Gift of Tone... why only Firmware 21?

I am on Firmware 15.0 because updating ruined my tones for live metal band. Excursion bias or some such... I used several GOTs and enjoyed them on FM9, which is up to date. (I use it for a different rock cover band). What would I have to do to my presets to keep Firmware 14-15 tones in order to get back up to date? I used to love new firmware day, now only lamentations. And why can't I just import and tweak these gifts on any firmware ?

Thor
Just backup your presets, install the latest firmware and see how your patches sound. You can always go back if you think it is too much trouble. You will have to tweak, however, with the latest updates it is much quicker to get tones tweaked or even start from scratch. It is much easier to get great Metal tones even the ones you mention, with very little effort by starting from scratch. With the newer firmware, you should rarely need to tweak advanced parameters now, including the bias excursion settings. Also, the low cut starting with 20.0 is no longer really needed. I still do it in the cab block at about 90hz, but that is really a great fix, plus the latest beta has the most incredible fix to the input gate and gets rid of the clicky fuzziness of the gate, now.
 
Seems we're stretching what he said/asked a bit here now.
Maybe, but not far. He specifically asked for the presets to be compatible with prior firmware. The presets were collected from artists.
So who is going to update them for prior firmware?
The OP said he IS using them on his FM9. But wants them compatible with Axe 3. So obviously he doesn't want to put in that work himself. He also stated that he already knows what he would need to do to make his presets compatible with FW 21.
I'm calling a spade a spade - the OP screams of entitlement.
 
Maybe, but not far. He specifically asked for the presets to be compatible with prior firmware. The presets were collected from artists.
So who is going to update them for prior firmware?
The OP said he IS using them on his FM9. But wants them compatible with Axe 3. So obviously he doesn't want to put in that work himself. He also stated that he already knows what he would need to do to make his presets compatible with FW 21.
I'm calling a spade a spade - the OP screams of entitlement.

" What would I have to do to my presets to keep Firmware 14-15 tones in order to get back up to date? I used to love new firmware day, now only lamentations. And why can't I just import and tweak these gifts on any firmware ?"

Right off the bat he asked what he would have to do to keep his tones intact so he could get up to date. Nowhere in there does he ask for the presets to be compatible with prior firmware. He asked why he can't import them on prior firmware. His question was answered, more than once, and he hasn't once contested the answer given.
 
"And why can't I just import and tweak these gifts on any firmware ?"

How is this question not a request?
How is it a request?

"Can you make the Gift of Tone series compatible on any firmware?" = request.

"Why can't I just import and tweak these gifts on any firmware?" = question.

Again, the question was answered and he hasn't once kicked up any stink. Something someone who is entitled would do (and has been done multiple times on this forum). Sometimes people have genuine questions that may seem bone-headed and stupid to the rest of us. My 71 year old father has an FM3 I bought him. This is exactly the type of question he would ask. Not cause he's an entitled ass, but because he genuinely doesn't understand how this stuff works.

Look, if you want to twist his words and call him out as entitled, knock yourself out. That's not what he did.
 
Actually, those are BOTH questions.

A request would be "Please make the gift of tone series backwards compatible."
 
And why can't I just import and tweak these gifts on any firmware ?
Because older firmware is not aware of the possible parameters in the new firmware, what is it to do with them?

This question is asked often by people who don't have experience developing software, AKA "firmware" in this case, especially firmware that has lasted for multiple generations and has seen multiple changes including newly added features. The earlier versions of the firmware have small subsets of features compared to later versions, so there are gaps in the older firmware's "knowledge" of what it should be able to do; The .syx file that contains a preset contains everything that is known by the firmware about a preset and the new firmware has many more parameters than the old. The older firmware reads a newer firmware's .syx and, misunderstanding what the value means, accidentally applies it to the wrong parameter resulting in output that is wrong. To avoid that situation, which users do NOT like, developers put in checks for compatibility. If the software sees something from its future self in the .syx it refuses to load it, avoiding the problem.

Making old software smart enough to handle everything the new version does is possible, but is incredibly painstaking, which translates to slow and expensive, with almost no payoff because the majority of users would prefer to switch to the new version of the software and have all the new features available to them. It also means that for every new firmware version, all the preceding versions would have to be updated so they'd handle the changes in the new .syx files, and the users would have to update to those just to read the new files. It results in labor that is beyond reasonable expectations quickly, so it's not a reasonable option. Yes, this leaves those people out who want to remain on older firmware, but they're a small percentage of the user base, and, by refusing to update they implicitly accepted not being able to load future files.

Fractal could have taken the presets for the GoT series and spent untold numbers of hours back-porting them to v15, or v10, or, heck, v1, because why not? But that would have taken a huge effort, and not be worth it because, again, the majority of users are on the current releases of the firmware.
 
I've seen others like it, but now I see that he added a parameter (master bias excursion) to kind of roll back the Cygnus changes. I will try out all major updates to see what I like. The problem I have is, playing songs by the best metal bands... Sabbath, Metallica, Pantera, Opeth, Mastodon, Sepultura, Alice In Chains, Sevendust, etc. all have quite different and very identifiable guitar sounds so I have a separate preset on every song...

Just curious, typically when you see a band live (playing original music) the guitars are going to be pretty similar throughout the show. Is it jarring to the audience to hear vastly different guitar tones from song to song? Has anyone ever comment on that to you, like they appreciate the consistency to the original tone?

Just wondering if people in the audience even notice it? When I use to play in a cover band I never spent the time to match guitar tones. I was too lazy and wouldn't have known how to do it anyway.
 
...Just wondering if people in the audience even notice it? When I use to play in a cover band I never spent the time to match guitar tones. I was too lazy and wouldn't have known how to do it anyway.
Cover band player here. Each song has its own preset and the tones (and guitars used) can vary quite a bit from song to song. And I've had people in the audience compliment me on the fact that my guitar parts don't sound the same on every song. Many of the other local cover bands sound the same all night long. Boring, IMO. And in my local market if you want to get paid for playing, you play cover tunes.

I can name a bunch of (non-metal) original bands that use different tones on different songs. (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Yes, Led Zeppelin) but I can see some justification in an original band to have the same (or similar) guitar tones all night.
 
Just wondering if people in the audience even notice it? When I use to play in a cover band I never spent the time to match guitar tones. I was too lazy and wouldn't have known how to do it anyway.
I use 1-3 tones for a cover gig. Does the 25 year old girl screaming for "Mr. Brightside" all night, care if the tone is accurate. Not a chance.
If you want to create all the accurate tones for your own enjoyment, I can totally understand and respect that. But will the audience notice? Only if they are musicians or uber fans of a particular artist.

Not one person has EVER come up to me and said - "you know, and edge of break up tone would have worked better than a dimed plexi on that tune". But plenty of people have said - "wow, you guys nailed XX song".

Again, if it pleases you...then absolutely spend the time.
But the audience - very highly doubt it. YMMV
 
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I can echo this! I'm a single amp guy (edge of breakup amp with a couple of stacked pedal blocks), and I have had people asking how I manage to get my guitar to sound just like the original recording when playing live. I literally use the exact amp/drives for all my presets of various songs.

The effects are a different story, but most of the time they are the same across my presets.
 
Just curious, typically when you see a band live (playing original music) the guitars are going to be pretty similar throughout the show. Is it jarring to the audience to hear vastly different guitar tones from song to song? Has anyone ever comment on that to you, like they appreciate the consistency to the original tone?

Just wondering if people in the audience even notice it? When I use to play in a cover band I never spent the time to match guitar tones. I was too lazy and wouldn't have known how to do it anyway.
I've been using Fractal units since 2008, I can make some great presets. They aren't vastly different from each other, mostly blending Angle Severe and Thordendal Modern amps and sometimes USA Lead. As I progress, the preset making evolves, so layouts change but nobody has ever complained. Occasionally band mates do, about changing levels, but I iron it out. With death and progressive metal, we're playing for our own satisfaction.
 
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