New Fractal product coming!!

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fuzzyoctaves said:
I am also pointing out the downsides of a higher prioritization of on-device UI. Not because I am saying any manufacturer should make their mitigation any priority. I am bemoaning the downstream impact of UI innovation: Limiting Core Function innovation when it is is too hard to for the on-device UI.
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Thats a lot of words... I'm keen AF to see the new UI... and I highly doubt fractal has "limited core function" to achieve it.
 
RevDrucifer said:
If you're going to keep goin' on about it, I'll quote your full post for the extra clarity it brings-



This changes my original reply, considerably, which was-



With the additional insight of your full quote, I wish to change my reply to-

Oh poop, I was under the impression Fractal made modelers for almost 2 decades doing exactly that, while having 3 current offerings that do that exact thing. Learn something new every day, I've clearly been using mine wrong.

All good now?
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Yes children must play...You knew I was talking about THIS THREAD and a NEW PRODUCT. But you had to find someone to make fun of.......
Bye Grow up!

I will apologize to the forum for not staying on point in this thread. I will leave now. Too much BS for me!~
 
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fuzzyoctaves said:
Limiting Core Function innovation when it is too hard to for the on-device UI.
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I'm not sure I've seen this play out in real life. Or maybe I don't quite understand what you mean.

As a software engineer, I tend to think in terms of efficiency, practicality, and usability. Striking a balance is tricky. E.g. there's an inverse relationship between ease-of-use (front end) and complexity (back end). A highly usable front end usually means a great deal of thought went into hiding the underlying complexity to facilitate the perception of "ease". A deeply editable but pleasant-to-use interface is like working a miracle, because it's very difficult to pull off. But my hat's off to those can.

I rarely touch the Axe-FX III front panel for editing. But I did the other night, out of pure laziness, and partly out of curiosity (hadn't done it in so long). I was pleasantly surprised how straightforward and nearly one-for-one it was with Axe-Edit when editing blocks. I prefer Axe-Edit, but I'd be fine if for some crazy reason I was only ever able to use the on-device UI. (Maybe our AI overlords command me to only use on-device UI. That's realistic.)
 
A good/decent/efficient UI is paramount for live situations especially when conditions may change rapidly and a laptop isn't always nearby etc.. Sure, many many of us never even take the plastic off our units because we just ain't live musicians or just bedroom/basement rockers so yeah - Axe/FM Edit away - But this is very likely their new UI platform which will inhabit the future hardware iterations of the next FMs and Axes and.... I'm glad we get to try something new and different. But, I'm sure it won't be a one size fits all situation either!
 
New product will be AxeFx IV, only it will be cloud based from a server warehouse in New Hampshire.

All you will need is a small transmitter on your guitar and a small receiver to your amplification system.

Electrons coming from your guitar be quantum entangled with the Axe server farm where all processing will be applied and sent back to you with zero latency.

Axe Skynet AI will instantly determine the song you are playing and automatically apply proper amps, cabs and FX.

I can’t wait for this release. I’m so sick of hauling around a 3 rack space AxeFx that replaced my 2 refrigerator sized guitar racks.
 
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mehegama said:
he had a pic of the fm3 and 2 vh4 pedals. I think it was super clear i was refering to that. How m i supposed to know the weight of an unreleased product?
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Again, as a reference.

His comment was about the new device.

Why would be post about "looks like the size of" when everyone knows the size of the FM3?

It obviously wasn't super clear...
 
fuzzyoctaves said:
/rant on

I hate all this effort into on-device UI. Any on-device UI will ALWAYS be inferior to a computer application. AxeEdit blows away any SW editor out there and a laptop computer can be had for a few $ or free. Hell, I have a stack of old laptops - anyone can have one for free if it makes them stop crying about touchscreens and footswitches that you can touch with your fingers (nasty!).

I have been in camp Fractal since the early days and I have NEVER used the front panel to create or change a patch - NEVER.
I have an HXFX and the only reason that I could use the on-device editor is because Helix has comparatively few capabilities compared to the Axe. Of course I never use the on-device UI there either because why would I want to get on my knees and fiddle around with buttons that have been pressed with the bottom of my shoes? Just to work on a tiny screen with a goofy UI (compared to a SW UI)?

/rant off
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The yardstick for guitar gear operation is real amps and pedals. That process is "grab a knob, turn a knob". Can't get easier than that. No awkwardly holding your pick (or putting it down on your desk) as you click around on a mouse to select a block, find the right parameter etc, or going through a gauntlet of onboard UI menus to get there. Grab, and turn.

Sure, unless you use modern MIDI-capable gear, you don't get presets and scenes and whatnot. But the on-the-fly editing is still massive easier than using Axe-Edit and especially the Fractal onboard UI.

Computer/tablet editors have their place and that's when you are building a full preset. They work well for that. But they are not convenient when you want to just tweak a preset a bit on the fly to accommodate the guitar you are using today, or want to experiment with effects settings to see if you can get something new and wonderful. For live uses e.g the Performance view can work well enough - provided you have remembered to configure the right controls to it beforehand.

The big flaw with computer or mobile editors is the lack of tactile feedback. Turning real knobs is just so much nicer than awkward virtual knobs or sliders. My ideal user interface would be using something like Axe-Edit but controlling the knobs with a MIDI knob controller. But no modeler on the market supports this sort of context based control. They just have rudimentary MIDI mapping capabilities that are severely limited and Fractal is no exception.

So the next best thing is having onboard user interfaces that are easy to use. I think the best solution for UI on the market today is on the NeuralDSP Quad Cortex. Tap a block on the touchscreen to select, use knobs/switches to adjust parameters. It works really well and is very fast.

I'm really hoping the new Fractal box is more user friendly than their past gear. It's the one area where they have a lot of room for improvement.
 
I have a cat (Patches) that is fine until she realizes there's something she doesn't know about in the house. Once she knows that she doesn't know, it drives her crazy trying to get to that thing or area, she can't stop... I wonder if this behavior has been observed in any other species? Speculation = Laser pointer?
 
Tho I find the tactile nature of real pedals pleasing, I don't think their UIs are any better than most modeller's UI including Fractal's which I don't see as a weak point (continuing to be baffled by those that see it as some sort of achillies heel). Real pedal UIs suck because:
  • have to bend over / down to get at them + some harder to reach than others depending on board placement.
  • Often the knobs have no clear markings or pointer to make it clear what setting they are at.
  • The knobs tend to move when the pedal gets bumped (and no way to tell what your golden setting was before it moved unless you marked it with a piece tape and the tape happens to still be there).
  • the knobs are often too close together - move one, the other gets moved.
  • the knobs are not consistently labelled - one says "level", another says "volume", another says "output" ...
  • The varyingly sized and colored unlit label font / print makes many of them impossible for me to read even if I'm hunkered down directly over the blighter.
  • the knobs do not have consistent looks / feel / size - chicken head vs top hat vs tiny ones vs big ones vs ...
  • the knob resistance is not consistant: one takes brute force to move while the other moves if you breath on it.
  • the knob placement is not always consistent.
  • Can't pick and choose which knobs will be made avaialable to tweak - they're all staring at me.
  • In many cases, there is no knob when needed because pedal makers must carefully pick and choose what's controllable due to limited real estate (some partly get around this with concentric knobs - don't even get me started on that lol (adjusting freakout's controls is enough to make you freak out!))
  • and the big one for me, tho not a UI aspect really: the knobs cannot change with preset changes - one settlng - that's it!☹️.
Fractal FP UI Performance page = vastly superior. I notice many pros hook up all pedals to midi on/off switching and have them in a rack drawer with knob positions taped down - no access whatsoever.
 
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NeoSound said:
I have a cat (Patches) that is fine until she realizes there's something she doesn't know about in the house. Once she knows that she doesn't know, it drives her crazy trying to get to that thing or area, she can't stop... I wonder if this behavior has been observed in any other species? Speculation = Laser pointer?
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Look up Jacques Lacan’s concept of the Object Cause of Desire.
 
Gotta say I'm in @fuzzyoctaves camp. We're already using a laptop for our IEM mixer. The only time I use my FM3 UI is to make very small changes to the performance knobs during soundcheck.. I've been using an FM3 almost daily since it was released. I have never set a single patch up on it directly.

To me (and I understand this may be a narrow scope of possibly only 1 person, lol) the perfect fractal product would be a 2U rack unit with all the connections the 3 has on the back. a small screen (if any).. for info only. 6 to 8 performance knobs. maybe 2 rows of lights to show signals. Wireless, bluetooth. But of course, I'm just some rando; not really relevant to any of this. On topic, I do like the looks of the new unit!

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