Ares on XL+ ... mission possible or impossible!

If ARES is available on the II does this mean future amp models will be available for the II going forward?
 
FractalAudio said:
I'm going to work on porting what I can of Ares to the II this weekend. Maybe. Or maybe I'll sit around in my underwear and watch golf and eat nachos.
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Well any porting of Ares to other platforms would be very cool indeed....but throw fried pork rinds into that mix and it's recliner city until Monday :eek:
 
bread said:
If ARES is available on the II does this mean future amp models will be available for the II going forward?
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He didn't say he's putting Ares on the 2, he said he's 'porting what he can OF Ares to the 2.' I would venture a guess that at most it might get called quantum 10, but I don't think we'll ever see an actual Ares firmware on anything older than the 3. Just my interpretation. Not gonna speculate what that might mean for future amp models though.
 
Those of us who had any dealings with MOTU in the late 90s to early 2000s know to never base a purchase on what a product might do through future updates.
 
Post got cut off.

That being said, I am grateful for the support Cliff has provided to us II owners. If I recall correctly he burned some extra hours to make sure original II units could keep up with the Quantum updates.
 
Johan Allard said:
The Ax8 uses the same CPU type as the Axe Fx 2 but has even less power. If something can’t run on the Axe Fx 2, there’s no chance it can run on the Ax8.
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Yeah I am aware about this already. But as I have said earlier, Since there's no new AX8 out there, Correct me if I am wrong but I think it's safe to assume that the guys that are going to buy ax8 new right now want it to have the latest and greatest software in it right? I mean it's not like axe fx II which is not going to be made anymore new. I think time will tell :) oh well...
 
soheil said:
Yeah I am aware about this already. But as I have said earlier, Since there's no new AX8 out there, Correct me if I am wrong but I think it's safe to assume that the guys that are going to buy ax8 new right now want it to have the latest and greatest software in it right? I mean it's not like axe fx II which is not going to be made anymore new. I think time will tell :) oh well...
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And I think it’s just easy to assume that the guys that bought the Axe Fx 2 three months ago want to have years and years worth of free firmware upgrades.

Obviously no one knows exactly what’s going to happen, all we can do is to guess with the facts at hand. The Ax8 is based on the Axe Fx 2, using the same type of CPU, and every single Ax8 firmware has been predated by a Axe Fx 2 firmware, where the updates from the Axe Fx 2 has been ported to the Ax8. There’s been many, many posts where us Ax8 users has been asking for usability improvements and we’ve seen exactly one Ax8 firmware that’s provided substantial usability improvements. Also, read between the lines in Cliffs post. Does that sound like a long term commitment to Axe Fx 2 and therefore the Ax8, or more like the last hurrah before it’s done?

Now, if you guess that the Ax8 is not near it’s end of life and we’re not going to see a new Ax8 soon, you are effectively guessing that the Axe Fx 2 is also going to see continuous improvements for years to come.

Or, you read that Cliffs post is more like the last hurrah. You read into the fact that we’ve seen very limited usability improvements that they are already working on a replacement. You imagine the development cost of keeping two platforms current for years vs the cost of developing an updated Ax8 based on Axe Fx 3 technology using the same type of CPU, the same type of screen, the same type of firmware (likely with similar limitations of Axe Fx 2 vs Ax8), the same type a foot controls as in the new FC12/FC6. Well - I guess that the Axe Fx2 and therefore the Ax8 is pretty much done and that we’ll see an updated Ax8 before the end of the year.

Also, for clarification. Not only do I guess that the Axe Fx 2 and therefore the Ax8 is pretty much done. I hope so as well. I think it’ll be much better long term if all focus from here on would go into making the Axe Fx 3 as good as it can be as fast as possible. Get us an updated Ax8 that uses the same type of CPU and firmware and we’ll all get much better units with a simplified, awesome lineup. I’ll by the updated Ax8 as soon as I can.

Now, obviously I’ll take any Ax8 updates with great joy and will install in minutes of release. I’ll also expect from now on that whenever a new firmware comes that this will be the very last one.
 
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Some people will never be satisfied, some will, tbh I'm more than happy with my XL and if a new product is developed that in some way is better then great, I'll do my best to buy into it! Whatever happens I'm really happy with my XL.
 
Johan Allard said:
And I think it’s just easy to assume that the guys that bought the Axe Fx 2 three months ago want to have years and years worth of free firmware upgrades.

Obviously no one knows exactly what’s going to happen, all we can do is to guess with the facts at hand. The Ax8 is based on the Axe Fx 2, using the same type of CPU, and every single Ax8 firmware has been predated by a Axe Fx 2 firmware, where the updates from the Axe Fx 2 has been ported to the Ax8. There’s been many, many posts where us Ax8 users has been asking for usability improvements and we’ve seen exactly one Ax8 firmware that’s provided substantial usability improvements. Also, read between the lines in Cliffs post. Does that sound like a long term commitment to Axe Fx 2 and therefore the Ax8, or more like the last hurrah before it’s done?

Now, if you guess that the Ax8 is not near it’s end of life and we’re not going to see a new Ax8 soon, you are effectively guessing that the Axe Fx 2 is also going to see continuous improvements for years to come.

Or, you read that Cliffs post is more like the last hurrah. You read into the fact that we’ve seen very limited usability improvements that they are already working on a replacement. You imagine the development cost of keeping two platforms current for years vs the cost of developing an updated Ax8 based on Axe Fx 3 technology using the same type of CPU, the same type of screen, the same type of firmware (likely with similar limitations of Axe Fx 2 vs Ax8), the same type a foot controls as in the new FC12/FC6. Well - I guess that the Axe Fx2 and therefore the Ax8 is pretty much done and that we’ll see an updated Ax8 before the end of the year.

Also, for clarification. Not only do I guess that the Axe Fx 2 and therefore the Ax8 is pretty much done. I hope so as well. I think it’ll be much better long term if all focus from here on would go into making the Axe Fx 3 as good as it can be as fast as possible. Get us an updated Ax8 that uses the same type of CPU and firmware and we’ll all get much better units with a simplified, awesome lineup. I’ll by the updated Ax8 as soon as I can.

Now, obviously I’ll take any Ax8 updates with great joy and will install in minutes of release. I’ll also expect from now on that whenever a new firmware comes that this will be the very last one.
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Great post. And I wholeheartedly agree with you. I think we will see a new AX8 soon as well. I mean it's the only logical solution for the future of FAS right? About firmware updates, As I have mentioned earlier I am already more than happy with FAS Customer service and support through all these years. Been using an Axe FX 2 since around 2012 and AX8 from the very first days of its release and couldn't be happier with these products. I think we all will eventually upgrade to new platforms asap :)
 
I don't really think, that there will be a new Ax8 in near future. The Ax8 is soundwise up to the AxeII with less functions (and processor power) I'm pretty sure, that all improvements, that will be possible on the II will affect the Ax8 soundwise, but you have to look at the price point. For this, the Ax8 is still pretty good, even without further enhancements.
Even without future updates I think, that the Ax8 will keep its place in the product range for a while. It was always meant to be the "little Axe II", imho...a new Ax8 with way more horsepower to host Ares would be slightly bigger than the recent Floor unit (That's just my few cents...)
 
funkstation777 said:
I don't really think, that there will be a new Ax8 in near future. The Ax8 is soundwise up to the AxeII with less functions (and processor power) I'm pretty sure, that all improvements, that will be possible on the II will affect the Ax8 soundwise, but you have to look at the price point. For this, the Ax8 is still pretty good, even without further enhancements.
Even without future updates I think, that the Ax8 will keep its place in the product range for a while. It was always meant to be the "little Axe II", imho...a new Ax8 with way more horsepower to host Ares would be slightly bigger than the recent Floor unit (That's just my few cents...)
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My theory is... if there is ever to be a successor to the AX8, then it's most likely already in the prototype stage or further?

So it would be a matter of the business model, cost to take it to production and time?
 
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