Presets MASTER THREAD - AustinBuddy 1000+ LIVEGOLD TonePack - Partial Update (Bank 1 Marshalls) for Cygnus X3 firmware update now available

Third party presets and packs for Fractal Audio products
rsvette12 said:
CS2 amp boost ? Can you explain that a bit - thanks
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Definitely read the manual but most people find it easier to watch the four tututorial videos - both cover it. The first video is longest but covers the main stuff you need to know, including the Control
Switches.

The last one explains about CS2 and how to edit it in the editor.

 
austinbuddy said:
The Copy & Paste switches are right there. In the first screen shot, over Amp Boost CS2 (layout page 7), just click COPY. You will see the COPY foot switch button at the bottom (under the buttons) where you program what you want a button to to do.

In the second screen shot, this is of an EFX Page. Click the button on where you want the Amp Boost to be copied to, and now hit the PASTE button for either TAP postion or for HOLD position - either one works. It will overwrite what is there already when you do this.

You can also click and drag buttons around to order them any way you like inside a page layout. Pretty cool!
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Problem Im running into is my Layout 7 is blank and not showing those 3 CS switches. Now, I learned how to switch an Effects from my effects layout to a control switch, but like you mentioned in your manual, it's not actually turning the CS2 on/off because I see the button go on/off instantly. Not sure what Im doing wrong.
 
Jipps0525 said:
Problem Im running into is my Layout 7 is blank and not showing those 3 CS switches. Now, I learned how to switch an Effects from my effects layout to a control switch, but like you mentioned in your manual, it's not actually turning the CS2 on/off because I see the button go on/off instantly. Not sure what Im doing wrong.
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Did you load the amp layout/page 7 in your unit based on your setup, as found in the zip download file directory? It won’t be there from Factory. You have to install it (or set it up yourself).

Again, watch the YouTube tutorial videos, read the included manual - it’s all in there.
 
austinbuddy said:
Did you load the amp layout/page 7 in your unit based on your setup, as found in the zip download file directory? It won’t be there from Factory. You have to install it (or set it up yourself).

Again, watch the YouTube tutorial videos, read the included manual - it’s all in there.
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Ahh okay I got it. I didn't realize there was a separate PDF that explained the custom layout. I thought the PDFs were the same and one was just updated. Now I have the Effects layout and amp controls on the hold button. It's cool, thanks
 
Are the Live Gold presets still worth the money if I primarily play an FM3 through a 5150 FX Return and into a 1x12 cab? Obviously I'd have to bypass the CAB block.

One of the reasons why these presets may be worth the money for FRFR users is because I suspect there was a lot of effort in pairing/tweaking the AMP/CAB blocks. Obviously in my setup, I won't be taking advantage of the CAB portion, and since I'm using a specific cab of my own, the preset AMP settings may be mismatched with my cab (1x12 Creamback).

So in my situation using a real amp/cab, is there an advantage to purchasing the Live Gold presets vs. DIY (or finding a free preset that I like)?
 
I've had the Live Gold pack for a few days now - it's really awesome - thanks for all the work that goes into it!
A few observations that might help others considering/using the presets:
I play mainly through headphones and everything sounds great.
I've had my FM3 for about 6 months and know my way around pretty well, so everything in the presets makes sense. If I had purchased the pack before I learned the unit it might have been challenging to grasp the finer points of what's going on and how to manipulate things.

The organization and structure is really, really valuable. The factory presets have some great sounds in them, but I felt like they are a bit random and therefore tricky to find what I need quickly.

With Live Gold the structure is great. For a workflow example, I had a track I wanted to play over where I wanted a clean single coil tone similar to Mark Knopfler. The process was this:
1. On FM3, set default scene to scene 5 (since it's single coil clean on all presets)
2. Select the first Fender Amp preset (easy to find because it's organized and uses real names)
3. play guitar with my track and step through presets with foot switches
4. write the ones I like in a notebook so I can correlate them to songs and find them again

I did this for a few different sounds I was looking for over different tracks. It was super quick and the results were fantastic. So fast and easy!

Another benefit of the structure and this approach is it's helping me understand more about the sounds of different amps. I think that's going to make it even quicker to find the sound I want in the future.

A really great product!
 
Y'all. Seriously. The new 3.03 beta firmware. Go try it. Turn on Ultra-Res for cabs, for both clean and dirty sounds. Sit and A/B them. Holy wow. They make even the LiveGold patches sound improved. They're already great, but...seriously...just go try it...I'm really impressed. Can't wait to see how much more Cygnus will bring things up another notch once we get that too...
 
The Ultra-Res difference is noticeable through my BD DT1990 Pro headphones, but man, it's REALLY noticeable going through my Friedman ASM-12!
 
Yes -- The new BETA (not final) 3.03's firmware includes the Ultra Res cab option.

Using Ultra-Res mode will tighten up and make a FM3 presets' bass response sound fuller on the FM3, including LiveGold presets.

If the Cab block's selected (unmuted) Cab IR's used "IR name" is colored purple in a Live Gold preset, you can manually "switch" from Standard (default) to Ultra Res now. The Axe- Fx III version uses a Cab IR in Ultra Res automatically.

However, the trade-off is using Ultra Res in an FM3 will increase your CPU use something like 5%. So it's a trade off. Let your ears decide whether it's worth it or not, if you are trying to cram in that extra effect and need the CPU.

If a cab IR is not Ultra Res (not purple), then switching to the Ultra Res should have no effect.

Once we get a final public (not beta) Cygnus firmware for Fm3, and then whenever I start the Tonepack update (gonna take some weeks months), I will switch all the Ultra res cabs rather than standard in the FM3 Cygnus release.

Enjoy! The firmware keeps getting better!
 
austinbuddy said:
Yes -- The new BETA (not final) 3.03's firmware includes the Ultra Res cab option.

Using Ultra-Res mode will tighten up and make a FM3 presets' bass response sound fuller on the FM3, including LiveGold presets.

If the Cab block's selected (unmuted) Cab IR's used "IR name" is colored purple in a Live Gold preset, you can manually "switch" from Standard (default) to Ultra Res now. The Axe- Fx III version uses a Cab IR in Ultra Res automatically.

However, the trade-off is using Ultra Res in an FM3 will increase your CPU use something like 5%. So it's a trade off. Let your ears decide whether it's worth it or not, if you are trying to cram in that extra effect and need the CPU.

If a cab IR is not Ultra Res (not purple), then switching to the Ultra Res should have no effect.

Once we get a final public (not beta) Cygnus firmware for Fm3, and then whenever I start the Tonepack update (gonna take some weeks months), I will switch all the Ultra res cabs rather than standard in the FM3 Cygnus release.

Enjoy! The firmware keeps getting better!
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Really appreciate that update, Buddy! Thanks again for all your hard work in making such great stuff!!
 
New AustinBuddy Live Gold FM3 user here... I may be missing something obvious, but I don't know what "Clang", "LowClang", etc. refers to in some of the scene names. Could someone explain? Thanks!
 
NewWorldMan said:
New AustinBuddy Live Gold FM3 user here... I may be missing something obvious, but I don't know what "Clang", "LowClang", etc. refers to in some of the scene names. Could someone explain? Thanks!
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To me, Clang is a loud rock guitar sound that is not overly distorted. AC/DC for the example. When you hit a chord it is powerful, you hear all the notes and yet it’s not overly compressed or heavy gain, just has a hint of hair around the notes. Malcolm You g of AC/DC is a good example of a clang rock guitar sound. Hope that helps!
 
austinbuddy said:
To me, Clang is a loud rock guitar sound that is not overly distorted. AC/DC for the example. When you hit a chord it is powerful, you hear all the notes and yet it’s not overly compressed or heavy gain, just has a hint of hair around the notes. Malcolm You g of AC/DC is a good example of a clang rock guitar sound. Hope that helps!
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Thanks for the detailed explanation - that's super helpful!
 
Another question @austinbuddy. I've noticed that often the clean scene (scene 1) is quite a bit lower in level than the following, higher gain scenes. I'm wondering if that is designed to "leave room" for the amp boost or drive on scene 1? That is, when I engage the ampboost on scene one the level pretty much matches scene two. But, that drives the signal a lot more than the original clean.

If I want to keep the default clean of scene one, but more closely match the level of scene two, what's the best approach? Increase the amp level but then remember to not engage the ampboost so as to keep the level under control?

Many thanks.
 
NewWorldMan said:
Another question @austinbuddy. I've noticed that often the clean scene (scene 1) is quite a bit lower in level than the following, higher gain scenes. I'm wondering if that is designed to "leave room" for the amp boost or drive on scene 1? That is, when I engage the ampboost on scene one the level pretty much matches scene two. But, that drives the signal a lot more than the original clean.

If I want to keep the default clean of scene one, but more closely match the level of scene two, what's the best approach? Increase the amp level but then remember to not engage the ampboost so as to keep the level under control?

Many thanks.
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Good questions.

The clean scene is actually leveled (check the VU meter) based on low E on humbucker (on my SG, your results may var)), but you can click the amp LEVEL up db or two if you need to if you want it louder - just don't let that low E clip.

Some amp cleans can have transients than can "spike" a VU meter near or into clipping (especially low strings); some amps do this more than others (the Shiva Clean for example, or the Tweed Princeton) I've noticed.

Play the low E on a humbucker - check the VU level, it should be an average of around -12db in a DAW or at "zero" line in Axe-FX/FM3.

Now play a high string around 10th fret. See the volume signal level decrease on the VU? That differential is string thickness (and thus signal strength) driven. So, I level cleans to the low E string, so it doesn't "spike" when you play that note. Else you'd have this great fat clean sound but it would clip when you play low notes and that would be the complaint from folks.

So it can be a challenge to find a happy medium to level cleans.

What you may also be hearing is that, comparison wise, the Scene 4/8 Leads/solos are usually a little hotter than the other scenes, by design - because I actually level those Scenes by playing leads up on the 10th fret area, not playing the low E string, since those Scenes are for leads.

Same type thing happens with modern gain maps -- the low E (or detuned string chugs will level OVER -12db in DAW, but if you hit an "A' chord, it will "calm down after a few seconds" to hover right at -12db, which is what you want.

Just a thing I do. Different guitars will have different outputs too. Remember, these presets should get you 90-95% of the way there, tweak to fit your playback system and guitars and playing style for the last 5%-10% to what you like!
 
austinbuddy said:
Good questions.

The clean scene is actually leveled (check the VU meter) based on low E on humbucker (on my SG, your results may var)), but you can click the amp LEVEL up db or two if you need to if you want it louder - just don't let that low E clip.

Some amp cleans can have transients than can "spike" a VU meter near or into clipping (especially low strings); some amps do this more than others (the Shiva Clean for example, or the Tweed Princeton) I've noticed.

Play the low E on a humbucker - check the VU level, it should be an average of around -12db in a DAW or at "zero" line in Axe-FX/FM3.

Now play a high string around 10th fret. See the volume signal level decrease on the VU? That differential is string thickness (and thus signal strength) driven. So, I level cleans to the low E string, so it doesn't "spike" when you play that note. Else you'd have this great fat clean sound but it would clip when you play low notes and that would be the complaint from folks.

So it can be a challenge to find a happy medium to level cleans.

What you may also be hearing is that, comparison wise, the Scene 4/8 Leads/solos are usually a little hotter than the other scenes, by design - because I actually level those Scenes by playing leads up on the 10th fret area, not playing the low E string, since those Scenes are for leads.

Same type thing happens with modern gain maps -- the low E (or detuned string chugs will level OVER -12db in DAW, but if you hit an "A' chord, it will "calm down after a few seconds" to hover right at -12db, which is what you want.

Just a thing I do. Different guitars will have different outputs too. Remember, these presets should get you 90-95% of the way there, tweak to fit your playback system and guitars and playing style for the last 5%-10% to what you like!
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You level with your Zappa Roxy SG , correct? mine really likes the current firmwares on the FM3 and especially Cygnus on the III, using Live Gold.
 
bradlake said:
You level with your Zappa Roxy SG , correct? mine really likes the current firmwares on the FM3 and especially Cygnus on the III, using Live Gold.
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Hey Brad! Yep about 85% to 90% of the time I use the Roxy SG Dweezil gave me, because the humbuckers are about medium output on it and a good balance plus the split coils are useful as a check on single coils without changing guitars.

But I'll also use a '61 RI SG Les Paul, and a '68 Telecaster or a '64 RI Strat from time to time as a check. When we did the Mark Holcomb presets we used his higher output PRS guitar.
 
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austinbuddy said:
Good questions.

The clean scene is actually leveled (check the VU meter) based on low E on humbucker (on my SG, your results may var)), but you can click the amp LEVEL up db or two if you need to if you want it louder - just don't let that low E clip.

Some amp cleans can have transients than can "spike" a VU meter near or into clipping (especially low strings); some amps do this more than others (the Shiva Clean for example, or the Tweed Princeton) I've noticed.

Play the low E on a humbucker - check the VU level, it should be an average of around -12db in a DAW or at "zero" line in Axe-FX/FM3.

Now play a high string around 10th fret. See the volume signal level decrease on the VU? That differential is string thickness (and thus signal strength) driven. So, I level cleans to the low E string, so it doesn't "spike" when you play that note. Else you'd have this great fat clean sound but it would clip when you play low notes and that would be the complaint from folks.

So it can be a challenge to find a happy medium to level cleans.

What you may also be hearing is that, comparison wise, the Scene 4/8 Leads/solos are usually a little hotter than the other scenes, by design - because I actually level those Scenes by playing leads up on the 10th fret area, not playing the low E string, since those Scenes are for leads.

Same type thing happens with modern gain maps -- the low E (or detuned string chugs will level OVER -12db in DAW, but if you hit an "A' chord, it will "calm down after a few seconds" to hover right at -12db, which is what you want.

Just a thing I do. Different guitars will have different outputs too. Remember, these presets should get you 90-95% of the way there, tweak to fit your playback system and guitars and playing style for the last 5%-10% to what you like!
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Thanks so much for all of this detail! Great explanation that will help me tremendously!
 
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