FM9T Hardware Specification/Upgrade

WhiteRoom

WhiteRoom

Inspired
Apologies if this has already been asked elsewhere. I did search but couldn't find anything relevant.

1. Short of opening up the FM9T unit and poring over it's innards, is there any way to find out what it's exact hardware specifications are? If not, is there any particular reason why they haven't been published (IF they haven't)?

2. To what extent would the unit be "upgradeable". For e.g. was any consideration ever given during the design of the unit to the possibility that future hardware add-ons might be an option?
 
WhiteRoom said:
1. Short of opening up the FM9T unit and poring over it's innards, is there any way to find out what it's exact hardware specifications are? If not, is there any particular reason why they haven't been published (IF they haven't)?
Click to expand...
Define “exact hardware specifications.” For something as complex as the FM9T, that would take hundreds of pages. In a competitive industry with proprietary trade secrets, no one is going to publish a “Here’s how to make our product” manual. :)
 
Rex said:
Define “exact hardware specifications.” For something as complex as the FM9T, that would take hundreds of pages. In a competitive industry with proprietary trade secrets, no one is going to publish a “Here’s how to make our product” manual. :)
Click to expand...
That's a bit silly. If a major competitor were inclined to reverse engineer an FM9, they almost certainly could, but in any case that's not the reason I was asking. I just wanted to know if any consideration had been given to the possibility that in the future some aspects of the hardware might be extensible. That question was answered. I can think of lots of arguments for and against designing a hardware product in that way. I built a proprietary video encoder that utilised a bespoke form of encryption a few years back which incorporated a modular aspect that allowed for some limited upgrades.

It was just a question I was curious to know the answer to. Perhaps future Fractal products will do something along those lines. There will be a point at which hardware will become so powerful that Fractal modellers will be able to do so much that they become like the latest iteration of mobile phones, or the latest PCs running DAWs etc., where you begin to ask yourself "what more could I possibly want this device to do beyond what it already does?". Unless Fractal devices morph into something entirely different, my opinion is that the hardware will outstrip the needs of the firmware, even for the most power hungry use cases.

I've worked in a related industry with products that encountered similar considerations, so I'm just interested :)
 
Rex said:
Define “exact hardware specifications.” For something as complex as the FM9T, that would take hundreds of pages. In a competitive industry with proprietary trade secrets, no one is going to publish a “Here’s how to make our product” manual. :)
Click to expand...

Once released, hardware has no "proprietary trade secrets." The secret sauce is in the uncompiled code, which I imagine they DO guard very carefully.
 
WhiteRoom said:
That's a bit silly. If a major competitor were inclined to reverse engineer an FM9, they almost certainly could, but in any case that's not the reason I was asking. I just wanted to know if any consideration had been given to the possibility that in the future some aspects of the hardware might be extensible. That question was answered. I can think of lots of arguments for and against designing a hardware product in that way. I built a proprietary video encoder that utilised a bespoke form of encryption a few years back which incorporated a modular aspect that allowed for some limited upgrades.

It was just a question I was curious to know the answer to. Perhaps future Fractal products will do something along those lines. There will be a point at which hardware will become so powerful that Fractal modellers will be able to do so much that they become like the latest iteration of mobile phones, or the latest PCs running DAWs etc., where you begin to ask yourself "what more could I possibly want this device to do beyond what it already does?". Unless Fractal devices morph into something entirely different, my opinion is that the hardware will outstrip the needs of the firmware, even for the most power hungry use cases.

I've worked in a related industry with products that encountered similar considerations, so I'm just interested :)
Click to expand...
Seems like wishful thinking. I cant think of a single music related product that you can upgrade the hardware.
 
WhiteRoom said:
That's a bit silly.
Click to expand...
That’s why I asked. :)

Bespoke encryption? That’s a bit scary. Any encryption algorithm that hasn’t been openly available for a number of years is suspect.

And I agree — In ten years, I think the power of available hardware will be more than enough to handle most of what we might want to do. Then again, when the PC first came out, Bill Gates thought that 640K of RAM would be more than anyone would ever need. :)
 
Last edited:
Rex said:
That’s why I asked. :)

Bespoke encryption? That’s a bit scary. Any encryption algorithm that hasn’t need openly available for a number of years is suspect.

And I agree — In ten years, I think the power of available hardware will be more than enough to handle most of what we might want to do. Then again, when the PC first came out, Bill Gates thought that 640K of RAM would be more than anyone would ever need. :)
Click to expand...
Of course, what I meant was that the video system was bespoke, and utilised encryption in order to protect against/prevent the video from being viewed on a non-authorised system. It's old hat now, and defunct, but it was interesting at the time. That's just one of the reasons I was interested in this topic :)
 
Eventide H9000...

"The H9000 features four quad-core ARM processors allowing users to run 16 effect algorithms simultaneously — in series or parallel. In the future, as new, more powerful ARM chips become available, the H9000’s DSP modules can be upgraded."
 
I'd think any hw upgradability features would surely have been published in product docs and even marketing material - since it's not, i think "none" is a pretty obvious answer to question2.
 
chrisjnyc said:
Seems like wishful thinking. I cant think of a single music related product that you can upgrade the hardware.
Click to expand...
Absolutely! Metric Halo has been making high end audio interfaces since around 2001. They are all hardware and software upgrade-able. The ULN-2 I bought then is still in use many iterations later as a ULN-2 3D. The ULN-8 which came out I think 2004 is now ULN-8mkIV. I now have 7 ULN-8mkIVs. Many, many versions later. Same box. Upgrade kits you can purchase for a fraction of the cost of a new upgraded unit. Easy install. The kit includes new circuit boards and often a new back panel. The only company I know of that is dedicated to being future proof. I think the ULN-8 became the ULN-8+, then the ULN-8 2D, the 2D+ then a MAJOR revamp as 3D then the biggest yet mkIV. All from the same ULN-8 box that was released in around 2004. Still one of the best high end and versatile audio interfaces on the planet. And with about as many or more software/firmware updates as Fractal. Free of course.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom