I never, ever buy something on the promise that it will someday do something that it doesn't do today. I'm old enough that the update thing still seems new and a bit unreal.
So I got the FM3 because of what it does today. I'm not asking for or demanding anything else but what's already in the box.
Having said that, the new fx that LT demoed sounded good so I thought I should calmly and politely ask what the history says about porting fx from the flagship to the lower price products.
I had no intention of creating controversy or coming off like a demanding person. And if the new fx doesn't come to the FM3, I'll still be happy with it.
Peace!
Mats N
You didn't come off like that at all
It's just a weird age of gear we're in. While you're right, you traditionally wouldn't buy anything for anything other than what it can do now, the times we live in, whether we're talking about software, video games, or guitar modelers, are built on an upgradable infrastructures, and, as such, it's become a selling point. These days, it's expected. Can you imagine if the Quad Cortex never progressed past its state at release? Not only would many people have returned the unit they had already bought, odds are they'd never have sold another unit. Did you play Fallout New Vegas when it was released? It was utter, buggy trash. But Bethesda knew they could just fix it and make it better with updates. Same with countless apps and video games. Hell, Microsoft brings security, feature, and bug-fix updates regularly over the life of the Windows version.
I most likely would still have bought the Axe III even if I had known it would never be updated, but it's almost pointless discussing such a concept in this day and age. It was still probably the best when it was released, however, I bought it because I knew the AX8 and Axe II had a LONG history of support, updates, and satisfied customers. So, in my mind, that price that I paid was, in part, payment for continued support and updates down the road. I suppose it might be possible for a company like FAS to release the unit an only offer bug fixes for free and charge for significant content updates, but that's a whole other bag of worms and, I think, it would impede with the way Cliff seems to like to create.
It can, of course, be argued that the sticker price does not pay for R&D, but without seeing the company books, there's really no way to know for certain. In any case, the updates are neither something we're entitled to as owners nor are they gifts of mana from heaven for us poor, undeserving swine. They're something in between; they're a marketing tool. They're what keep current users interested and invested in the unit and company; where the unit isn't just some dead workhorse tool in the studio/stage that gets forgotten about. Essentially, continued support and updates are a win/win for both the company and customer. Thus, it's possible to be both appreciative of updates and, to a reasonable degree based off the company's past performance and reputation, to expect them.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
