NuX Optima Air Demo and Observations

[Cuki79]

What do you mean by akuIR technology?

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by hyenik

this comparison video conviced me to buy Optima Air



Now I am not so happy that IR level is not true Blend
because for akuIR technology is absolutely crucial
when I set IR level for minimum, this is still too much of IR in sound,
I will do more test with own impulses
(which are another crucial point, always much better than any external )

Yep, I am the same. I listened to that video and found the Optima Air to be the most pleasing. I really wish they had included a blend. It seems like such a necessary feature with IR technology.

I am still really hoping for an update to the Aura Spectrum.

[hyenik]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

What do you mean by akuIR technology?

Impulse Response for acoustic guitar.
Of course in principles is same, but in details is different from IR guitar speaker simulation etc

[guitaniac]

FWIW, the Optima Air does have an Aux In jack. It might be useful to send in a dry mag (second pickup) signal through the Aux In if the full IR is too wet sounding for the user's taste, or extra feedback-free gain is needed for bare-fingered picking in a high volume setting.

To my ear, the J15 is the driest sounding stock IR. For absolute best results, however, I may have to bypass the OA's preamp and use my Zoom A1 Four for EQ and volume control. I'm thinking that the A1 Four's more precise EQ can do a better job of bringing up the J15's low bass while keeping the low mid's under control. Some experimenting will tell. I'm hoping my user created IRs (when I finally get some good ones) will be fairly dry also.

[hyenik]

I wrote to NUX support (about too wet IR) and they answered

You may return your Optima Air to the store where you made the purchase as we will not make any change in regard with the problem you mentioned.
Something we want to make it clear: the ugly truth is that there is no IR profile starts at 0ms which means that there won't be any wet signal available for the blend which can cause something weird(similar to what is called "OUT of PHASE").

So for me will be much easier to go to Line6 HX FX with own impulses

[guitaniac]

Listen to NuX Optima Air User Created IR Test by guitaniac on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/xQdWN

After a week of fooling around with the stock IRs, I finally got around to creating a better user IR for the guitar which I've been experimenting with. At this point I have to agree with the conventional wisdom since I'm preferring the user IR to any of the factory IRs. Sound samples above.

When running to my SoloAmp, I've noticed that the amplified sound gets muddy when cranking the sound level past a certain point. The Optima Air preamp's three knob EQ works well for making "quick and dirty" adjustments to the sound when raising the sound level past a certain point. Admittedly, ToneDexter's and Voiceprint's single anti-feedback knob is a more elegant and simple solution, but the Optima Air's onboard EQ can handle the job.

The most practical live sound setup for me will be to have my Zoom A1 Four on the floor (for basic EQ settings for the corresponding IRs) and the Optima Air closer at hand on a stool for quick EQ adjustments and being able to read it's tiny display window. For quick setups the Optima Air by itself will be adequate. It's easy enough to set the presets for mute (until the gain knob is moved) and the preset EQs which work best with a particular IR at a moderate sound level. It's also possible to create a flat IR preset (from an unused user sample) so you can switch to the dry pickup sound if/when needed.