How to fit FM9 into a 19" compatible/hybrid enclosure ?

Just buy buy red masking tape and tape off your zone. Tell everyone if they cross the tape they get a back spinning butterfly kick. Demonstrate it for them. My daughter won many Tae Kwon Do bouts with this technique.

For this case you don't even have to connect - just the breeze of the foot blowing by the head will be enough.
;)
 
Greg Ferguson said:
To protect all the ports. Everything I use is routed using low-profile XLR and 1/4” TRS to either end of the board using the Temple Audio mods.

The first time I took my FM3 out, a drunk singer stepped on the standard size OUT 1L XLR and broke it. I lost the channel’s sound and couldn’t tell what happened until I got home. Luckily the pins in the shell were what broke and the unit itself was fine, but I was never going through that again.

There are photos of the rig in one of the threads. It’d take a determined attempt to break it now.
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I get it.
 
RockYoWorld said:
Obviously, doing this would void any warranty. But you might be able to do it if you take out the foot controllers and use an FC-6 or FC-12 (or MIDI controller). If you know what you're doing with electronics, it's probably doable, but it seems like a lot of work to have a 2U device instead of a 3U FX3.
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1694860287639.png
 
Bob4u said:
Oh SinglecutGuy without faith... :grinning:
Because my rack with AXE FXIII is an 8U as full as an egg, heavy and requiring forcibly the external foot controller.
NOT suitable for all concerts... yeah:
for example when times are tight, confined spaces, or there are 5 bands sharing the same stage, or you cannot rely on help to transport the equipment, line check in 10 minutes... blablabla...
I've done over 400 gigs, so I well know what I need... :rolleyes:

I already have a lighter, shorter and "quicker" 4U backup system with BOSS GT PRO, and I wanted to replace it with a "compatible" solution with FM9 (already purchased) adding a very short 2U rack device + other little ones, joined together somehow, e.g. with a HYBRID enclosure.

I'm not stupid enough to spend money without having a clear idea of what to do, and my current best one is to join a pedalboard with a self-made rear support for the 2U unit, than use a Pelikan-like enclosure for transportation.
In my simulations using FM9 that way everything will stay in less than 4U heigth.
Another advantage using FM9: for the worst cases I could even give up using the external foot controllers' array for a more modular flexibility. Pls don't ask why use an external foot controllers array if FM9 already have buttons... ;)

Maybe here there are people who has already addressed my same need.
That's why I'm asking (and make some other people laugh) !!
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Then why not just buy another Axe III and put it in a smaller rack?

I've played many shows, myself. Often times when there are multiple bands playing a gig and stage real estate is at a premium, the issue is the lack of horizontal and depth real estate, NOT vertical. So an 8U rack versus a 22U rack is no different (yes, of course aside from depth of the rack which is not drastically different once you cross over 8U).
 
SinglecutGuy said:
Then why not just buy another Axe III and put it in a smaller rack?

I've played many shows, myself. Often times when there are multiple bands playing a gig and stage real estate is at a premium, the issue is the lack of horizontal and depth real estate, NOT vertical. So an 8U rack versus a 22U rack is no different (yes, of course aside from depth of the rack which is not drastically different once you cross over 8U).
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Using another AF3 in a rack would mean a minimum of 5U rack (instead of 8U...) + forcing anyway the use of my external foot controllers.

My idea is to have a "compatible" backup system, max or less than 4U heigth, capable to use directly the buttons of FM9 in the case there's not enough time/space for one of my foot controllers' array I have.

That's why I'm asking for a hybrid/compatible rack.

At the end I will have the choice of three options:

1) Full rack with AF3 + Full size foot controllers array

2) Compact enclosure with FM9 + compact external foot controllers array

3) Compact enclosure with FM9 only.... and a lot of swearing to control my devices :sweatsmile:

...................Just for your information this is my full size foot controller (the compact one is about half area):

20230916_175222.jpg
 
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What's wrong with an FM3 and maybe a small midi controller? If you are using all those clunky Roland/Roland-style turd switches anything will be an upgrade.
 
JiveTurkey said:
What's wrong with an FM3 and maybe a small midi controller? If you are using all those clunky Roland/Roland-style turd switches anything will be an upgrade.
Click to expand...

I prefer 10000% Roland-style footswitches than any button type footswitch I ever used in my life:smile:.

In my opinion button-style footswitches are only much easier for the manufacturer to be fit in a box, just a hole, purchasing them from third parties (my opinion).

I considered FM3, but unfortunately it hasn't enough CPU power for my presets and there's only 1 AMP, most of my presets use 2 AMPs.

If the AMP had a SEND output, I maybe could use 1 AMP.... long story:
​
IMHO FRACTAL DRIVEs aren't enough good for metal, 95% have weak distortion even with a near saturated input they are good for other genres, e.g. plenty of them for blues.​
METAL-ZONE is the only Drive with a good distortion level but it sounds too much "boxed" and has a inner cut in the high frequencies (regardless of high frequencies cut set to 20KHz !!).​
​
So... only AMPs have distortions that meet my requirements.​
​
But if I use an AMP for the distortion I don't have a "Send" output from it to be sent to OUT3, to my real AMP return connector (e.g. Mesa).​
​
So I use:​
1 AMP for distortion without power section emulation ==> OUT3, real AMP (when I have it)​
​
1 AMP + power emulation + CAB for FOH / IN-EAR / FRFR​
 
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JiveTurkey said:
FM0 wouldn't do you wrong.
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Keep banging that drum!!!!!
Baby Thank You GIF
 
Silly of me maybe, but another axe 3 plus an fc 6 or a different controller in a 4he rack? Put the controller in a drawer and you are powerful and compact..
 
Greg Ferguson said:
To protect all the ports. Everything I use is routed using low-profile XLR and 1/4” TRS to either end of the board using the Temple Audio mods.

The first time I took my FM3 out, a drunk singer stepped on the standard size OUT 1L XLR and broke it. I lost the channel’s sound and couldn’t tell what happened until I got home. Luckily the pins in the shell were what broke and the unit itself was fine, but I was never going through that again.

There are photos of the rig in one of the threads. It’d take a determined attempt to break it now.
Click to expand...
I feel you on that. I've lost a few pedals that way, also gotten banged in the face with my own mic LOL.
If I'm not playing on a stage that's reasonable high off the ground, I usually grab a chair from one of the tables, and I use it to put my monitor on it, also, it serves as a block between my board and the drunkards.
 
OK guys, no way to find it in the market, so I did by myself.
I'm not a mechanical engineer (I'm an electronic one... :blush:) , but I tried to invent something by myself.

TARGET: lightest and as much compact as possible with all the devices I needed in my backup unit.

Here's a rackmount TC-HELICON voice multieffect together with floor FM9 in a lightweight and very robust aluminum frame:

20231128_161054.jpg

Fan holes are kept free from any obstacle to let FM9 breathe.
All useful connections are replicated externally (Audio, MIDI, RF antennas, USB):

20231128_161646.jpg

In WISH section in this forum someone very ironically replied to me "why don't you make your multieffects on your own?..." (like saying "we're bored of your wishes!").

But sometimes, yes, I'm forced to build something myself for special features I cannot ask:
the foot controller you see in the middle is DIY with Arduino in a "U" aluminum frame, programmed in C++ by myself.

All this strange rig can be opened without screwdrivers for rapid cables check in case of problems:


20231128_161345.jpg

Cables are placed to help them to survive multiple open/close operations...
And there's some space for additional things inside.


20231128_161522.jpg

To save space and weight I used just 1 Harley Benton ISO-3AC to power supply all these:
  • TC- ELECTRONIC Voice Live Rack (12V)
  • Electro-Harmonix Pedal (9V)
  • LINE6 Guitar RF Receiver (9V)
  • an SPDIF-to-Analog converter (5V)
  • internal foot controller with Arduino (9V)
  • external MIDI foot controller 9V power, see last photo (I used 2 additional wires of 5p DIN MIDI connector to carry it)

For the MIDI management FM9 does merge MIDI IN with MIDI OUT so I didn't need an external MIDI MERGE BOX for my MIDI daisy chain.
On the contrary the big beast AXE FXIII MKII super-mega-turbo doesn't allow to merge MIDI IN and OUT.... (it was the very first WISH I've posted here :blush:).

Everything closes with a mm precision, saving all space possible to make it the as much compact as possible.
I did 3 different project designs variations to arrive to this one... It took a very long time to make it, crazy crazy crazy.

Overall weight is 17Kg, while my rack system with AXE FX3 MKII weights 30Kg...

Unfortunately it's impossible to keep everything withing carry-on bag for flights, for few centimeters and 7 Kgs exceeding :laughing:

NOTE: there's a circuit I have designed and built to protect FM9 input from Phantom Power coming from TC-HELICON voice processor.
I needed to copy microphone signal into FM9 for my crazy routings.
Theorically Phantom Power shouldn't affect any balanced input but I preferred to add that Phantom Power Blocker all the same.

I wanted a double protection system to both stop any DC (48V) and any spike that may come when inserting connectors. I have tested it very accurately before using it in the rig.
If anyone is interested I can publish my the electrical scheme (IMHO better than any other in the market).

This is my FRACTAL based family of rigs now !

20231109_171807.jpg

  • So in bigger venues with no trasportation issues I can use AF3 Rack + bigger foot controller board with beloved ❤️ ROLAND FC-200 ❤️
  • in the other cases I can use FM9 rig with a more compact external foot controller board
    (the one with the cheap and modified FCB1010...),
  • in the worst cases I can use just the FM9 rig with a couple of external pedals (not the ones in the photo, probably EH ones).

Here's a post sharing hints how to better move AF3 presets to FM9:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/fm9-as-backup-of-axe-fxiii-hints-after-having-done-it.199796/


Let's play ! :blush:
 
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Greg Ferguson said:
@BobXX

Impressive work. Can you do it again using black anodized aluminum? Or how about carbon fiber… :)
Click to expand...
I agree with you, before starting on it I thought abouth black anodized aluminum, resin or carbon fiber but unable to find the components for an enough easy work...
and not willing to repeat that work.
Anyway the structure is very light, less than 2Kgs whilst devices, cables and connectors weight about 15Kgs.
I'd like to have it more black though, at the moment I have just covered some parts with black adhesive sinthetic skin... maybe I will do for the remaining silver parts ;)
 
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