Will the FM3 work for me?

tpage71

Member
I've been using the axe ii with mfc forever, and am ready to upgrade to either the fm3 or fm9 to save some space. The presets I use are 5 different amp blocks + switching on/off effects for them (so i get away with really only using 5 presets on my mfc)

I'm totally tech challenged and haven't scratched the surface on the capabilities of mfc + axe ii

Will the FM3 allow me to easily switch between 5 different amp blocks + toggle on/off effects for those 5 presets?
 
Yes. But of course, only 3 FSW's built in. But you can also use standin's (2 more) which would give you 5. But you cannot see the names of the FX on the stand in switches. I had no issues using the FM3. With FM3 Only (alone) layouts by [@Patzag[/USER] (free also) it is fairly easy. to do what you ask.
Of course, difference being with the FM9 (or FM3 with FC6) you can see the names of all the FX's et
 
I don't really know what you mean by "switch between 5 different amp blocks" but if you mean presets, then absolutely. You can toggle between 4 presets with one switch (two on tap, two on hold).
 
Within a single preset, you can only have 4 different amps. There's one block with four channels. Compared to the Axe FX II, it's the same. In the Axe II you have two amp blocks with X/Y channels, so it still adds up to four different amps per preset, except that in the FM3 it's all in one block so you can only run one at a time. The FM9 has the ability to run two amp blocks in a single preset, each with four channels.
 
I had an Axe II +MFC for years. I now have a III and an FM3. I use the FM3 when I need more portability. While the FM3 doesn’t have all the horsepower of the III, it is an amazing unit that sounds incredible. It is a real bargain and a worthy replacement for a II.
 
I don't really know what you mean by "switch between 5 different amp blocks" but if you mean presets, then absolutely. You can toggle between 4 presets with one switch (two on tap, two on hold).
Yes you're right I meant presets. I've had to look up the difference between blocks scenes and presets lol

It sounds like I can use 4 different amps in one preset, and switch between them with one button that is great. So does that mean you could have access to 12 presets because each button can access 4?
 
There are ways to use this buttons to access all 512 presets.
 
It sounds like I can use 4 different amps in one preset, and switch between them with one button that is great. So does that mean you could have access to 12 presets because each button can access 4?
Yes, any footswitch can step through a range of presets or scenes or amp channels or any of a number of things.
When you get the FM3, come up with a vision for how you want it to work and we'll help with whatever you need.
Also recognize that the FM3 supports up to four external footswitches, which can be very full featured.
You can also start small and later add an FC-6 to really multiply the footswitching capabilities.
 
I've been really impressed with how powerful the three buttons are. I have external MIDI controllers but 99% of the time I never need them.
 
Yes you're right I meant presets. I've had to look up the difference between blocks scenes and presets lol

It sounds like I can use 4 different amps in one preset, and switch between them with one button that is great. So does that mean you could have access to 12 presets because each button can access 4?
Yes, but it'd be a nightmare trying to remember how to access them; that said, any one shouldn't be more than two taps/holds away (you set it to toggle between a primary and secondary destination, so if you're on a preset assigned to Switch 1, when you tap Switch 3 once, it'll go to the primary for Switch 3 first. So you'd tap Switch 3 again to get to the secondary preset assigned to the tap for Switch 3. Same for hold. Could get a little confusing.

I'd recommend just assigning 1 to each FS and maybe make the hold function for one of them toggle "views" where you can access the other 2 with a single tap. Set another switch's hold function to the tuner, and you've still got one switch's hold function free for whatever else you may want (Drive block, etc.).
 
I've been really impressed with how powerful the three buttons are. I have external MIDI controllers but 99% of the time I never need them.
Same. I've never needed more than the three because I use Bluetooth MIDI sent via OnSong on my iPad to do most of my initial changes for each song, so oftentimes I don't need to touch a switch for the whole song - or I can set all three switches to do the same function so I don't have "aim" while I'm busy singing and also playing keys.

I use per-preset switches for every preset I create. It's wonderful :)
 
Yes, any footswitch can step through a range of presets or scenes or amp channels or any of a number of things.
When you get the FM3, come up with a vision for how you want it to work and we'll help with whatever you need.
Also recognize that the FM3 supports up to four external footswitches, which can be very full featured.
You can also start small and later add an FC-6 to really multiply the footswitching capabilities.
So here's what I've got so far- I work out of 6 presets, two of which have 1 effect that toggles on/off

So-

button 1
tap - toggles preset 1/2
hold - changes page so I can scroll through more presets?

button 2
tap - preset 3/4
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 4

button 3
tap - preset 5/6
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 5

Does this work/make sense? Is assigning either a tap or hold to one of the buttons the only way to scroll through pages of presets?
 
So here's what I've got so far- I work out of 6 presets, two of which have 1 effect that toggles on/off

So-

button 1
tap - toggles preset 1/2
hold - changes page so I can scroll through more presets?

button 2
tap - preset 3/4
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 4

button 3
tap - preset 5/6
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 5

Does this work/make sense? Is assigning either a tap or hold to one of the buttons the only way to scroll through pages of presets?
Genius.

In the manual there is the most genius method ever though, which has an acronym I cant look up right now. MIM layout or something its caller. Master Session Layout or something...
 
So here's what I've got so far- I work out of 6 presets, two of which have 1 effect that toggles on/off

So-

button 1
tap - toggles preset 1/2
hold - changes page so I can scroll through more presets?

button 2
tap - preset 3/4
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 4

button 3
tap - preset 5/6
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 5

Does this work/make sense? Is assigning either a tap or hold to one of the buttons the only way to scroll through pages of presets?
Btw what s Toggle effect mean> only one effect?
 
Genius.

In the manual there is the most genius method ever though, which has an acronym I cant look up right now. MIM layout or something its caller. Master Session Layout or something...
"MLM", AKA "Master Layout Menu" is the master layout (#9), used to jump to any of the other layouts. It's p. 8 in the manual.
 
So here's what I've got so far- I work out of 6 presets, two of which have 1 effect that toggles on/off

So-

button 1
tap - toggles preset 1/2
hold - changes page so I can scroll through more presets?

button 2
tap - preset 3/4
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 4

button 3
tap - preset 5/6
hold - toggles effect on/off for preset 5

Does this work/make sense? Is assigning either a tap or hold to one of the buttons the only way to scroll through pages of presets?
Yes. For the preset-specific effects, there are two ways of doing it. You can do a per-preset override that overrides the entire switch defaults just for that preset or you can initially have the switch setup with a sort of "blank" placeholder that will be filled in for each preset. I usually do it the first way because that requires the least amount of planning ahead to make things work.
 
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