Upgrading from a very old firmware version

Didier Verna

Didier Verna

Member
Hi all,

I have an Axe FX II currently under firmware Quantum 1.05. I'm considering upgrading (to either Q 10 or Ares 1), but I have a few questions.

  1. is it safe to upgrade directly to Q 10 ?
  2. I read that the Ares firmware removed support for loading presets made before Q 7. Let's say I upgrade to Q 10 first, and then to Ares. Would that work around the problem? Or maybe do I need to backup the presets (to the computer) and load them back ?
  3. Finally, I'm wondering whether I should stick to Quantum, or move to Ares, given the fact that I never hacked very deep into amp modeling.
Thanks!
 
I'd just upgrade to a FW between Q7 and Q10 for the preset compatibility and then go directly to Ares 2 and retweak your presets after that only. You'll finish with ares2 sooner or later by curiosity so why not go there right away
 
Didier Verna said:
I read that the Ares firmware removed support for loading presets made before Q
Click to expand...
I don't recall ever hearing that, and can't think of any reason that would be the case.

There have been many significant updates to the firmware from where you are to where you could be...
 
first, now, right now... do a full backup of your Axe using the Receive tab in Fractal-Bot. do it right now.

once that's done, you can load anything and try it, and if you don't like it, you can go back by sending all those files with the Send tab.

i would just go to the latest firmware after you backup.
 
Please take care, it's a bit more delicate than just that. This is because when you backup you can get the banks, the cabs and the system file in one single
operation. This not the case when you load a much much older version to the axe fx and the systemfile is not compatible with that (much much) older FW version. You will restore first the system file of the older backup and then the Firmware and then the Banks in single operations. What happens between the different uploads is this :
When you downgrade beyond a FAS-certified FW "span", the new system file in your axe fx may not accept the older firmware version or inversely. This happened to me lately as I tried to reload FW12 to my Axe Fx II, from Ares 2; at restart the axe started spinning round initialising over and over again. No way to stop this and load the compatible systemfile. I had a hard time to get this stopped and restore the Ares backups I made just before the operation.

My personal conclusion is that it's not just a Firmware subject but also a system file subject when you go beyond a certain firmware range. Upgrading will be OK but downgrading afterwards may be a subject. So if FAS says from Q7 on...then first go to a version in that range that is compatible with your actual version before doing anything else.

So I strongly recommend to do as I advised earlier in this thread. Otherwise it might work also, maybe, but maybe not.
 
unix-guy said:
I don't recall ever hearing that, and can't think of any reason that would be the case.

There have been many significant updates to the firmware from where you are to where you could be...
Click to expand...

It's in the release notes of the Axe FX II Ares firware tarball:
Ported most of the “Ares” modeling from the Axe-Fx III. NOTE: To make space for the required additional code, support for presets created prior to Quantum 7.00 has been removed. While these presets will load certain parameters may not initialize correctly. Be sure to audition any presets created before Quantum 7.00. It is also recommended to do a “soft reset” of the Amp block on these presets by deselecting and then reselecting the model.
Click to expand...
 
lauke-lux said:
I'd just upgrade to a FW between Q7 and Q10 for the preset compatibility and then go directly to Ares 2 and retweak your presets after that only. You'll finish with ares2 sooner or later by curiosity so why not go there right away
Click to expand...

Yes, this is what I did: I manually upgraded to the last Quantum (10.01) first, checked everything and backed it up. Then I went directly to Ares 2.00 as you suggested, through the bot. I didn't know there was an Ares 2 for the Axe FX II at the time I read your message, because the fractal support page for legacy products only mentions Ares 1.03.

So far, everything seems to work perfectly!
 
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