laxu
Fractal Fanatic
For reference, I have used Axe-Fx units for more than a decade now, also own a Helix Floor and have owned the Quad Cortex (sold it due to not having as mature software as I'd like at the time of writing). I like the Helix a lot but bought a used FM3 because I wanted something smaller and more compact to use as a desktop/travel modeler and the HX Stomp is too limited for that. But lets get to the FM3.
I have always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Fractal because I love how they sound, I love all the things you can tweak, I love Axe-Edit/FM3-Edit but they are by far my least favorite hardware units out of all top tier modelers. While the 3rd gen units are better than the previous ones, they are still not great in this regard.
The display on the FM3 is not very good. It has bad black levels and bad off angle viewing, with significant color tints and IPS glow artifacts. By comparison Helix and QC are both better in this regard, with Helix having the overall best screen.
I don't like how limited the switching is. Sure, it's very configurable but I feel adding a FC controller or a MIDI controller makes all the difference for using it. The Quad Cortex has 10 switches in a unit that is smaller than this. Even ignoring the differences in how they implement things, the FM3 could fit 4 or 5 and would be a much better unit for it. I would like it better without a single footswitch than I do with this 3 button layout.
I would prefer if there were output LEDs as the input LEDs are useful. But you can just use the on screen level indicators for this but you can't see all your levels on one glance unless using the meters view. The "preset edited" light is practically useless because any change will cause it to light up.
Finally there is the button section. This is largely unchanged since the Axe-Fx Standard and has never been good. Putting buttons above and below the value wheel makes it easy to bump the wheel when reaching for Home or Edit. I find the nav buttons spaced a bit further apart than I'd like.
The user experience when used on the floor is not great due to the tiny fonts used everywhere. It's no wonder improving the Home view legibility is one of the more popular feature requests. I like the FM3 best when used as a desktop unit. The output volume control positions at the top are impossible to see when used in this position but are fine if a bit small when the FM3 is on the floor.
On the positive side, the headphone output is excellent, definitely best of all modelers I've used. I am not overly fond of the jack's placement as it's easy to forget which is guitar input and which is headphone output.
I also like the little handles on the FM3, makes it easy to lift and move around. I just wish they were slightly taller so you could loop a cable through there if needed.
Compared to my Axe-Fx 2 I have also rarely heard the fan in the FM3 which is nice.
User experience from the unit itself is clunky compared to both Helix and QC. It's a combination of a lot of small inconveniences and a couple of larger ones. To me the lack of a "go to previous block" feature is pretty annoying. Spamming Edit to cycle through them is just a crappy way to go if you want to move between say Amp and Cab blocks as you dial your tones. You have to make sure you are on the layout grid so you can use exit to go back and navigate to another block and the inconsistency of Enter making connections rather than opening a block for editing is a bit of a nuisance when every other view uses Enter to open an item.
I feel if Fractal took even a fraction of the effort they put into improving the modeling and invested that into improving the UI on the hardware they could make all kinds of small changes that would make it much more pleasant to use. The wish list forums for the 3rd gen units are full of good ideas that I hope they would implement. This is the area where Fractal is the most behind the competition and each generation brings the modeling and fx quality of the competitors closer.
Ultimately you will dodge most of the annoyances when using FM3-Edit which is just excellent but it's a real shame that the same company could produce an excellent computer editor and then this clunky hardware user experience. I would have disregarded Fractal years ago if they did not have Axe-Edit/FM3-Edit to fall back on.
This may seem like a very scathing review but it comes from a place of love. I still own Fractal units because they sound great, feel great to play and offer almost every feature a guitarist could ever want in a digital modeler. I can't fault them in that regard. I just hope that one day using them without the computer editor is a joy as well.
I have always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Fractal because I love how they sound, I love all the things you can tweak, I love Axe-Edit/FM3-Edit but they are by far my least favorite hardware units out of all top tier modelers. While the 3rd gen units are better than the previous ones, they are still not great in this regard.
The display on the FM3 is not very good. It has bad black levels and bad off angle viewing, with significant color tints and IPS glow artifacts. By comparison Helix and QC are both better in this regard, with Helix having the overall best screen.
I don't like how limited the switching is. Sure, it's very configurable but I feel adding a FC controller or a MIDI controller makes all the difference for using it. The Quad Cortex has 10 switches in a unit that is smaller than this. Even ignoring the differences in how they implement things, the FM3 could fit 4 or 5 and would be a much better unit for it. I would like it better without a single footswitch than I do with this 3 button layout.
I would prefer if there were output LEDs as the input LEDs are useful. But you can just use the on screen level indicators for this but you can't see all your levels on one glance unless using the meters view. The "preset edited" light is practically useless because any change will cause it to light up.
Finally there is the button section. This is largely unchanged since the Axe-Fx Standard and has never been good. Putting buttons above and below the value wheel makes it easy to bump the wheel when reaching for Home or Edit. I find the nav buttons spaced a bit further apart than I'd like.
The user experience when used on the floor is not great due to the tiny fonts used everywhere. It's no wonder improving the Home view legibility is one of the more popular feature requests. I like the FM3 best when used as a desktop unit. The output volume control positions at the top are impossible to see when used in this position but are fine if a bit small when the FM3 is on the floor.
On the positive side, the headphone output is excellent, definitely best of all modelers I've used. I am not overly fond of the jack's placement as it's easy to forget which is guitar input and which is headphone output.
I also like the little handles on the FM3, makes it easy to lift and move around. I just wish they were slightly taller so you could loop a cable through there if needed.
Compared to my Axe-Fx 2 I have also rarely heard the fan in the FM3 which is nice.
User experience from the unit itself is clunky compared to both Helix and QC. It's a combination of a lot of small inconveniences and a couple of larger ones. To me the lack of a "go to previous block" feature is pretty annoying. Spamming Edit to cycle through them is just a crappy way to go if you want to move between say Amp and Cab blocks as you dial your tones. You have to make sure you are on the layout grid so you can use exit to go back and navigate to another block and the inconsistency of Enter making connections rather than opening a block for editing is a bit of a nuisance when every other view uses Enter to open an item.
I feel if Fractal took even a fraction of the effort they put into improving the modeling and invested that into improving the UI on the hardware they could make all kinds of small changes that would make it much more pleasant to use. The wish list forums for the 3rd gen units are full of good ideas that I hope they would implement. This is the area where Fractal is the most behind the competition and each generation brings the modeling and fx quality of the competitors closer.
Ultimately you will dodge most of the annoyances when using FM3-Edit which is just excellent but it's a real shame that the same company could produce an excellent computer editor and then this clunky hardware user experience. I would have disregarded Fractal years ago if they did not have Axe-Edit/FM3-Edit to fall back on.
This may seem like a very scathing review but it comes from a place of love. I still own Fractal units because they sound great, feel great to play and offer almost every feature a guitarist could ever want in a digital modeler. I can't fault them in that regard. I just hope that one day using them without the computer editor is a joy as well.