So why aren't all factory cabs UltraRes yet?

tonaholic

tonaholic

Experienced
I love my AxeFx. It's the best gear purchase I've ever made. Whenever I'm playing around with the factory pre-sets, I can immediately tell if it's using High or Ultra resolution IRs and for me, high-res is just not in-line with the current quality of tones that Quantum and UltraRes has brought to life.

Now that UltraRes has been standard for years, why hasn't there been a massive update with all factory cabs and presets moving to the new standard?

My main guesses are:
-Members of the community like the current presets or built their presets with current cabs. i.e. the popular TV 4x12 of yester-year.
-When Ultra-Res was new, it drove sales of cab-packs. Also, there just weren't a lot of IRs captured yet.
-The standard AxeFx can't handle 2x UR IRs at the same time

So questions that arise now that UR is matured:
-Would anyone miss the old high-res models?
-Would there be any business opportunity-cost at this point?
-Does anyone with the standard Ax2 really prefer 2x high-res vs 1x ultra-res? If so, what percent of the population is that and if it's as small as I'd imagine, would it be better for the community if those options were pursued via user-cabs?
 
I imagine that upgrading the cabs to UR basically means reshooting the IRs from scratch, which sounds like an enormous amount of work. For that matter, I wonder if Fractal even still has access to all those cabs, or remembers what the recording setup was when they were made. I don't think they have ultra-res wave files sitting around just waiting to be converted.
 
tonaholic said:
I can immediately tell if it's using High or Ultra resolution IRs
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really? you can hear it?

I'm not trolling or trying to be confrontational..
I can of course hear the difference between different IR's cos the cabs and mic's are different..
but a difference in resolution?? no.. I cannot hear that in any meaningful way at all..
when I record, I do use the highest resolution possible even if I can't hear it - cos it's best practice..
in fact, I tend to use very long IR's in Space Designer cos the low end seems to have some sort of extra 'stuff'

there is however a good case for using normal res cabs in the Axe-II..
that is CPU saving in a live / practice situation within presets of high complexity
and to be honest, in a live / practice situation, the difference between normal, high and ultra res is of far lesser importance than other factors
[in my personal opinion that is]
 
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I can hear it - I think the non-Ultra-Rez cabs sound less detailed and less inspiring.

If I could remove all the non-ultra-rez factory cabs from my Ax8, I would - just to make cab browsing easier and faster
 
Smittefar said:
I can hear it - I think the non-Ultra-Rez cabs sound less detailed and less inspiring.

If I could remove all the non-ultra-rez factory cabs from my Ax8, I would - just to make cab browsing easier and faster
Click to expand...

would you be able to elaborate on the detail you're hearing
then following what you say, I'll try to zero in on it for myself and see if I can hear it too..
I'm not saying it ain't there.. just saying it's not standing out for me…

btw - my get out of jail free card in this thread is that my ears have been Marshall'd to death over the years
so my hearing is understandably not what it once was..
 
It's really difficult to say - I just feel like, the UR cabs have a richness. Maybe it's actually some phasing issue from the super detailed 'EQ curve' that somehow sounds just right (all the sound waves bouncing around in a cab could give rise to some of the same 'issues').

If I take a UR cab and switch between Ultra Res and normal res in the cab block, I can hear a (small) difference. I think that's the best way to explore the differences.
 
I can certainly hear it when I go into a cab block and switch it back and forth. It seems to add a bit more detail and perceived presence, but I can't always tell when switching to a given preset without knowing what the cab is set to. There are a lot of other variables that can seem to do the same thing. I like the UR cabs a bit better, but it's not as if the others are useless, particularly on large presets where you need to conserve CPU anyways.
 
I never used that famous TV cab butbinhave heard people say no other Tv IR has had that mojo. Until two months ago I was using non UR factory cabs just cause I thought it continued to sound the best in that preset (Been using Fractal since 2010). So yea guys still use non UR cabs. I only switched cause I started trying to do something different so built a new patch and does use the other but I could gig that preset any time no problem. I think there is a level of placebo with the guys who say they can hear differences in UR vs HR and Hi/Normal quality in the reverb blk. Since you can see the two options and know they are there our minds tell us up they are different and it is noticeable
 
brokenvail said:
I never used that famous TV cab butbinhave heard people say no other Tv IR has had that mojo. Until two months ago I was using non UR factory cabs just cause I thought it continued to sound the best in that preset (Been using Fractal since 2010). So yea guys still use non UR cabs. I only switched cause I started trying to do something different so built a new patch and does use the other but I could gig that preset any time no problem. I think there is a level of placebo with the guys who say they can hear differences in UR vs HR and Hi/Normal quality in the reverb blk. Since you can see the two options and know they are there our minds tell us up they are different and it is noticeable
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I adore that 4x12 TV mix cab IR.. I know it's an oldie.. it just so works.. it really hits the spot for me..
I use the normal res TV and AX in a stereo cab panned hard / opposite.. together they work a treat
when I record though, recently I've switched over to reamping without a cab and then running through 500ms Own Hammer Marshall 4x12 IR's that I drop into Logic: Space Designer..
to my messed up ears they seem to have a little more girth..
it's a nice deepness that's already there - without resorting to boosting the lows with EQ
is this cos it's 500ms? or just cos the way the IR was shot and mixed?? no idea at all.. I just know that I like it
 
I think part of what you get with the longer IRs is more of the cab sound rather than just the speaker. Those tiny in-cab reflections add something beautiful
 
Smittefar said:
I think part of what you get with the longer IRs is more of the cab sound rather than just the speaker. Those tiny in-cab reflections add something beautiful
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yes that's what the OH notes said

there's a few things I've been wary of for a while now..
one is spending more time in the realms of geekdom trying to understand the minute details [rather than playing guitar.. lol]..
the other is the 'I expect it to be better therefore it is better' trap your brain can throw your way..
so these days I try to take a step back.. listen.. choose.. and just get on with the job at hand..
which is of course making music
 
At the end of the day, just close your eyes, lean back and listen. Does it sound awesome? Yes or No? If you ask, could it sound more awesome, if I change [insert favorite advanced parameters here]? Then you're off straight to the rabbit hole
 
It is impossible to compare an Ultrares cab with the hires version of the same cab. So all this talk about hearing a difference there is ridiculous. As far as hearing the difference between Ultrares/hires and normal res, maybe there's a difference, but sitting at you Axe and switching back and forth isn't going to reveal that. And as far as comparing a hires IR with an Ultrares different IR, surely you can see that other variables are present other than the different resolution so attributing any difference you hear to that one variable alone would be completely ridiculous.
-
Austin
 
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