No Smoothing???

Try Cabinetron. It's excellent value and has a built in "IR Smoother", which sounds like a euphemism I know :laughing: It's actually good though and takes about 2 minutes to use on any existing IR you want to smooth out the frequencies on. Btw it can also do whole lot more, so well worth the $79. It's on sale every now and then as well, has a trial version etc. I'm not affiliated in any way with the product, just think it's good.

https://www.threebodytech.com/en/products/cabinetron
 
Allow me to provide a different perspective. No criticism intended, just trying to open up the field a bit.

Smoothing is a 100% artificial mathematical process, a modification of the original IRs as recorded and delivered by the experts who create them.

It's weird to me to think it's an absolute necessity, worth returning a current generation Fractal device because it's not there. You may have found some smoothing settings that work for you with some particular IRs, but it's unlikely that everyone who doesn't use that feature is creating terrible sounds.
 
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Dave Merrill said:
Allow me to provide a different perspective. No criticism intended, just trying to open up the field a bit.

Smoothing is a 100% artificial mathematical process, a modification of the original IRs as recorded and delivered by the experts who create them.

It's weird to me to think it's an absolute necessity, worth returning a current generation Fractal device because it's not there. You may have found some smoothing settings that work for you with some particular IRs, but it's unlikely that everyone who doesn't use that feature is creating terrible sounds.
Click to expand...
Modeling is a 100% artificial mathematical process. Convolution is a 100% artificial mathematical process. And I never said that everyone who doesn't use smoothing is creating terrible sounds. It's not necessary for you to get it. It's really okay.
 
RMA received. I seriously considered exporting all of the IRs I need from my II and III (or Cab Lab) and importing them as users in the FM9. But the time involved...I just don't have it. And I'm sure that the reasons for not including Smoothing are rock solid. This isn't a case of "they should have done this or that". I appreciate it for what it is.

I really love the FM9. It's an extremely well-designed and amazingly-constructed product. I guess it just isn't for me.

And my apologies to Fractal for not reading the Blocks Guide more carefully before purchase. My bad.
 
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steadystate said:
RMA received. I seriously considered exporting all of the IRs I need from my II and III (or Cab Lab) and importing them as users in the FM9. But the time involved...I just don't have it. And I'm sure that the reasons for not including Smoothing are rock solid. This isn't a case of "they should have done this or that". I appreciate it for what it is.

I really love the FM9. It's an extremely well-designed and amazingly-constructed product. I guess it just isn't for me.

And my apologies to Fractal for not reading the Blocks Guide more carefully before purchase. My bad.
Click to expand...
I can understand. Personal preference is EVERYTHING. Honestly I think your selling yourself short. Smoothing is not essential with right IR.
But that's OK. You need to do what works for you.
I have never touched smoothing since 2009. But then again, I am the guy that returned a killer great price guitar because of a 1/4" difference in the scale length!
 
I've hardly touched mine since I've had it (life's circumstances...), but shocked it doesn't have smoothing :eek: First time I'm hearing this...

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At least I don't have the ears to need it.
 
Randalljax said:
There is a way to simulate it to an extent
Go into the cab settings and alignment tab
Move one of the mics about 12mm apart from the other
This will cause some phase cancellations and at the same time change and smooth out the top end peaks
Click to expand...

Yes, that's a good tip. But it requires using two IRs in the Cab block.
 
Randalljax said:
There is a way to simulate it to an extent
Go into the cab settings and alignment tab
Move one of the mics about 12mm apart from the other
This will cause some phase cancellations and at the same time change and smooth out the top end peaks
Click to expand...
I tried this. To me, it just sounds like a standard micodelay. I can see the appeal of doing this, but it is a totally different process with a totally different result.

In fact, back before IRs were available, I used microdelays on Palmer-style cab sims to actually introduce comb filter IR-ish artifacts rather than eliminate them.
 
But that's exactly what it is. And he isn't using identical IRs in both slots. To me, this does sound like a microdelay even with different mics on the IRs. I already have countless presets using countless IRs that I simply don't have time to rework.

It's definitely a useful technique, but it isn't a substitute for Smoothing. I'll spend the rest of today and tomorrow experimenting. I'd rather keep the FM9. But I'm just too invested in Smoothing. Even a lighter-weight algorithm with lower resolution might be useful. Or maybe doing so renders it useless.
 
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It's true that there are many IRs I find useless as they are, but they take on a very usable character when smoothed.
I also smooth a lot of my own captures. It eliminates weird phasing artifacts and more closely approximates the sound being captured.
+1 for smoothing!
 
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