Should I buy Axe-fx Ultra?

S

sarmad5

Member
I need to know, will the new Axe-fx Ultra going to come out soon? Should I wait or buy it right away? ... Will I miss on anything if I don't wait?
 
If you're talking about the one that's been broached before regarding the simulations requiring truly enormous processing power, that won't be out for at least a few years by what we've heard from the man himself. There would be no point in waiting that long.
 
sarmad5 said:
Thanks for the reply :) ... In it's current form, do you think it's future proof?
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I think nothing is future proof but if you look at the upgrade history for the Axe units and consider the same degree of upgrades over a similar time period if it was a Line6 product would have cost you probably near 40% additional investment and yet Fractal Audio gave them to us for free and there is no end in sight....
The way I see mine is I'm no more future proof than it is and years from now after I die my daughters will be plugging into it and it will sound as good to them then as it does to me now and that is damn good! He He, vintage digital gear...maybe they can sell it to pay for college!
 
Soundwise, it's as future proof as any piece of gear ever was. It sounds good, period. And it still might possibly be better in the future.

If this was Line6, I'd bet the improvements so far wouldn't have been a couple of model packs and updates, they would've been a couple re-packagings of the hardware, too, so more like 200% additional investment. V.5 or v.6 would've been Axe II and v.9 or v.10 most definitely would've been Axe XT. Once you have your Axe, it's almost like there are free lunches, after all.
 
So Am I right to assume there's basically no new hardware unit coming from Fractal Audio in Axe fx series for a few years.
 
In my opinion you should buy it now, even if something new were to come out very soon, there is always Ebay, and you probably wouldn't loose much $, I'm sure Fractal will eventually come out with something even more powerful, but the Ultra available right now will most likely keep you happy for a while..
 
VHDon said:
Look at how long the Rocktron Prophesy has been around....that may be your answer
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Rocktron Prophesy is the worst rack modeler i have ever tried.

Anyways, does anyone know if a new version of Axe FX is coming out that can deliver output through firewire? Because, believe it or not, I am about to buy the ultra any day now and the only thing that is holding me back si the fact that support does not want to answer this question when I email them. Do they not care for new business or something? I need to know badly, because if it will come out with Firewire as rumored, then I can wait if it is a reasonable few month wait, if not then I want to buy Ultra immediately.
 
DigitalTube said:
In my opinion you should buy it now, even if something new were to come out very soon, there is always Ebay, and you probably wouldn't loose much $, I'm sure Fractal will eventually come out with something even more powerful, but the Ultra available right now will most likely keep you happy for a while..
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If a new firewire version came out, then it is quite brazen of you to suggest the value of the current model will be that highly retained for ebay or any resale. This is why it is imerative for new customers to be in the loop as to the companys plans to either release the firewire version or not for a while.
 
A company is never going to tell you anything about what is coming out, as if they did, it would bring current sales to a dead stop.

TH
 
Tone_Freak said:
This is why it is imerative for new customers to be in the loop as to the companys plans to either release the firewire version or not for a while.
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As was stated by oceantracks, no company publicly advertises future product plans. That's just a DUMB move. And where did you hear the firewire rumor anyway? Firewire is not that popular an interface. USB would be a much better choice.
 
I doubt that fractal is about to put out a new axe fx unit anytime soon imo. but even if they did, i would still be as happy as the day i got my unit. like said above i could use a usb, but its nothing to make me wanna trade up the moment it hits the shelf. the fact is that the axe fx IS the top. with the right know-how, you can get any tone you could possibly want. if firewire is an absolute must, then dont buy the axe. buy something that will satisfy how you want to set up and play. but, if its not that big of an issue, just try the axe. you get a full 30 days to return if its not as good as you hoped. but it will be. trust me ;)

thats why people can say that these will retain their value on ebay and such. because anyone who knows about it and doesnt have one wants it, and those who do have it very rarely want to part with it.
 
Firewire is on the way out. If we were to come out with a new version it would probably have USB.

No new version in the works though. Working on some other projects.
 
As others have mentioned, I don't think I would upgrade even if a new hardware version did come out. Sure, USB connectivity would be a nice addition, but that's just a convenience. Since I can get every sound I want out of my Ultra, there's just zero incentive to upgrade. Cliff really built this product to last, no planned obsolescence here.
 
Fair questions, and I asked the same ones before I bought my Ultra. That was June 2008! It's flat out amazing how the hardware still seems far from outdated while, at the same time, the performance, sound quality and features are so much better than then (thanks to ongoing free firmware updates).
 
Understood. I forgot, I think I already asked that firewire question before, so hopefully i remember this time. I know everyone likes to tell me USB is better, but I have always had less latency with Firewire. I switched to a firewire sound card instead of the usb based m-ox and i get much better results and much less latency for guitar tracking. My experience with USB has been latency and more latency. (speaking of which, I have never asked this question before but how much latency is on the DSP of the axe-fx?)

But with all this said - there is a severe problem - still having trouble saving for it. Why did I not get to know about this in 2007-2008-2009 if it is that far ahead of everything else? As during these years I went through so many amp modelers, (everything BUT the axe -fx unfortunately) - everything from Boss GT pro, Line 6 Pod stuff, waves GTR, Guitar Rig 2, then 3 with foot controller, then GR4, Pod Farm Platinum, 2, Amplitube 2-3, Metal Amp room, TH1, Revalver, Rocktron Prophesy even, etc... totaling in over 3500US at least.

Unfortunately I have simply exhausted the till.. so I am also trying to sell an amp, rack stuff, and a couple of other items on Kijiji. Considering what some people have been telling me, its crappy to be delayed like this.

This sucks, - if I would have known I would have just gotten the Axe FX right away. Therefore I must stress that there is a severe marketing problem with this company - which has been losing out on huge potential business.

And so many pros up here in canuck-ville are unaware of this item - even members who work major studios in my 100 mile circumference never heard of it. And when I walk into a local music store and when I mention Axe FX they think I'm an alien. Although some salesmen here and there in the area have only heard about it but haven't actually heard it.
 
(Just sold another amp.... $300 dollars closer to the Ultra... halfway there. ) But I just want to post another entry before i buy my unit to ask whether you users of the unit notice whether there is any particular signature character to the Axe? Like i dont mean quality but what I mean is some really noticeable sonic character inherent to the unit, regardless of preset? For example, Eventides have that deep but synthetically brilliant character for FX.

Another example is in the synthesizer world, that what sets apart the Access Virus from any other unit is its very dark tonal character that also provides a tremendous sense of 3-dimensionality as well. The proprietary DSP programming-related and algorithm-related information is secret stuff not shared with anyone by Access. And I can understand why - this thing has an extremely sinister vibe. Which is why it is so popular for Industrial music.

But does the axe FX have any notable signature character to it? Or is it just exact modeling of the amps and that's that? But it would also be nice if there was some distinguishing signature character to the unit.
 
Other than being a holistic solution to genuine amp modeling with studio-quality effects and absolutely the most versatile routing system in any hardware multi-effect currently available? I don't think it carries a signature. Just genuinely represents the models it contains.

And, IMO, that leaves it as sonically versatile as possible. It represents the sonic signatures of the amps and pedals it models (along with the 10 amps Cliff himself designed), and nothing more. When you have that level of freedom available to you, you are then able to create your OWN sonic signature.
 
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