Doubts before acquiring an fm9. Help

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Faylep

New Member
Hello! I come in search of guidance, please. I am about to acquire an Fm9, I find the subject of modeling and working in my presets fun, but it scares me that the sounds I get are not dynamic, there is no clear separation of the notes, that there is no clear picking and that sounds dark or muddy.
I say it because I saw this review and I found the difference in sound strange, between the fm3 and the boss gt1000.





Last but not least, I have a pedalboard with enough (Timeline, BigSky, H9Max, POG2, Simplifier, Clone Keeley4knob, Clone MorningGlory / Ts9, Whammy, TC Quintessence Harmony), so I would like to know based on your experiences if it is possible to emulate all this in the Fm9 (Particularly the timeline, bigsky, POG2 and H9).I got tired of the cables, the noise and the sucktone.

I'm looking for typical sounds of alternative and jrock / math rock / Shoegaze

Examples. Basically clean with little gain, very metallic and percussive. And in some cases more classic overdrives and distortions. I apologize for so many questions.

I appreciate your responses!






 

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I would recommend the Fractal FM9. There are so many different parameters that can effect how an amp sounds and feels within the Fractal units. The difference you’re hearing can easily be adjusted with your own gear once you have the unit. I’ve also spent the last 5 years recording and gigging with a Helix. It’s a greet piece of gear, but the FM9 has more depth, and pro level features.

As to outboard effects, I had a huge board with a strymon timeline, mobius, and an H9max. Plus some drives, a boost, tuner, wah, etc. with a gigrig G2 switching it all with loops and midi, into a tube head. I had over $300 invested in cabling alone. I parted it all out and sold it all off. The FM9 does everything I need with no cabling hassles and MUCH less weight. YMMV, but for me it was a very liberating experience. I no longer want the latest pedal or amp and I’m very satisfied with my tone. Factor in the convenience of being able to take the same exact tones from the studio to stage to rehearsal space, and it’s a no brainer imo. To me, this was the promise of modeling since the beginning, and it’s gotten closer and closer to the ‘real’ thing for years now. It’s so close now as to be basically imperceivable in many cases. In my experience, it’s better than ‘real’ because real stuff is a hassle. It’s heavy, costly, and a pain in the butt to load in, setup/tear down at shows etc. Don’t get me wrong, amps and pedals are still cool, I just don’t feel the need to buy them or use them anymore lol. Good luck in your decision.
 
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I didn't watch your videos since the FM9 is my 3rd floor unit from FAS but its just imo the best unit ever, clarity is defiantly not a problem w/FM9 as indicated by @JasonE just keep your input gains at low levels and you'll get great articulation and clarity even when when saturating the drive. You'll just want to make sure you have a decent frfr, monitors or pa.
 
You can get clear sounds with prominent transients out of a Fractal, or Kemper, or Helix, or real amp and you can get rid of them. It's largely about how you play, and then how you compress, whether it is inherent in the amp/modeler, or added in the guitar signal or 'post'. You can set up that compression to accentuate the transients, or completely eliminate them. The Keely you listed will do that, as will the Fractal plug in. Almost all of the videos of Fractals demos I have seen focus on mid to high gain and a very smooth compressed sound, but that isn't the only thing you can do with it.

The pedals you listed can be closely matched, although maybe not exact, with something in the Fractal in my experience (the Timeline and BigSky are essentially reverb and delay modelers in a pedal form, which just imitate other reverbs and delays). The Klon and Tube Screamer style is in there. I think the octave/pitch shifter is one of the best parts of the Fractal, much better than a POG IMO. And, if you really like one or more of those pedals, you can always use those with the modeler too. Another tip unrelated to the Fractal - if all of the pedals you are using are true bypass and you are getting tone suck, get a buffer.
 
Thank you very much everyone for your advice and messages based on your experiences.
I bought the last unit that the dealer had so maybe next week I will have my fm9 in my hands!
 
Faylep said:
Thank you very much everyone for your advice and messages based on your experiences.
I bought the last unit that the dealer had so maybe next week I will have my fm9 in my hands!
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Congrats, my guess after some time w/ you think its the best guitar fx processor you have ever owned... just a suspicion.. ;)
 
JasonE said:
The best advice I could give is, don't get carried away with the gain. That will kill your note definition and make things sound muddy real fast.
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I have to disagree with this, I use huge amounts of gain and even dual amp high gain presets for all ranges of metal with absolutely no issues of clarity or poor dynamics with either the FM3 or FM9.

They’re fantastic units that I’ve never been left unable to get the sound I wanted from.
 
Faylep said:
Thank you very much everyone for your advice and messages based on your experiences.
I bought the last unit that the dealer had so maybe next week I will have my fm9 in my hands!
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your FM9 purchase. I will also suggest that you view Leon Todd's YouTube videos for guidance in creating presets and utilizing the FM9's extensive capabilities.

The video that helped me the most was "Scenes & Channels - FM3 Basics." This video, although targeting the FM3, attempts to navigate the FM3's capabilities, just like the FM9.





What you learn here can be translated to the FM9, so have no fear. It is the "seed" of what you'll need to help grow and expand your knowledge base.

Regards clarity or tone and sound, like all modeling units, the key to creating the tones you seek are all a matter of using your ears, not your eyes.

What I found particularly helpful was placing a looper block before my drive and amp blocks, and recording a riff, then using the FM9-Edit to adjust my drive and amp and other block settings to taste. Doing this helped solve much of trying to use my guitar and listening to myself play while dialing my tone in. Automating the process with the looper block helps you work smarter, not harder. Leon has a video showcasing this as well, "Use the Looper to Dial In Tones."


 
Faylep said:
Thank you very much everyone for your advice and messages based on your experiences.
I bought the last unit that the dealer had so maybe next week I will have my fm9 in my hands!
Click to expand...

Congratulations! what do you mean by dealer? I thought you could only get them direct from Fractal.
 
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