Another AxeFx Version?

[Genghis]

We have been told future products will have USB. That's about it.

the USB thing will be just for uploading firmware, presets, IR's and stuff right!?
...or is it meant to be a POD like thing where you can use the axe-fx as an USB audio interface...what would suck IMHO, because this would mean that it would cost more, i hate if i have to play for stuff that i don't need.

Agreed. I already have a decent audio interface, and that's part of the reason I don't have much interest in the Axe-PC. I'm mostly looking forward to the foot controller at this point. Fractal has enough new toys coming out that I don't think we'll see the next generation of the hardware for quite a few years, but I'm sure enjoying the upgrades to the firmware. It's almost like getting a new Axe-FX every few months.

I don't think I'll be outgrowing my Ultra for quite a few years. I'm sure like anything computer based it will eventually be replaced with something that has more power, more memory and new features. When that happens I'll have to decide whether to get the new model or be content with what I have. For now I'm more than happy with what I have. I'm also pretty sure that my current Axe-FX Ultra will work fine in the effects loop of whatever new processor Cliff comes up with to give me that much more power on tap.

 

[Jay Mitchell]

I agree in the realm of musical instruments "out of date" is not relevant, but in the realm of that instrument interacting with a computer? Absolutely relevant.

To the extent that it is relevant - I only occasionally interface my Axe-Fx with a computer, and I never have problems when I do - it is a peripheral (get it? ) issue. The primary issue is passing signal - analog in, analog out - from your guitar to an amplification and/or recording system. The interface the Axe-Fx uses at its input - unbalanced, high impedance - has been woefully out of date since the 1950s. There's a reason that Les Paul's personal instruments are all low impedance, but there's no choice in that area, given that the guitar's pickups are part of that out-of-date system. "Obsolete" is not the same as "not useful" or even "not common practice."

I think you guys may be missing the main point - stability and universality are far more important than obsolescence. Like it or not, MIDI is by far the most stable interface protocol available. It was introduced ca. 1983 and has remained stable since that time. Contrast that to other, computer-specific interfaces. Remember RS232? How about Centronics parallel or IEEE-488 (HPIB was a specific version of this)? There have even been compatibility issues between USB versions, although those do appear to be mostly in the past.

Midi is universal and I understand why people use it, but it is slow, quirky, and a royal pain in the back side IMO.

And the odds are that hardware to implement MIDI interfaces between computers and musical gear will continue to be available for the forseeable future. Anyone care to make a bet about USB in its current form?

 

[Guitar-Tiz]

And the odds are that hardware to implement MIDI interfaces between computers and musical gear will continue to be available for the forseeable future. Anyone care to make a bet about USB in its current form?

+1

MIDI has staying power, it's simple to use, and it's a well established standard that is pretty much used everywhere from Game controllers, music instrument control, PC keyboards, recording gear, and oddly even in the USB standard. Not to mention it's been used for, what? 3 decades?

The only real benefit to USB is the single cable, for audio, and two way MIDI, but that can also be a bad thing.

Even if there was a USB on the back of the Axe-FX, I'd probably only use it for updates, and maybe using the editor. For recording and control I'd still use MIDI, and an audio interface.

Plus, no matter what you put on the back, (USB, Firewire, HDMI ) you're still going to need to put MIDI connections in the back or it will not be compatible with so many hundreds (maybe even thousands) of other pieces of gear that people might decide to use including MIDI controllers.

 

[rogeryu]

Well USB is a Flash memory like EEPROM, you can add just anything to enhance the unit. I still don't know if the unit is using EPROM or EEPROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEPROM

 

[javajunkie]

Well USB is a Flash memory like EEPROM, you can add just anything to enhance the unit. I still don't know if the unit is using EPROM or EEPROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEPROM

USB is a buss not a type of memory. If you are taling about usb memory sticks, the flash memory used in USB sticks and the type EEPROM in the axe-fx are different. Read the first paragraph in the link you provided. USB flash drives are a special type of EEPROM. Regardless of how big the EEPROM is, the code still needs to fit in main memory.

 

[tpowell]

I'm fine without the USB as midi works fine. I recently updated a friend's Ultra using one of the interfaces on the "problematic" list and everything worked well.

Still, from a marketing perspective, I would think Fractal would want to add a colored faceplate - something folks could spot easily on TV or in pictures of an artist's stage gear.

 

[mitch236]

In that case, it would appear that the next-generation Axe-Fx will be some years in the future....

I think that's true too. I sure hope so since I would have to upgrade and that's something I am hoping I don't have to do for a while!

 

[Guitar-Tiz]

In that case, it would appear that the next-generation Axe-Fx will be some years in the future....

I think that's true too. I sure hope so since I would have to upgrade and that's something I am hoping I don't have to do for a while!

Every company I've ever followed who's only goal was to beat the other guy has always faltered, or fallen behind.

They get themselves into a "tortoise and the hare" kind of situation, where one day they look back and see that the competition is no longer in sight, so they decide to take a nap, and then the next thing they know, bang! The tortoise is ahead by a mile, and they've already spent all of their R&D on lower end garbage, so there's no way they are going to catch up.

I'd rather see someone like Cliff who's more concerned with competing with himself. Someone who goes out of their way to make his/her own product even better than it already is even when it doesn't have to be. Someone that sees ways to improve upon perfection, even when it's already considered the best of it's kind.

 

[rsf1977]

a cup holder would be nice. Yea it can do all this fancy-shmancy processing mumbo jumbo, but where do you but your icy can-o-suds!? Nowhere that's where! please cliff… support the drunks… please, flip out cup holders?… i'm just a boy with a dream.

Cause the batman beer utility belt just isn't as sexy as it used to be

 

[Virtuoso]

And the odds are that hardware to implement MIDI interfaces between computers and musical gear will continue to be available for the forseeable future. Anyone care to make a bet about USB in its current form?

Sadly it's getting harder and harder to find 8x MIDI interfaces now. Most of the leading interfaces have been discontinued and not replaced with new models. With so many manufacturers switching to USB maybe there just isn't the market for the larger interfaces any more?

Steinberg Midex 8 - discontinued
Midisport 8x8 - discontinued
Emagic AMT8/Unitor 8 - discontinued
Edirol UM880 - discontinued

Still available:
MOTU
ESI MU8XL

 

[rickboot]

I don't agree with the MIDI proponents.

I've been using MIDI since it first came on the scene. It was great in its day, especially with dedicated synth type instruments. However, its multicable in/out scheme, slow speed (a real problem for digital audio), and always cantankerous computer hw/sw issues are something that I could do without. I think it needs to go the way of the aforemention RS232, Centronics, etc. There is a reason those standards are pretty much dead. And for similar reasons the MIDI physical interface is dying and being supplanted or at least supplemented by USB on MI devices.

 

[Guitar-Tiz]

I don't agree with the MIDI proponents.

I've been using MIDI since it first came on the scene. It was great in its day, especially with dedicated synth type instruments. However, its multicable in/out scheme, slow speed (a real problem for digital audio), and always cantankerous computer hw/sw issues are something that I could do without. I think it needs to go the way of the aforemention RS232, Centronics, etc. There is a reason those standards are pretty much dead. And for similar reasons the MIDI physical interface is dying and being supplanted or at least supplemented by USB on MI devices.

But, no matter what, you still have to have MIDI on any future built device, or you will alienate legacy users from the get go, and there will always be legacy users.

There's just no real way to insure that someone isn't going to want to use (let's say) a JMP-1 with their newest of the new device. And the companies that build these devices aren't just going to add USB to their 20+ year old devices, some of which are no longer even being made.

Sure, you could make some sort of "in between" MIDI-USB device, but then your talking extra junk in your rig that could be eliminated by simply having 1 or 2 MIDI cables.

 

[mjongkamp]

I don't agree with the MIDI proponents.

I've been using MIDI since it first came on the scene. It was great in its day, especially with dedicated synth type instruments. However, its multicable in/out scheme, slow speed (a real problem for digital audio), and always cantankerous computer hw/sw issues are something that I could do without. I think it needs to go the way of the aforemention RS232, Centronics, etc. There is a reason those standards are pretty much dead. And for similar reasons the MIDI physical interface is dying and being supplanted or at least supplemented by USB on MI devices.

+1
too slow and too much cables (they also have wireless USB now (USB 2.1) no more cables and fast!!! )
application protocol itself is fine (functionality)

 

[megalowmatt]

I think you guys may be missing the main point - stability and universality are far more important than obsolescence. Like it or not, MIDI is by far the most stable interface protocol available. It was introduced ca. 1983 and has remained stable since that time. Contrast that to other, computer-specific interfaces. Remember RS232? How about Centronics parallel or IEEE-488 (HPIB was a specific version of this)? There have even been compatibility issues between USB versions, although those do appear to be mostly in the past.

Oddly enough I still use RS232 protocol on two Symnet 8x8 DSP processors. I really like the processors but always wonder why they still uses RS232. :?

The MIDI interface on the axe does not bother me a bit.