FM9 Faulty footswitch

minseito

Member
Has anyone had a problem with the onboard footwitches on the FM9 Turbo? I just got mine and the fourth footswitch is dead for both presets and scenes when used manually. It loads from FM9 edit, but once I change footswitch it is dead again.
 
Can you explain exactly what you mean by this?
dead for both presets and scenes when used manually
What does "dead" mean and what do you mean by "when used manually"?

Are the lights on? Are the scribble strips lit up and do they display text? Is it possible the switch is just not assigned to anything in that specific circumstance?
 
Can you explain exactly what you mean by this?

What does "dead" mean and what do you mean by "when used manually"?

Are the lights on? Are the scribble strips lit up and do they display text? Is it possible the switch is just not assigned to anything in that specific circumstance?
Dead means it just doesn't work. By manually I mean by activating it with my foot. Yep, the surrounding lights are on and the text is displayed. It's scene 4 in one of my presets, but it just doesn't work.
 
Hmm. Can you post a photo/screenshot for the settings of that footswitch in that preset/scene/layout?

It just seems odd that it would be lit up with text, and working temporarily, but then spaz out as soon as you hit it once... It points to a settings issue (which is good; easy to solve) versus a hardware issue (annoying to have to deal with).
 
Has anyone had a problem with the onboard footwitches on the FM9 Turbo? I just got mine and the fourth footswitch is dead for both presets and scenes when used manually. It loads from FM9 edit, but once I change footswitch it is dead again.
I just had my 3rd scene switch stop working in OFM9G mode. Similarly, I could choose scene 3 and scene 7 with the editor, but not by pushing the switch. I rotated the switch back and forth and rebooted the FM9 and it works now. Makes me think it's a software issue, as the switches are pretty robust.
 
I just had my 3rd scene switch stop working in OFM9G mode. Similarly, I could choose scene 3 and scene 7 with the editor, but not by pushing the switch. I rotated the switch back and forth and rebooted the FM9 and it works now. Makes me think it's a software issue, as the switches are pretty robust.
Wow, that sounds crazy on a piece of gear that costs £2000 in the UK. How do mean you 'rotated' the switches? Did you loosen the nut that binds it to the top of the unit? Cheers.
 
I just had my 3rd scene switch stop working in OFM9G mode. Similarly, I could choose scene 3 and scene 7 with the editor, but not by pushing the switch. I rotated the switch back and forth and rebooted the FM9 and it works now. Makes me think it's a software issue, as the switches are pretty robust.
Is this with the default OMG9 built into the FM9, or did you load it from the forum thread?
 
Wow, that sounds crazy on a piece of gear that costs £2000 in the UK. How do mean you 'rotated' the switches? Did you loosen the nut that binds it to the top of the unit? Cheers.
Just spun it as if it were a rotary knob. No tools. No idea if that helped. $2k unit or not, some fraction of each component that Fractal uses will be faulty from their supplier, nothing they can do beyond basic QA. And I don't know that this is faulty or if it's a SW glitch of some sort. Stay tuned.
 
Update:
This seems to be a firmware problem. There is text on the scribble strip, the light on the footswitch is activated when it is loaded from FM-9 Edit, but off otherwise. It is just dead in terms of manual operation.

So much for the two years of excited anticipation on the Waitlist! The unit failed within a week of its arrival. Pissed off doesn't come close.
 
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Update:
This seems to be a firmware problem. There is text on the scribble strip, the light on the footswitch is activated when it is loaded from FM-9 Edit, but off otherwise. It is just dead in terms of manual operation.

So much for the two years of excied anticipation on the Waitlist! The unit failed within a week of its arrival. Pissed off doesn't come close.

How do you conclude this is a firmware problem? The scribble strip and light operate separately from the footswitch itself
If the footswitch itself is not working this can be a hardware issue.

Did you already try to do a full system reset? Just to ensure that you did not make any unintended change that causes your problems?
 
Update:
This seems to be a firmware problem. There is text on the scribble strip, the light on the footswitch is activated when it is loaded from FM-9 Edit, but off otherwise. It is just dead in terms of manual operation.

So much for the two years of excied anticipation on the Waitlist! The unit failed within a week of its arrival. Pissed off doesn't come close.

Fractal support is very good and should be able to resolve your issue pretty quickly. I’m assuming you also contacted them right?
 
How do mean you 'rotated' the switches? Did you loosen the nut that binds it to the top of the unit?

That trick wouldn’t work. The switches are mounted on a PC-board:
"The entire product line was conceived years ago. The goal was to maximize the number of parts shared between products. The footswitch PC boards do three switches each. An FM3 has one board. An FC6 has two. An FM9 has three and an FC12 has four. All products use the same LCDs, encoders, side plates, etc., etc. This reduces cost and repair inventory. The FC6 and the FM3 are basically the same enclosure. The FC12 and FM9 are basically the same enclosure. This isn't a huge market. Margins are thin so you have to think of ways to minimize development and product costs. Parts bin methodology is the route we took on this generation." [3]

The problem is highly unlikely to be firmware, as it’d be reproduced repeatedly. There’s a lot FM9 units in the wild running the same firmware and using the same sub-assembly.

It’s possible that the problem is a glitch in the system configuration, so resetting the unit to factory settings and reloading the OFM9G layout could clear that. See pages 101 and 106 in the manual, otherwise support@fractalaudio.com would be my recommendation for additional help.

PS - An additional thought … are you using switch toppers or have the unit on a pedalboard, or raised in any way?
 
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