Fractal Audio has been challenged, or so it seems.

Finally, from their FB page.....

BIAS Amp users, we’ve got some good news for you: the new IR loader module is coming soon as a FREE update, allowing you to load your custom IR into BIAS. We are also working with major recording studios to create and share professional studio IR on ToneCloud.

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I like the low entry price of plugins as they allow more end users to experience the joys of making music. But latency has always been part of the equation with applications that share host computer CPU processing time.

I've been using DAW plugin amps since the first version of Amp Farm. As cool as the concept was to be able to open a session in Pro Tools and have everything recalled exactly as you left it, the horsepower to do low(-ish) latency real-time processing was only possible with dedicated processors, namely VERY expensive TDM cards sporting multiple processors. The studio where I worked paid around (I vaguely recall) $10,000 for each TDM card at least 15 years ago. I'm pretty sure one instance of Amp Farm took an entire TDM processor to run one amp sim with no dynamics processing or time-based effects at all.

There's nothing wrong with using host-based plugins but dedicated hardware is still the way to go for the best performance. Plus, while the cost of the hardware (computer, audio interface) to run a plugin isn't a hidden cost, I think that it's easy for many to not include that in the equation even though the reality is that it is part of the total cost.

The cost of an AXE FX 2XL+ buys you 2 SHARC processors that runs an astounding library of top quality amps, dynamics processors and effects all in real-time with imperceptible latency. Add the excellent audio interface with multiple analog and multiple digital I/O, front panel hardware controls, headphone output, MIDI interface, USB computer interface, dedicated FASLINK foot controller interface, expression pedal inputs, and Axe-Edit software to edit, store, recall and share patches.

PLUS the owner and brains behind Fractal is here on the forums, listens to feedback, and is constantly improving and adding to existing products.


Sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes, as is the case with Fractal products, you get much more.
 
Young people suck, am i rite?

Most of the time, yes...

But those few that do listen and learn show much promise. Sadly when I was young my transmitter (like most) was also stuck on and the receiver was shorted to ground. In other words good music isn't defined by when it was done, but how it was done.8)
 
He's been using an Axe-Fx for years.....

Yep, and now he is digging BIAS...nothing bad about that, i mean the Axe FX II is the ultimate Amp Simulator and we love it, but we are entitle to use new amazing softwares too.

Some people see this as a bad thing it seems at times.
 
Interestingly enough; the input LEDs from the Axe in the background actually light up slightly as he touches the strings with his forearms.

... so he's using the Axe as an audio interface for the Bias in this video? Talk about redundancy, lol. :p


But honestly, the amount of money that Positive Grid puts into marketing this is absurd. Ads for Bias are everywhere. I almost get at least one sponsored or endorsed ad about it on Facebook every day. And you see literally every second musician endorsing in on their Youtube channels aswell.

How come their marketing budget is so ridicolously big?
 
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I've never used Bias as I don't do recording at home, and the only use of reamping for me is to setup presets for live use, but this plugin does sound good in the demos. It also seems simpler to setup, so might work for some users.

That being said, it's just that - a DAW plugin, and I can hardly imagine it being used in a gig. For reamping plugins are much more convenient than hardware. Whether they sound as good or not is another issue.
 
But honestly, the amount of money that Positive Grid puts into marketing this is absurd. Ads for Bias are everywhere. I almost get at least one sponsored or endorsed ad about it on Facebook every day. And you see literally every second musician endorsing in on their Youtube channels aswell.

How come their marketing budget is so ridicolously big?

Good for them, i mean its not like if the software was bad, its amazing, so the ads do justify its means.
 
BIAS is rumored to be well on its track working on a hardware unit thats probably going on sale in 2017.

Well, if and when it's out in 2017, we shall see how it fares in comparison to Axe FX III (or IV, or whatever Fractal will have by then), and Helix II, and what not.

Until then, this is an apple to oranges comparison, IMO.
 
Well, if and when it's out in 2017, we shall see how it fares in comparison to Axe FX III (or IV, or whatever Fractal will have by then), and Helix II, and what not.

Until then, this is an apple to oranges comparison, IMO.

Apples and oranges? Ok, so whats inside your Axe FX is actually a software runing on a hardware platform, BIAS is a software runing on a hardware platform.

So....
 
Apples and oranges? Ok, so whats inside your Axe FX is actually a software runing on a hardware platform, BIAS is a software runing on a hardware platform.

So....

that's like saying "motorcycles and cars both have tires and engines, so they are the same thing."

and actually, what's in the Axe-Fx is firmware running on specially designed hardware. BIAS is software running on... whatever OS it's ported for.

haha this whole conversation is a losing battle. why am i even posting in this thread at all!!111?

everyone ditch your Axe! BIAS is where it's at. BIAS is love, BIAS is life.
 
Apples and oranges? Ok, so whats inside your Axe FX is actually a software runing on a hardware platform, BIAS is a software runing on a hardware platform.

So....

So, if I want to ditch my AFX for Bias, I'll need a hardware platform. And for anything apart from reamping or sitting on my ass listening to awesome sounds I produce (which are maybe perfectly legit things by themselves), this means not just a cheap notebook and a $200 cheap sound card. This has to be an interface with great low noise converters and preamps that don't clip when the signal is hot, and the whole setup has to be crazy fast with super low latency. And it also has to be robust and pre-assembled in a rack. And I need a controller. And oh, I also need to spend money on a DAW, Bias is just a plugin. And, back to the issue of latency, this should preferably work on some sort of real time OS, not on Windows or Mac OS. Or a "normal" OS maybe, but it mustn't do much else apart from processing sound. Basically, this means that I have to build that hardware platform and port all that software somehow to have a unit that only I use. Guess how much that'll cost me. Much more than an Axe FX.

On the other hand, maybe if all I did was sitting in a studio reamping, a hardware unit would rather be an inconvenience compared to a VST plugin right there in my DAW.

So yeah, these are apples and oranges.
 
I've been trying to avoid this thread for so long thinking it would die but since it's active again (for the thousand time) I wanted to say a few things.

No disrespect towards BIAS. It's a good tool. Some people need/want it more than others. That is personal opinion.

I like you nicolas and I have nothing against you. You're a good dude! But this monologue of yours seems like it would fit better on some other forum. I'm saying this as a friend and just my own opinion: I don't think we need a BIAS news channel on the Fractal forum. I'm not telling you to stop. I'm just saying people stopped answering you in case you missed it.

You like BIAS. Nothing wrong with that.
 
I like you nicolas and I have nothing against you. You're a good dude! But this monologue of yours seems like it would fit better on some other forum. I'm saying this as a friend and just my own opinion: I don't think we need a BIAS news channel on the Fractal forum. I'm not telling you to stop. I'm just saying people stopped answering you in case you missed it.

You like BIAS. Nothing wrong with that.

i've been trying to figure out how to say exactly that. i completely agree. this is like nicolas's personal BIAS thread. maybe not needed on the FAS forum, similar to the Helix thread(s).
 
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