Reasons Not To Update AXE FX 3

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Pierce White

New Member
Hello All !

I’m new to the Fractal Audio world and I own an AXE FX 3 Turbo.

I’m interested to know, are there any reasons not to update the AXE FX ? Or would you always suggest updating ?

I get worried that multiple updates could end up slowing the device down ? Like what seems to happen to most electronics over time E.g. laptops, iPhones etc etc.

Thank you so much for your help !
 
Welcome Pierce!

It's best to do updates. Updates include improvements, new features, bug fixes, and more.

About the only time I would ever tell anyone to NOT update is when they are in the middle of a tour or a recording session. That hasn't stopped some people I know, but it's best to update when you have time to process, understand, and enjoy what's new.

The update has not been made that can sap the incredible CPU performance of the Axe-Fx III Turbo. It's a MONSTER. And if anything, we strive to IMPROVE performance through updates -- though I'll mention that on the FM3, the boot times is a little longer with DynaCabs installed.
 
Hi pierce,
Fractal do not handle their updates much like other companies. In the ten years or so I have used fractal products, I can only think of one or two occasions where issues with the new updates require urgent fixes. In that one or two cases, the fixes were issues within hours, or even less. Also, I have never found performance issues when updating, although occasionally the cpu percent can vary a little.
The only times I’d be cautious is if you have a bunch of gigs or recording sessions coming up, you’ve dialed in the exact sounds you were after, and the pending update may affect those presets. In those cases, I’d wait until I had time to try the new update.
Thanks
Pauly
Pierce White said:
Hello All !

I’m new to the Fractal Audio world and I own an AXE FX 3 Turbo.

I’m interested to know, are there any reasons not to update the AXE FX ? Or would you always suggest updating ?

I get worried that multiple updates could end up slowing the device down ? Like what seems to happen to most electronics over time E.g. laptops, iPhones etc etc.

Thank you so much for your help !
Click to expand...
 
The only reason I can think of is….

If you really, REALLY really like your tone coming out of the axe fx….maybe don’t update as it may or may not affect your guitar tone due to an algorithmic change that’ll change the sound (will be noted in notes of the firmware update)

But you can always make a backup and go back as stated by Budda
 
Updates rquire tweaking your presets and sometimes from scratch. If you have only a handful of presets, then maybe not so time consuming.

Personally speaking, I have a lot of presets, I like my tone where it is, and I have a new job in a far far away land. It's a challenge to find time to play, so my "update and tweak" days are probably finished for the near horizon.
 
I haven't noticed that updates make Axe FX 3 slower. Never ever had any problems.
I don't know others but those presets I made also works fine.
And It's good to make backups if you feel so.
 
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It’s a bit different from a laptop. The updates aren’t new programs installed on top of older ones. Each update is the entire OS if you want to think of it that way. So you don’t have to worry about junk building up over time like on other devices.

I always install updates, and it’s always been awesome! But as others have said you don’t HAVE to, there are no security considerations to worry about like on PCs. Older firmwares work fine, but newer ones sound even more awesomer.
 
HereToday said:
Updates rquire tweaking your presets and sometimes from scratch.
Click to expand...
I would say that updates sometimes require tweaking... And almost never from scratch.

I've been using Fractal for 10+ years on Axe Fx II, Axe Fx III, FM9 and FM3. I use only my own presets...

Even when moving from Axe Fx II to Axe Fx III in the very early days I didn't start from scratch - I essentially cloned my core presets from one device to the other.
 
unix-guy said:
I would say that updates sometimes require tweaking... And almost never from scratch.

I've been using Fractal for 10+ years on Axe Fx II, Axe Fx III, FM9 and FM3. I use only my own presets...

Even when moving from Axe Fx II to Axe Fx III in the very early days I didn't start from scratch - I essentially cloned my core presets from one device to the other.
Click to expand...


Lol. It's an endless sea of tweaking and you know it.
 
Pierce White said:
I get worried that multiple updates could end up slowing the device down ? Like what seems to happen to most electronics over time E.g. laptops, iPhones etc etc.
Click to expand...

Fractal Audio is not a greedy malicious company named after a fruit, that tries to get you to buy newer stuff because their updates intentionally slow down things. ;)

Updates = better tone, simple as that
 
I have always updated as soon as they come out, gig or not pending. I only had one update that some of my switches did not work. I freaked but just reinstalled firmware and all was good. If by chance you do have an issue, just load prior update until issue is fixed. one time in 8 years is a good track record. Just back up prior to update. Really the only grief to worry about is a power failure in the middle of an update.
 
josephyballew said:
Really the only grief to worry about is a power failure in the middle of an update
Click to expand...
And that’s not really such a drama. You’ll get a unit with half a firmware that just needs a factory reset. There’s an emergency firmware in there for just that. Happened to me once, was pleasantly undramatic
 
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