I'm Just Going to Leave This Here

Some info Cliff has posted on thegearpage.net

It does have MIDI. I wouldn't say the DSP is "much weaker". It will have two 450 MHz DSPs. That's hardly weak and far more horsepower than any other product except the Axe-Fx II. The missing effects will be things that are not practical in a live/stage scenario: vocoder, 32-tap delay, resonator. The "studio-only" effects are the ones that will not be present.

And the country of manufacture is still undecided. Heck, we were going to build the FX-8 in China but at the last minute decided to build it in the USA. Partly why it's so expensive. I firmly believe in building products in the US if we can do it. The government is making it difficult but we still try while everyone else is jumping ship.
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Yes, two SHARCs vs two TigerSHARCs.

I don't know what speed processor is in an HD500X but I think it is less than 450 MHz.
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Originally Posted by mralmostpopular View Post
If I remember correctly from discussions that occurred when it was released, it's 400 MHz.

Close enough. Not a huge difference between 400 and 450. So, yeah, about the equivalent of two HD500Xs.
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A complicating factor of the subscription approach will be changes in amp models, due to firmware changes.

Axe-Fx II firmware is now free. And because it's free, users are less prone to complain about changes in the models.

But when they have bought specific models for the AX8, and their sound changes because of a firmware update, there will be complaints.
The answer "you don't have to update" is less valid in that scenario, I think.
 
Rex said:
Lots of posts speaking out against a "subscription model." No subscription model has been proposed.
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I think you will find people are probably referring to this statement from Fractal. It proposes a monthly fee as a business model. Hence people mentioning subscription. It does not say they will do this but it was mentioned.

FractalAudio said:
It lowers the sell cost because there is a certain guaranteed secondary income stream. It's a common business model nowadays: sell the product for less than you normally would and make up the difference in software downloads or monthly fees. The lower the entry cost the more people will buy one. The ultimate example of this is printers. They practically give them away. They make the money back on the ink or toner cartridges.
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yek said:
A complicating factor of the subscription approach will be changes in amp models, due to firmware changes.

Axe-Fx II firmware is now free. And because it's free, users are less prone to complain about changes in the models.

But when they have bought specific models for the AX8, and their sound changes because of a firmware update, there will be complaints.
The answer "you don't have to update" is less valid in that scenario, I think.
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Yeah that's why I wondered earlier about a cleaner separation of content vs. algorithm.

If the amp models and efx models were content, the same as IR's, then the pay as you go model is similar to buying IR's. It would not be part of the firmware update cycle.
 
I hope that this subscription/buy amp models approach is just speculative, I wouldn't like that
 
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Has anything else been mentioned about the layout aside from 1 amp and 1 cab at a time? How many effects will it have and how many can you run at once? Will it have an effects loop to run outboard effects without sacrifice running one of the onboard effects blocks? how many amps and cabs will it hold? How large is the grid?
 
I wonder how many pages Cliff is going to let it go before he actually posts something official about the board? I mean it's fun and all to sit here a speculate about cost and marketing options but it would be even better to know basic info about it so that we all can speculate more accurately :lol .
 
FractalAudio said:
AX8.jpg


I will not be answering any questions at this time. I'll let you all speculate wildly and occasionally I'll come in here for a chuckle.
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This.
 
vAmp said:
As a builder I would be against "pay per module" for reasons of...

- pirating (if you leave that possibility open?)
- epiphanies that may make it necessary for people to redownload modules
- many people seem content with just a few amps, so don't overestimate the financial gains
- the past vibe of the Axe-Fx where Cliff said "firmware updates will always remain free" (even though the AX8 is a different machine and you can "talk your way out of it" by having free firmware updates but commercial modules at the same time)
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Good points, especially the financial gains part. Offer the AX8 with all amps, cabs and effects included for the same price as FX8 ($1350) or striped down with the pay as you go model for say $800 and many like myself will never buy their way back up to $1350. I would probably pick up a few favorites at initial purchase and them maybe a few more per year if something seems really interesting. But I would mostly just learn to use what I already have better than regularly buy something new. I'm betting there are a lot of people like me out there.

I also thinking managing the pay as you go model will add a lot of overhead cost and complexity hugely eating into any extra profits. And pirating will be a problem if people feel prices are too high or they are getting nickel and dimed all the time. And adding effective DRM will come with more costs and customer service headaches. Probably a good reason Line 6 ditched the pay as you go model until the end of the life of the HD series.
 
hackin12321 said:
If it's a pay-per-amp scheme, i am OUT...and overall will be unimpressed by this company.
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Interesting first post. How about this?...

Suppose you had a choice: either pay full price for a fully-loaded unit, or pay a discounted price for a unit with fewer amp models, with the ability to add more later? Would you still have a problem with that?
 
I dunno why so many people object to a model where you can get the hardware cheap(ish) and pay extra for additional software content, or pay more up front for all the software.

Many software companies already operate this way - look at NI with Komplete, or Waves with the many bundles they offer. It simply offers the consumer more flexibility. Sure, if you come in at the low end you will always have GAS for more (if you're anything like me) but that's hardly the fault of the vendor.

Personally I wish more companies operated like this - I'd be in the market for Altiverb for instance if it was a lot cheaper and I could buy a few IRs that I'd actually use rather than paying top $ for tons of content I'll probably never touch. I could have saved myself a few quid on the Axe as I only use about 5 of the amp models on a regular basis and reckon I could easily get away with 10.

There's a difference between extra software content and updates to the modelling algorithms etc though.
 
Very cool product. I recently got a peli for my Axe2 and the MFC. It's a great setup but it's rather big and heavy. Realistically I think this will get the job done for almost everyone. The A2 is vastly overpowered for me but the convenience makes it worthwhile.

Are there any plans to add bluetooth to this?
 
All right, I'm going to bring the wrath of the forum down upon myself…

It just strikes me as ironic that some musicians – a class of artist/worker traditionally known to be as undervalued as they come – seem to be actively looking for a way to pay less for a piece of gear that arguably delivers greater value than anything else they own.

“Everybody wants an egg from the golden goose…
I wonder just how many eggs are in the golden goose…”

– Todd Rundgren
 
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randyman said:
All right, I'm going to bring the wrath of the forum down upon myself…

It just strikes me as ironic that some musicians – a class of artist/worker traditionally known to be as undervalued as they come – seem to be actively looking for a way to pay less for a piece of gear that arguably delivers greater value than anything else they own.

“Everybody wants an egg from the golden goose…
I wonder just how many eggs are in the golden goose…”

– Todd Rundgren
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It's a speculation thread and nothing more, I mean do you really think the forum members here are going to establish the price for a product that FAS is going to release :lol. For all we know FAS already has it figured out and this is all entertainment for Cliff.
 
Question for Axe owners: I use a Pod HD 500, but I've been thinking about moving to an Axe FX. Many of my patches go from a cleaner rhythm setting to a dirtier lead setting with a foot controller (I'm also a singer so I can't be always looking down at my buttons). On the Pod, I do this often by having two parallel paths before hitting the same amp. One path has a dist type pedal on it and the other is empty. Of course I also change many of the amp settings and fx settings with the pedal.

It was stated that this new Axe unit won't do dual amps. That's ok as long as it has dual paths leading to the single amp, or if fx like a dist pedal can go into bypass as a foot controller parameter (as you know, simply dialing a tube screamer to 0 still colors the sound.)

Based on your understanding of the architecture, do you think it likely either of these options would be available on this new floor unit?

BTW, if you have never set up your patches this way, I highly recommend it. It allows instant no-look switching from rhythm to lead sounds while playing as well as nice in-between volumes and tones.
 
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