So will any of the new products be like Guitar Synths

N

Nagi Mysore

Inspired
Like the Roland...GR55. Afterall the man does know his sound (the nature, science and feel outa being the engineer, inventor & musician)

Any btw I have long complained the Guitar Magaine ads for Fractal are lame...its almost like the Man just wanted something in there..Its moved to the first few pages but same stuff?? Why such a lack of creativity on ads?? Like this company, would like it to be the apple of the music business...maybe some nice ads will help

oh well ...

Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right - Steve Jobs.
 
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Hmmm, I doubt that guitar synth is much of a priority. It requires a radically different architecture than the Axe currently has implemented. I would much rather have them keep focusing on what they're good at and passionate about.

I don't think Cliff and company care much about being the "Apple" of the guitar industry. I've seen lots of really good small companies self destruct by trying to become huge. I'd rather have a small company that was fun and made me a good living than have a big company that was an enormous PITA and destroyed my life, regardless of the amount of money involved..

As for the ads, I'm glad he keeps his name and product out there. I think the user list is a great promotion. If these guys are using it, it must be worth a look, and anyway, how much do you really need to advertise when you're already selling everything you can build?

Just my $.02
 
Keeping in mind that I'm a huge fan of synths, guitar synths and associated technology, it's no surprise there aren't exciting things happening in that space as it is not a very big market.

Nor is there tremendous room to grow/improve the tech. I believe a more glitch-free system may someday happen, but even the 20-year old Axon came SO close that improvements wouldn't really change the adoption rate of the instrument. (I submit that I heard that Fishman tapped "Axon Andreas S." and his core tech help create the Triple Play.)

One reason for this is that it is ultimately a gimmick. The guitar synth will never be as convincing or exciting to perform parts traditionally covered by a keyboard, violin, drum set, etc.

So given that tracking today "works" are we saying that Fractal should be making synthesizers? Spend time modeling different sawtooth wavs instead of amps? Sample French horn sections instead of capture 4x12s?

This would seem to me like a huge waste of the Fractal core reactor that is Cliff's genius.

Fractal is innovating in a space where there has been room for huge gains. It is widely and wildly approved and accepted by highly critical guitar players around the world.

If that isn't a mandate to "keep going" I don't know what is.

PS: I actually can imagine some totally different approaches to guitar synth... but it's like, seriously, Fractal is like a race car company... leave the next Segway to the next... whoever that Segway guy is.
 
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As for the ads, they're meant for customers in a different part of the "life cycle." Our store exit surveys indicate a) Most customers have "never seen" our (expensive) print ads b) The overwhelming majority that do see them will rate them "5/5". (This rating hasn't changed as the ad concept has aged.) Sure, one can imagine spending vastly more time and money on creative, but... as in the guitar synth example above: I maintain that Fractal is doing right by its core customers by re-tooling axes instead of ads.

That said, I do spend time keeping the ads fresh. Look for a full page John Petrucci feature in next month's mags, as well as our XL flavored revision in "Vintage Guitar."
 
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Admin M@ said:
As for the ads, they're meant for customers in a different part of the "life cycle." Our store exit surveys indicate a) Most customers have "never seen" our (expensive) print ads b) The overwhelming majority that do see them will rate them "5/5". (This rating hasn't changed as the ad concept has aged.) Sure, one can imagine spending vastly more time and money on creative, but... as in the guitar synth example above: I maintain that Fractal is doing right by its core customers by re-tooling axes instead of ads.

That said, I do spend time keeping the ads fresh. Look for a full page John Petrucci feature in next month's mags, as well as our XL flavored revision in "Vintage Guitar."
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Just a quick question. If most customers haven't seen your ads, how are they finding out about Fractal? Word of mouth? I guess that's not too surprising, I know I've helped you sell a couple :).
 
I think the Fractal ads do a very good job of showing that a large number of A-list artists use the product. What they really need is an artist that will 'evangelize' the amp and cab modeling part of it as most of the artists mostly talk effects. (They also tend to have endorsement deals with amp companies.)

There's a video with Chris Broderick and George Lynch and the subject of the Axe comes up where George says he tried one and couldn't bond with it. Chris' immediate response was (I'm paraphrasing) "How long ago was that? You should really try the newer firmware." Chris should get a bonus cookie for that one!

Here's the video if you care to watch...

Metalhead To Head: George Lynch and Megadeth's Chris Broderick - Web Series - Fuse
 
Admin M@ said:
PS: I actually can imagine some totally different approaches to guitar synth... but it's like, seriously, Fractal is like a race car company... leave the next Segway to the next... whoever that Segway guy is.
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While I think you guys could innovate here, I definitely get the business aspect of it. I REALLY appreciate you letting us know that it's not in the Fractal strategic plan. A lot of companies would not be this transparent. My AXON AX-100 has issues and I've been waiting to see if FAS was looking at this area. Now that I know they aren't I will focus on replacing it with a used AX100 or another product.
 
FYI, beware of the Roland GR55 series if you're doing midi (sequencing) and use a non-Roland hex pickup. They decided to save some money on the GR55 by eliminating some of the low frequency input filtering. They work fine if you're using a roland pickup, but if youre using one of the other systems out there (my Godin has an RMC) you will get a lot more low frequency "ghost" notes with the GR55 than you did on previous generations of Roland synth products. Not a show stopper, but it is a pain.
 
pneil2 said:
FYI, beware of the Roland GR55 series if you're doing midi (sequencing) and use a non-Roland hex pickup. They decided to save some money on the GR55 by eliminating some of the low frequency input filtering. They work fine if you're using a roland pickup, but if youre using one of the other systems out there (my Godin has an RMC) you will get a lot more low frequency "ghost" notes with the GR55 than you did on previous generations of Roland synth products. Not a show stopper, but it is a pain.
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Thanks. I have a Godin as well and that is one of the reasons that Roland isn't a consideration for me.
 
Probably not a big enough niche but I'd love to see Cliff's take on a VG-99 sort of device. Not so much the MIDI aspect but the creation of non-traditional timbres that it does via COSM. No latency from pitch to midi conversion, just a different approach to creating sounds.

IMO, the viability of electric guitar depends on escaping the its tube-centric timbral envelope. I love the sound but it has a limited ceiling.
 
I'd rather have an AxeEdit iOS app than a guitar synth. In fact, I'd take almost anything over a synth. On second thought, build the synth. You'll be saving me like $2000 or whatever else I would spend on some alternative Fractal hardware product. ;)
 
Last time I checked, RMC had a plug in module that would add the missing filtering to the GR55. They were also talking about offering a stand alone external filter module. Not sure it's on thier site but it was discussed in one of the forums. I haven't had any reason to use mine in a while so I haven't really kept up with it.
 
I submit that I have never seen an ad since I stopped buying guitar mags 15 years ago. Given the fact that Fractal sells out every single run they produce I wouldn't worry about it too much either.
 
When Fractal is literally changing the world why does everyone want them to be a basement shop... Jus saying in a manner of speaking.. Afterall they have shown they can think differently and deliver... It's not about selling every last one off the assembly line...there is more to it... Look at Tesla..

If they weren't interested in volume... Who knew they would come with 6 different iterations...

Agreed on the guitar synth... But does fractal create markets or fulfill demand where it exists... Each takes a different approach...

And maybe hire more fractal cores??

What do I know... I am a basement player... I like the product and maybe there is economy and other things associated with scale
 
pneil2 said:
FYI, beware of the Roland GR55 series if you're doing midi (sequencing) and use a non-Roland hex pickup. They decided to save some money on the GR55 by eliminating some of the low frequency input filtering. They work fine if you're using a roland pickup, but if youre using one of the other systems out there (my Godin has an RMC) you will get a lot more low frequency "ghost" notes with the GR55 than you did on previous generations of Roland synth products. Not a show stopper, but it is a pain.
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RMC makes a low filter you can insert into the GR-55. I use a Carvin with a Graphtech bridge, and put the RMC filter in to improve my tracking. I'm not sure if it made much of a difference, as the Graphtech did really well to begin with, but it was an inexpensive part and really easy to install.
 
Admin M@ said:
PS: I actually can imagine some totally different approaches to guitar synth... but it's like, seriously, Fractal is like a race car company... leave the next Segway to the next... whoever that Segway guy is.
Click to expand...

Remember too that the owner of the Segway company died in a Segway accident.
 
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