Axe-Fx III Firmware 25.00 Public Beta (Cygnus X-3)

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Arni61 said:
Honestly, I don't feel like completely adjusting all my presets for the umpteenth time. I don't want to completely adapt all my presets for the umpteenth time just to make them sound maybe 1-2% more authentic. If at all. At some point, it has to be good and you should simply keep a functioning system and familiar sound behavior in the ear. I think we are now operating in a very subjective area. And tastes are notoriously different. It's somehow an inner compulsion to simply have to carry out a major update because everyone seems to be doing it or you just don't want to miss anything. I think at some point you get into the area of "making things worse". Personally, I'm happy with version 24.04 and simply appreciate continuity in my presets. But that's just my personal opinion.
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This seems like a very reasonable decision to me. Back before the days of subscription software many folks did not upgrade every time there was a new version. Many waited until there were enough new features to compel them to upgrade....yes I'm looking at you Photoshop. That was often because there was a financial cost to upgrade, but as many say, time is money.

I will likely upgrade (once it is no longer Beta) because I am curious about the improvements and how significant they are. Also, I only have a few amp models that I use so the time to perform resets and re-tweaking is manageable (and enjoyable) for me.

This also seems to me to be a very good case for using Global Blocks. If you have many presets which are using a handful of amp models (and who knows, next release it may affect reverbs, delays etc.) then having built your presets using Global Blocks should save time and effort for upgrades. I think the process would be:
  1. reset the block in one instance of the global block (one preset) and make whatever tweaks are required (and save the preset)
  2. revisit all presets using that global block and perform a "load from global block"

Can anyone confirm that step #2 above is necessary and correct? It seems to me that the settings are reloaded from Global Blocks everytime the preset is selected so step #2 should be unnecessary - correct?
 
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My name is mud said:
While everyone seems lost in the supermarket (The Clash song?) I have rebooted the amp block in 130 presets already.
Give me a candy.
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man supermarket GIF by Intermarché
 
L-Plates said:
"It was at this point, he abandoned the guitar forever and went to live with the apes and other primates where the pinnacles of sounds came from the whooping calls, the beatings of chests, and the banging of stones."
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I hear ya.

We "civilized" modern apes are experiencing not only an embarrassment of technological riches but attendant option paralysis. It used to be we just grabbed what was available to make sounds or kill the enemy tribe across the valley. Now we got 1000s of options for any particular aspect of making music or waging war. Progress!

This perhaps makes me more and more of a Luddite, lately leaning towards simpler, often non-technological, things and ways of interacting with people as I get older. (FAS devices and forum excepted! :p )
 
Arni61 said:
I don't want to completely adapt all my presets for the umpteenth time just to make them sound maybe 1-2% more authentic. If at all. At some point, it has to be good and you should simply keep a functioning system and familiar sound behavior in the ear. I think we are now operating in a very subjective area.
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LanceZ said:
But I can see how having a lot of customized amp settings in lots of different presets could get tedious, especially if you have them dialed in just right.
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Exactly.

I almost never reset any amps in the majority of my presets because I get the new algorithm anyway (accuracy, tone, feel), and I have tweaked many of them to have certain cool but "non-authentic" characteristics that a reset would wipe out. So I am very thankful that FWs DON'T unilaterally force all parameters back to defaults.

However, there seems to be some kind of FOMOMA = fear of missing out on maximal accuracy/authenticity from the latest 1-2% (or 0.1%) improvement when Cliff reworks modeling.

We automatically get improved algorithmic accuracy with the new FW, while resetting amp parameters adjusts certain values to be in line with FAS's reference amps/circuits for authenticity, which might or might not be desireable, useful, significant or discernible for a given user.


EDIT: As @Brewce points out below, there are rare FWs that radically change (or add / remove) parameters and this is a scenario where I have reset and re-dialed in some presets.
 
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Arni61 said:
Honestly, I don't feel like completely adjusting all my presets for the umpteenth time. I don't want to completely adapt all my presets for the umpteenth time just to make them sound maybe 1-2% more authentic. If at all. At some point, it has to be good and you should simply keep a functioning system and familiar sound behavior in the ear. I think we are now operating in a very subjective area. And tastes are notoriously different. It's somehow an inner compulsion to simply have to carry out a major update because everyone seems to be doing it or you just don't want to miss anything. I think at some point you get into the area of "making things worse". Personally, I'm happy with version 24.04 and simply appreciate continuity in my presets. But that's just my personal opinion.
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yup, I’m also on 24.04.. just briefly tried this new beta but went back, as I am so happy with my current presets, that I don’t really feel a need to rework all my carefully crafted sounds. Hell, before, I only updated because of gapless switching, which was for me personally the biggest change since I purchased my axe-fx. Soundwise, I’m already in heaven :)
I’ll consider new update, once there is some really cool new feature, like noise gate with frequency filter or FAS stealth blue or cookie and coffee maker or so 😁
 
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yyz67 said:
We automatically get improved algorithmic accuracy with the new FW, while resetting amp parameters adjusts certain values to be in line with FAS's reference amps/circuits for authenticity, which might or might not be desireable, useful, significant or discernible for a given user.
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IMO, this excludes that some algorithms for some parameters may be wildly different than before, therefore potentially leaving you with wildly uncommon values. That is where these values should be brought in line for me.

Listening to amps is also an educational thing, so you don't want to do that with unrealisticly silly settings in place, unless you consciously dialed in such setting later on to have it sound/behave a peculiar way. Also, people with golden ears may be starting to hear too much how FAS amps sound weird (which also depends on how much wildness Cliff is allowing in the available range).

Sure, we may be lucky that there are usually no wildly different values necessary, but in theory it could be -- more so if you have already fiddled with them before.
 
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Question about copying an amp block from an existing preset to a new preset - will the new amp parameters / settings / etc. be incorporated into the new preset amp block that way? (asking because from reading the thread, existing presets aren't changed with firmware update. Curious if either copying block into new preset, or even saving existing preset to new preset number update the amp to new algorithm, settings, etc.).

Thanks... Mike
 
Arni61 said:
Honestly, I don't feel like completely adjusting all my presets for the umpteenth time. I don't want to completely adapt all my presets for the umpteenth time just to make them sound maybe 1-2% more authentic. If at all. At some point, it has to be good and you should simply keep a functioning system and familiar sound behavior in the ear. I think we are now operating in a very subjective area. And tastes are notoriously different. It's somehow an inner compulsion to simply have to carry out a major update because everyone seems to be doing it or you just don't want to miss anything. I think at some point you get into the area of "making things worse". Personally, I'm happy with version 24.04 and simply appreciate continuity in my presets. But that's just my personal opinion.
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Which is why I have a Kemper. Capture the AxeFX amps you use and really like and you are good to go.
 
There's a saying from Colorado politics about cats screaming in the alley-way. Never to worry, they're just making more cats.

Lots of people coming into the Fractal world and learning the details of the power tool. The craziness around this beta will lead to a larger pool of skilled beta testers down the line. All good!
 
almesy said:
will the new amp parameters / settings / etc. be incorporated into the new preset amp block that way?
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No, unless you had previously hard reset it before copying.

For this release "existing presets aren't changed with firmware update". Regardless of what a FW does, copying a preset copies it's exact values which is a necessary otherwise it would be preset mayhem.

There are rare FW releases that change some parameters automatically when loading the preset. In this case the Edited light indicates this and saving would then save these into the preset itself.
 
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yyz67 said:
No, unless you had previously hard reset it before copying.

For this release "existing presets aren't changed with firmware update" and this is applies across the board. Copying a preset copies it's exact values which is a necessary otherwise it would be preset mayhem.

There are rare FW releases that change some parameters automatically when loading the preset. In this case the Edited light indicates this and saving would then save these into the preset itself.
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Got it - thanks! (that's kind of what I suspected - appreciate the info)
 
Arni61 said:
Honestly, I don't feel like completely adjusting all my presets for the umpteenth time. I don't want to completely adapt all my presets for the umpteenth time just to make them sound maybe 1-2% more authentic. If at all. At some point, it has to be good and you should simply keep a functioning system and familiar sound behavior in the ear. I think we are now operating in a very subjective area. And tastes are notoriously different. It's somehow an inner compulsion to simply have to carry out a major update because everyone seems to be doing it or you just don't want to miss anything. I think at some point you get into the area of "making things worse". Personally, I'm happy with version 24.04 and simply appreciate continuity in my presets. But that's just my personal opinion.
Click to expand...
The beauty of FAS updates is that they're optional. I think it's awesome how we get these updates and changes which provide us with more options. I get it though, it's not for everyone.
 
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