Virtual Capo: FM9 or FM3 and detuned guitar

WOW!!! This works REALLY well!!! It was so easy I didn't need to bother the usual suspects from this forum! Thanks Fractal!!! If you guys can create something that even I can eventually figure out, or at least use quickly, that's about as idiot-proof as it can get. With the touch of a button, I am playing in DROP C!!! WOW!!!
 
I don't get how people like the Virtual Capo. It warbles so bad as a note rings out and it tries to track it. It is really bad clean and distorted, it sounds like a tremolo.

Digitech Drop is the best options still. The only unit I have ever heard that is as good as the Digitech if not better at dropping tuning is the Quad Cortex. One caveat that I will say is, I play with IEMs, so it may not be as obvious in a monitor/PA than it is to me.
 
Thanks @Rad402 for chiming in. This is also good to hear and def one of the options I am considering. I LOVE fractal and will eventually get one of their FMs, but also want to figure out if its going to be FM3 + other solution for down tuning, or FM9. I have been lookin at the Drop for some time so nice to hear your experience.

Leon Todd has a great video about the drop and would love to hear anyone who has experience with the FM9 and Drop.
 
I just saw that vid, and it seems an even better option now. So the question is, do I do the update, the MEGA FM( Update - FIRMWARE 1.01b, before my gig tonight???

 
I don't get how people like the Virtual Capo. It warbles so bad as a note rings out and it tries to track it. It is really bad clean and distorted, it sounds like a tremolo.

Digitech Drop is the best options still. The only unit I have ever heard that is as good as the Digitech if not better at dropping tuning is the Quad Cortex. One caveat that I will say is, I play with IEMs, so it may not be as obvious in a monitor/PA than it is to me.
I agree - I find the Virtual Capo not very usuable as well. The warble and tone change are very strange even after adjusting the parameters. I am not complaining, but having the Digitech Drop side by side with the FM9, the Digitech does a much much better job at this function.
 
I use a variax which i highly recommend because its awesome with alternate tunings. I think with the new update the virtual capo is improved and useable. Plus i think in a live setting, no one would
Hear the weird sounds. The digitech drop is a fine option too. The advantage to having the drop is that you can hook it up to
Your fractal unit and switch it on/off whenever you needed as opposed to making a pitch block work for however many presets you
Need it for.
 
I like the idea of the variax but it's pretty much a non option as they are very hard to find here in Canada. It would be a blind purchase and I've never played one so not sure I would even like it.
 
I tried the Virtual capo in 2.02 and im just looking to go down to Eb and its still really out of tune..am i missing something? should the pitch block be before the amp? thanks
 
Yes jazz, the vapo should be pretty much the first block. That way the signal isn't changed and the virtual capo has an easier time tracking.
 
I don't get how people like the Virtual Capo. It warbles so bad as a note rings out and it tries to track it. It is really bad clean and distorted, it sounds like a tremolo.

Digitech Drop is the best options still. The only unit I have ever heard that is as good as the Digitech if not better at dropping tuning is the Quad Cortex. One caveat that I will say is, I play with IEMs, so it may not be as obvious in a monitor/PA than it is to me.

I owned a digitech drop and at least from a latency perspective, the Axe FX III destroyed the one I owned.

In fact at the time I was playing with the FM3 on an earlier version of firmware and bought the drop so I would not have to use the pitch block on the FM3. After about two months I came to the conclusion it wasn't worth bringing the drop.

To be fair, I only ever go up or down a half step. So anything beyond that I can't comment on. Maybe I just got a bad drop, but I was pretty disappointed.
 
I no longer own the drop or the FM3 so I can't side by side them.
On tone I would give the drop the nod. It was very consistent. But not so much of a difference it was worth dragging the drop along with me when compared to just throwing the pitch block in the FM3.

I was perfectly happy with the VC on the FM3. I would set the tracking on 3 and I got good response out of it. Tone wise probably the drop was better if you really listened hard, but again not that anyone in the audience could notice. And not that I could notice in a mix either.

The Axe III just felt so much more responsive when I side by sided it against the drop. The Axe III with the VC to me is more responsive then simply playing with the Irig HD (with no pitch block).

Perhaps if someone did a recording where you were listening strictly to the quality of the audio without any care for feel and latency, I think the drop would fare exceptionally well. But that latency killed the feel for me and made it not fun to play. The FM9 and Axe III both have tremendous pitch blocks IMO, better to me then anything else out there
 
The latest firmware 2.x has the VC update. I ran the beta for weeks specifically because the VC updates were just so amazing. Playing down -1 you can only hear it on pinch harmonics that you bend very fast. At -2 you can start to hear higher notes and harmonically rich chords. If you are using any distortion at all then IMHO down to -4 is perfectly fine and works well. This is all with a dry amp. Once you introduce effects and especially more distortion then it is a moot point. Technically you can hear it dry, but not in the mix of delays and reverb and chorus and distortion.

It definitely is not perfect; in fact check out the tweak I found in my previous post where you add a Volume block and gate it after a few milliseconds so you get the attack of the natural strings, 7 - 10 ms is when you will start to hear the attack end and the actual pitch settle and begin.

It is definitely in the same ballpark of choosing to use an FM9 instead of lugging giant amps around; one or two less guitars to not have to have set up to play or bring to a gig for E flat or D tuning.

Cheers!
 
It is definitely in the same ballpark of choosing to use an FM9 instead of lugging giant amps around; one or two less guitars to not have to have set up to play or bring to a gig for E flat or D tuning.

Cheers!
I have a few very dumb questions:

How are you setting the VC pitch during gigs? Do you use switches to to pitch up/down? Or do you use the "performance pad" view (or whatever it's called) and use a dial?

And as one who constantly forgets to turn off my Drop on the next song, despite it having a big red LED :mad:, do you have any visual feedback to show what you're dropped to and whether VC is enabled or not?

I'm an AX8 owner and the FM9 has me quite intrigued, particularly about being able to finally drop my Drop (I'll see myself out).
 
I have a few very dumb questions:

How are you setting the VC pitch during gigs? Do you use switches to to pitch up/down? Or do you use the "performance pad" view (or whatever it's called) and use a dial?

And as one who constantly forgets to turn off my Drop on the next song, despite it having a big red LED :mad:, do you have any visual feedback to show what you're dropped to and whether VC is enabled or not?

I'm an AX8 owner and the FM9 has me quite intrigued, particularly about being able to finally drop my Drop (I'll see myself out).
Yes it is easier to not forget to turn off like with the Digitech Drop Tune. For me anyways, because I always had to have the Digitech in a weird spot to fit it. I would ALWAYS forget to turn that thing off and the fellas would gave me that look...then I would have that "Fuck me" moment. No more. Just set a dedicated button for that patch to have a visual on or off for the Pitch Block. I have a whole patch dedicated that is same, except has Pitch for whole step down.
 
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