Has anyone successfully Tone Matched with the III yet?

Ugly Bunny

Ugly Bunny

Power User
I'm pretty frustrated. There is zero info on how to do it out there. I have no idea how to set things up to get it working and the mini guide that the manual refers to is for the II and doesn't seem to apply to the III. I'm sure the concept is similar, but I need step-by-step instructions on exactly what to connect where.

Anyway, I think there's a bug. I did manage to get my amp's sound into the Axe Fx through a mic, but when I go to export it, I change the name, click export, and the bubble pops up saying it was exported successfully. However, when I go to load it in the cab block, nothing shows up. What am I doing wrong? I would love to capture my Bassbreaker 15 but I'm sitting in a pile of spaghetti (cables) and am no closer and am getting pretty frustrated. I'd greatly appreciate any help anyone can offer.
 
I should specify; when I go to load the cab I just created/saved/exported/renamed, it doesn't show up in the list. The slot is still occupied by "<EMPTY>"
 
Ah. Thank you. That worked. Shame NONE of this information can be found anywhere lol! I guess that's the price you pay to be one of the early adopters - it's all navigating uncharted waters. I guess it's up to us to figure out what everything does and how things work. Okay; so noted: when saving a tone match, close out of Axe Edit and then reopen in order to see the cabs you just created.

Also, is there a difference between amp matching and tone matching? It seems like some guys online are just matching the amp - but then, isn't the tone match a cab? I don't get any of this...
 
Hi Decreebass,

I think you and I are chatting about this on Facebook too. I'll make an updated version for the Axe-Fx III, but the Tone Match Mini Manual applies completely to the Axe-Fx III. The only real difference is that the use of the "X" and "Y" buttons is replaced by dedicated soft-buttons labeled "Start Ref", "Start Local" and "Start Both", and you'll use the "Match" soft-button to create the match. (Of course, the reference and local source lists are also longer, since the III has more inputs).

Find that manual here:
https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/manuals/axe-fx-2/Axe-Fx-II-Tone-Match-Manual.pdf

If you get stuck, email me via support@fractalaudio.com and we can go over the details that you are missing.
 
PS: One more thing is that "OFFLINE MODE" vs. "LIVE MODE" is no longer an option.
 
Yeah, man. That's me. I think I'm gonna give up for now. Seriousy - I appreciate your help, but the manual is no help for the III at all and even less help for capturing a live guitar amp. It talks about turning off the cab for the local signal, mentions nothing about routing the live guitar out to the amp (I'm having lots of weird issues and funky resonances if only the amp block is on)... Just one problem after another. I'm sure it's dead simple once you learn how to do it, but I keep failing at it.

I'll try it one more time, but if it fails, then I'm gonna wait a few months - by then surely someone will have figured out how to do it and will have some sort of way to clearly explain it. It seems like it shouldn't be too difficult. I figured out how to do it with the Kemper and got some wonderful results. I'm sure I'll get even better results here once the steps are delineated.

Fingers crossed...
 
Contact me in support as I suggested above. Helping you will help me to make sure the Tone Match mini manual is up to snuff. We can set up a phone call and I will work you through your questions on the spot.
 
Well, my final efforts seem to have mixed results.

For some reason, my guitar input signal is being routed directly to Output 3 without my making any settings changes to make it happen. This worries me, but whatevs.

So, I have the amp mic'd up and going into a mic pre into input 2. I turn off the cab sim to get "local" signal, hit "Start Local" play for a few seconds, then stop it. Then I hit "Start Reference" and play for a while, and then hit "Match." It actually doesn't sound terrible! However, When I export it to a Cab slot, and then use it in the cab block (having turned off the ToneMatch block), It sounds thin and fizzy.

I guess I've got a lot to learn. I just don't understand what's happening, I guess. If I leave the ToneMatch block in there and on, and turn off the cab, then it sounds pretty close to my Bassbreaker.

Do I understand correctly that you must have this block in your chain the whole time? I guess I figured the tone matching created the EQ curve (or whatever it does), got saved to the cab bank, and could be recalled as a cab or in place of the cab. But it seems like once you set it up, it needs to stay where it's at and you can delete the cab block.

So then, if I wanted to tone match JUST the amp, I'd need to just take the FX loop send from the amp and THAT would be the input for the Tone Match block, then I could still have the cab block with my (up to) four preferred cabs, right? Is that why the manual suggests creating an IR of the cab first?

I think I'm starting to get a grasp of this...

EDIT: Upon further investigation, I see that in the I/O settings, I had Output 3 "Copy Input 1" set to ON. So that explains why it seemed to go straight to the output without me needing to add a signal chain. :thumbs-up:
 
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Well, I think I might've been successful! I will maintain that the mini manual was no help and I basically had to figure it out for myself, but @Admin M@, if I may suggest a few edits (since I don't think I need support at this point), here's what I would have liked to see. In short, a section designed specifically to tone match a live amp in the room using a microphone while monitoring through headphones.
--------------------------------------------------------------
To Tone Match an amp in the room using your own mic (monitoring through headphones):

A. EQUIPMENT SETUP:
1. Plug your guitar into Input 1
2. Send a 1/4" guitar cable from Output 3* to the input of your amp (make sure volume on Output 3 is down and/or amp is off or on stand-by)
3. In "Setup > I/O," page over to Audio, Scroll down to Output 3, choose "Copy Input 1" and turn it "ON"
4. Mic up your amp, connect it to your mic pre-amp, and connect the output of your mic pre-amp to Input 2.
5. Turn on your amp
6. Turn up the volume on Output 3 completely (so the guitar amp essentially gets your purest guitar signal)
7. Use the meters to make sure you're getting the best, loudest signal without any clipping
B. SETTING UP THE PRESET
5. Choose or create a preset that sounds similar to the amp you're trying to capture (clean, high-gain, edge-of-breakup, etc.)
6. The preset should have, at a minimum [Input > Amp > Cab > ToneMatch > Output]
C. TONE MATCHING
7. To capture the LOCAL (Axe Fx amp) signal:
a. Turn off the cab block
b. Click/choose "Start Local" and jam out for a while using a variety of chords and positions
c. Click/choose "Start Local" a second time to end the local capturing session
8 To capture the REFERENCE (your live amp) signal:
a. Click/choose "Solo Reference" - Now you should just be hearing your mic'd amp/cab through your headphones
b. Click/choose "Start Reference" and jam out for a while using a variety of chords and positions
c. Click/choose "Start Reference" a second time to end the reference capturing session**
9. Click/choose "Match"

There you have it! You should now be hearing your own amp 'tone matched' in the Axe Fx III :)

*You can use any I/O combination you like, as long as you keep track of what signal is going where.
**You can just click "Match" here and it will end the capture and match the tone in one click
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I will add that I have zero idea why you can "export" your tone match to a cab slot - unless the Tone Match block is used for capturing IRs as well, but it definitely doesn't work to "store" Tone Matches; or rather, I haven't figured out how to recall them from cab slots INTO cab slots and have them not sound like garbage and NOTHING like the Tone Match that's sitting in the preset.

I guess the Tone Match block has to stay in the patch. It's not a problem, of course. I guess initially I was under the impression that the Tone Match was like a utilitiy that you put in to do its job, then removed it once you had captured your amp's soul. In any case, I'm going to figure out how to capture IRs next and how/if you can use them with the Tone Match. I don't see how it'd be possible unless you just captured the amp without the speaker and then placed it in front of the cab block... but then... could you remove the amp then? These are all things I look forward to exploring in the coming weeks! Stay tuned :D
 
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