Axe-Fx III Firmware Release Version 16.00 "Cygnus"

Lost USB input functionality after the Cygnus update. Was working great on fw15. Loading a DAW shows missing input & output ports after upgrading to Fw16. Tried searching the forums for a long time before posting this and all I can tell is 1-2 others ran into the same issue but couldn't find a post resolving it. Thoughts? TIA!
By chance, did you check the USB cable connection?

Is the USB cable firmly placed in the USB slot?
 
Absolutely nothing, nothing is cooler than having read Cliff talk about waking up with a new idea that he had to code, then implementing it within days. What we've just seen with FAS is the best of what a company would do for players. Musicians by and large are given little to no respect by manufacturers: guitars are made with minimal QC, and guitar stores generally don't QC either. Software and firmware can be unbelievably slow to update. I could go on. Fractal stands in stark contrast to all that. This kind of commitment to excellence is something truly beautiful to witness; I'm just struck with this deep feeling of respect. It's not about a company or a product, it's about a connection to an idea, a value. How often do see that anywhere in the world of music?
 
Did the presence taper change with this firmware? I find I have to turn up presence higher than I’m used to on some models.

Sounds great though! Had to re-do my patches, but the end result is great😊
 
Absolutely nothing, nothing is cooler than having read Cliff talk about waking up with a new idea that he had to code, then implementing it within days. What we've just seen with FAS is the best of what a company would do for players. Musicians by and large are given little to no respect by manufacturers: guitars are made with minimal QC, and guitar stores generally don't QC either. Software and firmware can be unbelievably slow to update. I could go on. Fractal stands in stark contrast to all that. This kind of commitment to excellence is something truly beautiful to witness; I'm just struck with this deep feeling of respect. It's not about a company or a product, it's about a connection to an idea, a value. How often do see that anywhere in the world of music?
👍 The same here. Cliff is the best. I say this as ex line6 pod hd500 user😎
 
Thank you cliff, absolutely loved the update, idk if the improvements reflect very well in the mix, but there is some oomph , i have only really tried the high gain amps yet and every note i play it kinda is felt alot alot more than earlier, even on my monitors which are relatively very flat. It just makes you feel more connected to the playing, and i play really low stuff drop g- double drop d territory.
What the ideal way to use the speaker dynamics though? so far i seem to have best results on the stock settings.
 
Thank you cliff, absolutely loved the update, idk if the improvements reflect very well in the mix, but there is some oomph , i have only really tried the high gain amps yet and every note i play it kinda is felt alot alot more than earlier, even on my monitors which are relatively very flat. It just makes you feel more connected to the playing, and i play really low stuff drop g- double drop d territory.
What the ideal way to use the speaker dynamics though? so far i seem to have best results on the stock settings.

For high gain amps like herbie 3/USA IIC++/Archean Bright, I like to set speaker dynamics to 1 and speaker time around 200ms.
Higher settings makes high gain amps more cloudy, less tight, less immediate.

for crunch/edge of breakup I like speaker dyn. around 4 and speaker time around 2500-3000ms.

For pristine clean sounds I can´t really hear the effect that much, so I set it somewhere between those 2 settings.

Hope that helps a bit.
 
I'd love to hear some before and after videos.

When I bought my Axe3, I watched a lot of AB videos on YouTube and could barely tell the difference if at all when they played a model and the real thing.

10 or so updates later and I wonder if I could tell the difference between the original firmware and the latest!

Would still 100% recommend the Axe (I did last week to a friend) but the update euphoria ( copyright @MellowJim 😀 ) is something I don't really get.

I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone, like I said, I love my axe3 and use it daily.
 
For high gain amps like herbie 3/USA IIC++/Archean Bright, I like to set speaker dynamics to 1 and speaker time around 200ms.
Higher settings makes high gain amps more cloudy, less tight, less immediate.

for crunch/edge of breakup I like speaker dyn. around 4 and speaker time around 2500-3000ms.

For pristine clean sounds I can´t really hear the effect that much, so I set it somewhere between those 2 settings.

Hope that helps a bit.
thanks, i generally tend to use 5153,5150 amps for rythm and soldano x99 for leads,i'll record samples to compare as per what you said.
 
That's EXACTLY my thoughts yesterday after spending a good 45 minutes building brand new sounds from scratch using the amp and cab combos that I use regularly. Not as tight, less bite, and the new firmware just feels like it's trying to create more low end that wasn't needed.
I had the same thoughts when I tried the first betas, for the first time since I have a fractal device I felt I preferred an older firmware, but..
Since then, I kinda adapted to the feel of Cygnus and it has grown on me to the point that now I probably couldn't go back to Ares.

One key difference IMHO is that amps now have a different kind of dynamics.
It has more dynamics in the meaning we guitar players often use, but less dynamics in the technical meaning of dynamic range.

In other words and simplifying a bit, by varying the force of your picking/strumming hand you get more tonal variations but less volume vatiations compared to FW15.
This kinda agrees more with my experience with real tube amps, they usually feel compressed but at the same time introduce a lot of expressivity dependent on even minuscule details of your playing.

Lastly, I became 100% convinced of Cygnus goodness only the first time I played at high volumes with the full band, especially thru my 2x12 cab.
A punchy and massive wall of sound that cut thru the mix better than ever and a low end that was literally shaking the room but never became overwhelming.
So make sure to check it in those conditions before the final judgement.
 
Thanks to all w/ links to archived fw. Reverted to FW15 and restored global settings from backup. No change. Any ideas? Was really expecting it to work that time. It appears that the FAS USB audio driver no longer shows up as available in my DAW, or in Windows audio devices.
It could be computer side, have you rebooted your computer to eliminate any possible USB driver issues? I hope it gets working for you, those Windows updates can be tricky. Also I’ve heard Fractal support is super helpful if it turns out to be Axe related!
 
Love Cygnus so far but have no time before gig tonight to tweak. Can anyone point me to instructions on how to reload prior FW15? Thanks.
 
Absolutely nothing, nothing is cooler than having read Cliff talk about waking up with a new idea that he had to code, then implementing it within days. What we've just seen with FAS is the best of what a company would do for players. Musicians by and large are given little to no respect by manufacturers: guitars are made with minimal QC, and guitar stores generally don't QC either. Software and firmware can be unbelievably slow to update. I could go on. Fractal stands in stark contrast to all that. This kind of commitment to excellence is something truly beautiful to witness; I'm just struck with this deep feeling of respect. It's not about a company or a product, it's about a connection to an idea, a value. How often do see that anywhere in the world of music?
I've been on the Fractal train for going on 3 months now. When Cliff posted "I had a midnight epiphany about speaker compression, you guys are gonna love this", and a week later I had that update on my Axe Fx, that just blew my mind.
 
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