Fc12 with Fm9?

J

JPS225

Inspired
Anyone use an fc12 to control their fm9? Just thinking about keeping the fm9 at the back, out of harms way.
 
Look at the awesome stuff that @ZenRigs Man has available to protect your FM9. Check out https://zenrigs.com/fm9-shop to see what he has available. In general, I think the most vulnerable part of any pedalboard is the jacks. They're often PC-board mounted, so if you have something plugged into them, and some big ol' boot comes down on the plug, it's possible that strain will be translated to the PC board itself.
I use a RJM Mastermind GT16 as my controller for my AxeFX III. While that means my $2500 AxeFX III is safely at the back of the stage (yay!), my $1500 controller is out front (not yay!) in the area inhabited by dangerous filthy animals such as musicians. My MMGT16 is mounted on a pedalboard, and all of the connections are routed to jacks on the side; this also provides a "sacrificial" connection point so if those plugs are ever damaged (or stepped on), I just replace them without any worries to the actual connections on the MMGT16. I try to use the stage monitor as a defensive bulwark but it's a dangerous world out there in gigland, and I recommend battle-hardening your rig as much as reasonably possible.
Fortunately, Fractal gear is incredibly tough and reliable. I have toured with my FM3, AxeFX III, and other FAS gear, and it's been bulletproof. I'd consider putting ZenRigs screen guards on your FM9, and if possible, mounting it on a board so that you can wire the connection points to a more easily-protected patch panel on the side. Do this for the XLR connections too... put all of the wear and tear on easily-replaceable jacks that are not on the unit itself. This way you can protect all of the back-of-FM9 connections from danger.

Only slightly related, but useful information comes from an interaction I had with of my favorite hair metal guitarists when I tech'd for him in the 90's...
Me: "Your guitars with the reverse pointy headstocks are a big drag to keep in tune because of the string break angle from the nut to the tuner"
Metal Dude: "I know. But they're great for crowd control"
 
JPS225 said:
Anyone use an fc12 to control their fm9? Just thinking about keeping the fm9 at the back, out of harms way.
Click to expand...
The built-in FM9 layouts can be modified using the FC Edit layout manager or you can import the OMG12 layouts for the FC-12 and go from there. Either way, you'll probably have to do some tweaking to taste, but it's not too hard.

The FC-12 & FC-6 Owner’s Manual and the Footswitch Functions Guide are very helpful for the finer details.
 
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Sleestak said:
I'd consider putting ZenRigs screen guards on your FM9, and if possible, mounting it on a board so that you can wire the connection points to a more easily-protected patch panel on the side. Do this for the XLR connections too... put all of the wear and tear on easily-replaceable jacks that are not on the unit itself. This way you can protect all of the back-of-FM9 connections from danger.
Click to expand...
Definitely.

The ZenRigs guards are nicely designed and blend into the unit so they look like something from the factory. The photo below shows the guards in place on the FM9.

I had a bad experience the first time I took my FM3 out, which immediately got me chasing down a board that'd let me do that, and landed on the Temple Audio Duo 24. It's a good fit for the FM9 (or FM3+FC6), and I position my foot pedals on the stage beside the board. Temple Audio has a series of "Mods" that make it easy to redirect the connections to the ends of the board. Then, using SquarePlug SP550-SBK plugs for the 1/4" TRS and the Switchcraft AAA3FBLP low-profile connectors I was able to reduce the back plane's space to about 1.25" for the XLR. The IEC power connector sticks out 2" but I expect it'd pull out if someone stepped on it. The XLR outputs to my FRFR exit the board on the left, just below the side-mounted IEC mod. I'm considering building two more XLR -> TRS cables to hardwire the Out 2 connections, but I haven't convinced myself to do it yet.

IMG_2227.jpeg
 
Here is the top view of the board. It's a Pedaltrain Novo 32, which perfectly fits the MMGT16 and a pair of Fractal EV-1 expression pedals.
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Here is the back view. All connections are right-angle, and routed beneath the board. Also, there is about three inches of space between the back of the MMGT16 and the rear edge of the Novo32 board, so I have a bit of additional protection there.
IMG_3951 Large.jpeg

This is the side of the board, where I have four connection points: (1) Neutrik PowerCon IN (powers the board), (2) Neutrik PowerCon OUT (provides power to my powered monitor wedge), (3) USB "A" which allows me to plug in a USB thumb drive to load settings to the MMGT16, and (4) USB "B" which connects the MMGT16 to my laptop for using the software editor. Note how tight the clearance is with the right-angle connectors on the back of the MMGT16. When I'm on tour, I put a short piece of square-tube aluminum on the rear edge of the board, which is held in place with the velcro. This is a bit of overkill, given that the back edge of the Novo 32 is about 3 1/2 inches tall, and there is a good gap there between he rear edge and connectors, but... the world is a strange place where unlikely things occur.

Also... you might be wondering why there isn't a MIDI connection on my patch panel. I use a WIDI (MIDI over Bluetooth) system for 2-way communication between the board and the rack. It's been reliable onstage to distances of 50 feet so far, and I love how much it simplifies my setup!
IMG_3952 Large.jpeg
 
JPS225 said:
Anyone use an fc12 to control their fm9? Just thinking about keeping the fm9 at the back, out of harms way.
Click to expand...
I use both. I need to get to too many things at once. Most bands I play with call songs pretty quick. Set lists are not usually stuck to. I use the FM9 buttons for scene changes, filter boost, tap tempo, and looper controls. I use the FC-12 for pretty much everything else. I save the Af3 mkii turbo for bigger gigs. I use 2 FC-12s in the same manner.
 

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