First Look at the Fractal Audio AX8 from Gear Gods

thanks for sharing that video! i typed out the info i caught from the video in my AX8 article.
 
Hey, listen! None of that mud that we were hearing in another product's demos...

Excellent promo vid!!! More!
 
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I guess I'm a little slow. I didn't realize this was essentially a floor based Axe Fx. For whatever reason, I thought it was amp/cab sims only, and the FX8 was the effects side of it, so that if you wanted a floor based Axe FX, you'd need to buy both floor units.

I'm suddenly "more interested"!
 
"Fractal rep says (at 1:07 in) that a lot of the effects have one type of the effect, although they doubled up on a few things like delays and drives (meaning just two drive models?)."


That is a question from a guy on TGP..........can we get an answer on this please.

I have noticed there hasn't been any recent talk of the amount of effects included in the AX8.....only that it has all amp models+cabs from the flagship.

Months ago Cliff said "all effects except for some of the more esoteric ones would be included".

Joe's comment in the vid suggests it may actually just have one or two types of each effect included.
 
"Fractal rep says (at 1:07 in) that a lot of the effects have one type of the effect, although they doubled up on a few things like delays and drives (meaning just two drive models?)."


That is a question from a guy on TGP..........can we get an answer on this please.

I have noticed there hasn't been any recent talk of the amount of effects included in the AX8.....only that it has all amp models+cabs from the flagship.

Months ago Cliff said "all effects except for some of the more esoteric ones would be included".

Joe's comment in the vid suggests it may actually just have one or two types of each effect included.
He's not referring to models or types, he's just talking about the maximum number of the same block available per preset. This means that in a preset you can have for example two drives in chain (any model you wish) but just one reverb (again any type you wish)
 
"Fractal rep says (at 1:07 in) that a lot of the effects have one type of the effect, although they doubled up on a few things like delays and drives (meaning just two drive models?)."
there are 2 separate topics here.

in the video, i think Joe said "types" when he really meant block instances. so he was saying there is 1 Amp Block, 1 Cab block and mostly 1 of any other available block per preset. however certain blocks like Delay and Drive have 2 available per preset. he mentioned other "stuff that's common" so maybe other blocks will have more than 1 available per preset - perhaps Filter or GEQ/PEQ.

the other topic that wasn't discussed in the video is what TYPES of blocks there will be, like Delay vs MultiDelay. that's a separate issue, and at this point most people are guessing it's the same types available in the FX8 currently, but that hasn't been confirmed at all.

the word "type" can also be confused to mean the options within a block, like Hall, Plate, Cavern etc Reverb "types." i'm pretty sure that any block included in the AX8 will have the exact same options as the Axe-Fx II, so they don't have to make different blocks for each unit (axe vs fx8 vs ax8).
 
He's not referring to models or types, he's just talking about the maximum number of the same block available per preset. This means that in a preset you can have for example two drives in chain (any model you wish) but just one reverb (again any type you wish)

Thanks!
 
there are 2 separate topics here.

in the video, i think Joe said "types" when he really meant block instances. so he was saying there is 1 Amp Block, 1 Cab block and mostly 1 of any other available block per preset. however certain blocks like Delay and Drive have 2 available per preset. he mentioned other "stuff that's common" so maybe other blocks will have more than 1 available per preset - perhaps Filter or GEQ/PEQ.

the other topic that wasn't discussed in the video is what TYPES of blocks there will be, like Delay vs MultiDelay. that's a separate issue, and at this point most people are guessing it's the same types available in the FX8 currently, but that hasn't been confirmed at all.

the word "type" can also be confused to mean the options within a block, like Hall, Plate, Cavern etc Reverb "types." i'm pretty sure that any block included in the AX8 will have the exact same options as the Axe-Fx II, so they don't have to make different blocks for each unit (axe vs fx8 vs ax8).

Thanks Chris!
 
Wasn't it said that all blocks will have X/Y states?

he did say that, but i feel like a comment like that was off the cuff and may not be 100% accurate. why would FX Loop block have XY, for example.

these product demos at shows like this are usually done after you've been standing and talking for hours, then a camera is stuck in your face and they say READY GO! i feel like most of the stuff Joe said was accurate, but some if it may have been misspoken simply due to trying to speak quickly and say as much as he could.
 
I guess I'm a little slow. I didn't realize this was essentially a floor based Axe Fx. For whatever reason, I thought it was amp/cab sims only, and the FX8 was the effects side of it, so that if you wanted a floor based Axe FX, you'd need to buy both floor units.

I'm suddenly "more interested"!

Had Fractal been bought up by one of my apartment landlords, that'd be cunning, but i don't think very competitively saavy. Think volume. No, I didn't mean that volume. No, not that volume either. Sorry for lame punning. F'ing landlords take away my gear money.

Anyway, the box is worth more than its price. I'm guessing this entry earns Fractal a mediumly wide horizontal market. The quality/price here is considerably better in many respects than half the stuff at Guitar Center. Don't forget, there's even a pristine sounding looper.
I'd like to see the manual for programming foot switch functions; I'm not clear on some of it; really think the extra grid for the footswitch-able blocks is logical.
 
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