DynaCab Pack Limited Public Beta

[jordikt]

To be clear regarding the CL4 stand-alone, in my case I have to have the FM3 disconnected (via the menu control), to get the software live mode to pass audio, and then connect to the FM3 to save IR's to the HW, is that expected behavior?

I would say that's not the expected behaviour... What is your audio input & output configurations in CL4?

Then after closing CL4 after saving IR to HW, I have to reboot the FM3 to get audio working, is that expected behavior as well?

It's weird. I don't need to reboot FM3 after using CL4...

 

[jimmynorrisjr]

I am getting the ghost notes on the 1960TV with the euro blue and red modern, AC20 with the ac20 ef86 treble, and Doubleverb with the deluxe reverb vibrato. Does anyone know if that can be dialed out? It sounds like an octave below effect on the A and low E strings around the 12th fret. It is significantly stronger with the neck pickup. I tried changing each amps power section to DC without any significant change. I am hoping this is just a bug in cablab4 or this batch of dynacabs? Anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

I am running beta 23 on my axe-fx 3 mkii turbo if that matters. I am using a macbook air M1 with Sonoma 14.0 to connect with cablab 4.

 

[ProfEmerald]

Purchase, installation and download was quick and smooth, the interface is great (love the skin options btw).
I tried it for a few minutes before going to sleep and everything seems to work fine.

I see a couple things missing compared to cab-lab 3: the smoothing parameter and the trim option per cab slot (atm it's only in the export section), hope these will be added in the future cuz they're handy.

But other than that, this is pretty much perfect in my eyes and still can't believe the app/plugin is free. Great job!

PS: I also have a few questions:

• I see in the export tab just two options for the format, Normal and UltraRes. Is normal 2048 or 1024 samples?
• DynaCab packs seem to be 2048 samples, since a PC doesn't have particular memory or CPU constraints like a modeler, any chance it could be extended to a longer sample lenght in the future?
• What's the maximum lenght currently supported by cab-lab 4 for normal IRs?

Agree, would love to see smoothing added. Thanks.

 

[sprint]

so far so good on my testing but a few things jump out as challenging:

• Output volume: As others have stated, it's quite loud - would be good if we could have an output volume control when auditioning in Cablab4 since, particularly when trying to match up to an already dialed in on-board mix as a Cablab starting point, the volume difference makes comparison difficult if auditioning directly in CL4.
• Scale / Range differences between CL4 and On board DC - "Center/Edge" and "Distance" both have different scales and ranges which again makes setting up a starting point mix on CL4 that matches what's already dialed in on-board (either to match an existing good sound before attempting to improve it, or, to simply combine the on-board mix IRs into one exact match single IR to use for CPU savings) difficult. Despite this, from the few samples I tried to match, it looks like you'll get pretty close (a bit unintuitively) by just typing in the same numbers between CL4 and on board DC even though the scales and ranges are quite different between the 2 . With both values at zero I was able to get an exact match (nulled out to silence on comparison).
• SIC Indication - Again, wrt matching an existing on-board mix in a CL4 export, we need to set up the amp block SIC parms to manually (since the CL4 IR export will be to a legacy cab) reflect what on-board DC auto-SIC values would have assigned for the same cab. Though it's easy enough to manually have the authentic curve values for the CL4 cab being exported, it would be great to see those curve values noted somewhere in CL4 for each cab since at some point we may have 3rd pty cabs in CL4 and want to copy the SIC over to the amp speaker page value by value.
• Smoothing, Room, and Air parameters need to be turned off on board if looking to match a CL4 auditioned sound to on-board equivalent. Would be cool but not essential to have these in CL4 also to allow for direct comparison with those items turned on.
• Trim - For some reason, I could only get a CL4 export to match closely to on-board (following the above) if I exported with "No Trim" - maybe this is correct but I'm not sure why (I always got somewhat mismatched CL4 export sounds compared to the same onl-board DC mix when exporting with auto Trim - looking at the on board DC cab wave forms, they all look to have a bit of space on the front which seems only gets duplicated from a CL4 "No Trim" export - maybe this is why).

None of these are show stoppers for me as I was able to get there with the product in current form. Maybe I'm a bit overly focused on matching CL4 mixes to on-board DC, but I see myself using on board DC to get in the neighbourhood (or closer) of the sound I want, and then wanting to tweak / improve further in CL4, or just using CL4 to combine IRs into 1 for cpu savings. In either case one needs to (quickly if possible) get the CL mix matching closely/exactly to what's already dialed in on-board.

Excellent product overall - congrats - can't wait for the Mesa 412s and AC30 to drop!

 

[rossipedia]

Man I was hoping to have more critical feedback, but this thing is just awesome.

I was able to dial a fantastic mix of the fender 2x12 and GB 4x12 that works just perfectly for both high gain and some ultra-glassy clean sounds. I cannot wait for the Mesa 4x12 pack, but already the two packs I bought are incredibly useful. I much prefer dialing in tones by moving mics around to fiddling with EQ curves.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

I am getting the ghost notes on the 1960TV with the euro blue and red modern, AC20 with the ac20 ef86 treble, and Doubleverb with the deluxe reverb vibrato. Does anyone know if that can be dialed out? It sounds like an octave below effect on the A and low E strings around the 12th fret. It is significantly stronger with the neck pickup. I tried changing each amps power section to DC without any significant change. I am hoping this is just a bug in cablab4 or this batch of dynacabs? Anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

I am running beta 23 on my axe-fx 3 mkii turbo if that matters. I am using a macbook air M1 with Sonoma 14.0 to connect with cablab 4.

Ghost notes have nothing to do with the cabs or speakers, it's a result of AC line ripple inside the amplifier and signifies the accuracy of the amp model itself.

See https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/ghost-notes.126903/ or https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Amp_block#POWER_TYPE.

Once you've saved the IR to the modeler you can adjust the amp to dial out the ripple/modulation.

 

[jimmynorrisjr]

Ghost notes have nothing to do with the cabs or speakers, it's a result of AC line ripple inside the amplifier and signifies the accuracy of the amp model itself.

See https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/ghost-notes.126903/ or https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Amp_block#POWER_TYPE.

Once you've saved the IR to the modeler you can adjust the amp to dial out the ripple/modulation.

I switched to DC power on each amp, but it didn't make any difference. I am not even trying to defeat the ghost notes all together. But the amount literally sounds like an octave below almost as loud as the original note when using the neck pickup ... only on the low E and A strings, and mostly between the 5th fret and the 15th fret. So I have copied the preset to 2 slots. On one version, I have my cab lab IRs, on the other the HW dynacabs with the same settings. It is only doing this on the cab lab IRs.

 

[State of Epicicity]

I switched to DC power on each amp, but it didn't make any difference. I am not even trying to defeat the ghost notes all together. But the amount literally sounds like an octave below almost as loud as the original note when using the neck pickup ... only on the low E and A strings, and mostly between the 5th fret and the 15th fret. So I have copied the preset to 2 slots. On one version, I have my cab lab IRs, on the other the HW dynacabs with the same settings. It is only doing this on the cab lab IRs.

You could also try increasing the B+ Time Constant (or is it decreasing?). Damn it; can't remember, but that's another way, if the amp is the source. I also wonder if it could be an aliasing error. Lastly, someone pointed out to me on another thread that sometimes what sounds like ghost notes from an amp can instead be wolf notes caused by pickups that are too high, especially single coils. So lowering the pickups might be another thing to try. I'm interested to see if anything gets rid of it for you. If you post a clip, maybe Cliff @FractalAudio can just tell by hearing it.

 

[jimmynorrisjr]

You could also try increasing the B+ Time Constant (or is it decreasing?). Damn it; can't remember, but that's another way, if the amp is the source. I also wonder if it could be an aliasing error. Lastly, someone pointed out to me on another thread that sometimes what sounds like ghost notes from an amp can instead be wolf notes caused by pickups that are too high, especially single coils. So lowering the pickups might be another thing to try. I'm interested to see if anything gets rid of it for you. If you post a clip, maybe Cliff @FractalAudio can just tell by hearing it.

It doesn't do it on the same preset with HW dyna-cabs with the same settings, so I don't think its the pickups. I will try messing with it a bit more tomorrow.

 

[skolacki]

I’m super impressed so far. Install worked great. I had limited time but I cooked up a 3 IR mix, saved it as Ultrares and then ran it on my FM3. Added a preamp and seasoned like I would on any other IR. This is on the TV cab.

Only complaints are latency in Live mode with the setting reduced to max. Still unplayable so I put a looper at the input of the preset I was using and then ran the loop for the CL4 session. Should I be in hardware mode?

Too loud, need a level adjust.

Spinning icon as I saw mentioned on an earlier post. I saw this when adding cabs and clears as soon as you click on something.

It’s a bummer you can’t switch back and forth between the editor and Cablab on the fly. Not a deal breaker though. The main goal is IR mixing so you just need a basic preset.

It would be good to have the speaker curve as a setup option. Or at least show recommended curves for the Dynacab packs.

Other than that I would say this is a game changer. I need more time and some more reading of the manual but it is intuitive to get it running, but still some confusion. Which is normal on new software. I’d say the interface and setup are well done considering the time I had available and coming up with a Ultrares mixed IR that sounds good. This is going to sell a lot of Dynacab packs. Bravo FAS!

 

[DLC86]

Last night I tested the SW live mode and I encountered a few issues.

Firstly, I wasn't able to use the FM9 as the audio interface and hear the sound processed by cab-lab. Maybe I just need to re-read the manual but, no matter what inputs and outputs were set in cab-lab settings, I could only hear the "cabless" signal (yes, I saw there's a bypass button).
Is any particular routing required in FM9's grid to make this work? I was monitoring via S/PDIF (Out1) btw

Then I switched to using my audio interface via S/PDIF and that was fixed, but the volume was quite high (as other have pointed out) and I was getting clipping despite the FM9's vu meters were hovering around the 0dB mark. It seems cab-lab boosts the signal somehow.
In addition to fixing the level issue, having an output level control in cab-lab would be handy for sure.

Lastly, while I was going back and forth between cab-lab and fm9-edit (by pausing communication on one or the other), suddenly the fm9 lost both its usb connection with the PC and the S/PDIF connection with the interface, I had to reboot both the fm9 and the PC to fix it.

 

[Piing]

I thought live monitoring in CabLab was louder also, but realized that you can lower it by adjusting the USB levels in the Axe-Fx III.

How did you do that? When I adjust the USB level it changes both the Cab Block and CabLab levels simultaneously.

 

[Piing]

I am getting the ghost notes on the 1960TV with the euro blue and red modern, AC20 with the ac20 ef86 treble, and Doubleverb with the deluxe reverb vibrato. Does anyone know if that can be dialed out? It sounds like an octave below effect on the A and low E strings around the 12th fret. It is significantly stronger with the neck pickup. I tried changing each amps power section to DC without any significant change. I am hoping this is just a bug in cablab4 or this batch of dynacabs? Anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

I am running beta 23 on my axe-fx 3 mkii turbo if that matters. I am using a macbook air M1 with Sonoma 14.0 to connect with cablab 4.

I am experiencing the same with the 1960TV (that is the only pack I have so far). Random lower octave notes, too loud to be ghost notes. It rather sounds like a broken octave-divider. The amp is a Friedman BE V3 that never had ghost notes with any other CAB.

Furthermore, everything sounds like phasing through a metallic pipe, no matter what microphone or position I choose. Horrible. I would swear that last night it was not bad, but it was late at night when I tried it.

Edit: I have recorded the sound on Cakewalk, to show you how bad it sounds, but the recording sounds ok!! Not phased through a metallic tube. Maybe the signal is doubled and causing out-of-phase issues. What can it be?
I am using the Axe-FX as the only interface. No FX after the CAB block.

 

[Piing]

Another thing that maybe could be improved:

I named my first session "1960TV MG1", and since then I have created sessions MG2, MG3 and MG4. Then clicked the button "Save".

But at my hard drive there is only one session with file name "1960TV MG1.cls". I have been overwriting all my old sessions on that single file every time that I clicked that Save button.

Now I realize that you have to go to the menu Session>Save as... and save the session to a new file with a different name. So you have to write the name two times: at the black box, and at the "Save as..." dialogue. What is the utility of that "Save Button" or the box with the name if it doesn't save the file with that name?

BTW, that is not what it says at the popup when you click the "i" help button. It doesn't save a file with the session name when you press the Save button

 

[Piing]

I am experiencing the same with the 1960TV (that is the only pack I have so far). Random lower octave notes, too loud to be ghost notes. It rather sounds like a broken octave-divider. The amp is a Friedman BE V3 that never had ghost notes with any other CAB.

Furthermore, everything sounds like phasing through a metallic pipe, no matter what microphone or position I choose. Horrible. I would swear that last night it was not bad, but it was late at night when I tried it.

Edit: I have recorded the sound on Cakewalk, to show you how bad it sounds, but the recording sounds ok!! Not phased through a metallic tube. Maybe the signal is doubled and causing out-of-phase issues. What can it be?
I am using the Axe-FX as the only interface. No FX after the CAB block.

Phasing issue solved by replacing the CAB block with a Shunt at my preset. For some reason, CabLab was not totally bypassing the CAB block.

Curious thing, because when I muted all the speakers at CabLab there was no sound, so I was convinced that it was really bypassed.

 

[md1234]

For some reason, CabLab was not totally bypassing the CAB block.

That depends on the audition mode.
Read more about this in the Audition Setup View (if you haven't already), by pressing the Settings icon:

 

[ccc118]

I am experiencing the same with the 1960TV (that is the only pack I have so far). Random lower octave notes, too loud to be ghost notes. It rather sounds like a broken octave-divider. The amp is a Friedman BE V3 that never had ghost notes with any other CAB.

Furthermore, everything sounds like phasing through a metallic pipe, no matter what microphone or position I choose. Horrible. I would swear that last night it was not bad, but it was late at night when I tried it.

Edit: I have recorded the sound on Cakewalk, to show you how bad it sounds, but the recording sounds ok!! Not phased through a metallic tube. Maybe the signal is doubled and causing out-of-phase issues. What can it be?
I am using the Axe-FX as the only interface. No FX after the CAB block.

View attachment 127879

It looks like you have both the input and output in CabLab to Output 1, so you're probably still hearing the dry signal from the preset, in addition to what you're hearing in CabLab. The way I have it set up is to have the input to Output 2 and output to Output 1. In the Axe-FX, I have the cab block bypassed in the preset and am going to Output 2. This might help with the USB audio level you were asking about earlier.

 

[jwa174900]

I ran the cab lab through my DAW and tried to recreate the audio dropouts I was getting earlier and they are gone. Damn gremlins

 

[muudrock]

I initially had the same issue in SW Live Mode with the bypassed cab block sound behind the CL4 processed sound. I only had that issue connected via SPDIF to my UA Apollo interface . Using output 1 or 2 was ok.
Via the SPDIF connection to the Apollo, CL4 is bypassing the Cab block and applying the IR processing but I can hear both. Phasey and Ring Mod sounding. The fix was to mute the SPDIF channel which allowed only the CL4 processed sound through. Yes I followed the set up instructions, selected the SPDIF inputs on the Apollo.

I'm not sure if this is related to the UA interface or CL4. It could just be me missing something. Just putting it out there for anyone that is experiencing it. Seems counter intuitive to mute the input channel on the interface to get sound.

 

[DLC86]

Another thing that maybe could be improved:

I named my first session "1960TV MG1", and since then I have created sessions MG2, MG3 and MG4. Then clicked the button "Save".

But at my hard drive there is only one session with file name "1960TV MG1.cls". I have been overwriting all my old sessions on that single file every time that I clicked that Save button.

Now I realize that you have to go to the menu Session>Save as... and save the session to a new file with a different name. So you have to write the name two times: at the black box, and at the "Save as..." dialogue. What is the utility of that "Save Button" or the box with the name if it doesn't save the file with that name?

BTW, that is not what it says at the popup when you click the "i" help button. It doesn't save a file with the session name when you press the Save button
View attachment 127881

That's because they're two different things. The black box is the name (actually the metadata name) of the exported IR, while the session is the cab-lab project.