Next Gen Fractal Speculation Thread

[JiveTurkey]

Awesome, JT! But... wrong thread maybe?

 

[AlbertA]

So taking a hint based on Fractal Audio's careers page, looks like they will use TI's Jacinto7 family for their new platform

There's some newish SoC's in that line that are stupidly powerful

TDA4XX line - 4 C7x DSP cores, 8 ARM Cortex A72 cores around the $180 range,
TDA4AEN-Q1 - 4 ARM Cortex A53 cores, 2 C7x DSPS) around $60 range
AM67 - 4 ARM Cortex A53 cores, 2 C7x DSPs around $50 range
AM62A3-Q1 - 4 ARM Cortex A53 cores, 1 C7x DSPs around $30 range

TDA4VH-Q1 data sheet, product information and support | TI.com

TI’s TDA4VH-Q1 is a Automotive SoC for sensor fusion, L2, L3 domain controllers with graphics, AI and video coprocessor. Find parameters, ordering and quality information

www.ti.com

TDA4AEN-Q1 data sheet, product information and support | TI.com

TI’s TDA4AEN-Q1 is a Automotive ADAS SoC with AI for front camera and drive applications. Find parameters, ordering and quality information

www.ti.com

AM67 data sheet, product information and support | TI.com

TI’s AM67 is a Arm®Cortex®-A53 SoC with triple display, 3D graphics, PCIe 3, USB3, 4K video codec for HMI. Find parameters, ordering and quality information

www.ti.com

AM62A3-Q1 data sheet, product information and support | TI.com

TI’s AM62A3-Q1 is a Automotive 1 TOPS vision SoC with RGB-IR ISP for 1-2 cameras, driver monitoring, dashcams. Find parameters, ordering and quality information

www.ti.com

So I could see a family of products at various price points, all with C7x DSPs

 

[mikah912]

Played a local outdoor fest with the FM and Fender FR12 last night and that goddamn JVM fucking KILLED!

Yessir. Yeah, I think only play Fractal-exclusive amps these days. The JVM is the best of them, no doubt.

Hard to see how he makes that sound better.

 

[Vic Winters]

A solid touchscreen that gave you Axe Edit level control would be more than enough.

 

[Deleted member 1726]

C. Excellent amp models/effects and excellent user experience.

I think that's what everybody wants. Any high end modeler in 2025 that makes it an either/or proposition will be left behind.

I predict all those extra bells & whistles on the "work station" change and/or detract from the "user experience" regarding *pure* digital amp modeling, not to mention resources skimmed to run/store/recal all those extra features.

It also adds a layer of cost, component complexity and/or *fail* potential that a *pure* digital amp modeler wouldn't have to begin with...

I understand the "work station" may be what some people want, but just like on keyboards, I don't need/want it.

Read past the ad copy & think about IRL application & longevity, including being locked into a foot controller rig that's gonna get pushed to the limit.

I'd prefer a separate *pure* digital amp modeler unit, with a great "user experience", + a rugged external controller, but hey that's just me & I still default to *real* amps whenever possible

 

[eggpl@nt]

whatever it is, I’ll probably buy it and happily use it alongside the Stadium. that’s why i never lose - i play both sides

 

[Deleted member 1726]

What if A and B were the same product?

 

[Mongillo19]

@Mongillo19 And here we are with our just acquired Axe-Fx IIIs.

With how good the III is I would truly be hard pressed to have a strong desire for a IV. I know the UI isn't great but Ive never had a large issue with it ......I even use the front panel!

 

[Whizzinby]

• Wireless tablet editor
• Wireless updates/backups
• Cloud sharing (presets/blocks)
• On device favorites
• Plugin integration

 

[mikah912]

I predict all those extra bells & whistles on the "work station" change and/or detract from the "user experience" regarding *pure* digital amp modeling, not to mention resources skimmed to run/store/recal all those extra features.

It also adds a layer of cost, component complexity and/or *fail* potential that a *pure* digital amp modeler wouldn't have to begin with...

I understand the "work station" may be what some people want, but just like on keyboards, I don't need/want it.

Read past the ad copy & think about IRL application & longevity, including being locked into a foot controller rig that's gonna get pushed to the limit.

I'd prefer a separate *pure* digital amp modeler unit, with a great "user experience", + a rugged external controller, but hey that's just me & I still default to *real* amps whenever possible

So, rack unit offering only the effects and models and I/O you personally use? Who makes that?

 

[Deleted member 1726]

So, rack unit offering only the effects and models and I/O you personally use? Who makes that?

Implementation of superior FX, models & I/O that are universally used, not necessarily in a rack mount, but that would work too

I don't want to be locked into a "work station", with it's limitations, fragility & extra costs...

 

[mikah912]

Implementation of FX, models & I/O universally used, not necessarily in a rack mount, but that would work too

I don't want to be locked into a "work station", with it's limitations, fragility & extra costs...

Where are you getting the extra costs and fragility from?

 

[Deleted member 1726]

Where are you getting the extra costs and fragility from?

All the bells & whistles not related to FX, models & I/O, which btw the modeler is strapped into and/or controlled by, not to mention UI space consumed for config

Also, something that's not a new fad, or toy, but an actual tool that is robust & delivers second-to-none results...

Anyways, great times ahead, lots of options for everyone, but I'll give it awhile for the IRL application & reviews to tell the rest of the story.

 

[Whizzinby]

With how good the III is I would truly be hard pressed to have a strong desire for a IV. I know the UI isn't great but Ive never had a large issue with it ......I even use the front panel!

FAS doesn’t have to win the UI wars, they just need to have enough modern conveniences to keep letting the tones do the talking. Build in wireless so we can use a tablet editor, do wireless updates and cloud sharing, then add the file space/structure for on-device favorites/defaults.

Then integrate plugins.

 

[la szum]

I'd actually prefer to discuss UFOs and UAPs.


Or, the greatest impending game-changer of all---an actual increase to
any of my quickly eroding skills and depleting life-force.

In the meantime, I'll leave the chronic lip-smacking and bloviating to others more fit for that kind of
thing. My stamina is fucking shot Dudes!

 

[dk_ace]

I’d be shocked if the next-gen didn’t have meaningful Ux improvements. He’s improved the UX every generation so far. My FM9 is way easier to use than my original axe-fx was in a lot of ways. Is it helix usability? Not by a long shot.

Can the next gen of fractal get to usability approaching or beating next-gen Helix? If the past patterns hold true, nope. We won’t know until it is out though. Maybe Cliff hired a killer UX team we know nothing about two years ago and put them in a bunker working on this product with the goal to leapfrog the next-gen helix.

All the assumptions made on this stuff are silly. Just like people assuming the stadium won’t have amp modeling that meets or beats fractal. We just don’t know yet.

I loved my Helix despite its shortcomings. I love my FM9 despite its shortcomings. They’re both killer tools that get the job done for me live. I’m excited to see what they both come out with next.

D

 

[Sascha Franck]

Will they name it after some modern car terminology this time?

In case it's meant to rival the L6 things, they better call it "Colosseum".

 

[- ★ - BROCKSTAR - ★ -]

 

[Mongillo19]

/thread

 

[OrganicZed]

A feature I'd like to see:

Ability to load your own user generated speaker impedance curve. The device doesn't need the hardware to measure the curve onboard, but the ability to generate a speaker impedance curve from raw data from a DATS would be very nice.

In a more out there vision of what this could look like; You could connect your Axe-FX to a solid state power amplifier and cabinet of your choice. You enter the SIC generator and the Axe-FX would read the speaker impedance curve of the cabinet and incorporate that data into the modeling algorithm. You could save and share your user generated SIC much in the way that we currently share IRs.