Presets MASTER THREAD - AustinBuddy's 1400+ NAKED AMPS TonePack for firmware Cygnus X2

Third party presets and packs for Fractal Audio products
Hi Fractal Fans:

Cliff and Company have release firmware 12.09. Some of you have reached out to let me know a few presets that worked in firmware 12.07 have issues in 12.09 with clicks or pops. The Orange Dual Rectifier is one in particular. (If I recall correctly, Cliff fixed some issues with that amp model and the preset I made for it was under the flawed version).

This kind of stuff can happen when amp modeling changes. I normally only do an free TonePack update for a new firmware version number with big changes, as most of you know.

For now, I'm super focused on the Fm3/Axe-Fx III Live Gold TonePack to get it out in July right, that's got all my bandwidth for next few weeks. But I will load up the new firmware 12.09 this weekend (Sunday) and listen to it for the issues caused by updating to 12.08/12.09 firmware.

Here's where you guys come in.

If you could post here the names and SCENES of presets you are experiencing problems with, that would be great and help me a lot to get a fix or solution in place. I'll get a handle on where the issues are and how to fix. If it's minor, I might be able to update pretty quick and put up a new version for you. If it's major, it's going to be later this summer.

In the meantime, as work arounds, there is no law that says you can't roll back to 12.07 and everything will work fine. And if you just bought the TonePack recently I highly recommend you stay on 12.07 firmware for now.

Another solution, if this is just a few amps we find that cause unwanted clicks or pops in 12.09, is to go in and take screen shots of all the amp setting pages, then reinitialize the amp block, then re-input the settings and see if that satisfies you. A PITA to be sure, but welcome to my world.

I just wanted to get this out there since a few emails noting issues are coming in on this...want to be responsive, within reason. It's conceivable we could have a firmware 13.x before we know it, and don't want to waste time on an 12.09 minor update that will be rendered useless with a new firmware coming sooner rather than later.

Appreciate all the comments and support. We'll get things right, but it make take a little time. This is the oh-so-worth-it price of having constant firmware updates from Fractal Audio that improve things!

-----
And while I'm here...I'm also going to share a little tip to make some of the Marshall style amps sound juicier -- use that Amp Boost CS2 controller - set up a footswitch to turn it on/off from your floor controllers. You may have to change the value lower than 12db depending on the amp -- usually somewhere between 8db and 12db works -- but it really opens up the Marshall style amps (Freidmans, Bogners, Soldanos, Fryettes, Komet, etc.) and makes them much more fat and juicy sounding -- especially for low or medium gain sounds.

In the forthcoming Live Gold FM3/Axe-Fx III Tone Pack, I've dialed the right boost value on for each amp model, and many scenes almost all sound better and more dynamic with the CS2 boost ON than OFF, once you optimize the db level (so you don't clip, sometimes the default 12db is too much).

That's it for now. Back to the studio, and I'l monitor this thread for you guy's feedback on the firmware 12.09 update amp models causing you issues in the 1400+ Naked Amps TonePack designed for firmware 12.07 -- thanks! - AB
 
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austinbuddy said:
Hi Fractal Fans:

Cliff and Company have release firmware 12.09. Some of you have reached out to let me know a few presets that worked in firmware 12.08 have issues in 12.09 with clicks or pops. The Orange Dual Rectifier is one in particular. (If I recall correctly, Cliff fixed some issues with that amp model and the preset I made for it was under the flawed version).

This kind of stuff can happen when amp modeling changes. I normally only do an free TonePack update for a new firmware version number with big changes, as most of you know.

For now, I'm super focused on the Fm3/Axe-Fx III Live Gold TonePack to get it out in July right, that's got all my bandwidth for next few weeks. But I will load up the new firmware 12.09 this weekend (Sunday) and listen to it for the issues caused by 12.09.

Here's where you guys come in.

If you could post here the names and SCENES of presets you are experiencing problems with, that would be great and help me a lot give a fix or solution in place. I'll get a handle on where the issues are and how to fix. If it's minor, I might be able to update pretty quick and put up a new version for you. If it's major, it's going to be later this summer.

In the meantime, as work arounds, there is no law that says you can't roll back to 12.08 and everything will work fine. And if you just bought the TonePack recently I highly recommend you stay on 12.08 firmware for now.

Another solution, if this is just a few amps we find that cause unwanted clicks or pops in 12.09, is to go in and take screen shots of all the amp setting pages, then reinitialize the amp block, then re-input the settings and see if that satisfies you. A PITA to be sure, but welcome to my world.

I just wanted to get this out there since a few emails noting issues are coming in on this...want to be responsive, within reason. It's conceivable we could have a firmware 13.x before we know it, and don't want to waste time on an 12.9 minor update that will be rendered useless with a new firmware coming sooner rather than later.

Appreciate all the comments and support. We'll get things right, but it make take a little time. This is the oh-so-worth-it price of having constant firmware updates from Fractal Audio that improve things!

-----
And while I'm here...I'm also going to share a little tip to make some of the Marshall style amps sound juicier -- use that Amp Boost CS2 controller - set up a footswitch to turn it on/off from your floor controllers. You may have to change the value lower than 12db depending on the amp -- usually somewhere between 8db and 12db works -- but it really opens up the Marshall style amps (Freidmans, Bogners, Soldanos, Fryettes, Komet, etc.) and makes them much more fat and juicy sounding -- especially for low or medium gain sounds.

In the forthcoming Live Gold FM3/Axe-Fx III Tone Pack, I've dialed the right boost value on for each amp model, and many scenes almost all sound better and more dynamic with the CS2 boost ON than OFF, once you optimize the db level (so you don't clip, sometimes the default 12db is too much).

That's it for now. Back to the studio, and I'l monitor this thread for you guy's feedback on the firmware 12.09 update amp models causing you issues in the 1400+ Naked Amps TonePack designed for firmware 12.-08 -- thanks! - AB
Click to expand...


The issues were there in 12.08 as well, at least for me, so rolling back to 12.08 may or may not help. I was using preset '2Chn DualRectifier v12', scene 1 & 2, 'Honey Lead Orange Normal' and 'SmolderSolo OrangeNormal' . Thanks!
 
celongcor said:
The issues were there in 12.08 as well, at least for me, so rolling back to 12.08 may or may not help. I was using preset '2Chn DualRectifier v12', scene 1 & 2, 'Honey Lead Orange Normal' and 'SmolderSolo OrangeNormal' . Thanks!
Click to expand...

Ah - yes, the latest Tonepack version I did was for firmware 12.07, so it follows that the 12.08 is where the problem started...I'll edit the above post to reflect that. Thanks.
 
If you’re getting pops and clicks using 12.09, an issue has been found when a preset has two amp blocks that both utilize Gain Enhancer. To fix this, turn off Gain Enhancer (Amp’s Dynamics Page) in one of the amp blocks and you should be set. I’ve been told this issue has been fixed for the next release, but this should help you in the meantime.
 
York Audio said:
If you’re getting pops and clicks using 12.09, an issue has been found when a preset has two amp blocks that both utilize Gain Enhancer. To fix this, turn off Gain Enhancer (Amp’s Dynamics Page) in one of the amp blocks and you should be set. I’ve been told this issue has been fixed for the next release, but this should help you in the meantime.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! I was hoping that you were onto a solution for those of us experiencing issues and I hope it helps some people out. In my case, there are 2 amps but neither one uses the gain enhancer, so there's still something else going on. Thanks for looking out for us though!
 
York Audio said:
If you’re getting pops and clicks using 12.09, an issue has been found when a preset has two amp blocks that both utilize Gain Enhancer. To fix this, turn off Gain Enhancer (Amp’s Dynamics Page) in one of the amp blocks and you should be set. I’ve been told this issue has been fixed for the next release, but this should help you in the meantime.
Click to expand...
Thanks Justin. None of the Naked Amps presets uses the amp Gain Enhancer, but the info you shared is good to know amigo.
 
In case you didn't see this....

Cliff posted today there is an issue that will be fixed in forthcoming firmware after 12.09. The issue happens when one uses two amps in parallel, as all the Naked Amps presets do, so that may be the source of the reported issues above from after firmware 12.07 -- that may be causing the pops, crackles and audio drop outs (not a preset flaw).

So - it may not be a JVM or Dual rectifier amp model specific preset issue after all. Have had reports of this happening on a JTM and on a Bassman Naked Amps preset as well, which lead me to think it was not amp model specific but a firmware related change.

Here is a partial pasting to Cliff's post in response to forum user GuitarLife from the Axe-Fx III Firmware 12.09 thread.

GuitarLife said:
I experience unfortunately in this update 12.09, that some Amp is cracking and popping in some few specific high gain amps when I turn on the "out compression" in dynamics page in amp block? This is for me the Friedman BE V1, and the Friedman HBE and Friedman HBE V2 and the Friedman BE.. Maybe more Friedman amp does this.. It's both with high and low master volume level. Others who experience these..? Is this "the digital wall"?
I just turn a little "Out compression on" (In dynamics page amp block 1.3 -1.5) and I hear this annoying pops and cracking..?
Click to expand...
Cliff: Are you running two amp blocks? If so this is a known bug.
Today at 10:14 AM
GuitarLife said:
Yes I am running two amp blocks. But only one at the time, not two at ones. One is muted and also muted when bypassed.
Click to expand...
Cliff: That's still counts as two amp blocks. This has been fixed for the next release but please post the preset so we can test it to be sure.


So...

For now, keep using 12.07 firmware with the Naked Amps presets until we see if the next firmware release fixes it. If needed, you can get prior firmware roll back - here is a link to great archive/place to get prior firmwares.

That's all for now!
 
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I think it might be worthwhile to bring this up, and I doubt Austin Buddy wants to:

There was undoubtedly a lot of work that went into this pack of presets. And while I’m grateful for the regular incremental improvements from Fractal Audio Systems in their firmware, this has to present a real challenge to anyone selling presets because of the constantly moving target.

To whatever extent they are able, in my opinion it is a courtesy if preset dealers do free preset updates as the firmware updates. I wouldn’t blame them for saying something like “You’re buying my presets for firmware 12.07. Future updates may be available at additional cost.”

I just hope we don’t feel too entitled.
 
greiswig said:
I think it might be worthwhile to bring this up, and I doubt Austin Buddy wants to:

There was undoubtedly a lot of work that went into this pack of presets. And while I’m grateful for the regular incremental improvements from Fractal Audio Systems in their firmware, this has to present a real challenge to anyone selling presets because of the constantly moving target.

To whatever extent they are able, in my opinion it is a courtesy if preset dealers do free preset updates as the firmware updates. I wouldn’t blame them for saying something like “You’re buying my presets for firmware 12.07. Future updates may be available at additional cost.”

I just hope we don’t feel too entitled.
Click to expand...
Well vendors would still need to update their presets because if someone is just buying the presets now they'd likely expect that they're for the latest firmware. I'd think the consideration of updating is built into the price, but maybe not. I'd understand if there needed to be a small update charge, especially for something as huge as the naked amps pack.
 
Eliju said:
Well vendors would still need to update their presets because if someone is just buying the presets now they'd likely expect that they're for the latest firmware. I'd think the consideration of updating is built into the price, but maybe not. I'd understand if there needed to be a small update charge, especially for something as huge as the naked amps pack.
Click to expand...
Updates to a point, but I don’t think it’s fair to expect ongoing free updates. That’s a massive amount of work. It takes hours just to test a preset pack. Think of how many more hours it takes to update, dial in, and test 1000 scenes.
 
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Well, I've never charged for an TonePack update due to a firmware change yet, but have always reserved the right to - the manual says so. I include at least two free updates in the purchase price of a TonePack. I want to do them for free, but the only way to do that is to spread the updates out over time. It would also be a nightmare for my ecommerce system to try and track who qualifies for what update since people buy at different times.

It is impossible to predict when Fractal will do firmware updates, and (generally) most are minor that do not affect presets sounds. When a firmware changes numbers (from 12.x to 13.x for example) AND the amp sounds change or effects change, then I try to do an update if warranted. But Cliff can churn these updates out -- I remember once upon a time we had like 6 updates in an 8-12 week period, and am so glad I waited until it settled down to start an TonePack update -- else that would have all 100% been wasted time.

So I always wait a few weeks after a firmware goes public and changes number (from 12 to 13 for example), to let the dust settle and see if it's going to be around for a while. It would take me a month of available time, using 3 hours a day (got to rest your ears) to go through every scene of the Naked Amps Tone Pack at 1-2 minutes per scene. As @fremen knows too, it's a massive undertaking time-wise.

It's taking myefour months to get this FM3/Axe-Fx III "Live Gold" Tonepack together (almost done with bank 2!), but boy is it worth it. Just auditioning IRs per amp model can take many minutes to find the right one -- and that is a LOT of whether it sounds great or not.
 
PS I fell in love on the FM3 with the Divided by 13 amps last night as I dialed them in. It really felt like the real amp was in the room with me, and the legacy /13 IR was spot-on and killer.
 
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