NUX Optima Air Users

[lkingston]

I’m liking this pedal more and more. One thing I just tried was loading the IR I captured with the Optima Air into the Nembrini IR loader on my iPad. To my surprise, it worked really well (though it needed some EQ. Maybe that is just because the Nembrini IR loader is designed for cabinet emulation). I expect I could load it into my Helix Stomp as well (which I will try later). That would be really cool in that I could get the same sound and process it with the Line6 effects without having an extra pedal.

Can you save Tonedexter captures as standard IRs like this? It is a pretty cool feature with all sorts of potential uses.

[lkingston]

Yes, the NUX Optima Air impulse loads into the Helix, and sounds exactly the same, but with all that extra processing power!

I think that even if I only used the Optima Air occasionally for capturing impulses, it would be well worth the price!

[lkingston]

I know that this is getting to be just me babbling on, but I am working through this.

I am using the Optima Air on a Yamaha NTX-5 nylon string guitar.

When I was looking for some professionally done IRs, I found the 3 Sigma Audio ones. They have lots and lots of impulses, but I narrowed it down to nylon strings, and then to Yamaha. I paid my $15 and downloaded their Yamaha nylon set. Even then, there are just so many variations.

Narrowed it down to just the standard IRs (3 Sigma has their own format for their own plugins). Then to 48k (which is what the Optima Air samples at). Then there are the pickup types.

I tried the Yamaha Silent Guitar ones with my Silent Guitar. They are orders of magnitude better than the mic model built into the guitar (which I thought was pretty good)! There are basically ten mic variations in all sorts of formats.

Then I tried the standard piezo IRs. They were pretty good. Then through a bunch of others that weren’t as good.

The LR Baggs Element ones seem to work best with the NTX-5. Of them, the first mic model is my favorite.

As compared to my own IR, I think I like the best of the 3 Sigma Audio ones better, but there is a lot of trial and error to find the right ones.

I have a Godin Multiac Nylon and a Doyle Dykes Signature Multiac. Those and the Silent Guitar are a perfect example of a case where a bought IR would be better. Another case would be where the model is of a better guitar than what you own.

Anyway, the Optima Air lets you do it either way, and the results you can get are just heads and shoulders above what you get when you first turn it on and step through the built in IRs. They are really just a starting point.

Another thing to note. The way their manual reads, you might think that just the empty slots at the end are good for user IRs, but in fact, you can replace all the IRs if you want to. I have mine loaded with various IRs I am trying. I think a factory reset might bring the originals back but you certainly can use all of the slots for your own or downloaded IRs.

I really like that the IR format is standard, and that you can use IRs you capture in other devices (like a Helix or software IR loader), and that you can use professionally produced IRs, especially for the Silent Guitar or the Godin Multiacs.

[lkingston]

Well I played out with the NUX Optima Air for the first time this evening. I had it loaded with just two IR’s: My own captured from my guitar and my favorite mic, and one of the 3 Sigma Audio ones for Yamaha nylon stringed guitar. My own IR didn’t sound as good as it did at home, but the 3 Sigma Audio IR was fantastic! The best sound I’ve ever had live so far.

[lkingston]

Listening again, I think I like my own IR better. I have several options loaded and I can go back and forth between them. Strange how different it sounds from day to day.

[lkingston]

OK, I’ve tried the Optima Air live a couple of times now, and I didn’t like it nearly as much as I thought I would. I have a really great sounding IR that I made myself, but there are a couple of issues.

The biggest problem is that there is no blend control. The live sound I am looking for is a blend of pickup and mic. The noisier it is, the more the acoustics of the room suck, the more I lean towards the pickup. Often I end up with a 70% pickup to 30% or even less mic. On the Optima Air, the IR level is sort of an IR intensity control, and it really isn’t the same thing. If I could do a proper blend between the two I would be happy, but I can’t and so I’m not.

The second problem is the reverb. It is a nice reverb: very lush, and it sounds wonderful at home. The problem is that it is not appropriate at all live. What I need playing out is a small reverb that matches the room. Something like what they use on a Hendrikson or AER amp. Something that I can turn up to where you can just barely hear it, then back of a notch.

It’s not that I hate the Optima Air. I think I will use it for Youtube videos where I want to be able to play somewhere pretty and shut out the background noise. For that the 100% IR will be perfect, and I’ll use a different reverb anyway.

I’m just not going to use it live.

I might use the impulse I recorded on the Optima Air with my Helix Stomp though. It is a really nice IR, and with the Helix will let me blend and add more appropriate DSP.

[mrfretman]

Anyone else have an issue with the Nux Optima Air pedal where after it has been on for a while has horrible distortion when a signal is added. It seems to be a heat issue because it is fine for the first hour of a gig. This makes the pedal unusable and a waste of money.

[kendor]

You are not crazy and if you dig around, you will find many others with the same problem. Are you on Facebook? Someone from Nux responded to my report and asked for a video showing the issue: [email protected]

Here's my post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nuxv...98995103725559

[Marshall]

Hhhm. I did a 3 hour gig on Friday. With soundcheck the thing was on for 4 hours and did fine.

[kurth]

Originally Posted by mrfretman

Anyone else have an issue with the Nux Optima Air pedal where after it has been on for a while has horrible distortion when a signal is added. It seems to be a heat issue because it is fine for the first hour of a gig. This makes the pedal unusable and a waste of money.

So I've had an Optima Air in my cart , mainly because it's cheap in Mexico and some of the reviews on youtubee are pretty impressive. But I too keep seeing alot of these criticisms of noise after it warms up. But this hasn't been mentioned much here. What's the discrepancy ? Is it cheaper now that Nux knows it's flawed, or are they sending the junk south again...or is the problem blown out of proportion by the media ? I have little to no use as a live pedal, but it's imperative that stuff works as advertised in my studio. So if all of you present Optima air owners, who've had the box for a spell, could please comment ...it would weigh in a little heavier than reddit ! Thanks.

[kendor]

I'm communicating with another musician as we speak via the Nux Facebook group who has the exact issue I described here. I previously had a Nux Stagemen with no issue, a previously owned Optima Air (no issue) and I also have an Nux MG-30 with no issue.

I drove myself crazy trying to isolate the issue. Different cables, trying the XLR port, different power supply, etc... it took a while but I finally correlated that if the Air was plugged in and on for a few hours or more, it would eventually get into this state. Nux asked me to send them a video of the device in the state which I've yet to produce, but I'm now on a mission to make it fail so that I can send them a video.

Based on many people saying that there is no issue, but others confirming that they are experiencing the same thing, I say it 50/50 whether you could expect the same.

Nux is a value brand, and you get a lot for the money, but they also have to cut some corners to deliver at the price point they deliver at. It's kind of a you get what you pay for situation. Also, there's nothing exactly like this on the market (IR + Preamp + Reverb + DI). I'm contemplating an Tow Note Opus, which does a lot more, but has the core functionality.

[JRay]

Anyone experiencing this?

I have had the same experience with the NUX Optima Air. I purchased one of these nearly a year ago as they support the loading of your own IR’s and they provide this feature at a very attractive price (I cannot justify the cost of the market leader IR units such as Tonedexter etc.). It was my intention to use the NUX Optima Air as an IR loader for live performance, with my piezo pickup equipped guitars.

The unit itself was a little quirky, both in sound and functionality but after some figuring it out and playing with it, I managed to get a very good IR enhanced sound out of the preamp. The time it took to figure out ensured that the unit was powered up and operating for many hours at a time and in the process of getting a great sound setting, I reset the unit back to factory settings as well as updated the firmware to the latest offered by NUX. No problems.

I used the unit at a live gig for the first time and played a couple of hours through the unit, pleased with the sound I was getting. On the last few bars of the last song, the NUX kicked into mad distortion. Fortunately, it was literally only for about 1 bar of the last song!

Recycling power solved the problem instantly and next day I began to try and recreate the issue, I played some music on a loop from my phone into the NUX and left it looping on silent, I checked back after an hour or so and the distortion was back. After more experiments I came to realise this only happens when the Preamp is engaged, if just using the IR section, no problems.

I returned the unit to the retailer asking for a replacement. They promptly shipped out another Optima air, brand new and sealed. Tried this one with out of the box settings, after about 4 hours the new one tripped into distortion. Sent it back and got a refund as clearly this is an issue with the units and I need it for live use, so utterly useless.

I can get why this problem could be a thermal issue, the unit is quite power hungry for a small device, and this would explain the time lag before displaying the problem, but I think if it was thermal, recycling the power would not instantly restore normality, you would have to wait for something to cool down. I think it is something to do with circuit “latch up” or instability, either digital or analogue as if there is no signal going in, the unit remains normal. Only when there is a signal present the problem shows itself and only when the preamp section is engaged (I could not be bothered to stress test the IR only setting. Problems for me happened with the ¼ jack output, I did not try the DI output.)

NUX may have fixed this issue in recent builds (the firmware has been updated since I had the problem) but then again, they may not. So, I would say that this unit is probably OK if you want to use it for recording or home playing, but I would never consider trusting the NUX Optima air for live performance.

It’s a shame because when working you really can get some outstanding IR sound out the NUX Optima air.

[Marshall]

Originally Posted by JRay

. . . , Recycling power solved the problem instantly and next day I began to try and recreate the issue, I played some music on a loop from my phone into the NUX and left it looping on silent, I checked back after an hour or so and the distortion was back. After more experiments I came to realise this only happens when the Preamp is engaged, if just using the IR section, no problems. . . . ,


I can get why this problem could be a thermal issue, the unit is quite power hungry for a small device, and this would explain the time lag before displaying the problem, but I think if it was thermal, recycling the power would not instantly restore normality, you would have to wait for something to cool down. I think it is something to do with circuit “latch up” or instability, either digital or analogue as if there is no signal going in, the unit remains normal. Only when there is a signal present the problem shows itself and only when the preamp section is engaged (I could not be bothered to stress test the IR only setting. Problems for me happened with the ¼ jack output, I did not try the DI output.)

Very interesting. Especially that unplugging and re-plugging in the power eliminated the issue. (Am I right?)