And keep in mind you're on the Axe Fx II... You only have about 187 factory IRs. Those of is with the Axe Fx III have all of those legacy IRs plus 2048 moreI'm not feeling much option anxiety myself.
From what I've read here it sounds like some people struggle with: too many choices, wanting to use everything because they can etc. Ever notice guys on the Fractal videos playing with waaay too many effects?
I'm having more of frustration with so many unusable stock IR's. I didn't foresee getting great tone hinged on dialing in an IR, which requires a "stop and shift".
Everything else has been like finding the Cave of Wonders. So much to do and explore.
I'm having more of frustration with so many unusable stock IR's. I didn't foresee getting great tone hinged on dialing in an IR, which requires a "stop and shift".
It would be interesting if cab IRs could be characterized by frequency response somehow and presented in a map where you could move towards a certain character dimension instead of just being presented in a linear list. I know some people have taken this approach towards drum samples or FM synth patches by clustering them using a neural network and then flattening it into a 2D space.
Sure, but presumably the darkening or brighting of the sound would be consistent across different IRs paired with the same pickups. It is a convolution after all...
Jason, I would absolutely like try some of the Kemper cabs you’ve capturedThat said, if you want, you're welcome to try some of the newer Kemper cabs I've captured.
I have watched some of those, yes very interesting! I’ll be getting some of those cab packs.Watch some of the ML Sound Labs videos where Mikko compares IRs to real mic'd cabs. Done right they are pretty much indistinguishable from each other.
Jason, I would absolutely like try some of the Kemper cabs you’ve captured
Let me know the best way to access them. That’s great,
Thank you!
I think that the problem behind the amount of ir’s is when someone doesn’t know what kind of sound he whished.
If you know what you’re looking for, you don’t have to guess in thousands of Ir’s.
Same as a real cab.
As soon as I open the cab picker it's like instant analysis paralysis for me. Even if I filter down to eg: 2x12 V30 there's like a hundred options. Browsing through them, they all sound different, but which ones sound better? Even worse, after picking one, it will sound totally different to my ears after a few minutes of playing through it.
You can download them here.
Here's my process for auditioning IR's. Use it with your favourite guitar and amp model, don't try to overthink it.
Leon,
Great Video! Short and sweet!
I posted a shorter comment on YouTube but I wanted to elaborate.
You asked what kind of 5 Minute Tone topics we would like to see...
Being new to the Axe FX I never envisioned the amount of tweaking involved, and tweaking things I knew nothing about like IR's.
I think it would be nice to do a 5 Minute Tones: Impulse Responses, What are they? Which ones to start with, and How to dial one in quickly.
There is a learning curve that that when explained isn't hard to grasp but when you encounter it as a newbie it can be confusing and a barrier to embracing the technology.
I had no one tell me "look if you want to run the Axe Fx through power amps and cabs that is one discipline with it's own learning curve".
"But if you want to use the whole package with virtual cabinets and mics there is a learning curve that is different than what you are used to, so be patient put your thinking cap on and I will explain a few things": Quick overview, which IR's to start with, how to dial one in and get on with it.
I went through so many IR's with a modded Marshall type sound and it went like this, play, "nope" set pick down or worse hold pick and click on mouse, go to the next IR, play, "nope" hundreds of times to finally realize maybe 10%-15% of these work and the rest don't. I'm learning a few tricks to tweak them into something usable but I'm patient...
I can see some people saying "nope this isn't for me".
Out of frustration I plugged the Axe Fx into the FX return of my TopHat Emplexador, bypassed the proper globals and guess what? 90% of the models sounded great!
I'm thinking to myself "why does this have to be this difficult"?!
I think a video like that would help people understand that they are going to have to learn something "they don't know that they don't know" and it may take a little time but be patient, it's something new and here is a quick way to get results.
Maybe even partner with a company that makes IR's that are really good.
That's a video I would have liked to have seen about a week ago.
You do good work, and influenced my decision to take the leap.
Cheers!