Fractal Talk

[laxu]

Let's have a proper "all things Fractal" thread! Tips, tricks, discussions, musings on the current and future.

Want to rant? Thread for that this way: https://thegearforum.com/threads/fractal-users.319/

 

[FuzzyAce]

Proceed. I will live vicariously through all of you.

 

[Foxmeister]

Proceed. I will live vicariously through all of you.

And I will watch on with interest, wondering if I did the right thing when I sold my Fractal units!

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

 

[la szum]

Fooking Fractal Fanbois need their own thread now???? Doesn't Fractal (and Mesa!) dominate
every other one as it is????

 

[Stone]

Love My Fm9 a Lot i mean its the best for what i want
But i think they need to work on their Scene and channels something similar to Helix Snapshots

 

[la szum]

You means the "Scenes" that should not be called "Scenes?"

Never use them.

 

[eggpl@nt]

I like my Axe Fx. Unlike my family, it has never let me down.

 

[jellodog]

I just feel sorry for @laxu. He really tried with this thread. Probably had high hopes

Oh well.


REAL JAZZ on FAS:

Why no Polytone? discuss!

 

[Stone]

Well seems have a ways to go

Ill have it up there before the weekend closes out

 

[jellodog]

@Stone Alrighty then. Let's respect Laxu's wishes. Give us a genuinely good tip or trick that you love to use, when working with a Fractal device

I also have a genuine FAS question for later, but I'm busy (ish) RN.

 

[Stone]

Hmm where do I start
Lets see
Ok
the Amp Block is so powerful
Input boost have some really powerful FAS only Drives Shimmer comes to mind Tweak the tube hardness and Woot!!
Negative Feedback is also a great tone shaping function
Power Supply Sag to get that Saturation
and OFC SIC is absolutely Sick !!
Now the Dynamics Gain enhancer is also incredible it does not really increase the distortion or gain but rather sets a different feel for the gain
So just with one block, one has so much tweakability its insane in the membrane
if you cant get your tone with a Fractal then it cant be done

 

[jellodog]

@Stone Wow. I have never ever used the Shimmer Drive and I use NMV amps (in real life too!).

I've just read the wiki, and this drive / boost looks to be exactly up my street! Can't wait to try it tonight

Shimmer Drive wiki link:

Drive block - Fractal Audio Wiki

wiki.fractalaudio.com

There is just SO MUCH in the box already, there's always more to discover!

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I'm a FAS fan even though I've never actually owned one of their products, a few times I've come real close to convincing myself to get one. I only learned about modern day modeling through the AxeFX 2 over 10 years ago and have always lusted over the wiki. It seems like a tweakers wet dream. I still keep up, am a member of the FAS forum and read most of you guy's threads on FAS.

But of course I'm poor so I have a Helix

 

[Moondog Wily]

In 2022, I put together a spreadsheet showing the CPU %'s for all of the blocks available on a Axe FXIII Turbo. I did so because I run my vocal mic, guitar and sometimes my cajon mic all through the fractal, so needed to know these values to optimize my presets as best I could and did not see any other offerings out there to give me such info (although I now understand a few people have done previous iterations of the same but I have never seen a link to said offerings). Of course, my efforts were pretty much dismissed on the FAS forum with some claiming I was trying to out do Cliff (don't know what that even meant), some chastising me because it would take so much effort to keep it current, etc. If a few members would have kicked in to help (one did offer), we could easily keep it up but as of now, this spreadsheet is based on FW 19.07. I started on FW21 and got about half way through before getting sidetracked. I want to get it done for FW 22, but am very busy right now so it may take a while. Blah blah blah, if anyone wants to take a look at the spreadsheet to use as a guide of where they can save some CPU %, here is the link:

Axe FXIII CPU Usage per Block - FW 19.07

Note that these measurements are:
From Axe FXIII MkII Turbo
FW 19.07
Not official

That's my tip of the day for Fractal users. Keep in mind that if you use a non turbo FXIII, or FM9 or FM3, obviously you will have different values, but they should be in line with the concept of "drive A uses XX% more CPU than drive B", so I think it can still be helpful to anyone wanting to optimize their Fractal unit.

 

[Stone]

@Stone Wow. I have never ever used the Shimmer Drive and I use NMV amps (in real life too!).

I've just read the wiki, and this drive / boost looks to be exactly up my street! Can't wait to try it tonight

Shimmer Drive wiki link:

Drive block - Fractal Audio Wiki

wiki.fractalaudio.com

There is just SO MUCH in the box already, there's always more to discover!

Always something to discover for sure, the permutations are mind boggling

PS get the fractal audio t shirt it really helps

 

[Stone]

I'm a FAS fan even though I've never actually owned one of their products, a few times I've come real close to convincing myself to get one. I only learned about modern day modeling through the AxeFX 2 over 10 years ago and have always lusted over the wiki. It seems like a tweakers wet dream. I still keep up, am a member of the FAS forum and read most of you guy's threads on FAS.

But of course I'm poor so I have a Helix

Do like me Alex relegate your diet to ramen noodles for the next year, you may die but by God there will be toanz

 

[TSJMajesty]

I've said it before, but since we have a 'special' thread...

My Axe III has been THE single best piece of gear I've ever bought. It has given me more inspiration to pick up my guitar nearly every day, for, on average, at least a couple hours. I'm better today than I've ever been because of it, because it sounds so damn good it just makes me want to practice.

And even though it's not cheap, it's an amazing value. I love being able to tweak a preset just slightly, and save several iterations without worrying about running out of space. And that Gift of Tone series was icing on the cake!

 

[Jwdubois]

The Axe III is a great piece of gear. Reasonably priced, reliable, and sounds great.

I have had my struggles at times though, mostly trying to tame the lows. The big problem for me was not the Axe amp models, but the bass heavy response of close mic'd speaker IRs. As a consequence, I've learned dozens of ways and places to apply low cuts. But I've never been totally happy with the results.

Most of the time, I find many of the FW updates to be pretty subtle and not actually as dramatic as the forum chatter would lead you to believe. But for me, Dyna Cabs knocked it out of the park. Being able to control the bass response of the speaker IR by simply moving the virtual mic is far easier than screwing around with low cuts, and to my ear it sounds a lot more natural.

I've found that to compensate for too much bass (even with drastic low cuts) I had been over hyping the high end in most of my patches. This was creating a harshness that I was also struggling with.

With Dyna Cabs, I can get the low end clarity I've been searching for, while at the same time getting a softer and more pleasant high end that still cuts.

 

[jellodog]

The rest of this forum now that @Stone has found his new home in this thread: