FW 3.02 impressions (drives and 'authentic' controls)

Brian Wahl

Brian Wahl

Member
I spent most of the afternoon updating presets with the new 3.02 firmware.

The new drive block - the Jan Ray and King of Tone in particular - sounds awesome. Plus the drives use less DSP, which is nice. The KOT model is definitely going to be one of my main drive options. I also use drive a ton, so this update makes my heart happy - although I thought they sounded great previously.

I also enjoyed using authentic controls both on the drives and amps. Using Axe-FX III with these control layouts feels more like sitting in front of a real amp than any other modeler I've ever used. You can get great tone just as easily as on a real amp, and if you want to make more changes, the advanced tab still has all the other controls if you need them.

My background with modeling gear has mostly been Line 6 (been a Helix user since it first came out) and Kemper. With Helix, you've got to do a lot of tweaking (and use IR cabs in my experience) to get the tones out of it. The tones are there - but you have to work for them. With Kemper, it all depends on the profile, but even then the control layout and user experience takes some getting used to. I love both of those platforms, but Axe-FX III has been the most like sitting in front of a tube amp experience I've had with a modeler.

I've read a lot of back and forth here on the forum about the 'authentic' vs 'ideal' controls. Being new to Fractal and having come from Helix/Kemper, I personally find seeing the authentic controls initially and having the option to deep dive in another tab an ideal workflow. I can see how a person used to the ideal controls would hate to see them being buried under a menu (which is addressed with a global setting anyway), but I personally really love the authentic controls being the first thing I have access to. It's a great connection to the actual gear being modeled that felt missing previously.

Pretty awesome and significant update in my opinion. Crazy that Fractal just calmly puts it out as a '.02' update :).

Another thing I've noticed as new firmware has rolled out for Axe-FX III... Initially the tones I heard coming from AX8 and Axe-FX III were pretty comparable. These days AX8 is falling further and further behind in the tone department. It's clear that Fractal is going to develop Axe-FX III into something better and better in the future.
 
Brian Wahl said:
I spent most of the afternoon updating presets with the new 3.02 firmware.

Pretty awesome and significant update in my opinion. Crazy that Fractal just calmly puts it out as a '.02' update :).
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Welcome to the Fractal Audio Update Treadmill :)
Cliff and team are CONSTANTLY making the "latest and greatest " units even GREATER ...
They are generous enough to back-port significant features to previous versions of the platform from time to time when feasible.

You are going to get "spoiled" riding this treadmill in the months and years to come -- warning - it can be addictive :):)
 
I love the authentic controls. I'd like to have them for everything, effects included (when a specific unit has been modeled), along with the authentic/ideal switch; with default ideal settings reflecting the out of the box behavior of the unit in question.

I'm positive many users who want to plug and play will appreciate the new scheme. And those who like to delve deep are satisfied as well. I absolutely love this. I like to adjust advanced controls, but I like to have the authentic display after I've made my advanced adjustments.

I'd really love to see more models of specific makes and models of effects with authentic/ideal.

A great UI update.
 
Brian Wahl said:
My background with modeling gear has mostly been Line 6 (been a Helix user since it first came out) and Kemper. With Helix, you've got to do a lot of tweaking (and use IR cabs in my experience) to get the tones out of it. The tones are there - but you have to work for them. With Kemper, it all depends on the profile, but even then the control layout and user experience takes some getting used to. I love both of those platforms, but Axe-FX III has been the most like sitting in front of a tube amp experience I've had with a modeler.
Click to expand...

This is the opposite of what most people have said in the past. I think that it's changing is testament to the huge efforts Cliff and the fractal team have put in over the past couple of years.

I personally don't like the authentic controls (my POV is I don't care what was on the original hardware, if I want more of this or less of that why not turn those knobs and go for what sounds best rather than what sounds most original?) but I understand the desire, especially from people new to the unit, for it to map to what they are familiar with. And I think with authentic controls being an option will mean there are more and more people echoing what you're saying above.

It used to be "it's the best sounding but it takes more tweaking than everything else", now it's "it's the best sounding, the most plug-and-play while still offering the most tweakability". How cool is that!?
 
Corinthian said:
This is the opposite of what most people have said in the past. I think that it's changing is testament to the huge efforts Cliff and the fractal team have put in over the past couple of years.

I personally don't like the authentic controls (my POV is I don't care what was on the original hardware, if I want more of this or less of that why not turn those knobs and go for what sounds best rather than what sounds most original?) but I understand the desire, especially from people new to the unit, for it to map to what they are familiar with. And I think with authentic controls being an option will mean there are more and more people echoing what you're saying above.

It used to be "it's the best sounding but it takes more tweaking than everything else", now it's "it's the best sounding, the most plug-and-play while still offering the most tweakability". How cool is that!?
Click to expand...

Interesting that historically Fractal has been thought of as needing the most tweaking - maybe that's because there are just so many things to tweak :).

The factory presets and amp tones when you just pull up an amp are way better than Line 6 or Kemper. A buddy and I pulled up the Andy Timmons Electric Gypsy factory preset the other day and the tone was just spot on.
 
I love the authentic controls. Personally I don't want to spend a ton of time tweaking drive blocks when just trying them out, I'll save that for when doing a deep dive tone sculpt once I have something I'm happy with, and even there I usually do most of that with an EQ.
 
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