Axe-Fx III Firmware 24.01 Release

FractalAudio said:
Again, my bad. I rushed things out and we should've tested things more thoroughly. We will strive to do better in the future.
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I don't like doing the fanboi thing and I sure as hell think internet white knights are bitches. But I think this needs to be said anyway.

Striving to do better is always in everyone's best interests, even when you're the best in the world at what you do (MJ, Kobe, Brady...), but there's a real easy fix for the gigging musician that they can do all on their own. Roll back to the last firmware that did what they needed done and wait patiently like an adult.

What you DON'T do is go around making entitled demands 3 days before Christmas from someone who doesn't own you a damn thing.

//End rant//
 
Frodebro said:
I think the debugging process with betas happens much more quickly when you are able to throw a lot more bodies at it, so the current system actually is the best approach in spite of the occasional hiccups. Nobody is forced to install beta firmware, so if it is a concern then don’t install it.

I would hazard a guess that a poll would reflect that most people are just fine with the current method.
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I definitely agree. The alternative is to spend weeks in private beta, where you likely still won’t find all the bugs, and then people have to wait much longer for updates.

The current way is efficient. Rapid development, early adopters find the bugs, and Cliff smashes them quickly.

For people who have mission-critical hardware, wait a month or so after release to make sure it’s stable. That wait is likely still faster than it would be with closed betas.
 
James Freeman said:
Awesome.

Yep, we pretty much could already get the Mark V sounds out of the IV but a lot of people don't know that the FAT switch is permanently enabled on the JP2C and V tonestacks ("USA Fat" tonestack model), so don't enable the Fat switch again. :)
Also, "Volume 1" which is called "Gain" in the Ideal page on the AxeFx is fixed internally in the real JP2C and V amps.
Also, JP2C has both Deep and Bright switches permanently engaged in the real amp (info from the owners manual), hence no deep/bright models.

Pretty cool that we have all the popular Marks modeled.

Personally, I like the Fat switch disabled, so the default JP2C and V models are not for me unless I manually change the tonestack models to IIC+ or IV, then I'm better off just starting with the IIC+ or IV amp models. 😆
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Would love to see CH2 from the MK V to make it complete.
 
FractalAudio said:
My bad. I rushed the firmware out. Sorry I didn't meet your expectations.
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Cliff, you and your company are awesome. No apology needed for me. Fractal Audio is the best company that I've ever had the pleasure of associating with.

@rcm78 - I get your frustration, but we're dealing with cutting edge here. I've been using Fractal Audio gear (in multiple form factors) since 2011 and significant bugs are few and far between. And if there is a bug, Cliff repairs it quickly.

I used to have a Line 6 Vetta that had bugs that were never fixed before the end of life of the product. Some folks wait for a week or two to update to a new firmware release. Cliff is a machine, but even he can make a mistake. If you wait a week or two to upgrade, then you will avoid the inevitable bug that infrequently slips through. If you want the latest and greatest then there is a small risk that something will be amiss. The good part is that it will be fixed quickly, unlike most other manufacturers.
 
lscottk said:
Cliff, you and your company are awesome. No apology needed for me. Fractal Audio is the best company that I've ever had the pleasure of associating with.

@rcm78 - I get your frustration, but we're dealing with cutting edge here. I've been using Fractal Audio gear (in multiple form factors) since 2011 and significant bugs are few and far between. And if there is a bug, Cliff repairs it quickly.

I used to have a Line 6 Vetta that had bugs that were never fixed before the end of life of the product. Some folks wait for a week or two to update to a new firmware release. Cliff is a machine, but even he can make a mistake. If you wait a week or two to upgrade, then you will avoid the inevitable bug that infrequently slips through. If you want the latest and greatest then there is a small risk that something will be amiss. The good part is that it will be fixed quickly, unlike most other manufacturers.
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Even on a weekend…
 
I don't know if there's a consensus or whatever, but I'll tell you, to me, I don't give a damn about being on the bleeding edge, or finding a bug in a stable release.

I'm just reiterating a sentiment others have already expressed, but it bears repeating in solidarity:

If you're gigging, you need to check whatever you're doing with all your equipment. You know, your tubes my be fried. Maybe your neck moved and you need to tweak the truss rod. Maybe you've got a bee in your goddamn bonnet and you need to relax before taking it out on your bandmates. There's a lot that can go wrong, and every one of us who is relied on to show up for a rehearsal, a session, a meeting, a gig, a goddamn photo shoot, or whatever has to check his stuff.

Okay, people found bugs here. You know what? In my use case, I haven't found any in this firmware. And the fact that there's a bug here doesn't give anyone the right to talk down to FAS engineers like they're misbehaving kids. A bug is a bug, it's not an error in your prostate surgery.

And the speed at which we're given access to bleeding edge features is part of the draw here. I'd rather have gapless switching since the Fender wave shaper speaker impedance curve denial machine was released and find bugs here and there rather than wait patiently in the corner sitting on my hands.

The best tested software still has bugs. Do you call NASA to ream them out because they miscalculated an aspect of a mission and a rocket failed, and that was your taxpayer money? No, we trust engineers and give them space.

Engineering is a creative endeavor as much as it is a training. If you don't give creative people space to dream and create imperfect things, they won't be very creative, because their main focus will be avoiding being shamed. It's bullshit and hateful.

I say, Cliff and FAS, bring on your ideas when the muse takes your by the hand. We'll continue to find bugs, and you'll continue to eliminate them, as always.

And the benefit is, we get to play with what others only dream about, because the inventor and the engineers delivering these tools to us had room to have a bug.
 
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And one other thing that pisses me off about all this behavior. No one squashes bugs at the speed of FAS.

I mean, really. Think about this for a moment. You really want to disrespect engineers who are this dedicated? Maybe that kind of crap is exactly what incentivizes the most able people to hold back. That's the recipe for everything in this world becoming that much more mediocre.

Okay, I vomited my disgust. Rant over.
 
I owned a HeadRush for about a year before I bought my Fx3, which I've had for about a year now. The Fractal had more updates in 6 weeks than I had gotten in a year from Headrush, which has only gotten one update in the last year because they are pushing their new product.

Even if the firmware was rushed, you still have the best guitar product on the planet. As a hobbyist, I'm never in a rush to download new firmwares. I play about an hour a day and can't realistically keep up with all the features being given to me for free regularly.

Your entitled to your complaint but that doesn't mean it's warranted. You can rollback if this firmware doesn't meet your expectations because Fractal made that easy to do.

Edit: Just noticed the fix is already in beta. My God what are you complaining about? Have you had a product that gets updated this fast, any product? I doubt it.
 
😒

I have two iPhones that I use for work, I think I should write to Tim Cook. iOS 17 (not beta):
17.0 - Sept. 18
17.0.1 - Sept. 21
17.0.2 - Sept 26
17.0.3 - Oct. 4
17.1 - Oct. 25
17.1.1 - Nov. 7
17.1.2 - Nov. 30
17.2 - Dec. 11
17.2.1 - Dec. 19
 
State of Epicicity said:
And one other thing that pisses me off about all this behavior. No one squashes bugs at the speed of FAS.

I mean, really. Think about this for a moment. You really want to disrespect engineers who are this dedicated? Maybe that kind of crap is exactly what incentivizes the most able people to hold back. That's the recipe for everything in this world becoming that much more mediocre.

Okay, I vomited my disgust. Rant over.
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I hope you get the same mirth I did in knowing I imagined you saying the prior post in Gabby's "Authentic Frontier Gibberish"....



Rarrun!
 
State of Epicicity said:
I don't know if there's a consensus or whatever, but I'll tell you, to me, I don't give a damn about being on the bleeding edge, or finding a bug in a stable release.

I'm just reiterating a sentiment others have already expressed, but it bears repeating in solidarity:

If you're gigging, you need to check whatever you're doing with all your equipment. You know, your tubes my be fried. Maybe your neck moved and you need to tweak the truss rod. Maybe you've got a bee in your goddamn bonnet and you need to relax before taking it out on your bandmates. There's a lot that can go wrong, and every one of us who is relied on to show up for a rehearsal, a session, a meeting, a gig, a goddamn photo shoot, or whatever has to check his stuff.

Okay, people found bugs here. You know what? In my use case, I haven't found any in this firmware. And the fact that there's a bug here doesn't give anyone the right to talk down to FAS engineers like they're misbehaving kids. A bug is a bug, it's not an error in your prostate surgery.

And the speed at which we're given access to bleeding edge features is part of the draw here. I'd rather have gapless switching since the Fender wave shaper speaker impedance curve denial machine was released and find bugs here and there rather than wait patiently in the corner sitting on my hands.

The best tested software still has bugs. Do you call NASA to ream them out because they miscalculated an aspect of a mission and a rocket failed, and that was your taxpayer money? No, we trust engineers and give them space.

Engineering is a creative endeavor as much as it is a training. If you don't give creative people space to dream and create imperfect things, they won't be very creative, because their main focus will be avoiding being shamed. It's bullshit and hateful.

I say, Cliff and FAS, bring on your ideas when the muse takes your by the hand. We'll continue to find bugs, and you'll continue to eliminate them, as always.

And the benefit is, we get to play with what others only dream about, because the inventor and the engineers delivering these tools to us had room to have a bug.
Click to expand...
Full agreement
We should think more about how we can support Cliff and his team in their diligence and intensive work.


With FW24, Cliff has given us a present for Christmas and some people have nothing better to do than blame FAS for an emerging fault.

You exactly, look yourself in the face.


And if you look back just a little bit. How many new features we only got for free this year.

24.02beta1 is a blast, the amps and IR sound so real, so dynamic, so tube... fantastic.

Best wishes to Cliff and team for Christmas, happy holidays and have a good rest.
 
I think you guys are making a mountain out of a mole hill. The guy thought it was a stable release, free of bugs. That's why some wait for it to make it out of beta. He didn't disrespect FAS, he just had an expectation. Cliff, with pure class, apologized for not living up to said expectation. All is good...No need for long fanboism rants.
 
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rcm78 said:
So I guess I'll be the jerk here.
Whats with the rapid fire firmware updates that haven't been in beta long enough? If I choose to download a beta, I expect bugs and will do my part in reporting them.
If I download a non beta firmware update I expect it to be gig ready. I don't think this is unreasonable.
I'm a working musician, I chose Fractal because it's professional grade.
I do not wish to beta test a product that has an official release firmware. My expectation is that it is bug free and functions as intended.
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That's a reasonable expectation, but....

The "rapid fire" I would worry about if I was you is rapidly installing any firmware so soon after it's released. If you're in a gigging situation where you can't tolerate any bugs, you should wait a good long time after any firmware update is released before installing it. And maybe ask yourself if you need that update at all.
 
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