OK ... Im in a ranty mood
I have an almost limitless amount of time and respect for Fractal and Cliff - what they have done and do for modeling is hard to quantify.
And I love my FM3.
-But- I posted a few pages back that with this release, the biggest mistake Fractal could make - in my mind - is to keep relying on the whole "our modeling is the best because [insert words of your choice] .... ie: we are Fractal ...... Cliff is doing it ......we expose 3,000 parameters .... we issue a new FW every 4 days .... we've had a breakthrough in how we think component X should respond to harmonic frequencies .... our forum members have eargasms when even the smallest thing is tweaked etc ...etc....
You can only rely on an objectively un-provable proposition for so long .... pre Helix / Kemper / QC it wasn't an issue .... but that's a long time ago now
In 2025, with these units, its like debating which shade of blue is best or most accurately blue
Like it or not, you can get Pro level tones and feel out of a $400 Ampero ... like it or not, that matters to buyers - pro or not - and lets face it .. not even the "pros" are making serious coin these days
I.m.h.o .... they need to keep doing everything they have been doing modeling wise, but also for f*cks sake, hire or poach some Industrial or UI designers / experts and redesign the whole user interaction experience from the ground up ...... this shit matters.
Look at the FM3 and FM9 - both brilliant units ... period.
Now look at this new Stadium - I'll be surprised if its not equally brilliant sounding too - we'll find out.
Whereas the Stadium - and the Helix - look like a *lot* of time went into its overall design and look etc... ..... the "FM" series, by comparison, from Day 1, look like they were designed by the old Soviet Block Polit Bureau .... and again ... rightly or wrongly, this shit does matter.
But the Stadium is for another day for Fractal .... the finalization of the US/China I'm being a dipshit and starting a political thread deal today has locked in the overall I'm being a dipshit and starting a political thread at %55.
That's going to jack their prices across the whole line by major, major $$$. They are too small to absorb it. So they have to hope sales wont drop at the higher prices, otherwise they go backwards in terms of profitability relative to pre-I'm being a dipshit and starting a political thread.s rates ... or even worse, they are in the invidious position of hoping to sell more units at higher prices !!!! - I'd suggest, not going to happen.
I have no answers - I'm a true "lapsed Economist" ..... so I'm not really sure what my point is, but given there isn't much more known about the Stadium as of yet, my old Economist mind started to focus on these issues.
