Fellow Forumites: Thank you so much for voting and giving me your input! You guys ROCK!
The final poll results are below:
I've read all your posts in this thread as well.
So - why did I split the poll questions up like this? In a word, time. To get stuff actually done by end of 2022, I have to prioritize, as my time is limited in the studio for the next 4.5 months. I knew I could get part of the FX Warehouse out faster if split the project into two parts - but my sense is you guys want it as one big package.
Personally, for some time I have wanted to do an "
FX Warehouse' AustinBuddy Tonepack that is both pre (dry) and post (wet) effects, all in one package/library. The evolution of now having single channel block saves helps a LOT for this. You'd buy it and simply copy or paste the block library inside your existing one. Next time you started up the editor, it would read the newly added sub-blocks folder and you'd have 'em.
Done right, this TonePack will easily have 1000+ effects in it. But remember, these are BLOCKS ONLY, and not presets.
And, my current thinking is, while most or many effects blocks will be my own creations and emulations of effects I have loved over the years, I also plan to curate carefully to include useful blocks from others in public domain/forum/YouTube (not paid) who have shared great stuff free and publicly as well (and credit them wherever possible). It seems silly to pretend otherwise, and would make this tool less useful.
For example, someone on the Forum did an Echoplex block that is just good and so spot on, and I can't make it any better (although I can alter it to give it more variations that are cool). So that is the type of thing I'd want to include, and if I can credit them by name for it the product notes, I will. There may be a great flanger, or reverb - even stuff taken from some the Fractal Factory presets - I'd say "that's worth having a sa block available for others."
So I'm guessing now it would be ROUGHLY 70% creation (effects blocks by me) and 30% curation (gathering up the best that I didn't cover or can't really improve on).
Ya'll cool with that? Objections (I can reasonably hear some imagined ones in my head that may be coming...).
Want to be clear: in doing that, I'm not trying to "steal" other's stuff -- to be clear, NONE would come from any commercial presets. I just want this to be comprehensive for all, and I would credit people wherever I can identify them that made the block originally.
That means you are really gonna need to print out a very large effects blocks spreadsheet style (.pdf final) I'm using to track my work now as your "manual" -- so you would know what I was aiming at for each block when i made it (and some may require a pairing with a specific controller, or a specific placement in the chain, to work right - the manual will say along with some labels/codes in the block name itself).
I've already been working on this product on and off for a year or so -- but it's still a LOT to do to go through every block type as you know! I have a lot of the Ways and Compressors done for example now. And I know that, no matter how much I do accomplish here, I won't be able to do every single block effect you guys would want to have included.
But the real idea - and it was said above by some -- is to give you a new tool that you can use with Naked Amps or Live Gold (or 200+ Bass) or your own presets - block stuff you can audition into any preset you want, until you find your own favorites.
Now, I also very much want to a nice "
Cleans & Single Coils" AustinBuddy TonePack too (and I WOULD do that as one combined TonePack - I was surprised at how much you guys want this!). I'd also put some grit and lower gain sounds in there too for some specific iconic single coil sounds.
But it will likely be impossible for me to get BOTH FX Warehouse and Cleans & Single Coils by end of 2022. I know you guys are ready for this and don't want to wait a year for all of it in one big bundle. (I have some very specific ideas about that Cleans/Single Coils I think ya'll will like, including taking into account guitar used and pickup type...). But in truth there are some really good cleans for single coils in Naked Amps now (as well as Live Gold) that can tide ya'll over I hope.
For the Zep fans, I do want to get to the next three (4?) Zep albums - Houses, Physical Graffiti (it's two discs!), and Presence. I do that work more as a labor of love than anything (and because I learned a ton carefully deconstructing, track by track, part by part, what Page and Kramer were doing in the studio for the first four records). That one is nowhere as big a seller as the other tonepacks though, so it's more sunk time with lower reach of users and less return. But it's very cool stuff for obsessives about studio Zep tones!
Brit Rock Royalty #1 was a TON of work -- and took a VERY long time to nail it. Process wise, it is a lot harder than you might think to listen and pull out a very specific guitar track, played on a very specific guitar (and pickup! and vol/ tone knob setting! in different rooms! with multiple mics!) and painstakingly recreate it - for over 200 unique song parts/sounds -- than it is to give AustinBuddy an amp model and say "hey, give me 4-8 great sounds that really speak to the DNA of that amp." It's also much more fun too to do the latter than the former.
So I'm not saying never to
Brit Rock Royalty #2, but the other two projects are going to com results reinforce/reflects that.
And of course...
existing TonePack firmware updates come before all as a priority. It's always wise for me to wait a few months until all the beta firmware versions end with a final before I act to do comprehensive updates. But you guys need LoveGold and Naked Amps to work right on the latest firmware and that always trumps new product development work.
Now the other thing is, I don't charge customers extra for new firmware updates (so far anyway) - even though producing updates probably eats up most of my Fractal time in the studio - I have 3000 sounds in four Tonepacks, and three units, to update if things shift in a major way for example. Recently I considered adopting a subscription model for updates (and maybe will for future?) - but have rejected it for now.
What I would prefer instead is to bring new products to market that are useful, needed, and sell well; If I do that and succeed , then I don't feel there need to charge for updates for existing products. Those of you how know me well know, having been here on the Forum for a dozen years, my mission in doing what I do is not about trying to make more money, it's about making a contribution -- making a great product that gives you guys joy and inspiration (like it does for me when I use them!), and if I do the work well, then the financial part takes care of themselves.
I really mean that. I'd rather get an "FXWarehouse" new product out and have you guys buy it, and not charge for free updates for older products like LiveGold or Naked Amps, than to not do any new products and have to start charging for yearly (or more often) updates to cover my time. Hope that makes sense - it really expresses my values in doing this work.
For example, I still need to update about 50 presets in Live Gold for minor Speaker Impedance Curves adjustments. The speaker impedance curves chosen are correct in every preset now, BUT I did change either lo or hi res values in some amps in prior firmware to get them to sound on stage like an amp to my ears, and new firmware would have reverted those back to default values for that curve,. In LiveGold it's more of a a factor in bank 2 amps, with just a handful in Bank 1 or 3 though. Does not affect Naked Amps. I can probably get that update done and out in under a week for all three units, but again, it takes time - and delays FX Warehouse work. I also like for the units to all catch up with each other on firmwares, right now the FM3 is lagging it's bigger brothers on the firmware front - waiting for SIC to come to the FM3 next, before I put all the updated versions out.
Sorry for the very long post, but you guys gave of your time to participate, and I wanted you to know I listened carefully, and what my thinking is. I can't please everyone -- but always do my best to help you get the most out of your Fractal units.
Cheers all! Now, off to the studio, I have some choruses to play with....
