Axe-Fx III 16.00 Beta 4 "Cygnus" Firmware - Public Beta

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Did the Vox’s get the business? The AC20 is outstanding. I really noticed a major difference in the Tweed Deluxe. Not nearly as much headroom but yeah it does that Neil Young thing like crazy. Also seems darker than the other maybe?

Definitely has that AITR thumpiness now. Also seems to have more top - but maybe it’s just the lower mids being tightened and less cloudy. It’s definitely an improvement.
 
I've also noticed that if I mute all the IRs in a cab block, audio still passes through. Here's a preset.
 

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Oh my God, it's incredible. I feel that oomph on every amp I've tried, and I tried a lot of them tonight. It truly is phenomenal. The high gain stuff on the amps you've tested just has meat, which yields even better "grain" to the gain. It's got texture to it, depth. I had been surprised not to have felt so strongly about the SLO100 before either, but now, fahgetaboutit; it's unbelievable. I had not gelled with the X88 before, but, to my utter shock, I love it now! I feel like it has this wall of gain aspect to it that I hadn't perceived in the same way before. There's some real magic going on here.

It feels silly even to think about presets right now. With a real amp, of course you don't have presets (for almost all real amps, i.e.), and I keep feeling so strongly that I'm in front of the real deal right now that the idea of saving one setting and recalling another instantly is what feels unreal; what feels absolutely real is the tone, and I keep having to remind myself that this is a self-contained guitar processor, and it can do so much more than just dead on fool you to think you're playing through a roaring tube amp.

Besides my newfound idolatry of Mike Soldano's designs, I just found that truly I felt the way I used to in front of real tube amps, trying out amps I could never afford at stores, this feeling that the amp is this beast in front of you, and by fiddling with some knobs you may be able to coax the beast to do your bidding, to express itself on your behalf, with more anger and nuance than you ever could on your own. And what's killing me is, I'm feeling this way again tonight, with headphones!

The III Mark II was already a world to explore, really the most sky-is-the-limit guitar gear in existence, and now it's feel is somehow even more real, like scarily powerful, awesome in the true sense of the word, as in compelling a sense of awe. I never felt like the previous firmware was lacking, to be honest, but I also had no idea what it was missing. Whatever the hell it is you discovered, hats off to you, my man. I felt obnoxious even thinking this, but playing the new firmware, I felt sorry for any player who doesn't own the AxeFX III. I always feel like guitar gear is primarily about inspiration, and now I feel exactly the same inspiration I've felt every time I've played a gargantuan sounding amp in the real world.

My sincere thanks.
 
Per @Bruce Sokolovic:
My only negative observation is there is now a certain commonality between the models that previously didn’t exist. In other words, the special sauce has a sound. I’m not even sure this is negative, but it just is.

I've gone back and forth between 15 and 16 about 3 times. With my favorite clean Band Commander preset, Cygnus sounds a bit less detailed and bit 'quacky' (not the right adjective) compared to 15 which to my ears had a lot of rich string overtone detail and punch. I'm hoping it's just my tired ears. I really, really like 15 so it might be hard to flip me to 16. I'll revisit it and try to record a comparison tomorrow.

That said, this is the very first release of Cygnus and I trust Cliff will continue to dial in more accuracy and goodness over time.
 
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Hmm I’ll have to do some before and after tests myself... sucks I’ll be at work all weekend.. and night shift at that. I’m looking forward to hearing more feedback on this.
 
Per @Bruce Sokolovic:


I've gone back and forth between 15 and 16 about 3 times. With my favorite clean Band Commander preset, Cygnus sounds a bit less detailed and bit 'quacky' (not the right adjective) compared to 15 which to my ears had a lot of rich string overtone detail and punch. I'm hoping it's just my tired ears. I really, really like 15 so it might be hard to flip me to 16. I'll revisit it and try to record a comparison tomorrow.

That said, this is the very first release of Cygnus and I trust Cliff will continue to dial in more accuracy and goodness over time.
Pointed out to a buddy of mine even real amps have commonalities. Using the same IR, my SLO100, BE100 and triple Rec dont sound all that different from one another. I guess when you have 100+ amps at the end of a mouse click, these common traits become a bit more apparent? I’m really not sure. I did however realize this update has a sound to it, and it seems to be present in all the changed models I checked out. Now, it is a GREAT sound, just to be clear and I’m happy with the update, so this isn’t really anything but an observation.
 
I wonder if what Cliff does is a "techno-art" mix of art and science, intuition and detective work, experimentation and analysis. That is, aesthetics and trial-and-error are necessarily part of it.

Thus maybe Ares/15 had a certain aesthetic and 'authenticity' while Cygnus/16 has a different aesthetic and 'authenticity'. Perhaps Cliff's been circling in on the various dimensions of tube amp tone but from different angles with the two latest approaches.... spinning, whirling, still descending, like a spiral sea unending!
 
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About resetting the amps... I have at least 500 presets, some commercial packs and my own presets. Each one have more than 1 amp, usually 5-6. In general - 2500-3000 amps to reset? Is it really necessary?
 
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