ARES for AX8

Not to de-legitimize anyones grousing or poop in anyones punch bowl but, have any of you ever seen a manufacturer anounce "no new updates" for a discontinued device? It's usually taken for granted. If the AX8 were riddled with software issues, I could understand the discontent.

Until I bought the AX8, I'd never owned a piece of gear that saw so many free updates or where they put so much effort into adding features and sound quality taken from a newer, more expensive unit.

I plan to buy an FM3 some day but, for now, my AX8 is providing the best tones of any rig I've ever owned and has performed almost flawlessly. I'm still experimenting with the deeper features and tweeking presets. Still finding ways to improve my presets.

No, I'm not on the FAS payroll or Cliffs nephew. Just a FAS fanboy. 🥰
 
Not to de-legitimize anyones grousing or poop in anyones punch bowl but, have any of you ever seen a manufacturer anounce "no new updates" for a discontinued device? It's usually taken for granted. If the AX8 were riddled with software issues, I could understand the discontent.

Until I bought the AX8, I'd never owned a piece of gear that saw so many free updates or where they put so much effort into adding features and sound quality taken from a newer, more expensive unit.

I plan to buy an FM3 some day but, for now, my AX8 is providing the best tones of any rig I've ever owned and has performed almost flawlessly. I'm still experimenting with the deeper features and tweeking presets. Still finding ways to improve my presets.

No, I'm not on the FAS payroll or Cliffs nephew. Just a FAS fanboy. 🥰

The reason these threads keep popping up is at some point of time, cliff mentioned he was trying to find out a way to port a part of ARES to AX8. Folks here are just interested in a formal closure.

But what’s the point of coming here and saying that the AX8 is a great piece of gear. I agree that it’s the best piece of gear I’ve ever owned, just like you. The ARES modeling on the FM3/Axe3 is better than an AX8 is also known. Because I have a top of the line Honda model doesn’t mean I won’t want a BMW. If Honda tomorrow says we are trying to get BMWs naturally aspirated engine into an Accord, I’d definitely by interested.

You can have an opinion whether the question being asked is fair or not (I think it is). However, the fact that an AX8 is a great modeling machine doesn’t address it gripe here. In fact, it sounds to me exactly like de-legitimizing someone’s grouse.
 
Have any of you ever seen a manufacturer anounce "no new updates" for a discontinued device?
Of course not, that's just silly.
What we saw is a manufacturer announce some work on a listed device, THEN apparently discontinue the work and THEN formally discontinue the device.

The order of factors is important, you see?
 
I've seen a continuos spike in Ax8 owners, new people getting into the Fractal world thanks to second hand AX8 and the lack of FM3 units.
The AX8 still is a very very important piece of gear for Fractal even discontinued.
 
Wow! My point was not to affend, only to remind everyone that the AX8 is a great piece of gear and the last version of the OS seems quite dependable.

I'm sorry if Cliff made a previous statement that got many people's hopes up but I don't believe that publicly panting yourself as a "victim" promotes good-will, helps FAS, or will make it any more likely that he will buckle down and work on an update (possible less-so).

That being said, if Cliff did state that he was working on a possible update, it would be kind of him to make an official forum announcement if it's not going to happen.

Again, no tainted punch intended. 😂
 
Wow! My point was not to affend, only to remind everyone that the AX8 is a great piece of gear and the last version of the OS seems quite dependable.

I'm sorry if Cliff made a previous statement that got many people's hopes up but I don't believe that publicly panting yourself as a "victim" promotes good-will, helps FAS, or will make it any more likely that he will buckle down and work on an update (possible less-so).

That being said, if Cliff did state that he was working on a possible update, it would be kind of him to make an official forum announcement if it's not going to happen.

Again, no tainted punch intended. 😂
You keep saying that you don’t want to offend others, but it’s hard to trust when you make statements like ‘painting yourselves as victims is not going to help’
Multiple folks have commented that they are happy with their ax8. Nobody here is demanding fractal to work on porting Ares to AX8.If there’s an announcement that no work is expected, I’m fine with that, and likely so are others. I’m not not sure where you are seeing folks painting themselves as victim.

All folks are requesting is a follow-up to the post Cliff made. And to be honest, it’s probably because we hold him in high regards and if anybody’s gonna work their magic to make this happen, it’s him. Just to be clear - there is no expectation on Cliff to work on it.Fractal has been stellar not only in their products, but the support.

This would be a second dessert so to speak. We’re all full and satiated, but the smell of blueberry pie is making us a little hungry again.
 
You keep saying that you don’t want to offend others, but it’s hard to trust when you make statements like ‘painting yourselves as victims is not going to help’
Multiple folks have commented that they are happy with their ax8. Nobody here is demanding fractal to work on porting Ares to AX8.If there’s an announcement that no work is expected, I’m fine with that, and likely so are others. I’m not not sure where you are seeing folks painting themselves as victim.

All folks are requesting is a follow-up to the post Cliff made. And to be honest, it’s probably because we hold him in high regards and if anybody’s gonna work their magic to make this happen, it’s him. Just to be clear - there is no expectation on Cliff to work on it.Fractal has been stellar not only in their products, but the support.

This would be a second dessert so to speak. We’re all full and satiated, but the smell of blueberry pie is making us a little hungry again.
Hey Pacifist. I never said that my comments were pertaining to everyone in this thread. The only posts I see here from you are strictly aimed at criticizing my posts, not Cliff or FAS, so my comments weren't about you. I am sincerely sorry if you thought they were.

Thanks for putting me straight.
 
Forgive my ignorance here. I have an AX8 coming in a few days. When you guys say "some of the Ares modeling" was ported to the AX8, what does that mean exactly? Full Ares amps or certain characteristics of amps or something else...? Is there a list of Ares amps in the AX8 anywhere?
 
Forgive my ignorance here. I have an AX8 coming in a few days. When you guys say "some of the Ares modeling" was ported to the AX8, what does that mean exactly? Full Ares amps or certain characteristics of amps or something else...? Is there a list of Ares amps in the AX8 anywhere?

There are no "Ares amps" per se. AFAIK amps are programmed "just" (for lack of a better word) as a list of virtual components and it's values together in a virtual circuit. So, everytime there's an update to the modeling algorithms, all or some of the virtual components in said circuit are updated. So if, for example, Cliff discovers a new way to model an EL34 tube, the update has effect on all amps using EL34 tubes (and to an extent, non EL34 amps when you select that type of tube).

Most of the times, Cliff leaves notes explaining what exact changes he's made to the modeling but this time he only wrote that it included "Some of the Ares modeling" so it could mean anything, really.
 
Forgive my ignorance here. I have an AX8 coming in a few days. When you guys say "some of the Ares modeling" was ported to the AX8, what does that mean exactly? Full Ares amps or certain characteristics of amps or something else...? Is there a list of Ares amps in the AX8 anywhere?
Ares is the name of the current modeling platform Fractal is using. Prior to Ares was Quantum which the Axe II and AX8 use. The Ares platform requires more processing power than the Axe II and AX8 have but Cliff was able to figure out how to make some parts of Ares work on theses devices. What that actually means hasn't been explained but it has resulted in an "improvement" in the tone and feel of all amp models. How much of an improvement varies from user to user.
 
Ax8 with Ares 2.0 would shoot the FM3 down in flames.

Why?

It won't have the latest improvements in modeling post Ares 2.00 (remember the port has to be based off the code from the Axe-FX II), the UI will be the same as Quantum, and only X/Y switching. Still no USB interface, etc...

Even with Ares, the AX8 has real limitations against the FM3 so I don't think it would shot it down in flames. Again, if it's only the recurring theme of 11 switches vs 3, I can asure you that those 3 switches can do way more than the AX8's.

If current AX8 users feel satisfied with Ares 2.00 so they don't feel the need to upgrade to an FM3 I'd say more power to them, but I don't see any new users chosing an used AX8 over the FM3 just because "it has Ares too anyway".
 
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