Reading a thread at TOP in which a newbie is looking for advice regarding which modeler to purchase, and it doesn't take long before the typical Fractal comments start up. Which has me wondering a few things:
"I sold it because the UI is too much of a PITA and it couldn't do X."
Possible reality: It does do what you want it to do, but you either wanted the info spoon-fed to you, or simply quit trying to learn how, prior to giving up. Units like the ones from FAS can do SO much, and are designed to give the widest amount of players the most options, that some of that stuff will require learning some new skills on how to make it do what you want. If I bought a RJM Mastermind, I would expect a steep learning curve to be able to set it up to be able to make it scroll through songs, while also giving me the ability to access certain effects 'on-the-fly', while also having my choice of 3 different crunch tones whenever I wanted, etc., e.g.
"Any of the 3 will sound fine live or in a mix, and neither the audience nor you will be able to tell the differences."
Reality: We're guitarists, and we're pretty damn picky as a lot, about our tone. So even minor differences do matter to a lot of us. Just read through the DR thread! And just because you can't tell the difference, doesn't mean no one can! Plus, how the units react to your playing is also a factor. And/or, maybe you have shit ears. For me, I want to have a great tone, before I worry about what I'm able to give to an audience.
"Insert famous artist is using X unit. So that means X is the best."
Really? I'd say yes and no. Many, many artists use Fractal, but Fractal doesn't do endorsements. But do we know if any other brands do? Honest question. And as for buying any gear because a certain famous guitarist uses it..., yeah, we do that because we love their tones, and want them for our own use. It's why I play Mesa amps, a Majesty guitar, and use a Fractal Axe III. And I know I'm not in the minority in wanting to cop either my favorite player's tone, or a certain amp's tone I love. (Well, I don't know, but I think it's a safe educated assumption. How's that?)
So many people absolutely love FAS products because of the crazy amount of support from Cliff Chase. It's undoubtedly a fantastic way to run a company, so it sure does seem to follow that that makes a lot of their customers a bit fanatical. Especially when that level of service-after-the-sale is so lacking these days.
Not sure what to comment about that one, other than to say it's somewhat human nature to want to knock the "king" off the throne (I purposely put king in quotes, even though personally I do feel FAS is the best, overall.) Just look at 2 football players at somewhat opposite ends of the spectrum, and the shit they got: Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick. (Maybe not the greatest analogy, but hopefully you get my point.)
And last, the pot-shots that people take about the graphs. FFS people, it's simply the way a guy like Cliff can show us, in an objective manner, that his products match closer to the item he's modelling, than the competition. Makes perfect sense he would do that, especially given how hard it is to agree on accuracy, with just our ears.
TL;DR: There is only one valid reason (doesn't bother me personally, but I can see why it bothers many others) why FAS deserves any criticism, and that's the hardware workflow. But for the others, I think if you drill down far enough, those arguments just don't hold up. All in my observation, IMO, YMMV, yada yada...
