Firmware Update Good Practices

Patzag

Patzag

Fractal Fanatic
I'd like to see a place, maybe in the Wiki, which explains the best practices when updating firmwares.

There's various topics which mention the Reset Presets Utility, there's talk about resetting the amp block and then reloading the preset, etc.

But a blow by blow best practices would be great. I tried to find this without success. Maybe one of the Testers who do that 3 times a day can share their best practices, do's and fonts, etc.

Thanks!
 
Patzag said:
I'd like to see a place, maybe in the Wiki, which explains the best practices when updating firmwares.

There's various topics which mention the Reset Presets Utility, there's talk about resetting the amp block and then reloading the preset, etc.

But a blow by blow best practices would be great. I tried to find this without success. Maybe one of the Testers who do that 3 times a day can share their best practices, do's and fonts, etc.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Great idea!

Don't forget about unplugging expression pedals when updating the firmware. That was a new tip I just heard about.
 
An excellent idea! For this and other things we deal with, with our beloved Magic Black Box.
I'd like to see a complete compendium of each item/hardware and issues of each...I suppose the Wiki has this covered.

Thankful I'm not a noobie, since there are many issues to deal with = AE, MFC, the Axe itself.
 
Fantastic idea. Seriously; this has got to be one of the biggest issues of confusion with the AxeFXII. I know that I usually reset the parameters in the Utility menu and if an amp doesn't sound right I'll just change amp models back/forth, but I don't use a lot of really complicated patches so things like multidelay or whatever isn't an issue for me. Basically if it's screwed up I change things until it works. Not exactly a truly effective process.
 
Yes! Many of us end-users are relatively clueless about this kind of stuff.

Paraphrasing some thing I read, but, "Never assume that your customer knows what they're doing... even if they're "always right"."
 
solo-act said:
Plug nothing into the Axefx except power and USB.
Turn it on
Launch fractal bot
Send firmware
Wait until it's done
Turn Axefx off 5 sec
Turn Axefx back on

I've done this 40-50 upgrades (did over midi before USB). Never had a problem.
Click to expand...

I've done this also and there's not issues with that.
Those instructions are clear and abundant.

But then what?

I'm talking about preset "A" using amp "XYZ". It now sounds different, not just because the modeling system changed, but because ....

Reset parameters? Change the amp and go back to it? Reload preset? Etc. There's a fundamental lack of understanding on what is the invariable and exact procedure is once the firmware HAS been updated to get the full benefits of the changes. That's the part that's not 100% clear for me.
 
RTFRN (read the fooking release notes EVERY SINGLE TIME.)

Every major firmware release:

'This may change the sound of your previous presets'.

Bottom line:
-Some *may* need to reset system parameters.
-Some *may* have to update existing presets.
-SOME *may* have to do nothing.

You won't find out until you upgrade. Welcome to the price of advancement. No procedure will prepare you for everything. The expectation that 'if I do this, and that' it will sound magically better with zero tweaking will not happen.

The method has never been a secret, and been broadcast often enough. And it is VASTLY simpler than in years past.

R
 
solo-act said:
Plug nothing into the Axefx except power and USB.
Turn it on
Launch fractal bot
Send firmware
Wait until it's done
Turn Axefx off 5 sec
Turn Axefx back on

I've done this 40-50 upgrades (did over midi before USB). Never had a problem.
Click to expand...

I leave all my usual stuff connected--MFC-101 and XLR out's to power amp, have not missed an upgrade since firmware 1.x, and have never had a problem, even though the instructions say to disconnect the pedal. Bot makes it even easier--I really feel that people over-think this. It can't hurt to back up user presets first, but I always keep those backed up anyway, so I just download the upgrade and blast away..

Everything you need to know is in the "read me" in the upgrade folder with every release.

Danny W.
 
Patzag said:
I've done this also and there's not issues with that.
Those instructions are clear and abundant.

But then what?

I'm talking about preset "A" using amp "XYZ". It now sounds different, not just because the modeling system changed, but because ....

Reset parameters? Change the amp and go back to it? Reload preset? Etc. There's a fundamental lack of understanding on what is the invariable and exact procedure is once the firmware HAS been updated to get the full benefits of the changes. That's the part that's not 100% clear for me.
Click to expand...

The procedure is to check all presets after updating at a low volume level and make adjustments as required. What you need to adjust will depend on what changes were made in the update.

I came on board with the release of V10 just over a year ago, I've had to to rebuild my presets a couple times, while others are raving about how great their updated presets sounded, it can be disappointing, however that is just how it goes.

For V14 so far I've only had to adjust 5 presets out of 205.
 
Patzag said:
I've done this also and there's not issues with that.
Those instructions are clear and abundant.

But then what?

I'm talking about preset "A" using amp "XYZ". It now sounds different, not just because the modeling system changed, but because ....

Reset parameters? Change the amp and go back to it? Reload preset? Etc. There's a fundamental lack of understanding on what is the invariable and exact procedure is once the firmware HAS been updated to get the full benefits of the changes. That's the part that's not 100% clear for me.
Click to expand...

You are completely correct, it is confusing and really doesn't need to be:
- do I need to 'reset all presets'?
- reset amp blocks, how is this even done without screwing up existing settings?

These are some of the questions I usually have, although seem to be able to work around them.
 
electronpirate said:
RTFRN (read the fooking release notes EVERY SINGLE TIME.)

Every major firmware release:

'This may change the sound of your previous presets'.

Bottom line:
-Some *may* need to reset system parameters.
-Some *may* have to update existing presets.
-SOME *may* have to do nothing.

You won't find out until you upgrade. Welcome to the price of advancement. No procedure will prepare you for everything. The expectation that 'if I do this, and that' it will sound magically better with zero tweaking will not happen.

The method has never been a secret, and been broadcast often enough. And it is VASTLY simpler than in years past.

R
Click to expand...


That is just it though, for what I assume is many users, the steps of resetting system parameters vs resetting an amp block vs resetting presets etc is a bit confusing.

I've read so many different things on these forums about what all your supposed to do and when

Double click "bypass", select a different amp and then the same amp again etc.

I for one never know what all I'm supposed to do half the time.....


Then you read messages from Cliff on here talking about how he changed some default value of something or another, which is well and good, but exactly what one needs to do to make the new amp model reflect those changes isn't always clear.


FW updates are great, don't get me wrong, but there are A LOT of parameters to deal with, things like global settings etc now.


I'd like a quick and easy way to either A) have the unit reconfigured like a brand new from the box FW14 unit, with zero of my previous settings mucking anything up, with a single button press or B) at least a detailed, step by step, written for idiots like myself, guide to exactly what all I need to do get it into that state.


I don't have the most remote idea of what some stuff like pentode vs triode, dampening, dynamics etc even does. I'm an idiot guitar player, not an electrical engineer who builds or mods amps.

Again, this stuff is all fantastic if it means it sounds better, but not all of us know what on earth it means.

I just want to be able to have the amp models sound great, and let me adjust them with basic controls I understand, and the ones I don't, I want to make sure they are defaulting where they should.

If an amp doesn't have a MV for example, I want to make sure the MV goes to 10, if that is what is deemed "correct".


You say, "The method has never been a secret, and been broadcast often enough. And it is VASTLY simpler than in years past." HOWEVER if its so simple and common sense, why do we have this thread ?
 
Patzag said:
I've done this also and there's not issues with that.
Those instructions are clear and abundant.

But then what?
Click to expand...
What I do is go to utility>>presets>> and scroll down to "update all presets" this updates everything to current FW specs but preserves advanced settings. Works great, and if there's an undesirable change (rare nowadays) in a few minutes I've re-dialed.

Before MIMIC and "update all presets," during major firmware upgrades I had to bring up a preset, go to amp, choose another amp, and go back to the amp I had. That brought the amp to FW specs but erased all my advanced settings.

So…I had to redial every amp in every preset to restore what I had (about 35 unique presets).
Sometimes I held down bypass, restored amp to defaults, and redialed from scratch…major pain.

Between with all the redialing, it could take up to 18 hours to get all my presets singing in a mix live. When the Lemur iPad Axe-Fx editor came out, I could do it in about 6-8 hours vs. Axe-Edit. Lemur is still way faster than Axe-Edit. Despite the redial hassles, my presets almost always sounded better. And the couple that didn't were usually fixed in next big FW release.

Now with MIMIC and "update all presets" it only takes a few minutes -- if I redial at all -- to restore a preset that changes. And I use about 15 different amps.

But now with Ultrarez out, it's all about navigating/auditioning cabs (720 & growing).
Lemur faster at that as well.
 
C'mon guys. This is not a complaint thread. Maybe I'm not expressing myself or you're finding something in what I wrote which is not what I said.

I ALWAYS FTFRN and I've read the manual, in it's entirety twice and drilled every procedure. I'm faster with the front panel than with Axe Edit!

My request is NOT a bitch. I'm just wondering a single thing. What is the procedure to reset an amp without losing the settings I have already in place. That's really all.

IOW: If I have a preset with a Marshall Amp with Master at 9, Gain at 4, Low at 2, Mid at 6 and Treble at 9 (and let's say 5 other parameters I tweaked). When I go to that preset after upgrading FW and reset the block, I lose my settings. What is the procedure to reset the amp and not lose the settings? Is that documented anywhere?

I don't use 200 presets, I use 20-30. I don't have a problem checking all of them. If I did not expect it to sound different, I would not upgrade. But I do want to make sure that I'm not leaving an amp with odd "code - for lack of a better word" hanging because I did not reset it somehow.

Makes sense?
 
solo-act said:
What I do is go to utility>>presets>> and scroll down to "update all presets" this updates everything to current FW specs but preserves advanced settings. Works great, and if there's an undesirable change (rare nowadays) in a few minutes I've re-dialed.

Before MIMIC and "update all presets," during major firmware upgrades I had to bring up a preset, go to amp, choose another amp, and go back to the amp I had. That brought the amp to FW specs but erased all my advanced settings.

So…I had to redial every amp in every preset to restore what I had (about 35 unique presets).
Sometimes I held down bypass, restored amp to defaults, and redialed from scratch…major pain.

Between with all the redialing, it could take up to 18 hours to get all my presets singing in a mix live. When the Lemur iPad Axe-Fx editor came out, I could do it in about 6-8 hours vs. Axe-Edit. Lemur is still way faster than Axe-Edit. Despite the redial hassles, my presets almost always sounded better. And the couple that didn't were usually fixed in next big FW release.

Now with MIMIC and "update all presets" it only takes a few minutes -- if I redial at all -- to restore a preset that changes. And I use about 15 different amps.

But now with Ultrarez out, it's all about navigating/auditioning cabs (720 & growing).
Lemur faster at that as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This is great. What exactly does UPDATE ALL PRESETS do? It sure sounds weird! And there's not mention of it in the manual except in the FW 12.03 release notes. Does UPDATE ALL PRESETS then make null the need to rest the amps?
 
Patzag said:
Thanks. This is great. What exactly does UPDATE ALL PRESETS do? It sure sounds weird! And there's not mention of it in the manual except in the FW 12.03 release notes. Does UPDATE ALL PRESETS then make null the need to rest the amps?
Click to expand...

There's no need to reset amps. I was very happy to learn that.
AFAI Can tell, I think it loads the new FW mojo and settings and then it loads your settings back into that preset before moving to the next.

If you haven't done it. Do it. Like I said, between that and MIMIC, even major FW updates are easy.

Back when "update all presets" came out, I took screen shots of the Lemur editor to verify it preserved my advanced amp settings, and it did.
Here's a sample.
12194346815_fb684b61eb_z.jpg
 
Other things I do...

Before updating:
- Do a FractalBot backup of everything

After updating:
- Go to utilities>>presets>>update all presets
- Listen to presets by themselves
- If I hear "too much" or "too little" of something (drive, gain, bass, mid, treble, etc) I compensate
- I check all presets against each other
- I run presets with backing tracks to see how they survive in a mix (I gig with backing tracks)
- Dial anything that stands out
- Check all presets against each other, this time in full mixes
- Check all presets in mixes again at louder volume and write down what's working loud and what isn't
- Tweak problem presets and check all again in mixes
- Back up the new work


If I do that, there's very little to do at the gig. If so,
- Verify at several gigs, redial any problem presets and backup again

Before FW14 if I did a loud gig, some presets didn't hold up at high volume (strident highs, stiff dynamics, etc). This last weekend with FW 14, the only "problems" I heard were cabs that needed to be swapped out for better ones.

And so goes the new 700+ cab rabbit hole that is Ultrarez.
 
solo-act said:
There's no need to reset amps. I was very happy to learn that.
AFAI Can tell, I think it loads the new FW mojo and settings and then it loads your settings back into that preset before moving to the next.

If you haven't done it. Do it. Like I said, between that and MIMIC, even major FW updates are easy.

Back when "update all presets" came out, I took screen shots of the Lemur editor to verify it preserved my advanced amp settings, and it did.
Here's a sample.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This totally handled my questions!
 
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