Wish AXE FX PRO! New rack!

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RackAddict

Previous handle "Djenter"
Time has finally warranted the need for a new unit. But since the modeling of the 3 is already good enough, the real question is are we just going to get more of the same? Will we finally see full Pro implementation?

Here is some suggestions for an AXE FX Pro rackmount Unit to make such a unit in my case be fully integratable into pro production sessions rather than just preproduction session capability.

The following are a very crucial set of needs for such a unit:

Graphical:

-AAX and VSTintegration of of rack unit into Pro tools and VST-based DAWs with CAT5/6 or USB connection - as a plugin (graphical plug-in only) that you pull up in pro tools so the rack integrates directly into your session similar to how you do the same with the Eventide H9000 for all its presets and blocks. This is how Eventide protects their premium algorithms on their flagship from cracks while still giving people an AAX/VST plugin so it's only graphical and audio passing only if you have the unit.

(I prioritize AAX because Avid Pro tools has already established themselves as the industry standard in DAWs, as awful as that may sound. But it is what it is.)

-graphical cab interface (with dynamic cab modeling described in a section below).

Connectivity:
-an optical lighting digital connection input/output set and 2 more available input/output blocks up to #6 as well as two additional sets of stereo inputs and outputs
-wordclock BNC connection (for those of us who clock everything today with BNC to a dedicated rack clock with BNC connectors only)

Functional:
-88.2/96k at least upsampled before the outputs so we can be able to track digitally into our sessions without conversion.

-Separate and dedicated Solid State and Tube amp blocks (badly need those old Dime randalls and other SS stuff).

-more scenes - up to 16 or more, With new shortcut combo on the existing FC units to flip to more pages

-"momentary to scene or preset" switch assignment for momentarily flipping to a new specific scene within your preset or even momentary to a preset but letting go back to the previous preset

-shape selector for the step sequencer so that you can pick which shapes and ramps, curved or straight or level-stepped go for each step of the sequence (and obviously to be able to momentary that for some outlandish interpolation on the fly for the Djenters and Thallers, and Cyber metalheads out there)

-Dynamic cab-modeling with graphical interface for moving mics around on cab, but preferably just a collaboration between Fractal and Two notes to integrate the Two notes stuff into Fractal because the Two notes DynIR stuff is so amazing has already done all that and established themselves as the industry standard for cab modeling. Why do all that work when it's already been done? Why not collaborate synergistically. (Had humans done that since the dawn of time we would be light years beyond this planet right now and would have developed many others as well. But it seems multiple can kicking down multiple roads is a seasoned human enterprise).

Aesthetics:
-We need a new look, maybe some sort of Gun Metal. (But please don't go all ipad-ish or Hal-ish like they did with the ridiculous looking Eventide H9.).
 
Looks at all the pros using the III and wonders how they cope with the current non-pro III Fractal makes….. /s

How is this a critique of this wish?
And how exactly does your response invalidate my requests and requested naming of such a unit?
Is the name Axe FX 4 Better?
Ok why dont you request other familiar cans be kicked down the road too?
Wow! You so original and synergistically constructive!
 
How is this a critique of this wish?
And how exactly does your response invalidate my requests and requested naming of such a unit?
Is the name Axe FX 4 Better?
Ok why dont you request other familiar cans be kicked down the road too?
Wow! You so original and synergistically constructive!


Don't be upset. I think the comments were just funny remarks about your somewhat exaggerated wish list. 🫢

Every business - besides the idea of making customers happy - has a business side. To run a business successfully and continue to produce breakthrough products in the future, you need good management and foresight.

Also, every company has a philosophy of what the products should look like and what they are capable of doing.

On the other hand, there are the wishes of the users. In your case, they are very big. I estimate that 98% of users don't have them. And I think it's a bit presumptuous to recommend someone to work with another company. If you like 2Notes' products, just use them and integrate them into your system.

Such a device would eat up a lot of money in development. And it would also be very expensive. How many would have to be sold to cover the cost? I've seen a lot of companies fail on such projects.
Costs and benefits should balance each other out. You can write and record a hit album even with an FM3. The technology behind it has never helped in such cases.

But that is my opinion. I still belong to the generation of guitarists who use the volume pot of the guitar to switch from lead to rhythm 🙈.

No, the AXE FX3 is currently the top of the line in digital amps.
I would rather advise UAD to finally put a RCA SPDIF in their devices instead of these terrible fiber optics. 😄
 
Time has finally warranted the need for a new unit. But since the modeling of the 3 is already good enough, the real question is are we just going to get more of the same? Will we finally see full Pro implementation?

Here is some suggestions for an AXE FX Pro rackmount Unit to make such a unit in my case be fully integratable into pro production sessions rather than just preproduction session capability.

The following are a very crucial set of needs for such a unit:

Graphical:

-AAX and VSTintegration of of rack unit into Pro tools and VST-based DAWs with CAT5/6 or USB connection - as a plugin (graphical plug-in only) that you pull up in pro tools so the rack integrates directly into your session similar to how you do the same with the Eventide H9000 for all its presets and blocks. This is how Eventide protects their premium algorithms on their flagship from cracks while still giving people an AAX/VST plugin so it's only graphical and audio passing only if you have the unit.

(I prioritize AAX because Avid Pro tools has already established themselves as the industry standard in DAWs, as awful as that may sound. But it is what it is.)

-graphical cab interface (with dynamic cab modeling described in a section below).

Connectivity:
-an optical lighting digital connection input/output set and 2 more available input/output blocks up to #6 as well as two additional sets of stereo inputs and outputs
-wordclock BNC connection (for those of us who clock everything today with BNC to a dedicated rack clock with BNC connectors only)

Functional:
-88.2/96k at least upsampled before the outputs so we can be able to track digitally into our sessions without conversion.

-Separate and dedicated Solid State and Tube amp blocks (badly need those old Dime randalls and other SS stuff).

-more scenes - up to 16 or more, With new shortcut combo on the existing FC units to flip to more pages

-"momentary to scene or preset" switch assignment for momentarily flipping to a new specific scene within your preset or even momentary to a preset but letting go back to the previous preset

-shape selector for the step sequencer so that you can pick which shapes and ramps, curved or straight or level-stepped go for each step of the sequence (and obviously to be able to momentary that for some outlandish interpolation on the fly for the Djenters and Thallers, and Cyber metalheads out there)

-Dynamic cab-modeling with graphical interface for moving mics around on cab, but preferably just a collaboration between Fractal and Two notes to integrate the Two notes stuff into Fractal because the Two notes DynIR stuff is so amazing has already done all that and established themselves as the industry standard for cab modeling. Why do all that work when it's already been done? Why not collaborate synergistically. (Had humans done that since the dawn of time we would be light years beyond this planet right now and would have developed many others as well. But it seems multiple can kicking down multiple roads is a seasoned human enterprise).

Aesthetics:
-We need a new look, maybe some sort of Gun Metal. (But please don't go all ipad-ish or Hal-ish like they did with the ridiculous looking Eventide H9.).
$500 gets you Dante I/O at any sample rate:

https://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=886
 
I feel that wish list should be like a brain storming meeting... No critics allowed...

Sure there will be technical limitations, cost limitations etc etc....

But a wish is a wish
 
I feel that wish list should be like a brain storming meeting... No critics allowed...

Sure there will be technical limitations, cost limitations etc etc....

But a wish is a wish
Wishes are great. But some of us talk them out in this discussion forum to make them a reality, hone in on better versions of the wish, and also explain how some wishes are already possible.
 
I prioritize AAX because Avid Pro tools has already established themselves as the industry standard

No prioritization would be necessary. Integrated development environments and code libraries already support cross-platform development of plugins. Developing one for AAX would be a button click away from compiling the same code for AU. The only difference would be integration points (hooks) specific to each platform, if any.

Cost vs. benefit for Fractal bothering with plugin integration: is this a frequently requested feature? Seriously doubtful.

I’m one of those silly guys who records everything wet out of my AFX. If I needed to reamp, I have a TT patch bay, Radial Reamps, UA x8p, etc. If I wanted to re-process vocals through the AFX, I’d use a similar process.

If Fractal wanted to attract a more general purpose (non-guitarist) user, I could see plugin integration possibly being beneficial. But that would be going outside the current core audience for the AFX.
 
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a collaboration between Fractal and Two notes

Never, ever, ever (times infinity) gonna happen.

Fractal already has world-class algorithms. It wouldn’t take much to flesh out a graphical “mic re-positioning” simulations, etc., if that was a frequently requested feature.
 
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How is this a critique of this wish? And how exactly does your response invalidate my requests and requested naming of such a unit? [...]
The toxicity of this forum is determined by just a handful of participants. Once you identify them, it gets much better ;)
IMO, you did not say the current unit is non-pro, you simply suggested an even better "full pro" version — but yes, you could have toned it down a touch and I could agree with the message below. I've seen Dimebag in a few "Overrated Guitarists" videos as well lately... ;) To want all your exact wishes in one box will not lead to happiness. I guess we all struggle a little bit with it...

My first reaction was, "Who is gonna be able to afford these $8,000 units besides a few dozen of studios and some kids in Quatar...? Are you ok to pay $3,800 if you need a replacement motherboard?" IOW, the public for it seems too small.

OTOH, maybe most of your wishes are not that unreasonable or expensive as I first thought. I think we first need a chip that can handle the higher sampling easily and still give us "more of everything." I don't think it's here yet. Besides that, Cliff doesn't seem to want/need more than 64 kHz, and I trust that.

Re. solid state amps, IIRC, Cliff has in ways mentioned these are not as easy to emulate as we tend to think. They're also much more parts, so if you want to do it right, you may have a ton of work ahead of you (or opt to emulate them in a "cheap" way). A tube amp, OTOH, is more like "30 parts" and many reused schematics.
 
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How is this a critique of this wish?
And how exactly does your response invalidate my requests and requested naming of such a unit?
Is the name Axe FX 4 Better?
Ok why dont you request other familiar cans be kicked down the road too?
Wow! You so original and synergistically constructive!
You make the same set of "critical" wishes every year and then get all bent out of shape when no one thinks they're as "very crucial set of needs" as you think they are.

Time has finally warranted the need for a new unit.
Has it now?
 
Inside The Actors Studio GIF
 
This is what happens when you have multiple competent companies competing with multi fx amp modeler devices.

Every one attempts their own take, with its own pros and cons. To get a "perfect" modeler in the sense you are thinking, would essentially require all the brands to just become one.

If you look at what does Fractal Audio do the most? Amp models, effects models, and they improve the SOUND of it, by far the most. It's not even close how much effort goes into that compared to their competition in my opinion.

What have Line 6 done recently? They used their massive budget to essentially copy two notes type cabinet UI. I went through a bunch of clips and it's not really very impressive to me, maybe I'm just crazy.

Neural I guess the pro of their units are the screen. People like touch screens nowadays. And the capture ability. They tried to create a small modeling device, with a decent amount of power, easy to use, and with the gold mine of profiling/capturing. I say gold mine because I personally just see profiling at this point as a way for people to sell profiles/captures that all sound like crapola.

If you want the cabinet UI so bad, just buy a Helix. If you want a touch screen so bad, get a Neural???

What people are saying when they make these posts ultimately, is they want the pros of every unit without any of the cons. Which is understandable of course, the problem is making it happen isn't as easy as it seems. Line 6 just come out with this update and everyone with a Helix in their bedroom just goes, oh wow cool! But think about how much money, time, resources, etc went into it. I don't it's something you just do over a weekend.

If I worked at Line 6 in the Helix "department" I'd be reading threads like this with a turd eating grin on my face. Muahaha we must convince them they NEED this IR UI that hasn't existed the last 7 years on our device and it worked fine all those years! But now we NEED IT!!! Muahahahahahahahahahaha.

The best kind of marketing as your grandpas should've told you, is convincing someone they NEED something.
 
Just to entertain the concept of “pro”

If fractal let’s you design a digital amp from scratch or a starting template

and connect them together..

AND let’s you tweak individual component values and wherever they are in the circuit …

Then I’ll call it pro

Basically a digital sandbox of making a guitar amplifier, I know it’s literally sky’s the limit with the design but whatever constraints is up to fractal.

Sure there’s probably a small amount of people who know amp design and electronics understanding but hey that’s “pro” to me, nvm if this sells much at all
 
Everyone defines what a "pro" is differently. A 'professional" product must have feature X or do Y, it's not "pro" until it accomplishes Z.

What if the real professionals are able to take what they have and make something with it? Does a professional woodworker go "well damn I'd be a pro if this Sawmaster3000 had a touchscreen, guess I'm just an amateur"?

The III is a tool, a tool which many professionals use.
 
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