I'm concerned that updates are getting a bit out of control

Should have a sticky post containing links to every post on forum like this one. Should be about 2-5 per firmware release.

Make reading a few of those a requirement to forum registration.

Bonus points: Add post submission validation.. anything resembling a "too many fw updates" type post results in a redirect to here.
 
For me, the continuous flow of FW releases is just a reminder as to why I still have my tube amps. We're on a great ride, but we're not there yet.
 
Oh and Gazza - Please excuse some of our forum buddies. Empathy, forethought, or understanding is sometimes a little weak around here! Can't argue about their passion though :)

Pauly
 
GazzaBloom said:
While I absolutely recognise and welcome Cliff's and the FAS team's enthusiasm and support of the Axe FX, I am concerned that there is a lack of disipline and control with regards to recent FW Beta updates.

We have a FW20 beta that is now overlapped with a Quantum 1 beta. Does this suggest that random developments are being thrown out for testing by the public without adherence to a product development plan?

Or are these frantic developments a knee jerk reaction to the imminent lower cost product releases by other manufacturers (Helix, Amplifire, Yamaha THR100), which are looking likely to be great sounding products?

Every company needs creative and spur of the moment product developments but releasing these as a stream of consciousness to the public may end up being self defeating and appear amateurish, especially without taking the time to write release notes.

Just a concern of mine, from someone who owns and loves the Axe FX.
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I love what we are getting and if updates worry you, get one of the devices you named and your worries are over. Or just don't update!?

Great discoveries can be the key to inspire and create even greater things. One idea can trigger many more. With the Axe Fx we are in uncharted water and Cliff is a captain with a great sense of direction.

The other devices aren't in the same league IMO and they are a knee jerk reaction to the Axe Fx.
 
Personally, I love the constant updates, betas and all. They keep me constantly trying out new tones, which inspires me to play more, which leads to me being a better player. By being a motivating factor to play my guitars, the Axe has done more to improve my playing than anything else (well, except maybe the Mel Bay Guitar Method.)
 
Everything is a reaction to everything...

You can find inspiration in disappointment from forum members saying "too many updates"...

You can find inspiration in compliments from forumites saying "great job!"

You can find inspiration in Kempler's amp cloning... etc... etc... etc...

It never ends... sometimes I hate these complaints on the forum but at the same time I know it pisses Cliff off enough to do something about it. Not to prove them wrong, but to prove himself right. I just sucks that Cliff sometimes takes it to heart a little too much with these armchair rock stars.

As I've said before, if I could have an update every week to for the sake of being able to plug in my laptop and getting excited about what new nugget my earballs will experience this time around... then it's two grand well spent. Keep up the great work Cliff and the rest of the FAS team!
 
I've got to say I just don't get it. I have never been exposed to a product that has given as much as this company gives. My Ultra is on v11 and sounds awesome. I could roll it back to v4 and it would still sound good. My XL just gets better and better. I love the updates. If someone doesn't want updates buy a Behringer, buy a Line 6. You will have plenty of time to 'stabilize'.

I've seen this company come out with 3 updates in a day to fix stuff. Try waiting 6 months for an update only to find what was broken isn't fixed.

I dread the day this man says kiss my butt I've had it with dealing with the public. The one thing I have grown to respect about Mr. Chase, in the 10 years I've been his customer, more than his conceptual audio genius, is his tolerance, patience and thick skin.
 
pauly said:
Oh and Gazza - Please excuse some of our forum buddies. Empathy, forethought, or understanding is sometimes a little weak around here! Can't argue about their passion though :)

Pauly
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? His post was NOT about the axefx, his post was a DIRECT smear of FAS and Cliff.... Did you miss that? So I should have empathy for those statements and that attitude? Nope.............I don't think so.
 
G'day Stratmen,

I sure did miss that - And re-reading it I still do.

I think he's just overcome with temptation to try the betas, then kicks himself later when he has a gig to go to and his presets sound different. To me (and I stress _Me_... This is all about interpretation of the written words), the OP was just a concern that many in this industry (corporate software) have been bitten by in the past. Yes, it glossed over the fact that he could just ignore the betas and stick with production software, however the way _I_ took that (once again, this is just me and it's fine if you do not agree) was that he is just too tempted to not upgrade.
We'll have to disagree on this but that's fine :)

Thanks
Pauly


Stratman68 said:
? His post was NOT about the axefx, his post was a DIRECT smear of FAS and Cliff.... Did you miss that? So I should have empathy for those statements and that attitude? Nope.............I don't think so.
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If I have an imminent gig and all my programming done, I wait until I have the time to upgrade to the next version, so that I can really put it through its paces, and not run out of time before I have to have it fully functional and programmed.

With my approach, I've never rolled back to something previous because the new one didn't work for me, and I was out of time to prepare my settings for the next gig.

Back in the day, I've owned so many gizmos, and have had a total of 10 updates, over a 30 year period, of all of the numerous devices combined.

You could look at it like this - hey, the initial firmware was SO AWESOME and fully evolved, that they only needed 1 update in 10 years....or, you could believe what I choose to believe - those manufacturers weren't fully invested in their product, and didn't have the foresight to design a platform that had the processing capacity to grow and evolve, or the passion for continuous refinement and performance towards the stated goal of tube emulation authenticity.

Fractal did plan. And these firmware performance and authenticity improvements are a result of the planning. Not evidence of there being no plan in place. If you think the frequency of the releases are too numerous, the alternative is for Cliff, Matt, and Mark to beta test all of the new ideas, and release something once a year. But think about the incremental improvements to feel and realism, that all of us could be enjoying, that we would miss, if the company adopted that position.

If it bothers you, I recommend you update once a year on Christmas Day...problem solved for you.

Let the rest of us wear out our mouse pads, refreshing to see if Cliff has dropped another beta or firmware release in the past 5 minutes.
 
pauly said:
G'day Stratmen,

I sure did miss that - And re-reading it I still do.

I think he's just overcome with temptation to try the betas, then kicks himself later when he has a gig to go to and his presets sound different. To me (and I stress _Me_... This is all about interpretation of the written words), the OP was just a concern that many in this industry (corporate software) have been bitten by in the past. Yes, it glossed over the fact that he could just ignore the betas and stick with production software, however the way _I_ took that (once again, this is just me and it's fine if you do not agree) was that he is just too tempted to not upgrade.
We'll have to disagree on this but that's fine :)

Thanks
Pauly
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I see, then you choose to miss it....A few quotes...................
1)"there is a lack of disipline and control with regards to recent FW Beta updates"
2) "Does this suggest that random developments are being thrown out for testing by the public without adherence to a product development plan"
3)"are these frantic developments a knee jerk reaction to the imminent lower cost product releases by other manufacturers (Helix, Amplifire, Yamaha THR100), which are looking likely to be great sounding products?

4) Every company needs creative and spur of the moment product developments but releasing these as a stream of consciousness to the public may end up being self defeating and appear amateurish, especially without taking the time to write release notes." " frantic developments "

So Pauly, how do you not see thinks like amateurish, knee jerk, self defeating, frantic, etc etc as demeaning, insulting, and totally WRONG. I have been to Australia, did my R&R there from Viet Nam....IIRC, English is the spoken language.so......................S
 
But he makes very derogatory remarks about FAS and CLiff---don't you get it. I understand his "ridiculous" update phobia, but why make such terrible comments about FAS and Cliff. Wake up Pauly---you were and are wrong,,,,,but I guess you will not admit that. Unless of course you feel his comments were endearing and full of compliments? Then I say you are ....well, wrong period-period...period

Oh wait, another option............You must agree with him. FAS has lost it-they are using us........they are putting out garbage because they are afraid of line 6...they do not care about us..Really Pauly?

Well, they have me fooled for 6 1/2 years now. wow.........
 
Sheesh - I'll give you one more reply then I'm out.

First - I dont give a flying fuck whether you've been to Australia or not ... and though I do appreciate my friends and others who served (in that conflict) it's irrelevant to this conversation.
Secondly, I have no idea why you are jumping on me for suggesting that perhaps the OP wasn't knocking Cliff - Perhaps you also misunderstand my post as well - maybe you're wrong - what does it matter?
Thirdly - Maybe I'm wrong - What does it matter?
Fourthly - Cliff has balls and can take posts that express someones opinion - even when it's not yours.
Fifth - If you re-read the _all_ the words in the OP, you'll see the language used isn't quite as clear cut as your 1,2,3 above. If it was that clear cut - I would agree with you. The op puts thouse 3 points as questions, not statement of fact.

Pauly

In short - It's ok... calm down... It doesn't matter if the Op has concerns that they can alleviate by not loading a beta.

[Edit] - Wow - I just read your last post... now you're telling me what I think? Ok I'll leave you to it.



Stratman68 said:
But he makes very derogatory remarks about FAS and CLiff---don't you get it. I understand his "ridiculous" update phobia, but why make such terrible comments about FAS and Cliff. Wake up Pauly---you were and are wrong,,,,,but I guess you will not admit that. Unless of course you feel his comments were endearing and full of compliments? Then I say you are ....well, wrong period-period...period

Oh wait, another option............You must agree with him. FAS has lost it-they are using us........they are putting out garbage because they are afraid of line 6...they do not care about us..Really Pauly?

Well, they have me fooled for 6 1/2 years now. wow.........
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I check the forum many times a day waiting for news of updates. Its so exciting every time but not all updates kick my ass. There are a few that I have skipped here and there. Overall though, I love the updates and my unit! Thanks you Mr Chase for all you do!
 
Stratman68 said:
? His post was NOT about the axefx, his post was a DIRECT smear of FAS and Cliff.... Did you miss that? So I should have empathy for those statements and that attitude? Nope.............I don't think so.
Click to expand...

Well there's some lively responses! Thank you

Can I just correct you Stratman68 - I have not directly smeared anyone with my post, and I never would. I have shared a concern and asked a couple of challenging questions, that's all.

Clearly many here do not share those concerns, that's great.

Isn't sharing views, often with differing opinions, and debating topics what forums are all about, or are we supposed to only sing praise, whoop and holler with joy?

I apologise if my post has offended anyone and I am more that happy to refrain from posting further if that's what people would prefer.

Gazza
 
It's fine. It's great. Every update and beta has been an improvement. I love the rate of development and how much better the unit sounds now than in the past. The only downside is you need to revise your patches a lot. If this doesn't appeal to you only update annually or before tours/albums or whatever.

I don't think Cliff has any fear of the competition and there isn't any evidence he needs to have any. I haven't heard anything yet that sounds better than the Axe-FX (besides a high quality tube amp of course). And if anything Cliff's rate of development and closeness with the user community improves customer loyalty. You'll never see this from a big company.
 
I never install beta Firmware, and never install released firmware until Axe Edit is available.
I am not a junkie waiting for his dose.
Beta are per definition not finished, and the Axe FX II sounds already more than incredible for my needs.
I can wait without any problem the next "stable" Firmware (even if I have no doubt that beta is already stable).
But then it comes, i will for sure upgrade :encouragement:

It is a good thing that betas are released. It means than a final release will happen soon.
Of course, betas are necessary to a new firmware to become a reality.

I don't agree with Gezza, but what I may understand what he is talking about.
To be honest, I think that Quantum is a pure marketing name in reaction to Line 6 Helix buzz and so on. As other products, The AXE FX II needs regularly something "new" to maintain the focus on it.
Maybe there new algorhythm inside, or a big change in code. As a basic user, I don't care about that just because I am not able to measure the technological change.
For me, It could have been firmware 21 or G4 or anything else. But it would not have been the same inpact as "Quantum V1.0" on the mass
V1.0 open a new pandora box letting people and eventually new purchaser that it may come huge changes until Quantum v50.0 maybe , and then ? "Eureka" ?, "Olympus", ......

It is a nice name , the firmware will sound great, I will be as always happy, That's all that count for me.
Of course for Fractal Audio it is an other thing. Name of product is a strategical choice which may impact the sales.

Most important is to thank Cliff again for his dedication as always trying to improve the product , and that for FREE.
It is also for that reason that I decided to purchase an AXE FX II (even if I don't personally care about beta firmware ;) )
 
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