Best way of connecting?

T

Tanax

Inspired
Hi!

I'm curious, what would be the best way of connecting the FM3 for either playing, recording or re-amping?
I only have room for 1 set of monitors so my plan is to use an audio interface.

So for playing, do you suggest connecting either Out1 XLR to the audio interface or SPDIF to audio interface?
And if Out1, do you suggest connecting both cables or is 1 cable also OK? Also if Out1; any advantages/disadvantages of going into the audio interface on mic/instrument input versus line input?

For recording, would you suggest recording over USB straight into DAW or do you suggest going through the audio interface the same way when playing? I guess the advantage of going through the audio interface is that you can direct monitor and hear yourself while recording instead of having to take the roundtrip through the DAW -> USB -> audio interface -> monitors which could introduce latency? But maybe FM3 -> USB -> Computer has some other advantages?

Lastly for re-amping, I'm planning on just going Line Out from audio interface to the Input2 on the FM3, same question here, do you need to use 2 cables here or is 1 cable the same?

Thanks!
 
Any of these situations will work - I personally use SPDIF as it means I can run stereo with one cable and it leaves the mic pre's on my Apollo Twin free for my vocal mic and other inputs. However I find re-amping significantly easier by using the FM3 USB connection. It's also very easy to cut a DI and wet track via USB.
 
I second what Leon said. I do the same thing.
SPDIF into my Focusrite interface for the most part. But if I want to record DI tracks and reamp I use the USB connection straight into my laptop and DAW.
 
Tanax said:
Hi!

I'm curious, what would be the best way of connecting the FM3 for either playing, recording or re-amping?
I only have room for 1 set of monitors so my plan is to use an audio interface.
Click to expand...

There's no one best answer, you can do the connection any number of ways. Personally, I always use USB direct to the computer because of the simplicity of having no other devices between it and the computer, and you can use the FM3 as your audio interface. If you can, you should try to avoid analog out since that will require digital-analog-digital conversions. SPDIF through an audio interface avoids analog conversions, but it does inevitably add some latency due to buffering to assemble the protocol blocks.
 
2112 said:
Any of these situations will work - I personally use SPDIF as it means I can run stereo with one cable and it leaves the mic pre's on my Apollo Twin free for my vocal mic and other inputs. However I find re-amping significantly easier by using the FM3 USB connection. It's also very easy to cut a DI and wet track via USB.
Click to expand...
bishop5150 said:
I second what Leon said. I do the same thing.
SPDIF into my Focusrite interface for the most part. But if I want to record DI tracks and reamp I use the USB connection straight into my laptop and DAW.
Click to expand...
GlennO said:
There's no one best answer, you can do the connection any number of ways. Personally, I always use USB direct to the computer because of the simplicity of having no other devices between it and the computer, and you can use the FM3 as your audio interface. If you can, you should try to avoid analog out since that will require digital-analog-digital conversions. SPDIF through an audio interface avoids analog conversions, but it does inevitably add some latency due to buffering to assemble the protocol blocks.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all your replies! Seems like I'll go with SPDIF in that case!

I'm kinda new at this (and I still don't have my FM3) but can I in my DAW, have 1 track recording from my audio interface (this will be my wet guitar signal from the FM3 via SPDIF), and then another track at the same time recording directly from the FM3 via USB (this will be my DI guitar signal) for possible re-amping later?

Or will I have to choose one or the other?
 
It's possible to do that. But, that's unnecessarily complicated. If you're recording from USB, you might as well simply record both the DI and the wet directly from USB.
 
you can use the FM3 USB for wet and dry tracks. you can also do it with your external interface. using the FM3 interface, you'd connect your speakers to the FM3, as you would with any other interface. if you don't want to move the speakers, then you should use the interface you have. i personally haven't experienced any issues with analog connection to an interface, you just have to gain stage properly like any other device.

you can use Out 1 for the wet track and Out 2 for the Dry track, setting Out 2 to copy Input 1. it's possible you can use SPDIF for one of those, but you're still recording analog for one of them most likely. that's why the USB interface is available.

2 cables from Out 1 is stereo. do you want stereo? if not, use 1 cable.

questions of "best way" are always hard to answer. "best" depends on the situation and experience. in my opinion, analog, spdif, and usb are all "best."
 
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Thank you all! I'm understanding more and more :)
I am curious though, and with the risk of sounding stupid, but if I either record or re-amp via USB, will the FM3 still output to Out1/SPDIF at the same time?

If so, I'm thinking USB is probably the easiest way to both record and re-amp, while at the same time using the Out1 (or SPDIF) -> Audio Interface -> Monitors for direct monitoring with minimum latency.
 
Yes, that's a common way to set things up. Depending on what else is connected to your audio interface, that might make sense. But, the audio interface isn't really doing anything in your setup. You might as well just connect your monitors directly to your FM3 output 1 and run your computer audio through the FM3.
 
GlennO said:
Yes, that's a common way to set things up. Depending on what else is connected to your audio interface, that might make sense. But, the audio interface isn't really doing anything in your setup. You might as well just connect your monitors directly to your FM3 output 1 and run your computer audio through the FM3.
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That's true, but then I would have to disconnect my monitors from my audio interface and connect them to the FM3 every time I want to play guitar. Or leave them plugged in the FM3 but have to turn on the FM3 every time I watch YouTube or listen to music. Remember that this is my gaming computer, recreational computer and work computer :)

I live small so I don't have room for a dedicated studio computer ... yet ;)

Glad to hear it would work to set it up that way!
One thing I didn't find in the owners manual was if I set the audio interface as my output source on my computer (Mac), will I still be able to in my DAW set it to record from USB (from FM3)? Or does it require me to set the FM3 as my output source on the computer itself?
 
Yes, you can set the outputs for your system and your DAW independently. That's also a common way to work. Another option is to connect your monitors to both your audio interface and your FM3, so you don't have to turn on your FM3 to listen to computer audio, but avoid the extra processing and cabling between the FM3 and the audio interface. As you're learning, there a lot of ways to do this, and they all work :).
 
GlennO said:
Yes, you can set the outputs for your system and your DAW independently. That's also a common way to work. Another option is to connect your monitors to both your audio interface and your FM3, so you don't have to turn on your FM3 to listen to computer audio, but avoid the extra processing and cabling between the FM3 and the audio interface. As you're learning, there a lot of ways to do this, and they all work :).
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'm a novice bedroom player that's been out of the game for 5 years so all this information was super helpful! :)
 
I've got a convoluted two-part question related to all this, if anyone wants to bear with me...

First, i'm running the FM3 in 4CM via my Victory VX100/Captor X. That being the case, I've been running analog from the Captor into the Apollo Twin as I assume this is the only option for my particular setup. Correct, or is there a way to run 4CM while still utilizing the SPDIF out?

Second and more related question - I currently run all my sessions at 96k by default. If I were to run just the FM3 by itself, the SPDIF outputs at 48k. Am I likely to get an appreciable improvement in audio by tracking at a lower rate but skipping D/A/D conversion?
 
Unless you have a digital amp, I don't see how SPDIF is an option in a 4CM rig. But maybe I misunderstand your question?

The fidelity by staying digital would be better. Only you can say if it's appreciable :). I'm not sure what you mean by "itself, the SPDIF". If you run the FM3 by itself, you'd probably be using USB, not SPDIF. You could run your project at either 48 or 96 in that case, but 48 would be better.
 
GlennO said:
Unless you have a digital amp, I don't see how SPDIF is an option in a 4CM rig. But maybe I misunderstand your question?

The fidelity by staying digital would be better. Only you can say if it's appreciable :). I'm not sure what you mean by "itself, the SPDIF". If you run the FM3 by itself, you'd probably be using USB, not SPDIF. You could run your project at either 48 or 96 in that case, but 48 would be better.
Click to expand...

You understood it correctly and I concur, just figured I'd throw it out there in case anyone had an unorthodox idea about an alternative setup.

As for "by itself," I just meant skipping 4CM and using the FM3 alone but still running through the Apollo since I've already got my monitors set up as such, and I also take the FM3 from studio to rehearsal on occasion as well as track vocals, so prefer keeping the Apollo as the primary interface.
 
OK, this is probably an easy fix but I'm not seeing it right now. Below is how I have it configured but getting no reamp sound. Using Focusrite 8i6 (thinking it is here in the config, not sure). Using SPDIF and USB.

Logic Pro X

For DI

1. Audio 1 - IN 3-4 / OUT 3-4 getting no sound. If I set OUT to Stereo Out there is sound. But it should be 3-4 correct?

For Capturing ReAmp

2. Audio 2 - IN 1-2 / OUT Stereo Out
 
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