AxeFX III - for home studio major upgrade from FM3

Luth2000

Luth2000

Inspired
Hi everyone - I've had an XL+, and then a FM3 for a decent number of years now, using the FM3 primarily for traveling with my job (so I can jam in hotel rooms), as well as recording in my home studio. I've been a studious member of this forum and appreciate all of you, especially the high-end users who share a lot of hours to support those of us with less fractal experience. I upgraded my MAC to an M2 Pro this past year, and of course reaped the benefit of better USB performance with the FM3, and the all around upgrades we all experience with a new computer.

Recently, Glenn posted another clarification on the FM3 board that suggested that the FM3 may possibly never get to the USB performance of the AxeFX3, and that the latency issues (albeit with go around techniques) would unlikely improve. That post was kind of a dawning of realization for me, for the amount of time I record easily trumps the away time, and with recent Reverb sales of a Mesa Lonestar and the XL+, I was in affordable budget territory to step up to the Axe3. 4 days later I'm enjoying the Mark 2 Turbo, and I'm here to report the difference is night/day to the FM3. Perhaps not in Guitar sound from presets as much, but the high-end fidelity feeding my Focal Speakers from the M2/AXE3 is far superior. I didn't change anything but the fractal units (same USB cable), and the detail, width, smoothness and power of music is quite impressive. I have to think that the USB speed and processing of the AXE3 is the major deal.

Of course the enjoyment of guitar playing is excellent as well - with what seems to be unlimited preset space and percentage limits that are quite low. I also like the more defined input A/D adjustment. I've just started using the III, and I know i'LL be uncovering a lot in the next months. I've upgraded as I'm contemplating retirement - good timing!

I'm fortunate to have made the change, but it has made me reflect a little on "what took me so long?". I'm mostly a home studio recording guy, I have 7 guitars, etc. When you compare how much we have invested in guitars, and realize we can get state of the art AXE 3 for 2700.00, it seems like the main engine for home studios should be one of the primary investments. Face it, the FM3 is an incredible value, and has served well! And I still have it to travel.

Thanks to all of you here in the community, and Fractal for a solid devotion to musicians and the technology that inspires them!
 
Luth2000 said:
Hi everyone - I've had an XL+, and then a FM3 for a decent number of years now, using the FM3 primarily for traveling with my job (so I can jam in hotel rooms), as well as recording in my home studio. I've been a studious member of this forum and appreciate all of you, especially the high-end users who share a lot of hours to support those of us with less fractal experience. I upgraded my MAC to an M2 Pro this past year, and of course reaped the benefit of better USB performance with the FM3, and the all around upgrades we all experience with a new computer.

Recently, Glenn posted another clarification on the FM3 board that suggested that the FM3 may possibly never get to the USB performance of the AxeFX3, and that the latency issues (albeit with go around techniques) would unlikely improve. That post was kind of a dawning of realization for me, for the amount of time I record easily trumps the away time, and with recent Reverb sales of a Mesa Lonestar and the XL+, I was in affordable budget territory to step up to the Axe3. 4 days later I'm enjoying the Mark 2 Turbo, and I'm here to report the difference is night/day to the FM3. Perhaps not in Guitar sound from presets as much, but the high-end fidelity feeding my Focal Speakers from the M2/AXE3 is far superior. I didn't change anything but the fractal units (same USB cable), and the detail, width, smoothness and power of music is quite impressive. I have to think that the USB speed and processing of the AXE3 is the major deal.

Of course the enjoyment of guitar playing is excellent as well - with what seems to be unlimited preset space and percentage limits that are quite low. I also like the more defined input A/D adjustment. I've just started using the III, and I know i'LL be uncovering a lot in the next months. I've upgraded as I'm contemplating retirement - good timing!

I'm fortunate to have made the change, but it has made me reflect a little on "what took me so long?". I'm mostly a home studio recording guy, I have 7 guitars, etc. When you compare how much we have invested in guitars, and realize we can get state of the art AXE 3 for 2700.00, it seems like the main engine for home studios should be one of the primary investments. Face it, the FM3 is an incredible value, and has served well! And I still have it to travel.

Thanks to all of you here in the community, and Fractal for a solid devotion to musicians and the technology that inspires them!
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I did a silly thing a few months ago and jumped into the Fractal Axefx3 mk2 turbo. I even take it in a bag to hotel rooms. Your post just makes me more happy I went whole hog! Enjoy that beast I’m still stuck playing with presets and cabs!
 
I have both the FM3 mk2 Turbo and the Axe-Fx III mk2 Turbo. The differences between them are a lot less obvious when you're using the S/PDIF output instead of the USB. I'm not a huge fan of USB audio in general; I think it's unstable, and it isn't adjustable re: assigning an alternate master word clock... but I was even less of a fan of trying to reconcile my workflow between the two units when attempting to utilize the USB for audio. Whether they are different types of USB interfaces or the USB interface on the FM3 has purposefully been truncated in order to give a value add to the Axe-Fx, I'm not sure. The FM3 doesn't send MIDI via the USB interface, disabling it from interacting properly with a DAW the way I need it to here and there. (I have no interest in going back to 5-pin DIN MIDI connections at this point. I graduated from those!) Also, the USB on the FM3 only has only four channels to it versus the Axe-Fx's eight, which means that setting it up for re-amping requires a slightly different workflow.

When I switched to using the S/PDIF I/O, the sonic differences become somewhat nebulous, but one of the advantages the Axe-Fx still has over the FM3 is simply that I'm able to switch the master clock over to my Apogee Symphony (which has an objectively better clock) while using the Axe-Fx because it has both S/PDIF in and out, as opposed to the FM3 just having S/PDIF out. The rest of the advantages on my end are less sonic and more pragmatic. The significantly higher processing power of the Axe-Fx becomes very obvious when building rig scenes. What clocks in at 70% on the FM3 comes in at like 40-45% on the Axe. Another thing I noticed more-so than, say, the ability to deploy two amp blocks on the Axe is the sheer number of blocks/effects/functional knobs that simply don't exist on the FM3. I find the selection and options for I/O on the Axe to be significantly more flexible for studio use than the FM3.

But would I want to gig with the Axe-Fx in a rack and schlep that thing to shows/rehearsals? Nope. FM3 shines in ease of use and portability. Grab the unit, a speaker, and a bag, and you're off. Overall, I'm glad I have both, despite my never having planned on having either of them not too long ago.
 
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jeffgoobs said:
I have both the FM3 mk2 Turbo and the Axe-Fx III mk2 Turbo. The differences between them are a lot less obvious when you're using the S/PDIF output instead of the USB. I'm not a huge fan of USB audio in general; I think it's unstable, and it isn't adjustable re: assigning an alternate master word clock... but I was even less of a fan of trying to reconcile my workflow between the two units when attempting to utilize the USB for audio. Whether they are different types of USB interfaces or the USB interface on the FM3 has purposefully been truncated in order to give a value add to the Axe-Fx, I'm not sure. The FM3 doesn't send MIDI via the USB interface, disabling it from interacting properly with a DAW the way I need it to here and there. (I have no interest in going back to 5-pin DIN MIDI connections at this point. I graduated from those!) Also, the USB on the FM3 only has only four channels to it versus the Axe-Fx's eight, which means that setting it up for re-amping requires a slightly different workflow.
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Just so nobody gets the wrong idea:

USB audio is not a clocked protocol. That means it has no word clock and therefore it cannot be unstable and there is no clock to assign or adjust. The quality of the USB audio is the same as the SPDIF audio. Neither the FM3 nor the Axe-FX III send MIDI via USB (with the exception of sysex to the editor app). The Axe-FX has more USB channels, but that doesn't make any difference to the reamping process. The FM3 USB issue Luth2000 is referring to is the latency compensation.
 
Luth2000 said:
Perhaps not in Guitar sound from presets as much, but the high-end fidelity feeding my Focal Speakers from the M2/AXE3 is far superior. I didn't change anything but the fractal units (same USB cable), and the detail, width, smoothness and power of music is quite impressive.
Click to expand...
The difference in the III is real, both from the II and the FMx. No doubt about it. But it's not related to usb.
 
GlennO said:
Just so nobody gets the wrong idea:

USB audio is not a clocked protocol. That means it has no word clock and therefore it cannot be unstable and there is no clock to assign or adjust. The quality of the USB audio is the same as the SPDIF audio. Neither the FM3 nor the Axe-FX III send MIDI via USB (with the exception of sysex to the editor app). The Axe-FX has more USB channels, but that doesn't make any difference to the reamping process. The FM3 USB issue Luth2000 is referring to is the latency compensation.
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Not sure if you're correcting me or just adding an addendum, but I wasn't claiming that USB was a clocked protocol; I was saying that it is not, which was my point. And when I say that it is unstable, I mean that not only is the physical connection of the USB-B connector insecure and comes loose easily, but if it then becomes disconnected, a full reboot is often necessary in order to have the machine continue to work properly with the interface. Referring to said volatility as "instability" is not inappropriate in my opinion, especially if one utilizes/creates aggregate devices. And in fairness, when the default channels for reamping on the Axe-Fx are 5 and 6, and the FM3 doesn't have channels 5 and 6, that's a difference in workflow, which is all I said. You can't just keep the settings the same and swap units. And if there's no difference between how the two units handle MIDI and USB, what is this chart referring to?

Screenshot 2024-06-13 at 3.57.34 AM.png
 
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jeffgoobs said:
FM3 shines in ease of use and portability. Grab the unit, a speaker, and a bag, and you're off. Overall, I'm glad I have both, despite my never having planned on having either of them not too long ago.
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Dickie Fredericks said:
My FM3/FC6 is for bedroom use.
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Shortly after buying my FM9 I sold my FM3 since I figured having an Axe III, FM9, and FM3 was redundant, but over time I've missed the FM3.

Now that I have a FR-12, using a FM3 with it would make a very portable grab-and-go like Jeff mentioned.

In an ideal world I'd have the III in my office for cutting demos, the FM9 in my rehearsal studio, and as Dickie mentioned, the FM3 in the bedroom for practicing or impromptu jams with friends.

I still struggle with justifying it but I keep thinking I'd really like to get another FM3. When that happens with a piece of gear I usually end up with it, even if it takes a year or two before I actually bite the bullet and pick it up.

I see another FM3 in my future so I asked The Magic 8 Ball and it said...

8+ball+-+yes+definitely.jpg
 
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