Fractal Talk

Orvillain said:
I don't think I'm on this page. Even when I'm jamming out just at home, I'm tweaking the occasional parameter on the Axe III hardware. It sits on top of my amp, and I just reach over and tweak the delay or reverb settings, or I go to the amp block and tweak some stuff there.

I will say that whenever I need to do something deep and involved, I use the software. But if I just need a bit more wetness or a bit more gain, I am fine using the hardware.
Click to expand...
This is where I see you'd relegate the editing part to e.g a tablet, phone, computer or even a dedicated Fractal controller just so the rack unit itself does not have to limit what can be done for user interface. Or maybe Fractal just forgets the rack stuff altogether and sells something more like the QC in form factor, expandable with additional controllers instead. I don't see this happening though since many of Fractal's pro users use racks.

Orvillain said:
I've not tried setting any modifiers up on the hardware really. That is one area that is just waaaaay easier in the software. But again... my point was, the software is so good, it kinda makes the HW experience seem worse - imo.

If you didn't have Axe Edit at all, if it never existed, I think a lot of people would have a much different view on the HW editing experience.
Click to expand...
If Axe-Edit didn't exist, I would have probably sent my Axe-Fx Standard back in 2009.

While the current gen user interface is far better, it's still enough of a chore that I wouldn't want to use it regularly for creating full presets, configuring footswitches or doing anything with modifiers. For occasional adjustments it's good enough.

By comparison I would have no issue if HX-Edit didn't exist. I used the Helix Floor 90% from the hardware. Similarly the QC Control app is a nice to have rather than essential.

On the flipside I'm really looking forward to Strymon's Nixie 2 editor. Managing all my Strymon pedals and their presets is complicated, even if they are super easy for everyday adjustments.
 
laxu said:
This is where I see you'd relegate the editing part to e.g a tablet, phone, computer or even a dedicated Fractal controller
Click to expand...
This fails hard for me. Both TC and Source Audio more or less expect you to have additional peripherals in order to fully use the device. I hate it.
 
laxu said:
This is where I see you'd relegate the editing part to e.g a tablet, phone, computer or even a dedicated Fractal controller just so the rack unit itself does not have to limit what can be done for user interface. Or maybe Fractal just forgets the rack stuff altogether and sells something more like the QC in form factor, expandable with additional controllers instead. I don't see this happening though since many of Fractal's pro users use racks.


If Axe-Edit didn't exist, I would have probably sent my Axe-Fx Standard back in 2009.

While the current gen user interface is far better, it's still enough of a chore that I wouldn't want to use it regularly for creating full presets, configuring footswitches or doing anything with modifiers. For occasional adjustments it's good enough.

By comparison I would have no issue if HX-Edit didn't exist. I used the Helix Floor 90% from the hardware. Similarly the QC Control app is a nice to have rather than essential.

On the flipside I'm really looking forward to Strymon's Nixie 2 editor. Managing all my Strymon pedals and their presets is complicated, even if they are super easy for everyday adjustments.
Click to expand...
IMO Axe edit is really good
If they ever decided to go touch screen using that as the design i might be great
You would basically use some of those features like the quick build
That would allow you to drag and drop blocks ,click on them to open
Have 8 encoders no footswitch
That for FM0 would be great but where I see that being a problem is

A. Axe edit already works killer and is a lot easier to view on a desktop than a touch screen

B the Axe just has so many parameters for FX etc that it might be hard to implement

One thing that could be done that I saw on Hotone funny enough is they group amp categories
Like Clean, Crunch , HiGain
I thought that was a neat idea because it then if you are looking for something like an Engl you don’t need to wade through all the fenders etc
Click HiGain or Modern whatever and it’s a much shorter list to scroll
 
2112 said:
New amps are sounding phenomenal. @FractalAudio thanks for modeling the low input of the 800's, and big ups to @James Freeman for sharing his knowledge!

Click to expand...

Absolutely sick firmware update. AXE-III “The Gift that Keeps Giving” MK V models now. Love it.

Improved CPU usage.
Added "Nobelium OVD-1” Drive model based on a Nobels ODR-1. The BC (Bass Cut) switch is modeled via the Bass Response control. Set the Bass Response to 1.0 to duplicate the response of the pedal with the Bass Cut switch engaged. Set Bass Response to 5.0 to duplicate response with BC switch disengaged.
Added Sunrise Splendor model based on a JHS Morning Glory.
Added Gauss Drive model based on a Mesa Flux Drive.
Added Brit 800 2203 models.
Renamed Brit 800 to Brit 800 2204 High.
Added Brit 800 2204 Low model.
Added 5153 100W Stealth amp models.
Added USA MKV Green amp model.
Changed default values of Speaker Drive and Speaker Thump to better align with measurements of typical speakers.
Added NFB Compensation switch in Amp block. This defaults to On. Turning it off disables the negative feedback volume compensation at the output of the Amp block.
Fixed LFO2 not working in Chorus block.
Fixed wrong Distortion pot taper in DS1 Distortion models.
Fixed wrong Gain pot taper in Angle Severe models.
Fixed wrong output pad in USA JP IIC+ Green model.
Fixed wrong default tone stack in 1959SLP and Plexi 100W 1970 models.
Fixed EQ graphs in some blocks not updating when resetting the channel.
Fixed Output Configuration being overridden by Copy parameter. I.e., if Output 2 Configuration is set to
Copy L->R but Copy Output 1 is ON then the output would have the same configuration as Output 1
(e.g., Stereo).
Various other fixes and improvements.
 
Orvillain said:
This fails hard for me. Both TC and Source Audio more or less expect you to have additional peripherals in order to fully use the device. I hate it.
Click to expand...
I can understand that. But when we generally want something that is compact, but has a big screen and also a bunch of knobs, at some point you get into limitations.

I don't mind Source Audio's approach as most of the everyday relevant controls are accessible on the front panel, and the advanced stuff is in the app. It's just that their engine/side toggle thing means that none of the knobs are likely to point in the right direction at any point, making it basically an even worse version of the invisible saved preset settings issue.

I think the QC overall form factor is good - big enough screen that is easy to tap around, plenty of knobs to adjust even though they are not quite so easy to mentally map to screen actions and you have the whole "my feet making those knobs dirty" thing. I wouldn't be surprised if next gen Line6 is something similar but with dedicated control knobs. Or Line6 surprises us and makes something we didn't think of but that makes total sense!

My Strymon pedalboard setup is kind of the modularity I have in mind. The Luminite Graviton M1 connects wirelessly to the CME WIDI Jack, which in turn connects via MIDI cables and Strymon Conduit to all the pedals. If I want I can use the M1 to control any parameter on any pedal, switch pedal presets/bypass like presets on Fractal, or use them more like Fractal's scenes to toggle just a few things. But it's of course much more programming to do the preset/scenes thing compared to an all-in-one solution like Fractal or Helix. But hey, knobs, so many knobs!

The only thing missing from this - and something I asked from Strymon if they could add - is that the pedals would report their MIDI CCs when changing presets so that the M1 can track those parameter values. Then I could see the preset values on the M1 as a control surface for each pedal.
 
I don’t really have much of an issue with on-device editing with my FM3. The “Enter” vs “Edit” button still bites me sometimes, so that’s not ideal. It would be nice to have something like blocks libraries on the unit itself. Other than that I’m fine with it. Everything generally makes sense in my head.

The HX Stomp UI, on the other hand, drove me crazy. None of the screens really made any sense to me, and I had to do things multiple times due to accidentally hitting the capacitive switches which I could never fully disable. A lot of the things I wanted to do regularly were hidden in sub-actions that I could never remember as well.

I guess I just have a Fractal brain.

-Aaron
 
Orvillain said:
I think when looking at rack based gear, there isn't much out there in guitar or studio effect land that gives you all of the capabilities of something like the AxeIII or Helix.

I mean... this thing:
View attachment 14934

Looks deceptively simple, but is an absolute nightmare to use. I hated it, even after having it in the old fxpansion studio for a decade, I never liked using it.

The main reason was the 4 knob workflow was crap, and often confusing. I'd take the AxeIII's button+knob overload any day really.

But yeah... there aren't many rack units that give you what the AxeIII and Helix do. Closest I could think up would be a huge modular synth setup, which truly would fill a room and be so utterly cumbersome to use that it wouldn't even compare in terms of workflow.



I don't think I'm on this page. Even when I'm jamming out just at home, I'm tweaking the occasional parameter on the Axe III hardware. It sits on top of my amp, and I just reach over and tweak the delay or reverb settings, or I go to the amp block and tweak some stuff there.

I will say that whenever I need to do something deep and involved, I use the software. But if I just need a bit more wetness or a bit more gain, I am fine using the hardware.

I've not tried setting any modifiers up on the hardware really. That is one area that is just waaaaay easier in the software. But again... my point was, the software is so good, it kinda makes the HW experience seem worse - imo.

If you didn't have Axe Edit at all, if it never existed, I think a lot of people would have a much different view on the HW editing experience.
Click to expand...

laxu said:
This is where I see you'd relegate the editing part to e.g a tablet, phone, computer or even a dedicated Fractal controller just so the rack unit itself does not have to limit what can be done for user interface. Or maybe Fractal just forgets the rack stuff altogether and sells something more like the QC in form factor, expandable with additional controllers instead. I don't see this happening though since many of Fractal's pro users use racks.


If Axe-Edit didn't exist, I would have probably sent my Axe-Fx Standard back in 2009.

While the current gen user interface is far better, it's still enough of a chore that I wouldn't want to use it regularly for creating full presets, configuring footswitches or doing anything with modifiers. For occasional adjustments it's good enough.

By comparison I would have no issue if HX-Edit didn't exist. I used the Helix Floor 90% from the hardware. Similarly the QC Control app is a nice to have rather than essential.

On the flipside I'm really looking forward to Strymon's Nixie 2 editor. Managing all my Strymon pedals and their presets is complicated, even if they are super easy for everyday adjustments.
Click to expand...

87zwrw.gif
 
Mongillo19 said:
And I could be totally wrong! Models of the Mark V would be really cool so I'm hoping I am wrong lol
Click to expand...
Yeah to my knowledge the only thing that models the MK V is the ML Sound Lab ML5 plugin. I have no idea how authentic it is to the real amp but it does sound good.

It's questionable how relevant the MK V is though since it's kind of a "lots of amps in one" type product and in the digital realm we already have all that without compromises.
 
The Mark IV is already comprehensively modeled, and it doesn't have a green mode (on the amp rhythm 1 is indicated with a yellow LED, rhythm 2 orange and lead red). The "xtreme" and "tweed" modes from the mark V would be cool to have.

GTR37 said:
I know it is blasphemy ,but I think I just may like your Stealth filth over the MkIV it just has this huge punch in the mids and the lows chug and mutes are like machine gun fire
All with great clarity no mud
Click to expand...
That's definitely a model that makes me want to buy the real amp. Smokin'.
 
2112 said:
The Mark IV is already comprehensively modeled, and it doesn't have a green mode (on the amp rhythm 1 is indicated with a yellow LED, rhythm 2 orange and lead red). The "xtreme" and "tweed" modes from the mark V would be cool to have.


That's definitely a model that makes me want to buy the real amp. Smokin'.
Click to expand...

Tweed mode would be sick. That mode seem like it would be a total bitch to recreate. It’s pretty insane on the amp.
 
Fractal needs to make a tablet version of AxeEdit. That’s the “easiest” addition they could do with this generation of hardware that would truly move the needle.

Moving forward it’s touchscreen or GTFO.
 
Whizzinby said:
Fractal needs to make a tablet version of AxeEdit. That’s the “easiest” addition they could do with this generation of hardware that would truly move the needle.

Moving forward it’s touchscreen or GTFO.
Click to expand...
What is fracpad? I see people mention it from time to time
 
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