Fractal user reviews TONEX Pedal

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dr bonkers said:
I'm pulling the trigger.

It supports 44.1KHz 24 bit WAV, so nothing crazy out of the ordinary.
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Do you envision selling Tonex models at some point? If so I’m definitely interested.

The attraction of the pedal to me is that it enables Chris Anderson’s long tail business model - (The long tail is a business strategy that allows companies to realize significant profits by selling low volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items.)

And I always saw your IRs as following that strategy so I thought it might be a perfect fit for what you do. And if one goes through the amp wish-list there are a good number of requests that fall into that category. A recent example is the whole discussion around jazz amps and the desire for Polytone and Henriksen models. Magnatone and Benson are other examples but I’m sure there are a slew of them.

Anyways, here’s hoping :)
 
stdout said:
Do you envision selling Tonex models at some point? If so I’m definitely interested.

The attraction of the pedal to me is that it enables Chris Anderson’s long tail business model - (The long tail is a business strategy that allows companies to realize significant profits by selling low volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items.)

And I always saw your IRs as following that strategy so I thought it might be a perfect fit for what you do. And if one goes through the amp wish-list there are a good number of requests that fall into that category. A recent example is the whole discussion around jazz amps and the desire for Polytone and Henriksen models. Magnatone and Benson are other examples but I’m sure there are a slew of them.

Anyways, here’s hoping :)
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That's a great observation.

Yes, that's the plan.
 
dean701 said:
Is that just the output of OUT3 turned to 18db? I don't see a boost/pad drop down anywhere in FM-edit
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No, not the block itself. It's on the Setup menu: https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Setup_menu#Output_Boost.2FPad

In the FM9 manual, see page 35, Tips to optimize for low noise:
The optional Boost/Pad function on Output 3 can be used to lower the noise floor. To find the right
setting, adjust this to be as high as possible without clipping, as indicated by a red LED on the front
panel meters. The volume won’t change but you should hear the FM9’s noise floor drop as you
increase boost/pad. Find this option under SETUP: I/O: Audio.
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AlbertA said:
I just tried a few of the high gain ones, they seem a bit too dark and muffled. That was just initial impressions. I tried a couple right now and lowering the gain helped a bunch on those - they are definitely decent. I think the default input levels in this thing may need adjusting, we'll see.. I need to play a bit more with the software and the pedal.

Here's what impressed me on both the Axe-Fx III and the ToneX pedal:

So I watched this video:



And downloaded his capture and used the same IR - really good capture. Sounds great.
Since I could see the settings of the Amp in the video and its an amp only capture, I thought let's see if I can visually match this with the Axe-Fx III amp block set to Brit 800.

I ended up needing to set Input Trim to 3 or so in the amp block (umm this is about 10dB, I wonder if there's a ToneX setting I should lower) and also selected Speaker Imp. Curve as Resistive Load and disabled all the speaker drive/compliance/compression and sepaker thump (this makes sense, I guess the load used for the capture is just a simple resistive load) - after that... pretty much in the same ballpark just from visual settings

I think that speaks well for both paradigms, check it out:

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Same comparison but this time flipping between ToneX and Axe-Fx III like this:
reaper_config.png

 
AlbertA said:
I just tried a few of the high gain ones, they seem a bit too dark and muffled. That was just initial impressions. I tried a couple right now and lowering the gain helped a bunch on those - they are definitely decent. I think the default input levels in this thing may need adjusting, we'll see.. I need to play a bit more with the software and the pedal.

Here's what impressed me on both the Axe-Fx III and the ToneX pedal:

So I watched this video:



And downloaded his capture and used the same IR - really good capture. Sounds great.
Since I could see the settings of the Amp in the video and its an amp only capture, I thought let's see if I can visually match this with the Axe-Fx III amp block set to Brit 800.

I ended up needing to set Input Trim to 3 or so in the amp block (umm this is about 10dB, I wonder if there's a ToneX setting I should lower) and also selected Speaker Imp. Curve as Resistive Load and disabled all the speaker drive/compliance/compression and sepaker thump (this makes sense, I guess the load used for the capture is just a simple resistive load) - after that... pretty much in the same ballpark just from visual settings

I think that speaks well for both paradigms, check it out:

Click to expand...


Thank you for the effort putting this together! I couldn't tell the two clips apart. Seems to clean up nicely with the guitar volume!
 
AlbertA said:
@northern_fox do you already have the boost/pad setting of the output to 18dB? That lowers the noise quite a bit.
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Yep (and don't mind this weird looking preset - just testing some routing out on a default preset). The feedback is to still be able to utilize out 2 L for power amp in addition to loop. Most likely I'll just use output 1 w/ stereo split to FOH/amp instead of feedback for that as this approach seems weird and the level setting won't make the most sense for my power amps, potentially.

Just gotta be careful not to clip out 2 because at unity setting it will clip long before the block itself shows clipping.

1677352275601.png
 
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Henry said:
I don't think Fractal is breaking out a sweat from the ToneX. Some other company though might... ;)

(saw this on FB...)

View attachment 116747
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It's a different market tbh. ToneX isn't really a competitor for fractal or NDSP in that sense. It's good at exactly one thing, whereas the others are full platform solutions. People just like to say things are 'better' than other things or are 'xyz killers' honestly. Pairing it with the FM3 is what makes it usable for me as a real live tool.
 
northern_fox said:
It's a different market tbh. ToneX isn't really a competitor for fractal or NDSP in that sense. It's good at exactly one thing, whereas the others are full platform solutions. People just like to say things are 'better' than other things or are 'xyz killers' honestly. Pairing it with the FM3 is what makes it usable for me as a real live tool.
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I never really understood the binary thought process of mine is better than yours. It's just great to have options and competition breeds better products. I think IK positioned themselves nicely by starting with a vst and then making it portable to pedals. They now have a fundamental amplitube line of pedals. I know a few people that have multiple all in one solutions. Fractal, Helix, QC and Kemper. Not sure if IK will ever put out an all in one or they would hinder their own pedals sales, who knows. Regardless, everyone's needs are different and for those that already have a ton of pedals, the tonex pedal might be all they need. Fractal puts out a very competitive product and if they did full amp capturing and had a vst, it would probably be my only product.
 
wcfieldskx said:
This thing is going to sell tons. I want to get one. Looks and sounds impressive
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It's very good. The only drawback is that it comes with bundled software (TONEX MAX) so it may be difficult to resell. People will want to keep the software since it's a plugin and it enables you to capture, the pedal is very limited without it. If you buy it, plan to keep it.
 
northern_fox said:
Yep (and don't mind this weird looking preset - just testing some routing out on a default preset). The feedback is to still be able to utilize out 2 L for power amp in addition to loop. Most likely I'll just use output 1 w/ stereo split to FOH/amp instead of feedback for that as this approach seems weird and the level setting won't make the most sense for my power amps, potentially.

Just gotta be careful not to clip out 2 because at unity setting it will clip long before the block itself shows clipping.

View attachment 116746
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our menus are quite different. (FM9) Regardless, thanks for sharing.

1677356691438.png
 
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mzajac said:
I have a hard time trusting any reviews - they ALL sound awesome. And they did with the Helix, Axe-FX II, etc....
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I've also come to this conclusion. I'm convinced there's some post-recording production magic going on in many cases. I'm not completely sure of the cause for it.

There is the cynical view that the reviewer is doing it to cozy up to the sponsor (and there is surely some of that). I wonder also though if maybe there isn't some inherent desire amongst the reviewer crowd to always sound good?
 
fcs101 said:
I've also come to this conclusion. I'm convinced there's some post-recording production magic going on in many cases. I'm not completely sure of the cause for it.

There is the cynical view that the reviewer is doing it to cozy up to the sponsor (and there is surely some of that). I wonder also though if maybe there isn't some inherent desire amongst the reviewer crowd to always sound good?
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Obviously the vendors are going to pay those that actually know how to make the unit sound good. They don't want to pay someone otherwise. Pete Thorn is a perfect example. However, there are a ton of reviews out there that are non-sponsored that show how capable the unit is. As well, @AlbertA has shown with his provided clips, the amp tones are definitely on par with Fractal.
 
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Tonex sounds pretty damned good in the clips I’ve seen. I pray it sounds as good in real life (pedal preordered). It will not, however, deter me from buying an FM9 when they are available to everyone. Fractals modeling sounds great, but the effects are absolutely stellar. Having messed with the cloud verbs before, they are so damned good that nothing else I’ve been looking at comes close.

I am also not in the “this not them” camp. Fractal provides complete solutions. Tonex provides a great solution to one particular aspect of playing guitar. Apples and oranges.
 
dean701 said:
Obviously the vendors are going to pay those that actually know how to make the unit sound good. They don't want to pay someone otherwise. Pete Thorn is a perfect example. However, there are a ton of reviews out there that are non-sponsored that show how capable the unit is. As well, @AlbertA has shown with his provided clips, the amp tones are definitely on par with Fractal.
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That wasn't commentary on this product only on how all reviews seemingly sound great. Glad you like it though.
 
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