Any FC release time info ?

Adinfinitum said:
Cliff or M@ - is there a guide to using the MFC or AX8 for the time being to change presets, scenes and channels (or FX)? That would probably hold most people over until the new footswitches are ready.
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Maybe @bwanagary has some tips for configuring the MFC via MFC-Edit for use with the III? He recently updated to help make this easier IIRC.

See: MFC-Edit with Axe-Fx III
 
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Rex said:
How much more upset would people be if they just sat on their inventory of Axe IIIs until the FC was ready?
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With all due respect, that's not the issue. In that case, they could have just kept mum about the whole thing a little longer, until the FCs were closer to completion. Had they done that, no one would have been upset at all, because they wouldn't have known about it. I think people ought to be patient, especially with a company like Fractal since, A.) they're a small company, and B.) they're dedicated to keeping quality on everything high, but at the same time, I think you do owe it to your customers to make your products available on a reasonable timetable. Obviously "reasonable" leaves some room for interpretation, but I think part of being a professional in an industry like this is having your stuff together enough to plan a launch, announce a product, and make it available in a timely fashion. If it's not going to be ready for months, or worse, if you're not really sure when it's going to be ready, then you shouldn't announce it. It just makes it seem like you don't really have things together.
 
Walt's Frozen Head said:
With all due respect, that's not the issue. In that case, they could have just kept mum about the whole thing a little longer, until the FCs were closer to completion. Had they done that, no one would have been upset at all, because they wouldn't have known about it. I think people ought to be patient, especially with a company like Fractal since, A.) they're a small company, and B.) they're dedicated to keeping quality on everything high, but at the same time, I think you do owe it to your customers to make your products available on a reasonable timetable. Obviously "reasonable" leaves some room for interpretation, but I think part of being a professional in an industry like this is having your stuff together enough to plan a launch, announce a product, and make it available in a timely fashion. If it's not going to be ready for months, or worse, if you're not really sure when it's going to be ready, then you shouldn't announce it. It just makes it seem like you don't really have things together.
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I think Apple has elevated expectations for consumers - where their things are usually available within 2 weeks of their announcement. But Apple and the like are big industries with plenty of cash reserves to be able to produce enough quantities of the things they are selling.

With Fractal, while its now bigger than before and Cliff is set for life, is still a small shop of niche products. I imagine the cash flow needed to fund enough of a production run to satisfy initial demand to be substantial - so they need to sell things.

Then again Fractal is not really known for their PR/Marketing prowess :) For example, not hiding the shipping fee in the price of the Axe-Fx 3 - all other retailers (and ebay sellers!) have learned is better for the customer psyche to hide the shipping price in the price of the item even if the total cost is still the same. I know I was shocked when I saw $50 for ground shipping.
 
AlbertA said:
Then again Fractal is not really known for their PR/Marketing prowess :) For example, not hiding the shipping fee in the price of the Axe-Fx 3 - all other retailers (and ebay sellers!) have learned is better for the customer psyche to hide the shipping price in the price of the item even if the total cost is still the same. I know I was shocked when I saw $50 for ground shipping.
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Then we will disagree. Somehow shipping transparency is a bad thing? FWIW, 'hiding' shipping prices as some sort of purchasing therapy IMO is manipulative. FAS does fine on marketing. If you haven't noticed, the quality of the product and the musical community seem to be plenty to drive business their way, since they'll probably be a waiting list for the next 6 months (or more.)

I shop Fractal not just for the products, but that we are granted UNPRECEDENTED insight and access into what is happening within the company. No, they cannot for competitive reasons give us a web-cam in the meeting and planning room, but still we see and hear directly from them; so much more than any other company I've known.

Yet the idea persists that we are entitled to even more (and the implicit promises of both delivery AND to say 'I won't buy this unless I get <whatever>.)

R
 
A company that has a huge list people lined up waiting to buy a $2499 processor (if they don't want to pay an extra $1000 to skip the wait), and then has same people upset because they have cash in hand that they want to spend on an accessory foot controller does not have a marketing problem. Its a company that has all the business they can handle.

A company that rolls out a new product and has a 1,000 unsold units sitting in a warehouse, and that is figuring out what to do to get people talking about the product and wanting to purchase the available stock has a market problem.

Even on the used market FAS stuff sells like proverbial hot cakes. My AX8 sold in like 8 hours of being listed on Reverb. Lots of people want FAS products, and the company spends next to no money on print ads, trade show booths etc.

Way too many armchair MBA's or whatever you want to call folks who think they know more about the business side of things than anyone at FAS. Cliff started FAS from basically nothing and in a very short time grew it into a pretty well respected and innovative company, and while I don't know his or FAS's finances, I'd like to think he's done pretty well for himself....

Anyone here have a track record of accomplishments in business better than his ? If so, you can talk, but otherwise I think we should give the man, and the company some credit as to knowing what they are doing.
 
electronpirate said:
Then we will disagree. Somehow shipping transparency is a bad thing? FWIW, 'hiding' shipping prices as some sort of purchasing therapy IMO is manipulative. FAS does fine on marketing. If you haven't noticed, the quality of the product and the musical community seem to be plenty to drive business their way, since they'll probably be a waiting list for the next 6 months (or more.)

I shop Fractal not just for the products, but that we are granted UNPRECEDENTED insight and access into what is happening within the company. No, they cannot for competitive reasons give us a web-cam in the meeting and planning room, but still we see and hear directly from them; so much more than any other company I've known.

Yet the idea persists that we are entitled to even more (and the implicit promises of both delivery AND to say 'I won't buy this unless I get <whatever>.)

R
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People forget "shipping cost" includes packing materials and labor, not just UPS or FedEx charges...
 
electronpirate said:
Then we will disagree. Somehow shipping transparency is a bad thing? FWIW, 'hiding' shipping prices as some sort of purchasing therapy IMO is manipulative.
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Yes of course it's manipulative. It's marketing. My point is most sellers know "Free shipping" results in less customer shock. That's up to Fractal of course.

If you haven't noticed, the quality of the product and the musical community seem to be plenty to drive business their way, since they'll probably be a waiting list for the next 6 months (or more.)
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Oh don't I know that. I was there since 2006 when nobody even knew who Fractal was. I recommended the product many times. I hosted OUT OF MY OWN POCKET the first wiki and populated it among with others. I wrote some software for the first Axe-Fx (Remember firmware 5.x that introduced IRs ?). I bought the Standard, Ultra, Axe-Fx 2 and now the Axe-Fx 3. I know having a extremely good product is its own sort of marketing, but I was referring to more traditional marketing in a simple armchair way of explaining some of the ire exhibited in this thread.

Yet the idea persists that we are entitled to even more (and the implicit promises of both delivery AND to say 'I won't buy this unless I get <whatever>.)
R
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You must be thinking of someone else as I didn't remotely state anything like that.
 
All I can say is we are spoiled rotten over here. The things we complain about seem to stem because we DO have so many nice things going for us.
#1 - Arguably THE best modeler on the market (No argument here though :tonguewink:)
#2 - Open dialogue from the head of the company himself, answering questions and working on bug fixes during "off hours"
#3 - THE BEST CUSTOMER SUPPORT I HAVE EVER SEEN! Issues are resolved in a blazing fast manner.
#4 - Many "wish list" things that materialize thanks to the limited red tape of a small company.

At first I was also a bit salty about not having a "plug and play" foot controller, or an editor for my computer. The "unavailable foot pedal at time of launch" isn't something new, as I'd much rather have them focus on ironing out the III first. Spending the extra $30 for MFC-Edit helped me visualize the layout a bit easier, and I had my MFC and AxeFxIII show ready in one day. My rig is 95% of where it was the day before my III showed up. I can live without the tuner on my MFC, as it wasn't exactly the best there in the first place, and looking at the tuner on the III is so much cooler. Even if I had to use my old FCB1010 I could get it set up and play shows right away. If someone doesn't want to take the time to setup a device, and just wants it to work plug and play style, then you have to wait. EVERY OTHER controller out there will have to be configured for the time being.

One AxeFxIII in the hand, is worth two FC's in the bush. And I'm ecstatic every time I fire my III up.
 
guitars53 said:
I hate to put out a negative post , but I think the release of their new flagship Axe-III without the footcontroller available and not even a release date for the footcontroller is terrible and poor planning. To use the full capabilities of the Axe-III live, you need the Fractal new footcontroller that is not available and who knows when it might be available.
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I am not a fan of not having a controller, but I would rather have my AXE 3 now getting all my presets together and just use an old midi controller. I am sure it will be soon.
 
At both the time I signed up for the wait list and when I placed my order, the FC was still presented on the III page as an "artist conception", that is, not currently available. So it was certainly not a surprise, and if it had made an ounce of difference to me, I wouldn't have pulled the trigger when I did. I will gladly continue to use my IIXL/MFC for rehearsals and gigs until the III is through its initial "shake-out the kinks" period of firmware updates, and probably until the FC is finally introduced and integrated into my setup. As someone stated earlier, we are too spoiled here.
 
AlbertA said:
You must be thinking of someone else as I didn't remotely state anything like that.
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That statement was not referring to you Albert. As you and I know as a few of the 'longest here' (from the old bb boards and the dearth of information on the Standard...) we're around because it's 'that good'.

But we have seen that it's 'never enough' when it comes to information for many here.
 
I feel for all of the admins here. I love my unit and will wait patiently for the controller. An admin got short with me the other day and I really got offended. Have my unit for three weeks and just had a lot of question and ideas for the wish list. I reported the admin and got another email from another admin stating we have to put up with a lot here. I did not get it then. Today I am reading a lot of post and admins get a lot of crap. Look, we have a good product, we have good support, and we have knowledgeable admins. Most admins have people skills and some don't. I am just here saying I thank you to all the admins for your good work and what you have to put up with.
 
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