Wish Impedance curve capture with user slots.

[York Audio]

We all know that the speaker cabinet’s impedance curve plays a huge role in giving us accurate tone and feel when we choose the appropriate curve for the cab we’re using.

Since a lot of us have physical cabs that vary from the factory curves, it would be amazing to have an “Impedance Capture” option where we hook up the cabinet to the Axe-Fx and the Axe-Fx sends a sweep to the cabinet and captures the Impedance Curve data that can be saved/exported/shared to new User Slots in the Impedance Curve list.

This would allow “Axe with real cab” users as well as “Axe with IR” users to have an even more realistic amp/cab experience tailored to their own personal and unique cabinets.

 

[Wired]

+1

 

[Randalljax]

We all know that the speaker cabinet’s impedance curve plays a huge role in giving us accurate tone and feel when we choose the appropriate curve for the cab we’re using.

Since a lot of us have physical cabs that vary from the factory curves, it would be amazing to have an “Impedance Capture” option where we hook up the cabinet to the Axe-Fx and the Axe-Fx sends a sweep to the cabinet and captures the Impedance Curve data that can be saved/exported/shared to new User Slots in the Impedance Curve list.

This would allow “Axe with real cab” users as well as “Axe with IR” users to have an even more realistic amp/cab experience tailored to their own personal and unique cabinets.

Justin , don’t we have a few of those now. Like the Bogner
mesa 212 and Zilla are all your curves are they not?

but yes to your point being able to purchase let say a Vox pack from you and get the IR download
and the matching impedance curve bundled w it , would be a thing of beauty

 

[York Audio]

Justin , don’t we have a few of those now. Like the Bogner
mesa 212 and Zilla are all your curves are they not?

but yes to your point being able to purchase let say a Vox pack from you and get the IR download
and the matching impedance curve bundled w it , would be a thing of beauty

Yes, those are from my cabs as well as the Orange 4x12, I think. But for a cab like a Marshall with Lynchbacks or the custom York Audio cabinets I’m having made that will be loaded with interesting speakers will have impedance curves that don’t have a proper “match” in the curve list and it would be cool to capture their curves and include them in Cab Packs.

Also, people that use a power amp and play their Axe through real cabinets could capture their own curves and lessen the “but the Axe doesn’t sound like my real amp through this cabinet” comments.

Users that make their own IRs and presets for Axe-Change would be able to include a proper curve for what they’ve captured.

 

[unix-guy]

+1

I won't be capturing any but the option to load something captured by someone else could be very useful.

 

[Wired]

I’ve got a 2x12 that I would love to have an IR and matching curve for.

 

[Liam Thompson]

+1

 

[GlennO]

+1 It would be very nice to be able to capture impedance curves.

However, instead of having a library of impedance curves, why not attach it to the IR? In other words, have an extended IR format for the AxeFX that contains both the IR and the matching impedance curve. I know from the software developer's point of view it makes some sense to have impedance curve in the amp block on the AxeFX, but from the user's point of view, it makes more sense to consider it a property of the cabinet than a property of the amp.

 

[unix-guy]

+1 It would be very nice to be able to capture impedance curves.

However, instead of having a library of impedance curves, why not attach it to the IR? In other words, have an extended IR format for the AxeFX that contains both the IR and the matching impedance curve. I know from the software developer's point of view it makes some sense to have impedance curve in the amp block on the AxeFX, but from the user's point of view, it makes more sense to consider it a property of the cabinet than a property of the amp.

I like the idea but I would suggest it be optional to include with the IR (to allow existing IRs to continue being usable) and also still be changeable in the Amp block if desired.

 

[York Audio]

+1 It would be very nice to be able to capture impedance curves.

However, instead of having a library of impedance curves, why not attach it to the IR? In other words, have an extended IR format for the AxeFX that contains both the IR and the matching impedance curve. I know from the software developer's point of view it makes some sense to have impedance curve in the amp block on the AxeFX, but from the user's point of view, it makes more sense to consider it a property of the cabinet than a property of the amp.

I like having the impedance curves in the amp block. For people who use real cabs with the Fractal or people who use the Axe with an IR loader (and don’t use the cab block), keeping the impedance curve in the amp block makes the system work for real cab, IR loader, and cab block users.

 

[Nick Barba]

I like having the impedance curves in the amp block. For people who use real cabs with the Fractal or people who use the Axe with an IR loader (and don’t use the cab block), keeping the impedance curve in the amp block makes the system work for real cab, IR loader, and cab block users.

Seems like it would be able to stay in the amp block but read the data from the same "extended" IR file that contains the impedance curve

 

[York Audio]

Seems like it would be able to stay in the amp block but read the data from the same "extended" IR file that contains the impedance curve

I’m one of those people who use the Axe without a cab block 95% of the time, so having the impedance data contained solely in the amp block simplifies the workflow for any type of user. Pick your amp, pick your impedance curve (factory or User), and then decide if you want to use a real cab, external IR loader, or the cab block without needing to add any extra steps. It keeps things nice and tidy.

If the wish was ever implemented, you’d take your cab, let the Axe send a sweep and collect the curve data, save it as “Nick’s Cab” in one of your User Impedance slots, and now you can accurately use your real cab with a power amp or shoot an IR of your cab and have the accurate curve for your own IR.

The “extended” IR you mentioned is basically like running two IRs in series. It can work, but it would still need to be contained in the amp block to make sense for users who don’t use a cab block.

Lots of cool potential here! Hopefully it’s doable.

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

We all know that the speaker cabinet’s impedance curve plays a huge role in giving us accurate tone and feel when we choose the appropriate curve for the cab we’re using.

Since a lot of us have physical cabs that vary from the factory curves, it would be amazing to have an “Impedance Capture” option where we hook up the cabinet to the Axe-Fx and the Axe-Fx sends a sweep to the cabinet and captures the Impedance Curve data that can be saved/exported/shared to new User Slots in the Impedance Curve list.

This would allow “Axe with real cab” users as well as “Axe with IR” users to have an even more realistic amp/cab experience tailored to their own personal and unique cabinets.

+1!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!11!!!!!one!!!!1!!!!eleven!!!!!

I am eventually going to shoot my custom Weber 2x10 X-Cab, and being able to capture its impedance curve would be an awesome bonus....

 

[muudrock]

We all know that the speaker cabinet’s impedance curve plays a huge role in giving us accurate tone and feel when we choose the appropriate curve for the cab we’re using.

Since a lot of us have physical cabs that vary from the factory curves, it would be amazing to have an “Impedance Capture” option where we hook up the cabinet to the Axe-Fx and the Axe-Fx sends a sweep to the cabinet and captures the Impedance Curve data that can be saved/exported/shared to new User Slots in the Impedance Curve list.

This would allow “Axe with real cab” users as well as “Axe with IR” users to have an even more realistic amp/cab experience tailored to their own personal and unique cabinets.

Definitely +1!

 

[GlennO]

I like having the impedance curves in the amp block. For people who use real cabs with the Fractal or people who use the Axe with an IR loader (and don’t use the cab block), keeping the impedance curve in the amp block makes the system work for real cab, IR loader, and cab block users.

I can see how that would be an issue for you. You probably do a lot of A/B testing, comparing the IR to the real cabinet. But that's kind of an unusual use case. Probably a better way to handle that unusual case would be to put both the IR and the impedance curve in the cabinet block, but have a switch in the cab block that turns off the IR while leaving the impedance curve in place.

That's the best of both. You get the flexibility you need for your unusual case, but the common case where the IR is used in the preset works more simply than it does now because the IR and the impedance curve are bundled together in this proposed new extended IR format, instead of requiring the user to visit two blocks and load two things independently. And, it would mean the AxeFX would work more like a real amp and cabinet, where the impedance curve and IR are tightly coupled.

Internally, the amp block would query the impedance curve from the downstream cabinet block instead of having it part of the amp block, but that's just an implementation issue. Also, there would be no reason to take away the option of editing/loading the impedance curve independently the way it works now, if that's what you want, so no features would be taken away.

P.S. In any case, this is just about part 2 of your wish. Part 1 is the ability to measure the impedance curve from the AxeFX, which is a great idea. Part 2 is how to best deliver a bunch of those curves to the user as part of an IR library. I'm just suggesting bundling the IR and the impedance curve would make it more convenient for the user. This becomes an issue if/when an IR library contains a bunch of impedance curves.

 

[Rex]

...it would be amazing to have an “Impedance Capture” option where we hook up the cabinet to the Axe-Fx and the Axe-Fx sends a sweep to the cabinet and captures the Impedance Curve data that can be saved/exported/shared to new User Slots in the Impedance Curve list.

+1. I've been advocating for this ever since we got the Mic+DI capture method, which I think provides the tools we need.

 

[Rex]

...instead of having a library of impedance curves, why not attach it to the IR? In other words, have an extended IR format for the AxeFX that contains both the IR and the matching impedance curve.

+1. It would be nice to have am IR/Impedance Curve bundle.

I know from the software developer's point of view it makes some sense to have impedance curve in the amp block on the AxeFX, but from the user's point of view, it makes more sense to consider it a property of the cabinet than a property of the amp.

The impedance curve has to be in the Amp block, because that's where the algorithm for it lives. Signal flows in one direction in the grid: from one block to the next one downstream. If you put the impedance curve in the Cab block, information would need to flow in the opposite direction, to get it to the Amp block where it lives. The impedance curve affects how the amp responds to speaker impedance, so it has to live in the Amp block.

 

[GlennO]

The impedance curve has to be in the Amp block, because that's where the algorithm for it lives. Signal flows in one direction in the grid: from one block to the next one downstream. If you put the impedance curve in the Cab block, information would need to flow in the opposite direction, to get it to the Amp block where it lives. The impedance curve affects how the amp responds to speaker impedance, so it has to live in the Amp block.

Sure, I fully understand why it's where it is. It must be applied in the amp block, but that doesn't mean it needs to be stored in the amp block. As I mentioned above, if it was instead in the cab block, that would be more convenient for the user (in addition to being more faithful to the way a real amp/cab work), but more complicated for Cliff, since he would have to look up the impedance curve from the downstream cab block. It would require a more holistic view of the way an amp block and cab block are loaded into a preset. Advancements like this are rarely simple. If it was, everybody would be doing it already .

 

[York Audio]

I can see how that would be an issue for you. You probably do a lot of A/B testing, comparing the IR to the real cabinet. But that's kind of an unusual use case. Probably a better way to handle that unusual case would be to put both the IR and the impedance curve in the cabinet block, but have a switch in the cab block that turns off the IR while leaving the impedance curve in place.

That's the best of both. You get the flexibility you need for your unusual case, but the common case where the IR is used in the preset works more simply than it does now because the IR and the impedance curve are bundled together in this proposed new extended IR format, instead of requiring the user to visit two blocks and load two things independently. And, it would mean the AxeFX would work more like a real amp and cabinet, where the impedance curve and IR are tightly coupled.

Internally, the amp block would query the impedance curve from the downstream cabinet block instead of having it part of the amp block, but that's just an implementation issue. Also, there would be no reason to take away the option of editing/loading the impedance curve independently the way it works now, if that's what you want, so no features would be taken away.

P.S. In any case, this is just about part 2 of your wish. Part 1 is the ability to measure the impedance curve from the AxeFX, which is a great idea. Part 2 is how to best deliver a bunch of those curves to the user as part of an IR library. I'm just suggesting bundling the IR and the impedance curve would make it more convenient for the user. This becomes an issue if/when an IR library contains a bunch of impedance curves.

My use case isn’t all that unusual. A lot of people use the Axe with a power amp and a real cab... with no cab block. Or the Axe directly into their DAW and use an IR loading plugin... with no cab block so they can change their sounds after they’ve recorded their performances.

The “Part 2” of your post would be the User Slots part of my wish. We already have quite a few factory curves. My wish adds user slots along with the factory curves in the same window so you can easily access the correct curve for the cab you’re using. Think if it like the cab block... you’ve got factory IRs as well as User slots for any other IR you choose to load. This keeps all of the factory curves we currently have and let’s us add more curves to the list.

What I’m suggesting just adds to what we already have instead of trying to change how blocks interact with each other. Trying to put impedance stuff in the cab block would defeat the purpose of this wish. Keeping curves in the amp block works for everyone’s use (since we already have to change it to suit what’s closest to the cab we’re using). Moving the curves to the cab block would only work for cab block users.

Anyway, I think it would be really awesome and hope that it’s possible to implement.

 

[Rex]

Sure, I fully understand why it's where it is. It must be applied in the amp block, but that doesn't mean it needs to be stored in the amp block. As I mentioned above, if it was instead in the cab block, that would be more convenient for the user (in addition to being more faithful to the way a real amp/cab work), but more complicated for Cliff, since he would have to look up the impedance curve from the downstream cab block. It would require a more holistic view of the way an amp block and cab block are loaded into a preset. Advancements like this are rarely simple. If it was, everybody would be doing it already .

I like your idea, but it requires that there be a Cab block before the Amp block can load the impedance curve. I like @York Audio 's solution. It simplifies implementation, and it covers all the bases.