“Jesus, is there anything you people don’t bitch about”

It's society today. We're all spoiled. We want instant gratification and we usually get it. When we don't get it we feel like we're being cheated.

I think society was better when life was harder. I grew up with nothing. Most of us did. I remember one of the best "toys" we ever got was the huge cardboard box the refrigerator came in. We spent hours in that thing pretending it was a spaceship. We would spend hours playing baseball with a worn out ball or walk along the railroad tracks looking for smushed pennies we left the day before. We didn't have any fancy electronics or social media or much of anything. We ate government issued cheese and powdered milk. And yet we were happy.

I really think social media was one of the worst things to happen to society. It had the power to be a useful tool but that power has been abused in the name of greed. People's brains are being rewired intentionally to addict them to it so they can generate more advertising revenue. People are accustomed to getting hundreds of little dopamine hits every day and it's made them irrational and demanding. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey will go down in history as two of the most evil pricks the world has ever seen (Sheryl Sandberg will be right behind them at the gates of hell).
Hey all, I'm new here, been lurking. Cliff's post prompted me to make this my first post. I'm soon to be dropping a lot of coin (to me at least) on Fractal gear. After reading this and many other posts on this forum, it makes me happy to know my hard earned $$ is going to such a great company on many fronts.

I'll be 54 next month so I get it, I came from NO money and from the school of hard knocks, everything I own I busted my A$$ for. I walked the railroad tracks looking for pennies AND ball bearings (aka steelies) as they were very cherished to add to your marble collection. :) I felt like a king when I obtained my first boom box to carry around on my shoulder as I rode around the streets on my 10-speed bike giving myself tinnitus via DIO, Def Leppard et al.. (ears ringing as I type this) :( Nowadays people have access to nearly every song ever recorded in their pocket, it is amazing to me how things have changed and IMO, often taken for granted.

IMO, social media is more often than not the food of narcissism, I avoid it as much as possible.

I could rant for a page but I'll stop here!

As for those selling their AFXIII's for the turbo, more power to them if they have the money to burn. It's a good thing they're not on the road in the middle of a tour.

Hoping for a AFX/FC/EV bundle deal for the Holidays as I'm going to treat myself with my hard earned and limited cash, my visa card is ready!

I'm looking forward to uploading clips once I obtain and settle in with my new Fractal toys. Oh, and most of them will be RUSH related if you couldn't guess.

TAK
 
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I sold it back in Apr. for a solid price and bought the Mk II.
Since a lot of the “moaning” (and some of the replies) that I hear seem to be related to a basic misunderstanding of Fractal’s AFX business model, I’m curious: how long did you use your Mk1 before you flipped it for a Mk2, and what was your total monetary cost of that flip including any fees/shipping? I know in my case flipping my pristine 2yr old II+ for a new Mk1 cost about $750 including Reverb fees freight and 3rd party presets that stayed with the II+. I see this as my cost to continue riding on The Fractal Train, and I don’t mind the expense b/c THAT’S what pays to support Fractal for all of those “free” firmware updates.
 
If my Mark 2 Turbo shows up tomorrow.... and Fractal unloads the Axe IV on Monday, I will order an Axe IV and my new Mark 2 Turbo would be for sale
great, but, as I eluded to earlier - not everyone can afford that option - for some, there is only an option to purchase once every few years given finances - so when someone less well off does not get the timing right and expresses some regret, lets have a little understanding for their circumstances.
 
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Since a lot of the “moaning” (and some of the replies) that I hear seem to be related to a basic misunderstanding of Fractal’s AFX business model, I’m curious: how long did you use your Mk1 before you flipped it for a Mk2, and what was your total monetary cost of that flip including any fees/shipping? I know in my case flipping my pristine 2yr old II+ for a new Mk1 cost about $750 including Reverb fees freight and 3rd party presets that stayed with the II+. I see this as my cost to continue riding on The Fractal Train, and I don’t mind the expense b/c THAT’S what pays to support Fractal for all of those “free” firmware updates.

Well....I got it in May of 2018. I used it until April of 2021. 3 solid years of live, recording, and rehearsal use. I sold it for 1900 US about an hour after I listed it. I'd say I did just fine!
 
You are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Some of the stuff that our competitors do would make Gordan Gecko blush. I had vowed never to do a "Charts and Graphs" thread again but the gloves came off after the latest transgression. I have always told all my employees to "do the right thing" and play everything above-board as possible. We don't engage in the pay-for-play stuff, don't pay magazines, don't pay artists, don't send fake users into other company's forums, don't shill on YouTube, etc. We've got our share of detractors and we take a lot of crap but I doubt any company in this space can match our ethics. I'm old-school. I believe in hard work and build a better mousetrap. I'm sure there will be those who will poo-poo and ridicule these statements. That's fine, I still sleep well at night.

This is why we respect you so much Cliff, beyond your mad skills.
 
Welcome!

We'll get along just fine :)

Thanks
Pauly

Hey all, I'm new here, been lurking. Cliff's post prompted me to make this my first post. I'm soon to be dropping a lot of coin (to me at least) on Fractal gear. After reading this and many other posts on this forum, it makes me happy to know my hard earned $$ is going to such a great company on many fronts.

I'll be 54 next month so I get it, I came from NO money and from the school of hard knocks, everything I own I busted my A$$ for. I walked the railroad tracks looking for pennies AND ball bearings (aka steelies) as they were very cherished to add to your marble collection. :) I felt like a king when I obtained my first boom box to carry around on my shoulder as I rode around the streets of Tempe AZ on my 10-speed bike giving myself tinnitus via DIO, Def Leppard et al.. (ears ringing as I type this) :( Nowadays people have access to nearly every song ever recorded in their pocket, it is amazing to me how things have changed and IMO, often taken for granted.

IMO, social media is more often than not the food of narcissism, I avoid it as much as possible.

I could rant for a page but I'll stop here!

As for those selling their AFXIII's for the turbo, more power to them if they have the money to burn. It's a good thing they're not on the road in the middle of a tour.

Hoping for a AFX/FC/EV bundle deal for the Holidays as I'm going to treat myself with my hard earned and limited cash, my visa card is ready!

I'm looking forward to uploading clips once I obtain and settle in with my new Fractal toys. Oh, and most of them will be RUSH related if you couldn't guess.

TAK
 
I think some of the disappointed people are disappointed by their own expectations based on their interpretation of some answers given on the forum over the years. There's always a thread where someone says, "is now a good time to buy or is there something bigger coming?" Those people are consistently told, "get it, the II was the big dog for ___ years, the III is only __ years old." Those people probably assumed that the version they bought will get the same improvements and features as any future iterations of the III. I understand the disappointment, I just don't understand the level of expression of that disappointment. Some people are a little too hurt/frustrated. I'm aight! From the beginning I told myself I'm sticking with the launch AxeFx III until the IV comes out.
 
Wanna hear about spoiled? If you climbed the fence at the edge of the tiny lot where my childhood home was, you landed in the alley BEHIND AN APPLIANCE STORE! Not only did we drag home all kinds of giant boxes, but other packing materials were discarded there as well. The first time we found some styrofoam inserts there (early 70s?) it was like an alien treasure. My art-school mom used to paint the control panels, hatches, and portholes on our spacecraft, pirate ships, and mad scientist lab equipment. At one point we had a full on "Yellow Submarine" with a couple of old compacts and a cardboard tube for a periscope. Simple times. Good times.
 
In the town....where I was born.....

Wanna hear about spoiled? If you climbed the fence at the edge of the tiny lot where my childhood home was, you landed in the alley BEHIND AN APPLIANCE STORE! Not only did we drag home all kinds of giant boxes, but other packing materials were discarded there as well. The first time we found some styrofoam inserts there (early 70s?) it was like an alien treasure. My art-school mom used to paint the control panels, hatches, and portholes on our spacecraft, pirate ships, and mad scientist lab equipment. At one point we had a full on "Yellow Submarine" with a couple of old compacts and a cardboard tube for a periscope. Simple times. Good times.
 
When the axe II v2 came out there was complaining, same as the XL, then when the mkII was said to be at EOL and the XL wasn’t there was tons of complaining (Cliff came through and gave the original tons more life though) When the ax8 came out there was complaining, same with the III, when the fm3 came out tons of uproar, heck, some ax8 and II are still looking for an update lol

It’s been like this for ages and it’s always going to be like this, it’s just human nature and it’s just business

Silly to pretend that we are seeing anything new or unique
+1
well put!
 
Wanna hear about spoiled? If you climbed the fence at the edge of the tiny lot where my childhood home was, you landed in the alley BEHIND AN APPLIANCE STORE! Not only did we drag home all kinds of giant boxes, but other packing materials were discarded there as well. The first time we found some styrofoam inserts there (early 70s?) it was like an alien treasure. My art-school mom used to paint the control panels, hatches, and portholes on our spacecraft, pirate ships, and mad scientist lab equipment. At one point we had a full on "Yellow Submarine" with a couple of old compacts and a cardboard tube for a periscope. Simple times. Good times.
Nice! - we used to play in the back lot of King Neptune Car Wash (circa 67 - Ottawa/Canada) - Lots of cool discarded toxic chemicals to explore!
 
It's society today. We're all spoiled. We want instant gratification and we usually get it. When we don't get it we feel like we're being cheated.

I think society was better when life was harder. I grew up with nothing. Most of us did. I remember one of the best "toys" we ever got was the huge cardboard box the refrigerator came in. We spent hours in that thing pretending it was a spaceship. We would spend hours playing baseball with a worn out ball or walk along the railroad tracks looking for smushed pennies we left the day before. We didn't have any fancy electronics or social media or much of anything. We ate government issued cheese and powdered milk. And yet we were happy.

I really think social media was one of the worst things to happen to society. It had the power to be a useful tool but that power has been abused in the name of greed. People's brains are being rewired intentionally to addict them to it so they can generate more advertising revenue. People are accustomed to getting hundreds of little dopamine hits every day and it's made them irrational and demanding. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey will go down in history as two of the most evil pricks the world has ever seen (Sheryl Sandberg will be right behind them at the gates of hell).

110% to all of this.
(I've got a picture of my brothers and me in a washing machine box spaceship right here in my studio.)
 
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