The Future of FAS???

TinMan

TinMan

Member
So I was checking out the career opportunities post on the FAS webpage hoping to find that FAS needed a person to drink beer and play guitar all day while being paid in FAS products. No Luck! However I did notice that the are looking for a software engineer for "Development of plugins (VST/RTAS/AU/AAX) and standalone audio software". Now obviously this makes me drool a bit about the future of FAS. Could you imagine if everything in the box was available as a plugin? You could plug into your favorite audio interface and go! Could this be the end of the Green Screen/Black box form factor? How many of you would still buy the box if it was all on the computer? We need Axe Edit for ease of use anyway so in my opinion this might be a great option since I take my computer to gigs anyway. What do you guys think?
 
If I recall Cliff has stated in the past that FAS was not going to venture into the plugin market maybe that has changed only he knows. I do remember him saying in an interview from Guitar Interactive something to the effect of "If you think about it, it's pretty obvious what we need to do next". Price context followed that quote so it can still leave you guessing.
 
I would hope it doesn't mean an eventual end to the black box, because I much prefer having a rack-mount device to gig with than a computer...
 
Are current retail laptops as powerful as the Axe? If they are, with all the other stuff you'd have on a home computer, could it still run the Axe software? I could see a watered down version, but not more.
 
Yeah with all the overhead demands on a PC such as the operating system, background processes, DAW software, etc. I doubt you'd ever get the kind of processing power and super low latencies that dedicated DSP chips will give you. It's sort of like PC gaming hardware. Integrated graphics can do all the same things, but nowhere near as fast as a dedicated GPU will.
 
They could develope single plugins for reverb, amps, cab sims and other stuff...
Cos of latency, possible hum issuew and other stuff...i dont see the black box disappearing and people being just with
laptop and interfaces on stage..
 
I think that most of the prominent DAW plug-in wizards envy Cliff from his algorithmic skills into the digital domain.
"Everything can be done, just wait for it, it won't take long - here you are".
 
jpelzel said:
Maybe not an audio plugin but one to control and edit your axefx through the DAW in a manner similar to the 11 rack and protools?
Click to expand...

That would be my guess as well. If we where to speculate on new products using a plugin, I would place my bet on a Studio Fx rack unit that uses all the effects currently developed for the Axe Fx and Fx 8, but implemented in a way that makes more sense for recording and that would require a VST, … plugin to run inside a DAW. It would make much more sense though to keep developing all the audio related things on the current line of hardware and use plugins to make the hardware easier to use.
 
Isn't there a "Cab Lab Live" coming, and wasn't that going to work as a VST plugin?
 
TinMan said:
So I was checking out the career opportunities post on the FAS webpage hoping to find that FAS needed a person to drink beer and play guitar all day while being paid in FAS products. No Luck! However I did notice that the are looking for a software engineer for "Development of plugins (VST/RTAS/AU/AAX) and standalone audio software". Now obviously this makes me drool a bit about the future of FAS. Could you imagine if everything in the box was available as a plugin? You could plug into your favorite audio interface and go! Could this be the end of the Green Screen/Black box form factor? How many of you would still buy the box if it was all on the computer? We need Axe Edit for ease of use anyway so in my opinion this might be a great option since I take my computer to gigs anyway. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

My expectation would be CabLab Convolver as VST, FAS FX, and FAS AxeFx Control as VSTs might be the targets. I doubt they will do the amp modeling; piracy plus people using inferior signal chains and then saying "AxeFx modeling sux" would undermine their brand wrt amp modeling. All, IMHO.

I want Fractal mobile apps, personally.

Honestly, VSTs (on my admittedly non-optimal computer setup) feel kind of 'ghetto' to me after using the Ultra and AF2.
 
Since the Axe is a proprietary platform, they are probably looking for people with certain skills that would translate easily to what is needed at Fractal. Most likely has nothing to do with creating VST plugins.
 
I think an Axe Fx plugin would cost nearly as much as the hardware. Also the hardware serves as a dongle. I think we just need better integration with tablet, ios, and other devices as for editing, controlling etc... a standard usb port with charging capability, maybe even a second one for ir-preset-backing track- looper access to usb sticks etc...plus Bluetooth could also be handy. I would rather see a vst loader developed to use external plugins in the Axe (additional Tiger Shark?), maybe a license system like the 3rd party ir's are using? I guess I'm dreaming about the Axe 3.
 
pdup said:
I think that most of the prominent DAW plug-in wizards envy Cliff from his algorithmic skills into the digital domain.
"Everything can be done, just wait for it, it won't take long - here you are".
Click to expand...

I cannot speak about other peoples envy but from my experience and observations I can say this. I just ended a 30 year career in aerospace IT and I have worked with many brilliant persons on ridiculously complex projects. In all those years I have only come across one that I could compare to Cliff when it comes to throughput. I was lucky enough to work with her as a partner my whole career and cannot count how many times she saved my ass. It doesn't matter what particular field or domain they happen to be pursuing at the time, genius is genius and it is enlightening to be around.

I never cease to be amazed how fast Cliff produces world class algorithms and code. He takes on a request or has an ephiany of some sort and it seems like minutes later the code is produced (relatively bug free) and implemented. It really is something special to witness and we are all the beneficiaries. It happens so often that I think many including myself take it for granted at times. The man works his rear off and we are so lucky his passion is guitar and the magical black box.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this journey over the last six years and learned so much in the process. I really look forward to whatever path he and the FAS team take us on. I know I'll be following...
 
Last edited:
cobbler said:
I cannot speak about other peoples envy but from my experience and observations I can say this. I just ended a 30 year career in aerospace IT and I have worked with many brilliant persons on ridiculously complex projects. In all those years I have only come across one that I could compare to Cliff when it comes to throughput. I was lucky enough to work with her as a partner my whole career and cannot count how many times she saved my ass. It doesn't matter what particular field or domain they happen to be pursuing at the time, genius is genius and it is enlightening to be around.

I never cease to be amazed how fast Cliff produces world class algorithms and code. He takes on a request or has an ephiany of some sort and it seems like minutes later the code is produced (relatively bug free) and implemented. It really is something special to witness and we are all the beneficiaries. It happens so often that I think many including myself take it for granted at times. The man works his rear off and we are so lucky his passion is guitar and the magical black box.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this journey over the last six years and learned so much in the process. I really look forward to whatever path he and the FAS team take us on. I know I'll be following...
Click to expand...

Find a way to get paid doing something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.
 
luke said:
Are current retail laptops as powerful as the Axe? If they are, with all the other stuff you'd have on a home computer, could it still run the Axe software? I could see a watered down version, but not more.
Click to expand...

It would be interesting to hear Cliffs opinion on this. I think the processor in the Axe is powerful but I don't think it's as powerful as an 8 core top of the line pc processor. Could you imagine being able to dedicate each core to a different axe fx function? 1 core for amp block 1, 1 core for amp block 2 etc...
 
Think of an amp and cab vst....seperate or together...wouldnt it be great for recording...with a law latency good interface you would be able to record anywhere any time without having the axe fx with you...in most cases there would be no need for reamping, you could just tweak in the plugin. this would make things so much easier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom