Fractal: The Next Generation?

Deadpool_25

Deadpool_25

Fractal Fanatic
Sensei (Cliff).

I'm not too proud to beg. Please consider building a floor-based modeler with full AxeFX power and functionality in a single form factor that is basically the size of the FM3+FC6. My heart gets all squishy just thinking about it.

Respectfully,
Deadpool_25

P.S. @Admin M@, go ahead and start a waitlist and put me at the top plzkthx. ❤️
 
Deadpool_25 said:
Sensei (Cliff).

I'm not too proud to beg. Please consider building a floor-based modeler with full AxeFX power and functionality in a single form factor that is basically the size of the FM3+FC6. My heart gets all squishy just thinking about it.

Respectfully,
Deadpool_25

P.S. @Admin M@, go ahead and start a waitlist and put me at the top plzkthx. ❤️
Deadpool_25 said:
Waitlist is 1 deep people. Who wants in?
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I had the same thought of a more powerful FM 3 as the size of the AXE FX 3 and the fact that it is a rack unit are the only things that keep me away from buying it. If you put the reverb block to the highest quality (with my new RME Babyface Pro FS I can hear the difference) the FM 3 power is limitated. But I can live with that as the unit is great 🙂
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I’d settle for an FM3 in a bigger housing with 12 switches. I’m never buying an FM3, it’s too small, and I just sold my Axe 3 because it’s too big and cumbersome. All in one floorboards are my jam.
 
Tbh, the FM 3 is the best purchasement I ever made as it has everything I need in a small package. The bigger question is: What if Cygnus modeling is so good and realistic that it will finally reach a point when it cannot become any better? What would be the next big thing from Cliff and FAS? Or just selling the AXE FX 3 and the FM 3 for years and years as the units will be state of the art for a long time?
 
MrCrossroads83 said:
Tbh, the FM 3 is the best purchasement I ever made as it has everything I need in a small package. The bigger question is: What if Cygnus modeling is so good and realistic that it will finally reach a point when it cannot become any better? What would be the next big thing from Cliff and FAS? Or just selling the AXE FX 3 and the FM 3 for years and years as the units will be state of the art for a long time?
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Agree with this, however it would be great to have the option of two amps and top quality reverbs. Not needed I agree, but I would pay for it.....
 
MrCrossroads83 said:
Tbh, the FM 3 is the best purchasement I ever made as it has everything I need in a small package. The bigger question is: What if Cygnus modeling is so good and realistic that it will finally reach a point when it cannot become any better? What would be the next big thing from Cliff and FAS? Or just selling the AXE FX 3 and the FM 3 for years and years as the units will be state of the art for a long time?
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We have been in diminishing returns department for years already. IMO the biggest improvements Fractal can make on their existing devices are not in sound but in usability and convenience. A few days ago I posted a whole pile of small UI improvements on the wishlist forum and I hope some of them get implemented because I feel most are easy to do in terms of programming and would improve the workflow using the device from the unit itself.

The next avenues in modeling could be things like cab/speaker modeling beyond IRs or at least with improved user interfaces like movable mics that mix together IRs like you see on ML Sound Lab MIKKO plugin. Huge lists of IR files is just a bad way to manage the cab sim.

FM3 could use more processing power so you can have a second reverb block, maybe a dual amp block. Whether that requires Axe-Fx 3 level DSP I do not know but if it does, it would make for one expensive floor unit. FM3 could use a few more switches so extra controllers are less necessary. But at the same time personally I don't want a unit significantly larger. I'd rather have a "FM5" or "FM6" with tightened switch spacing to accommodate more switches than something as large as the FM3+FC6.

Alternatively I'd gladly take a "FM0" that is just a brain with no footswitches and you buy a FC to put on the floor for switching. I know what you are saying, "That's an Axe-Fx 3!" but I specifically don't care for the rack format for its size, shape and weight. I'm thinking more of a desktop unit.
 
I've always played live with the Axe-FX at the floor, inside a Gator 3U bag, between the FCB1010 controller and my floor FRFR monitors. I've been doing that since the Axe-FX Standard, the Ultra, the II, and now the III.

Now I cannot find a picture on the stage, but this old pic shows how the Axe-FX looks at the floor.

Axe-FX floor.jpg

Floor-based power!
 
laxu said:
We have been in diminishing returns department for years already. IMO the biggest improvements Fractal can make on their existing devices are not in sound but in usability and convenience. A few days ago I posted a whole pile of small UI improvements on the wishlist forum and I hope some of them get implemented because I feel most are easy to do in terms of programming and would improve the workflow using the device from the unit itself.

The next avenues in modeling could be things like cab/speaker modeling beyond IRs or at least with improved user interfaces like movable mics that mix together IRs like you see on ML Sound Lab MIKKO plugin. Huge lists of IR files is just a bad way to manage the cab sim.

FM3 could use more processing power so you can have a second reverb block, maybe a dual amp block. Whether that requires Axe-Fx 3 level DSP I do not know but if it does, it would make for one expensive floor unit. FM3 could use a few more switches so extra controllers are less necessary. But at the same time personally I don't want a unit significantly larger. I'd rather have a "FM5" or "FM6" with tightened switch spacing to accommodate more switches than something as large as the FM3+FC6.

Alternatively I'd gladly take a "FM0" that is just a brain with no footswitches and you buy a FC to put on the floor for switching. I know what you are saying, "That's an Axe-Fx 3!" but I specifically don't care for the rack format for its size, shape and weight. I'm thinking more of a desktop unit.
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re :
"Alternatively I'd gladly take a "FM0" that is just a brain with no footswitches and you buy a FC to put on the floor for switching. I know what you are saying, "That's an Axe-Fx 3!" but I specifically don't care for the rack format for its size, shape and weight. I'm thinking more of a desktop unit."

The I/O implementation for the "FM0" would still require quite a bit of real estate. Might as well just try to reduce the AXE III footprint.
 
The FX 3 has two Keystone processors and is supposed to be 8 times more powerful than the FM3. How about a floor model with one Keystone processor? I think that could be an interesting compromise to bring the price point down a little.
 
dtougas said:
The FX 3 has two Keystone processors and is supposed to be 8 times more powerful than the FM3. How about a floor model with one Keystone processor? I think that could be an interesting compromise to bring the price point down a little.
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Thats what i am thinking one Keystone , 7 switches 6 doing the
programming and 1 mode switch
for switching layouts presets scene fx like the OMG9 plus tuner on the hold
price point 1599 -1699
 
I’ve been gigging Fractal gear for 10 years now, starting with the Ultra. As long as I can remember, people have been asking for a full power floor version of the flagship of the moment. I have to assume there is something that makes it mechanically or financially impractical, or it would have been done by now.

Total, un-scientific guess warning! Unsubstantiated opinion to follow:

1. Biggest guess: There isn’t enough market for an item that would likely cost 150% of an Axe FX III. Packing an AFX III, ventilation and filtration, a foot controller and associated interfaces into one housing cannot be cheaper than the original item.

2. With all the whining about cost FAS tolerates from the uninitiated, it would be hard to imagine a $3K+ unit drawing in people not already using their gear... something that would have to happen to make it financially feasible.

3. Do you make it with 6 switches? 12? 18? 24?

4. Don’t forget a huge screen! I want to be able to watch YouTube videos on it via BT.

5. On the first announcement of it’s pending release, this thread is posted “Yeah, but can I get it in a lower power version with fewer options for half the price? I just don’t need all of this!“ and “It’s too big and now I have to buy a $100 boom mic stand!” And “Why wasn’t there a speaker built in for practicing” and “I need 4 headphone jacks so my band can all use a channel and listen in.” and “This thing cost a fortune! Why can’t I make a patch with 6 amps, 12 cabs, and 11 plate reverbs?”. At the end of each post comes something like “I’m going back to my Behringer solid state amp, it was awesome!”


Anyway, all in good fun. Cliff is a smart guy who has managed to make a start-up music company in New Hampshire into an internationally respected entity. I, too, hope there will one day be a full power all in one. But until there is, I have to assume the man has good reason not to do it.
 
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