suhr PT, Ecstasy, Fryette Pittbull, 5150 III, Friedman, Diezel don’t have a gap and neither does my Bogner Shiva 20th or Soldano SLO.
 
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GTR37 said:
The best option for that is too have a clean amp and dirt block

The clean amps you can push to EOB or Crunch by using the scene controllers method

Then have the second amp block with all your high gain stuff

But I can see the point you can’t have 8 different amps with out some gaps or heavy work arounds
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Nothing personal to you, but that’s just not a great option for many people. Say for example I’m taking a patch and replicating a JP-2C, with its three channels, Green, Yellow, Red. The gaps in switching are probably 300-500ms for the channel block. So I’ll have to try using two blocks for amps instead, with muting one per scene, which is kind of a bummer, because that negates using two amps simultaneously, if I don’t want the gap delays.
 
ejecta said:
I guess some may find a use for a patch that has a gap in the switching but I can’t find one except for maybe in the studio but again why? Might as well just have a separate patch and punch in because you’re not going to want to have a gap on a continuous take. My main use for modelers is live use so I solely use scenes. I never use separate amp patches or channels for that matter. For the sensitive YMMV.


Some amps do but I beg to differ with the “often”. Amps I own or have owned like a Suhr PT, Ecstasy, Fryette Pittbull, 5150 III, Friedman, Diezel don’t have a gap and neither does my Bogner Shiva 20th or Soldano SLO.
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Yeah, there’s not a single Mesa made today that’s got a gap that big, and they do it all without a pop.
 
paisleywookiee said:
Yeah, there’s not a single Mesa made today that’s got a gap that big, and they do it all without a pop.
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Yeah I wasn’t going to say Boogie because it’s been so long since I had one I couldn’t recall but I don’t remember there being one on the Tremoverb I had in the 90’s. Also I could count on one finger the amps I’ve played that popped when it changed and that was Fender Prosonic in the 90’s. Great sounding amp BTW but why they though the pop was ok is mind boggling. I’ve not played an amp since then that has a pop or the same gap to that plague modern modelers that I recall.
 
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