Firmware updates...blessing or curse?

I disagree wholeheartedly!
This beta process is the most open & transparent I have seen with any product and a true blessing. Not only do we get constant and consistent improvement, but we get an insight into what Cliff is proud of... I find his excitement almost contagious!...Look at the recent Quantum beta - he was excited, but knew ther'd be some potential issues.. and he warned us. As usual, of all of us that updated, some came back and started questioning the process because something broke, or there was some work to do. .... and the threads grew as some peoples passion got the better of them :). I even copped some crap myself in the last round!

Anyway - Lets all re-read what beta means (Trev_USMC posted a good concise description somewhere) and go with it.

As always - Thanks Cliff and the whole Fractal team for taking us on this hourney.

Pauly



LoPaN said:
I think Cliff needs to rethink this beta process, I know its great having it open to everyone but truythfully some people should not be using early betas because they dont really understand what beta means! Now how to go about fixing this is another thing that would take some thought but there must be a better way? A private beta once again and a NDA while beta testing? A private beta forum for discussions? Its a tough one.
Click to expand...
 
I did the same however find myself just using the latest all the time :)

Pauly

REDD said:
You do like I did and buy a second unit and keep it set up the way you like it and do new updates and tweaking on the other unit. Works for me. If you don't want to buy another Axe just try the firmware and then if it doesn't please you then revert back. Simple. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
 
I would mention I only screen capped my favorite amp settings and cab blocks and I did save to library naming them to which tune or artist or my own sound
I was dialing in..

I took bank c and filled it up with 128 different presets or patches I made up using different amps
to just be able to go through tweak them as I was going along and save too library as I went through 128 amps.

Thats 640 scenes to check so book a weekend if you want to check out for awhile
I spent a solid week from 8 am to 2am every night going through those and getting them finalized
this was before 19....

My main reason for that was to cherry pick the best sounding amps and drive blocks cabs speakers ect and
save them in the library and cull out what I would not use..
Moving the keepers in a row organized for say 3 sets worth of music be it cover tunes or what ever..

Screen capping the amp and cab blocks paid off for me on some specific amp sounds I had
as the more I tried to dial them right back where I had them the worse I made it.
On those examples I pulled the screen caps and was able to get back where I was.

When I did that I Re saved in library and backed up again.

It paid off for me as I had some specific amps one being a Jimmy Page amp
which really gave me fits and the other a Blackmore amp.

I got in and tried to redial things in without reference and got really lost on the Page amp
also I had dialed up an ODSR which Id tweaked for days and that changed in 19
and I really goofed that up but managed to get back using the screen caps..

My buddy is trying to break me of that and just dial up some sounds maybe 3 or 4 basic sounds and
just play...

I was trying to cull 128 amps down to say 20 maybe and be able to cover many styles of music.
I know many of those amps were dialed in to sound great already but some minor things changed and its all good
it will sound much better with Quantum not looking back too much still trying to rely on my ears..

We discussed ear fatigue and taking breaks in between doing that..
stop dial in an amp jam awhile or take a break get away from it and come back too it following day
and listen again that was excellent advice ..

I have to chop at the tree bits at a time or I start to dread and you dont want to burn out or dread the process
I did that to myself trying to do too much at once..
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
If you need to adjust 30 things in the Advanced controls of an amp, chances are you are using the wrong amp, honestly.
Click to expand...
Or you're using the "wrong" guitar. This is often the case when doing a variety of covers with one guitar. You go through the amps, find the right one, go through the cabs, find the right one, and then tweak some advanced parameters tools to finish the job.

To default or not to default...that is the question.

In the scenario above, defaulting can create more work, and sometimes it creates less. Just wade in and find out.

If you backed up, there's nothing to fear, and you'll learn something along the way.
 
What a perfect reply to many people surfing the net instead of playing the guitar.

crg123 said:
Lol you guys. How many of these threads do we need. No one is making you update and if you're curious then just backup your shit. If you don't like it, then revert back. If you have to put to much time in changing your patch. Revert back. Bugs? Errors? No Axe edit? Revert back.

If you don't want to spend the time doing that. Then don't update. Simple.

Cliff and the crew do a lot of work to make this device better. If you like where the device is at right now and dont want to / can't put in the time. Then don't update.

Most of the time you don't need to scrap patches, but it helps. I still have patches from FW14 that sound great after a tiny bit of tweaking.
Click to expand...
 
I can’t believe it. With sophisticated products like the Roland VG99 we have been crying many years for an update. At the user forums we prepared a detailed list of all the bugs that needed to be corrected, and the improvements that would not need much work. It was sent to Roland several times, but the response was ZERO, NONE, NADA, never. Today the product is already discontinued and we never got a single firmware update, not even for the bugs.:cry
It is very strange to hear all that criticism about this rare and precious customer service that we have at Fractal Audio.
 
Piing said:
It is very strange to hear all that criticism about this rare and precious customer service that we have at Fractal Audio.
Click to expand...

It appears that there is actually very little criticism - just a load of us lobbing mortars which makes it look like there is an issue :(
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
don't believe everything you read. use your own ears.
Click to expand...

That's good advice. It also helps to keep in mind that the power of suggestion is tremendous. You read some overly-exuberant comments that say in effect: "This new firmware comes straight from God's own hand and is a gamechanger unlike anything you've ever experienced!!!! Cliff for president!!!" and you get the idea that a) if you don't upgrade, you're some kinda hopeless dingbat, and b) it's a whole new life that will require major readjustment. Often, that's simply not the case. The changes may be subtle, and may not even affect the amps/cabs/sfx you're using.

I always do the updates, and then pretend I didn't. Leave it up to my ears to decide if anything needs tweaking.
 
I'll be honest; as an FRFR monitoring guy, I haven't noticed much or any significant change of the tone since ... like Firmware 16 or 17? And even if I did at that point, I couldn't even tell if that actually improved the tone or just applied some compression/EQ I could dial in manually even on an older firmware if I wanted.

There are three simple reasons for that:
1) I'm just not trained enough to know what to listen for and the changes are extremely subtle
2) I'm not a good enough guitar player to notice any difference in "feel" or "touch", or whatever words you want to use here
3) Even if I did hear a sublte change in tone, I would never be able to tell for sure if that was due to me playing different or due to the Firmware changing the amp modelling algorithm.


So, are frequent firmware updates a blessing or a curse? I'd say a blessing, but I mostly install them for new convenience features or bugfixes, not for sound changes. If a firmware only improves amp modelling, I mostly skip it, because if I am not able to A/B it with decent success, why should I pretend I can?

So
 
"Firmware updates...blessing or curse? "

always a blessing....
if you don't like what you get in the new fw just role back..

the only time it's difficult is if the new fw ain't happening for ya, but it brings a killer new 'thing'
cos then you have to weigh up between how important the new 'thing' is, vs having to wrestle with getting your tone back
I've only had to do this once.. in my case I abandoned the new 'thing' and went back to where the tone was happening for me
then another fw drop or two later I had the tone and the new 'thing'.. so it was just a matter of time
 
Of course it's a blessing. If it's a curse for you, just pretend there are no updates and stay on whatever FW you're on and you will be super happy with a tone that never change.
 
Axe-Fx II "Quantum" Rev 1.00 Public Beta
This is a public beta of our new "Quantum(TM)" tube modeling technology.

The firmware is 1.00 PB1 (Public Beta 1). It may have bugs. It may mess with the sound of your presets.



This was the first part of Cliff's post in the Quantum beta thread. I've read and re-read the post. I'm sure he meant something by this but I just can't seem to figure it out? Can you help me?
​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom