Ares vs FASpice?

∞Fractals

Fractal Fanatic
What are the difference in the two, in that they’re possibly different approaches to developing the amp/drive (component derived models)? (Distortion generation?)

In other words, did our firmware fundamentally change in the amplifier modeling based upon Cliff’s epiphany’s around real time SPICE execution for circuit modeling?

Just curious as execution times and processor usage seem to be more efficient.
 
Spice is ages ahead to me.
It's way easier to find amps that sounds awesome right from the start and having the right cab isn't that critical anymore, many cabs fit and supply different flavors instead of making an unusable combination.
Still you can make it sound even better with deeper editing, so it also sounds better for tweakers.
 
What are the difference in the two, in that they’re possibly different approaches to developing the amp/drive (component derived models)? (Distortion generation?)

In other words, did our firmware fundamentally change in the amplifier modeling based upon Cliff’s epiphany’s around real time SPICE execution for circuit modeling?

Just curious as execution times and processor usage seem to be more efficient.
They’re not different at all AFAIK. My understanding was that the FASpice thing was an underlying technology in the FW so it is a component of ‘Ares’. There is probably a lot of propriety methods and technology in the FAS product, it is not just one thing.

I <heart> FAS but these names are primarily marketing tools, I would not get hung up on them at all. They probably represent major revisions and paradigm shifts in their FW to be sure; so FAS wants to market and advertise these improvements with the new name... but they are all evolving branches of the same thing. They are going to put their best technical foot forward at all times so without any kind of insider info (which is going to be a trade secret), no one here who is not under an NDA is ever going to be bale to speak with much authority about deep technical differences for any given revision.
 
"SPICE" is an already existing thing in the general world at large for computer science and electrical engineering.

"FASSPICE" is a Fractal Audio brand name for the implementation that can do a SPICE like thing in realtime without requiring tons of CPU expense, it came around in the drive models in Ares 3.0.2

"FASSPICE XD" came along with FW10 and is now used in the amp block modeling as well as the drive modeling.

"Ares" is the name for this generation of firmware like "Quantum" was the name for the previous.

http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=Drive_block#Firmware_Ares_improvements

tl;dr "Ares" is like your "OS", "FASSPICE" is a component of your OS, "FASSPICE XD" is "v2" of that component.
 
I’m not necessarily confused on the names. I understand what SPICE does.

I’m just trying to figure out the implications of their use and how it affects the performance of the drives and the amplifier models.

If it is FAS proprietary and cannot be revealed, so be it. I’m just always curious about how things work.
 
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@OP, I hope you realize that MIMIC, Quantum, Ares, FASpice etc. are just words. Mostly they are marketing. What's behind them are bigger development steps[1], sure, but basically they are just an iteration up. Giving them a catchy, maybe meaningful name gives a better impression than the previous firmware number + 1.

Interesting, how well marketing works for some and how little for others! :)

[1] I'm sure that's the case with Fractal, but many firms, among them of course software firms, very often sell old stuff as new by just giving it a new name.
 
@OP, I hope you realize that MIMIC, Quantum, Ares, FASpice etc. are just words. Mostly they are marketing. What's behind them are bigger development steps[1], sure, but basically they are just an iteration up. Giving them a catchy, maybe meaningful name gives a better impression than the previous firmware number + 1.

Interesting, how well marketing works for some and how little for others! :)

[1] I'm sure that's the case with Fractal, but many firms, among them of course software firms, very often sell old stuff as new by just giving it a new name.

While all you are saying maybe true, I believe that the usage of the acronym SPICE has explicit meaning. I don’t think Cliff used it arbitrarily.

If @FractalAudio didn’t do anything with real-time SPICE execution w FASPICE, I can let it go ... it simply appears we made some significant gains concurrent with FASPICE that extend to a lot of other FAS platforms, extending life and capacity.

I have always wondered if that was due to Cliff’s insights around FASPICE.

This is not life or death; simply intellectual curiosity. 🤙
 
While all you are saying maybe true, I believe that the usage of the acronym SPICE has explicit meaning. I don’t think Cliff used it arbitrarily.
That's not what I meant! Good marketing names should have some meaning to it. Wouldn't be very sexy if Cliff had called it ... Reinhard ;) Not very sexy! Although... Diezel named many of his amps after people he knows or knew, like his father, his neighbour etc. Herbert, Hagen, Schmidt, Einstein. Kind of cool in its own way!

Back on topic:
To me it seems like some people think, that e.g. when we had the first quantum firmware with the II and AX8, people here were asking, if Axe-Edit was still compatible, now that the firmware is Quantum. Like it was a complete rewrite or something. Of course it wasn't! The same with Quantum -> Ares. If it hadn't been named Ares, it would only have been another Quantum firmware. And so on.
 
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