VP4

Upcoming product: Fractal Audio VP4 "Virtual Pedalboard” with 4 foot switches.

4 simultaneous effects. Plus gate, EQ and loop (4CM).

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FRACTAL AUDIO QUOTES

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[1] It's not a replacement for any of our current products.

[2] (Does it come with a power supply included?) Yes

[3] One to the right is a power button.

[4] (Can it run a Dual Detune, Reverb, Delay and a Plex Delay simultaneously, in a non-economy algo mode?)
Yes

[5] In L = Guitar
Out L = Preamp In
In R = Preamp Out
Out R = Power amp In

[6] It uses a new, streamlined UI.

[7] 254mm x 160.3mm

[8] It does have channels and scenes and presets, etc. but in a simplified approach. Its primary application is live performance and the UI was designed with that in mind.
It sounds very good. It has the analog path from the Axe-Fx III (which evolved from the FX-8). Beta testers report that it "plays nicely" with difficult fx loops.

[9] Adding MIDI clock should be easy. The VP-4 code was frozen before it was implemented in the Axe-Fx III and the FM-3/9. The only development allowed after code is frozen is bug fixing. The VP-4 uses the Axe-Fx III DSP's little brother. It's a single core version with the same instruction set so porting stuff from the Axe-Fx III is almost trivial. We're already talking about adding a Looper and an IR player block. The product focus was on three things: quality, simplicity and flexibility. Re. quality. It uses premium analog components and converters. The input stage is FET and the op-amps are all "iPolar". None of this cheap CMOS stuff that other products are using. No product will ever satisfy everyone. If low price is your primary concern then the product is not for you. If having lots of simultaneous effects is your primary concern the product is not for you. If having up to four, high-quality effects from the Axe-Fx III in a small, pedal board-friendly format is what you want then this product is a compelling choice.

[10] It's quite possible we could add more blocks in future firmware. I can envision, say, four switchable blocks and two fixed blocks per preset. The fixed blocks are always on. The switchable blocks can be bypassed/engaged. Or four fixed blocks and four switchable blocks. It's just software. It's a fairly powerful processor, more powerful than the FX8 had, but our algorithms have continued to increase in complexity and require more processing power than things did back in the FX8 days.

[11] That's the target market. We have more products in the pipe for that market.

[12] Yes. Behind the scenes it's the architecture from the Axe-Fx III. There's still a grid and scenes and channels, etc. It's just that it's mostly hidden from the user and simplified.

[13] The VP4 uses a SoC. It has an ARM Cortex A15 core and a C66x core along with a bunch of peripherals. The DSP in the Axe-Fx III would be too power-hungry for this application.

[14] The analog input has to be buffered as well. In most (all?) processors you buffer data up in frames. A typical frame size is, say, 32 samples. You can't start processing that frame until it is full. When it is full you ping-pong and start filling the opposite buffer. The physical latency of SPDIF is usually no more than a sample or two. A typical A/D converter has a latency of 10-20 samples. The same thing happens at the output. You read from an output buffer and when it's empty you ping-pong to the opposite buffer. A typical D/A has a latency of, again, 10-20 samples. A SPDIF output has only a sample or two. So, in the case where you use a frame size of 32 you get a total buffer latency of 64 samples. If we assume the A/D and D/A are 16 samples each the total latency is 96 samples. If you use SPDIF you'd have about 30 samples less latency.