What product do you think Fractal will release next?

I think it will be an antigravity version of the AX8. It will float above the stage like a hovercraft. It will have a force field around it so no one can spill beer on it. It will automatically take down chicks phone numbers, and remind you where your car is parked. Oh I almost forgot, it will set itself up, pack itself down, and warn the soundman if they criticize your playing. If they failed to heed the warning, it will send an electric shock to the soundboard and burn their fingers.
 
I think it will be an antigravity version of the AX8. It will float above the stage like a hovercraft. It will have a force field around it so no one can spill beer on it. It will automatically take down chicks phone numbers, and remind you where your car is parked. Oh I almost forgot, it will set itself up, pack itself down, and warn the soundman if they criticize your playing. If they failed to heed the warning, it will send an electric shock to the soundboard and burn their fingers.

I think that's about it, except it will also text message you to warn about approaching husbands.
 
My bet is a revise FX8/AX8 that combines both into one unit with more CPU and shores up some other suggestions that have been mentioned on the wish list. This to me would make the most sense.

Seriously though, I reckon the biggest obstacle to a more powerful floor unit, one that is equal to the rack units, is probably CPU cooling, More powerful and bigger CPU's tend to generate heat.
 
A device to read cat's minds. That's a commitment Cliff made after releasing the first version of the Axe-FX Standard. I am eagerly waiting for it. :rolleyes:

https://web.archive.org/web/20081227221843/http://www.musicgearsource.com/fractal.html
I could do with one of those. Although the other way around would be more useful. They don't get a word I'm saying. "Don't scratch the couch!" "Don't scratch my speaker cloth!" "Get off the kitchen counter!". Nope. Nothing. Blank stares. They look at me with the big eyes in the cute fluffy faces and go "You're talking to me, but I don't speak human. And if I did I wouldn't let you know. You look very nice while making sounds at me, though."

I got the cat mind reading down. "Food", "Snack", "Scratch", "Stop scratching" (that one involves claws and biting). Oh, and "Let me in, you peasant!".
 
Last edited:
Seriously though, I reckon the biggest obstacle to a more powerful floor unit, one that is equal to the rack units, is probably CPU cooling, More powerful and bigger CPU's tend to generate heat.
They keep making them more powerful while generating less heat. I'm sure some day there will be one that fits.

Anyone keeping tabs on the CPU community? I sure hope Cliff is. I'd love a more powerful floor model.

Then again, it would be the biggest competitor to their own flagship.
 
...
Then again, it would be the biggest competitor to their own flagship.

Only if it would have the same features implemented in firmware. Very easy and cost efficient to differentiate products only by firmware features while keeping the h/w platform the same.
 
They keep making them more powerful while generating less heat. I'm sure some day there will be one that fits.

Anyone keeping tabs on the CPU community? I sure hope Cliff is. I'd love a more powerful floor model.

Then again, it would be the biggest competitor to their own flagship.

Not really. The flagship contains the more high performance chips that require cooling, the floorboard does with lower performance chips so it doesn't melt through the floor. Which means that by the time Fractal will get their hands on some cpu's that will deliver Axe III levels of capability without burning through your floorboard, well, chances are by then the Axe IV will be out with even better cpu's because the rack format allows for even more powerful chips because it has the luxury of allowing for better cooling.

Just look at computers. Laptops and hand held devices keep on getting better, but still lag behind the best desktops, because you can put more powerful IC's, more powerful coolers and more memory modules in a desktop. I got my first pentium desktop in the mid 90's, and the coolers that cooled my old Pentium I IC looks absolutely anemic to the monster that sits atop my Core i7 IC today. Yeah, strides have been made to make IC's generate less heat. But that still comes at the price of performance, and if you want top performance you will need cooling. And I see no signs that that trend will change in the foreseeable future. I don't feel like my modern day Windows Core i7 PC is that much more faster and powerful then my old Pentium 1 100 PC, if only because the demands of the operating system and applications keep on growing at a similar pace. If you had told the people in 1996 that by 2019 the operating system alone would eat up 20 Gigs of HDD space they would look at you in horror, as a 5 Gig HDD was already top of the line back then. And my even older 286 desktop I had in 1991 only had a 20 MB HDD.

So my prediction is that by the time an AX-9 will come along it will still be less capable then the Axe III. If lucky it will finally be as powerful as the Axe II. Which I might add is still a massive improvement.
 
Whatever it is, no one's really going to be happy unless it's a full blown Axe-Fx III in half the size for half the cost.
 
It would be amazing if they develop Guitar and Pickup modeling. A VG-99 with Fractal Audio quality. Roland seems to be in a lethargic state with their V-Guitar, and someone has to take over.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom