Axe-Fx III Firmware 25.04 Release

An aside: I realized I posted a different preset than the one I talked about, and I accidentally overwrote the one that was so awesome! So for anyone who tried the one I posted, it likely will sound shrill. I usually save incremental versions of presets, making minor adjustments and trying different tone ideas as I go along, and what I posted was meant for my neck humbucker in parallel.

Sorry for the derail, but I wanted to apologize for anyone's ears who might've bled from it.
 
I'm also having having issues with my stand in switches on my external aux switch boxes...is there a workaround for this or I assume a FW update to address?
 
Great update, Cliff.

I was wondering Cliff, are you going to fix the pitch shifting in the III/FM9/FM3? I can get better pitch using plugins like Neural DSP, Digi drop, QC and some much older units. You can really notice the weakness of the pitch block in all Fractal Units when you go clean, but you can hear it regardless, and it's what I call a weak spot since all these other units I listed and some plugins are better at doing pitch shifting, even though they are not better at doing anything else.
 
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suhrmajesty said:
Great update, Cliff.

I was wondering Cliff, are you going to fix the pitch shifting in the III/FM9/FM3? I can get better pitch using plugins like Neural DSP, Digi drop, QC and some much older units. You can really notice the weakness of the pitch block in all Fractal Units when you go clean, but you can hear it regardless, and it's what I call a weak spot since all these other units I listed and some plugins are better at doing pitch shifting, even though they are not better at doing anything else.
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This is a feature request - not a "fix."
 
sprint said:
Maybe you are doing it wrong.

(try asking for tips in another thread (or review old threads on the subject))
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I'm doing my pitch like Zack Seif does his in the video below.

I mostly praise Fractal and have purchased many units since the Axe Fx Ultra days. Various people have purchased Fractal because of my recommendations, so I don't have a beef with Cliff, or the product in general, it's the best thing out there until you use the pitch block. I'm just wondering when Cliff is going to make his way back to that block, which is the weakest link in the whole unit.

Here is a video showing off the Pitch block not acting like one would expect.
 
Ok so when it comes to those 2 Marshalls Cliff mentioned the "soft reset" for, I don't have them in any of my user presets, I just gravitate toward the factory ones, and adjust them on a "per guitar" basis. Soft reset still required? I believe remember it entails simply selecting another amp and re-selecting the amp in question. Am I right? Apologies in advance, I'm sure this has been constantly explained like a broken record, so don't blast me guys😳🤔✋😝
 
suhrmajesty said:
I'm doing my pitch like Zack Seif does his in the video below.

I mostly praise Fractal and have purchased many units since the Axe Fx Ultra days. Various people have purchased Fractal because of my recommendations, so I don't have a beef with Cliff, or the product in general, it's the best thing out there until you use the pitch block. I'm just wondering when Cliff is going to make his way back to that block, which is the weakest link in the whole unit.

Here is a video showing off the Pitch block not acting like one would expect.
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He has Pitch Tracking set to "Fast" which is intended for single note leads. Set Pitch Tracking to "Smooth" when playing chords.

In my tests our pitch shifting is superior to every other hardware modeler I've tested.
 
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FractalAudio said:
He has Pitch Tracking set to "Fast" which is intended for single note leads. Set Pitch Tracking to "Smooth" when playing chords.

In my tests our pitch shifting is superior to every other hardware modeler I've tested.
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Besides smooth for chords, what else would you suggest for the settings to “optimize” for chords?
 
suhrmajesty said:
Here is a video showing off the Pitch block not acting like one would expect.
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All pitch shifting algorithms have artifacts. The question is: how does it compare to other real-time pitch shifters? He doesn't do a direct comparison, so I don't see how anyone could draw any conclusions from that video.

He probably should have explored the VC settings more, that will make a big difference. He definitely should have been using the Smooth setting in the last test, or maybe even Off with the tracking turned up. Regarding the Drop pedal, the advantage to the Axe-FX VC over the Drop has always been the lower latency. Nothing does realtime pitch shifting perfectly, but there are pros and cons. Here's an AxeFX III comparison:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/virtual-capo-any-good.187797/#post-2327758
 
GlennO said:
All pitch shifting algorithms have artifacts. The question is: how does it compare to other real-time pitch shifters? He doesn't do a direct comparison, so I don't see how anyone could draw any conclusions from that video.

He probably should have explored the VC settings more, that will make a big difference. He definitely should have been using the Smooth setting in the last test, or maybe even Off with the tracking turned up. Regarding the Drop pedal, the advantage to the Axe-FX VC over the Drop has always been the lower latency. Nothing does realtime pitch shifting perfectly, but there are pros and cons. Here's an AxeFX III comparison:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/virtual-capo-any-good.187797/#post-2327758
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Yup. Real-time pitch shifting is full of tradeoffs. I you want low latency you get tremolo artifacts. If you don't want the tremolo artifacts you get high latency and weird artifacts on complex intervals.
 
FractalAudio said:
He has Pitch Tracking set to "Fast" which is intended for single note leads. Set Pitch Tracking to "Smooth" when playing chords.

In my tests our pitch shifting is superior to every other hardware modeler I've tested.
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CodePoet said:
I left Zack a comment on his video with a link to Cliff's response about Smooth pitch tracking, but he hid the comment. 🤷‍♂️
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I'm constantly seeing that guy post incorrect information and poor guidance (IMO) on various Fractal Facebook groups.

It bugs me that he does paid "1 on 1" Fractal sessions with others...

Just because someone makes videos doesn't make them an expert ;)
 
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I'm using the pitch block in ax3 all the time now. Mostly for virtual capo and whammy stuff. And I think this effect performing very well (I forgot when I use my whammy dt last time)
 
FractalAudio said:
He has Pitch Tracking set to "Fast" which is intended for single note leads. Set Pitch Tracking to "Smooth" when playing chords.

In my tests our pitch shifting is superior to every other hardware modeler I've tested.
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what more do you reckon you could do to improve it? Personally for me i have had 0 issues with the pitch block and i agree with what you've said but if you were to improve it further whats the scope? its make me excited ;D
 
I used the virtual capo recently at a gig where I wanted to play one song tuned down one half step. Yes there were artefacts and lag, but not so much to make me bring another guitar for one song, and I believe nobody in the audience noticed it. As our bass player always says: good enough for Folk!
 
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