Fractal Talk

[BenIfin]

I think it's a bit funny seeing people being so desperate for features that came to the III just a few months ago. I'd love to see all that stuff on the FM3 as well, but it's not like it's useless until the next firmware. It's an actual, full featured modeler with all the basic things most could ever need. I suppose I learned to be patient during my year in the QC trenches waiting for the inevitable update with that promised basic feature that ended up being half-baked and a bit disappointing.

Or maybe in six months I'll be selling my FM3 and a kidney to spend 4k on an Axe III and FC.

No desperation on my part :) ...... I dumped all my non-KPA geat 6+ months ago.

I saw Leon's old video and thought that the new switching was great and was just curious if the "little brothers" also had it as Fractal have a great track record of getting Axe 3 features to "trickle down" ...... that's all :)

Ben

 

[Aleksi]

No desperation on my part :) ...... I dumped all my non-KPA geat 6+ months ago.

I saw Leon's old video and thought that the new switching was great and was just curious if the "little brothers" also had it as Fractal have a great track record of getting Axe 3 features to "trickle down" ...... that's all :)

Ben

Oh, I wasn't referring to you or anyone else here at all. Mostly the daily posts on the Fractal forum. Falling behind... New firmware when????? I NEED GAPLESSS!!

It won't come any faster even if you keep asking. Just play your guitar and live your life, there'll be an update eventually. And a month after that you'll be begging for the next one

 

[laxu]

I think it's a bit funny seeing people being so desperate for features that came to the III just a few months ago. I'd love to see all that stuff on the FM3 as well, but it's not like it's useless until the next firmware. It's an actual, full featured modeler with all the basic things most could ever need. I suppose I learned to be patient during my year in the QC trenches waiting for the inevitable update with that promised basic feature that ended up being half-baked and a bit disappointing.

Or maybe in six months I'll be selling my FM3 and a kidney to spend 4k on an Axe III and FC.

Well, the last update was about 5 months ago so I get FM3 owners are getting antsy to get all the latest and greatest features. Fractal users are used to pretty constant updates whereas now the pace for FM3/9 is closer to Line6 Helix.

 

[Aleksi]

Well, the last update was about 5 months ago so I get FM3 owners are getting antsy to get all the latest and greatest features. Fractal users are used to pretty constant updates whereas now the pace for FM3/9 is closer to Line6 Helix.

Isn't this pretty much the pace the FM's have always been updated at? As in Fractal puts out a bunch of content for Axe III and then the FM teams work to port it over. The updates are less frequent but there's more stuff per update.

 

[laxu]

Isn't this pretty much the pace the FM's have always been updated at? As in Fractal puts out a bunch of content for Axe III and then the FM teams work to port it over. The updates are less frequent but there's more stuff per update.

Yes, but usually they have been more frequent than 5 months.

 

[Aleksi]

Oh well, I stand by what I said about being patient. Fractal is pretty open about what's happening and we know what they are working on. We also know that some of their staff has been on sick leave, which is more than any company needs to tell their customers.

We have no idea what Line 6 is working on, for example. All we know is that we can expect an update maybe by the end of the year.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

 

[Stone]

yeah I dont really bother with that, it comes when it comes, my Fm9 is far from obsolete and is serving me perfectly now

 

[DrewJD82]

Oh well, I stand by what I said about being patient. Fractal is pretty open about what's happening and we know what they are working on. We also know that some of their staff has been on sick leave, which is more than any company needs to tell their customers.

We have no idea what Line 6 is working on, for example. All we know is that we can expect an update maybe by the end of the year.

I’m with ya. My general stance on Fractal Update Babies is ‘If it’s not a bug fix that’s fixing something broken, you already have everything you need to get more tones than you can think of and no update is going to make you a better guitar player”

 

[Aleksi]

I’m with ya. My general stance on Fractal Update Babies is ‘If it’s not a bug fix that’s fixing something broken, you already have everything you need to get more tones than you can think of and no update is going to make you a better guitar player”

Definitely. And there's always the III if you want to be on the cutting edge. I played that game for years, but apart from some exceptions I felt that updates were just small improvements to something that's already pretty damn great. Anyway.... where's my 5150 III stealth???

 

[laxu]

Definitely. And there's always the III if you want to be on the cutting edge. I played that game for years, but apart from some exceptions I felt that updates were just small improvements to something that's already pretty damn great. Anyway.... where's my 5150 III stealth???

Usually there's only a handful of "game changer" feature updates during the lifetime of a typical Fractal product and otherwise it's just a very full featured box no matter when you jump in.

I think last year Fractal outdid themselves by bringing the Dyna-Cabs, updated reverbs and gapless switching. I'd consider the Dyna-Cabs and gapless switching to be in that "game changer" category, as corny as that term sounds. Any amp model updates are "eh, I guess it sounds better somehow" stuff most of the time. Those are welcome of course, but don't move the needle that much.

I was already happy with what I was getting out of the Axe-Fx 2 at the end of its production - I was getting tones that I had fun playing and that sounded great to my ears. I remember comparing a friend's Kemper vs my Axe-Fx 2 through the same output system and the conclusion was that he liked the Kemper better and I liked my Axe-Fx better, and that just came down to personal preference.

With the gapless switching in particular requiring a good bit of code overhaul it's no surprise that it takes a longer time to port compared to just modeling updates and new amp models. I do hope they can make it happen for the FM3 as well.

 

[Stone]

I'm pretty much in the same mindset, performance and user experience improvements, i already dont use over 70% of what's in the fractal anyways Dynacabs update was awesome

 

[GTR37]

I'm pretty much in the same mindset, performance and user experience improvements, i already dont use over 70% of what's in the fractal anyways Dynacabs update was awesome

There is honestly not to much I would want left in a Fractal
As far as drives we have a ton
Delays , verbs more than enough , my list would be pretty short for me personally

Bogner XTC earlier101b Blue/ red channels
Naylor SuperDrive ( Chris Baseford has offered his up to be modelled )
Both of those amps do have schematics floating around so maybe one day

For FX maybe a feedbacker block ?? Again certainly not needed but about the only thing I can think of effects wise that might be kind of fun

 

[Stone]

Fractal Update Babies

 

[laxu]

There is honestly not to much I would want left in a Fractal

Yeah for me all the improvements I'd like on the current platform are all in usability.

• Better preset/cab management search/sort/filter/group/folder/tag features.
• Better external MIDI controller support, knob controllers in particular.
• Doing what "authentic" view does for amps, but with effects. Simplified "what you would most often do on a pedal" type views. I don't mean some "1-3 knobs and done" thing but e.g a reverb where you can easily control modulation, hi/low cut etc from one page like you'd do on say a Strymon or Source Audio pedal.
• Onboard UI workflow improvements big and small.

I wonder what Fractal will do this year to up the ante. Apart from touchscreen UIs, capture features, room mics and convolution reverbs, Fractal has put their devices at minimum on par with any newcomers to the market and often surpassing them.

Convolution reverbs are not particularly relevant as the algorithmic reverbs are just plain excellent.

Room mics would be nice, but I believe Fractal has said the studios where they made the Dyna-Cabs did not allow capturing their spaces. The Fullres IRs have unfortunately ended up largely unused as there's just not much 1st party content and no 3rd party content for these.

Some sort of capture feature would be cool. I know we have Tone Match, but it's not quite the same as "take almost any real amp/pedal and make a digital replica of it."

The competition is not doing anything that shifts the playing field based on current info.

• Fender will battle getting their TMP modeling up to par.
• NeuralDSP will release plugin support.
• Line6 is not likely to release anything new in the digital modeler space but probably more nice things for Helix.
• Kemper keeps circling the same drain.
• Boss will probably make some GX-1000 with the awful "swipe around a long list of blocks and drag&drop them" UI the GX-100 uses.
• BluGuitar will release the Amp X maybe by the summer (I am always the optimist...), but it will do only a fraction of what any of the above do. I'm probably the only one here who will likely buy one.

 

[TravisG406]

I think "FRFR" like Dyna-Cabs would be cool - instead of moving a mic around you’d be adjusting the angle of the cab to the mic

 

[JiveTurkey]

Axe-Fx III Firmware 24.04 Release

https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/firmware-presets/axe-fx-3/24p0/axefxiii_dsp_rel_24p04.zip Axe-Fx III Firmware Release Notes 24.04 Changed Tuner mute logic so that only selected source is muted when Mute is set to INPUT. Updated Fryette D60 models. Updated Citrus RV50 model. Updated...

forum.fractalaudio.com

24.04

Changed Tuner mute logic so that only selected source is muted when Mute is set to INPUT.

Updated Fryette D60 models.

Updated Citrus RV50 model.

Updated CA3+ Rhythm and Lead models.

Updated Friedman BE/HBE models.

Updated Recto1 and Recto2 models.

Fixed Bit Reduction not working in Delay block.

Various other fixes and improvements.

Per Cliff:

Axe-Fx III Firmware 24.04 Release

https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/firmware-presets/axe-fx-3/24p0/axefxiii_dsp_rel_24p04.zip Axe-Fx III Firmware Release Notes 24.04 Changed Tuner mute logic so that only selected source is muted when Mute is set to INPUT. Updated Fryette D60 models. Updated Citrus RV50 model. Updated...

forum.fractalaudio.com

"The D60 was updated to "Series II" specs.

The other models were updated based on new parameter fits related to cathode follower modeling."

 

[GTR37]

Axe-Fx III Firmware 24.04 Release

https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/firmware-presets/axe-fx-3/24p0/axefxiii_dsp_rel_24p04.zip Axe-Fx III Firmware Release Notes 24.04 Changed Tuner mute logic so that only selected source is muted when Mute is set to INPUT. Updated Fryette D60 models. Updated Citrus RV50 model. Updated...

forum.fractalaudio.com

24.04

Changed Tuner mute logic so that only selected source is muted when Mute is set to INPUT.

Updated Fryette D60 models.

Updated Citrus RV50 model.

Updated CA3+ Rhythm and Lead models.

Updated Friedman BE/HBE models.

Updated Recto1 and Recto2 models.

Fixed Bit Reduction not working in Delay block.

Various other fixes and improvements.

I bet another FM Dev cried a little this morning , understandably

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahahahah he jumped on all those amps before @James Freeman could.

 

[GTR37]

@saarangnarayan maybe this is the FBE you were hoping for

Updated Friedman BE/HBE models