Axe-Fx III Firmware 29.01 Public Beta

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vangrieg said:
I have an FM3, the problem is about the same on all devices, possibly more severe on the ones with less power.



I know what it is.



It was much more usable in earlier firmware versions, that’s the problem.



That is kind of obvious. People who don’t really need it are quite adamant in attacking posts about the problem.

Now can we please stick to the topic? The changelog says there’s a pitch shifter improvement, the tremolo issue is still here. Transposing songs, adapting, your bandmates’ opinions, whether or not you can use it in your rehearsal - all of these are interesting topics maybe but separate from this particular issue.
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That was not an attack, it’s called speaking my mind.

You asked if the VC was any better, I answered that question with my honest opinion of it, I’d say that is on topic.

You know it’s not a replacement for a downtuned guitar yet it seems like you expect it to do just that, or am I misunderstanding you?

I agreed that it was usable as is with the improvements, I no longer hear that pronounced tremolo effect.

You have an FM3 but you are in a FW thread for AxeFX… I’m not sure what your end game is here as this thread doesn’t even apply to your platform.
 
vangrieg said:
Indeed it is my number one problem that’s standing between me now and me being fully happy with my device (the other items are wishes for improvement, so those can wait and have workarounds of various sorts).
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We are working on improving the performance. I will do some more tweaking this week.

That said, your attitude and behavior are far from diplomatic. There are dedicated people who pour their hearts and souls into these products and people like you can really suck the joy out of work.
 
FractalAudio said:
We are working on improving the performance. I will do some more tweaking this week.
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That’s great to hear, thanks for the update.

FractalAudio said:
people like you can really suck the joy out of work.
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There are more than enough people who praise your work all the time, so hopefully that’ll compensate somewhat.

I’m not a diplomatic type, and won’t be.
 
FractalAudio said:
We are working on improving the performance. I will do some more tweaking this week.

That said, your attitude and behavior are far from diplomatic. There are dedicated people who pour their hearts and souls into these products and people like you can really suck the joy out of work.
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That guy doesn’t even own an af3. He is clearly just trolling. I just tried it. It sounds pretty good. It does take a lil dialing in with the tracking adj, but tools this versatile often are a bit more complicated. I prefer versatility, and am very impressed with how well the tone holds up. I have been using the digitech drop tune for some time, honestly. It was the best thing I could afford at the time and worked ok with a parametric eq tweak. I may not take it off the board just yet, but I have added the pitch block to my main preset. It seems to be doing the job as well, or better. I have a band rehearsal on Tuesday, so that’s the real test. Thank you for all your hard work, Cliff!
 
Dave Merrill said:
Sheesh.
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It’s hard to be diplomatic with a constant barrage of posts going in circles about how musical this glitch is, how I should buy a pedal, have multiple guitars etc.

Plus, as someone who deals with customers who complain about software our developers make, I don’t see complaints annd reminders offensive at all (although of course they’re not fun to hear), the more to the point they are the better. I won’t remake myself because of this.

And it’s been a fifth earthquake here today; with stuff falling from shelves, house shaking, kids scared, dog barking in fear, and during one of the shocks I couldn’t even freaking stand.

Niceties later.
 
vangrieg said:
It’s hard to be diplomatic with a constant barrage of posts going in circles about how musical this glitch is, how I should buy a pedal, have multiple guitars etc.

Plus, as someone who deals with customers who complain about software our developers make, I don’t see complaints annd reminders offensive at all (although of course they’re not fun to hear), the more to the point they are the better. I won’t remake myself because of this.

And it’s been a fifth earthquake here today; with stuff falling from shelves, house shaking, kids scared, dog barking in fear, and during one of the shocks I couldn’t even freaking stand.

Niceties later.
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No one is saying you can't be critical, you just don't have to be a dick about it. You're an assh*le, plain and simple.

See, I can be undiplomatic too.
 
…Another update after playing for a couple hours today… The VC seems fine with distortion, but it really struggles when set to -1 or below with clean tones (especially -2 or lower). I’ve tried several settings combinations, but haven’t found any that work with my clean patches. Since this is a public beta, I figure it can only help sharing my experiences.
 
sgplayer76 said:
…Another update after playing for a couple hours today… The VC seems fine with distortion, but it really struggles when set to -1 or below with clean tones (especially -2 or lower). I’ve tried several settings combinations, but haven’t found any that work with my clean patches. Since this is a public beta, I figure it can only help sharing my experiences.
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Can you make some recordings illustrating the problem?
 
today I set out to try out two things - VC and the Supro Magick as I was wanting to get a QOTSA kinda tone From Songs for the Deaf. No one knows and Songs for the Dead are the songs I'm playing. For the tones I basically just used one of Burgs latest presets from 28.xx i think....when the Supro was first added. The Supro and Super OD pretty much got the tones right away esp with the cab selections. For the VC i have Input 1 detector and Chords setting with 3.30 tracking adjust with -3 Shift. It sounds pretty good actually.
 
I'll be interested to see how the VC performs now. It's the main (only?) reason I can't use my Fractal gear in my band and have had to go to Helix and then (now) QC, both of which have superior pitch shifting, particularly for bass - like, you literally can't tell you have it on (although going down 5 semitones to simulate a 5-stringer can introduce a little latency and trim off the attack's high freqs.

My Axe III is on loan to a friend now, but I'm excited to check it out. I think I've been more critical of the VC than anyone else on this forum.

Honestly, I don't have high expectations - not because Fractal isn't capable, but because it's low-priority, incredibly difficult programming, and far too many people say it's fine as-is - but it's nice to see it get some love. If I was playing rhythm guitar with overdrive, it would have been fine/passable all along, but since switching to bass in the band, it's become glaringly behind the curve compared to other units. I know the prevailing wisdom is that pitch shifting is a workaround to be employed in a pinch and we should just bring extra guitars, but the reality of the current state of the art is that all of that is not necessary with the QC or Helix (can't speak to other units). But trust me; no one wants to see Fractal's pitch shifting improve to the point of being the best more than me, but as a working musician, I have to use the best tool for the job.

Has anyone tried it on bass yet?

Side note; I'm excited to see that (if it's genuinely good now) it will likely come to the FM9, since my guitarist uses that exclusively :D
 
FWIW, took a before / after FW update reading of VC.

Ax3-mk1, Guitar Used=Carvin DC127 / Bridge pup (C22B). Same DI used for all 3 clips. No Amp/Cab/FX blocks, just In > Pitch > Out. Tracking set to "Notes" for the single notes, "Chords" for arpeggios and chord in both shifted clips. Same settings used in both shifted clips. DI+Preset Attached.






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Edit - Revised
 

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Ugly Bunny said:
I'll be interested to see how the VC performs now. It's the main (only?) reason I can't use my Fractal gear in my band and have had to go to Helix and then (now) QC, both of which have superior pitch shifting, particularly for bass - like, you literally can't tell you have it on (although going down 5 semitones to simulate a 5-stringer can introduce a little latency and trim off the attack's high freqs.

My Axe III is on loan to a friend now, but I'm excited to check it out. I think I've been more critical of the VC than anyone else on this forum.

Honestly, I don't have high expectations - not because Fractal isn't capable, but because it's low-priority, incredibly difficult programming, and far too many people say it's fine as-is - but it's nice to see it get some love. If I was playing rhythm guitar with overdrive, it would have been fine/passable all along, but since switching to bass in the band, it's become glaringly behind the curve compared to other units. I know the prevailing wisdom is that pitch shifting is a workaround to be employed in a pinch and we should just bring extra guitars, but the reality of the current state of the art is that all of that is not necessary with the QC or Helix (can't speak to other units). But trust me; no one wants to see Fractal's pitch shifting improve to the point of being the best more than me, but as a working musician, I have to use the best tool for the job.

Has anyone tried it on bass yet?

Side note; I'm excited to see that (if it's genuinely good now) it will likely come to the FM9, since my guitarist uses that exclusively :D
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My band runs two main setups. The first is our primary rig, which features two Axe-Fx III units — one dedicated to two guitars, and the other for bass. The second is our fly-away rig, equipped with an NDSP QC for guitars and an NDSP NC for bass (formerly an HX Stomp).

In my experience, neither Line 6 nor NDSP offers pitch shifting that surpasses the Axe-Fx III — particularly the Helix line and the NDSP NC. The QC is on par with the Axe-Fx III in some respects, but its frequency handling suffers more compared to the Axe-Fx III.

Is the Virtual Capo perfect? No — nothing is. But I’ve never understood the idea that other units outperform the Axe-Fx III’s Virtual Capo. I only use the fly-away rig out of necessity, due to space constraints.

For context, our setlist ranges from standard tuning to Drop Ab, but our guitars are always in standard / Drop D tuning.
 
sprint said:
FWIW, took a before / after FW update reading of VC.

Ax3-mk1, Guitar Used=Carvin DC127 / Bridge pup (C22B). Same DI used for all 3 clips. No Amp/Cab/FX blocks, just In > Pitch > Out. Tracking set to "Notes" for the single notes, "Chords" for the chord in both shifted clips. Same settings used in both shifted clips. DI+Preset Attached.






View attachment 158096
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Arpeggios with ringing notes are chords, not single notes. If you are playing arpeggios and letting the notes ring you should set the tracking to "Chords".

The "Notes" setting is for playing single notes, like leads that you want to harmonize.
 
pushead2 said:
In my experience, neither Line 6 nor NDSP offers pitch shifting that surpasses the Axe-Fx III — particularly the Helix line and the NDSP NC. The QC is on par with the Axe-Fx III in some respects, but its frequency handling suffers more compared to the Axe-Fx III.
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Totally. I get there are many out there who feel this way.
 
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