Did the feel of the stock cabs improve with oversampling?

[mattbarden]

I've been using IR's exclusively since about 2.8 now, but I decided to mess around with the stock cabs again tonight. I never thought they sounded bad necessarily, they just felt really fake to play compared to IR's I had if that makes sense? I can feel the differences from brand to brand even and at least back on 2.8, the Helix's stock cabs did not feel good to me to play at all. My theory is the update that increased the oversampling had a huge effect on the stock cabs. I didn't really notice anything then since I was using IR's, but I swear it FEELS like the stock cabs benefited greatly from that update, I think they sound a little better too even. It's kind of like the Helix as a whole was optimized. Did any of you folks that use stock cabs exclusively notice such a difference with that update?

[cruisinon2]

Perceptions are weird, fickle, impossible to quantify, influenced by damn near anything, and they can change at the drop of a hat... hell, if you were in a $hitty enough mood the first time you used the stock cabs, you'd probably hate them. On the other hand, if you had just won a thousand bucks on a scratch-off 5 minutes before you try out the "new and improved" over-sampled cabs, then you might decide that they're the most glorious things you've ever heard... and in neither case would your assessment have much to do with the actual sounds themselves. And I won't even get into the fact that the comparison you're making relies on what you've managed to remember about the stock cabs, after having not used them for an extended period of time. It's like trying to compare the steak you have in front of you to one that you ate in 1997... but I digress.

 

Point is, it's all entirely subjective... you can't validate or invalidate your own assessment based on someone else's. If you like what you hear, then use 'em... nobody can tell you you're wrong, because likes and dislikes can't be objectively measured... they just are.

[Verne-Bunsen]

11 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

Perception is weird, fickle, impossible to quantify, and influenced by damn near anything... hell, if you were in a $hitty enough mood the first time you used the stock cabs, you'd probably hate them. On the other hand, if you had just won a thousand bucks on a scratch-off 5 minutes before you try out the "new and improved" over-sampled cabs, then you might decide that they're the most glorious things you've ever heard... and in neither case would your decision actually have much to do with the sounds themselves.

 

Either way, it's all entirely subjective... you can't validate or invalidate your own assessment based on someone else's. If you like what you hear, then use 'em... nobody can tell you you're wrong, because liking or disliking something can't be objectively measured... it just is.

I kind of think that this post should automatically be the first response in every single new thread. 

[datacommando]

14 hours ago, mattbarden said:

if that makes sense?

Nope, most likely the placebo effect.
 

See response from “cruisinon2” above, plus “Digital Igloo” had also mentioned that most users wouldn’t even be able to tell that “oversampling” had been added to the firmware. 

[phil_m]

Cabs and IRs aren't processing elements that I'd associated a feeling with, as far as feeling being related to dynamic response. That's to say, the way a cab block responds to an incoming signal isn't depending on the input level. It has a linear response, like an EQ. As far as oversampling, I wouldn't really affect that would have an effect on the cab blocks, either. Oversampling mainly effects elements where saturation or distortion is at play. With lower oversampling rates, you can get aliasing with saturation because of the way harmonics are generated in the higher frequencies. Overtones beyond the Nyquist limit are generated, so they get interpreted as lower frequency signals, and that becomes harmonic content unrelated to the original frequency.

 

They did change all the cab default settings at some point, and I believe that was after 2.80, so it could you're hearing that. Or it could be that the oversampling is affecting something you were hearing in the amp models themselves, so that signal sounds slightly different through the cab models.

[arislaf]

nope. garbage before, garbage now. Unless the cabs redifined from 0, will alwys remain garbage

[cruisinon2]

5 hours ago, arislaf said:

nope. garbage before, garbage now. Unless the cabs redifined from 0, will alwys remain garbage

 

Somebody needs a hug...;)

[mattbarden]

8 hours ago, phil_m said:

Cabs and IRs aren't processing elements that I'd associated a feeling with, as far as feeling being related to dynamic response. That's to say, the way a cab block responds to an incoming signal isn't depending on the input level. It has a linear response, like an EQ. As far as oversampling, I wouldn't really affect that would have an effect on the cab blocks, either. Oversampling mainly effects elements where saturation or distortion is at play. With lower oversampling rates, you can get aliasing with saturation because of the way harmonics are generated in the higher frequencies. Overtones beyond the Nyquist limit are generated, so they get interpreted as lower frequency signals, and that becomes harmonic content unrelated to the original frequency.

 

They did change all the cab default settings at some point, and I believe that was after 2.80, so it could you're hearing that. Or it could be that the oversampling is affecting something you were hearing in the amp models themselves, so that signal sounds slightly different through the cab models.

I did notice that they loaded with new default cuts, but it's not like I never messed with those myself either lol. Maybe they're just better at it than me.