Bug? Magic 8 ball in 8.01

greiswig

greiswig

Power User
Not sure whether this is a bug or just a wish. To me, the 8 ball was more accurate in 7 firmware than it has been in 8. It took me a little time to convince myself of that, because it doesn't make sense: Cliff was removing it altogether, and only reluctantly put it back in, so why would he have changed any code on it at all?

But at least on my box, it no longer seems to have the same curve, where the speed of movement of the 8 ball matches the accuracy of the pitch. Once the pitch is in the ballpark, the 8 ball seems to pretty much stop, even when the dot isn't centered and the both arrows aren't there. I've gone back to trying to tune by ear for the last little bit.
 
Last edited:
It works really well for me. Much more stable than previous firmware versions.

I think I would prefer the rotation speed (RPM) to be a bit higher. I think it would make it more obvious, but that's a tough call. It used to spin so fast when it was a just 2 or 3 pennies sharp or flat that I couldn't tell which direction it was spinning. Right now though if the string is slightly off the ball is slightly off center and the eyeball is rotating very slowly.

It works for me and as I said and is much improved from previous versions.
 
FractalAudio said:
The speed of rotation has not changed.
Click to expand...

I'm not asking for a change in the overall speed, but rather I'm seeing something that I didn't see before. Previously, it acted as I would expect a strobe tuner to act: there is a logarithmic (I would guess) slope to the change in speed on a real strobe tuner. The effect is such that the spinning is very fast when you're far off pitch, and only really slows down as you approach pitch.

This makes it almost so there is effectively a zoom window around that center bar of the regular tuner. It increases the observable resolution of the tuner when the string is really close to pitch.

Right now, it feels more linear... There isn't as much change in rotational speed when I am within +-20 cents as there was before. Within that window, the rotation really is already pretty much stopped, where before it wasn't.

I can provide a video if need be...
 
The behavior of the rotation has not changed. NOTHING related to the 8-ball has changed.
 
Never used the 8 Ball before 8.01a but after reading how to use it properly I use it religiously and my tuning has never been better. Weird that you can be close but not spot on and the 8 Ball really helps you nail it.
 
Hmmm...I'm a big fan of the 8ball, but must say it's behavior in 8.01a seems different than in 7. I have many instances on different guitars where the 8ball doesn't stop spinning till the circle on the arrow graph is considerably off the mid point, (sometimes almost completely off it). The variation is significant enough, and occurs frequently enough that I've been meaning to get out my strobe tuner and run some tones through it simultaneously with the axe-fx II's tuner so I could determine whether I should be trusting the 8ball or the arrow graph circle. I don't remember this happening in previous versions, and since Cliff has stated the 8ball has not changed I've been wondering if it could have something to do with the new pitch detection?? Or could it be that for some reason either the 8ball or arrow graph is more sensitive to picking up a harmonic?

Not trying to be a drag, and I know Cliff is tired of the 8ball being 'a thorn in his side',(still appreciate it being added back in Cliff!) but seeing as I had no issues with the 8ball before and have noticed this independently of the OP I'd add my observations...
 
Alter Ego said:
Hmmm...I'm a big fan of the 8ball, but must say it's behavior in 8.01a seems different than in 7. I have many instances on different guitars where the 8ball doesn't stop spinning till the circle on the arrow graph is considerably off the mid point, (sometimes almost completely off it). The variation is significant enough, and occurs frequently enough that I've been meaning to get out my strobe tuner and run some tones through it simultaneously with the axe-fx II's tuner so I could determine whether I should be trusting the 8ball or the arrow graph circle. I don't remember this happening in previous versions, and since Cliff has stated the 8ball has not changed I've been wondering if it could have something to do with the new pitch detection?? Or could it be that for some reason either the 8ball or arrow graph is more sensitive to picking up a harmonic?

Not trying to be a drag, and I know Cliff is tired of the 8ball being 'a thorn in his side',(still appreciate it being added back in Cliff!) but seeing as I had no issues with the 8ball before and have noticed this independently of the OP I'd add my observations...
Click to expand...

IMPOSSIBLE! ;-) Nothing has changed! These are not the droids you're looking for!

OK, well at least there are a few of us having this issue. What you describe is exactly what I am experiencing. I sympathize with FAS about figuring out a difficult to replicate bug. Mine may be associated with dimmer noise, since it seems to happen sometimes but not others.
 
Understood. I guess even if it was optional some people would complain about its behavior when it was turned on. Still I thought it was great and the tuner just seems to be way more stable than it used to be, but maybe its just me.
 
Where are all the complaints? Have seen a few being confused by it cause they haven't understood how it works. And now a few that have some issues with it in 8.0.1...
On the other hand, me and most users(I assume?) are perfectly happy with it and find it's a really good help when fine tuning. This is also verified by the poll in the General Discussion where an overwhelming majority wanted to keep it.
The 8-ball is something that stand out in the axe compared to other tuners in the competitors machines. I see no reason to remove it since it's already there and no further development is needed on it, thus the cost for developing it is already paid for.

So when a few have issues with it in a firmware version, they can post here, like in this thread, and they can get help to isolate the problem and perhaps solve it. Or they can contact support, and maybe get it solved. If it can't be solved they can still use the normal tuner as before.
But to remove it because one thread about a possible bug seems a bit harsh?

Well, I'm not in the FAS team, so I can't decide anything about what features to keep or ditch, but I think we will see plenty of more threads/complaints dedicated to bring the 8-ball back...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom