Fractal Audio Systems mystery product speculation

[jellodog]

Post #816: Cliff make this stop please!

I could request that the mods close my thread I suppose... it's probably run its course!

The good thing is that this didn't pollute the Fractal Talk thread. Think of the positives!

 

[0XI0]

Eh. There's a fine line between implementing a similar feature and stealing a UI design wholesale.

how else exactly would you visually represent a horizontal signal flow and multiple processing blocks??

"reinvent the pedal board" ...stack them in a column with knobs on the side like a mini rack?

 

[Los-D]

If this were TOP

 

[norminal]

Post #816: Cliff make this stop please!

On the contrary!

@FractalAudio please add more fuel to the fire to keep this thread going!

 

[Achilles]

Oh come on - you can surely see that the styling, colours and icons look almost identical between the QC and HX products?

Seriously?

 

[jellodog]

Seriously?

Not Fractal. Only HX -> QC, on the device.

 

[Aleksi]

On the contrary!

@FractalAudio please add more fuel to the fire to keep this thread going!

SO DO WE EARLY ADOPTERS WHO BOUGHT FRACTAL BEFORE AUGUST 2009 GET A SPECIAL FREE GIFT

 

[nicolasrivera]

Why do so many people seem to think this new product will be something intended to "keep up with the competition"?

I've been using Fractal exclusively for 10+ years and I'm very active on their forum.

I don't recall a single instance where Cliff seemed to care one iota about doing something because a competitor did something similar.

They are innovators, not followers...

Similarly, to the "it will sell like hotcakes" crowd: I think if Cliff was mostly interested in just making money, he would have done it already... He's seems to be doing this out of passion and I am very thankful for that.

On the same boat, but one can not deny how the whole landscape is shifting.

Its also hard to deny the freeing feeling of a touch screen and/or intuitive UI.

Fractal is the absolute king in amp modeling, hardly any one can argue that an win, but in all this time the average guitar player does not want to deal with complicated and multi page interactions just to ad stuff to a sound chain. So simplifying a UI as much as possible will appeal to the vast majority.

I have plenty of experience dealing with this UI paralysis almost all new fractal owner experience here in my home town. 95% end up selling there fractal unit regardless of how great it sounds, all out of frustration from the UI.

We all want a new Fractal product, but unless it has a complete overhaul of the UI, its not going to be as exiting for new potential customers.

 

[Whizzinby]

Seriously?

View attachment 26916

They all…

Shake it up bros. Create an optional light background mode. Different colored borders. Get crazy.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

I'd say Cliff/Fractal is definitely a huge innovator, obviously, but there's also been signs of competitiveness and reacting to other product releases and developments. Which of course is normal. Why wouldn't there be?

I think when someone else comes up with something people go apeshit over (like the spring reverbs in the TMP), Cliff is like: "OK, hold my beer"... But mostly he follows his own muse.

 

[unix-guy]

On the same boat, but one can not deny how the whole landscape is shifting.

Its also hard to deny the freeing feeling of a touch screen and/or intuitive UI.

Fractal is the absolute king in amp modeling, hardly any one can argue that an win, but in all this time the average guitar player does not want to deal with complicated and multi page interactions just to ad stuff to a sound chain. So simplifying a UI as much as possible will appeal to the vast majority.

I have plenty of experience dealing with this UI paralysis almost all new fractal owner experience here in my home town. 95% end up selling there fractal unit regardless of how great it sounds, all out of frustration from the UI.

We all want a new Fractal product, but unless it has a complete overhaul of the UI, its not going to be as exiting for new potential customers.

To be honest, I do not want or care to ever have a touch screen.

Also, I'm not sure there's ever going to be an "Axe Fx for the average guitarist", and I definitely don't want one for myself.

That's like a "Lamborghini for the average driver"...

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

almost all new fractal owner experience here in my home town. 95% end up selling there fractal unit regardless of how great it sounds, all out of frustration from the UI.

We all want a new Fractal product, but unless it has a complete overhaul of the UI, its not going to be as exiting for new potential customers.

Fractal is very deep and feature rich by design.

People who aren't in to learning how to use things probably should go with something with less options and a simple interface.

It's just not that hard.

 

[Mongillo19]

Fractal is very deep and feature rich by design.

People who aren't in to learning how to use things probably should go with something with less options and a simple interface.

It's just not that hard.

It's not but I think we can all agree the UI could be made better to allow it to be more user friendly. Just accepting it as below average when everything else about it is fantastic seems like a big missed opportunity.

Why not both a good UI and feature rich

 

[TubeStack]

It's just not that hard.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Seriously?

View attachment 26916

This has never been about simple boxes connected by lines. In your example above, Fractal's looks notably different from the bottom two (never mind that it's their editor, not the hardware LCD), but more importantly, their implementation, iconography, design language, GUI affordances, and flow logic are very different from the bottom two. (Sheesh, flow logic can be done literally hundreds of ways—we came up with at least a dozen and debated them for months. Lifting all that work of ours whole-hog is... embarrassing.)

I've never had someone walk up to me while I'm wearing my Helix signal flow shirt and asked "Hey is that a Fractal shirt?" But I've been asked "Hey, is that a Quad Cortex shirt?" on three separate occasions by three different strangers.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Aaaaah, its 2018 again, where every thread turns into a Helix thread...

 

[Digital Igloo]

Aaaaah, its 2018 again, where every thread turns into a Helix thread...

Nah, I'm saying nice things about Fractal. They actually design their own gear on their own terms. Nothing but love for 'em.

 

[Mongillo19]

Nah, I'm saying nice things about Fractal. They actually design their own gear on their own terms. Nothing but love for 'em.

Outside the grid, do you feel NDSP ripped off Line 6 in other areas?

 

[norminal]

But I've been asked "Hey, is that a Quad Cortex shirt?" on three separate occasions by three different strangers.

I mean, it could be worse. They could’ve mistaken your product for a butt plug.

 

[James Freeman]

I've been asked "Hey, is that a Quad Cortex shirt?" on three separate occasions by three different strangers.

"is that a Q.."