Anyone use the FM9 for an audio interface yet?

JasonE

JasonE

Inspired
I am just curious if anyone has hooked the FM9 up to their computer yet and used it for an interface to your DAW. I happened to see a video of someone that had their Axe III set up this way. I had not thought about doing that for some reason. That almost made me go order the Axe III MKII. Then I remembered that the FM9 had the same specs for USB audio that the Axe III has. I like the idea of this because it is more portable than the Axe III.
 
Thought to ask about connecting your FM9 to your computer via USB so you can hear the FM9 through your computer along with iTunes Music, which plays through an audio interface and studio monitors. How might one set up their audio (both FM9 & iMac)? Has anyone set about doing this yet? (With a nod to Tim Pierce's thread)
 
bleujazz3 said:
Thought to ask about connecting your FM9 to your computer via USB so you can hear the FM9 through your computer along with iTunes Music, which plays through an audio interface and studio monitors. How might one set up their audio (both FM9 & iMac)? Has anyone set about doing this yet? (With a nod to Tim Pierce's thread)
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I will definitely be hooking mine up that way when I get it. I am seeing that I may be able to eliminate a couple of other units that I have. That was the thought going through my head yesterday when I was thinking that maybe the Axe III would be a better unit for me. I like the idea of doing this with the FM9 more though. Then it is a multiple use portable unit. I like gear that can be used in more than one way.
 
bleujazz3 said:
Thought to ask about connecting your FM9 to your computer via USB so you can hear the FM9 through your computer along with iTunes Music, which plays through an audio interface and studio monitors. How might one set up their audio (both FM9 & iMac)? Has anyone set about doing this yet? (With a nod to Tim Pierce's thread)
Click to expand...
Suuuuper easy. Here’s what I do—simple and works well.

1. Connect FM9 to computer via USB
2. Connect studio monitors to FM9 output of your choice (1 is simplest)
3. Ensure FM9 is selected as audio device in computer’s audio settings
4. Play music from iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc. (will hear it from monitors) and adjust volume from computer
5. Play guitar and adjust level from the grid to balance with music app volume
6. Use output knob and monitors’ onboard controls to control overall volume
 
Deadpool_25 said:
Suuuuper easy. Here’s what I do—simple and works well.

1. Connect FM9 to computer via USB
2. Connect studio monitors to FM9 output of your choice (1 is simplest)
3. Ensure FM9 is selected as audio device in computer’s audio settings
4. Play music from iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc. (will hear it from monitors) and adjust volume from computer
5. Play guitar and adjust level from the grid to balance with music app volume
6. Use output knob and monitors’ onboard controls to control overall volume
Click to expand...
This is how I plan on setting it all up. Would it work for when I want to start recording into a DAW, or would I have latency issues between what I'm hearing (DAW backing tracks) and what I'm recording (guitar through FM9)?
 
HockeyWhippet said:
This is how I plan on setting it all up. Would it work for when I want to start recording into a DAW, or would I have latency issues between what I'm hearing (DAW backing tracks) and what I'm recording (guitar through FM9)?
Click to expand...

With everything running through the FM9, I would think that there wouldn't be any latency issues. If there are you can possibly adjust some buffer settings to fix them. That will depend on the DAW you use.
 
Deadpool_25 said:
Suuuuper easy. Here’s what I do—simple and works well.

1. Connect FM9 to computer via USB
2. Connect studio monitors to FM9 output of your choice (1 is simplest)
3. Ensure FM9 is selected as audio device in computer’s audio settings
4. Play music from iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc. (will hear it from monitors) and adjust volume from computer
5. Play guitar and adjust level from the grid to balance with music app volume
6. Use output knob and monitors’ onboard controls to control overall volume
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. If it were possible to use both an audio interface (Focusrite Clarett USB) and the FM9, how might one connect? (I might prefer to hang onto the Clarett for use when the FM9 is disconnected from the iMac...)
 
bleujazz3 said:
Thanks for this. If it were possible to use both an audio interface (Focusrite Clarett USB) and the FM9, how might one connect? (I might prefer to hang onto the Clarett for use when the FM9 is disconnected from the iMac...)
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You can use an aggregate device on the mac to combine the audio interface and the Fractal device into one logical device to use in your DAW, and use the audio interface for system audio. Or you can run the audio to your monitors from the Fractal device via the audio interface. Or you can use a small inexpensive mixer to share your monitors between the Fractal device and an audio interface. Or you can use a small inexpensive mixer to share your monitors between the Fractal device and your computer's headphone output (do you even need an audio interface?).

There really should be an FAQ for this.
 
I think it might be possible to connect my audio interface directly to my powered USB hub which connects to the iMac. (Currently directly connected via USB C.

My FM9 would also connect to the hub. Neither the FM9 not my audio interface would connect directly to each other. I'd need to ask how the FM9 could connect as an aggregate device to Logic. (IIRC, it's located in audio/midi in Utilities).

Lastly, if the FM9 could also be heard through my studio monitors via USB hub, that would be a good thing...(might check with Apple Support regards setting up an external audio device)

EDIT:

"Combine audio devices into a single aggregate device in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac​

You can combine several audio devices into a single device, called an aggregate device. For example, you can combine an eight-channel audio device and a two-channel audio device to work as a single ten-channel audio device.

Aggregating devices lets you increase the number of discrete audio inputs and outputs without having to purchase multichannel audio equipment. You can use an aggregate device for sound input or output, or for alerts and sound effects.

Combined audio devices making up an aggregate device.

  1. In the Audio MIDI Setup app
    63bf47fd32c7a2193b961b3799740400.png
    on your Mac, click the Add button
    a2ef32e34a5573d192b10d340a4f46b1.png
    at the bottom of the sidebar in the Audio Devices window, then choose Create Aggregate Device.
    By default, the aggregate device is shown in a horizontal layout. To view it vertically, click the Set vertical layout button
    6266f7c426236c894970ad0b2b95aae3.png
    toward the upper-right corner of the window. To use the default layout again, click the Set horizontal layout button
    4d59873f95ffe32dee324a0caf218ee6.png
    .
  2. To rename the aggregate device, click it in the sidebar, then enter a new name.
  3. In the right side of the window, do the following:
    • Select the devices to use: For each device you want to include in the aggregate device, select the Use checkbox.
    • Change settings for each device: Check that each device is set to the same sample rate, to ensure the aggregate device works correctly. You can also enable drift correction for each device. See 'Set aggregate device settings.'
If the Clock Source pop-up menu is available, you can use the clock of one device as the master clock for all the combined devices.

To remove an aggregate device, select it in the sidebar of the Audio Devices window, then click the Remove button
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."

(Source: Apple Support)

The above leads me to the question: What sample rate must be selected for the FM9, audio interface and Logic if they are to work together correctly? (My intuition says 48 kHz.)
 
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Hey all I wanted to pop in on this conversation since I am thinking of getting a FM9. It would be the center of my Studio and Live rigs. So in the studio it would be replacing my Focusrite 18i8 with it. Most of what I record is instrument in, and vocals since drums are recorded either midi or elsewhere. I have an older Roland Digital mixer I could use to phantom power a condenser and run a 1/4 to the FM9. I think this could be kind cool too if you could utilize a NULL IR and utilize the preamp section in the cab block to sweeten the vox on the way in.

One thing that would concern me about this is that it would mean I'd be turning it on/off a couple of times a day and using it for hours at a time, how would the unit hold up? I've had my Axe Fx II for 10 years, I'd like the FM9 to last me just as long.
 
stm113 said:
Hey all I wanted to pop in on this conversation since I am thinking of getting a FM9. It would be the center of my Studio and Live rigs. So in the studio it would be replacing my Focusrite 18i8 with it. Most of what I record is instrument in, and vocals since drums are recorded either midi or elsewhere. I have an older Roland Digital mixer I could use to phantom power a condenser and run a 1/4 to the FM9. I think this could be kind cool too if you could utilize a NULL IR and utilize the preamp section in the cab block to sweeten the vox on the way in.

One thing that would concern me about this is that it would mean I'd be turning it on/off a couple of times a day and using it for hours at a time, how would the unit hold up? I've had my Axe Fx II for 10 years, I'd like the FM9 to last me just as long.
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No worries.
 
orion32773 said:
yes I have used it. Not a lot but have been testing it out. Works fine for me. I don't seem to have the issues I had early on with the FM3 and recording drift. I am using logic pro.
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As I’m going to record a few things this week, I am wondering this. Have you used it as an interface and then used the amps in logic instead of the Fractal presets? Thanks
 
Fredlos120 said:
As I’m going to record a few things this week, I am wondering this. Have you used it as an interface and then used the amps in logic instead of the Fractal presets? Thanks
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No. Just the fractal. With fractal modeling, I don't think I would see a benefit to using the amps and FX in logic, since I can easily re-amp using the FM9 and then change all the amps and FX in the FM9 to get what I want on the tracks.
 
Doogz said:
Is anyone using an FM9 (or FM3, or Axe FX) as the audio device for Pro Tools?
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I have used my FM3 with Pro Tools quite a bit. I haven't used the FM9 with it yet, but I expect the performance will be similar. It's got some latency, but I find it to be great for mixing with a larger buffer size, and good for recording with a smaller buffer if you don't have a bunch of tracks and/or plugins running. The fixed 48kHz sampling frequency has been a problem with some sessions, so I use a different interface that supports multiple sampling frequencies for those projects.
 
stm113 said:
Hey all I wanted to pop in on this conversation since I am thinking of getting a FM9. It would be the center of my Studio and Live rigs. So in the studio it would be replacing my Focusrite 18i8 with it. Most of what I record is instrument in, and vocals since drums are recorded either midi or elsewhere. I have an older Roland Digital mixer I could use to phantom power a condenser and run a 1/4 to the FM9. I think this could be kind cool too if you could utilize a NULL IR and utilize the preamp section in the cab block to sweeten the vox on the way in.

One thing that would concern me about this is that it would mean I'd be turning it on/off a couple of times a day and using it for hours at a time, how would the unit hold up? I've had my Axe Fx II for 10 years, I'd like the FM9 to last me just as long.
Click to expand...
I have an Axe-Fx II and III, an FM3 and and FM9, and they have all been great. The rack units have ribbon cables that can come loose, but it's an easy fix with some hot glue. I always bring an HX Stomp to gigs as a backup rig, but I've never had to use it. I think these units are well built, and will last a very long time.
 
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