Gemini AI to make tones

Sauro_on_guitar

Sauro_on_guitar

Inspired
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I just tried feeding the Axe-Fx III user manual (the PDF explaining the various blocks) into Gemini Pro, while also instructing the AI to reference FractalWIKI.

I then asked for specific settings to achieve a warm, well-defined acoustic strumming tone using my old Godin A6 (the early model without a magnetic pickup, just the piezo). I specified that the EQ sliders on the guitar itself should be ignored.

The results were surprisingly precise: it suggested using the Tube Pre in the Amp block, specific frequencies to boost or cut in a Parametric EQ block, which compressor to use (and how), and even which acoustic IRs to blend in if available.

The resulting tone is honestly beautiful and perfectly usable both live and for recording (with just some minor tweaking to suit my taste). Incredible.

I hope the next step for Fractal will be implementing AI models masterfully trained on creating specific tones—replicating the sound of certain songs, guitarists, or genres, perhaps tailored to specific guitar types and pickups. Being able to type 'a Funky rhythm tone for a Stratocaster' directly into the editor and getting a ready-to-load preset would be absolutely awesome.
 
Testing AI proved to be fruitful. It can go and fetch the manual and WIKI's on its own as well, just be sure to specify what FW ver you need and what unit you're working with for an up to date answer. A simple question I asked produced the following result (in nested quotes); I remember catching it once (with the free version) making a simple error, but it may have been the way the question was formulated that led to an off kilter response. Otherwise, you're right, it very well may be the future for streamlined tweaking. I think the thing that intrigued me most was how it 'talked' to itself when 'thinking'. I ran some screen captures so I could analyze the output which made me chuckle in amazement to no end. The entire session is pages long.

Here's a sample ....

" ' What does the EVH 5150 III tube head equate to in a Fractal Axe 3 environment ' ?

' Great question — this is exactly where your Fractal Axe-FX III library of amp models comes into play.

The EVH 5150 III Tube Head (sometimes called the 5150 III or EVH 5150III Stealth) is modeled in the Axe-FX III under the “EVH 5150 III” family of amp blocks. Fractal lists them as:

Fractal Axe-FX III equivalents:​

  • “PVH 6160 Block” → models the Peavey 5150 / 6505, which is Eddie Van Halen’s original circuit.
  • “EVH 5153 Blue” → mid-gain channel, based on the EVH 5150 III Blue channel (great for tight rhythm with crunch).
  • “EVH 5153 Red” → high-gain channel, based on the EVH 5150 III Red channel (saturated lead tones).
  • “EVH 5153 Green” → clean channel model, taken from the same amp. ' "


It also produced some elementary block schematics that showed me a new way to tackle building a preset based on very specific questions. The end results were not bad at all.


" 👉 Since you’re building dual-amp scene layouts, you could easily set up:

  • Scene A: EVH 5153 Blue (tight rhythm)
  • Scene B: EVH 5153 Red (singing lead)
  • Blend or split with your Fender-style clean amp block for dynamics.

Would you like me to sketch a block grid for a Jason Aldean-style preset (5153 Blue + Fender Clean + delay/reverb scenes) in the same way we’ve been documenting your JVM/Fractal setups? That way you’d have a country-rock “arena” option ready to print. ' "
 
I'm using Gemini to help on Axe tones and mixing for my project. It gets so specific on what to use in the Axe and where to set the settings and why. It's been incredibly helpful. And fun.
 
Sauro_on_guitar said:
I just tried feeding the Axe-Fx III user manual (the PDF explaining the various blocks) into Gemini Pro, while also instructing the AI to reference FractalWIKI.

I then asked for specific settings to achieve a warm, well-defined acoustic strumming tone using my old Godin A6 (the early model without a magnetic pickup, just the piezo). I specified that the EQ sliders on the guitar itself should be ignored.

The results were surprisingly precise: it suggested using the Tube Pre in the Amp block, specific frequencies to boost or cut in a Parametric EQ block, which compressor to use (and how), and even which acoustic IRs to blend in if available.

The resulting tone is honestly beautiful and perfectly usable both live and for recording (with just some minor tweaking to suit my taste). Incredible.

I hope the next step for Fractal will be implementing AI models masterfully trained on creating specific tones—replicating the sound of certain songs, guitarists, or genres, perhaps tailored to specific guitar types and pickups. Being able to type 'a Funky rhythm tone for a Stratocaster' directly into the editor and getting a ready-to-load preset would be absolutely awesome.
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I'm confused by people talking about feeding Gemini anything. Doesn't it have access to this innately? I have been using Gemini over the last couple of days, asking it questions about translating 80's rack tones into Fractal presets, and it seems to not need to be "fed" anything - am I missing a trick?
 
ToneLabRat said:
I'm using Gemini to help on Axe tones and mixing for my project. It gets so specific on what to use in the Axe and where to set the settings and why. It's been incredibly helpful. And fun.
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This has been my experience. I asked it something pretty obscure and it - on paper - appeared to give me the perfect answer.

I asked it how I can recreate Steve Lukather's lead tones on the Fahrenheit album, because it sounded like a dual-amp signal with a clean tone blended with a distorted tone. Gemini said I had a sharp ear, and told me exactly how to do this with the Axe-Fx III in stunning detail. It all made perfect sense, but I'm at work so I've yet to try it out. Just for finding out what gear someone used on an album alone, Gemini is incredibly powerful because it pulls from all speculation on the internet about this and seems to be pretty good at delivering a consensus on the topic.
 
Sorenspete said:
I'm confused by people talking about feeding Gemini anything. Doesn't it have access to this innately? I have been using Gemini over the last couple of days, asking it questions about translating 80's rack tones into Fractal presets, and it seems to not need to be "fed" anything - am I missing a trick?
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I am not feeding it anything. It just knows. And it has really helped me mix in my DAW as well, with specific tailored recommendations on exactly how to do it in my system. It's crazy. After a couple weeks of its help, I can't live without it (Even though I know it will probably kill me at some point) :)
 
In my experience with Gemini (just the box from a regular search) has been decently favorable.

It seems to behave like a search engine on steroids, shocker, given the back catalog of content they can use to feed and train. It seems to put weight on authoritative text such as manuals and much less from general web crawling.

their page rank system is definitely playing a role.
 
I prefer to learn how to use the product and consult the manual on my own than rely on AI, especially one from Google which has a documented history of curating results in searches. To each their own // YMMV.

"...the LLM group's participants performed worse than their counterparts in the Brain-only group at all levels: neural, linguistic, scoring."

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/
 
I've been given results based on an older regulations manual (not Fractal). Since then I try to upload the manual pdf or confirm what it's referencing is the latest. As for Fractal: Chat GPT did offer to create an Andy Timmons preset for me which it was not able to do. I did get some good delay settings suggestions.
 
Bman said:
I've been given results based on an older regulations manual (not Fractal). Since then I try to upload the manual pdf or confirm what it's referencing is the latest. As for Fractal: Chat GPT did offer to create an Andy Timmons preset for me which it was not able to do. I did get some good delay settings suggestions.
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Yeah I've noticed it will refer to amp models that have obviously been expanded upon e.g. it will say "USA Clean" when there are two versions of it so you'd have to use your ear to pick the one that sounds right (not really a problem, but it would be nice if it could be 100% specific).
 
Sorenspete said:
Yeah I've noticed it will refer to amp models that have obviously been expanded upon e.g. it will say "USA Clean" when there are two versions of it so you'd have to use your ear to pick the one that sounds right (not really a problem, but it would be nice if it could be 100% specific).
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Did you try asking it to be more specific, maybe even calling out the options (or not).

In another context, i found that i got significantly better results from chatgpt when I added "be accurate" to my prompt. That cut down on it just making up stuff that doesn't exist.

Which you wouldn't think you'd need to do...
 
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AI is a tool and adheres consistently with the adage, 'garbage in-garbage out'. I've found that it sources Fractal manuals, Wiki, Fractal Support, blogs, articles and this forum.
In asking a question regarding Firmware updates it even spit back an older article, ruminating about new features without new hardware. https://www.jonobacon.com/2018/02/0...fractal-audio-systems/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

If JonoBacon is still a member here thank you, your article has held up quite nicely over the years.
 
Just for fun, I asked gemini to provide instructions to recreate the iconic Santana tone in the era of Abraxas. Its advice looked like a fountain of great info - to get infinite sustain, the rolling down of the tone knob on the guitar, etc. - until I captured the preset on the III... It sounded like absolute trash, with more gain and buzz than I've ever heard. When I "confronted" gemini with that feedback, it returned with the now legendary "of course you are right, my mistake; here's the foolproof recipe for the iconic Santana sound using an axe-fx III". Etc, ad nausum.

I suppose some good things can come from gemini and other so-called AI search engines, but whenever I use any of them, it's because I'm amused by my arguments with them when they spew out garbage.
 
ocaptainjr2 said:
I prefer to learn how to use the product and consult the manual on my own than rely on AI, especially one from Google which has a documented history of curating results in searches. To each their own // YMMV.

"...the LLM group's participants performed worse than their counterparts in the Brain-only group at all levels: neural, linguistic, scoring."

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/
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The amount of electricity being wasted to avoid RTFM is mind boggling.
 
ocaptainjr2 said:
If it supposed to be (artificially) intelligent it should be accurate without additional prompting...
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It's not intelligent. LLM AI scrapes text from the internet and matches word patterns. A good proportion of otherwise intelligent people evidently think their AI companions are capable of conscious thought. Of course there are some media and tech billionaires that are likely already using this senseless waste of electricity to their own advantage.
 
Sauro_on_guitar said:
I just tried feeding the Axe-Fx III user manual (the PDF explaining the various blocks) into Gemini Pro, while also instructing the AI to reference FractalWIKI.
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Have you tried both ChatGPT and Gemini? Which one works best for you with making presets? I just went through an extensive ChatGPT session for creating a modern country tone and it turned out phenomenal. Which in the past has never been the case. It told me which York Audio IR's to use and blend for the amp in the room sound as well as teaching me about parallel compression. Plus all kinds of under the hood amp settings to use like sag and speaker drive etc... But it actually explained to me why and how this works for what I want, which i felt was extremely useful for me to learn for future use. I uploaded the AXEFX III manual for it to have the most current information to reference. This was key.

Just curious if you have any comparison between the 2 AI platforms in regards to their technical level of advice?
 
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