New Fractal product coming!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Aside from the superior modeling and effects quality, the three features that really set Fractal apart for me are 1) the grid routing system, 2) block channels, and 3) Layouts.

1) The Helix/QC routing paradigm is very limited by comparison, especially without bypass dry through options which are crucial for running a drive in parallel on bass for example. Kemper and others are even worse in this regard.

2) The "one block one model" thing really limits the amount of stuff you can have on one preset on other platforms. The ability to cycle through four different drives, delays, choruses, compressors, pitch fx, etc, each on a single block (without using up four footswitches each), has completely changed my approach and there's no way I could ever go back to those other platforms now. Not to mention physical pedals, they're so noisy and limited by comparison they feel like stone age tech. It's insane how much stuff I'm able to cram into a single FM9 Turbo preset, with channels it's easily 3-4x what I could run on Helix/QC.

3) No other platform comes close to Fractal's footswitch/layout flexibility. My own 4-layout version of OFM9G (master/presets, scenes, PP 1-6, PP 1-12), gives me an insane amount of live flexibility that no other platform even comes close to.
 
Last edited:
Rick said:
Seems a “touch screen defeat” switch would be possible if it proved an issue.
Click to expand...
Not a “touch screen defeat” switch. With a spill, the touch screen has already been defeated. Just make it possible to do everything without a touch screen. Then, if you want to add a touch screen, it’s fine.
 
JiveTurkey said:
The capability to be next level is there. The outdated visuals and implementation is gross though. Take up a whole screen for a 3 knob amp, zoom back out, take up the whole screen for a 3 knob pedal, back out. Only thing I would steal design wise from the TMP and QC would be the rotary encoder switches.
Click to expand...
The concept was easy transition, and it’s been very effective. My bud walked away from every modeler he tried until the TMP… it works like a pedalboard. One thing at a time. He’s a dyed in the wool amp and pedal guy, and that interface sold him. It’s killer, imho.

I have to say I agree that my fave thing is the encoders, but they become more awesome when they assign themselves to whatever you select. It’s a brilliant system, but one I think FAS could reinvent and improve. You can’t hang your hat on “originality” when your business is ‘modeling” but you can certainly improve the way it’s used by players. No company beats FAS at that, and I’d love to see their take on such an interface. There’s a reason I still play FAS, after all!
 
Rick said:
The concept was easy transition, and it’s been very effective. My bud walked away from every modeler he tried until the TMP… it works like a pedalboard. One thing at a time. He’s a dyed in the wool amp and pedal guy, and that interface sold him. It’s killer, imho.

I have to say I agree that my fave thing is the encoders, but they become more awesome when they assign themselves to whatever you select. It’s a brilliant system, but one I think FAS could reinvent and improve. You can’t hang your hat on “originality” when your business is ‘modeling” but you can certainly improve the way it’s used by players. No company beats FAS at that, and I’d love to see their take on such an interface. There’s a reason I still play FAS, after all!
Click to expand...
We mocked the heck out of those encoders on the QC turd but once I saw them on the TMP; I was very impressed. I am generally all in on FAS with a side of Boss once in a great while when I want to drive myself nuts. These kinds of adds for me are creature comfort level moreso than dealbreakers but I would certainly entertain the idea of having them.
 
BTW. Let’s go back to speculation :)
  • so clearly not a amp capture apparently.
  • maybe a FX8 reborn (with load box?)
  • audio interface
  • amp/cab pedal only
  • a guitar.
A modeling guitar yes :)
Like a variax but a lot better. After all Axefx was a pod XT but a lot better ;)
 
Musikron said:
Wasn't Cliff asking about modeling pickups at one point a few years back?
Click to expand...

What would something like this even look like? I cannot imagine it being anything more than just a fancy input EQ, unless the product itself was external pickups that acted as modelers or something.
 
Innovation: Fractal Audio put the sounds, features and operations of an entire Bob Bradshaw custom guitar rig into a single 2U rack unit.


Bob Bradshaw's custom guitar rigs would often include several guitar amplifiers, one or two 16U rack cases filled with multiple effects rack units and a complex MIDI switching matrix system.


Expanding DSP microprocessors enabled Fractal Audio to build digital models of an entire warehouse of guitar gear into an Infinity-U rack with a built in routing matrix. They were the first to do this at scale and at a quality that approaches the actual real gear and guitar rigs being modeled. For more than a decade, no other company had a digital product that came anywhere near the realism of Fractal Audio's modeling. It took about 15 years for any other company to create digital models of guitar equipment that sound and feels as realistic to play.

Today, there is a short cut to achieving superior digitized guitar amplifier realism with capture technology, and it will be interesting to see how capturing and modeling develop alongside each other with machine learning introduced into the development of both methods.

With the power of machine learning at play, will digital sampling or digital modeling evolve faster? Will capture technology or modeling technology completely close the gap first, between the experience of working with the real pieces of equipment and working with the virtual version of all that equipment? There are advantages and limitations to both. At the moment, modeling can do more.
 
Last edited:
BBN said:
Matt you are the last guy I'd ever want to debate with.... But I'm not sure I'd agree with this.

Rocktron had their MIDI switching system back in the 80s that did this (I can't remember the name of the product), but my Bass player used it.
You had a rack where you would plug in like 8 pedals, and then use their midi pedal to set up presets that determined the state of each pedal (for each preset) - I mean, that's exactly what Scenes is doing in the Fractal. They may have called them Presets in the Rocktron, but it was doing what Scenes does. I believe you could also include an amp channel switch in your Preset/Scene on the Rocktron.
Pick a Preset - it turns on/off the pedals that you programmed for that Preset.
Click to expand...
My soundsculpture switchblade too
 
  • Like
Reactions: BBN
RifferMcDuck said:
What would something like this even look like? I cannot imagine it being anything more than just a fancy input EQ, unless the product itself was external pickups that acted as modelers or something.
Click to expand...
Would/could work just like Slate microphones. The Mic/Pickup is as clean as possible, and the 'modelling' adds the color of different Mic/Pickups.
 
RifferMcDuck said:
What would something like this even look like? I cannot imagine it being anything more than just a fancy input EQ, unless the product itself was external pickups that acted as modelers or something.
Click to expand...
I assume it would be like the afishman Fluence, only way way better, and might actually alter the magnetic field and how it affects the strings as well as just processing the sound. But what do I know? 😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom