I have upgraded to 3.0 and it seems to be working fine for all I need it to do. My existing studio profiles sound the same to me. I'm assuming that with the new firmware, the new studio profiles won't be compatible with older firmware, so even those that want studio profiles will eventually have to upgrade. I think the benefit is that the studio profiles will sounds the same but will be more realistic when switching cabs between rigs, which is a plus. I'm not sure how feasible or beneficial it would be to go back and restore to older f/w to do basic studio profiles. I think the quality even on those will be slightly better with the new system.
As for making DI profiles, I have to be honest. It kinda scares me a little. Without any control over what the finished product is going to sound like, it's hard to "tweak" to what I think sounds good. With everyone using different amps and cabinets there's no way of knowing if any tweaking I would do would be helping or hurting compared to how someone else is running their rig. With the studio profiles, I feel I can kinda tweak them to what I think sounds good. I can't listen to a straight DI profile and think it sounds anything other than heinous. All I can judge it by is the finished merged profile or how it sounds through my power amp and speaker, so it's going to be a little iffy at first, I think.
And to my ears, the merged profiles don't sound the same as the studio ones. There is a mid hump in the merged profiles that sounds like it's some sort of summing or phasing. The low end also sounds a little different. The merged profiles aren't awful, but they just aren't the same. I haven't settled on exactly how to put out profiles in the future. Should I just concentrate on studio profiles or put out separate packs with DI and Merged profiles? I like the size/variety/price of the existing packs because, to me, they are affordable and there is enough variation in each pack to appeal to a lot of different styles. I'm not sure how many guys want the DI profiles and how many just want studio profiles or if I will have to include both kinds of profiles for each amp/setting, which is a little more time intensive. I'm open to suggestions at this point.
I see. Well to tell the truth, with 3000 profiles and all your wonderful packs, Im fine staying with 2.7. I see no real need for more profiles and since I go thru a CLR and dont need their FC, I see no real benefits for switching to 3.0. Im not one of those guys that has to compulsively upgrade all the time. Especially if there are no good reason to do so. If it aint broke....