Axe-Fx III Firmware 27.03 Public Beta

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Rokket2005 said:
i did a little test with the ram's head. Sounds pretty good to me.


Anyone found any easter eggs?
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I've never been a fan of playing with fuzz pedals because they always feel too loose and noisy for me when I play with them. Hearing this makes me want to experiment with it more.

Is it still recommended to have the drive block be the first thing after Input 1 block so the right hardware electrical components are used on the input for the impedance when you're using fuzz? Does that have an effect if you're using a wireless system in the back vs plugging a cable into the front panel? Active vs passive pickups?

EDIT
I think these Fractal Wiki sections answer my questions:

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Input_block#Input_impedance

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Drive_block#Fuzz.2C_buffers_and_impedance

[7] The front input has Auto-Z technology. The rear doesn't. If the preset/scene has a block that lowers the input impedance the inputs will sound different.
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You can get around the "1st active block in the chain" thing if needed, by putting any blocks in front of the Drive(s) that you want ignored, one row above. The algorithm only looks at blocks to the right of the 'Input' block in the same row, or below.
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RockYoWorld said:
I've never been a fan of playing with fuzz pedals because they always feel too loose and noisy for me when I play with them. Hearing this makes me want to experiment with it more.

Is it still recommended to have the drive block be the first thing after Input 1 block so the right hardware electrical components are used on the input for the impedance when you're using fuzz? Does that have an effect if you're using a wireless system in the back vs plugging a cable into the front panel? Active vs passive pickups?
Click to expand...

To replicate a fuzz, the way it loads your pickups is crucial. The best replica would be to place it first thing after input 1, making sure Input Impedance in Input 1 is at Auto, the default setting. You could see what the setting turns to automatically when you load a particular fuzz model, then move the drive block elsewhere in the chain, and, if you're plugging passive pickups directly to Input 1, you will get the same load, but the fuzz will not sound the way people go for generally. Then you'll have the first thing after Input 1 reacting to your guitar as if it were loaded by a fuzz, without the fuzz first (which sounds like the name of a bank) and it may just sound weird. Of course, in audio there are no rules, so you should try it and just see if it hits you!

A wireless system will not allow your passive pickups to be loaded, unfortunately. To do that you'd have to have a wireless transmitter input that has a variable input Impedance. You could plug into a pedal that loads your passive pickups to different levels then plug that into a wireless transmitter, but of course now you've lost your freedom of movement.

You do have to have passive pickups for the input impedance to load your pickups the way fuzz boxes do for their famous tones. Active pickups have technical advantages of course, but the loading of pickups by pedals in general is actually one of the things active pickups are made to "overcome," if you will.
 
State of Epicicity said:
To replicate a fuzz, the way it loads your pickups is crucial. The best replica would be to place it first thing after input 1, making sure Input Impedance in Input 1 is at Auto, the default setting. You could see what the setting turns to automatically when you load a particular fuzz model, then move the drive block elsewhere in the chain, and, if you're plugging passive pickups directly to Input 1, you will get the same load, but the fuzz will not sound the way people go for generally. Then you'll have the first thing after Input 1 reacting to your guitar as if it were loaded by a fuzz, without the fuzz first (which sounds like the name of a bank) and it may just sound weird. Of course, in audio there are no rules, so you should try it and just see if it hits you!

A wireless system will not allow your passive pickups to be loaded, unfortunately. To do that you'd have to have a wireless transmitter input that has a variable input Impedance. You could plug into a pedal that loads your passive pickups to different levels then plug that into a wireless transmitter, but of course now you've lost your freedom of movement.

You do have to have passive pickups for the input impedance to load your pickups the way fuzz boxes do for their famous tones. Active pickups have technical advantages of course, but the loading of pickups by pedals in general is actually one of the things active pickups are made to "overcome," if you will.
Click to expand...

Can you actually explain the auto input impedance a little more?

I read the Fractal wiki a while back and my takeaway was that the direct connection between a fuzz and the guitar pickups is something that can't be modeled because all digital devices inherently buffer the signal at the input. But I wasn't sure if that information was outdated and only referred to older fractal units.

Does the auto input impedance effectively solve that problem? And how? If it does, why couldn't you use a wireless in front of the fractal unit? Wouldn't the auto impedance "correct" it or am I not understanding it right.
 
jimmynorrisjr said:
I haven't really used the pitch block much in a couple of updates. I installed this FW and right out the gate I'm getting a REAL strong warbling using virtual capo, but only seems to happen on parts of the fret board. Triple checked the intonation. Try this very simple preset. Play this simple diad with the g string fretted on the 13th fret and the b string fretted on the 12th fret. It sounds like strong tremolo. Anyone else experience this?
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Yes, unfortunately. Hoping one day we will get a better virtual capo. I might use a pedal in front to achieve this in the mean time.
 
Seven2Eleven said:
Can you actually explain the auto input impedance a little more?

I read the Fractal wiki a while back and my takeaway was that the direct connection between a fuzz and the guitar pickups is something that can't be modeled because all digital devices inherently buffer the signal at the input. But I wasn't sure if that information was outdated and only referred to older fractal units.

Does the auto input impedance effectively solve that problem? And how? If it does, why couldn't you use a wireless in front of the fractal unit? Wouldn't the auto impedance "correct" it or am I not understanding it right.
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The Input Impedance is an actual analog circuit that can change the Impedance seen by your guitar.

The auto impedance can cause it to change match that of the physical pedal (or close - might not be 100%, I'm not sure).
 
State of Epicicity said:
To replicate a fuzz, the way it loads your pickups is crucial. The best replica would be to place it first thing after input 1, making sure Input Impedance in Input 1 is at Auto, the default setting. You could see what the setting turns to automatically when you load a particular fuzz model, then move the drive block elsewhere in the chain, and, if you're plugging passive pickups directly to Input 1, you will get the same load, but the fuzz will not sound the way people go for generally. Then you'll have the first thing after Input 1 reacting to your guitar as if it were loaded by a fuzz, without the fuzz first (which sounds like the name of a bank) and it may just sound weird. Of course, in audio there are no rules, so you should try it and just see if it hits you!

A wireless system will not allow your passive pickups to be loaded, unfortunately. To do that you'd have to have a wireless transmitter input that has a variable input Impedance. You could plug into a pedal that loads your passive pickups to different levels then plug that into a wireless transmitter, but of course now you've lost your freedom of movement.

You do have to have passive pickups for the input impedance to load your pickups the way fuzz boxes do for their famous tones. Active pickups have technical advantages of course, but the loading of pickups by pedals in general is actually one of the things active pickups are made to "overcome," if you will.
Click to expand...
Good info! Thank you!

Also, there IS a bank called First Fuzz... well, at least there is a fake one thanks to the Gemini app on my phone...
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A static impedance interaction between a fuzz and guitar can be recreated digitally. It's the dynamic interaction when rolling off the guitar's volume knob or the difference you get between different guitars/pickups that is way harder to do. As you turn down your guitar's volume knob or switch pickup postions, its output impedance can change. The Axe FX has no way of tracking what the actual output impedance of your guitar is in real time, so the model is built using a static virtual output impedance figure that is typical of an electric guitar with passive pickups. Similarly, different guitars have different output impedance figures due to different pickups and pot values (single coil vs humbucker and 500k vs 250k pots, etc.). Again the Axe FX has no way of detecting what is in your guitar or how you have the volume knob and pickup switch set, so it has to settle for a "typical" value instead for it's calculations.
 
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