Axe-Fx III Firmware 10.00 Public Beta #2

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Man, I’m still on FW 6.something. Been using buddy’s presets for a bunch of recordings and didn’t want the tone to change by updating firmware.
I think I need to get with the times and update. My holy shitballs moment was moving from the AX8 to the quantum firmware on the AXE-3. Time for a second awakening.
The beauty of FractalBot is you can back up the current state of your unit and try out the new firmware. If don’t like, a few clicks and you are back to your original configuration ;)
 
I noticed, on the deluxe tweed and deluxe verb models, an underlying fuzzy tone when playing low notes on the low E string.
This also happens at moderate input drive settings (the overall tone is completely clean with my strat, except for this fuzzy tone) and goes away only if I turn down master volume to 5-6.
At first I thought speaker drive was engaged but that wasn't the case.

I don't know if that's normal for those amps or if they did this in old firmwares too, but I thought it was worth to report it anyway.
 
Wow! That is a good one... Been onboard the fractal train for over 5 years now!! First time I actually take the time to comment on the improvement of a specific firmware. I gotta say that since I got the III, I went from satisfied to excited about the Axe. Great work guys!!

On a side note, here's a bit of a sensitive subject. I've seen and been ''victim'' of subordination at some point on the forum and wish to bring some perpective. I see these kind of comments like '' Well you just need to put some time in it and learn how it works'' or ''why would you want this, the Axe is good enough'' a bit too often. Yes the Axe Fx is great, probably the best guitar unit ever but if it were perfect there wouldn't be new firmwares every 2 weeks...
 
Wow! That is a good one... Been onboard the fractal train for over 5 years now!! First time I actually take the time to comment on the improvement of a specific firmware. I gotta say that since I got the III, I went from satisfied to excited about the Axe. Great work guys!!

On a side note, here's a bit of a sensitive subject. I've seen and been ''victim'' of subordination at some point on the forum and wish to bring some perpective. I see these kind of comments like '' Well you just need to put some time in it and learn how it works'' or ''why would you want this, the Axe is good enough'' a bit too often. Yes the Axe Fx is great, probably the best guitar unit ever but if it were perfect there wouldn't be new firmwares every 2 weeks...
I don’t think there is a ‘perfect’ anymore, just better and different accordIng to people’s tastes. The Axe III achieved realistic replication of the sound and feel of the real amps it models a while back, for all practical purposes. I guess they could now be striving for full mathematical precision going forward.

Given all the realistic ‘under the hood’ settings only once available to amp builders (and requiring lots of time, expense and solder), Cliff has enabled people to improve on the ‘shortcomings’ of many existing amp designs with the flick of a control knob. Many things you can do with the Axe can’t even be physically attempted in the real world.

So it is difficult to define the perfection that Fractal would be striving for now as they are sort of in uncharted waters. It is up to them (with feedback from the user community) to dream up where guitar tone goes into the future. But that said, the hard work Cliff and the team put in does continue to also refine existing algorithms to make them more efficient and more life like (whatever that means now). But the practical modelling gains from here must be smaller right? Extra spit and polish? But features and cool stuff - am sure Cliff has tons more to come!

But I get where you are coming from. There is a lot to know and I am still learning all the time a decade later.

I have always found the community really welcoming though. I do see some frustration (like on any forum) from experienced users responding to newbie questions for the 1000th time which could have been found by reading the manual or doing a forum search, so I can understand the frustration on that side too.
 
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Wow! That is a good one... Been onboard the fractal train for over 5 years now!! First time I actually take the time to comment on the improvement of a specific firmware. I gotta say that since I got the III, I went from satisfied to excited about the Axe. Great work guys!!

On a side note, here's a bit of a sensitive subject. I've seen and been ''victim'' of subordination at some point on the forum and wish to bring some perpective. I see these kind of comments like '' Well you just need to put some time in it and learn how it works'' or ''why would you want this, the Axe is good enough'' a bit too often. Yes the Axe Fx is great, probably the best guitar unit ever but if it were perfect there wouldn't be new firmwares every 2 weeks...
I’d venture to guess that nothing is ever perfect, not even the real amps as designed by their designers in their eyes. That’s why they keep designing new versions of the same amp and brand new models. How many variations of the Bassman are there, and how many other amp builders got their start and from a variation or mod on that amp. It’s just in the digital age the upgrades are a whole lot easier and cheaper to fulfill cause there are no physical parts aside from the unit itself. It’s a beautiful thing.
 
I noticed, on the deluxe tweed and deluxe verb models, an underlying fuzzy tone when playing low notes on the low E string.
This also happens at moderate input drive settings (the overall tone is completely clean with my strat, except for this fuzzy tone) and goes away only if I turn down master volume to 5-6.
At first I thought speaker drive was engaged but that wasn't the case.

I don't know if that's normal for those amps or if they did this in old firmwares too, but I thought it was worth to report it anyway.
That's what those amps do. Always been that way. Just to be sure I just compared the Deluxe Verb model with the reference amp and it's correct.

Those are old designs. Simple circuits with minimal frequency shaping. As such there's a lot of bass going into the power amp. That coupled with the resonance magnification of the speaker impedance causes frequencies around the resonance (in the 50-100 Hz region) to distort early. The low E string is 82 Hz so it's right in that zone.

Modern amps use partially bypassed cathodes, treble peakers, master volumes, etc., etc., etc., to prevent that sort of thing.
 
That's what those amps do. Always been that way. Just to be sure I just compared the Deluxe Verb model with the reference amp and it's correct.

Those are old designs. Simple circuits with minimal frequency shaping. As such there's a lot of bass going into the power amp. That coupled with the resonance magnification of the speaker impedance causes frequencies around the resonance (in the 50-100 Hz region) to distort early. The low E string is 82 Hz so it's right in that zone.

Modern amps use partially bypassed cathodes, treble peakers, master volumes, etc., etc., etc., to prevent that sort of thing.
Got it, thanks for checking.

Those are amps I rarely use and I never noticed that behaviour before. Other fender models I use more often don't exhibit that behaviour (at least not to the same extent)
 
Can't wait Cliff!!
Do you ever sleep?

You mentioned yesterday you had almost finished coding the firmware and you expected to release it today, is it still happening?

cheers

Coding is a funny thing. Been doing it for 20+ years and I've never been able to consistently state when I would have something done because, as Cliff said, when you make changes/improvements they can lead to other changes and improvements. Sometimes things just spiral outward, others it's quick and easy. When it spirals sometimes you can say, "okay, I can stop here and cut a release, then do this other stuff I was chasing and cut another release". It all just depends. When project managers and requirement folks ask me when something will be done, I tell them I'll let you know once it's done :tearsofjoy:
 
Coding is a funny thing. Been doing it for 20+ years and I've never been able to consistently state when I would have something done because, as Cliff said, when you make changes/improvements they can lead to other changes and improvements. Sometimes things just spiral outward, others it's quick and easy. When it spirals sometimes you can say, "okay, I can stop here and cut a release, then do this other stuff I was chasing and cut another release". It all just depends. When project managers and requirement folks ask me when something will be done, I tell them I'll let you know once it's done :tearsofjoy:

it’s the exact same thing being a music producer.
 
Soon.

And to the wise-ass who keeps making the accuracy vs. "better is subjective" comments:
We have two Deluxe Reverbs, a vintage 1965 Deluxe Reverb that the model is based on and a Reissue. The vintage one sounds great, the reissue doesn't quite sound as good. It's biased too cold. The comparison was between the model and the Reissue because the vintage amp is worth a small fortune and I only use that when actually working on models. It stays in climate controlled storage otherwise.
 
Soon.

And to the wise-ass who keeps making the accuracy vs. "better is subjective" comments:
We have two Deluxe Reverbs, a vintage 1965 Deluxe Reverb that the model is based on and a Reissue. The vintage one sounds great, the reissue doesn't quite sound as good. It's biased too cold. The comparison was between the model and the Reissue because the vintage amp is worth a small fortune and I only use that when actually working on models. It stays in climate controlled storage otherwise.

Thanks for clearing that up.
I thought "It sounds better than the real amp" implied that the comparison was made between the model and the actual amp the model is based on.

Sorry for remaking the same comment multiple times. I was just under the impression that my comment was not posted. Didn't realise it was getting deleted. The site is running painfully slowly or doesn't load at all while I'm logged in on any device or any browser. So, if my comment doesn't go through, that doesn't surprise me.
The site runs fine while I'm logged out, so I stay logged out most of the time until I actually have something worth saying. I see no reason to delete the comment. Hope I didn't go against any rules of the forum in any way?...
 
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