Firmware rollback 9.03 to 8.02 ... how dangerous.

mwd

Power User
I was checking out the Austin Buddy site contemplating an XL preset purchase and ran upon an interesting article essentially mentioning that he was partial to 9.02 vs 9.03 and preferred 8.02 to both of them.

Got me to thinking I have all the editors and firmware versions and would actually like to 'rehear' 8.02. I was wondering in the event of a trial rollback would my presets jack up, as I'm on 9.3 and I also have the most current Fractal-bot and editor. Would those have to go back too?
 
Could someone with way more knowledge than me explain the big differences between 8.02 and 9.03? What makes them sound in any significant way different?
 
I was checking out the Austin Buddy site contemplating an XL preset purchase and ran upon an interesting article essentially mentioning that he was partial to 9.02 vs 9.03 and preferred 8.02 to both of them.

Got me to thinking I have all the editors and firmware versions and would actually like to 'rehear' 8.02. I was wondering in the event of a trial rollback would my presets jack up, as I'm on 9.3 and I also have the most current Fractal-bot and editor. Would those have to go back too?
As long as you haven't saved any presets since 8.02, you'll be ok. Any that you have saved after 8.02 will appear "blank" until you go back to (at least) the FW they were saved with.

Make a full backup, download an archived copy of Axe-Edit and roll back...
 
As long as you haven't saved any presets since 8.02, you'll be ok. Any that you have saved after 8.02 will appear "blank" until you go back to (at least) the FW they were saved with.

Just to make sure I understood correctly, If I was on 8.02 and upgraded to 9.03, I can’t use my presets on 8.02 anymore?
I did the upgrade (8.02 >> 9.03) yesterday, all my presets are there and up to now they sound the same to me.
 
Just to make sure I understood correctly, If I was on 8.02 and upgraded to 9.03, I can’t use my presets on 8.02 anymore?
I did the upgrade (8.02 >> 9.03) yesterday, all my presets are there and up to now they sound the same to me.
Not quite...

If you were to SAVE a preset under 9.03, it would not be usable under a previous firmware version.
 
As far as I know, the only difference between 8 and 9 is the addition of the Speaker Comp parameter, that you can roll off if you don't like it...
 
As far as I know, the only difference between 8 and 9 is the addition of the Speaker Comp parameter, that you can roll off if you don't like it...

That's exactly what I was going to say. I never recommend people rolling back firmware because you are going to lose added amps, added features, etc. I say adjust those particular parameters that were added and move forward.
 
Thanks guys. I think I'll stay where I am and experiment with Speaker Comp. Best I can tell the FAQ I was reading mentioned if you have 9.03 and liked 8.02 or 9.02 you would roll speaker comp up to between 3 and 5.
 
I stayed with 8.02 for quite some time, I had a couple of presets I prefered on it. But I tried 9.03 and even though I still prefered the same two presets on 8.02 every other preset was better on 9.03, I tweaked the old fave 8.02 presets to be prety much the same on the latest firmware no anyways so all is good :)
 
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From what I understand, your existing presets don't automatically take advantage of the new Speaker Compression settings unless you reset the amps or adjust it manually.
 
The release notes tell it all.

Well...not exactly. They can tell me what has been changed, but only a persons ears can tell me how it sounds different. Just thought maybe a couple of you awesome folk had compared them and could describe the tonal differences, if there are any.
 
not sure what your hearing in 8.03 that you cant get in 9.03...the tone adjustment is to the atom

If you're asking me Apogee it was mainly in response to a blog FAQ I read from Austin Buddy. It was mentioned he preferred v8.02 and I contemplated (briefly ...lol ) making a comparison. It has been suggested that this was, primarily, due to the Spkr. Comp. feature and that 9.03 could closely simulate the sound in 8.02 by turning speaker comp to between 3 & 5. Making it a bit smoother... less edgy.
 
Cliff just released 9.04 and I am anxious to check it out, as he adjusted the speaker comp stuff. It may change my view of firmware 9, we shall see.

You can use the Tone Pack presets from 8.02 in 9.02 and they will sound the same IF you set the speaker comp value to zero. The only major change in 9.02 was adding that parameter, and it imposes a default value of 3 rather than zero. Changing it to zero makes them virtually identical sounding. I offer a free update to 9.02 to anyone who bought 8.02.

9.03 is a change to power amp modeling that DOES change the TonePack sounds some - they don’t sound the way I dialed them in. They may sound better or worse depending on what you personally like. Using Spkr Comp in 9.03 helps in my view, but not in 9.02.

Hope that all helps.
 
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