Maybe it's about time for some updated Factory Presets?

It's been since March that the Factory Presets have had a makeover. We're already close to two major firmware revisions out and the Factory Presets haven't really been shown much love. What do you say?
 
It's been since March that the Factory Presets have had a makeover. We're already close to two major firmware revisions out and the Factory Presets haven't really been shown much love. What do you say?

The reason presets get updated is because the firmware changes required changes to the presets themselves, and I haven’t seen that happen. So far the firmware changes improved the sound without needing any adjustments.
 
The reason presets get updated is because the firmware changes required changes to the presets themselves, and I haven’t seen that happen. So far the firmware changes improved the sound without needing any adjustments.
OK, that makes sense. I don't tinker with anything to any real degree yet and didn't know that was the reason they get updated or not.
 
OK, that makes sense. I don't tinker with anything to any real degree yet and didn't know that was the reason they get updated or not.

Thinking about it further …

The passing of time isn’t a criteria, but improving the sound always is, and, with three different modelers, FX3, FM3 and FM9, there are three different sets of factory presets to maintain, which get reviewed as the firmware changes are implemented.

Cliff’s latest beta firmware release has this in the release notes:
The default values of various parameters have been updated. Existing presets are automatically updated to the new values upon load.

Most of the changes occur under the hood where we can’t adjust them. Those parameters that are adjustable might need non-default settings changed, so the powers that be will assess whether there’s something that warrants making the effort when the time is right. Trust the Force… er… FAS. :)
 
The reason presets get updated is because the firmware changes required changes to the presets themselves, and I haven’t seen that happen. So far the firmware changes improved the sound without needing any adjustments.
Maybe, but speaking was someone who generally doesn't do betas and hasn't heard this one, a number of people I respect have said that the low end is different enough that they could remove their cab or amp low cuts.

That sounds like a difference that might warrant some reevaluation and possibly rework of our presets, so pretty likely the factory ones too.

Just to be clear, I'm aware that that's a lot of work, and I'm in no way saying that the talented folks who have helped with this in the past should feel obligated to create a new release of the factory presets. But it's not unreasonable IMO to think that there might be value in that.
 
Do the factory presets sound bad after this update?
They generally sound better to me but everyone is different with different rigs and guitars.

It's all good. Fractal has ridiculous customer support for these products and people like Austin Buddy who also have great product support will also do their updates in due time.
 
I don't know about the recent 5 years or so, but in the past the presets could sure be running many firmwares behind and become unrepresentative or "unusable." Usually, the firmware notes do tell us how to adapt our presets, but often we only have time to do this for our own major presets, not 400 others...
It does suck that the people who can update this best at FAS (Matt & Cliff?) have plenty better things to do..., but if this leads to better amp algorithms, I prefer the latter. There are just times when Cliff is on a roll and there is an overhaul every few weeks (or used to be), which makes it useless to update the preset banks. If you want presets that do remain up-to-date, I'd get one of austinbuddy's packs.
OTOH, they should at least have like 100 up-to-date core presets at any time, so a new user can hear the unit at its best. IIRC, maybe that's what they used to do many years ago, where just one bank was optimized — not sure.
 
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Maybe, but speaking was someone who generally doesn't do betas and hasn't heard this one, a number of people I respect have said that the low end is different enough that they could remove their cab or amp low cuts.

That sounds like a difference that might warrant some reevaluation and possibly rework of our presets, so pretty likely the factory ones too.

Just to be clear, I'm aware that that's a lot of work, and I'm in no way saying that the talented folks who have helped with this in the past should feel obligated to create a new release of the factory presets. But it's not unreasonable IMO to think that there might be value in that.
The change to revert the lows to 0 in the factory, or any personal presets, is easily done using the Parameter Batch Set in the editor. The factory presets are (mostly) already at 0, so they’d need to be changed to …?


PS - I misspoke myself. These have non-default Low Cut settings:
  • #20, "Euro Uber"
  • #41, "Matchbox Chiefman"
  • #50, "Hot Kitty"
  • #52, "Spawn Nitrous"
  • #56, "Ma the Meatloaf..."
  • #60, "Dirty Shirley"
  • #61, "Fox ODS"
There are probably others, but, again, those are easily fixed with the Parameter Batch Set.
 
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Do the factory presets sound bad after this update?
They are, for the most part, at 0, so they'd pick up the changes to the defaults and should sound better. I haven't had a chance to listen to everything, but the handful of my own presets that are based on factory presets sound really nice.
 
It does suck that the people who can update this best at FAS (Matt & Cliff?) have plenty better things to do..., but if this leads to better amp algorithms, I prefer the latter. There are just times when Cliff is on a roll and there is an overhaul every few weeks (or used to be), which makes it useless to update the preset banks. If you want presets that do remain up-to-date, I'd get one of austinbuddy's packs.
The internal Beta testers handle a lot of the updating, and even with multiple people working on it, it takes a couple of weeks. At least two passes have been done already this year, so they're as up-to-date as Austin Buddy's; We outnumber him, but he's more determined. :)

Austin Buddy's packs are more finely polished though and he has specific goals with his collections. The factory presets, combined with Austin Buddy's, cover a lot of ground and are worth having for people who want to grab some sounds and go, or to dig through and "repurpose".

As I mentioned above, the Parameter Batch Set feature in the editor can make this sort of change very quickly and easily.
 
My initial test with just a few amp models shows that there are differences in volume levels from model to model. And that is dependent on gain levels, and any advanced parameters that may have been altered.

So at the very least, this will throw off the volume balance from preset to preset. As well as scene volumes where a second amp block, or different channels are used with different settings and/or models.
 
My initial test with just a few amp models shows that there are differences in volume levels from model to model. And that is dependent on gain levels, and any advanced parameters that may have been altered.
That's the sort of issue that will force a refresh.
 
Maybe they just got tired of doing all the work and having so many tell us how the presets suck and are unusable.
Pet peeve of mine since the beginning -Presets are fine-Period! Some are usable immediately, some need some personal tweaking (your setup, gear, guitar, etc), some are there to show off the FX.
 
My initial test with just a few amp models shows that there are differences in volume levels from model to model. And that is dependent on gain levels, and any advanced parameters that may have been altered.

So at the very least, this will throw off the volume balance from preset to preset. As well as scene volumes where a second amp block, or different channels are used with different settings and/or models.
I 1,000% don't mean this as criticism of the factory presets or their makers, but I've always found that I need to adjust the levels on any of them that I want to use. That's true for the few preset packs I've bought too.

It's inherent, since everyone's guitars have different output levels and frequency balance, not to mention monitoring and playing differences.

Part of adopting a new set of presets, factory or not, or new firmware, is working though that to make them your own. No harm no foul, nature of the beast.
 
Maybe they just got tired of doing all the work and having so many tell us how the presets suck and are unusable.
🤣 When I bought my first Axe FX unit, an AFX II XL, used, I went to pick it up from the seller who asked me to try it out. He told me not to use factory presets, because they were all too lacking in top end, dark, and emphasising the bass so much that it was all unusable. He had 20 of his own presets setup that he was sure I would find much more usable. First thing I did when I got home was upgrade, reinstall factory presets to make sure all his improvements were permanently obliterated, and then get on with learning to use the Axe FX.

Since March feels like a short wait for an upgrade to the presets - I feel like we have gone a lot longer than that in the past, and without anyone getting too annoyed about it. They are a great demo of Axe FX capabilities, and offer some amazingly intuitive ideas for things that the Axe FX might get used for. Personally, while I love them, they get loaded at the far end of the preset list, so presets that might get used for the next gigs, rehearsals and recordings are most easily accessible.

Liam
 
I doubt it’s just me, but... wouldn’t most of us probably be adjusting a few things like levels, BMT (and/or low pas / high pass filters) if you were going to use factory presets to suit your guitars, personal taste, playback system, and necessary levels?
 
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