Wish "Shift" Parameter for Tone Match Block

[mrkhacheerio]

I currently own an Axe FX II, but this is something I'd love to see in the III, and it would motivate me to make the upgrade. I searched the wish list by keyword and I didn't see that this was already suggested, so my apologies if I missed it.

Typically, when I use the tone match block, I get great results, but only if I intend to use each match to play in the same key that the reference track was in. If, for instance, I match a guitar tone in they key of C (i.e, the reference has a key center of C), and it has some pleasing tonal qualities, they don't carry over to other keys very well. The further away I play from the key the match was in, the worse it is. All of the finely-detailed bumps and cuts in the match curve are specific to the reference (and the user input), but the match curve obviously doesn't shift itself if you play with a different key center. I think it would make sense to implement some kind of 'shift' parameter that allows you to take the entire match curve and somehow slide it around to suit different key centers relative to the one that was matched.
People might suggest that I apply some EQ after each match to mitigate the problem, but I don't think it's fair to claim that it's that straightforward or easy, because the complex curves that you see in each match graph don't really correspond to any curves you can apply with an EQ block; instead of creating a bunch of EQ moves to shift everything to where I want it to be, I think it might be much easier and more convenient to simply slide a setting around until I find a spot that sounds good, and leave it at that.

Thoughts?

 

[chris]

the tone match process suggests playing multiple notes or even key centers.

tone matching isn't solely about the key the original tone is from. what if THAT tone/recording changes keys? maybe the match could just be played more over the fretboard?

 

[mrkhacheerio]

I probably have a very basic understanding of what the tone match block is actually doing. Generally, I see it as a more complex form of equalization. Is that an oversimplification? Are there other things going on with it that I might not be aware of? Also, when you say 'the match', are you referring to the reference material or the user input?

I don't see that changing the user input to cover different keys would solve the problem as that typically wouldn't be representative of the reference (and even the guide indicates that demonstrating the tonal range of the source is important, which leads me to think that the user input should be directly related to the reference). Also, after the experience I've had matching tones, it's incredibly rare for the source material to present itself in a way that would represent more than a small frequency range about the key center of the track, but again, I probably have a really basic understanding of the block so I could be completely wrong about the need for the feature. I'd need to be shown why though... I'd really like to understand it better.

 

[Rex]

Shifting the frequency response of a Tone Match would significantly change the sound. You’re right about Tone Match being a complex EQ. But if you start shifting those peaks and valleys around, you change the voice of the instrument. If you shift them upward, for example, it will sound like a progressively smaller and more cartoonish guitar, because smaller instruments have higher-pitched resonances. The result might be interesting, but I don’t think you’d get what you’re hoping to get.

 

[DLC86]

I think the problem when tonematching by playing just one key is that some frequencies are missing both in the reference and target signals, so the tonematch creates some notches in the graph that shouldn't be there.
You could try incresing the smoothing parameter a bit.