What is the next big modelling nut to crack?

Guitar and pickup modeling. Like Roland V-Guitar but with Fractal Audio supreme quality and, hopefully, without the need of a hexaphonic pickup.

Can you imagine a IR block where you can load all kind of pickups and guitars instead of CABs?
 
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I don't think guitar modelling will advance in a meaningful way.

Because, you can't model the physical sensation - meaning if I play my Les Paul, it's got a thick neck, shorter scale length and feel which is very different to my strat.

Even if you get them sounding the same, they'll never feel the same

On topic, I agree - speakers, moving away from IRs is an interesting idea
 
I don't think guitar modelling will advance in a meaningful way.

Because, you can't model the physical sensation - meaning if I play my Les Paul, it's got a thick neck, shorter scale length and feel which is very different to my strat.

Even if you get them sounding the same, they'll never feel the same

On topic, I agree - speakers, moving away from IRs is an interesting idea


A speaker is even tougher to model mathematically than a guitar. Most parameters on a guitar are fixed whilst speakers and amps vary drastically dynamically.

To thia point, Line 6 to their credit had guitar modeling done YEARS ago, with fairly good results.....but a FAS styled modeling would likely prove superior.
 
I don't think guitar modelling will advance in a meaningful way.

Because, you can't model the physical sensation - meaning if I play my Les Paul, it's got a thick neck, shorter scale length and feel which is very different to my strat.

Even if you get them sounding the same, they'll never feel the same

On topic, I agree - speakers, moving away from IRs is an interesting idea

It will sound exactly the same, but you will not have the same feeling. That is true.

Currently, nylon guitar is modeled quite accurately. I have been using V-Guitar intensively, since the VG-8. The feeling is not the same, but when you've been playing it for a while you got immersed like if you were playing a nylon.



Of course, some purist will never play it because they want to feel the real thing (like the ones that would neve change a tube amp for a modeler) But, can you imagine replacing your current pickup for any Bare Knuckle, Suhr, Lollar, etc. with the simple switch of a preset scene? Virtually changing the position and angle of the pickup? The VG-99 can currently do that, but with a very limited number of generic pickups (classic single-coil Strat, modern single-coil Strat, Humbucker, P90, Lipstick and Rickenbacker Humbucker). Someone has to raise the bar on that area.

We've had enough Cab Packs, now we want Pickup Packs and Guitar Packs!! :D
 
It will sound exactly the same, but you will not have the same feeling. That is true.

Currently, nylon guitar is modeled quite accurately. I have been using V-Guitar intensively, since the VG-8. The feeling is not the same, but when you've been playing it for a while you got immersed like if you were playing a nylon.



Of course, some purist will never play it because they want to feel the real thing (like the ones that would neve change a tube amp for a modeler) But, can you imagine replacing your current pickup for any Bare Knuckle, Suhr, Lollar, etc. with the simple switch of a preset scene? Virtually changing the position and angle of the pickup? The VG-99 can currently do that, but with a very limited number of generic pickups (classic single-coil Strat, modern single-coil Strat, Humbucker, P90, Lipstick and Rickenbacker Humbucker). Someone has to raise the bar on that area.

We've had enough Cab Packs, now we want Pickup Packs and Guitar Packs!! :D


Yeah it's one of the things my VG-99 did that I wished for YEARS that FAS would...but there are a lot of companies doing it already, so.....

There was even a pedal I cant remember the name of that could make single coils sound like humbuckers, p90s, lipsticks, filtertrons, you name it! And vice versa too....wish I could remember the name!

A physical neck/guuitar will never physically FEEL the same, but everything else can be modeled to sound and feel the same when playing...it's being done years now.....just not to the FAS type of quality
 
There was even a pedal I cant remember the name of that could make single coils sound like humbuckers, p90s, lipsticks, filtertrons, you name it! And vice versa too....wish I could remember the name!

The Sim1 XT-1. It doesn't seem like it has gone too far. The only available demos seem to be from Italian sponsors and friends.

https://www.sim-one.it/
 
Ahh the aroma of vintage electronics... Quite toxic actually.

"The State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and/or other reproductive harm."

@Admin M@ EVERYTHING in the state of CA causes cancer... that warning is on a bag of playground sand for god's sake... with all that is wrong in the state of CA, they actually expend energy on such pressing topics as this ...Banning the state rock
 
In that case we would have been stuck at this: fractalaudio.com/larry-mitchell-accurate-models-amazing-amps/
I think maybe you misunderstood me.

If it is an undetectable how does it matter? Nobody would know because they literally cannot detect a difference.

Now the thing is this - who is doing the job of detecting? ;)

I put my money on Cliff to keep detecting the differences and eliminating them.
 
The next major modelling nut to crack is going to be a virtual cabinet, synthetic IR synthesizer that you can position the mic on, change mics, change speakers, change cab dimensions. ...
To me the big step is the developement of "user-friendly mode" with few "speaking" parameter... say... punch... tight... boomy... chime... crunch... so on... and the AI takes care of all tech parameters to give the user the desired sound. "Advanced tech mode" will deliver us old tech school player actual tweakability...
 
I have an idea that might be interesting for live play. My Sonos speakers have a “trueplay” setting where they will play a range of tones at different volumes while I walk around and map the room out with my phone mic. This apparently allows Sonos to adjust EQ differently based on my room. I could see something like this being useful with the axIII and how the sound changes with different rooms and different speakers (frfr or otherwise).
 
I don't think guitar modelling will advance in a meaningful way.

Because, you can't model the physical sensation - meaning if I play my Les Paul, it's got a thick neck, shorter scale length and feel which is very different to my strat.

Even if you get them sounding the same, they'll never feel the same

On topic, I agree - speakers, moving away from IRs is an interesting idea
Didn’t Cliff say he thought moving away from IRs was a bad idea or something? Can’t remember when but I feel like I read he said modelling speakers was not the way to go and IRs were the best solution? Maybe I am remembering wrong.
 
I have an idea that might be interesting for live play. My Sonos speakers have a “trueplay” setting where they will play a range of tones at different volumes while I walk around and map the room out with my phone mic. This apparently allows Sonos to adjust EQ differently based on my room. I could see something like this being useful with the axIII and how the sound changes with different rooms and different speakers (frfr or otherwise).

Tuning the PA to adequate it to the room resonant frequencies and reverb time is the job of the sound technician, not the guitarists, because it has to be applied to the final mix, not to each individual musician. They use white noise or a sweeping tone for that
 
Didn’t Cliff say he thought moving away from IRs was a bad idea or something? Can’t remember when but I feel like I read he said modelling speakers was not the way to go and IRs were the best solution? Maybe I am remembering wrong.
For having owned the Ox Top Box for close to a year (speaker modeling and no IRs), I can safely say that good quality IR's sound so much better.
(If I would compare it to the Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander with loaded IRs)

I had the same experience with my Helix back in the days, when comparing the internal cabs and Loaded IRs... IRs were so much better.

In my opinion, speaker modeling needs a huge leap forward before we even think or stopping using IR's.
 
The FX-III has reached the point where I don't even bother with my tube amps anymore - not even for recording. Are they identical? Who cares, the sound is good enough that how I play matters far more than any minute difference.

I'm sure Cliff and team will continue to advance the state of the art in ways I haven't even imagined, but what I want to see (given huge gains in processing power) is the ability to run something like Midi 2 Guitar and host soft synths all inside the Fractal. This would allow you to create subtle pads under your guitar playing without external hardware or make your guitar sound like anything imaginable.
 
Tuning the PA to adequate it to the room resonant frequencies and reverb time is the job of the sound technician, not the guitarists, because it has to be applied to the final mix, not to each individual musician. They use white noise or a sweeping tone for that
I agree with that (and perform that task as a sound engineer), but I think the point made by @MicroMort is an interesting one.
That could be done by the Axe, and would be useful for folks that play mostly at home (in the same location).
Ability to send a sweep tone and have the Axe analyze the signal produced in the room....and adjust the global output (to the best of it's ability) to account for resonant frequencies in the room.
I think that's a cool idea.
 
I agree with that (and perform that task as a sound engineer), but I think the point made by @MicroMort is an interesting one.
That could be done by the Axe, and would be useful for folks that play mostly at home (in the same location).
Ability to send a sweep tone and have the Axe analyze the signal produced in the room....and adjust the global output (to the best of it's ability) to account for resonant frequencies in the room.
I think that's a cool idea.

OK, I get it. That would be useful for those who use the Axe-FX as the primary sound-card, like me, so we don't have to depend on room-correction software at the computer
 
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