NAM support announced by Fractal Audio

[dk_ace]

Admittedly, I have been drinking a little (ok maybe more than a little)…

But I read this thread as “Next gen fractal will support NAMM”…

I interpreted that as saying that the next gen fractal product would be such a big deal that it would be the talk of the namm where it is announced or shown off…

Then I was a little surprised to read that people were talking about it supporting NAM, which seemed like an obvious feature it would have.

Obvious except for you would think that L6 would support it with their next gen, but they chose not to.

I guess I’m just sharing how slow my mind is when I’m completely exhausted and have had a few drinks, carry on….

D

 

[GTR37]

According to those in the know; @la szum is doing ok! After completely missing the continued Mark surge that is TGF.

I don't know if it true but I heard that got hired at BAD and now is a product manager and sales rep for Friedman amplifiers
so that might be why he has not be around lately ?

 

[FuzzyAce]

TL;DR
Think I'm going back to tube amps full-time.

 

[James Freeman]

Confirming next-gen of a very successful line of products is like announcing that the sun will rise again tomorrow morning.
I've tried captures for a day, it's a cool trick.

 

[Piing]

Some of the best profiles are captured from the Axe-FX. There is also people selling them, as if they were from the physical amp.
Are you telling me that you are going to sell your Axe-FX to buy a FAS profiler to play with static captures from the Axe-FX??

 

[Richard_G]

Some of the best profiles are captured from the Axe-FX. There is also people selling them, as if they were from the physical amp.

Who would that be?

 

[jellodog]

Speaking of which, where is la szum these days

Probably out on the road enjoying the final days with his hog, before the snow comes and he has to put it in storage for the winter.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

I’m surprised Cliff would be willing turn over control of “stuff that makes sounds” on his devices to 3rd party solutions, but on the other hand it’s probably low cost to integrate, leaving him able to focus on other aspects of the platform.

I generally find capturing to be a pointless time sink as an end user, particularly for units that have robust modeling already, but I suppose options are never a bad thing.

If his next post is “You will also be able to run plugins from our next generation hardware” we will have reached the end-game.

So many people are begging for this, and Line6, NDSP and lots of Chinese brands are offering the hybrid approach. it's a no brainer at this point.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out with people who are capture users who never used Fractal amp modelling.

 

[ChordInversion]

Surprised for sure. Feels like a race to commoditization. I'll keep using modeling. I'm sure this announcement makes some people very happy, so good for them.

 

[ChordInversion]

Dude, I am happy for those that want it. But I've been on the capture train for months now, and I'm ready to get off.

Yeah, my capture experience was draining and turned me off completely. I'll be sticking with modeling.

 

[crispsandwich]

I have a Valeton GP5 and the NAM files I have tried have been ace. I prefer FAS modelling, but there's not much in it tbh. Having both would be awesome. I just can't see how amp modelling can be improved at this point, but then we all said that about the Axe II.

 

[Lysander]

Official word from Cliff: "Next-generation products will support NAM."

 

[laxu]

Hot take: the Freidman amps should have went on that same flavor of the month and forget list.

They probably should have. But you can't understate how popular they were in that particular point in time.

Then Fractal modeled them, and people quickly moved on to the next hyped thing, whether it was a Friedman JEL or some other brand.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

1. More is more. So STFU if you don't like it.

2. Whenever I read "Fractalverse" I throw up a little.

 

[Stone]

Not Interested in captures thats just folder diving nonsense for me, i can tweak my own amps thank you.
But for some i guess its something they will use, so makes sense for Cliff and the boys to incorporate NAM in the next gen hardware.
PS it will also finally make everyone stop asking for x amp or x other effect
So yeah its a very smart choice for Fractal to incorporate this.

 

[mbenigni]

That's not the issue. I have a Kemper and a Tonex as well as my Fractals, and it's just another path to the same destination. It's just the latest cool new fad to talk about.

How could a new, improved iteration of a technology that’s proved useful for over a decade be described as a “fad”?

As for the subsequent posts describing it as “new and different”, I hadn’t yet considered it to be “different” enough (post KPA, QC, ToneX, et al) to bother trying it. But some variation of profiling is certainly a useful option.

 

[mikah912]

Hot take: the Freidman amps should have went on that same flavor of the month and forget list.

I think they are still great amps, but they are kind of their own thing rather than "the ultimate Marshall".

They have just become commoditized similar to how 5153s are now boring and commonplace.

 

[mbenigni]

This is actually a huge deal for me. The main reason I have a QC right now is because of PCOM. If there had been a reasonable avenue to be able to quickly integrate sounds directly from my plugins into my FM9, I’d still have that instead. Integration of NAM into the Fractalverse means I could profile my favorite sounds from the plugins into a Fractal device. So instead of capturing Fractal sounds into a QC, people will be profiling NDSP sounds into a Fractal…AND with even better quality (oh how the tables have turned with that dynamic).

I’ve said I’ll be getting the next generation Fractal device and though I still thought that was true, I think I was maybe starting to lean away from that due to some reliance on PCOM and due to form factor and ease of use. I don’t know what Fractal has planned for those last two aspects but regardless, I’m excited again.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I think they are still great amps, but they are kind of their own thing rather than "the ultimate Marshall".

They have just become commoditized similar to how 5153s are now boring and commonplace.

Yeah I don't know what it is? Agreed with the 5153s. The OG 5150 is as ubiquitous as can be but it still stands out as an icon? The 5153 to me is as generic as you can get. Super usable and great tones when you are playing one but nothing I would actively pick when it's not here in my hands.

The Friedman stuff is like 2 tiers down on that for me. Super expensive and boring as fuck. The amp models and the associated "we don't have that amp in the box so just use the Friedman" in modelers is worse. I don't want to use the real thing here in 2025 so I am sure as fuck not thinking it's a huge add to have a model of it in the box.

 

[mikah912]

Yeah I don't know what it is? Agreed with the 5153s. The OG 5150 is as ubiquitous as can be but it still stands out as an icon? The 5153 to me is as generic as you can get. Super usable and great tones when you are playing one but nothing I would actively pick when it's not here in my hands.

The Friedman stuff is like 2 tiers down on that for me. Super expensive and boring as fuck. The amp models and the associated "we don't have that amp in the box so just use the Friedman" in modelers is worse. I don't want to use the real thing here in 2025 so I am sure as fuck not thinking it's a huge add to have a model of it in the box.

Well, it looks like going forward that no platform will have the problem of "We don't have that in the box, so use the Friedman model". They'll have all the models and/or captures going forward.