How to Maximize Dynamic Range on Clean Sound

[Rumbletone]

That matters for capturing the IR, not for using one.

IRs can only capture linear time-invariant processes, which does not describe a compressor. That's why I initially said that any compression in the Cab block can't be due to the IR unless it's a bug.

IRs are a particular way of implementing an EQ curve with a particular associated phase response, nothing more.

So for items like saturation and drive in the mic preamp settings - these don’t actually model the behaviour of a preamp (for example, less headroom as it drives into saturation) and instead are just imparting a non-dynamic EQ curve to a signal regardless of its dynamics? And it doesn’t reflect the natural compression of a speaker as it is pushed to its dynamics limit?

I’m new to Fractal gear, but I did some experiments with a clean boost in front of the cab block and if the drive and saturation of the mic pre were set relatively high it clearly seemed to top out on headroom and not get louder as I increased the gain of the upstream blocks (and I tested boost->cab->output, and the output clearly had lots of headroom available). And if I reduced the drive and saturation settings there was more headroom available (and the overall output from the cab block would be louder as I increased the output of the upstream blocks). So you’re saying the limiting must be happening elsewhere? And ideas where that limiting is happening if not in the cab block?

 

[mr_fender]

No, the preamp section does model non-linear behavior like clipping and compression. However, if you have that section bypassed (preamp set to None), the block is linear. If you are using the preamp section, turn down the drive and saturation controls to get more headroom.

 

[Rumbletone]

No, the preamp section does model non-linear behavior like clipping and compression. However, if you have that section bypassed (preamp set to None), the block is linear. If you are using the preamp section, turn down the drive and saturation controls to get more headroom.

Ok thanks for clarifying - so as long as OP has the mic pre disabled (‘none’ selected) there is no headroom limitation or other dynamic processing in the cab block.

So more broadly speaking, if someone wants to capture ‘the speaker running out of headroom’ there is no way to do that dynamically within the Fractal platform? Or put another way, presumably you could run it that way by creating an IR with the speaker running at that point, but it’s either ‘on’ or ‘off’ and we can’t have a preset where it kicks in dynamically as the level out of the preceding amp block (or other block) increases?

 

[marsonic]

Ok thanks for clarifying - so as long as OP has the mic pre disabled (‘none’ selected) there is no headroom limitation or other dynamic processing in the cab block.

So more broadly speaking, if someone wants to capture ‘the speaker running out of headroom’ there is no way to do that dynamically within the Fractal platform? Or put another way, presumably you could run it that way by creating an IR with the speaker running at that point, but it’s either ‘on’ or ‘off’ and we can’t have a preset where it kicks in dynamically as the level out of the preceding amp block (or other block) increases?

I believe that the speaker compression control in the Amp block does that. There might be other controls that are related. I don't like the dying speaker sound, so I haven't pursued it.

But, no, there's no way for an IR to capture the compression/clipping of a speaker breaking up. Even if you capture an IR with a dying speaker, it'll capture the frequency response of the speaker in that state, not the compression/clipping behavior. Unless I'm mistaken, even if you tried to capture that by shooting an IR through a speaker with a wildly over-powered amp, it would be difficult. Amplifiers and speakers actually are very, very good at handling even very loud transients, generally (excluding rectifier sag). It's sustained distortion that they tend to have problems with.

 

[ruso]

There's a style of dynamic rhythmic strumming that not only has soft, medium, and loud, strumming, but also includes super-accented hits (that might compete with accents from the drums). Though not practical for recordings, it's really nice for some live situations. I've found that some amp modelers do well with soft, medium and loud, but there's a kind of hard limiting going on that prevents that extra level of accent.

The only tube amp I've ever owned is a Blues, Jr, which does this VERY well. Another effective option is an analog amp sim pedal, the Joyo American (a clone of a Tech 21 Blonde) which also does this well. Oddly enough, a few budget Zoom multi-effects do it quite well with their Fender amp sims (e.g., MS-100BT, G3n). I've had no luck with digitech, line6, or boss to get this behavior.

I've only had my FM3 for a few days, and only have gone through presets which don't really explore this type of sound.

If I want to create a super-clean preset with nice full range (and "sparkle"), which amp & cab would you recommend? Also, what kinds of settings can I change to eliminate compression/limiting and get more dynamics?

Try this preset, Scene 1:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/video-preset-download-my-gig-rig-for-jb-59-pickups.166762/

He uses the CAE+ without a cab and a MBC.