thomas.brunkard wrote:For me, I think that we're entering the age of Bring Your Own DSP. Software will always move faster than life cycle of a pedal or rack unit and these are always a marketing compromise with limitations imposed for cost reasons.
I think using a laptop or Mac M1 mini for stage use is the way forward as it allows us to scale what we need to run versus how much we need to pay for it.
Buying a really decent computer is better value than owning a big hulk of metal that becomes obsolete very quickly and is really just a computer that just does one thing.
I have not actually tried to use AmpliTube live on either a laptop or iOS device, nor have I used any of the "big name" hardware-based modelers ... but I tend to agree with this assessment.
CPUs continue to become ever faster and more powerful, and pretty soon we will be able to run crazily accurate amp modeling that exceeds anything we have today on an Apple Watch with plenty room to spare.
Yes, there is a convenience to having a hardware-based modeler that is much like the convenience is with a traditional amp: it basically does one thing. You plug in and go; no complications with software, drivers, configurations, random incompatibilities, etc.
Intellectually, I can absolutely understand why AmpliTube users who want to do stuff live would like a bespoke plug'n'play hardware-based solution. But I thinking that making bespoke plug'n'play hardware-based solution that basically runs software that can also be run on "consumer" hardware anyway is probably not a winning game in the long or even medium term. Instead, the challenge for manufacturers is going to be making something that works as smoothly and easily as possible on the tablet or phone or whatever that you have anyway.