Fractal Audio Systems mystery product speculation

[Joshual-L]

View attachment 26995

So if I buy 2 fc3 then could turn my fm3 into fm9 light?????
Take my money please lol

 

[Jarick]

Touch screens are brilliant for quickly navigating around and typing

Knobs are brilliant for adjusting parameters

Luckily modern devices have both…

 

[unix-guy]

Not necessarily. Adding a touchscreen could obviate the need for several of the archaic (and in some instances redundant) buttons, possibly even freeing up some room for knobs. Get into hybrid encoder/ switches and things open up even more.

Your previous statement was that adding a touch screen wouldn't affect me... You can't have it both ways

A solid state, water-proof part versus multiple moving parts that require holes in the top of the enclosure? I'm not convinced this is true

A complex screen plus it's related parts. Not 1 part...

Analog knobs and buttons are pretty durable.

 

[[Nathan]]

This thread is a masterclass on people not being happy with any solution

Mid tier 7” touch screens cost like $25-40 and I’m sure would come down in price with volume orders. Can’t imagine the actual screen cost adding more than $50-$75 but the dev UI/UX cost is a whole other thing for a redesign.

Touch screens work great for basic navigation and dragging/dropping blocks around. But a lot of operations like knob values work better on encoders/knobs so some hybrid solution like quad cortex/TMP is the best I’ve tried (helix is close enough as well).

If the touch screen really did need to be shielded to save it from wear and tear there’s a bunch of solutions a company could do like snap on shields, better glass in general, in built sliding shields etc etc.

Touchscreen and knobs seems like a no brainer way to go and it seems to be working well enough for qc/tmp and im sure helix will add a touch soon. App controlled things are like an ok bolt on solution, but a long term annoying side solution. I have a bunch of lights and camera gear that have apps to do things and it’s annoying scrolling and juggling through a bunch of apps to get things done.

 

[Dirty145]

It sounds like you're already happy with your solution, though. So does welding these two devices together and sacrificing the modularity really buy you anything? It's certainly going to be less versatile in some instances. (E.g. I could see wanting the FM9 on one side of a mic stand and the FC6 on the other.)

I’d say it’s more about the having the full horsepower of the axe in an all in one solution.

 

[timbuck3]

This thread is a masterclass on people not being happy with any solution

Mid tier 7” touch screens cost like $25-40 and I’m sure would come down in price with volume orders. Can’t imagine the actual screen cost adding more than $50-$75 but the dev UI/UX cost is a whole other thing for a redesign.

Touch screens work great for basic navigation and dragging/dropping blocks around. But a lot of operations like knob values work better on encoders/knobs so some hybrid solution like quad cortex/TMP is the best I’ve tried (helix is close enough as well).

If the touch screen really did need to be shielded to save it from wear and tear there’s a bunch of solutions a company could do like snap on shields, better glass in general, in built sliding shields etc etc.

Touchscreen and knobs seems like a no brainer way to go and it seems to be working well enough for qc/tmp and im sure helix will add a touch soon. App controlled things are like an ok bolt on solution, but a long term annoying side solution. I have a bunch of lights and camera gear that have apps to do things and it’s annoying scrolling and juggling through a bunch of apps to get things done.

I agree with this . The combo of the switch/knob encoders + touch is the future way to go . Temp and we have this already going for them even though on temp a lot of wasted screen real estate is wasted

 

[Hapless]

Temp and we have this already going for them even though on temp a lot of wasted screen real estate is wasted

Are you having a stroke or am I?

 

[mbenigni]

I’d say it’s more about the having the full horsepower of the axe in an all in one solution.

Understood. All I'm saying is that all-in-one solution is going to be significantly larger, which will make it suitable for a subset of the gigs an FM9 (with or without FC6) would accomodate.

 

[eggpl@nt]

Are you having a stroke or am I?

Temp = TMP = Tone Master Pro
We = QC = Quad Cortex

Someone didn’t proofread before posting.

 

[mbenigni]

I’m sure its great but come on modelers touchscreens won’t never be as great as your phone or tablet screens.
I’d rather fractal enabled some built in Bluetooth and release official apps instead of paying 200€ for a touchscreen that would fuck my gig if there’s some rain or humidity.
Touchscreens are not built for gigs, or maybe yes but that would cost too much to have them waterproof

Your previous statement was that adding a touch screen wouldn't affect me... You can't have it both ways

A complex screen plus it's related parts. Not 1 part...

Analog knobs and buttons are pretty durable.

I don't know what to say at this point besides: Sure, if you have a crappy design team and they try to design a crappy product, doing so is entirely within the realm of possibility.

 

[mbenigni]

View attachment 26995

Hitting the middle button looks more or less impossible (even to a QC owner LOL.)

 

[mbenigni]

View attachment 26997

Now we're talking - except swap these functions with the ones on the FM itself.

 

[mbenigni]

This thread is a masterclass on people not being happy with any solution

Mid tier 7” touch screens cost like $25-40 and I’m sure would come down in price with volume orders. Can’t imagine the actual screen cost adding more than $50-$75 but the dev UI/UX cost is a whole other thing for a redesign.

Touch screens work great for basic navigation and dragging/dropping blocks around. But a lot of operations like knob values work better on encoders/knobs so some hybrid solution like quad cortex/TMP is the best I’ve tried (helix is close enough as well).

If the touch screen really did need to be shielded to save it from wear and tear there’s a bunch of solutions a company could do like snap on shields, better glass in general, in built sliding shields etc etc.

Touchscreen and knobs seems like a no brainer way to go and it seems to be working well enough for qc/tmp and im sure helix will add a touch soon. App controlled things are like an ok bolt on solution, but a long term annoying side solution. I have a bunch of lights and camera gear that have apps to do things and it’s annoying scrolling and juggling through a bunch of apps to get things done.

Finally!

 

[mbenigni]

Temp = TMP = Tone Master Pro
We = QC = Quad Cortex

Someone didn’t proofread before posting.

Or try to square any of these points with half of his preceding posts LOL.

 

[Achilles]

 

[paisleywookiee]

View attachment 27044

 

[paisleywookiee]

This thread basically says:

"Please, Cliff. Design a product for us, a group of people that agree on absolutely nothing except that it's a Fractal product we want anyway."

 

[mbenigni]

View attachment 27044

I would be the first among us to say that this would almost certainly suck.

 

[Achilles]

This thread basically says:

"Please, Cliff. Design a product for us, a group of people that agree on absolutely nothing except that it's a Fractal product we want anyway."

And it should cost $699.
No, wait, $1,099.
I think we can go as high as $1,499.

Fuck it, $1,899.

And for sure, 6 switches.
Or 18.....

 

[mbenigni]

This thread basically says:

"Please, Cliff. Design a product for us, a group of people that agree on absolutely nothing except that it's a Fractal product we want anyway."

And it should cost $699.
No, wait, $1,099.
I think we can go with $1,499.

Fuck it, $1,899.

And for sure, 6 switches.
Or 18.....

I'd sooner recommend making some changes to the overall UI layout that could be applied across all future products. Surely there is room for improvement over this VCR on steroids approach.