Fractal ICONS Plugin

[FuzzyAce]

This thread's been a little quiet lately! I'm still using ICONS when I can, just not with the Motu M4 as my input interface, as that's an issue.

I guess there's no word on when the next pack/suite will be coming out? Even the Fractal forum seems quiet on when or what is next.
It would be cool see a modern gain pack next, although a vintage Marshall and Vox etc would be cool too.

 

[Mongillo19]

I guess there's no word on any when the next pack/suite will be coming out? Even the Fractal forum seems quiet on when or what is next.

Hopefully there is a next pack! But yeah, I think fractal has a lot going on right now. They have expanded their product line significantly and they aren't a big group as we know. Hope to hear news soon!

 

[FuzzyAce]

Hopefully there is a next pack! But yeah, I think fractal has a lot going on right now. They have expanded their product line significantly and they aren't a big group as we know. Hope to hear news soon!

Yeah, no pressure!
I just enjoy their stuff, hopefully this ICONS thing keeps going regardless of the time frame they can put them out. I know it's a big step for them that comes with its own list of headaches...

 

[Mongillo19]

Yeah, no pressure!
I just enjoy their stuff, hopefully this ICONS thing keeps going regardless of the time frame they can put them out. I know it's a big step for them that comes with its own list of headaches...

I forget, did you snag a AM? Or only the plug

 

[FuzzyAce]

I forget, did you snag a AM? Or only the plug

I do have an AM4 as well.
I should just be happy and shut up.

 

[Sascha Franck]

just not with the Motu M4 as my input interface, as that's an issue.

What's the issue? I may have missed it...

 

[Elf]

I’m glad they have a demo, it was a no for me.

 

[FuzzyAce]

What's the issue? I may have missed it...

I posted this on the previous page. Seems to be the Motu input when recording.

I'm just having issues with adding a new instance of ICONS to another track making the overall latency jump up significantly. The buffer size in my DAW doesn't change though. But when I do change the buffer up or down it returns to normal again. Frustrating and not sure if it's my Motu M4 when working with the plugin or something else. I'm using Studio Pro 8 too. Think when I'm able to later today I'll try it with another interface to see what happens.

Just confirmed it's not. It's the recording input of the Motu M4.

Here's what I tried, starting with buffer at 64:

Scenario 1) Motu M4 input and output / Studio Pro 8 / when ICONS is inserted on a channel the latency audibly glitches and jumps up.
Scenario 2) Motu M4 input and output / Studio One 7 / same glitch in different DAW
Scenario 3) Presonus Studio 192 input and output / Studio Pro 8 or Studio One 7 / ICONS inserted and working fine
Scenario 4) Presonus Studio 192 input with Motu M4 output / Studio Pro 8 or Studio One 7 / ICONS inserted and working fine
Scenario 5) Motu M4 input with Studio 192's output / ICONS glitch occurs

Note: this glitch has never happened before with any other plugin including HX native.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I posted this on the previous page. Seems to be the Motu input when recording.

Hm, I have never been running into any of these issues with the M2. Plus, you're even saying yourself it doesn't happen with other plugins...
Did you check with another interface? Or with another DAW?

 

[FuzzyAce]

Did you check with another interface? Or with another DAW?

Yeah, read my quotes above.
It's the M4 input when running ICONS. They don't like each other. It works but I have to repeatedly change the buffer back and forth in preferences to trigger it back to normal latency. This happens when I insert ICONS on a track. It's annoying to say the least.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Yeah, read my quotes above.

Sorry, misread some stuff.
Anyhow, I'd possibly still try another DAW but Studio One.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Sorry, misread some stuff.
Anyhow, I'd possibly still try another DAW but Studio One.

I love Fractal, but there is no amp sim plugin that is so much superior to others that I’d choose to work in a different DAW for it.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I love Fractal, but there is no amp sim plugin that is so much superior to others that I’d choose to work in a different DAW for it.

Nah, that's not even remotely what I was suggesting - I'd only check another DAW for a testride, to find out what exactly was the culprit.
While there's some issues with Motu's M-series (for starters: they're not reporting their latency properly, there's some output pad activated when input monitoring is on, etc) I actually have a hard time to believe a certain interface would cause issues with a certain plugin, especially when that very interface is usually known for pretty robust performance (minus its issues). So it's likely at least a result of some additional stuff. And ruling the DAW out would be a kinda easy first measure.

 

[Sascha Franck]

And fwiw, from all I know there's some settings in Studio One allowing you to have playback tracks use a different buffer size than monitoring/record-enabled tracks (similar to what Logic is doing automatically), maybe those settings cooperate more flawlessly with a Presonus interface. After all, it's the same company...
Maybe tweaking these settings could change something with the M4 behaviour as well.

 

[[Nathan]]

If you have a bunch of ampsims and plugins and none of them have a problem with the Motu, I'd say its squarely on ICONS plugin as some kind of bug/hiccup. Sure its some freak combo that isnt happening with other interfaces, but something must be going on with the plugin that isnt happening on other plugins so worth reporting as a bug.

It would be likely that whatever is causing it to happen on the MOTU is also probably happening on some other interfaces and its just a game of pot luck on who's reporting it.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Yeah, I'm not saying it's Motu's problem, as I've used a number of other amp sims with it and Studio One 5,6,7 and now Pro 8. So it's certainly a Fractal thing how it's interacting with the Motu. I don't mind trying with another DAW just to see, it would have to be Garageband because I don't have protools or ableton on my computer anymore.

 

[Sascha Franck]

So it's certainly a Fractal thing how it's interacting with the Motu.

As said before, I'd recommend to check for the auto-buffer settings (no idea what it's called exactly) in Studio One.

 

[FuzzyAce]

As said before, I'd recommend to check for the auto-buffer settings (no idea what it's called exactly) in Studio One.

I don't see any auto-buffer setting in Studio One or Pro. Besides that, I ran Garageband and the same issue happened, so confirming it's the M4 with ICONS.

Here are my buffer windows in Studio Pro:

 

[FuzzyAce]

Alright, I feel kind of stupid for not doing this before -- but it didn't dawn on me to update my M4's firmware.

So I just did. This update came out in February. It appears to be holding good with ICONS now.

Well that was like driving 10 miles to get food, when the food's next door.

 

[KFF]

...but it didn't dawn on me to update my M4's firmware.

Sometimes its tough to remember companies other than Fractal update their firmware.