Fractal Users & Ideas / Favorites

[Brandon Lamparelli]

Hey all! Not sure if this is currently being done under another thread, but I know we all have a significant appreciation for our tone. I have noticed a good deal of Syn fans on Youtube, IG, etc. using Fractal Audio products that have created some killer tones. I myself have an ax8 and like to think I am pretty creative in building tones similar to Syn's (off what my own ear perceives) but I would love to have some open dialogue and maybe share some tips/tricks amongst this awesome community to help us all achieve better tones. I'm assuming most of us have purchased the cab packs on the website and they are INCREDIBLE. Where I think a unique opportunity lies is that most of us probably have similar setups (invader pickups or Syn's signature) which would be beneficial in trying to achieve specific tones. I would love to share some ideas and metrics that have worked for me as well as hear what works for you guys. For example, in Axe-Edit (what amp are you modeling? I use the 5153Red for most of my lead tones with a compressor before it with some high attack. Hopefully this gets the ball rolling and I look forward to sharing ideas with everyone

 

[Ed Seith]

I'm not one who tries to emulate specific tones, preferring to find my own happy place, but I use the 5153 red for rhythm as well, which is, to the best of my knowledge, what Syn's techs used to emulate his Hellwin tone. I think my lead channel is based around the Freidman 2018 model, but I haven't looked at it in sometime.

(I have the AxeFX IIXL+, the one from right before the 3 was announced)

Syn has released IR models of his personal cabinets, which can be purchased here. I bought the Big Pack when it was first released, not because I wanted to sound like Syn, but because all of the packs I'd tried had some weird artifacts that would come through in my rather unorthodox playing style. I'd tried a number of Ownhammer and ML packs, including large bundles from Misha Mansoor and many others. Syn's pack was the only one that I didn't hear my weird artifacting in, so they are my cabs of choice.

For the heavy tones, I use the Hellwin 4x12 cab with a pair of ribbon mics, (121/421) because I find the industry standard SM57s too "fizzy" for my taste.

I have two expression pedals, and for all my presets one is a dedicated volume pedal and the other is a wah. I'm still tweaking the wah. I like Mark Tremonti's physical wah, but I can't find the specs for it to emulate, and I'm not good at doing that shit myself.

Setting and tweaking the Gate/Exp after the amp and before the cab, I find, to be great for keeping noise under control. I have mine tuned to kick in only when the guitar's volume pot is totally off, and I use delay and reverb in an isolated loop at the very end before the output because that's where I like it. Seems more like post-processing in my head, I think.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

There are many songs that share the same melodies or riffs all over the place. I always find random songs that share things with others. Doesn't mean they were stolen or anything tho. Only so many to go around. Like the whole metallica thing


Edit.. I have no idea how I ended up on this page

 

[Aaron Davenport]

I’ve got a setting i run for his Hellwin albums on my Fractal. I think it sounds close, i don’t know how to share it.. but i don’t mind sharing.

i created it used someone in the Fractal forum who claimed to be the one that helped Syn recreate his tone. Then, i adjusted some things for my speakers and some things i felt may have been left out via playing along with songs.

 

[Aaron Davenport]

So, to give you some ideas for the Fractal. I just created a patch that I think sounds fantastic (I am a Marshall fan and aim for Syn's Marshall tones) However, the chain runs as
Amp : (Brit Pre) Bass/Middle/Treble at 6. Presence at 8.5...Gain at 4 w/ tube screamer, or gain at 8.. Master Vol 4. Level (adjust loudness off this)
Cab : 4x12 TV MIX C1 (ML) ..it's Legacy #58... I also have a direct Tonematch from Syn Fractal Demo that i'm not using, but it's in my channel as a sprinkle when I want it.
Some basic Reverb.
Adjust the Noise Gate in the Input block to your preference. Mine is at -67db.ish

The guitar matters as well... my Gibson Les Paul Classic with Classic 57's has a lot more clarity over my Schecter C-1 FR with Invaders. The invaders sounds fizzy on this channel and the Gibson is just beautiful on it.

The most important part however is... practice Syn's technique and solos about 2-4x as much as you are right now. 90% of the sound is the techniques with the bends, the picking style (economy picking).. all the little nuances. Of course, it will sound different because it's getting filtered through your mind and hands, but that's the beauty of art.