New FX8 Day - First Impressions

bread

bread

Power User
So I have been playing with my FX8 for about a day and a half now, and as I've had multi-fx pedals before I've found it remarkably easy to set up and get going. I love the effects that are built in and the routing flexibility. The fact you can stack effects is also a big plus and the variety of parameters that you can dive into.

I play in an 80s band so I use a lot of different presets. Previously this was done using my G System (which is awesome) so a change to a new multi-fx board is a big move for me. The reason I made the move in the first place is that I wanted to do it when I had the choice to -there are no more updates for the G so its' a bit of a "dead" technology. I like the layout of the cabling on the back of the FX8 too - it's very intuitive for setting up in 4CM and there is enough room for everything to plug into.

So, footprint, effects and setup are 10/10 so far....

But ...

The switching is not good at all. I've tried the default settings with scenes and also sticky scenes - none of these work the way I want them to. I've said before on other threads that what I need is to bank up and down and change presets with the FX8 as I do now with the G System. I think this is an area of the FX8 that has been over-thought and too many feature put into the design, instead of a simple press and go solution. I hear this will change in the next release so fingers crossed on that count - I wait with baited breath.

Another big plus is the editor - its simple, easy and intuitive - well done FAS on a great product. I especially like the facility to hit the space bar to engage / disengage the blocks, and moreso the ability to save individual blocks so I can build my own librabry - awesome !

I have the 2 FAS pedals too which are for volume and expression - I'll get them cabled up as soon as the cables are built.

So all in all I'm loving the FX8 apart from the switching - I'll wait and see what the next update brings.

Just in case anyone from Fractal is reading, ultimately, this is how I would like the switching it to work.

The top 4 buttons are for switching off MOD PITCH DELAY REVERB - if I have multiple blocks that are the same type (i.e.MOD) then they all go off or all go on by hitting the button.
The top 4 buttons could be COMP or FILTER instead but they act globally - you cannot have them different for each preset/scene
The display would display PRESET NAME and SCENE NAME (currently its only Preset name) and the grid can be removed in favour of big letters for PRESET NAME and SCENE NAME
The bottom 4 buttons would be for Scenes 1-4 (XY switchable or not) - single foot press changes the scene.
REMOVE the Effect ByBass feature (it's not needed as they are controlled by the top 4 buttons in my world)
The SCENE/BANK button can be re-mapped to be anything you want (COMP on/off FILTER ON/OFF) OR
A BOOST button that can be a per scene volume boost of up to 6db either globally set or per scene OR
A MIDI command button that can send a MIDI signal (any MIDI channel PC Message) set per scene (avoids a separate MIDI block) OR
An extra scene such as a lead channel or anything else ...
BANK UP and BANK DOWN just work straight away on a single press. The tuner is as it is now with HOLD BANK DN. The Looper can be engaged only by pressing both BANK UP AND BANK DOWN together for 1 second (for example) to avoid accidentally switching the looper on. TAP TEMP can stay as it is.

"Bread"
 
Some of your suggestions are confusing.

When you say Bank Up / Bank Down (which, on FX8, deal with the banks of 8 presets each), do you really mean you want those switches to be Preset Up / Preset Down? I think you must, because in your description, no other buttons change presets. If this is the case, you can change the "tap" or the "hold" for any of the 3 function switches to Preset Up or Preset Down. OR, do you mean you want Bank Up / Bank Down to activate Preset Mode automatically, so that you press them, and then 8 presets appear for the choosing?

If, in your scenario, BANK DOWN is always the tap of the bottom switch, then how would you access tap tempo using the bottom switch?

Your suggestion of having the bottom 4 switches as scenes / top 4 as instant access is supposedly coming soon in a firmware update, except maybe not quite as you describe. Having multiple blocks turn on and off with one switch is exactly what a scene is, but it sounds like you want to mix and match scenes, or have a "scene focus" feature (where the scene only adjusts certain things and ignores/leaves other things in their current state).
 
Yes sorry I mean bank up and down goes up and down presets. Sorry for the confusion.

For tap tempo you could leave that where it is but have it on a hold feature where bank down would be held for say half a second to enable the feature. I rarely use tap tempo unless building a preset so would not need it live.

An example of the mix of scene and IA would be in Let's Dance by David Bowie. I leave the scene alone and just switch off the delays before the chorus. This saves me creating a scene just with the delay off.
 
I agree with this out of box experience. The FX8 actually sounds really great, and I'd be perfectly happy to use it live if I could get it to switch with less effort and confusion. It is a nice all-in-one solution.

I am likely to add buttons to fix it, but the idea of having 4 scenes plus IA may be good enough. Unlike bread, I'd like to be able to set IA to whatever I need, which would more likely be drive and mod than delay and reverb. I'd more likely use the expression pedal to dial back delay.

Ultimately, I'd like to be able to program the buttons any way I want. I'd like to have a boost button and dedicated preset buttons (like bread's idea of bank up/dn indexing preset). I also think that having to hold the preset button (to allow for tap tempo) is fine. And I'd like to be able to have some buttons allow X-Y and others switch instantly.
 
bread said:
For tap tempo you could leave that where it is but have it on a hold feature where bank down would be held for say half a second to enable the feature. I rarely use tap tempo unless building a preset so would not need it live.
Click to expand...

That would be a nice addition. The screen would probably need to change to indicate that you're in "tap tempo" mode, since I'm assuming we'd want to the LED to always be flashing the tempo, regardless of what the switch is doing.

bread said:
An example of the mix of scene and IA would be in Let's Dance by David Bowie. I leave the scene alone and just switch off the delays before the chorus. This saves me creating a scene just with the delay off.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I would have expected an example like an improv band making changes on the fly or something. If just covering a song, and you're already using scenes, it takes all of 2 seconds to add a scene for the chorus. Scene 1 / verse: compressor on, delay 1 (ducking 8th) on, Scene 2 / chorus: compressor on, delay 1 off; Scene 3 / SRV solo: Compressor off, drive on, delay 1 off, delay 2 (slapback) on. Rinse and repeat for the next cover song in the set.
 
elvis said:
Ultimately, I'd like to be able to program the buttons any way I want. I'd like to have a boost button and dedicated preset buttons (like bread's idea of bank up/dn indexing preset).
Click to expand...

Read the release notes for Fw 2.00, you can have Preset Up and/or Preset Down assigned to either the tap or hold of any of the 3 functions switches on the right.
 
Yup. This unit is super powerful, and full of awesome features. Read the manual. Play around. Read the manual AGAIN. Ask questions after that is done.
 
Sorry to hear the switching has been as easy to set up as you hoped.

I assumed the fx8 can be set to have 8 sounds (either presets or scenes) available at the push of a switch and then bank up or down to another batch of 8 with the tap tempo available at the same time. imo that would be the most common way to use a multi effect unit.
Having the same setup with 4 presets or scenes instantly available but the ability to switch in and out some of the effects from the top row of footswitches would be a bonus but not so critical to me.
 
This sounds exactly the way my NOVA SYSTEM worked. 3- effects on top, 3-presets on bottom, presets up & down on left, Drive bottom right. Sounds like you need FX8 to mate with the G-system to have a hybrid.
FXG8-SYSTEM?
 
john_p said:
Sorry to hear the switching has been as easy to set up as you hoped.

I assumed the fx8 can be set to have 8 sounds (either presets or scenes) available at the push of a switch and then bank up or down to another batch of 8 with the tap tempo available at the same time. imo that would be the most common way to use a multi effect unit.
Having the same setup with 4 presets or scenes instantly available but the ability to switch in and out some of the effects from the top row of footswitches would be a bonus but not so critical to me.
Click to expand...

I would like the switching to work the way my voodoo labs ground control pro does. The bottom 4 buttons are presets and you can assign the other 8 buttons as controllers to turn effects on or off. The 2 bottom right buttons bank up and down and when you do go to a different bank, the names of the 4 presets in that bank cycle in the display so you can be sure you are in the correct bank.

The way I have the fx8 set up now, I have to create a new preset even if I just want to change 1 effect because I do not use scenes (not the way I want to change patches, I just want to hit one global button to turn on/off an effect). Making all the buttons customizable would fix most people's issues with the switching I think.

One last thing for me is that I find the 2 buttons underneath the metal bar difficult to hit if I am rushing to change in the middle of a song. I have big feet so that is my main issue but I may have use additional banks to avoid using those buttons in a song.
 
For upcoming firmware we are working on a mode where the switches are programmable. You simply assign a function to each switch. I.e., switch 1 is preset up, switch 2 is preset down, switch three is tap tempo, switch 4 is drive on/off, etc.

On a slightly related note I went through the code with a fine-toothed comb over the past few days and was able to reduce CPU usage considerably (10+%). So you should be able to fit 8 effects with ease.
 
FractalAudio said:
For upcoming firmware we are working on a mode where the switches are programmable. You simply assign a function to each switch. I.e., switch 1 is preset up, switch 2 is preset down, switch three is tap tempo, switch 4 is drive on/off, etc.

On a slightly related note I went through the code with a fine-toothed comb over the past few days and was able to reduce CPU usage considerably (10+%). So you should be able to fit 8 effects with ease.
Click to expand...

Sweet! My nipples just got hard.....
 
FractalAudio said:
For upcoming firmware we are working on a mode where the switches are programmable. You simply assign a function to each switch. I.e., switch 1 is preset up, switch 2 is preset down, switch three is tap tempo, switch 4 is drive on/off, etc.

On a slightly related note I went through the code with a fine-toothed comb over the past few days and was able to reduce CPU usage considerably (10+%). So you should be able to fit 8 effects with ease.
Click to expand...

This is great!
 
Here is what I did today it's the fx8 into a HK Tubemeister 36 on the 1 watt setting - all switched by the FX8 midi feature.

Gain is the amp everything else Fractal.

Sorry about the bummer notes and crappy sound quality it was done between meetings and recorded on my camera phone. Backing track courtesy of GuitarBackingTrack.com and all the guitar you can hear is the fx8.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2k7UhAzUwP0
 
FractalAudio said:
For upcoming firmware we are working on a mode where the switches are programmable. You simply assign a function to each switch. I.e., switch 1 is preset up, switch 2 is preset down, switch three is tap tempo, switch 4 is drive on/off, etc.

On a slightly related note I went through the code with a fine-toothed comb over the past few days and was able to reduce CPU usage considerably (10+%). So you should be able to fit 8 effects with ease.
Click to expand...

bump. :)
 
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