Kemper to Fractal?

[Shask]

Yeah, I keep thinking that I should try to minimize and sell some gear, then I get lost in jamming while playing the Fractals and then I change my mind.

I have one of these on the way to push me in that direction until the NAM Fractal gets announced.
https://sonulab.com/stompstationpro/

I keep thinking about learning how to make NAM captures. I make tons of ToneX, but I do think NAM might be in a position to take over. Not because of Fractal, but because of units like this. Cheaper units that sound great with enough flexibility for most people.

 

[chumbucket]

I keep thinking about learning how to make NAM captures. I make tons of ToneX, but I do think NAM might be in a position to take over. Not because of Fractal, but because of units like this. Cheaper units that sound great with enough flexibility for most people.

There's only a few hardware players that can play native NAM profiles without some sort of conversion process. I think the SS Pro and the Dimehead units are it?

It's not quite as easy to do as Tonex but close. I've been making some from my amps and using the NAM plugin in Reaper with the built in DAW effects and it sounds great.
https://www.tone3000.com/capture/instructions?type=sweep-v3

The upcoming V2 NAM profiles are supposed to be smaller files and easier to manage on less powerful hardware while still maintaining the accuracy. That, will probably push it over the edge and make it more ubiquitous.

 

[vultures]

I went from..

Kemper Rack to Kemper Stage to Axe-FX II XL to Kemper to Quad to Axe-FX III MkII back to Quad.

I'll never return to Kemper, not enough versatility after being in the Fractal and Quad editors. Their refusal to bring meaningful updates in the way of editing has driven the final nails into their coffin. I have thousands of profiles from free to paid. Everyone I ever met shared USB drives with hundreds of paid profiles, that was the good thing about the Kemper community.

Fractal has the ability to sound incredible, but you really have to know what you're doing. I paid for presets from multiple tone vendors and they never sounded quite right with my setup. Always too digital-y. I'm not good at mixing, recording, and dialing in digital tones. The Fractal community feels very closed off with their Presets, imho. Nobody shares their presets. Big difference from the Kemper community. I tried all the tips and tricks you read on forums and it's just more of a pain in the ass. I'd rather get to a good tone immediately so I can practice and play rather than sit around dialing in shit for hours.

Quad sounded good out of the box with little-to-no effort. Their stock amp sims sound great. If you can dial in a tube amp and it sounds monstrous, you can capture it and never have to go into in-depth menu's like the Fractal stuff. I captured my IIC+ SRG, IIC+ DRG, IIC+ HG, ENGL SE670, Invective, 5150 and then sold them all.

 

[chumbucket]

Quad sounded good out of the box with little-to-no effort. Their stock amp sims sound great. If you can dial in a tube amp and it sounds monstrous, you can capture it and never have to go into in-depth menu's like the Fractal stuff. I captured my IIC+ SRG, IIC+ DRG, IIC+ HG, ENGL SE670, Invective, 5150 and then sold them all.

That's hardcore man.
In your opinion, how do your Quad captures react to different guitars/pickups/turned down volume controls, etc?

I have to admit, that I'm impressed by the form factor of the Mini. It could have a place on a desktop, in a rack drawer, pedalboard, or even a gig bag pocket.

 

[Shask]

There's only a few hardware players that can play native NAM profiles without some sort of conversion process. I think the SS Pro and the Dimehead units are it?

It's not quite as easy to do as Tonex but close. I've been making some from my amps and using the NAM plugin in Reaper with the built in DAW effects and it sounds great.
https://www.tone3000.com/capture/instructions?type=sweep-v3

The upcoming V2 NAM profiles are supposed to be smaller files and easier to manage on less powerful hardware while still maintaining the accuracy. That, will probably push it over the edge and make it more ubiquitous.

Yeah, only a few can play the native NAM files now. I think when they make the new version that doesn't require as much power, more cheaper units support it, and someone makes a step-by-step software to create captures like how the ToneX Modeler is, it definitely has a chance to take over.

You get something like an HX Stomp that will play 2 NAM files in series or parallel for $499. Market takeover.

 

[chumbucket]

Yeah, only a few can play the native NAM files now. I think when they make the new version that doesn't require as much power, more cheaper units support it, and someone makes a step-by-step software to create captures like how the ToneX Modeler is, it definitely has a chance to take over.

You get something like an HX Stomp that will play 2 NAM files in series or parallel for $499. Market takeover.

Dude, that's the SS Pro. It does two NAM profiles in one patch plus FX. They're about $460 USD right now but the price is going up after this initial pre-release.

Fractal guys may recognize Marco Fanton -

 

[Shask]

Dude, that's the SS Pro. It does two NAM profiles in one patch plus FX. They're about $460 USD right now but the price is going up after this initial pre-release.

View attachment 446828


Fractal guys may recognize Marco Fanton -

Close. Add American company software support, editor, etc... and we are there.

 

[vultures]

That's hardcore man.
In your opinion, how do your Quad captures react to different guitars/pickups/turned down volume controls, etc?

I have to admit, that I'm impressed by the form factor of the Mini. It could have a place on a desktop, in a rack drawer, pedalboard, or even a gig bag pocket.

It reacts pretty similar to how regular amps react. My EMG equipped guitars don't roll off too well. My JB equipped guitar rolls off decently, My Tele rolls off nice. Having treble bleeds makes it roll off nicer, like with any amp. I have different Presets with different amps for each guitar and tuning; Tight and gainy for low tunings, Thick and juicy for E tuning, etc.. My current set up is the quad, expression and powerstage. Much more giggable/jammable than a big 200lb rack

 

[Shask]

Dude, that's the SS Pro. It does two NAM profiles in one patch plus FX. They're about $460 USD right now but the price is going up after this initial pre-release.

View attachment 446828


Fractal guys may recognize Marco Fanton -

I wonder if he is still on team Fractal and only doing thia for YT, or if he is really switching.

 

[chumbucket]

Close. Add American company software support, editor, etc... and we are there.

Agreed. It's not as refined as something from Line6 but then again the Tonex software isn't anything to write home about.
The VoidX editor looks pretty user friendly from the videos and you can also edit from your phone.

Leon Todd runs through it here -

 

[chumbucket]

I wonder if he is still on team Fractal and only doing thia for YT, or if he is really switching.

Marco does demos for a bunch of different gear. Plus he sells presets for a variety of platforms.

 

[Shask]

Agreed. It's not as refined as something from Line6 but then again the Tonex software isn't anything to write home about.
The VoidX editor looks pretty user friendly from the videos and you can also edit from your phone.

Leon Todd runs through it here -

Yeah, it looks good now, but I am curious what will happen over the next few years. ToneX isn't perfect, but at least IK is committed to long-term software support to continue to improve it.

A lot of the Chinese companies seem to be on the 90's US playbook. Release a slightly different unit every so often and rarely ever update the current products. I just think that long-term support of the software is more where the market is now for the big players.

 

[chumbucket]

Yeah, it looks good now, but I am curious what will happen over the next few years. ToneX isn't perfect, but at least IK is committed to long-term software support to continue to improve it.

A lot of the Chinese companies seem to be on the 90's US playbook. Release a slightly different unit every so often and rarely ever update the current products. I just think that long-term support of the software is more where the market is now for the big players.

Sonulab is Italian (which might be why Marco has an affinity for them). The firmware updates and bug fixes have reportedly been pretty steady for their products.

 

[Shask]

Sonulab is Italian (which might be why Marco has an affinity for them). The firmware updates and bug fixes have reportedly been pretty steady for their products.

That is interesting. I figured they were lumped in with the Valeton/Hotone/Nux companies.