Announcing the New FM9 Amp Modeler/FX Processor

Admin M@ said:
The FM9 has a 3rd physical jack so it was not deemed necessary, one pedal and two switches being the sweet spot.
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Understood, yet @Prince question still remains: Is it a hardware-exclusive thing or a function that can be added later via firmware? My particular use case scenario involves one Mission Engineering pedal for Wah and one EV for Volume/Whammy/general expression, then it leaves me only one jack for a switch. The dual-switch implementation I like is one dedicated tap tempo and one "utility" per-preset switch (particularly a momentary switch to toggle certain effects i.e Intelligent harmonies during a very short passage, Dive bombs, a Virtual Capo when I only need a "Virtual 7th string", a Delay on just a note or group of notes during a passage, etc...)

I know there are 9 switches available in the FM9 for my needs and that they're road-worthy but the beauty of those external switches is that they're are so cheap that I wouldn't mind replacing them every now and then for that kind of application where my heavy foot will be smashing the hell out of them.

Again, it's not a deal breaker and you could see it as a complaint, but as I see it, it was a superb feature on the FM3 and it would seem natural to make its way to the younger-yet-bigger brother, I even asked if it could be ported to the Axe-FX III and got no answer at all.
 
Del Pedro said:
Seems like an unnecessary restriction to me. Even if most people will not need so many switches I bet some would use that many.
Most of the commercially available dual switch pedals have a TRS jack. So you cannot use them without modifying the plug(s).
I would strongly advice to support dual switches per jack for all products (i.e. AF3 and the controllers, too).
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Then they can look into something like the MC6 or MC8 or any of the other MIDI controllers.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
Then they can look into something like the MC6 or MC8 or any of the other MIDI controllers.
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That seems like complete overkill to me for allowing something that sounds like it may be possible to implement with firmware. The jacks are already TRS so the physical capability is there.

I have to honestly say that I was a bit surprised by the design choice. It's the only thing I've come across that seems like a step down in functional terms.

The FCs and FM3 both support dual switches with the switch jacks...

Won't stop my purchase, though ;)
 
Lionfeather said:
Also wondering about vent locations, still on the bottom like the FM3?
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It’s on the bottom with the exhaust ports on the sides, like the FM3.

On the FM3 the fan doesn’t necessarily have to run if passive cooling and airflow are sufficient to keep everything cool; The fan will spin up if it’s above 127°F inside the case. (I think that’s the number Cliff said.)
 
Shai`tan said:
I haven`t tried this yet..... but at Amazon there are quite a few difference types of magnifying plastic sheets you can get. I`m going to try a few and see how well they`d work to magnify my FM9 screen. Should be easy to cut to size. And magnification is up to 3X. ;p
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I've tried this, with both my Axe FX-III and my FM3. The problem is that you've got to have the magnifying sheets a certain distance away from the screen they are magnifying.
There have been so many threads and comments on this issue, I've GOT to believe that fixing this issue is a major priority for Fractal.
 
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iaresee said:
It was part of the testing matrix and worked great for those who tried it.

I also ran it in 4CM with my Axe-Fx III and I can happily report it worked great AND gave me ridiculous amounts of effects and amps to play with.
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When you tested it with 4CM and an actual amplifier, what amplifier(s) did you use, and did you have any noise (hiss/hum) when doing so?
 
I really hope it's a simple fix, but regardless hamstringing those pedal jacks doesn't seem like the best call. I don't even want to add 4 switches, I just don't want to add an extra cable to add two switches when I didn't need to on the FM3. Something about that just rubs me the wrong way.
 
I am hoping for an expansion of the MIDI spec to include sending CC from attached pedals and pedals attached to attached FCs. MIDI messages added to effect switching and scene switching would be nice too (maybe some already exist?).

The idea being to use an FM9 and attached FC6 as controllers for AxeFX3 and lose no functionality from my current dual FC6 setup, while gaining all the goodies in the FM9 to help with those kitchen sink presets that bump against the AxeFX3's CPU limits and a secret-sauce guitar input at the pedalboard....
 
Kyle Bryson said:
So I never had a fractal product that can run 2 amp sims (I owned the FX8 and now the FM3 ). My favorite high gain amps in the FM3 are the EVH 5150III Blue and JP2C. I plan to get the FM9 and want to see how these two amps sound together, has anybody tried this on the AX3 or other models? How do you mix them successfully? I plan to just use 1 Cab block to save on CPU
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I have dual FM3s because of my desire to blend amps/rigs. I think running different
cabs/irs is kind of crucial to allow the amps to differentiate themselves. It's a lot of
f'ing fun!

I ain't going backwards from here. :)
 
Romo82 said:
I stand educated, I totally did not realise you could pan two different amps in to the single cab block.
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While you could do that, I wonder what the value of it is---especially if you are running an AC30
and want to stay authentic with an Alnico Blue based Cab/IR, and a Green\back based Cab/IR
for the Plexi.

It seems to me that using the same Cab (even if just to saver CPU) would make the Amps being blended
less differentiated and complimentary, rather than more. 🤷‍♂️
 
SinglecutGuy said:
Any idea if the FM9 will have less hiss/noise than the FM3 does in 4CM?

There are multiple threads on this occurrence (I won’t say “issue”), and even after Humbuster cables, and tweaking all available settings/parameters that are available in the FM3 to combat this, some folks (myself included), weren’t able to rid enough of the hiss/white noise/etc, in 4CM to utilize the setup in a gig situation.

I love my Axe III, and use it live. But I also have scenarios where I want my preferred tube amplifier, and would like to use the high quality effects in the Fractal universe in the 4CM with my amp.


Cliff are you able to comment on this?
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Cliff did comment on this a few pages back. You should read his comment but to paraphrase he said that the FM9 has the specially developed analog circuit that the III and FX8 have that make it the better choice for the 4CM.
 
la noise said:
While you could do that, I wonder what the value of it is---especially if you are running an AC30
and want to stay authentic with an Alnico Blue based Cab/IR, and a Green\back based Cab/IR
for the Plexi.

It seems to me that using the same Cab (even if just to saver CPU) would make the Amps being blended
less differentiated and complimentary, rather than more. 🤷‍♂️
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You can pan two amps into one CAB block and have them each use a separate and distinct IR.
 
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