Fractal Talk

[OrganicZed]

For some people gapless switching is a huge deal, for others it's not important at all.

I have been able to do everything I needed with scene controllers and a single amp channel (totally gapless) or with two amp blocks and using the multiplexer block to switch between them (again, totally gapless). It takes some planning to get these things set up, but they work very well once set. If you're on the FM3 and need to switch between two amp channels then you just need to deal with the modest gap as it currently stands. I can see why this is a highly anticipated feature for the FM3 users out there.

That said, I am loving the updated gapless switching of presets and amp channels. It makes it so easy to jump between sounds on a whim. It removes the need to deep dive into advanced user functions or more elaborate setups. When you just want to play and not have to get into the menus it is great to just hit a foot switch and smoothly transition into another sound. I think it really opens up the possibilities of what I would consider possible within a song. Am I ever actually going to need two totally different presets in one song? No, probably not. I'm not that adventurous of a player, but someone else out there is going to take full advantage of this feature and make some awesome music that would have otherwise been difficult to create.

 

[GTR37]

I did search for it on the Fractal forum but I couldn't see a public beta for yesterdays release 24.04 - I was genuinely surprised when I saw it

I think he may be talking about FM series and yes those usually are released public beta

 

[DrewJD82]

I think he may be talking about FM series and yes those usually are released public beta

Nah, I was talking about any of the updates. And despite seeing yesterday’s FW release, I didn’t even consider there wasn’t a beta for it.

 

[State of Epicicity]

But it is all a ballache. I don't want - and often don't have the time - to think about my patches in such depth. I want to think about my tones, the sonics of things... not about how I have to setup my virtual blocks and cables in the correct order to get the result I want. At a certain level, I'd rather whack a DD-8 in front of a Marshall amp and just call it quits.

But with gapless switching you can simply do this:

1. Think up your monster chain. It may be all serial. It may have one parallel path. It may have two.
2. Save that template preset to 24 or more preset positions.
3. Go through each one turning on the blocks you need for that sound.
4. Just switch presets.


No messing around with scene controllers having to remember what percentage on the scene controller maps to what value on the destination controller. No messing around setting up 8 different scenes, messing with multiplexers, nor mixers.

IMHO: All of these devices should be striving to emulate a huge instantaneous Bradshaw style rig. And for the most part, they do that very well.

There's no question, gapless makes it all intuitive and awesome. For me the priority is accuracy and tone quality, and I didn't mind planning out my presets to make them gapless, but you're right, it interrupts flow when you should be thinking about music!

For gapless presets in the old days (months ago haha), I would first create separate presets representing what I wanted to switch between. Then I'd plan out how to make it all gapless with Layout Links, Mixer Blocks, Multiplexer Blocks, and Scene Controllers using a spreadsheet. The methodology was about as rock 'n roll as a tax seminar, but the results were spectacular and more inspiring than any gear I've played.

It was like great sex with a hot accountant, I guess.

 

[iaresee]

I was mostly ho hum about gapless. I don't gig my AFIII so it's not a feature, on that unit, that had a big QOL impact on me.

However

On my FM9

Uh

Yea

I'm a believer. Y'all are gonna love it. Whether you thought you needed it or not it's remarkable.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I was mostly ho hum about gapless. I don't gig my AFIII so it's not a feature, on that unit, that had a big QOL impact on me.

However

On my FM9

Uh

Yea

I'm a believer. Y'all are gonna love it. Whether you thought you needed it or not it's remarkable.

It'll be cool. Certainly. But kicking your feet and yelling on and on about how you aren't buying one (that isn't even available to purchase atm) until the feature is there is dumb.

 

[DLC86]

It'll be cool. Certainly. But kicking your feet and yelling on and on about how you aren't buying one (that isn't even available to purchase atm) until the feature is there is dumb.

I'm gonna sell my FM9 and rebuy it only once it gets gapless switching!

 

[JiveTurkey]

I'm gonna sell my FM9 and rebuy it only once it gets gapless switching!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Also; I could totally see myself with another FM9 in addition to the III and the FM3 because I am that dumb at this point

 

[mikah912]

I was mostly ho hum about gapless. I don't gig my AFIII so it's not a feature, on that unit, that had a big QOL impact on me.

However

On my FM9

Uh

Yea

I'm a believer. Y'all are gonna love it. Whether you thought you needed it or not it's remarkable.

I'm sure I won't hate it, but honestly.....I have one live patch switch in the past 12 months that has produced any sort of gap, and I just opted for using my volume knob and a slightly different amp model to get around it.

Amp changes aren't needed for any of my praise and worship sets, nor have I needed them for live jamming or recording/songwriting with my "fun" group. That's kind of the beauty of these dynamic amp models.

I get that it could make gigging "better", but it's not like hiding with an FM9 NOW is inflexible or bad in any way.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I'm sure I won't hate it, but honestly.....I have one live patch switch in the past 12 months that has produced any sort of gap, and I just opted for using my volume knob and a slightly different amp model to get around it.

Amp changes aren't needed for any of my praise and worship sets, nor have I needed them for live jamming or recording/songwriting with my "fun" group. That's kind of the beauty of these dynamic amp models.

I get that it could make gigging "better", but it's not like hiding with an FM9 NOW is inflexible or bad in any way.

 

[Orvillain]

It'll be cool. Certainly. But kicking your feet and yelling on and on about how you aren't buying one (that isn't even available to purchase atm) until the feature is there is dumb.

Not really. It is called voting with your wallet. Which is what we should all do?

 

[iaresee]

It'll be cool. Certainly. But kicking your feet and yelling on and on about how you aren't buying one (that isn't even available to purchase atm) until the feature is there is dumb.

No disagreement there.

I figure 99% of the people who puff, "I'll buy it when it has X, Y and Z..." won't actually buy it even when it gets X, Y and Z.

 

[iaresee]

I'm sure I won't hate it, but honestly.....I have one live patch switch in the past 12 months that has produced any sort of gap, and I just opted for using my volume knob and a slightly different amp model to get around it.

Amp changes aren't needed for any of my praise and worship sets, nor have I needed them for live jamming or recording/songwriting with my "fun" group. That's kind of the beauty of these dynamic amp models.

I get that it could make gigging "better", but it's not like hiding with an FM9 NOW is inflexible or bad in any way.

I mostly live on a preset when I gig. Still can't believe how much nicer it is with gapless implemented.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Not really. It is called voting with your wallet. Which is what we should all do?

He did this years ago. After saying he liked the Helix stuff better ad nauseum.

 

[jellodog]

I figure 99% of the people who puff, "I'll buy it when it has X, Y and Z..." won't actually buy it even when it gets X, Y and Z.

 

[mikah912]

This very conversation seems boomer-ish to me. The "modern" move to is to have all changes pre-programmed ahead of time synced to a click track with in-ear prompts run on a MacBook.

....at least, that's what the kids tell me.

 

[Achilles]

View attachment 17340

"What does the experience of a Fractal update make you feel like?"
"It makes you feel like experiencing more Fractal updates." - George Carlin

 

[dk_ace]

@Orvillain
No matter what methodology you subscribe to; there is going to need to be thought behind it. I am not against gapless at all. But you are still going to have to think it out.

Most Joe Schmoe's/'boomers" are probably going to take their gigging presets, break them up into the scenes ("crunch"/"driven"/"solo"/"ambient") they are already broken up in and then save those as separate presets. And then have a ton of clunky housekeeping to do cleaning up all these orphaned scenes that have suddenly become independent presets.

The glut of Simeon Harris presets I loaded up. They are as bonkers of a signal chain as you can imagine. They don't have gaps but they do all sorts of crazy stuff when you switch from one to the other. Which requires THINKING when you configure them in a group for the purpose of live usage.

@dk_ace you spent every post elsewhere talking about how the Helix is better for you at everything vs. whatever FAS was being discussed at the time so not sure why you are holding the thread hostage over a not yet implemented feature of a product that isn't even available to buy that needs all this advanced switching functionality for music I have never heard a single lick of.

@JiveTurkey - first, I don’t owe you anything, and if you think otherwise you can piss right off. You got a problem with my posts, ignore them, I don’t care.

I watch this thread for updates on what’s happening with the Fractal stuff and what people are doing/finding with it. I want to buy one and it looks like it will be doing what I want pretty soon. Gapless switching is cool and I’m curious what others are finding as they start to use it so that I can learn from what they’re finding. I popped in with a comment because there were a group of people acting like the FM stuff was near perfect already and gapless isn’t a big deal. I have a different opinion, and I said so, again feel free to use the ignore button if you can’t stomach differing opinions.

4 posts and walking away is far from “holding this thread hostage.”

D

 

[JiveTurkey]

@JiveTurkey - first, I don’t owe you anything, and if you think otherwise you can piss right off. You got a problem with my posts, ignore them, I don’t care.

I watch this thread for updates on what’s happening with the Fractal stuff and what people are doing/finding with it. I want to buy one and it looks like it will be doing what I want pretty soon. Gapless switching is cool and I’m curious what others are finding as they start to use it so that I can learn from what they’re finding. I popped in with a comment because there were a group of people acting like the FM stuff was near perfect already and gapless isn’t a big deal. I have a different opinion, and I said so, again feel free to use the ignore button if you can’t stomach differing opinions.

4 posts and walking away is far from “holding this thread hostage.”

D

Got it. No actual music; just humorless posting moaning about the lack of gapless switching.