Fractal Audio Systems mystery product speculation

[TubeStack]

Few setup ideas:
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What are those Lehles... orthotic inserts?

 

[namathan_zirwir]

A bit surprised at the 4 blocks per preset. Was hoping that would be more. I think the HX Effects allows 9?

 

[Orvillain]

What are those Lehles... orthotic inserts?

Volume pedal lol

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

 

[Jarick]

They stopped adding features to the FX8 alarmingly fast.

The FX8 and to a lesser extent the AX8 really seemed to break from the rest of the Fractal line in terms of updates. The newer hardware has been a lot more cross compatible and enjoying more support. But it's something in the back of the mind for sure.

One question would be, say the Axe 3 gets some new drive pedals. Will those cascade down to the VP4 as it seems to be a different platform?

 

[norminal]

 

[SonVolt]

The FX8 and to a lesser extent the AX8 really seemed to break from the rest of the Fractal line in terms of updates. The newer hardware has been a lot more cross compatible and enjoying more support. But it's something in the back of the mind for sure.

One question would be, say the Axe 3 gets some new drive pedals. Will those cascade down to the VP4 as it seems to be a different platform?

I think it totally depends how well the VP4 sells.

 

[yek]

Here's a bit of fun.

We now know that the VP4 doesn't have amp and cab modeling.

But... building on past contributions of Cliff and Cooper, there are workarounds.
Here's an Axe-Fx preset, consisting of 4 blocks (plus In/Out), no amp/cab. Created in 5 minutes. Can be improved a lot with further finetuning.

The exact preset/sounds should be be possible using just a VP4.

 

[fetishfrog]

They stopped adding features to the FX8 alarmingly fast.

The FX8 was definitely the one that got the least amount of updates. I think it only had 5 major releases, with any number of smaller releases and bug fixes. In other words, it got a lot more releases than most any other digital guitar pedal.

One big issue with the FX8 is the dev who wrote the base code left the company, and so it may have become cost prohibitive to update it again. If everything is more 'modular' now, that may not be an issue.

One question would be, say the Axe 3 gets some new drive pedals. Will those cascade down to the VP4 as it seems to be a different platform?

It seems the cycle is develop on the III, then port down if possible. The FM3 and 9 tend to trend behind on new features, but they do manage to get quite a bit of what the III offers. I should think the VP4 will get some of this too. If not, it'll still probably be worth it. I mean, people still use the Line 6 DL box from 20 years ago to good effect. I don't think that thing has ever been updated.

 

[OrganicZed]

The FX8 and to a lesser extent the AX8 really seemed to break from the rest of the Fractal line in terms of updates. The newer hardware has been a lot more cross compatible and enjoying more support. But it's something in the back of the mind for sure.

One question would be, say the Axe 3 gets some new drive pedals. Will those cascade down to the VP4 as it seems to be a different platform?

This is mostly hearsay and some conjecture on my part, but this is how I understand the history.

There was a thread at TOP where the person claimed he was the lead engineer for the AX8 and FX8. He explained that he decided to port the code from the Axe-FX II firmware to these new products in the way that made most sense to him rather than in the way that was consistent with how Cliff had coded the Axe-FX firmware. He explained that he felt it was necessary to take a different approach due to the differences in the core DSP. It was his opinion that doing things Cliff's way was needlessly complicated and that it would have made the products worse. Cliff was not pleased with this choice and they parted ways sooner than was anticipated. That ended up leaving the AX8 and FX8 in a bit of an orphaned state.

I suspect that part of the reason why it takes so long for updates to get ported to the FM3 and FM9 is that the project teams are required to do things in a manner that is consistent with the Axe-FX III firmware code. Although it takes longer, it allows for nearly seamless interoperability of patches between devices and it will mitigate mess caused by a firmware engineer leaving unexpectedly.

Again, this is just what I remember reading on an internet forum years ago from a guy who claimed to have inside knowledge. It may be totally untrue.

Edit: See Fractal Audio's response later in this thread.

 

[fetishfrog]

This is mostly hearsay and some conjecture on my part, but this is how I understand the history.

There was a thread at TOP where the person claimed he was the lead engineer for the AX8 and FX8. He explained that he decided to port the code from the Axe-FX II firmware to these new products in the way that made most sense to him rather than in the way that was consistent with how Cliff had coded the Axe-FX firmware. He explained that he felt it was necessary to take a different approach due to the differences in the core DSP. It was his opinion that doing things Cliff's way was needlessly complicated and that it would have made the products worse. Cliff was not pleased with this choice and they parted ways sooner than was anticipated. That ended up leaving the AX8 and FX8 in a bit of an orphaned state.

I suspect that part of the reason why it takes so long for updates to get ported to the FM3 and FM9 is that the project teams are required to do things in a manner that is consistent with the Axe-FX III firmware code. Although it takes longer, it allows for nearly seamless interoperability of patches between devices and it will mitigate mess caused by a firmware engineer leaving unexpectedly.

Again, this is just what I remember reading on an internet forum years ago from a guy who claimed to have inside knowledge. It may be totally untrue.

For the record, I recall it almost the same way.

 

[AlbertA]

666

777

 

[Mongillo19]

Well atleast we are openly picky on all new gear and not just NDSP

 

[norminal]

Why, so we can have another 100 pages of what FAS should’ve or could’ve included, why it “isn’t for me,” why their _____ sounds or works better, or how bad the UI is?

 

[OrganicZed]

I'd say the above is all purely speculation and has no place in a "serious" thread like this.

The thread title explicitly states that this thread is about speculation, does it not?

 

[nicolasrivera]

One question would be, say the Axe 3 gets some new drive pedals. Will those cascade down to the VP4 as it seems to be a different platform?

They will, but not as quick as people want.

 

[yek]

The thread title explicitly states that this thread is about speculation, does it not?

Yes, but not ad hominem.

 

[Jarick]

I always just seemed to think there were differences in the architecture that made it hard for updates to cascade, and then the newer hardware was at least somewhat easier to port updates.

 

[JiveTurkey]

 

[OrganicZed]

Yes, but not ad hominem.

What did I write that you feel was a personal attack?