Fractal Audio floor MultiFX anyone?

octatonic

I am going to disagree with Drew, the effects in the AFX are some of the best in the world. 

Up there with the high end Lexicon, Eventide and TC electronic units, not the prosumer stuff.

The Axe Fx was originally conceived as an effects unit, not an amp modeller.

The workflow, converters and flexibility of the unit is pretty much unbeatable.

The reverb is on par with any Lexicon I've used.

Drew_TNBD

Not saying they're not good, and not even saying they're not more advanced. But I think in 2014 (actually since around 2009 I stopped noticing differences in algorithms) there is no real question of "better" and just "different" when it comes to the raw quality of the effects. AD/DA quality, signal to noise ratio, THD... those are all different things.

I think where the Axe pisses over other units is being able to stack a diffusor into a delay into a reverb, and run it all in parallel to your main signal which might have chorus and reverb on it too. Then use the master effects mix to dial it back to taste, depending on your needs. All sorts of crazy configurations are possible. Most other effects it's just input to dsp to output, with little possibility of customizing.

The Axe FX  is one of the best bits of gear I've purchased. But I like it for the overall experience rather than just one particular aspect. I've compared the reverbs to my Hardwire RV7, ValhallaRoom, and IK Multimedia CSR. CSR sounded the most metallic (using their plate model) and ValhallaRoom sounded the most diffuse. The Hardwire and Axe were *very* similar. The Axe can be pushed a lot further than all of them though.

dano

Looks like a great piece of kit. I have a horrble suspicion the price will be very similar to the AxeFx 2.

Drew_TNBD

Cliff said on the forum that it wouldn't be anywhere near $2000 after someone posted that as the suggested price. $2000 is currently £1200 give or take... so I think we could be looking at a sub-£1000 unit here.

I hope so anyway!

dano

That would be nice then

I reckoned with it (most likely) having the same chip set, the floor unit having all the switching circuitry, and the metalwork being possibly more pricey than a 19" rack the price was going to be high.

siraxeman

Looks good and assuming its not as silly priced as the AXE FX Ultra or whatever model is the current one...I'm sure it will sell good. Now for me a GT-100 via 4CM is plenty good enough.

digitalscream

Well...with only 8 effect blocks and no amp/cab modelling, there's going to be a significant drop in both the required processing power and development costs. A lot of the price of an AxeFX II factors in the R&D required for "free" updates, which aren't really free at all. This one wouldn't need anywhere near that, since I presume the code is going to be lifted straight from the main AxeFX lineup; in effect, this is almost a maintenance-free product from a software perspective.

Drew_TNBD

Yeah. Only one TigerSharc as opposed to two for a start. Extra electronics though, as they're saying it'll do true-bypass which AFAIK the Axe FX II doesn't do.

Drew_TNBD

jonnyburgo

quit twiddlin wi yr knobs and just play the fucker

Elx

Are there people who actually use 8 effects at the same time?

Drew_TNBD

Yup!

Elx

Drew_fx said:

Yup!

OK, fair enough...Anyway, too bad Fractal Audio stuff looks like it was built in 1981. I've tried Axe FX, and it really does sound very good. Same with this new unit. The fan boys over at Fractal forum are in ecstasy, hoping that this would somehow be the end of G System. I wouldn't be so sure about it, there are people who actually care about the aesthetics of their gear, and Fractal makes some rather aesthetically unpleasing stuff. IMO, of course...I'd rather have the fancy G system than this new Fractal unit, especially since I wouldn't expect major sonic differences between them...

guitarmangler

Perhaps not 8 at once, but defenetly more than 4.
With the four cable method :
amp loop=big delay and or reverb
in front of amp=comp wah boost/od/fuzz modultion analogue delay
That's five or six right there, plus room for a couple of noise makers ( whammy or octave thing ) .
I'd rather have a box and not use all eight at once than have only four and have to stick another couple of pedals as extra on as well.

octatonic

Elx said:

Drew_fx said:

Yup!

OK, fair enough...Anyway, too bad Fractal Audio stuff looks like it was built in 1981. I've tried Axe FX, and it really does sound very good. Same with this new unit. The fan boys over at Fractal forum are in ecstasy, hoping that this would somehow be the end of G System. I wouldn't be so sure about it, there are people who actually care about the aesthetics of their gear, and Fractal makes some rather aesthetically unpleasing stuff. IMO, of course...I'd rather have the fancy G system than this new Fractal unit, especially since I wouldn't expect major sonic differences between them...

Seriously, who gives a fuck about how it looks? It works great and is easy to use. I think they look fine though, but can't say I've given it much thought.

matt1973

Well, that looks pretty good to me but I doubt it will drop into the M13 price point. Tbh I think the G system is stupidly priced so I better be sitting down when I look at the cost of one of these.

Drew_TNBD

Elx;265304" said:

Drew_fx said:

Yup!





OK, fair enough...Anyway, too bad Fractal Audio stuff looks like it was built in 1981. I've tried Axe FX, and it really does sound very good. Same with this new unit. The fan boys over at Fractal forum are in ecstasy, hoping that this would somehow be the end of G System. I wouldn't be so sure about it, there are people who actually care about the aesthetics of their gear, and Fractal makes some rather aesthetically unpleasing stuff. IMO, of course...I'd rather have the fancy G system than this new Fractal unit, especially since I wouldn't expect major sonic differences between them...

Interesting. First time I've heard this viewpoint. I think their stuff looks pretty damn nice. My AFII is my favourite possesion right now

Drew_TNBD

matt1973 said:

Well, that looks pretty good to me but I doubt it will drop into the M13 price point. Tbh I think the G system is stupidly priced so I better be sitting down when I look at the cost of one of these.

They've said it wont be anywhere near $2000. Which equates to about £1100. So I'm hoping for a sub £1000 price point.

matt1973

Drew_fx said:

matt1973 said:

Well, that looks pretty good to me but I doubt it will drop into the M13 price point. Tbh I think the G system is stupidly priced so I better be sitting down when I look at the cost of one of these.

They've said it wont be anywhere near $2000. Which equates to about £1100. So I'm hoping for a sub £1000 price point.

If so, that'll mean curtains for the G System. I'd much rather be using Fractal gear than TC and I'm pretty sure you'd be hard pressed to find guitarists who wouldn't.

Elx

octatonic said:

Elx said:

Drew_fx said:

Yup!

OK, fair enough...Anyway, too bad Fractal Audio stuff looks like it was built in 1981. I've tried Axe FX, and it really does sound very good. Same with this new unit. The fan boys over at Fractal forum are in ecstasy, hoping that this would somehow be the end of G System. I wouldn't be so sure about it, there are people who actually care about the aesthetics of their gear, and Fractal makes some rather aesthetically unpleasing stuff. IMO, of course...I'd rather have the fancy G system than this new Fractal unit, especially since I wouldn't expect major sonic differences between them...

Seriously, who gives a fuck about how it looks? It works great and is easy to use. I think they look fine though, but can't say I've given it much thought.

Ideally we should not care what things look like, but that's not the case. That's why companies employ product designers who will come up with something attractive. 90% of discussion on this forum, at least in the electric guitar subforum are about what the guitars that we buy look like. Again, I understand your point of view, but think about it. They need to sell their products in thousands and the best way to do this to make them look fancy. G system certainly looks the business. It might be vain, but marketing people need to take this aspect of their product into consideration as well. 

As far as I'm concerned, I'm a special breed, the 3 pages of the topic about this new Fractal toy over at the Fractal forum made me physically sick. The amount of ass kissing is unbearable, just like over at the Music Man forum. It puts me off...it's probably stupid, but it's the way I am. But let's not turn this into a discussion about my problems, there's another thread about our personal issues somewhere here, I will continue over there