Ugly Bunny
Power User
Yep. The minute it's announced, I'm buying. It's just too crucial in my Axe Fx III rig to live without in a cover band.I’d love to show some support for the upgraded pitch block for fm3
Yep. The minute it's announced, I'm buying. It's just too crucial in my Axe Fx III rig to live without in a cover band.I’d love to show some support for the upgraded pitch block for fm3
I cant wait to ditch the Drop!Yep. The minute it's announced, I'm buying. It's just too crucial in my Axe Fx III rig to live without in a cover band.
Unfortunately, the chip architecture is such that reducing the number of amps wouldn't really have much of an effect on the ability of the unit to use the improved Virtual Capo algorithm.
Yeah, my band played in Eb for the longest time but once the VC was improved, I insisted we tune to standard pitch and only drop it for the songs that were recorded in half-step down. We also tune a full step down or more on a couple songs. I love that I can rely on the Axe's pitch shifting. It's still not perfect, but in a band context it's perfectly fine. I just found the FM3's to be just a bit too much latency (as was the Axe's before the update) so I had to sell it shortly after I got it when it first came out. But I've got my eye on it again, now that the QC has failed to live up to the hype (for LOTS of reasons, not just the pitch shifting).I cant wait to ditch the Drop!
Correct. You said it with more detail than I did.Reducing the number of amps would have zero effect on the processor because they're stored as data in memory. All 269 amps aren't simultaneously loaded into the RAM and being processed by the CPU. It's just one at a time, so if you had 1 amp or 1,000 amps, it wouldn't free up a single CPU cycle for other effects.
They are working on the pitch block. I’ve had my fm3 for two days and I didn’t expect to throw a bunch of blocks in there and it’s hard coming from even the axe2 could have more blocks but they aren’t porting cycnus or anything to it for that matter.Hi, all.
Has there been any scuttlebutt about if/when the FM3 will get the Axe III's improved pitch block?
I bought the FM3 when it was first released but ended up selling it immediately. I'm an Axe III owner and was hoping it'd be a mini/travel version, but I found it was far too underpowered for my presets and the pitch block - specifically the virtual capo - wasn't up to snuff compared to the Axe III. I've since started making more - but simpler - presets, so my preset complexity is nowhere near what it was. For this reason, I think the FM3 might be perfect now.
In any case, I recently picked up the Quad Cortex but am severely disappointed. It has NOTHING compared to the Axe Fx III. I know it's still in its infancy, but it'll be many years before it's even a fraction as functional as Fractal gear. I'm planning to return it or sell it most likely, and my eyes have once again come back to the FM3.
But I NEED the improved pitch block. It's a deal-breaker to not have it. I was hoping that a year later, things would be night and day, but I haven't seen any updates about the Pitch Block. Has there been a good explanation why it hasn't come yet? Is the improved version just so much more DSP intensive that it'll NEVER come to the FM3?
Thanks, all!
You know, it's a great little piece of kit for sitting in front of your computer recording tracks into Logic, but my complaint is that it's not a fraction of the road-ready that the FAS gear is. MIDI is lacking, utilities and customization are lacking, deep editing is non-existent (which is fine for some) - basically, it's not ready to leave the nest just yet. i get that Rabea and the guys were thrilled with it by demoing it in their studios, but try integrating it into a fully automated rig for 4 hours worth of music in a bunch of different styles, tunings, etc., and you'll start to see its limitations.They are working on the pitch block. I’ve had my fm3 for two days and I didn’t expect to throw a bunch of blocks in there and it’s hard coming from even the axe2 could have more blocks but they aren’t porting cycnus or anything to it for that matter.
I thought about saving for a quad cortex a week ago prior to buying the 3 but couldn’t justify that price on unproven gear that’s based on over priced plugins. I’m going to wait and see if it’s just vapor ware and hype. I’ll be very disappointed in Rabea and others for acting like it’s the savior and answer to all our prayers.
Yeah I wondering about it’s versatility and fm3 can’t be beat In that department imo. Funny you mention the price going up I looked randomly and it was 999$ I didn’t know it was ever more but I’m glad I got in when I did.You know, it's a great little piece of kit for sitting in front of your computer recording tracks into Logic, but my complaint is that it's not a fraction of the road-ready that the FAS gear is. MIDI is lacking, utilities and customization are lacking, deep editing is non-existent (which is fine for some) - basically, it's not ready to leave the nest just yet. i get that Rabea and the guys were thrilled with it by demoing it in their studios, but try integrating it into a fully automated rig for 4 hours worth of music in a bunch of different styles, tunings, etc., and you'll start to see its limitations.
Kind of a bummer to hear the price of the FM3 just jumped up $100, but it's whatevs. I'm still gonna buy as soon as we have confirmation that the Axe III's pitch block is coming and it's not going to use half the DSP lol!
IMO people make too big deal about Fractal's deep editing capabilities. There are some really great features but to me they are things like modifiers, ducking, multiple global EQs, channels etc. rather than being able to play amp or pedal designer.You know, it's a great little piece of kit for sitting in front of your computer recording tracks into Logic, but my complaint is that it's not a fraction of the road-ready that the FAS gear is. MIDI is lacking, utilities and customization are lacking, deep editing is non-existent (which is fine for some) - basically, it's not ready to leave the nest just yet. i get that Rabea and the guys were thrilled with it by demoing it in their studios, but try integrating it into a fully automated rig for 4 hours worth of music in a bunch of different styles, tunings, etc., and you'll start to see its limitations.
Kind of a bummer to hear the price of the FM3 just jumped up $100, but it's whatevs. I'm still gonna buy as soon as we have confirmation that the Axe III's pitch block is coming and it's not going to use half the DSP lol!
See, when I had my FM3 briefly, I felt that the way that the footswitches operate, I was fine getting around with just 3. And this was BEFORE I started to automate all my preset switching & scene switching (sometimes I need a different default scene when the preset loads, so MIDI takes care of that). These days, during a song I may hit only one or two switches - that's it. I even have it go to a blank preset when it's just a keyboard song with no guitar, so I don't even need to worry about muting it manually.The FM3 ... needs at least a good MIDI controller or FC unit to go with it.
IMO people make too big deal about Fractal's deep editing capabilities.
Yep. The minute it's announced, I'm buying. It's just too crucial in my Axe Fx III rig to live without in a cover band.
I love them as much as the next guy as they let me play amp designer but it's questionable if I am actually getting better tones than from something that doesn't have them.Dang... and I was just about to start a thread about how much I love the deep-editing
capabilities.
I especially love how useful they are in sculpting and shaping tones. Almost like the The devil
really may be in the deep-editing details after all.
For the record I am not asking to see a huge overhaul or anything but I would like to see small improvements in a lot of places. I've posted several threads on the wishlist forums as it is and others have very good suggestions too. I get that they have their hands full with 3.03 and Cygnus port but I hope they eventually get there for other stuff too, including the pitch block.I agree. It's doubtful we'll see a hardware UI improvement.
That's the thing, though; is you likely won't get a better SOUND out of it - I mean, you might - but the big deal to me with the deep editing is to get a better FEEL. I don't think adjusting the Variac has too big of an impact on tone, but it makes the feel just where I like it; that, combined with the input/output dynamics makes a world of difference. I suspect this is only possible because of how Cliff designs the thing; I don't think NDSP or Line 6 would even be able to implement some of the parameters that FAS can because they don't do component level modeling.I love them as much as the next guy as they let me play amp designer but it's questionable if I am actually getting better tones than from something that doesn't have them.
Yes; well, maybe not night and day, but maybe closer to night and 5 AM. It was dramatic enough for me that I could use it with the band with enough confidence that we started tuning to standard pitch and I could just drop it a half step in the Axe Fx III for the songs that need it. The original pitch block (currently on the FM3) was okay, but the new one is much better.Is the new pitch block so much improved? Like night and day? I haven’t compared them side by side.
This is the sound vs. usability debate, and I agree with you. Not that we don't appreciate Fractal's hard word in bringing Cygnus to the community, or all the other modeling improvements they make.For the record I am not asking to see a huge overhaul or anything but I would like to see small improvements in a lot of places. I've posted several threads on the wishlist forums as it is and others have very good suggestions too. I get that they have their hands full with 3.03 and Cygnus port but I hope they eventually get there for other stuff too, including the pitch block.
Historically after nearly 10 years of using them I've just found Fractal has been bad at improving the user experience within a devices lifetime and instead put out yet another modeling improvement for an already excellent sounding unit. Which is welcome of course but should not be the only thing that changes.
That's definitely a good point. Most of the time I like the feel of the amp just fine but might want to change its sound a bit to my tastes beyond what the authentic controls let you do. For that even a graphic or parametric EQ is often enough.That's the thing, though; is you likely won't get a better SOUND out of it - I mean, you might - but the big deal to me with the deep editing is to get a better FEEL. I don't think adjusting the Variac has too big of an impact on tone, but it makes the feel just where I like it; that, combined with the input/output dynamics makes a world of difference. I suspect this is only possible because of how Cliff designs the thing; I don't think NDSP or Line 6 would even be able to implement some of the parameters that FAS can because they don't do component level modeling.
I suspect this is a bit like the learning style issue in education.For FAS gear my complaint has always been its UI and overall user experience when using it from the hardware itself. Axe-Edit is great but I'm still skeptical if I will see any significant progress on the hardware UI front until Fractal releases an Axe-Fx 4.