How do you rate Axe-Fx 3 effects vs Eventide and other high end stuff?

angelworm

Inspired
Hi all, long time Fractal user here: it started in 2009 with Axe Standard, then 2, then 2 XL, then AX8.
For a few years i wandered around with Kemper and Line6.
Out of the blue an Axe 3 came info my life: boy, it’s a different universe.
Since i’ve never had stuff like Eclipse, 2290, HW3000, i Was wondering: how do you people rate reverb, delay, chorus effects from Fractal vs others ?
In these 3 weeks i managed to pull out amazing sounds, and i’m inclined to think that Axe 3 is at least on the same level
Curious to hear other opinions.
Leo
 
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I have not had any of those since the Ultra came out, but the III by itself is better than my old 24 space racks full of Eventide H3000S, PCM 41, 80 & 81 and bunch of Rocktron items such as the Chameleon, Intellfex, Patcmates and others I can’t remember.

It reminds me of when they shuttered the Space Shuttle program because the computing capacity of the cell phone your six year old has is now better.
 
Are you specifically talking eventide racks, or any eventide pedal and including strymon et al in this?
 
Hi all, long time Fractal user here: it started in 2009 with Axe Standard, then 2, then 2 XL, then AX8.
For a few years i wandered around with Kemper and Line6.
Out of the blue an Axe 3 came info my life: boy, it’s a different universe.
Since i’ve never had stuff like Eclipse, 2290, HW3000, i Was wondering: how do you people rate reverb, delay, chorus effects from Fractal vs others ?
In these 3 weeks i managed to pull out amazing sounds, and i’m inclined to think that Axe 3 is at least on the same level
Curious to hear other opinions.
Leo

I had a TC2290 and it was not transparent at all, I had a switching system and there was definitely a bit of tone suck going on, it also broke down on tour, great 80s tech, not so much now. Ended up replacing it with a Line6 Echo Pro at the time.
 
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I sold my Eventide Eclipse and Eventide H3000 long time ago, when I got the Axe-FX Ultra. These units are light-years below FAS

Last year I purchased the Eventide H9 Max. The quality of the H9 effects is like a toy compared with the Axe-FX III, even with the AxeFX reverbs set at minimum quality. I cloned some H9 algorithms at the Axe-FX III, and I sold it.
I’ve just read your post on cloning H9: fantastic job !
I’m planning to do the same with Eclipse and HW3000
 
I have no complaints regarding using the III for any of my hardware effects needs, sounds good or better than anything I’ve owned, just a little different in that it’s more blocks based and you need to chain a few blocks sometimes, but that gives a lot of added versatility.

if anything though, these days I’m looking for more character from my outboard gear, stuff like a midi verb 2 for example, kind of darky and gritty, lower bit rate, synthetic sounding reverb. Totally outdated but it really gets that unique sound and color of a bunch of vintage electronic tracks as that is what a lot of guys were using as they were so cheap and inferior to the higher end stuff.
 
I disagree, never tried eventide hardware but I've tried all their vst plugins (algorithms should be the same) and I definitely prefer fractal effects.
Maybe it's just a matter of personal taste.

EDIT: oops, I quoted the wrong post, i was replying to @Bruce Sokolovic
Their plugins are not that accurate. Pretty underwhelming to be honest. Not the same algorithms and way more generic sounding.

Soundtoys Micro Shift is the best one out there for classic Eventide pitch goodness. For those who don't know, the guys that designed both the software and hardware for the H3000 are founders of Soundtoys, and also made the plugin. Can't get any more accurate IMHO.

And yes, I've cloned it for the Axe 😉
 
I have an Eclipse. I used one preset from it in the FX loop of all of my tube amp rigs for the past 14 years. One problem with it was load time for preset changes - in a live situation, it was too slow. I have a TC G-Force that handled all changes in presets for delays, reverbs, etc. while the Eclipse stayed on its' preset all the time. G-Force doesn't sound as good as the Eclipse

I still miss the 444 Chor/Del/Verb preset from the Eclipse. It's a detune type preset that adds color, dimension, and a liveliness that I haven't been able to duplicate with the A3. I'm sure it's capable, but probably beyond my abilities to program it.

The Eclipse is STELLAR unit and way more than the H9
 
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I have no complaints regarding using the III for any of my hardware effects needs, sounds good or better than anything I’ve owned, just a little different in that it’s more blocks based and you need to chain a few blocks sometimes, but that gives a lot of added versatility.

if anything though, these days I’m looking for more character from my outboard gear, stuff like a midi verb 2 for example, kind of darky and gritty, lower bit rate, synthetic sounding reverb. Totally outdated but it really gets that unique sound and color of a bunch of vintage electronic tracks as that is what a lot of guys were using as they were so cheap and inferior to the higher end stuff.

Run you reverb into a bitcrusher etc? May not be the same, but I bet some cool results could be had with mix levels and modifiers.
 
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