The Fractal Thread

fretmeister · July 2023

ToneControl said:

mrkb said:

fretmeister said:

Are Fractal products passive cooled or do they have fans?

They have fans that kick in when needed. My FM9 never seems to run the fan, the AxeFXIII seems to have a it running at a low level most of the time, but it’s only audible if you put your ear near the vents.

depends on the person, to me the AF3 and AF2 fans were way too noisy
I replaced them anyway
Does anyone have an AF3 with vents?

Didn't occur to me that FM9 might have a fan too

That's annoying.

I detest fan noise.

I've got my rack Helix (no fan) but had been thinking about a floor unit of some type - probably not a Helix as it is quite massive.

Jonathanthomas83 · July 2023

Gadget said:

FarleyUK said:

Not sure if I get on with DynaCabs; seems much easier to just stick with legacy IRs, unless you want to fanny around at a gig / rehearsal getting the mic positions right.

Great that you can use either approach though.

I must admit, I haven't been blown away by the dyna cabs yet. I caveat that I haven't spent a lot of time playing with it yet and I'm no kind of expert, but I expected more tonal variation from the adjustments. In my limited experience of micing a real cab, I'm sure I got much more dramatic changes (?)

100% agree with this. I am quite shocked how little the sound changes with some pretty big movements. That said, I've settled on a roughly 50/50 split between dynamic cabs on some amps and legacy on others and I'm happy with that.

I'm also finding Dynacabs much easier to decide on than wading through millions of IRs

Nerine · July 2023

Welp, I know what I’m doing tomorrow, then…

I’ve had the FM9 about 9 months now and it’s been mega. Absolutely love it. Sounded unreal (again) at rehearsal last night.

Intrigued by new monitoring solutions though.

FarleyUK · July 2023

I've got a 'general' question about using the AFX3 with IEMs....

I have my AFX3 rack mounted, along with a Sennheiser EW G4 IEM unit (and an EW G4 wireless guitar unit). The IEMs have a stereo input, so I've normally taken stereo AUX outputs from the mixer, and controlled them via the mixer app.

However, the originals band I am in are using house PAs and mixers, with the house sound engineers. I need to be able to hear the guitar and vocals more; so I'm trying to figure the easiest way to manage this.

First thought was to just have OUT2 going in to the inputs of the G4 IEMs.... but that would just be guitar. Second thought involved using a couple of FRFR speakers as a backline, to increase the guitar volume in general (as every gig I've played has resulted in the guitar sounding quiet from videos etc.).

Is it just going to be easiest to say that I need stereo aux outs from the mixer, direct to the IEM unit? How does everyone else manage this?

kennedydream1980 · July 2023

Paul at the studio rats did a video on this subject. I can’t quite remember if he covers specifically what you are asking. Sorry I don’t have time to watch it as I’m currently at work. The link is below if you wanted to check it out.

https://youtu.be/gleMXUyiVeY

Nerine · July 2023

FarleyUK said:

Is it just going to be easiest to say that I need stereo aux outs from the mixer, direct to the IEM unit? How does everyone else manage this?

Basically, yes. As per the above. Our desk will happily do 7 stereo pairs of monitors.

Some venues won't have stereo feeds going back to stage though, so it can get tricky.

If no stereo monitor mix is available, what you *could* do is take the mono feed from the wedge, and run that into the AFX, send that to the same output as your IEM's and enjoy stereo gtr on top of mono band. That's assuming the wedges are active boxes, mind, and you can just steal the monitor feed. You'd probably need to convert to 1/4" jack, too.

Either that or just set your IEM transmitter to mono, take the house feed and just have it all up the middle in your ears.

Not sure which is preferable, really. You gain stereo guitar in your ears, but more faff for sure.

Honestly, it's going to be down to the individual venue/house system, really.

Nerine · July 2023

Also, can definitely vouch for the IEMs in the above YouTube giveaway. I have the same Sennheiser XSW IEM set and I've been very impressed with it so far. I use Shure earpieces, mind.

Roland · July 2023

FarleyUK said:

Is it just going to be easiest to say that I need stereo aux outs from the mixer, direct to the IEM unit? How does everyone else manage this?

You can’t depend on house PAs being stereo. You need to have mono versions of your patches so that you can control how your stereo guitar signal collapses to mono. There’s a recent YouTube video from Leon Todd which discusses this.

You also can’t depend on the house PA having enough Aux/monitor channels to give you a personal mix.

Over the years I’ve used several ways of dealing with this. The simplest is to use house monitors, and have a cabinet on stage to boost the guitar to whatever level you need. Alternatively use IEMs for whatever monitor signal the house PA can provide, and have a cabinet on stage loud enough to bleed through your IEMs and give you a bit more guitar. The third way is to use your band’s desk for your IEMs, and split each cable at the input to your desk, and send it to the house PA.

Roland · July 2023

There’s a fourth way, which I use at home. On the AxeFX Output1 goes to my IEMs via the headphone socket on the front panel. Output2 goes to front of house. Input2 takes the house monitor mix, which I route into Output1, but not Output2, via a Mixer block.

The video above gives a fifth way.

FarleyUK · July 2023

That's awesome, thanks everyone!

Kultschar · July 2023

Roland said:

There’s a fourth way, which I use at home. On the AxeFX Output1 goes to my IEMs via the headphone socket on the front panel. Output2 goes to front of house. Input2 takes the house monitor mix, which I route into Output1, but not Output2, via a Mixer block.

The video above gives a fifth way.

Thats very cool - so flexible

Jonathanthomas83 · July 2023

Anyone using pedals with their Fractal? Here's my stuff at the moment...

Image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc8wTlsokv5fkTWYoMk7dZpalbJATOo_rE81OncjR4xHjjsjep2hwXnHUaT4kdM-i6VluPSOvHh-pGdNpe_YqW3D4zCVjcphml_52hZlja8HN-5yfn_GIudO49-r3BEDgF2amW4ZklaeOln--PjDCETOVw=w2978-h2234-s-no?authuser=0

The White Atom is infinitely more usable than the Fuzz Face in the Fractal, for my needs, so that's in use at the moment. Everything else is complementary and by no means taking away from the counterparts in the unit, I love and fully use the corresponding FX in the Fractal, often!But my pedals are always in use too.

Perhaps the DECO doesn't have a corresponding effect in the Fractal, but that might be because I've not found the right sounds yet.

welshboyo · July 2023

Well, that’ll teach me to have an opinion over on the Fractal Forum….

I can’t get on with Dyna Cabs at all, I’ve tried…but they are just not very good in my opinion and I feel they are a knee jerk reaction to what L6 released in last update - daren’t say that or I’ll get lynched ;-)

I hope they get better with time but for me a good Legacy IR beats them hands down - all of the ambiguity is taken out of the “tweaks” required philosophy and you are just left with worrying about Hi/Lo cuts!

The Legacy IR’s too have a bit more output in them so they come alive quicker (if that makes sense) and that could be a factor here?

Ive even tried at gig volume - and there was a marked difference with the same preset DC vs Legacy.

Oh well, at least the Cliffians get a chance to untwist their knickers..

Kultschar · July 2023

Haha. Did they delete / lock the thread?

mrkb · July 2023

welshboyo said:

Well, that’ll teach me to have an opinion over on the Fractal Forum….

I can’t get on with Dyna Cabs at all, I’ve tried…but they are just not very good in my opinion and I feel they are a knee jerk reaction to what L6 released in last update - daren’t say that or I’ll get lynched ;-)

I hope they get better with time but for me a good Legacy IR beats them hands down - all of the ambiguity is taken out of the “tweaks” required philosophy and you are just left with worrying about Hi/Lo cuts!

The Legacy IR’s too have a bit more output in them so they come alive quicker (if that makes sense) and that could be a factor here?

Ive even tried at gig volume - and there was a marked difference with the same preset DC vs Legacy.

Oh well, at least the Cliffians get a chance to untwist their knickers..

Hmm, assuming you were the person who started the thread asking for opinions, then hasn’t commented in it since, I don’t see that you’ve been harassed. People are just stating where they are useful. I find them useful vs scrolling through 50 odd cab/mic combos, but others with a favourite IR might not, simples.

Jonathanthomas83 · July 2023

mrkb said:

welshboyo said:

Well, that’ll teach me to have an opinion over on the Fractal Forum….

I can’t get on with Dyna Cabs at all, I’ve tried…but they are just not very good in my opinion and I feel they are a knee jerk reaction to what L6 released in last update - daren’t say that or I’ll get lynched ;-)

I hope they get better with time but for me a good Legacy IR beats them hands down - all of the ambiguity is taken out of the “tweaks” required philosophy and you are just left with worrying about Hi/Lo cuts!

The Legacy IR’s too have a bit more output in them so they come alive quicker (if that makes sense) and that could be a factor here?

Ive even tried at gig volume - and there was a marked difference with the same preset DC vs Legacy.

Oh well, at least the Cliffians get a chance to untwist their knickers..

Hmm, assuming you were the person who started the thread asking for opinions, then hasn’t commented in it since, I don’t see that you’ve been harassed. People are just stating where they are useful. I find them useful vs scrolling through 50 odd cab/mic combos, but others with a favourite IR might not, simples.

That's my use case too. The pain of wading through IR's is gone with Dana Cabs and that suits me down to the ground. I've had great luck with Dana Cabs for a Dual Rec, but am finding things like a Vox a little more challenging so am relying on Legacy there.

welshboyo · July 2023

mrkb said:

welshboyo said:

Well, that’ll teach me to have an opinion over on the Fractal Forum….

I can’t get on with Dyna Cabs at all, I’ve tried…but they are just not very good in my opinion and I feel they are a knee jerk reaction to what L6 released in last update - daren’t say that or I’ll get lynched ;-)

I hope they get better with time but for me a good Legacy IR beats them hands down - all of the ambiguity is taken out of the “tweaks” required philosophy and you are just left with worrying about Hi/Lo cuts!

The Legacy IR’s too have a bit more output in them so they come alive quicker (if that makes sense) and that could be a factor here?

Ive even tried at gig volume - and there was a marked difference with the same preset DC vs Legacy.

Oh well, at least the Cliffians get a chance to untwist their knickers..

Hmm, assuming you were the person who started the thread asking for opinions, then hasn’t commented in it since, I don’t see that you’ve been harassed. People are just stating where they are useful. I find them useful vs scrolling through 50 odd cab/mic combos, but others with a favourite IR might not, simples.

Yes, but what pisses me off is why my own opinion on a new feature from the world of Cliff is seen as a complaint and a slant on his obvious very generous nature to all those people who spend thousands on his products…

I probably just need time with Dyna Cabs, tweaking mic positions is not something I have time for at a soundcheck and using an IR that has a lot of that already catered for is easier. It’s like the whole deep dive thing - great if you have the time..

and yes, I know I don’t have to use them..but my question was what/why am I not getting them if they are supposed to be the next big thing? - it’s a simple ask, and from what I saw last night, nobody has actually answered that yet as they still reeling in the fact that I have stuck my head above the trench and actually called out that I’m not that struck on the new shiny shiny..

Roland · July 2023

There’s an element of brand worship on the Fractal forum. It isn’t just the British who it grates with. The best thing is to ignore it.

Like you I think that Dyna Cab is a response to what other suppliers are doing. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I think that Fractal have done it quite well.

Personally I find Dyna Cab useful. I know how I like to mic up a cabinet. It’s easier to simulate that by moving dots on a screen than by auditioning thousands of IRs trying to work out how the supplier positioned the mics. Yes, if I had the time and the ears I could get a “better” result.

Jonathanthomas83 · July 2023

Agreed, the cult of Cliff is prevalent indeed, over there. Come here and get chastised next time, instead, @welshboyo.

FarleyUK · July 2023

Haha, so that was you, was it??

I agree though, and commented as much - it's great to have options, but I (for now) prefer my go-to IRs.

It's a VERY strange place over there; the only reason I still tend to visit is for Leon's insights. All the other experts can jog-on, as far as I'm concerned.

Also, it's not just The Cult of Cliff who are problematic there; there's a certain ex-member from here who keeps stalking and harassing me. All a bit sad, really.

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