Will there be an Ultra II?

bvaughn0402

bvaughn0402

Inspired
Hey everyone,

Has anyone seen any postings if there will be an Ultra II? Or is the Standard/Ultra versions being done away with in II?

I am going to start saving up for a II, and curious if I should wait for an Ultra II or if Fractal has changed their product to be all inclusive now.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Brandon
 
So far the answer has been no, but truthfully no one really knows except Cliff and the rest of the guys at Fractal.
 
What could you really do to make the II into an Ultra?

It's already got 2 of the best DSP's out there, and that's really all that separated the I from the II.

The chips in there are just 2 Ultra chips, because they still haven't made a better chip.

So, unless they make a better chip, then I don't think so myself.
 
Eventually I think it will re-invent it self but I would say it's a ways off. The Axe ll was a big leap forward with respect to what everyone wanted or needed and to dump an Axe ll Ultra whatever on the market even after a year would do nothing more than piss every one off that waited on a list to buy the G2 unit. Cliff may have a few more tricks up his sleeve but I can't imagine tone wise it will get much better by huge steps. I would expect a lot of cool firmware updates first 8).
 
Rotaholic said:
Touch screen :D
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Cool Idea, but you're talking a fair bit of expensive kit.

I think it could possibly be just as cool to have the ability to plug your iPhone/Droid in, and do basically the same thing with an iPhone/Droid version of Axe-Edit.
 
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Touch screens are cheap as and made by 3M and many other companys, I install/repair them daily. Rewriting the software would be the time consuming part but not that hard. Its probably not needed but would be a great feature.
 
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3D movies on the new HD LCD control screen?
tempo sync'd undercarriage lights?
integration with Xbox Connect for synth sounds?
 
I think the most accurate answer (IMHO) is - of course there will be a Axe FX II successor - weather it called the Ultra, AxeFX III or some other name is really kind of irrelevant (it is just a name after all). No argument intended towards Guitar-Tiz's post - but they could do dozens of things to the II to make it an ultra version without touching the hardware - just like they did with the Std. vs. Ultra. Heck throw in a fully functionally looper (a la RC-50/Jamman specs) and plenty of people would pay for the upgrade in a heartbeat (that example might be a little self serving!!:lol). The wishlist threads are full of ideas for FAS to keep the platform moving forward on a regular schedule if they choose. Seems to me Cliff and his team like to think outside the box and challenge themselves - until that changes I don't think we'll see them abandon additional progress.

My guess is the OP is more concerned with the timing of the 'next' release....based on countless threads before this one - that question will likely not (for good reason) be answered.
 
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Guitar-Tiz said:
What could you really do to make the II into an Ultra?

It's already got 2 of the best DSP's out there, and that's really all that separated the I from the II.

The chips in there are just 2 Ultra chips, because they still haven't made a better chip.

So, unless they make a better chip, then I don't think so myself.
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This statement got me thinking because the chip is rather old by computer chip standards and I would imagine that said company of chip has plans to release a successor to that chip. So an axeII ultra or axe3 could come at any time. I think it would be the software thats holding it up. But like someone said only Cliff knows....
 
jkstraw said:
I think the most accurate answer (IMHO) is - of course there will be a Axe FX II successor - weather it called the Ultra, AxeFX III or some other name is really kind of irrelevant (it is just a name after all).
Click to expand...

This.

The Ultra was in fact the successor to the Standard, when a new processor became available and the firmware was mature enough. The AxeII is a whole step forward in terms of both hardware (not only DSP) and firmware.

My guess is the OP is more concerned with the timing of the 'next' release....based on countless threads before this one - that question will likely not (for good reason) be answered.
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Agree again. I won't be holding my breath though. The AxeII is still in firmware ver 1.04 (?). There are still early bugs and, IMHO, it's something like the Ultra at ver. 7.xx in that respect. I am guessing we have to wait for at least ver. 2.xx for the AxeII to reveal it's true potential.

dwg115 said:
This statement got me thinking because the chip is rather old by computer chip standards and I would imagine that said company of chip has plans to release a successor to that chip. So an axeII ultra or axe3 could come at any time. I think it would be the software thats holding it up. But like someone said only Cliff knows....
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The TigerSHARCs are not computer chips. If you take a look at the DSP industry, for automation, military, medical, etc, applications, you'll find that devices used tend to have a much longer lifecycle than, say, Intel chips. OTOH my guess is, even if there was a more powerful chip available, it would perhaps have a completely new instruction set and large parts of the firmware would have to be rewritten.
 
I'd love to see FAS venture into some other things first. The axe fx II seems like it has legs to be a premier unit for several years. Would love to see:

An editor for the MFC

A complimentary guitar modeling device (how cool would that be for ultimate versatility??)
 
Not much to say after Cliffs answer.After having my "2" now 10 days and exploring it-and-dialing in my Mark IV patch* off from the Ultra-learning how to use the different controls-I cannot see a TONE improvement(even has all the responsiveness of the tube now).And its fast enough

Beeing the bad boy I am,I see that there is a takeover by the miserably left behind digital products boys(L**e6,.............. etc) and moving from Boutique to mass market.But I hope that Cliff is still enthusiast enough to resist such offers for a while till we fully explore at firmware stage 21(counting 11 from the Ultra up)

till then I enjoy

Roland

*my beloved patch which made my "die hard MarkIV* mate speechless-->he chose the Ultra 8 of 10 times
 
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