Fractal Audio Systems mystery product speculation

[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.

 

[Whizzinby]

While y’all are worried about buying the same shit you already have but in a different FS configuration, or denying the utility of touchscreens, this single most “needed” thing on the platform remains…

 

[paisleywookiee]

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.

View attachment 27045

YEAH WELL I'VE BEEN PROGRAMMING VCRs SINCE 1982!!

 

[mbenigni]

YEAH WELL I'VE BEEN PROGRAMMING VCRs SINCE 1982!!

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

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.

View attachment 27045

If you put the nav buttons onto a combo joystick/value knob, you're really not too far from Helix:

Helix has dedicated "save" button, "home" button, Two page buttons, a button titled "action" and then some ancillary dedicated buttons for bypass, amp tone stack, and preset list (I think?). I don't think the "exit" button here is at all confusing. I think you could keep this knob/button layout just fine, but sorting out the "wait, why do we have separate enter, edit, and push-button-on-value-knob functions and what do each do differently?" is the only bit that's kinda confusing. I think repurposing the "enter" button as a "grid" button that takes you straight to the grid, killing the edit button, and making the push-the-value-knob do what the edit and enter buttons used to do would clear up most of the confusion and in terms of button count/complexity be no different than Helix really.

Which gets to the silliness of debating touchscreen. For the most part, the UI issues on the Fractal stuff is more in terms of approach than hardware.