About to use my FM9 at my first live gig

[sick pickle]

Well friends, my FM9 has been leading up to this very moment! I recently joined a melodic death metal band here in Montreal. I am playing my first live show with them this coming Friday - my first with this band and my first with the FM9. The live show is a Canada wide battle of the bands for the "Wacken" metal festival. The top Canadian band who wins gets sent to play at Wacken in Germany.

We have a 20 min change over and a quick line check and we are off to the races.

Here is my preset:



Output 1 goes direct to our in ear mix rack and has reverbs and EQ just for me.
Output 2 is fed to FOH and has general treatment - more dry signal
Output 3 is there in case I need to tap into an onstage power amp/cabinet

The tone is based off of the factory preset "Mark Day's Recto" which I have modified to my needs!

I am beyond stoked to give this a go. I hope I do not run into any issues with FOH, but my other guitarist (using an AX8) said its never been an issue.

 

[FullReverse]

Bedroom player here. I am beyond jealous. I feel like fractal products are one of the few things you can actually trust in life. I bet it goes perfectly…

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Things I noticed:

• The Cab block in parallel with a shunt is probably not good. It'll change the mix and output level going into the M-Comp block. You might not notice it because the M-Comp is probably compressing the signal at that point.
• Out 2 is the same as Out 1 if the Reverb that taps off after the Delay block is ever enabled, minus whatever Reverb parameters are active of course. If you're trying to keep that out dry(er) I'd recommend removing that bypassed Reverb, if for no other reason than to reduce the CPU load by whatever amount. You're using 51% but good housekeeping says there's no reason to use more on blocks that do nothing, and cleanliness is next to god-like metal tones.

Between those, the first is what I'd look at closely because a block in parallel with a shunt can affect the level. I'd try setting the Cab's Bypass Mode to Thru (in the Cab's Preamp tab) and remove the shunt and check the level. If you need to disable the cab for whatever reason bypassing will do it at that point. You could drag the Cab Bypass button to the Preset Performance page, remembering to save the preset, and bypass the block from the front panel if it's ever needed. (Remember to save the preset if you bypass or reenable it or you could get a nasty reminder when you switch to it again at a later time.)

Have fun! It's a whole different world playing through one of these things and hearing the sound of a killer amp, then looking over and seeing all that sound coming from the unit sitting on the floor instead of a traditional amp and cab.

 

[sick pickle]

Things I noticed:

• The Cab block in parallel with a shunt is probably not good. It'll change the mix and output level going into the M-Comp block. You might not notice it because the M-Comp is probably compressing the signal at that point.
• Out 2 is the same as Out 1 if the Reverb that taps off after the Delay block is ever enabled, minus whatever Reverb parameters are active of course. If you're trying to keep that out dry(er) I'd recommend removing that bypassed Reverb, if for no other reason than to reduce the CPU load by whatever amount. You're using 51% but good housekeeping says there's no reason to use more on blocks that do nothing, and cleanliness is next to god-like metal tones.

Between those, the first is what I'd look at closely because a block in parallel with a shunt can affect the level. I'd try setting the Cab's Bypass Mode to Thru (in the Cab's Preamp tab) and remove the shunt and check the level. If you need to disable the cab for whatever reason bypassing will do it at that point. You could drag the Cab Bypass button to the Preset Performance page, remembering to save the preset, and bypass the block from the front panel if it's ever needed.

Thanks for this.

Originally I had another multi band comp block to the right of the shunt (basically the same settings) that just feeds right into Output 3... should I go this route?

I thought I was just being efficient feeding it up and then back down again, eliminating the need for two Multicomp blocks.

The reverbs on Output 2 are different. Output 1 reverb is super lush (for IEMs) and not something I want to feed to FOH. The Output2 reverb is more realistic and needed for my cleaner tones in Scenes 2/3

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Thanks for this.

No problem. It's what us anal-retentive testers notice and talk about.

Originally I had another multi band comp block to the right of the shunt (basically the same settings) that just feeds right into Output 3... should I go this route?

I don't use a compressor after my Cab except in one preset based on a Mesa Mk IV and it's basically applying a scoop to the Amp+Cab chain. It was already in the layout before I started hacking it to death so I left it.

I thought I was just being efficient feeding it up and then back down again, eliminating the need for two Multicomp blocks.

Dunno about "efficient". I see that as "preset designer's choice". The only real downside to two M-Comps is there's a little more CPU use and having to configure them, but you have plenty of CPU to burn.

The reverbs on Output 2 are different. Output 1 reverb is super lush and not something I want to feed to FOH. The Output2 reverb is more realistic and needed for my cleaner tones in Scenes 2/3

K.

Yeah, running Reverb to FOH, or even into a cab or FRFR, can really clutter the sound. I'm amazed how much stronger it is when I'm live vs. when I'm using headphones, so I am trying to reduce the Reverb as I encounter it live. Gain is the same way; A little goes a long way when running loud and the acoustic coupling is working. I have Reverb's mix and the Amp gain controls in the Global Performance controls and use them when I do a preliminary sound check after powering up.

Again, have a blast playing with the unit. These things are really fun.

 

[sick pickle]

No problem. It's what us anal-retentive testers notice and talk about.


I don't use a compressor after my Cab except in one preset based on a Mesa Mk IV and it's basically applying a scoop to the Amp+Cab chain. It was already in the layout before I started hacking it to death so I left it.


Dunno about "efficient". I see that as "preset designer's choice". The only real downside to two M-Comps is there's a little more CPU use and having to configure them, but you have plenty of CPU to burn.


K.

Yeah, running Reverb to FOH, or even into a cab or FRFR, can really clutter the sound. I'm amazed how much stronger it is when I'm live vs. when I'm using headphones, so I am trying to reduce the Reverb as I encounter it live. Gain is the same way; A little goes a long way when running loud and the acoustic coupling is working. I have Reverb's mix and the Amp gain controls in the Global Performance controls and use them when I do a preliminary sound check after powering up.

Again, have a blast playing with the unit. These things are really fun.

Cool!

Do you think its a better practise to send the FOH a dry signal (no reverb at all?)

Modified the Output 3 line (no shunt in line with Cab):

 

[ChristThePhone]

Cool!

Do you think its a better practise to send the FOH a dry signal (no reverb at all?)

Modified the Output 3 line (no shunt in line with Cab):

View attachment 116067

Unless you bring your own sound engineer and PA (which is very unlikely in Wacken) you better provide a ready made sound to the FOH and listen to the sound engineer. Have your FX levels easily accessible to adjust via the performance page. The venue might require a higher reverb/delay level (some of the GOT presets were pretty much drowned in delay and reverb because they were made for huge venues)

 

[sick pickle]

So the gig went off pretty easily using the FM9. Sound engineer just took the XLR from the on stage cabinet and patched directly into my FM9 output 2 (which I had configured for FOH). Since I was on stage, I am not entirely sure how it sounded out front - but some videos I saw were convincing.

The band after us used an AXEFXII but also a power amp/into cab. I will say, I feel like their onstage sound and power was much higher than maybe ours, since there were no amps on stage for us (100% direct). It has me thinking about, whether its worth investing in something for more onstage sound (like a SD Powerstage and 2x12 or something).... I know the beauty of these things is to AVOID on stage sound to give the tech more flexibility, but for a hard rock/metal band, maybe the on stage power needs to be there?.... just thinking out loud.

 

[Sixstring]

So the gig went off pretty easily using the FM9. Sound engineer just took the XLR from the on stage cabinet and patched directly into my FM9 output 2 (which I had configured for FOH). Since I was on stage, I am not entirely sure how it sounded out front - but some videos I saw were convincing.

The band after us used an AXEFXII but also a power amp/into cab. I will say, I feel like their onstage sound and power was much higher than maybe ours, since there were no amps on stage for us (100% direct). It has me thinking about, whether its worth investing in something for more onstage sound (like a SD Powerstage and 2x12 or something).... I know the beauty of these things is to AVOID on stage sound to give the tech more flexibility, but for a hard rock/metal band, maybe the on stage power needs to be there?.... just thinking out loud.

You can always side fill with power amp and cabs to keep stage volumes manageable for the FOH mix!