Fractal Audio Systems mystery product speculation

[Josetxu]

I wonder if a big part of the reason Cliff doesn't stress over the UI is that in theory you shouldn't be using it much. Once the device is set up, you should be playing. I'm thinking of when I saw Metallica last weekend...the only pedals on the stage were the controllers for Kirk's wah. I doubt that they care what the UI is like because it's been programmed and set up, sounds really good, and works reliably.

Now the average consumers are different...and they span the range from "guy who used to program rack units in his sleep in the 80's" to "guy who won't touch anything other than the volume knob on his amp". That's where the units with touch screens and clean UI's give a big advantage. But I don't think that's much of a concern for Cliff. If he was worried about selling a lot of units he'd be focusing on hitting price points and having broader distribution.

A poor excuse, not everyone is Metallica and I'm sure even them have their techs changing things from time to time. And seems that Edge started using the UAFX pedals because the easy to tweak things on the fly.

 

[Orvillain]

I will agree that for tweaking things on the fly, the hierarchical and page based nature of the Axe is sometimes a bit of a ballache. But that is more or less what you always get when you have these kinds of parameter sets.

For the vast majority of people who just want to quickly assemble a chain of pre-effects, an amp, a cab, and then a chain of post-effects, the HW is pretty easy to use. No more difficult than the Helix I'd say.

Fractal are an easy target for forum UX "experts" with too much time on their hands.

Every gear choice is a question of pro's and cons, positives and negatives, benefits and limitations.

When you choose Fractal, you're getting the best amp simulation around, period. When you choose other brands, you're compromising on that, whether you can hear it or not.

With Fractal, I know I can design a delay tone that I have in my head. With other brands I know I am limited to the 4-10 parameters that they think I should be allowed to access. With other brands I know that if their digital delay sounds a certain way, or decays away at a certain rate, that I'm stuck with it. Whereas with Fractal I know I can mess with the EQ, the compander, the drive, and I can craft a delay tone that is exactly what I wanted. The downside of that is, I know it is going to take some time. I also know if I want to tweak it in the middle of a show, that it isn't going to be easy.

But I'd rather that that not be able to do it at all, or just be stuck with effect X on another platform. For example, the Helix Transistor Tape delay.... it is great... but sometimes I want to keep the general character of it, but tweak the tonality or frequency response - I want to make it darker or brighter or something - and there are limitations to what you can do inside the block. Let's not even pretend that Quad Cortex has anything remotely resembling a true tape delay sound. They all sound like shaped digital delays. Not the same thing at all.

TMP strangely enough does sound like it has great effects... but then you're back to shithouse amp modelling. Pro's and cons again.

 

[mbenigni]

I will agree that for tweaking things on the fly, the hierarchical and page based nature of the Axe is sometimes a bit of a ballache. But that is more or less what you always get when you have these kinds of parameter sets.

For the vast majority of people who just want to quickly assemble a chain of pre-effects, an amp, a cab, and then a chain of post-effects, the HW is pretty easy to use. No more difficult than the Helix I'd say.

Fractal are an easy target for forum UX "experts" with too much time on their hands.

Every gear choice is a question of pro's and cons, positives and negatives, benefits and limitations.

When you choose Fractal, you're getting the best amp simulation around, period. When you choose other brands, you're compromising on that, whether you can hear it or not.

With Fractal, I know I can design a delay tone that I have in my head. With other brands I know I am limited to the 4-10 parameters that they think I should be allowed to access. With other brands I know that if their digital delay sounds a certain way, or decays away at a certain rate, that I'm stuck with it. Whereas with Fractal I know I can mess with the EQ, the compander, the drive, and I can craft a delay tone that is exactly what I wanted. The downside of that is, I know it is going to take some time. I also know if I want to tweak it in the middle of a show, that it isn't going to be easy.

But I'd rather that that not be able to do it at all, or just be stuck with effect X on another platform. For example, the Helix Transistor Tape delay.... it is great... but sometimes I want to keep the general character of it, but tweak the tonality or frequency response - I want to make it darker or brighter or something - and there are limitations to what you can do inside the block. Let's not even pretend that Quad Cortex has anything remotely resembling a true tape delay sound. They all sound like shaped digital delays. Not the same thing at all.

TMP strangely enough does sound like it has great effects... but then you're back to shithouse amp modelling. Pro's and cons again.

Once again: the number of parameters is simply not the problem. At all.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

So, you guys were right, my trip to New England wasn't about a vacation. I was picking up a USB stick with the new firmware for the FAS-DOG, it's so secret Cliff won't even put it on the internet, but I'm letting the dog out of the bag.

I won't give away all the details, but basically you let the dog chew your USB cable when it's plugged into your Fractal unit, then he'll know when to operate your FC's or any associated pedals plugged into the Fractal unit. It's pretty badass, IMO. He's actually operating the Whammy right now with head tilts.

View attachment 27137

Sorry, @FractalAudio. I couldn't keep it in any longer. But don't worry, no one has noticed the other thing in any of my pics/vids.

Samoyed?
I got one of those...

 

[Rock Chalk]

Once again: the number of parameters is simply not the problem. At all.

True........this is the biggest problem:

Fractal are an easy target for forum UX "experts" with too much time on their hands.

 

[Achilles]

Fractal are an easy target for forum UX "experts" with too much time on their hands.

Fractal are an easy target because their UI sucks - relative to the competition - FULL STOP.

Maybe if there wasn't a cauldron of folks always making excuses for it, the company might feel a bit more
obliged towards updating it with 21st century technology.


time to get slammed by those same folks......

 

[Mongillo19]

Maybe if there wasn't a cauldron of folks always making excuses for it, the company mind feel a bit more
obliged towards updating it with 21st century tech

I feel like even if people did complain more, Cliff would still do his own thing, for better or worse

 

[Rock Chalk]

No excuses needed really. If you simply want the best modeling, you get a Fractal. If you want a shiny new UI instead, you look elsewhere.......

 

[Mongillo19]

No excuses needed really. If you simply want the best modeling, you get a Fractal. If you want a shiny new UI instead, you look elsewhere.......View attachment 27225

Imo the gap between fractal modeling and it's competition isn't as large as some make it out to be. Now as far as tone customizability, absolutely it is leagues above.

It's not like these devices that have great UIs have terrible modeling. That's just not the case

 

[Achilles]

When you choose other brands, you're compromising on that, whether you can hear it or not.

Well, there you have it!

 

[mbenigni]

 

[Rock Chalk]

Imo the gap between fractal modeling and it's competition isn't as large as some make it out to be.

I guess that's the part that's so subjective, and each individual has to choose their poison......

 

[FuzzyAce]

It's a good thing I don't have anything Fractal (yet), I'd hate to talk down to some of y'all.

 

[Rock Chalk]

Exactly

 

[duzie]

Use what works for you.
Why worry about what doesn’t?

 

[Achilles]

I'd hate to talk down to some of y'all.

Was annoying in the 2000s.
Was maddening in the 2010s.
Comes across as insecurity in 2020s.

 

[mbenigni]

It's a good thing I don't have anything Fractal (yet), I'd hate to talk down to some of y'all.

Some of these FAS guys have such good ears, they can actually hear how much a sensible UI detracts from their tone.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Some of these FAS guys have such good ears, they can actually hear how much a sensible UI detracts from their tone.

I like to poke of course, but I can see both sides of the argument on this one. There are legitimates points being made and some people take it differently than others. None of this stuff deeply bothers me to be honest. We all like what we like.

 

[Rock Chalk]

 

[duzie]

View attachment 27230

View attachment 27231

Gonna save this one lol