There is nothing quite like the Aeros for looping and nothing quite like traditional large loopers for Fx (e.g., VL3X, Boss, Headrush, etc.).
I love my analogue pedalboards for 99.9% of guitar Fx, but have nothing for Vocal Fx. I could, but don’t want to use the mic input/Fx from my Helix Floor (not really made for it). The smaller voice Fx pedals don’t usually have MIDI, so too much dancing between guitar Fx, looper and the voice Fx.
I’m considering using an RC-600 or VL3X mostly for vocals and some additional looping functions, but this seems redundant when using the Aeros. Now if only SS would develop/integrate a guitar/vocal multi-FX/multi-i/o through the otherwise unused USB port!
Not sure if the USB could be used as an audio interface or if latency would be an issue even if the USB hardware was capable.
The Aeros is unlikely to become all devices to all people and this is not an area which SS can easily compete. Boss has the advantage of an old, low powered effects and modeling library from old gen mutli-fx/modelers that it can incorporate into a looper for very low (development/hardware) incremental cost. The RC-600 is a significantly larger device which would not work for me (and at that size it would have to replace my pedalboard).
It’s possible some nextgen Aeros could support more on the audio processing side, but that would take some effort and risk. My guess is these effects would be used by a fraction of the target audience which makes the payoff lower for a device which is more expensive to develop/build.
I’d personally love to see the BeatBuddy integrated into a next gen Aeros. That’s in SS’s area of expertise and would have benefits in form factor and ease of integration (no longer need bidirectional midi to be seamless).
If it could be the best of both worlds, I’d love to have my modeler built-in as an all-in-one solution, but the quality/feature bar is high. Modeling is not SS’s core competency. All-in-on units tend to have some features that are just OK and parts that get dated. If the next gen Aeros became a platform that cloud load 3rd party plugins (and handle licensing), that would be great assuming the extra hardware doesn’t come at a huge premium. Hard to pull off especially when multiple companies are involved. The Beebo and Mod pedals are sort of like this with customized open source modules, but they are fringe devices with limits and not too much in the way of stellar modeling or vocal processing.