Switched from Helix to Axe Fx III

I am genuinely unsure if you're being serious.
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From the Forum Rules: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/forum-rules.25484/#post-2170774

If you have any affiliation with any other company in the MI industry, you must mention this in your "signature" on this forum. This goes for all employees, representatives, beta testers, affiliates, marketers, endorsers/endorsees, or others associated with any such company in any way. Affiliations must be clearly displayed in an unaltered font (i.e not extremely tiny and very light gray). See this thread for discussion: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/affiliations.102186/
That's really weird. I'll just stop posting.
 
Criticizing the Helix because of its cabs is a little goofy, given all the third-party IRs out there. Amp sims, well
I'm not criticizing it Dave, as you say there are plenty of IR's out there if you buy them, but an update that improves the sound quality overall would be very welcome. One of the main differences between Fractal devices and Helix is that it's harder to dial in a good tone on the Helix straight out of the box. From what I've heard, the fractals have better factory presets and are easier to get good tones out of the box.
 
Maybe, maybe not. Helix is the only unit out there that you just about need to resort to third party IRs to bring it up to speed with the competition. It’s like buying a sports car with bias ply tires on it from the factory.
I agree with that. I messed about for ages switching between IR's and can sims on my Helix, just because people were saying you don't need IR's, and the result is that you bloody do need IR's because without them your presets are going to sound flat and dull.
 
Agree on all of this, snapshots are vastly superior to scenes in FAS. It's the one thing that is hard to let go.
Would it actually be that difficult to do something similar on an FM9 or Axe III? I mean those units have superior processing power right and that would be such a good feature to have. To be honest, it was the lack of a snapshot feature that stopped me getting an FM3, as much as I wanted one, I just didn't like that idea of the scenes and the gap when switching
 
As I mentioned above, the Axe-FX has a different user interface (with pros and cons) and fewer parameters. Otherwise, it's more than comparable...it's the same thing. However, because of the way it's presented, very few people recognize that the Axe-Fx has this feature.
I don't think it really is comparable to be honest. Snapshots can control any variable on any device in your chain so you only need one amp in the chain to get multiple different sounds, and the switching is instant with no gap. I understand that scenes are the closest thing to it, but I don't think they can do everything that snapshots can do - unless I'm wrong and it's been updated to do exactly the same
 
I don't think it really is comparable to be honest. Snapshots can control any variable on any device in your chain so you only need one amp in the chain to get multiple different sounds, and the switching is instant with no gap. I understand that scenes are the closest thing to it, but I don't think they can do everything that snapshots can do - unless I'm wrong and it's been updated to do exactly the same
This is what I’m saying. You go up to scene 2, just change all the amp perimeters, and whatever else and the scene remembers what the settings are. Rinse and repeat for all the other scenes and options. but I’m not a programmer, so what do I know?
 
I don't think they can do everything that snapshots can do - unless I'm wrong and it's been updated to do exactly the same
Yes, there was an update to add scene controllers (not scenes), which does the same thing as Helix snapshots (albeit with a different user interface and fewer parameters). That update was a long time ago though.
 
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I own some Line 6 gear as well as an FM 9 turbo and a decent selection of tube amps. I would say that the nuance and flexibility achievable with the Fractal stuff is unmatched by any modeler I have experienced. For that reason the Fractal stays wired up in my studio.

I gig with either a Boogie Mark IV or an old, cheap Pod HD500x with a Sansamp in the loop because, if the gig doesn't justify taking a tube amp then I'm looking to get in and out quick and I don't want to worry about dumping beer on my rig.
 
Yes, there was an update to add scene controllers (not scenes). That was a long time ago though.
The limited number of scene controllers and the indirect way they work IMO makes them very different from Helix snapshots.

On the Helix, you just adjust any parameters you want in any block, and they're remembered, end of story, up to a limit of I think maybe 64 of them, don't remember. No faffing around, just set the block how you want it, done.

On the Axe, if I remember right, scene controllers don't set block parameter values directly, they scale them, so they don't read out the same values as the parameters, which is much less intuitive, there are only a few available, and it's way far from Helix's straight-up set-the-block-how-you-want-it model.
 
The limited number of scene controllers and the indirect way they work IMO makes them very different from Helix snapshots.

On the Helix, you just adjust any parameters you want in any block, and they're remembered, end of story, up to a limit of I think maybe 64 of them, don't remember. No faffing around, just set the block how you want it, done.

On the Axe, if I remember right, scene controllers don't set block parameter values directly, they scale them, so they don't read out the same values as the parameters, which is much less intuitive, there are only a few available, and it's way far from Helix's straight-up set-the-block-how-you-want-it model.
Yes, there's no disputing that the Axe-FX user interface for this feature is downright awkward. I suspect that's because it was added on, instead of part of the original design like the Helix. However, the end result after you set it up is the exactly the same as the Helix (albeit with fewer parameters). Few people realize this though, which is probably a consequence of the awkward user interface.
 
Yes, there's no disputing that the Axe-FX user interface for this feature is downright awkward. I suspect that's because it was added on, instead of part of the original design like the Helix. However, the end result after you set it up is the exactly the same as the Helix (albeit with fewer parameters). Few people realize this though, which is probably a consequence of the awkward user interface.
To clarify, in Fractal, do you set scene controllers to the actual value you want, same scale and units as when you're setting the block's controls?

That would be far better than my possibly wrong memory of how they work.
 
Same scale, yes. Same units, no. It would indeed be helpful if it could show units when setting up parameters that have units.
 
Interesting Rog... so you can spill some beans on the update lol?
I actually just got back home, so haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but even mentioning I'm a beta tester is against the conditions of being a beta tester (as is putting it in a signature), telling what's in the update would really be crossing the line.

If I send you a direct message later, it'll probably be completely unrelated. ;-)
 
The tone had a nasty "signature grizzle"
This is why I passed on the Helix and took a chance on the AX8. Wasn't going to spend that much money for a device that reminded me of why I stopped using another product 3 generations older.
 
Just chiming in late in this discussion as a former Helix user (both an HX Stomp and then a Helix LT).

Unless I'm missing something, you can actually achieve pretty much the same thing as Snapshots by using Scenes combined with Channels no?

Let's say you want slightly different settings of the same amp between two scenes, then you simply configure and assign these to 2 distinct channels of the same block. Then if you couple that with scene controllers and resort to multiple block iteration (e.g. Amp 1, 2, Drive 1, 2, etc...), that's starting to be quite a bit of parameters that you can attached and control by Scenes!

It does take some getting used to when coming from another platform I guess...
 
Just chiming in late in this discussion as a former Helix user (both an HX Stomp and then a Helix LT).

Unless I'm missing something, you can actually achieve pretty much the same thing as Snapshots by using Scenes combined with Channels no?

Let's say you want slightly different settings of the same amp between two scenes, then you simply configure and assign these to 2 distinct channels of the same block. Then if you couple that with scene controllers and resort to multiple block iteration (e.g. Amp 1, 2, Drive 1, 2, etc...), that's starting to be quite a bit of parameters that you can attached and control by Scenes!

It does take some getting used to when coming from another platform I guess...
Sort of. The big difference is that snapshot implementation in Helix is much easier to think about and faster to configure. And is totally gapless when switching all parameters. Fractal has audio pops when changing amp models across channels.

But yes, you can alter things this way to achieve a wide variety of tones and options. It’s just done “differently”.

What I want to be able to do is to get my main sound on screen 1. Then, select scene two and just change all the parameters directly in the UI if the editor. Scene 3, same thing. So on and so forth.
 
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