I think the patch you need depends on the style you play. If you have a steel string acoustic, and use it for strumming, playing chords, accompanying your voice etc., a piezo patch with some EQ and effects will do. But if you play single notes, and/or play with your fingernails (as in flamenco and classical styles) this will sound thin and quacky due to the piezo.
Playing a flamenco/classical guitar (nylon string) style, I want the most natural sounding patch. I just want my acoustic guitar to sound louder. In fact, this is not really possible with a piezo or magnetic pu, because when you play an acoustic guitar, you will hear sound coming from all sides of your guitar, not just the soundhole. In fact, most of the sound will come from the top and back sides, and a little from the fretboard. You would need a couple of mic's to amplify the real acoustic sound. A piezo will pick up the frequenties that are strongest in that particular area of your guitar (the saddle).
What you want, is a translation (or extrapolation) from this piezo sound to the real acoustic sound, as heard through your ears (or a good mic). The Fishman aura does just this, combining the piezo and a microphone input of the same guitar. (The Mama Bear does something like this as well). The aura captures this in what Fishman calls a sound 'image'. It's actually (as far as I understand) an algorithm, telling your device (aura or Axe FX) which frequencies to add given a certain piezo input. With the Axe FX II, you can transform the fishman image into an IR with the IR-capture function.
If you are looking for the most natural sound for your acoustic piezo equipped guitar (think of the sound of Paco de Lucia, or John McLaughlin on his 'Live in Royal Festival Hall', and 'Que Alegria' recordings), these are the steps I would recommend:
Step zero: use as little cabs/effects in your patch as possible: You will be dazzled by all the possibilities, and after half an hour of tweaking drift off from the original, natural sound you had in mind when you started.
Step one is to tweak the acoustic cab with the first parameter (Cab size) between settings 0.9-1.1, until you find the sound you like best. This will depend on your taste, but also on the amplification. See Cabinet (FX block) - Axe-Fx II Wiki
CAB SIZE — This control "scales" the IR to simulate shrinking or enlarging the virtual speaker. This effect can be used to shift where the tone "sits" in a mix, or to create dramatic effects. Subtle settings (0/9-1.1) will sound most natural. When the MODE of the CAB block is set to STEREO, CAB SIZE is not offered.
To my experience, it is worth spending most of your time on only this parameter. All the following parameters are used to correct this starting point. Remember to use as little parameters as possible.
I made an IR from my favorite fishman aura sound and selected that in a cab. After that I added another acoustic cab (acoustic_2048_g2.syx, from this forum), which gives the sound more 'air'. With this, the dynamic response becomes amazing. The difference between a soft, sweet attack, and a strong attack or rasguedo is immense. Without it, your guitar will sound flat.
You can add a second cab, using the 'Stereo' mode, and combine two acoustic cab's ('nylon phase 1' and 'nylon phase 16' for instance). But the 'Hi Res' mode is simpler.
Second step is to add 'air', with the 'Room level' and Room size' parameters.
I set the 'Mic type' to none, because a microphone will alter your sound, and you loose control over your sound. More chance on feedback, or amplification of frequencies you don't really like.
Third step is to EQ this sound, as little as possible, to add missing frequencies and diminish feedback. Take out frequencies under 140Hz, to make the sound less 'boomy'. Add frequencies above 2kHz if you want more definition and a clear attack (the click of your nail or plectrum hitting the string). Important thing is, that EQ will not change the overtones your guitar produces, and that give the color/richness to your guitarsound. EQ will only emphasize or diminish certain frequencies. The basic tone comes from your piezo and the Cab settings.
Then add reverb and/or delay.
Compression does not sound natural to me, again, having flamenco/classical style in mind.
I hope this will help some of you, but am also curious to learn and improve.
good luck, Hilmar
Playing a flamenco/classical guitar (nylon string) style, I want the most natural sounding patch. I just want my acoustic guitar to sound louder. In fact, this is not really possible with a piezo or magnetic pu, because when you play an acoustic guitar, you will hear sound coming from all sides of your guitar, not just the soundhole. In fact, most of the sound will come from the top and back sides, and a little from the fretboard. You would need a couple of mic's to amplify the real acoustic sound. A piezo will pick up the frequenties that are strongest in that particular area of your guitar (the saddle).
What you want, is a translation (or extrapolation) from this piezo sound to the real acoustic sound, as heard through your ears (or a good mic). The Fishman aura does just this, combining the piezo and a microphone input of the same guitar. (The Mama Bear does something like this as well). The aura captures this in what Fishman calls a sound 'image'. It's actually (as far as I understand) an algorithm, telling your device (aura or Axe FX) which frequencies to add given a certain piezo input. With the Axe FX II, you can transform the fishman image into an IR with the IR-capture function.
If you are looking for the most natural sound for your acoustic piezo equipped guitar (think of the sound of Paco de Lucia, or John McLaughlin on his 'Live in Royal Festival Hall', and 'Que Alegria' recordings), these are the steps I would recommend:
Step zero: use as little cabs/effects in your patch as possible: You will be dazzled by all the possibilities, and after half an hour of tweaking drift off from the original, natural sound you had in mind when you started.
Step one is to tweak the acoustic cab with the first parameter (Cab size) between settings 0.9-1.1, until you find the sound you like best. This will depend on your taste, but also on the amplification. See Cabinet (FX block) - Axe-Fx II Wiki
CAB SIZE — This control "scales" the IR to simulate shrinking or enlarging the virtual speaker. This effect can be used to shift where the tone "sits" in a mix, or to create dramatic effects. Subtle settings (0/9-1.1) will sound most natural. When the MODE of the CAB block is set to STEREO, CAB SIZE is not offered.
To my experience, it is worth spending most of your time on only this parameter. All the following parameters are used to correct this starting point. Remember to use as little parameters as possible.
I made an IR from my favorite fishman aura sound and selected that in a cab. After that I added another acoustic cab (acoustic_2048_g2.syx, from this forum), which gives the sound more 'air'. With this, the dynamic response becomes amazing. The difference between a soft, sweet attack, and a strong attack or rasguedo is immense. Without it, your guitar will sound flat.
You can add a second cab, using the 'Stereo' mode, and combine two acoustic cab's ('nylon phase 1' and 'nylon phase 16' for instance). But the 'Hi Res' mode is simpler.
Second step is to add 'air', with the 'Room level' and Room size' parameters.
I set the 'Mic type' to none, because a microphone will alter your sound, and you loose control over your sound. More chance on feedback, or amplification of frequencies you don't really like.
Third step is to EQ this sound, as little as possible, to add missing frequencies and diminish feedback. Take out frequencies under 140Hz, to make the sound less 'boomy'. Add frequencies above 2kHz if you want more definition and a clear attack (the click of your nail or plectrum hitting the string). Important thing is, that EQ will not change the overtones your guitar produces, and that give the color/richness to your guitarsound. EQ will only emphasize or diminish certain frequencies. The basic tone comes from your piezo and the Cab settings.
Then add reverb and/or delay.
Compression does not sound natural to me, again, having flamenco/classical style in mind.
I hope this will help some of you, but am also curious to learn and improve.
good luck, Hilmar
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