AXE FX II > Firmware 10 released!

Well I must say a lot has changed !
I have not tried the high gain amps with a suitable guitar yet but everything else seems significantly better. I love the fractal bot as it was piss easy to use. I was more than a little dubious about the amount of fuss being made of this update but so far it seems to be living up to the hype. I cannot fathom the amount of hours Cliff must have put in, but I think he is now getting the kind of performance that the hardware will allow. What do you think?
 
So the selling our kempers and getting back the axe fxs has begun?
 
Boerboel666 said:
I cannot fathom the amount of hours Cliff must have put in, but I think he is now getting the kind of performance that the hardware will allow. What do you think?
Click to expand...

not sure, it's just too new to judge it but it's definitively a huge improvement!

IMHO it finally delivery this "3D sound" everyone always used as an
argument against modelers.

kev said:
I see your posts over there regularly soultrash :D (i'm "themaidenmaniac" over there fwiw lol).

yeah i post a lot over there, that's why i became the forum troll i guess :D

I came on here to post the same thread, but was going to add the documentation on mimic.

This is truly a monster of an update and absolutely fricking unbelievable how this unit feels right now.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1206505/MIMIC.pdf
Click to expand...

just about to read this MIMIC documentary! :D

TheDude said:
100% now, finally? ;)
Click to expand...

what ecactly!? :D


EOC said:
So the selling our kempers and getting back the axe fxs has begun?
Click to expand...

hmm, i hink it's two different products, they are not really in the same league,
buisness wise, dunno about the sound,never tried a kemper but i also didn't hear any great sounds, it seems ok but nothing special.
 
Interesting.

I'll have to borrow my friend's and try it out again. Loving my Kemper since I switched from the Axe-FX II. This update is going to have to be a HUGE overhaul for me to even think about going back to Fractal.
 
They aren't kidding with this update. The guys always go wild for a firmware update, but this is an extremely significant development in my eyes- cannot believe how good it feels to play through.
 
i always been interested on the axe fx (not that i could afford it anytime soon :rofl:)
but everything i hear are bulb/periphery 8 string clones...
i would love to hear the axe fx thru a cabinet well recorded :3
the only user i´ve seen that gets great tones (in my opinion) is markday/samhill

example


 
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To me, it doesn't sound drastically different. The past two days I've primarily been noticing what the new firmware has done to all of my patches, which isn't always a good thing since I already had them dialed in exactly where I enjoyed them. I will also state that even though I'm using the same impulse responses as I was before, the sound from the Axe on FW10 sounds more like real a miced amp and less like a digital box going straight into a recording device. It sounded good before, but the sound appears to improved somehow in this department, like Soultrash has already stated...

I guess what MIMIC does is pretty much nail any deviation of sound from every end of the spectrum from Cliff's amp model to the real amp. I really can't believe he wasn't incorporating something like this to begin with.

So in essence from everything I've heard and read... The Axe FX with MIMIC is similar to the Kemper now in the way that the Kemper listens to the amp. Cliff now uses Mimic on an amp he has meticulously modeled and mimic is that final stamp of approval changing anything in the final signal chain that isn't 100% accurate to the amp. But the mimic process models not just 1 final sound but all the interactions of all the amp controls. It also lets Cliff know if there is something that is not accurate enough in his base modeling and forces him to go back in and address before MIMIC can continue. At least this is what I'm guessing since it's all quite top secret and patent pending.

MatrixClaw said:
This update is going to have to be a HUGE overhaul for me to even think about going back to Fractal.
Click to expand...

Not attempting to get you to change from your Kemper, but thought I would let you know that I was kidding with a friend of mine looking at the preliminary release notes for FW10 and said... By looking at these release notes and list of "fixes" you would think that the box was already a huge mess and couldn't have even worked from day 1. FW10 is like a brand new Axe FX with a completely new paradigm driving its modeling.
 
Sounds like more hyperbole to me. With every version update it's always "omg it sounds more real!!!" from the same people already evangelizing it in its previous form. I always noticed changes from each major update, but they were never clearly "better" or even all that substantially different sounding... just a bit different sounding with some theoretical improvements under the hood that may or may not really translate to an improved sound. and still very similar to that samey Axe-FXy sound. I haven't tried this version though, so I won't comment on the new Kemper-like stuff.
 
Random question, but if you had a great fucking amp, and thus couldn't stomach the £2000 for the Axe-FX, but you wanted a collection of really good and versatile FX, in a single package... what would you go for??
 
Josh Burgess said:
that samey Axe-FXy sound.
Click to expand...

All very valid points and exactly what I've experienced as well, except for 10. This is what I was trying to get across. All other firmwares I've tried, do have that same digital direct sound. 10 is the first firmware I've tried where it doesn't sound like that, but it not a huge drastic change. It sounds more like a miced amp, more 3D sounding might be another way of explaining it as Soultrash did. It does feel slightly more responsive to the touch as well. To me, the Axe FX sounded pretty good to begin with.

For me, it's difficult to tell the real changes made because I don't have the real amps to compare them to, so I guess we have to take Cliff's word for it.

drew_drummer said:
Random question, but if you had a great fucking amp, and thus couldn't stomach the £2000 for the Axe-FX, but you wanted a collection of really good and versatile FX, in a single package... what would you go for??
Click to expand...

If you already have THE amp you love and have no need for hundreds more, then just get a simple effects processor if you want added effects. But I could care less about effects personally. I have the Axe because of re amping purposes, ease of use, can edit patches in a mix right at my DAW through Axe Edit, built in impulse responses and the ability to load my own up at will and the ability to play at any volume and get the tone I am really after are the main reasons I have an Axe FX. The effects for me are an added bonus, yet rarely ever get used.
 
The Axe-Fx's effects + the Kemper's amp profiling quality in the same box would be the ultimate studio tool for me. I still miss the convenience of all the effects in one box of the Axe-FX. The Kemper has a few good ones but not enough for out there proggy stuff.
 
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