I think the hard part is coming from a digital modeler mindset rather than a pedal mindset. There seems to be a lot of people who will drop $1500 on three Strymon pedals to run post effects that wouldn’t touch a digital modeler. So this is bringing the effect functionality of the Fractals to that user in a size and format they prefer.
I think the HX Stomp was really the first pedal to do that and it ended up being a gateway for a lot of people into modeling. VP4 won’t blur those lines as much but could be great for many pedal people.
As one of those people with that kind of dough in Strymon/SA pedals, to me the VP4 is a great alternative for the old Timeline/Mobius/BigSky, or their eventual MX versions. If I were Strymon, I'd be thinking really hard about releasing a single pedal that does all three as two algorithms at a time units instead of a separate big box for each. Because buying a BigSky, Timeline and Mobius MX would cost you something like 3x as much as the VP4 alone, with no real benefit other than "I like Strymon algorithms and more knobs".
What the VP4 does not do is be a direct replacement for the smaller, purpose built boxes. It's never going to be as straightforward to work the multitap delay as a Volante or El Cap, and there's no straight equivalent for what the Deco does on its own. Knobs for most things, easy.
In a similar manner the HX Stomp is a good alternative for multi-algorithm boxes, but not necessarily for the "I like this specific effect and want the best version of that", which is highly subjective.
I still would love to see an expanded version with loop switching. That would be awesome to be able to run the Fractal for effects with analog pedals and something like a Friedman IRX, and have the Fractal do all the switching too.
Switching could be improved simply by having better MIDI capabilities on the VP4. You could then pair it with e.g the Morningstar ML5/ML10X. It's not ideal of course.
For my uses, things like loop reordering are totally irrelevant, which is why I went from an analog+digital pedal rig to mostly MIDI controllable. The Boss FZ-1W is the only non-MIDI fx pedal on my current board. Just being able to connect all pedals together normally and then use MIDI to toggle them on/off is way more straightforward. I used the Morningstar ML5 and the underside of my board was a real rat's nest.
Not modern....but amazing.
thegearforum.com
