FC-12 is the bomb!

dr bonkers

Fractal Fanatic
Vendor
I finally pulled the trigger on an FC-12 because I became tired of using my Helix Floor to control the Axe-FX III (so I sold it off).

I always subscribe to getting a bigger foot controller rather than a smaller one, because in the immortal words of David Lee Roth when evaluating the value of things, he look at options as there only being "big, bigger, and best!"

After having a mixed bag of experiences with the MFC-101, MFC-Edit, anfd the Axe-FX II, I was thinking I was going to be in sysex programming hell with the new unit.

I have to say, my fears were unwarranted. Within 5 minutes of reading the 3 sheets of paper that came with it, I was up and running with my EV-1 expression pedal calibrated too.

For my uses, it was one of the easier foot pedal implementations that I ever experienced.

After an hour and a half, I settled on the Mode 2 configuration to switch scenes and presets as needed.

Gapless scene switching with no pops was finally on tap. Happy, happy, joy joy!

The displays and LEDs are nice and bright, even in low light conditions.

I can't recommend it enough.

If I could ask for two improvements, they would be:
  1. Allow the displays to scroll to display longer preset name and button labels if needed.
  2. Allow a double tap function so that I can condense 8 scenes into 4 buttons with labels (e.g. button 1 single tap = Scene 1, double tap = scene 2), as that would allow me to use the upper row of switches for for switching on and off the FX loop, FX channel, or select FX on/off without needing to sacrifice a scene to do that.
I want to really commend Cliff, Michael, Matt, and the rest of the Fractal team for really great controller and UI implementation.

If you are on the fence about getting one, then all I have to say is just do it! You won't be disappointed.
 
2) Allow a double tap function so that I can condense 8 scenes into 4 buttons with labels (e.g. button 1 single tap = Scene 1, double tap = scene 2), as that would allow me to use the upper row of switches for for switching on and off the FX loop, FX channel, or select FX on/off without needing to sacrifice a scene to do that

I have a Switch "Hold" set to "Reveal". With this set this way, you can see hidden scenes, control switches, etc...this would allow you to hit and hold a switch so that you can use 4 switches for your 8 scenes.
 
I have a Switch "Hold" set to "Reveal". With this set this way, you can see hidden scenes, control switches, etc...this would allow you to hit and hold a switch so that you can use 4 switches for your 8 scenes.
That's a neat trick that would solve that issue! I have to try that.

Thanks for this.
 
I have a Switch "Hold" set to "Reveal". With this set this way, you can see hidden scenes, control switches, etc...this would allow you to hit and hold a switch so that you can use 4 switches for your 8 scenes.
Hold is a drag between the verse and chorus.

Double tap slows down single taps, since it'd have to wait to see if it's a double.

I'm concluding that I need to add an FC6 to get me to 8 scenes plus fx stomps. Or another 12. Either of which is huge and expensive.

So I live with 8 scenes, possibly switching to 4 plus stomps maybe.
 
Here's my current floor board setup. I just need to tidy up the wires and sell off the MXR Bass Octave deluxe to get an EHX Ram's Head reissue for that spot.
20200624_183432[1].jpg
 
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Hold is a drag between the verse and chorus.

Double tap slows down single taps, since it'd have to wait to see if it's a double.

I'm concluding that I need to add an FC6 to get me to 8 scenes plus fx stomps. Or another 12. Either of which is huge and expensive.

So I live with 8 scenes, possibly switching to 4 plus stomps maybe.
I had the double tap thing set up on my Johnson Millennium back in the day and it worked really well once you get used to the timing of single versus double tapping.
 
I had the double tap thing set up on my Johnson Millennium back in the day and it worked really well once you get used to the timing of single versus double tapping.
I think it could be much like the hold... If you're switch doesn't have a double-tap function assigned, it's response would be the same. No extra "trigger" time added.
 
If I could ask for two improvements, they would be:
  1. Allow the displays to scroll to display longer preset name and button labels if needed.
  2. Allow a double tap function so that I can condense 8 scenes into 4 buttons with labels (e.g. button 1 single tap = Scene 1, double tap = scene 2), as that would allow me to use the upper row of switches for for switching on and off the FX loop, FX channel, or select FX on/off without needing to sacrifice a scene to do that.
Good idea on the scrolling of long names.

For the scenes, I condensed 8 scenes into 4 buttons by using the Layout Links function to switch to the other View of the same layout, but I have a pair of 6es rather than a single 12 because I wanted the pedals in the middle.
20200622_185139.jpg


On the 12, you can set up a pair of Scenes layouts with 4 buttons each, and use Layout Links to switch between them. On the port FC6, I set up 1-4 with 5-8 on the hold, and on 5-8 I added the Layout Link to switch to the other View (in your case, Layout), and on that layout, I set up 5-8 with 1-4 on the hold, and the Layout Link jumps you back to the other View (in your case, Layout).
 
Here's the final setup in all its gear slutz glory. This does everything that I need it to do.

Signal chain is:

Guitar/bass into Rams Head Big Muff into Axe-Fx III instrument input.

Output 3 into Cry Baby 535 wah into EHX Black Finger (lamp/squish setting) back to input 3 of Axe-Fx III.

The opto is there to squish my bass when needed and the wah when it gets a little too raucous depending upon the Fractal preset mayhem going on before the wah.

This setup allows me to:
1. Allows the Rams Head to see my pickup impedance directly and it bypasses out of the chain quite transparently.
2. Allows me to put the wah/compressor anywhere in a Fractal signal chain and bypass it when not needed.
 

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