Axe-Fx III Firmware 29.01 Public Beta

Status
Not open for further replies.
Before / After test results above revised as per Fractal Guidance.




FractalAudio said:
Arpeggios with ringing notes are chords, not single notes. If you are playing arpeggios and letting the notes ring you should set the tracking to "Chords".

The "Notes" setting is for playing single notes, like leads that you want to harmonize.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
After some more in depth testing, I will stick to the digitech drop tune pedal for my virtual capo needs. There is still a bit more latency or wobbling for my taste. The pitch block does genuinely work considerably better for all the other modes. I will have to test it again if there are more updates. This is still a beta, afterall.
 
My biggest issue with VC in the pitch block is the latency. I wish there was an option to reduce latency. Not sure if more cpu power could do that. Maybe something similar to the options in the reverb block where you can select from economy to high quality. For the VC in the pitch block have 2 options. Normal, and low latency. I would accept high cpu usage as an option.
 
I fear you never get entirely rid of some noticeable latency due to the math behind it. AFAIK you split the incoming signal into tiny chunks, apply some processing (depends on the method, usually a fast Fourier Transform followed by further processing, or even adding/removing small fractions of your signal) and then output it again. Both the required buffering of the input signal and the processing add to the base latency of the AXE....Real time pitch shifting is a pain in the ass because you're restricted by processing power and buffer size in order to keep the latency low while trying to achieve natural sounding results. And usually the bigger the pitch shift, the more latency you'll need to add...

That said, the VC isn't sounding perfect but I never had a pitch shifter that did. Of those I tried included in modelers, the VC of the Axe sounds the best with an acceptable latency IMHO.
 
Wow vangrieg….
I don’t have tried this beta yet, but I use the virtual capo sometimes when I didn’t want to downtune when I’m lazy. Yes in clean tone they are warble, yes there is a small latency while playing … but same with all the products … I own quickly a drop pedal , I still have the whammy, it can be a little better but still not perfect neither…
I dont get it. To me the VC is just for ponctual use. If you play in B with your band, set your guitar in B 🤷

Last year I was so bored reading shit about the VC that I have done a video with a stock telecaster squier affinity (!!) in standard tuning, using the VC to be in F TUNING
And no one noticed it 🤣

I will try the new version when I can, I am busy these days between the baby and finishing recording an album

 
Last edited:
My name is mud said:
Wow vangrieg….
I don’t have tried this beta yet, but I use the virtual capo sometimes when I didn’t want to downtune when I’m lazy. Yes in clean tone they are warble, yes there is a small latency while playing … but same with all the products … I own quickly a drop pedal , I still have the whammy, it can be a little better but still not perfect neither…
I dont get it. To me the VC is just for ponctual use. If you play in B with your band, set your guitar in B 🤷

Last year I was so bored reading shit about the VC that I have done a video with a stock telecaster squier affinity (!!) in standard tuning, using the VC to be in F TUNING
And no one noticed it 🤣

I will try the new version when I can, I am busy these days between the baby and finishing recording an album

Click to expand...

Great cover! Great beer! I’d say great guitar, but…
 
Don't worry - There's still people like US!
😁

I remember (when I was developing software), there's always an employee of the client who's a sour puss and just has to have the font colour RED and it MUST be bold, and it's REALLY IMPORTANT, but the way they frame the argument makes you think - Fuck you I'm gonna make it Blue Italics just for you. I guess that's always been one of my faults. I took the software personally, and when people saw flaws (that I thought were frivolous or irrelevant) it (as you say) would just suck the fun right out of the process. Genuine bugs or limitations - I'd own with vigour, but sometimes the way the message is delivered takes precedence, and influences the outcome. I know this guy has a point, but I guess he could do with some humility and empathy training to get it across in a better fashion.

Thanks Cliff - I (We) LOVE your work. For more than a decade I've been waiting for the "Fractal Audio has been sold to (insert some big corporate here)", but it's never happened and I'm (We're) so happy about that! The constant and relentless drive you have to continuously improve your product makes it the best in the world, amongst a bunch of stiff competition.

Thanks
Pauly




FractalAudio said:
We are working on improving the performance. I will do some more tweaking this week.

That said, your attitude and behavior are far from diplomatic. There are dedicated people who pour their hearts and souls into these products and people like you can really suck the joy out of work.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I have tried the Virtual Capo with at -5 context

more bass and body
maybe a little less artefacts in clean tone but still better for dist use at 100%

I have tried in Eb too, same

you lost some "hair" in the tone/ high frequencies

but in a mix in dist that's ok

so to resume, it is a bit better but still a tool
 
vangrieg said:
There are almost always some artifacts with pitch shifting, the recent updates made this worse, and it sounds like a strong tremolo that’s not aligned with the song tempo obviously. Not always, and not with all intervals. Also, with the earlier algorithm it was more feasible to adjust settings to make it tolerable, now it’s not the case (well, to be fair, with the latest version available to me on the FM3 at least).

So it got much worse.

And it’s not like “I” and only I talk about it, multiple users complain about it, and I wasn’t even the one who initiated the threads on the topic.
Click to expand...
With dist it is « ok » I think, don’t know with the fm3 but ... If you want a better pitch shifter, buy an external/dedicated one like many others do.. and you ll see that the « drop pedal » isn’t perfect neither …

The axe offers many great things for the price, that’s ok to want a perfect pitch shifter, but if it is not here yet, spend one hundred to have one and wait for something better in the future 🤷… there is no product that I know that got a perfect virtual capo, it is like an acoustic simulator effect : Cliff doesn’t try to do one publicly yet, because I think that this is another thing very difficult to do

Imagine pitching something polyphonic , chords etc without having weird things happening … maybe with a midi system, but just with audio that is not easy
 
Something is off with my presets after loading the beta. Never had that before. I am going to reload 29.0 and see if it's me or the update.

Only way to describe it is they seem sterile and flat. Tried to adjust setting , tried different guitars and gave up.

I do appreciate the hard work the developers do so this is not a knock against them. Again maybe it's just my ears.
 
drw1304 said:
Something is off with my presets after loading the beta. Never had that before. I am going to reload 29.0 and see if it's me or the update.

Only way to describe it is they seem sterile and flat. Tried to adjust setting , tried different guitars and gave up.

I do appreciate the hard work the developers do so this is not a knock against them. Again maybe it's just my ears.
Click to expand...
It doesn't appear there were any changes to amp modeling or anything else that would cause this based on the release notes. Not saying you're not experiencing something off with your presets, but it seems like something else may be going on. Feel free to post the preset so others can check it out and help.
 
MackieFX said:
So whats the scoop - is the latency lower, or is it just the tracking thats improved? Cheers :)
Click to expand...
No expert, but I think both are improved quite a bit.it is very usable now. As it has been stated, it sounds a bit better with overdriven sounds. If you play a super clean preset and play complex chords it is less favorable. For guys riffing power chords with distortion, it will be a game changer for sure. Jazz guys may still stick with the drop tune, depending on future updates. This is just my opinion.2 cents,
 
Bug?

Something's not right with the SUPERTWEED amp model, even at lower gain settings.
It sounds way more fuzzy and papery than it did before.
Don't know if this is caused by this firmware or earlier.
Can anyone confirm?
 
Last edited:
jimmynorrisjr said:
No expert, but I think both are improved quite a bit.it is very usable now. As it has been stated, it sounds a bit better with overdriven sounds. If you play a super clean preset and play complex chords it is less favorable. For guys riffing power chords with distortion, it will be a game changer for sure. Jazz guys may still stick with the drop tune, depending on future updates. This is just my opinion.2 cents,
Click to expand...
Awesome, looking forward to trying it with on some sleep token songs that go down to B1 !
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom