Axe PC

mortega76 said:
AndrewSimon said:
I think Cliff needs to announce the price of the AXE-PC.
This will eliminate a lot of wishful questions.
Cliff already said the AXE-PC will NOT be in the Amplitube/Guitar Rig price range
it will be higher.

:shock:
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Here's my guess... $699 for the "base version" and $199 for each bundle... and if you buy more than one at a time you get $50 bucks off each bundle.

P.S. "Needs" is a harsh word... how about, "It would be nice if" :D
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P.S.S. I forgot... If you are a "registered" Axe-fx Owner you get $200 bucks off.
 
Arbiter said:
Just to give an example, a game called Sins of a Solar Empire famously shipped with absolutely no copy protection at all and still sold 500,000 copies in a market that is absolutely rife with pirating (PC gaming). The CEO of the company that published it gave quite the treatise on the difference between a "potential customer base" and a "potential user base." Some people who will be users will not pay money, no matter what. You can't attempt to stop those people from pirating something. The more difficult your protection, the more likely a scene group is going to try and crack it just for the practice and bragging rights anyway.
His whole approach surrounded marketing to your potential customers by only offering paying customers support, making it very convenient to purchase the product (online distribution), offering frequent updates to ensure the product works smoothly. Basically, making the end user experience as hassle free as humanly possible - the complete opposite approach of big publishers like EA, who have created an enormous community backlash by limiting installs of their software and the like.
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Games cost $50. With higher priced software you are not really worried about the "people who wouldn't buy it anyway", as much as the companies, say, recording studios, that buy it and then decide that since they bought one copy its ok to put it on 5 other computers and use it. If you don't think this is a huge problem, talk to any vendor of CAD software.
 
steveb said:
Arbiter said:
Just to give an example, a game called Sins of a Solar Empire famously shipped with absolutely no copy protection at all and still sold 500,000 copies in a market that is absolutely rife with pirating (PC gaming). The CEO of the company that published it gave quite the treatise on the difference between a "potential customer base" and a "potential user base." Some people who will be users will not pay money, no matter what. You can't attempt to stop those people from pirating something. The more difficult your protection, the more likely a scene group is going to try and crack it just for the practice and bragging rights anyway.
His whole approach surrounded marketing to your potential customers by only offering paying customers support, making it very convenient to purchase the product (online distribution), offering frequent updates to ensure the product works smoothly. Basically, making the end user experience as hassle free as humanly possible - the complete opposite approach of big publishers like EA, who have created an enormous community backlash by limiting installs of their software and the like.
Click to expand...

Games cost $50. With higher priced software you are not really worried about the "people who wouldn't buy it anyway", as much as the companies, say, recording studios, that buy it and then decide that since they bought one copy its ok to put it on 5 other computers and use it. If you don't think this is a huge problem, talk to any vendor of CAD software.
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I wonder if those same vendors have any success at all in stopping people from doing that...?
 
The AxePC is really good news. That means that I can do reamps at home with my laptop, while the Axe-FX is in the studio. Also I can have that baby as a soundcard at home, with a guitar, as the largest hardware visible. I can always hang it on the wall, so I need to bring the nicest looking. Yep, i have a wife. ;)
 
If somebody really wants to steal your car, they will. But I still see no reason to leave the keys in the ignition.
 
First of all congratulations Cliff in getting the AxeFx to this stage. The concept of the AxePC is great. I guess you will be competing on the software front with Revalver III although the Axe is far superior in content. I sincerely hope that things take off and you hit the jackpot with the AxePC. Hit the right price point and I'm sure you will.

I love my Ultra. I like the stand-alone hardware box format, however I would be tempted to get the PC version as well if the price was right. I think the PC version will inevitably devalue the standalone if it is pirated.

I'm sure that you have spoken to everyone you can in the music software industry about protection. Surely the best way to deal with piracy is to sell the product at a price point that is within the reach of the target group. Sure studios and pros will invest considerable money in getting the best gear for their needs, but if its too expensive for everyman then he may consider a cracked version if it comes along. More units sold = more profit for Fractal Audio = better future products from you for all of us! :D

I dont know what is the best direction to take - just my rambling thoughts out loud. Its a very exciting prospect for all of us Axe Fx users. :)

Thanks Cliff

Stewart
 
FractalAudio said:
You're never going to beat the performance, ruggedness and ease of use of the Axe-Fx. For many people that's worth the extra money.

Laptops are fragile, easily stolen and prone to reliability problems. Also, you'll never get the latency performance out of a PC that you will with an Axe-Fx. OS limitations prevent this. For some people the extra-low latency of the Axe-Fx is worth the money.
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Especially with it tied to a usb interface :lol:

Ah well, back to debating with myself over buying an Ultra.
 
It is undoubtedly possible that hackers could break the hardware keying such that any-old digital interface might be used... however, I'm guessing it would sound naff.

As I understand the analog "special sauce", it works analogously (see what I did there?) to the way the RIAA phono equalization curve works with vinyl LP's to reduce noise... a frequency bias introduced at the cutter that is corrected in the pre-amplification. Similarly, as much as I can gather, Cliff's algorithms correct for the deliberate non-linearities of his pre-digital analog circuitry.

Thus using a regular a/d interface with hacked software just wouldn't sound as it should. The best possible protection for a high-quality audio product.
 
I wonder if it will work with the Muse Receptor. I was using this with Guitar Rig before I got the Axe FX. It is basically a dedicated VST player - gets rid of the lap top. Worked well enough, but Guitar Rig kept freezing up and at the time Amplitube would not run on it. But for live players this is a good solution instead of a laptop. If it all works.
 
Arbiter said:
I wonder if those same vendors have any success at all in stopping people from doing that...?
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Mostly you just want enough protection to slow people down. If people don't have to think when making extra copies or passing stuff around then they tend to do it, even if they don't explicitly set out to steal stuff. But if someone finds themselves having to go to a hacker site to uncrack something, many people won't go to that step, especially people in a corporate environment where a company can get in real trouble if they make a habit of using illegal software and then a disgruntled employee or someone goes and calls the software publishers association pirate hotline on them.

I don't like dongles or protection personally either, or having to show receipts in stores to leave, etc, but unfortunately there are enough people who think stuff should be free out there to make it necessary.
 
SH**

I am within a week or so of ordering the Axe FX standard. now what? haha

seriously though, i am not sure what to do, i want to check this out

some questions i guess

- how is it coded? the TH1 from overloud is in assembly language and the CPU hit is minimal (kinda like SAW is) which is beautiful (i found the Th1 sounds ok at best compared to the axe though)

- will it really sound as good??

- what the hell would any of you do if you were in my shoes?? I only want this for my home studio, no gigging, just to record with.

aaarrrrgghhh

- i am against the online thing, my PC is tweaked out for audio, no anti virus, never on the internet. that may seal the deal for me there but i am willing to check it out

when will you have something up we can look at and hear?

aaaarrrgggghhhh
 
trock said:
SH**

I am within a week or so of ordering the Axe FX standard. now what? haha
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Get both and be done with it. :lol:

OK, seriously, if the Standard is in your budget.... get it!
You are guaranteed the lowest latency, stability, compatibility and you free up CPU for other things.

;)
 
whew

i was having a momentary anxiety attack, within the span of a week i had gone from pre ordering my POD X3 Pro, to, out of the blue, being told about this fractal thing, to sweating the doubling of the budget, to figuring out when/if there might be an xmas bonis, to checking out the TH1, to JUST NOW hearing about this new product!

thank you, getting the standard!

well, unless someone tells me differently in the next10 minutes :)
 
Interesting subject line for the thread in the other forum: AMP SIM plug in - 1/10 the price of AXE FX

When AXE-PC is done someone should start a thread over there: AMP SIM plug in - 10 times better than Overloud
 
Whoa, how'd I miss this topic?

Sounds intriguing, but I'm not sure the convenience of a plugin format would warrant the $$ outlay (and the requisite copy protection) if I already have an Ultra and a very good audio interface (Metric Halo ULN-2).

One thing I was wondering is if patches created on one "platform" could be used on the other.
 
Charlie Wardick said:
Interesting subject line for the thread in the other forum: AMP SIM plug in - 1/10 the price of AXE FX

When AXE-PC is done someone should start a thread over there: AMP SIM plug in - 10 times better than Overloud
Click to expand...


fing36.gif
 
It's too early to say on a lot of these questions. Pricing? TDB. Anti-piracy measures are still being weighed. Minimum computer requirements still TBD. Furthermore it's not going to be ready for purchase for at least a couple months. We need to do the beta testing, go into full production with the interface, write the manual, design the packaging, plan the rollout, etc., etc.

It will be cool though. I recommend everyone get both: Axe-Fx for gigging, Axe-PC for home recording. :mrgreen:
 
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