Ares is over ...

[jetdriver1775]

I don't know if I think it's 100% necessary, but it is more flexible and intuitive to get at a certain sound visually the same manner you'd mic a cab.

It'd be a very welcome addition.

Yah more is more I guess lol. I’m the wrong guy for that I guess. I found one ownhammer IR that I love and stay on that 99% of the time

 

[symphx]

I don’t really see why this is such a big deal. Many IR creators like Ownhammer have multiple versions of the same cab impulse with diff mics and also diff mic distances (in values from 1-10). Nifty feature yeah. But deal breaker?

Most IR companies and new modelers offer that built in, I cant stand hunting mic by mic ir by ir, when like neural dsp etc let you move around the mics, mix etc. Fractal is so powerful yet greatly lacks in what even cliff has said is the most important part of the sound. Its the worst part of the fractal.

 

[chrisni]

CAB MODELLING NEEDED: Ive always wanted and wont be getting a new fractal until there is some version of CAB MODELLING with moveable mics easy swap out of speakers, cab enclosures. etc. But I cant wait to hear the chug.

Maybe use something like GGD Zilla Cabs in the meantime? There you have some of the options you mentioned.

 

[Arni61]

Who could object to a new firmware that would further improve the authenticity of the amps? If anything, it is the providers of presets who will likely have to rework their products.

 

[RB2021]

It's new amp modeling technology. There will be a write-up included with the firmware.

The main takeaways are:
New preamp modeling
Improved power amp modeling
Updated amp models

And, of course, it chugs...

I'm curious if this will effect CPU usage. Is it more or less efficient? Similar?

 

[sprint]

Most IR companies and new modelers offer that built in, I cant stand hunting mic by mic ir by ir, when like neural dsp etc let you move around the mics, mix etc. Fractal is so powerful yet greatly lacks in what even cliff has said is the most important part of the sound. Its the worst part of the fractal.

Lot's of graphical mic/cab selection interfaces are appearing which are nice, however, the quality of what's being loaded is not always known and other units often only allow a small number of 3rd party IRs + in Axefx3 I can mix up to 4 cabs in each of 2 cab blocks, so, though i'd love to have a graphical interface, the net cab capability of the Fractal is still awesome and provably better than most.

 

[Jeggz]

Today is Friday......

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

CAB MODELLING NEEDED: Ive always wanted and wont be getting a new fractal until there is some version of CAB MODELLING with moveable mics easy swap out of speakers, cab enclosures. etc.

Fractal moved away from mic modeling being included in the cab block. It was an intentional move. I'd be surprised if it was re-included in the product.

 

[sprint]

Fractal moved away from mic modeling being included in the cab block. It was an intentional move. I'd be surprised if it was re-included in the product.

Agreed, since, if all the Cab selections are pre-mixed IRs (captured with various mic(s)/mic pre(s)), then adding a microphone selection would seem like micing the monitored sound of a mic'd cab?? - makes no sense unless "Mic'd Cab Modelling" is reintroduced to model the speaker, cab enclosure, mic, mic pre, room etc instead of using "pre-captured" irs. If Mic'd Cab Modelling, could be done really well / better than IRs, then, it could be a good thing I guess.

 

[yyz67]

If Mic'd Cab Modelling, could be done really well / better than IRs, then, it could be a good thing I guess.

My guess is that on-the-fly cab+mic modeling is more about convenience than "accuracy" as such. Unless the translation/transformation algorithms have 0 error compared to an actual cab+mic in that position, it will be an approximation that would likely miss some details or quirks of specific combinations, esp near the extremes such as the cone edge.

Still the net result might be ultimately more satisfying as one can dynamically hear changes rather than scrolling through long lists.

 

[USMC_Trev]

I'm never sure whether false ideas like this are actively made up or if they spring fully formed into people's heads. Either way...

Here's a reminder. Quantum 1.0 was released in Sept. 2015. If not for the new amp modeling technology, it would have been firmware 20 for the Axe-Fx II. Hair was pulled. Teeth were gnashed. "Oh dear!" the pulling gnashers lamented, "This is a sign. The end is nigh."
Flash forward to Quantum 10.... May 2018! The moral of the story is "Do not allow ignorance (or more forgivingly, naivety) to be transformed into worry; it might taint 32 months (or more) which might otherwise have been spent in enjoyment!"

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/quantum-1-0-official-release.104341/

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-ii-quantum-rev-10-00-firmware-release.138476/

This is how nefarious actors screw with the market.

 

[Omri Bazelet]

I don't know about you guys, but when someone asks for a graphic cab modeler the only thing I think of is phase issues and too much messing out because 99% of the people can't place a mic properly.

Like, in the current situation with the cab block, if you want to fix phasing things you simply align the IRs together and call it a day.
And if you want to add dirt and character accured by certain mic preamps, you can.
Want it to be more roomy? You can.

You want to mix up to 4 IRs? You can, abd just by volume. You can choose each IR frequency range and let each IR to shine in its territory. You want to smooth it? Fine, go ahead. Want a certain filter curve go ahead!

 

[painkiller]

I have heared that Cliff will postpone the release by two days each time someone asks!

 

[Syrinx]

When could this be expected, say about over one year or sooner?

Much sooner

 

[Randalljax]

When could this be expected, say about over one year or sooner?

I would day if you set your expectations for spring ,you may be pleasantly surprised

 

[symphx]

Fractal moved away from mic modeling being included in the cab block. It was an intentional move. I'd be surprised if it was re-included in the product.

I dont mind how they do it, but cab ir modeling rather than hunting cab by cab speaker by speaker through thousands of irs

 

[Philo]

I dont mind how they do it, but cab ir modeling rather than hunting cab by cab speaker by speaker through thousands of irs

My sense is that a lot of this "modeling" really just applies an EQ transformation that varies with distance from the speaker, or phase, or distance from the center cone. This is how you get continuous variation from a static IR. (I could be wrong about this, though.)

Maybe what we really want is not modeling, but a tool where the program plays a recorded sample of an amp, and you can work through a bunch of IR samples quickly by saying "better" or "worse" or "no change" like you do with an optometrist.

For things like a Celestion speaker sample that includes a single speaker with a bunch of IRs with different mics, at different distances, and in different combinations you would have to have different axes of variations. One might be distance, one might be mics arranged by brightness or fullness (or high/low frequency response), and then some kind of way for getting at how multiple mic combinations differ. If you could figure out the right axes of variations, and the differences in the IRs are measurable, the program could sort IRs automatically for you.

You then could use the user interface to move in a general direction (further from the speaker, brighter, flatter) on the axes, and then the program starts offering you pairs of IRs to compare to see which you like better. If you don't know what you want, there would be a lot of variation (difference) between the IR pairs you are comparing, as you start to zero in on a sound the variations would be smaller and you could fine tune the tone, and eventually you keep picking one IR as "best" in a given context (e.g. best for an amp model played with a specific recorded sample) and then you are done and have a winning IR.

You could also have a library of recorded guitar samples in different styles, for which you select different amp models, and then fine tune the IRs as above.

If the program can analyze IR characteristics consistently, it could scan your whole library of IRs and arrange them along the different axes of variations. This could be done manually for the stock library of IRs, and then analysis could fit third party IRs into the gaps.

 

[Hamsworld]

When Cygnus appears, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then a new modeler will come, the last and best, and all Fractal Audio-disciples will live happy ever after and all the Kemper-stuff and all the other modelers will be gone forever. And there will be no more tube-amps too ... oh sorry, I felt asleep for a moment!

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

Heck, I'd be happy if a UI kinda similar to Mikko was added to AxeEdit, which could translate IR files named with a particular naming convention into roughly corresponding positions on a graphic of a speaker. The mics available could also be drawn from the naming of the files.

Adding 3rd-party IRs could be a matter of placing the set (prepared with or even perhaps bought already having appropriate filenames) in a folder inside the Fractal storage folder on the computer and importing them into AxeEdit.

Could also be represented as a CabLab update, I guess.

It would make sifting through the IR files to find what you need a lot easier than picking from a text list. Audition the sounds until you find what you want, then when you are ready, write the change to the preset. Let AxeEdit manage the IR stash in the unit itself, adding IRs that aren't already there.

 

[symphx]

mikko has a program like above, I just want it in the axe, like similar but easier than cab lab, yes I think all sound is variation on eq, its just too cumbersome not moving mics around in real time, again Miko has the idea.