Reverb issue (crackling... regardless of reverb type) AXE FX III MKII - FW 20.03

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Kelvin

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Hey everyone,

I am absolutely thrilled to have received my Axe FX III Mark II today. Upgraded after years with my ol' Axe FX 2 XL+.
Everything is working and sounding great except one major issue I immediately noticed...

Reverb is crackling/glitching. I made a (screen) recording to demonstrate this problem. My Axe 3 came in the mail today with the latest firmware 20.03. No CPU overloads, whatsoever. Happened out-of-the-box with the first factory preset I tried that had reverb in it.



Is this a firmware/software issue that can be resolved?

EDIT:

Another video to demo the issue:
 
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Check the level in the Preset Leveling tool. I've found that if the signal from the feedback or mix of the reverbs or delays that go into the red can cause some clipping/crackling.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I checked the levels and it's not clipping anywhere and played around with them. No clipping anywhere.

It just happens when I have the reverb block engaged. No other effect (not even delay) causes this crackling.
 
Kelvin said:
Hey everyone,

I am absolutely thrilled to have received my Axe FX III Mark II today. Upgraded after years with my ol' Axe FX 2 XL+.
Everything is working and sounding great except one major issue I immediately noticed...

Reverb is crackling/glitching. I made a (screen) recording to demonstrate this problem. My Axe 3 came in the mail today with the latest firmware 20.03. No CPU overloads, whatsoever. Happened out-of-the-box with the first factory preset I tried that had reverb in it.



Is this a firmware/software issue that can be resolved?
Click to expand...

Listening to your video, I hear absolutely nothing wrong. It's very possible that whatever is downstream from the FX3 is being overdriven.

You don't say how you're monitoring the sound, or what you have connected, but I'd recommend reading Section 4 in the manual as it has many different scenarios and how to connect the unit to other gear.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
Listening to your video, I hear absolutely nothing wrong. It's very possible that whatever is downstream from the FX3 is being overdriven.

You don't say how you're monitoring the sound, or what you have connected, but I'd recommend reading Section 4 in the manual as it has many different scenarios and how to connect the unit to other gear.
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It's there. You can even see it on the RTA in the top end, so it's definitely happening in the Axe itself. This ticking noise. I am monitoring through the headphone out of the Axe itself.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
Listening to your video, I hear absolutely nothing wrong. It's very possible that whatever is downstream from the FX3 is being overdriven.

You don't say how you're monitoring the sound, or what you have connected, but I'd recommend reading Section 4 in the manual as it has many different scenarios and how to connect the unit to other gear.
Click to expand...
Same here. I hear no crackles or other glitches.

Are you monitoring over USB? Depending on your computer hardware, OS, and what other software you have running, you can get artifacts.
 
Rex said:
Same here. I hear no crackles or other glitches.

Are you monitoring over USB? Depending on your computer hardware, OS, and what other software you have running, you can get artifacts.
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No, direct from the Axe FX through phones. You can see the glitches even in the RTA. This short ticks from 2K and up.
 
Kelvin said:
You can even see it on the RTA in the top end,
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We must be looking at something different then. I see the RTA chart display frequency up to the limit of the display which is 20K Hz, but the dB output doesn't come close to 0, it's well below -10 dB, maybe peaking at -20 dB.
PS - I'm using beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones, Sennheiser HD-650 and Blue Mix-Fi headphones, which are "kinda" good for this stuff, and can't hear anything untoward. I DO hear pick attack, but it's nothing out of the ordinary.
 
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Kelvin said:
No, direct from the Axe FX through phones. You can see the glitches even in the RTA. This short ticks from 2K and up.
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Can you point me to a spot in the video when you see the short ticks?

I do see that the Reverb block has wideband response out to the top of the audio spectrum, but I’m missing the short ticks.
 
Rex said:
Can you point me to a spot in the video when you see the short ticks?

I do see that the Reverb block has wideband response out to the top of the audio spectrum, but I’m missing the short ticks.
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Look at 0:35 seconds for example. I play and let ring out a chord. Do you see it jumping up and down from around 10 kHz and above?
 
I certainly hear the crackling as well. I don't have this problem though - so I am unsure of why you are. I see the freq domain content reflecting this, too... Gonna keep an eye on this thread.
 
From the video, I think your clipping the output. You've got the reverb block in "mute in" stand by, change it to "mute fx in" and turn your overall patch level down.
 
Bioloop said:
From the video, I think your clipping the output. You've got the reverb block in "mute in" stand by, change it to "mute fx in" and turn your overall level down.
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It's not clipping at any stage. Tried all of that, sadly. When I strum hard (Duncan Distortion pickup) it doesn't even touch the red on the meters.
Greg Ferguson said:
Jumping up and down means nothing, the output is still WAY below where the FX3 would possibly start to clip. Again, what I hear is pick attack across what sounds like three strings.
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But it is audible nonetheless. Have you checked 0:35 seconds?
 
Greg Ferguson said:
Jumping up and down means nothing, the output is still WAY below where the FX3 would possibly start to clip. Again, what I hear is pick attack across what sounds like three strings.
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Jumping up and down reflects a change in power spectral density - and considering 'crackling' type sounds generally appear in the upper 10KHz portion of the spectrum... well, it means something for certain. Clipping isn't the only thing that causes crackling. Of course - I don't know his setup so I can't necessarily diagnose. But I definitely hear something that is more than likely not pick attack.
 
moxypants said:
Jumping up and down reflects a change in power spectral density - and considering 'crackling' type sounds generally appear in the upper 10KHz portion of the spectrum... well, it means something for certain. Clipping isn't the only thing that causes crackling. Of course - I don't know his setup so I can't necessarily diagnose. But I definitely hear something that is more than likely not pick attack.
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Setup is: Fresh-out-of-the-box Axe FX III Mk.2 -> Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro headphones in its Headphone Out. Macbook Pro 2019 connected via USB for the 'ol Axe Edit. This glitching also occurs without the macbook connected.

Guitar/reverb sounds fine on my Axe FX 2.
 
Kelvin said:
Setup is: Fresh-out-of-the-box Axe FX III Mk.2 -> Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro headphones in its Headphone Out. Macbook Pro 2019 connected via USB for the 'ol Axe Edit. This glitching also occurs without the macbook connected.

Guitar/reverb sounds fine on my Axe FX 2.
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1. Are your axe fx 3 units in the same location (also - if they are not, is the axe fx 3 near a major power terminal / high EM/RF electronics?)
2. Is all of the cabling the same?
3. I imagine this is obv- but your guitars are the same, too?
4. Have you checked all the other drivers (USB and so on)?
5. Have you tried using the "gate function" on the input?
6. Try adding a low pass filter where the high freq content is super attenuated.

If all of that is answered yes then I have no idea! Hopefully someone can give you some good advice.
 
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