AxeFx II (vs. Ultra) - has anybody actually heard it?

Unfortunately this new release seems to be taking the Fractal community from "all for one and one for all" to "us and them". It's a shame if it continues in that direction.
 
Although this isn't the correct sub forum for this discussion I will reply by saying the countdown stated "no one will be disappointed", clearly this is not the case.
Reality is people will always be disappointed. Am I disappointed? Ultimately I will decide whether or not to buy the Axe II. If I had disappointment it would stem from
whether my current product the Ultra continues to be supported and enhanced further if possible. It was the reason I bought it over the Standard to begin with and now
wonder if the both are going out to pasture at the same time. They either will or won't. Still great products and one of the very best I have ever put my hard earned money
into.
 
Scott Peterson said:
Regarding the AxeII; It's different. It's clearly a different beast; the in-the-room thing with the higher resolution IR's from the cab block and the deeper amp algorithms equate to an added depth, complexity and 'sing'. It's inspiring - like the finest amps - and will make you smile as you play.

This not just an Ultra on steroids with some physical features thrown in. This is a fully realized and different beast. The G2 (Gen 2) modeling is a head turner. The response to dialing down the guitar's volume is stunning - it still sings and is full of 'juicy goodness' like ripe fruit. The sweet spots for dialing up amp/cab tones is honestly simpler with the new modeling and the addition of physical knobs (five of them; the big value knob too!) makes it as fast to dial up stuff as it is in the editor. It is just 'more' goodness. The new effects are stunning. The whole experience is a different thing. It takes all the strengths of the Standard and Ultra, builds upon them and makes it simpler to both work with and faster to get the 'sweet spots' zeroed in.

That's no hype, no BS. I will be posting in far more detail sooner than later.
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Thats the true story

I would guess in the blind that a STD preset ,dialed in in hours and matched with the real speaker or IR will sound better then a standard FX2 preset

As Standard and Ultra user I also think if you use a ling chain(Scott and YEK among others) run on top of Ultra capability

For myself I have sold my Standard and will push the button for "2" as soon as I can

Roland
 
Rush2112 said:
Although this isn't the correct sub forum for this discussion I will reply by saying the countdown stated "no one will be disappointed", clearly this is not the case.
Reality is people will always be disappointed. Am I disappointed? Ultimately I will decide whether or not to buy the Axe II. If I had disappointment it would stem from
whether my current product the Ultra continues to be supported and enhanced further if possible. It was the reason I bought it over the Standard to begin with and now
wonder if the both are going out to pasture at the same time. They either will or won't. Still great products and one of the very best I have ever put my hard earned money
into.
Click to expand...

Humm... I may be wrong, but I think cliff said something like "it wont be a letdown"

which the axe-fx II doesn't seem to be
 
Rush2112 said:
Unfortunately this new release seems to be taking the Fractal community from "all for one and one for all" to "us and them". It's a shame if it continues in that direction.
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Agree.

vedvai said:
The way to announce the countdown, and the lack of clear response, are what make this trend.
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Agree.

And let me add: "the way G66 has advertised the new product". I know that G66 is not FA, but since they are the only distributor for EU they are rapresentative of FA for european users.
 
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Xavi Garci said:
"real tone and feel to the next level" are fractaladmin's (Cliff?) words http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii/35907-introducing-axe-fx-ii.html
G66 is (please correct me if I'm wrong) Fractal Audio's exclusive distributor in Europe, and they are using Line6-like strategy to sell the Axe II. Please don't misunderstand me, Scott, I'm very happy with my Ultra as it is and with the latest (great) firmware, I just think this kind of marketing goes against what Fractal Audio represents for me and (I'm sure) many other users, and it is unnecesary, the Axe II doesn't need that, it isn't Pod x3.
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Cliff has redone the poweramp section. He is claiming that he taken his already outstanding modeling to another level. As is stated here:
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by dupere11497
Simple one! How would you compare the realism of the amp sims of the ultra vs. Axe 2. Let's say Ultra was like 85% there, is the Axe 2 that much different, do we compare a Ford to a Rolls Royce here? Thanks!"

Cliff responds:

100%. Seriously.
 
javajunkie said:
Cliff has redone the poweramp section. He is claiming that he taken his already outstanding modeling to another level. As is stated here:
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by dupere11497
Simple one! How would you compare the realism of the amp sims of the ultra vs. Axe 2. Let's say Ultra was like 85% there, is the Axe 2 that much different, do we compare a Ford to a Rolls Royce here? Thanks!"

Cliff responds:

100%. Seriously.
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This could definitely feed the trolls that Yek was talking about.
 
Scott Peterson said:
The G2 (Gen 2) modeling is a head turner. The response to dialing down the guitar's volume is stunning - it still sings and is full of 'juicy goodness' like ripe fruit.

That's no hype, no BS. I will be posting in far more detail sooner than later.
Click to expand...

Your killing me here!! lol
 
An incredible amount of work went into the amp modeling. I spent three years refining the algorithms. Heck it took months just to figure out how to model an output transformer.

The Ultra is a great unit. The Axe-Fx II is better. I wish I could retrofit the new algorithms into the Ultra but they won't fit. My latest modeling algorithms simply need a more powerful platform and that's why I developed the II. I listened to the users and developed a product based on their feedback.

The hardware in the Axe-Fx II is really good. Still using all film caps on the I/O. The D/A converters are now buffered with instrumentation amps for improved S/N when doing the 4CM. The circuit board is controlled impedance with gold-plated pads. The layout is "partitioned" and uses EMI filtering between partitions which achieves an incredibly low noise floor. The self-noise is so low that I can barely measure it with my audio interface.

There is a ton of RAM and FLASH for future expansion. There's a 200K gate FPGA that offloads tasks from the processor. Etc., etc., etc.

The Axe-Fx II is the finest hardware I've ever created in my 25+ years as a designer and I've designed probably over 100 circuit boards in that time.
 
FractalAudio said:
An incredible amount of work went into the amp modeling. I spent three years refining the algorithms. Heck it took months just to figure out how to model an output transformer.

The Ultra is a great unit. The Axe-Fx II is better. I wish I could retrofit the new algorithms into the Ultra but they won't fit. My latest modeling algorithms simply need a more powerful platform and that's why I developed the II. I listened to the users and developed a product based on their feedback.

The hardware in the Axe-Fx II is really good. Still using all film caps on the I/O. The D/A converters are now buffered with instrumentation amps for improved S/N when doing the 4CM. The circuit board is controlled impedance with gold-plated pads. The layout is "partitioned" and uses EMI filtering between partitions which achieves an incredibly low noise floor. The self-noise is so low that I can barely measure it with my audio interface.

There is a ton of RAM and FLASH for future expansion. There's a 200K gate FPGA that offloads tasks from the processor. Etc., etc., etc.

The Axe-Fx II is the finest hardware I've ever created in my 25+ years as a designer and I've designed probably over 100 circuit boards in that time.
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How many days off in the past 3 years? ;)

Thanks, we are all so happy!! (at least once the current dust settles everyone will be very happy Im sure)
 
There is an FPGA into the Ultra too(3 x bigger). Does this one make something new (or less)? (i mean signal processing)
 
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Scott Peterson said:
The G2 (Gen 2) modeling is a head turner. The response to dialing down the guitar's volume is stunning - it still sings and is full of 'juicy goodness' like ripe fruit.

That's no hype, no BS. I will be posting in far more detail sooner than later.
Click to expand...

Your killing me here!! lol
And now I'm hungry...

I really like everything Cliff has put in, reamping will be a breeze now too.
I know i wont be able to live without this... happily anyway
 
cliff,

a while back you said that you have ideas for algorithms, where there is no hardware/cpu yet to handle. were you referring to the axe II or are these next (next) gen?

thanks and sorry for my english...
 
FractalAudio said:
I haven't had a vacation in 7 years.
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Come down to North Carolina. Beers and BBQ are on me.

Oh, a buddy of mine has an amazing place on the coast that he rents - I bet we could get folks to chip in for a week for you and yours. I've got the first $100 ready :)
 
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