Axe FX tone matching

[jcj]

Yeah there are already some cool ideas and things being posted. Dithery sound like the source exactly? No. But that doesn't completely matter as long as the end result is neat and musical

I haven't really been keeping up...I stay off the Fractal forum

The one thing I do know, is that Cliff is has a track record of improving/updating features; I'm certain this won't be an exception.

 

[Audioholic]

Yeah there are already some cool ideas and things being posted. Dithery sound like the source exactly? No. But that doesn't completely matter as long as the end result is neat and musical

I haven't really been keeping up...I stay off the Fractal forum

The one thing I do know, is that Cliff is has a track record of improving/updating features; I'm certain this won't be an exception.

yeah I am sure it will be improved, cool feature.

 

[shredi knight]

Here is a ToneMatch I attempted of a new RATT song. Don't mind the crappy noodling near the middle/end. I was just doing some quick playing to capture the feel of the tone. The Soundcloud is my clip followed by a Youtube video of the song:

http://soundcloud.com/romanianreaper/ratt-eat-me-up-alive

Fixed:

Your attempt sounds super close (at least on my computer speakers). Great job.

 

[Audioholic]

Here is a ToneMatch I attempted of a new RATT song. Don't mind the crappy noodling near the middle/end. I was just doing some quick playing to capture the feel of the tone. The Soundcloud is my clip followed by a Youtube video of the song:

http://soundcloud.com/romanianreaper/ratt-eat-me-up-alive

Fixed:

Your attempt sounds super close (at least on my computer speakers). Great job.

cool attempt. to me they don't sound the same, a bit different, though in the "ballpark" I am hearing much more gritty mids and less pronounced highs, or at least high fidelity highs in the reference clip. the tone match clip is to high fi, not enough gnarly mids and too much top end. at least what my ears are picking up..

 

[jcj]

Close enough for me....if I were in a cover band, I'd be buying one today.

Certainly not all they're good for, but it would be great for that purpose.

 

[Audioholic]

Close enough for me....if I were in a cover band, I'd be buying one today.

Certainly not all they're good for, but it would be great for that purpose.

thats cool, to me that last clip was not really close, in terms of a perfect "Matching" I mean if we are out to get a recorded tone perfectly duplicated, which is what the beta testers and fractal peeps been saying for awhile, and is what most people are saying about tonematch, then it should be spot on. listening through good speakers, they are very different. I have heard some better closer matches, but will always be limited to certain things, so maybe it should be called "tone in the ballpark matching"?

after tonematch, it seems like most have had to further EQ, add efx, tweak other parameters to get it "closer" just my observations. some are more usable in the ballpark then others. and its true that as time goes on, it may be possible to better get a handle on how things work.

I used an axe fx for many years, so I am not anti axe..

 

[jcj]

Close enough for me....if I were in a cover band, I'd be buying one today.

Certainly not all they're good for, but it would be great for that purpose.

thats cool, to me that last clip was not really close, in terms of a perfect "Matching" I mean if we are out to get a recorded tone perfectly duplicated, which is what the beta testers and fractal peeps been saying for awhile, and is what most people are saying about tonematch, then it should be spot on. listening through good speakers, they are very different. I have heard some better closer matches, but will always be limited to certain things, so maybe it should be called "tone in the ballpark matching"?

after tonematch, it seems like most have had to further EQ, add efx, tweak other parameters to get it "closer" just my observations. some are more usable in the ballpark then others. and its true that as time goes on, it may be possible to better get a handle on how things work.

I used an axe fx for many years, so I am not anti axe..

I agree, I haven't heard an "exact" match either...some haven't even been very close, but I'd say that was likely a learning curve issue...who knows?

I have heard enough to convince me that I'd buy one if that was something I was after, so yeah....close enough for me

 

[Audioholic]

Close enough for me....if I were in a cover band, I'd be buying one today.

Certainly not all they're good for, but it would be great for that purpose.

thats cool, to me that last clip was not really close, in terms of a perfect "Matching" I mean if we are out to get a recorded tone perfectly duplicated, which is what the beta testers and fractal peeps been saying for awhile, and is what most people are saying about tonematch, then it should be spot on. listening through good speakers, they are very different. I have heard some better closer matches, but will always be limited to certain things, so maybe it should be called "tone in the ballpark matching"?

after tonematch, it seems like most have had to further EQ, add efx, tweak other parameters to get it "closer" just my observations. some are more usable in the ballpark then others. and its true that as time goes on, it may be possible to better get a handle on how things work.

I used an axe fx for many years, so I am not anti axe..

I agree, I haven't heard an "exact" match either...some haven't even been very close, but I'd say that was likely a learning curve issue...who knows?

I have heard enough to convince me that I'd buy one if that was something I was after, so yeah....close enough for me

my take on it is that the axe FX does best at ,matching tones that are more inherent to the axe fx's current strenghts and sound to begin with, and is limited to the sound source and moddelling inside. While I think the axe is probably the best moddeller out there, it doesn't always sound the most amp like and natural. Sometimes the matching eq is very different, the axe seems to have much more high end then the sound source, so eq wise its not a perfect match. I have heard maybe 2 tonematch clips where I was really digging it, the rest were just ok, to not very close. will be interesting as time goes on to see if this changes...

I am a big fan of the kemper mainly because it has sounded the most natural and amp like to me. it may not have tonematch, but it can amp match very very well and mostly is a no brainer. bottom line for me, I would buy an axe II if I started hearing stuff that I needed and wasn't getting from the kemper. for what I do, I end up competing against people submitting music all across the states and globe sometimes, and I need the best tools I can afford that helps my sometimes limited skill set to get the job done.

 

[jcj]

Totally get where you're coming from... you're looking at profiling as a tool for recording, and I'm looking at tone match as a tool for live use... perspective is everything

FWIW, I dig what the Kemper does, too...pretty amazing, actually

 

[Mizati20]

The whole "Can get there with more tweaking" argument is such BS to me (not saying anyone has said this) but it seems to be the 'norm with the Axe-FX crowd when they are defending the shortcomings of the unit...

None of the previews of the Tone Matching that I have heard sound ANYWHERE near as good as the "Rough Preview" that were posted on the Fractal Forums before 6.0 came out, and when those previews were posted, it was said that they were just done quickly, with minimal tweaking, but just those few previews are miles better than all the recent examples... (granted I would hope the creators of the unit would be good at this sort of thing)

When I had my Kemper, and I profiled an amp, it was literally 99% there right off the bat, and "minimal tweaking" literally meant turn the bass knob maybe 2 clicks and you were there... The Axe is an amazing piece of kit if you look at it as just another tool to make incredible guitar sounds... but just from what I'm seeing come about from the "Tone Matching"... in terms of being able to copy a tone perfect in it's entirety... well... it still ain't got shit on the Kemper

 

[Anonymous]

I definitely hear differences, but it doesn't sound like anything that couldn't be slightly tweaked for a better result.....what a great tool for covers!

Yeah, when he compared the original to him playing the "tone matched' tone, I thought the original sounded deeper/richer. Definitely different. I think it sounded close, but I think adding the delay is what made it sound closer. The delay was right on...

Steve

 

[shredi knight]

I think someone did a pretty good job matching Randy's crappy Blizzard Of Ozz tone:



(First part is the original, second the match)

https://soundcloud.com/dani3121/i-dont-know-rhoads

 

[Zer0th]

My unreliable memory seems to think this is pretty close.

 

[shredi knight]

I don't remember all that chorus.

 

[Audioholic]

I think someone did a pretty good job matching Randy's crappy Blizzard Of Ozz tone:



(First part is the original, second the match)

https://soundcloud.com/dani3121/i-dont-know-rhoads

both sound like moddelers to me...

 

[shredi knight]

I think someone did a pretty good job matching Randy's crappy Blizzard Of Ozz tone:



(First part is the original, second the match)

https://soundcloud.com/dani3121/i-dont-know-rhoads

both sound like moddelers to me...

I did say Randy's crappy tone.

 

[romanianreaper]

Here is a ToneMatch I attempted of a new RATT song. Don't mind the crappy noodling near the middle/end. I was just doing some quick playing to capture the feel of the tone. The Soundcloud is my clip followed by a Youtube video of the song:

http://soundcloud.com/romanianreaper/ratt-eat-me-up-alive

Fixed:

Your attempt sounds super close (at least on my computer speakers). Great job.

Thanks bro!

 

[romanianreaper]

Here is a ToneMatch I attempted of a new RATT song. Don't mind the crappy noodling near the middle/end. I was just doing some quick playing to capture the feel of the tone. The Soundcloud is my clip followed by a Youtube video of the song:

http://soundcloud.com/romanianreaper/ratt-eat-me-up-alive

Fixed:

Your attempt sounds super close (at least on my computer speakers). Great job.

cool attempt. to me they don't sound the same, a bit different, though in the "ballpark" I am hearing much more gritty mids and less pronounced highs, or at least high fidelity highs in the reference clip. the tone match clip is to high fi, not enough gnarly mids and too much top end. at least what my ears are picking up..

You are only hearing that because I forgot to push the "Warren DeMartini button" on my Axe-FX II prior to recording.

Seriously though, I think what this technology does is get a player in the general vicinity of a certain tone and then have the ability to tweak it. I could get close by just tweaking but the ToneMatch gets me in the ballpark instantly. I agree with you that more tweaks are necessary to get their full on.

 

[Spaceboy]

I wonder how well it could do Dino's demanufacture tone? one of my top 5 tones of all time...

I was trying to find some guitar tracks from Demanufacture the other day for tone matching, but couldn't come up with anything.

If you could just pull the drums out of the song "Demanufacture" or "Self Bias Resistor" right at the beginning of either you would have a great sample..

How can I do that? I think those both have bass too, but on that album it's barely audible anyway.

 

[jlbaxe]

For the Kemp to come out and the axe owners wanting to be able do the same, Cliff updating an AFX2 to be able to "Tone Match" a guitar track in that short amount of time is amazing. If you chose the correct amp you are Matching it is pretty damn close. Add the effects needed and hey you are close. To be able to use a strat and single coil pup and Tone Match against let's say a Gibson Les Paul with stock pups and be in the ball park works for me.

I used the intro to Sweet Child of mine and all I did after was add the saturation button and was suprised. It seemed more bright at first but when I played it with the backing tracks (using my strat) it blended near perfect. I'm sure if I tweaked it some and my playing was much better it could be perfect. If I was in a cover band it might make a difference but the audience wouldn't be able to tell except for the few actual guitarist there.

I think what Cliff did was amazing in the short amount of time for the Demand of something like the Kemp in an existing box. Sure there will be a few version updates soon to take it a little farther. I am happy with the abilities of the AFX2. When the Kemp comes out in a rack unit I am sure I will add that to my rack of "TOOLS" as they are all just that. Jam On and have fun