Zappa Yo Mama and Other FZ Tone Presets

T

Tompski

Member
Hello!

I have only recently stepped into the Fractal universe, and came specifically for the ability to attempt recreating some of Frank Zappa's effects setups and tones. Like others on here "Yo Mama" from Sheik Yerboutie is one of my absolute favourite solos and textures. So the moment I got my FM9T 3-4 weeks ago, I set to work on trying to get close to recreating this epic tone!
I feel I have gotten it very close, I am very new to programming this device and still learning about levels and settings, so to some pros there might be some things that are wildly off, I'd love to hear what anyone interested thinks as I'm sure it can be improved on. I tried to simply follow what Frank mentioned about his setup in magazine interviews about his stage and recording setups and apply it to the FM9T as much as is possible and as you'll see the CPU is teetering on the edge of melt down! Maybe there are some tricks to thin this out a little?
It is not a polite sound, this preset is noisy! I'm betting the solo guitar track off the original might sound pretty harsh if it was played on it's own. I am also no sound engineer so I have just used my ears to eq this to sound and feel like the original.

Here is a snippet of me putting it through it's paces with an SG Special on the bridge pup, riding volume towards the end, getting very nice feedback at not too loud a volume from my Adam T5Vs in my workshop. Scene 1 is Yo Mama then the other scenes are token Zappa-esque sounds, some with the Dynaflanger Delay block which @InsideOut kindly shared in his Zappa preset, that is a lot of fun with a wah!


 

Attachments

  • YO MAMA.syx
    24.1 KB · Views: 69
Tompski said:
Hello!

I have only recently stepped into the Fractal universe, and came specifically for the ability to attempt recreating some of Frank Zappa's effects setups and tones. Like others on here "Yo Mama" from Sheik Yerboutie is one of my absolute favourite solos and textures. So the moment I got my FM9T 3-4 weeks ago, I set to work on trying to get close to recreating this epic tone!
I feel I have gotten it very close, I am very new to programming this device and still learning about levels and settings, so to some pros there might be some things that are wildly off, I'd love to hear what anyone interested thinks as I'm sure it can be improved on. I tried to simply follow what Frank mentioned about his setup in magazine interviews about his stage and recording setups and apply it to the FM9T as much as is possible and as you'll see the CPU is teetering on the edge of melt down! Maybe there are some tricks to thin this out a little?
It is not a polite sound, this preset is noisy! I'm betting the solo guitar track off the original might sound pretty harsh if it was played on it's own. I am also no sound engineer so I have just used my ears to eq this to sound and feel like the original.

Here is a snippet of me putting it through it's paces with an SG Special on the bridge pup, riding volume towards the end, getting very nice feedback at not too loud a volume from my Adam T5Vs in my workshop. Scene 1 is Yo Mama then the other scenes are token Zappa-esque sounds, some with the Dynaflanger Delay block which @InsideOut kindly shared in his Zappa preset, that is a lot of fun with a wah!


Click to expand...

Wow, that really sounds great!
 
Thanks! It’s such a fun sound.

Stepping back from what I have focused on with this preset it is glaringly obvious now that there are more than one guitar tones, it says on the sleeve that some of the guitar is from London Hammersmith and other bits are from Nurnberg, and “overdubs lots!” I think I hear the SG in the more aggressive parts which is what I’ve gone for with the preset, but there are guitar bits that sound a bit Zoot Allures-ish? And he played a Strat at Berlin 78 (same year as the live material for Sheik Yerbouti) , so there are some other guitar textures in the track that are not quite covered in my preset yet, to be continued!
 
Nice job Tom. Sounds great. Do you mind sharing a screenshot of the editor for this? Interested to see how your stacking blocks. Im on the FM3 but perhaps I can still load this on the computer to check it out.
 
Lettuce said:
Nice job Tom. Sounds great. Do you mind sharing a screenshot of the editor for this? Interested to see how your stacking blocks. Im on the FM3 but perhaps I can still load this on the computer to check it out.
Click to expand...
I shall indeed, but this quest is the reason I chose the FM9 over the FM3, as I don’t think you can make these stereo amp/effect lines that FZ conjured, even the FM9 has its limitations, probably why Dweezil uses 2X Axe FX III and pedals. Saying that, maybe we can forge an equally stonking mono version? I Hope I’m not misunderstanding the FM3’s capabilities, I’m sure it’s stereo but maybe with one amp and cab block it would be harder I think . I will share screen grabs tomorrow.
 
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iaresee said:
@Tompski did you see this tip from @Admin M@ on really nailing the Bi-Phase sound?

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/mu-tron-iii-and-octave-divider.193687/page-2#post-2450091

I think you'll find that works pretty well in your preset.

I really dig the tones you've got here. Nasty but in that Zappa way that really inspires when you play them.
Click to expand...
I did, I’ll investigate.

Yes I was strongly influenced by his combination of out right aggression mixed with deep musicality , it resonated.
I anticipate making 6-10 Fractal Zappa presets, but I have already achieved a couple of my absolute favourite Zappa effect tones before I came here, with pedals.
Two being “pink Napkins” and “Ship Ahoy”
I don’t own an original Bi-Phase but I modified a Behringer knock off to sound a lot fatter! No idea how close it comes to a real Mutron, but a lot of fun!

https://on.soundcloud.com/gJ7e5dPbH7u5cjMJ8


By no means perfect on its own but this is an example, would be great to get the same or better results with my FM9T.
FZ used mild early Eventide to tweek top end/Micropitch? and Dweezil says it was DI’d.
I’m rambling
But basically I’m going to to try to nail as many of favourite Zappa sounds with this incredible machine as I can , I feel a whole new universe has opened up to me.
 
Tompski said:
I shall indeed, but this quest is the reason I chose the FM9 over the FM3, as I don’t think you can make these stereo amp/effect lines that FZ conjured, even the FM9 has its limitations, probably why Dweezil uses 2X Axe FX III and pedals. Saying that, maybe we can forge an equally stonking mono version? I Hope I’m not misunderstanding the FM3’s capabilities, I’m sure it’s stereo but maybe with one amp and cab block it would be harder I think . I will share screen grabs tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Its incredible the amount of leg room you get out of the FM3. Im actually coaxing a wet dry wet rig using the FM3 but the Axe III is definitely on my radar. These FZ presets somehow seem to push these devices anyway you look at it.
 
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Lettuce said:
Thanks Tom! I can see how the flanger is dominant here. I’ll have to try them before the amp like youve got here. The parallel compressors are interesting. I like the noise you’ve got going which Im guessing the compressors are contributing.
-Chris
Click to expand...

Yes I used the Optical Sustainer, it seems to coax out the feedback.
 
iaresee said:
@Tompski did you see this tip from @Admin M@ on really nailing the Bi-Phase sound?

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/mu-tron-iii-and-octave-divider.193687/page-2#post-2450091

I think you'll find that works pretty well in your preset.

I really dig the tones you've got here. Nasty but in that Zappa way that really inspires when you play them.
Click to expand...

Hello again!

I have been trying to nail the Pink Napkins tones which are predominantly Bi-Phase, lots of compression and a little Micro Pitch and reverb.
I have got in the ball park of the track's tones and vibes but I can't get the Bi-Phase (mutated Double Phase) to sound right, it seems to lack the big gloopy guttural fatness that even my Behringer Bi-Phase has , so I'm not sure it can be done or gotten closer without a phaser block that really cops the Mutron's character?
I hope someone shows me I'm wrong, I'm still very new to this and tend to program by ear and intuition so probably don't know what I'm doing half the time!
So this is a start, maybe someone here would like to take my preset and have a go at improving it?

Below are two audio snippets, one from my FM9 and the second an old one from my modded Behringer(no other effects), the difference should be obvious:


FRACTAL FM9 PRESET:




BEHRINGER:






Preset:
 

Attachments

  • PINK NAPKINS.syx
    24.1 KB · Views: 16
This sounds great. I plan to steal your preset and make it part of my regular lead sound :)

Yo Mama is especially tough because every note hovers around that sweet spot where feedback can (and often does) take over.

A proper feedback block is really the only thing we seem to be missing in Fractal land. That said, there are a couple Fractal geniuses here that have made some presets that get reasonably close. I struggled to make them work as easily as the Freqout pedal does - but it's been a couple months since I've tried. So I will revisiting this weekend along with your patch.
 
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