Wish: Global blocks on FM9 - edited from: ultra low quality option - or dummy option in all fx

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olzzon

Member
Maybe there's already something like this in the FM9?
If not I'd love to see a way to be able to have a preset setup with a lot more fx's that currently possible in one preset.
I don't expect them to be available at the same time, but if it was possible if all FX either had a ultra low quality, or there was a dummy/passthru option in the presets. Currently it's not really possible to have a preset with e.g. 2 amp/cab + compressor + Plex Delay + MultiTap delay + Pitch + Reverb although not used at the same time.
But if it was possible to set e.g. Plex Delay to channel D to dummy, then I could use Ch.d in the scenes where I don't need Plex Delay, but it's still available in other scenes
 
Peavey Herman said:
Figure out which combinations of FX you actually would use together, split your "kitchen sink" up between several presets containing these combinations and switch gaplessly between them.
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I know I can do that, and then next time I've changed an amp setting or a level in one of the presets, I have to remember to either copy or adjust it in the other presets too.
Multiple presets has always been a hassle, which is why I've always prefer using one preset and then base it on scenes.
And combining presets with multiple scenes is even worse 🙂
 
Set lists and songs are another option. You don't need to use them for songs, you can use them to select scenes from different presets in an organized way.
 
What I've done so far is reducing cpu usage as much as I can on the fx's where it's possible and put those on Ch.D
 
To be honest, I have found that my do-everything patch tends to build up blocks and features that are often not used or have little impact on tone.

For example, I put a fancy tilt-style EQ and compressor after the amp because I thought I needed to do that to maximize my tone. That is, I needed to put studio-like processing in my live gigging patch. Although those blocks produced a noticeable change in tone it was not clear if it was better or worse, just different. I found I could easily produce similar results using the EQ and Output Dynamics in the Amp block reducing the need for two extra blocks, one of them a DSP expensive compressor. And if I'm in the studio, I have lots of studio plugins I can put in the DAW tracks to fit the guitar into the mix. I don't need those in FM9 for live gigs.

There may be a tendency to think if we don't have every option in our patches that we might be somehow missing something, even though we either can't hear it or can't tell if it's better or worse. Resisting that tendency and being open to achieving outcomes with less DSP-hungry approaches can help optimize your patches within the constraints of your modeler.
 
The problem is not as much about doing all sorts of stuff, but about consistency.
After reading about the Global block in Axe-Fx III, a solution like that would actually be the optimal solution.

It's not as much about having a lot of fx in a preset, but about having the amps and reverbs sound consistent across multiple presets.

So thumps up for GLOBAL BLOCKS on FM9 🙂
 
olzzon said:
But if it was possible to set e.g. Plex Delay to channel D to dummy, then I could use Ch.d in the scenes where I don't need Plex Delay, but it's still available in other scenes
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That won’t work.

Blocks MUST be processing in the background in order for them to immediately begin passing their output when they’re enabled. You can change the type to the lowest CPU % for that block type when you know you won’t need it in a scene and recover some CPU, but if you’re going to need it in the scene you’re stuck. You could just change the channel when you want to use a particular Plex type, but changes to delays tend to be very audible.

olzzon said:
I know I can do that, and then next time I've changed an amp setting or a level in one of the presets, I have to remember to either copy or adjust it in the other presets too.
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The Parameter Batch Set ability in Edit can help there.

olzzon said:
After reading about the Global block in Axe-Fx III, a solution like that would actually be the optimal solution.
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Global blocks bring their own sets of problems. Global blocks in the Wiki covers the up and downside of them.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
That won’t work.

Blocks MUST be processing in the background in order for them to immediately begin passing their output when they’re enabled. You can change the type to the lowest CPU % for that block type when you know you won’t need it in a scene and recover some CPU, but if you’re going to need it in the scene you’re stuck. You could just change the channel when you want to use a particular Plex type, but changes to delays tend to be very audible.
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I might not have expressed me correctly then.
The idea of using blocks would be to have the IN/OUT, AMP, CAB and REV as blocks, and then have all the other stuff pr. preset.

Regarding: changing the type to the lowest CPU% for the fx, when not in use, that's what I do now, but it's quite different from Fx to Fx how much impact is has, and how you change it, and that's why I proposed to have some kind "dumy"/"ultra low quality" setting, that was consistent across all FX's.

But after reading about the Blocks, that would definitely be my favorite, so instead of adding "dummy"/"low quality" to all fx in ONE preset, I'd have multiple presets, with consistency of the main components 🙂
 
It's the same with every Fractal gen. As Cliff finds was to make significant improvements to every facet of the products, the cost in processing rises. Everyone wants the improvements, but wants there to be no cost.
Songs and set lists is the way.
 
There's already a Global Blocks feature on Axe Fx, which I just would love to see on the FM9.

As mentioned before it's not as much about having a lot of fx's but more to keep consistency across all presets.
 
There's another way to solve this problem. Buy another FM3/9 and run it in serial with the FM9.

Dweezil Zappa, at one point, did it with two Axe-FXs when he wanted, in his words, 'a silly amount of FX' at once... but he was doing multiple Frank Zappa rigs per show and wanted to be able to improv between generations of Frank's pedalboards with a single click. Pretty rare air. Are you doing a Frank Zappa cover gig? : )
 
+1

There are already “economy” options for reverb and cabs. Makes total sense to have them for these new compressors if they eat up significantly more cpu
 
FPFL said:
There's another way to solve this problem. Buy another FM3/9 and run it in serial with the FM9.

Dweezil Zappa, at one point, did it with two Axe-FXs when he wanted, in his words, 'a silly amount of FX' at once... but he was doing multiple Frank Zappa rigs per show and wanted to be able to improv between generations of Frank's pedalboards with a single click. Pretty rare air. Are you doing a Frank Zappa cover gig? : )
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VP4 could do the trick as well depending on how much extra juice the OP needs.
 
I've also got a setup with FM9 + VP4, but it's overkill, I never use more than a couple of FX's at a time.

It's not about processing power, it's about having a portable rig (FM9) that are flexible, and where an adjustment on the amp/cab/rev, doesn't have to be transferred to 6 other presets. And lowering the FX's quality is so different from fx to fx, that it's hard to remember all of them.

I know there's workarounds, but none of them are as elegant as either global blocks (my favorite) or some sort of generic "low quality"/"dummy fx" option in all fx's.
 
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