Fractal ICONS Plugin

[DrewJD82]

That's one way to do it and it has obvious advantages.

But...the successful model everyone in the biz is admiring is NDSP, and that's not how they do it.

“Status quo! Status quo! Status quo!”

 

[Chocol8]

But...the successful model everyone in the biz is admiring is NDSP, and that's not how they do it.

Hmmm, not only do I disagree with your characterization, but the way for a new entrant to disrupt a market is most definitely NOT to do everything the same way as the incumbents, especially do not copy the things that are unpopular with their customers.

 

[Dez]

That's one way to do it and it has obvious advantages.

But...the successful model everyone in the biz is admiring is NDSP, and that's not how they do it.

And most NDSP plugin users have voiced that they’d love a master plugin where you can at least mix and match what you own.

 

[Sascha Franck]

And most NDSP plugin users have voiced that they’d love a master plugin where you can at least mix and match what you own.

Seriously, I would not buy a "suite" of amp plugins from one vendor if I had to call up multiple instances just to exchange the amp in a signal chain. Can't count how often I did just that within HX Native.
The amps could still easily be grouped per collection.

 

[LP59]

And most NDSP plugin users have voiced that they’d love a master plugin where you can at least mix and match what you own.

I don't know about "Most" . The single plugin model, like Amplltube, where all your purchased content appears in one plugin is popular because of its flexibility, but the NDSP multi-plugin approach has been wildly successful. One reason for that success IMHO is the narrow focus of each plugin. People like calling up a plugin that is curated for a specific genre.

 

[Dez]

I don't know about "Most" . The single plugin model, like Amplltube, where all your purchased content appears in one plugin is popular because of its flexibility, but the NDSP multi-plugin approach has been wildly successful. One reason for that success IMHO is the narrow focus of each plugin. People like calling up a plugin that is curated for a specific genre.

I think it’s the biggest feature request I’ve seen to plugin users - they don’t want to have to spool up a to play Gojira and Nolly together. The curated plugin is absolutely excellent to be able to have the experience in a small package but as soon as you start investing more in their ecosystem, it’s apparent that “this could be a lot easier on me”

Idk - it’s not the biggest deal in the world to open Logic to do this, but it’s definitely a popular feature request

 

[paisleywookiee]

I don't know about "Most" . The single plugin model, like Amplltube, where all your purchased content appears in one plugin is popular because of its flexibility, but the NDSP multi-plugin approach has been wildly successful. One reason for that success IMHO is the narrow focus of each plugin. People like calling up a plugin that is curated for a specific genre.

I think it blows goats, and between that and the decent but unremarkable modeling, I don't think I'll be buying any more of their plugins.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I think it blows goats, and between that and the decent but unremarkable modeling, I don't think I'll be buying any more of their plugins.

Genuinely surprised you think as lowly as that of their modelling. It’s always held up very well for me, and in every blind shootout I’ve done involving them vs real amps, they always fare well with others too

 

[Orvillain]

*purchases goat mask*

 

[bucephalus]

*purchases goat mask*

It's not the face that needs to look like a goat.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Genuinely surprised you think as lowly as that of their modelling. It’s always held up very well for me, and in every blind shootout I’ve done involving them vs real amps, they always fare well with others too

No doubt others gel well with it, and get great tones. I just don't care for what I've gotten out of it, and it's just nowhere near Fractal for me.

 

[GurthPeedler]

And most NDSP plugin users have voiced that they’d love a master plugin where you can at least mix and match what you own.

Made an account just to share when I was really pissed about this - when a popular guitarfluencer made a video titled something like "You're using NDSP plugins wrong!" and went on to show how the "proper" way was to combine 3/5/7/100 of them together to use all their unique effects in the same signal chain. It made me realize what a kind of crappy model that can be, and that perhaps the obvious intention is to avoid giving people everything in one so that you feel more compelled to buy more of them.

I sure hope this isn't at all in FAS's mind.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

No doubt others gel well with it, and get great tones. I just don't care for what I've gotten out of it, and it's just nowhere near Fractal for me.

Fair enough. Swings and roundabouts here for me tbh.

Just pulled the trigger. Input Calibration seems to be 1Vp=0.707V RMS=0dBFS, I've added that to the spreadsheet. I applaud the inclusion of reference DI's to calibrate with but I'd really just rather have a set number. It looks like a webpage with a load of information for various interfaces is incoming though and I imagine in due course Fractal will have the most comprehensive guide for input levels out there. In turn that should raise the bar for everyone else.

Tones are great. Being able to get Fractal tones through my usual DI input chain and routing really is a dream come true. The Standalone app is a nice bonus too for just quick noodling.

I can't say I really like the look of the plugin. I think the overall concept and approach is pretty solid but IMO the experience is more like using a Fractal device than using the real thing. For better or worse, thats what it is and will be. The plus side is, having a plugin means its so easy to mix and match with whatever I want - say if there is a particular effect that I want to control like I would the HW.. The good news is, it's nice to use. Snappy and responsive, the things that should appear instantly come first, advanced parameters require more work. It’s much nicer to use than Axe Edit. If I was being greedy, I kind of wish that all the modules had an advanced tab. The amp page probably has JUST enough to make me happy. I love being able to see graphics of the pedals, I wish there was more in that direction but it definitely adds something when you can visualise what you're controlling. Not sure I ever used the Octave Distortion much in the AxeFX but having a great time with it here. All the blocks really need more graphics, for things like microphones where you basically just have a number to go off, having visuals adds a lot.

This alone tells me so much more than what the text and lists in the HW units show.

This doesn't really do that:

Delays are just Analog or Digital. They sound good but realistically I'm going to be reaching for plugins that give the experience of a Space Echo or EP3 or Binson or PCM42 (or something with deeper control). Again, not a big deal - Im stoked to have Fractal FX AND the ability to mix and match with my favourites.

The same is true for the reverbs - nice to have, but too few parameters and we only get bread and butter stuff. In general there's a big lack of weird FX - no pitch things (some pitchy reverbs and octave pedals would suit a lot of these amps IMO). So much of what I associate with Fractal is the ability to come up with absolutely insane sounds and there's nothing of the sort here. I think it would be cool for the reverbs to have some kind of mixer/pan so you can pan the reverbs to the opposite side of the guitar within the plugin. IMO the reverbs and delays are a bit too gimped for me to see myself using them aside for just quick “that’ll do in a pinch” type stuff. It’s fine, but I know Fractal is sat on so much more than what’s in here.

I wish the amp section allowed you to choose a SIC from a list. Even as a creative tool, I love altering the amp response in the AxeFX with that and I miss it here. There's a few other deeper parameters I often jump into that aren't here. I can live without them, but I wish they were there.

Cab engine is cool, but the normalisation feels weird to me (does in every cab sim). The interpolation seems to feel better than other cab engines out there IMO. The blend feature is also a bit weird to me, I don't like that you can't mess with phase much - you essentially get an algorithmic opinion on how it should sound and you can't really escape that to anything else. There are so many mic'd tones that are simply inaccessible as a result. In fact, things have a kind of uniformity to them regardless of what you do that’s a bit strange. I want warts n all throughout the whole chain.

Not sure how I feel about the drive pedals yet. Need to spend some more time with them. I know it's not an ideal solution but some kind of control to mimic a lower input impedance would be cool. Maybe some kind of 2-way communication with the AxeFX input is possible for those using an AxeFX as their DI?

Happy to see MIDI control/learn implemented here.

I'm stoked overall, weirdly the best part for me is being able to mix and match my favourite Fractal amp sounds with all the stupid ass plugins I've been buying for decades. Integrating those before wasn't really a viable option and now it opens things up a TON. The included stuff is a little lopsided towards amps and cabs and not enough on the creative/wild side of Fractals algos. For a Fractal product it's uncharacteristically limiting in some aspects. I think you either have to let the user have the ability to go wild, or you give them a very curated experience. This is a bit of both, not one thing or the other.

FWIW, I think UAD Paradise is a good product to compare it to - it looks a lot nicer, it’s range of FX are more varied, it’s just a bit more refined overall. It’s more curated, but also offers more variety.

 

[Dez]

*purchases goat mask*

 

[yek]

Just pulled the trigger. Input Calibration seems to be 1Vp=0.707V RMS=0dBFS, I've added that to the spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Spreadsheet?

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Yep, decent review there @MirrorProfiles, agreed!

I went for it too and I think it's amazing really, sounds awesome and is impressive to play through.

As good as it is so far, and for very similar reasons, I think there are definitely areas to be improved and expanded upon.
Looking forward to what comes up in the next updates for sure.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Oh, and I think it’s WAY faster and more fun/intuitive to dial in sounds in Icons than Axe Edit. A lot of room to improve too, but it just shows what the potential is. I really hope Fractal go all out here - they’ve got so much right on the first go but it’s not an ENDGAME level plugin yet. It just needs Fractal to approach it with the mindset of “how do we make this the absolute best amp suite plugin out there”.

 

[Whizzinby]

Fair enough. Swings and roundabouts here for me tbh.

Just pulled the trigger. Input Calibration seems to be 1Vp=0.707V RMS=0dBFS, I've added that to the spreadsheet. I applaud the inclusion of reference DI's to calibrate with but I'd really just rather have a set number. It looks like a webpage with a load of information for various interfaces is incoming though and I imagine in due course Fractal will have the most comprehensive guide for input levels out there. In turn that should raise the bar for everyone else.

Tones are great. Being able to get Fractal tones through my usual DI input chain and routing really is a dream come true. The Standalone app is a nice bonus too for just quick noodling.

I can't say I really like the look of the plugin. I think the overall concept and approach is pretty solid but IMO the experience is more like using a Fractal device than using the real thing. For better or worse, thats what it is and will be. The plus side is, having a plugin means its so easy to mix and match with whatever I want - say if there is a particular effect that I want to control like I would the HW.. The good news is, it's nice to use. Snappy and responsive, the things that should appear instantly come first, advanced parameters require more work. It’s much nicer to use than Axe Edit. If I was being greedy, I kind of wish that all the modules had an advanced tab. The amp page probably has JUST enough to make me happy. I love being able to see graphics of the pedals, I wish there was more in that direction but it definitely adds something when you can visualise what you're controlling. Not sure I ever used the Octave Distortion much in the AxeFX but having a great time with it here. All the blocks really need more graphics, for things like microphones where you basically just have a number to go off, having visuals adds a lot.

This alone tells me so much more than what the text and lists in the HW units show.
View attachment 59097

This doesn't really do that:

View attachment 59098

Delays are just Analog or Digital. They sound good but realistically I'm going to be reaching for plugins that give the experience of a Space Echo or EP3 or Binson or PCM42 (or something with deeper control). Again, not a big deal - Im stoked to have Fractal FX AND the ability to mix and match with my favourites.

The same is true for the reverbs - nice to have, but too few parameters and we only get bread and butter stuff. In general there's a big lack of weird FX - no pitch things (some pitchy reverbs and octave pedals would suit a lot of these amps IMO). So much of what I associate with Fractal is the ability to come up with absolutely insane sounds and there's nothing of the sort here. I think it would be cool for the reverbs to have some kind of mixer/pan so you can pan the reverbs to the opposite side of the guitar within the plugin. IMO the reverbs and delays are a bit too gimped for me to see myself using them aside for just quick “that’ll do in a pinch” type stuff. It’s fine, but I know Fractal is sat on so much more than what’s in here.

I wish the amp section allowed you to choose a SIC from a list. Even as a creative tool, I love altering the amp response in the AxeFX with that and I miss it here. There's a few other deeper parameters I often jump into that aren't here. I can live without them, but I wish they were there.

Cab engine is cool, but the normalisation feels weird to me (does in every cab sim). The interpolation seems to feel better than other cab engines out there IMO. The blend feature is also a bit weird to me, I don't like that you can't mess with phase much - you essentially get an algorithmic opinion on how it should sound and you can't really escape that to anything else. There are so many mic'd tones that are simply inaccessible as a result. In fact, things have a kind of uniformity to them regardless of what you do that’s a bit strange. I want warts n all throughout the whole chain.

Not sure how I feel about the drive pedals yet. Need to spend some more time with them. I know it's not an ideal solution but some kind of control to mimic a lower input impedance would be cool. Maybe some kind of 2-way communication with the AxeFX input is possible for those using an AxeFX as their DI?

Happy to see MIDI control/learn implemented here.

I'm stoked overall, weirdly the best part for me is being able to mix and match my favourite Fractal amp sounds with all the stupid ass plugins I've been buying for decades. Integrating those before wasn't really a viable option and now it opens things up a TON. The included stuff is a little lopsided towards amps and cabs and not enough on the creative/wild side of Fractals algos. For a Fractal product it's uncharacteristically limiting in some aspects. I think you either have to let the user have the ability to go wild, or you give them a very curated experience. This is a bit of both, not one thing or the other.

FWIW, I think UAD Paradise is a good product to compare it to - it looks a lot nicer, it’s range of FX are more varied, it’s just a bit more refined overall. It’s more curated, but also offers more variety.

Aesthetics, I agree it sort of jumps around. You have some controls that are made to imitate the gear (amps) and then you jump to the effects blocks and it goes to the blue orb controls. I actually don’t mind the blue orbs, but when it flips between the two it feels a little disjointed. Might be cool to just take the amp dials and use those everywhere? (Or a toggle between amp knobs everywhere and the blue orbs everywhere)

I really think they need to keep the grid visible at all times. and when you open the presets or input page, the window just opens in the space beneath the grid. I keep reflexively wanting to see the grid or to click out to the next thing to tweak but you have to reverse click whatever button you opened the current window in to get back to the grid.

Sooo agree about advance controls everywhere. I don’t really consider myself much of a deep tweaker, but when those pages or certain controls are gone you realize you like to tinker a little more than you thought.

Def agree about the Paradise comparison. It has much more diverse effects, though I think Icons is pretty strong for the core modulations. Most of my favorite bread and butter chorus/flangers are there. An OCD and a Rat would be strong adds for the Drives, plus a couple more verbs and delays.

 

[Cactusprick]

not sure if anyone has asked yet - how power hungry is this, anyone checked the cpu usage on DAW?