Essential items for a modeler: OEMs please take note (aka Table Stakes)

[DieSchmalle]

• a nod-of-approval screen animation
• a firmware prayer mat
• a build-in vacuum to prevent GAS

 

[mbenigni]

As long as you're not hung up on flexible routing (because that fully skeuomorphic and linear signal chain AINT that)...

Damn it, I forgot about that. Flexible, agile routing (and re-routing) has always been a primary concern for me. (As I just said in a different thread this morning: otherwise I'd just use an amp.) I do have FOMO for those synths and reverbs, though. I'll just have to carry on having FOMO.

Still waiting for something/ anything to topple Jam Origin on my iPad. The QC synth is fun. But it's mono, and timbrally limited, and I can't seem to dial the squeaky glitches out to where it feels reliable enough for making actual music.

 

[Lysander]

One additional requirement that you never even dreamed of before, but some guy on a forum will rant about for years

*laughs in NAM*

 

[fret gunk]

OP here. Thanks all for sharing your thoughts on Table Stakes. And Table Steaks.
Maybe in a rare moment of self-reflection, I see that my contribution to the list of essential items quickly became a list of everything I could conceive of in a modeler.
I reckon that the essentials are lurking somewhere in the thread.
Still, wouldn't it be nice to get the whole lot?

PS I like the idea of negative boot time a whole lot

 

[laxu]

The only the essentials to me are MIDI and stereo output. Stereo inputs and fx loops are nice to have but not essential.

Otherwise to me the important thing for modelers is to do something different. Have some angle that makes them more interesting than the competition. Fractal has e.g their advanced tweakability and huge list of models.

If everyone has the same staple models, cabs and fx, the same Helix-ripoff UI and a varying number of footswitches that do about the same thing as another product, then none of them are really that unique products.

 

[Piing]

Polyphonic guitar and synth modeling. Like Boss/Roland VG technology, but give us the possibility to acquire and swap pickups and guitar models like if they were IRs. And using the regular pickup, not the additional hex-pickup.

 

[EOengineer]

Assuming all channels:
Mesa Boogie MKIIC+
Mesa Boogie MKIV
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
Peavey 5150 Block
Peavey 5150II
EVH 5150III
Marshall JCM800
Marshall Superlead/Superbass
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Fender Twin Reverb

This plus a good AC30 and VH4. Maybe a Princeton Reverb as well.

If I’ve been reading forums correctly, “Table Stakes” seems to mean:

• A model of every amp ever conceived of by mankind
• Zero footswitches
• 50 footswitches
• 20” touchscreen
• No touchscreen
• AI and machine learning… but we don’t know why
• A full DAW
• That one effect 99% of players have never heard of and don’t care about, but is essential for one person who will complain endlessly of its absence
• Small enough to carry in my pocket
• Cost < $99

PLUS:

• One additional requirement that you never even dreamed of before, but some guy on a forum will rant about for years

Somehow I can feel DI and Cliff nodding their heads through the ether.

 

[ChordInversion]

I could go on and on listing things I like. I don't think table stakes, in the sense that the features (beyond basic things) are bare minimums to achieve any sales at all. All manufacturers need to do is find a combination of features that will sell at the price at which they can make some money. That's why there's so much variety out there, and why that will continue.

Personally, I prioritize quality and selection of amp models and traditional effects. I also like when a modeler reacts to a pedal in front of it in an expected way.

 

[2112]

FM0 table edition

 

[James Freeman]

FM0 table edition

This.
It's what ICONS could have been.