I love my AX8.. It's not going anywhere .. I found that by adding some key pieces of ( Friedman bd deluxe, freethetone verb and tri -chorus) I'm a very happy player.@Johan Allard I was the one that started the Go-Fund-Me thread since I had just purchased a mint AX8 (I never owned one before this one) and I was hoping to see the Ares firmware from my XL+ in the AX8 (but I am actually fine having the AX8 stay the same).
I found I really liked the AX8 and I was able to get some great sounds out of it especially when I would take a preset from my XL+ and convert it to the AX8 (it seemed to sound really close to the XL+ (and my friends said it sounded the same) even though the XL+ was on the Ares 2.0 firmware).
I did purchase an FM3 before XMAS time and I used it right away.
It does sound great and I have set up the 3 footswitches with several different configurations, however, I think it could be pretty challenging to people that are not very tech oriented (or patient) and they would probably consider the AX8 easier to use and less of a headache.
I did find I liked being able to add a 4 button footswitch to the FM3 and making it an FM7 or making the FC-6 become an FC-10
Honestly, I plan to keep the AX8 and don't see a reason to sell it since it definitely has a different sound than the FM3/AX3 and I can see there are some advantages to keeping it even though I own the newest Fractal gear.
Additionally, one thing that I really like about the AX8 is the control knobs.
And yes, I know you can set up the FM3/AX3 to have control knobs (actually, you can have more controls set up on the FM3/AX3) but I believe part of the love for the AX8 knobs is due to them sitting on the top of the AX8 for easy access.
The AX8 is a super cool device and should stay in my Fractal collection for a very long time regardless of any new Fractal product coming out
I'm sure when or if another full-based floor unit comes along, I'll get it. But, until then, I'll stick with my AX8