Johan Allard
Power User
I saw a post in the Ax8 go-fund-me thread about "how can the FM3 be a replacement for an Ax8 when it only has 3 buttons", ... Since this had a potential of hijacking the thread I didn't feel like responding there. I also haven't thought about it for a while so got me thinking about how the FM3 has been a replacement for me, after about 6 months or so I've used it.
First, when you design something new, and don’t make it exactly like the previous, could be bigger or smaller or wider or whatever, there will always be people that prefer the previous design. There will also be people that people that prefer the new design. A lot of people will complain before they have tried the new design so you have to let it settle. When a lot of people have tried the new design you can look at the overall feedback. If the group that prefers the new design outweighs the previous group you have made the right design choice. If the previous group outweighs the group that prefer the new design you haven’t and you’ll have to weigh that in when you design the next version and when. This is all standard product design cycles.
For me, the FM3 has replaced the AX8 completely. I don’t even use the FC6 I bought before I got the FM3 that I thought I would absolutely need. And no, I don’t use the FM3 exactly as I did before with the AX8 but I prefer the workflow with the FM3 that wasn’t possible with the AX8 with the new more flexible buttons. I love the mini displays that gives me reminders to what scene does what for song specific preset I only use occasionally. I love that my new board is a PT Metro 16, including wireless. It’s super small and super flexible.
I've always been a heavy user of scenes. With the Ax8, I usually had 4 scenes configured on the lower 4 button row, and 4 effects on the upper button row. In reality though, I rarely used the effects live. It was handy to try different stuff at home but when it came to my live preset I programmed scenes for everything. One problem I frequently had with the Ax8 was to remember what each scene did. My main setup was Scene 1 as a main crunch tone, Scene 2 slightly boosted, Scene 3 was my "wildcard" - often a straight clean tone, Scene 4 was my lead tone. This worked really well, but I also had a range of song-specific presets and on for instance I had an Intro Scene, a main Rhythm Scene, a slightly boosted Rhythm for the sections between the verses, a slightly different version of the Intro scene for the breakdown and a lead scene. That's 5 scenes in all, but they didn't fit into my normal structure so I could never remember if Scene 1 was my Intro scene or my main Rhythm Scene, and so on.
With the FM3, when using it at rehearsals (and eventually live when we get to play live again), I use button one for Scene 1/4 toggle with Scene 7 for hold, button two Scene 2/5 toggle and button three Scene 3/6 toggle, so my main preset has 7 Scenes. But the difference for me is the small customizable labels so I can always see for instance on my She Sells Sanctuary preset that button one toggles between Rhythm/Boost with Intro on Scene 7 (Button one hold). So even if there's less buttons, it's more obvious what each button does. I also have two external buttons, the right button does tap/tempo and hold for tuner, the left toggles view 1/2 (Scenes/Effects) with hold for layout 2 (Select Preset).
Before I got the FM3, I ordered and got the FC6, anticipating that i'll need it to replace the Ax8. But after playing with the FM3 on it's own and thinking about how I really use it live, I never ended up building a live board for the FM3+FC6 so I just used the FC6 to make it more flexible to play around with different stuff at home. After a couple of months, I ordered an FC12 and that's what I'm using at home now. I'm currently renovating my house and when we're done at the end of the year, I'll move into my new office/music room and my plan is to keep the FM3 at eye level in a shelf next to my desk, and just use either just the FC12 or possible the FC12+FC6 on the floor. With the FC12, I can have instant access to all scenes, presets and a few effects to turn on and off. For my live presets, I have a layout on the FC12 where the first three buttons is identical to the ones on the FM3 so I can practice playing along just like on the FM3 but using the FC12 instead. And when I want to play around with different stuff and effects and things, there's plenty of buttons to do so.
This is not meant as a "if you don't like the FM3 with or without the FC6 you're wrong and I'm right" kind of argument. For me, I knew that I would want all the improvements that the new platform, and Ares has given us, and that just forced me to get onboard with the new architecture. And I'm for one am glad that I did because I've ended up with something that's even better for me. But I can absolutely see that for some people, the layout and size of the Ax8 would be better. You can't make any change anywhere without there's being a compromise somewhere else.
As for moving forward. I'm not expecting any changes to the current lineup. If/when in a couple of years there's a FM3mkII, I would totally expect that to be in the same chassis as the current FM3. I could still see (and I argued for) that there could be a FM9 that would be an all-in-one thing that would sit between the FM3 and FM3+FC6 in size, but I think it's more likely that we'll see a FC2 or FC4. The FM3 + FC6 is really wide so by just adding another couple of buttons (without the external screen on the FC6/12) would be really useful while not pushing it super wide. Again, not really expecting that to happen but it would be a nice addition. The other thing I'd really love would be a range of FC+ series (FC6+ and FC12+) that would use screens similar to what's on the Mastermind GT series - more expensive for sure but I'd happily pay extra for bigger screens.
This is just some notes about my experiences in my transition from the Ax8 to the FM3 + FMC6/12. Enjoy!
First, when you design something new, and don’t make it exactly like the previous, could be bigger or smaller or wider or whatever, there will always be people that prefer the previous design. There will also be people that people that prefer the new design. A lot of people will complain before they have tried the new design so you have to let it settle. When a lot of people have tried the new design you can look at the overall feedback. If the group that prefers the new design outweighs the previous group you have made the right design choice. If the previous group outweighs the group that prefer the new design you haven’t and you’ll have to weigh that in when you design the next version and when. This is all standard product design cycles.
For me, the FM3 has replaced the AX8 completely. I don’t even use the FC6 I bought before I got the FM3 that I thought I would absolutely need. And no, I don’t use the FM3 exactly as I did before with the AX8 but I prefer the workflow with the FM3 that wasn’t possible with the AX8 with the new more flexible buttons. I love the mini displays that gives me reminders to what scene does what for song specific preset I only use occasionally. I love that my new board is a PT Metro 16, including wireless. It’s super small and super flexible.
I've always been a heavy user of scenes. With the Ax8, I usually had 4 scenes configured on the lower 4 button row, and 4 effects on the upper button row. In reality though, I rarely used the effects live. It was handy to try different stuff at home but when it came to my live preset I programmed scenes for everything. One problem I frequently had with the Ax8 was to remember what each scene did. My main setup was Scene 1 as a main crunch tone, Scene 2 slightly boosted, Scene 3 was my "wildcard" - often a straight clean tone, Scene 4 was my lead tone. This worked really well, but I also had a range of song-specific presets and on for instance I had an Intro Scene, a main Rhythm Scene, a slightly boosted Rhythm for the sections between the verses, a slightly different version of the Intro scene for the breakdown and a lead scene. That's 5 scenes in all, but they didn't fit into my normal structure so I could never remember if Scene 1 was my Intro scene or my main Rhythm Scene, and so on.
With the FM3, when using it at rehearsals (and eventually live when we get to play live again), I use button one for Scene 1/4 toggle with Scene 7 for hold, button two Scene 2/5 toggle and button three Scene 3/6 toggle, so my main preset has 7 Scenes. But the difference for me is the small customizable labels so I can always see for instance on my She Sells Sanctuary preset that button one toggles between Rhythm/Boost with Intro on Scene 7 (Button one hold). So even if there's less buttons, it's more obvious what each button does. I also have two external buttons, the right button does tap/tempo and hold for tuner, the left toggles view 1/2 (Scenes/Effects) with hold for layout 2 (Select Preset).
Before I got the FM3, I ordered and got the FC6, anticipating that i'll need it to replace the Ax8. But after playing with the FM3 on it's own and thinking about how I really use it live, I never ended up building a live board for the FM3+FC6 so I just used the FC6 to make it more flexible to play around with different stuff at home. After a couple of months, I ordered an FC12 and that's what I'm using at home now. I'm currently renovating my house and when we're done at the end of the year, I'll move into my new office/music room and my plan is to keep the FM3 at eye level in a shelf next to my desk, and just use either just the FC12 or possible the FC12+FC6 on the floor. With the FC12, I can have instant access to all scenes, presets and a few effects to turn on and off. For my live presets, I have a layout on the FC12 where the first three buttons is identical to the ones on the FM3 so I can practice playing along just like on the FM3 but using the FC12 instead. And when I want to play around with different stuff and effects and things, there's plenty of buttons to do so.
This is not meant as a "if you don't like the FM3 with or without the FC6 you're wrong and I'm right" kind of argument. For me, I knew that I would want all the improvements that the new platform, and Ares has given us, and that just forced me to get onboard with the new architecture. And I'm for one am glad that I did because I've ended up with something that's even better for me. But I can absolutely see that for some people, the layout and size of the Ax8 would be better. You can't make any change anywhere without there's being a compromise somewhere else.
As for moving forward. I'm not expecting any changes to the current lineup. If/when in a couple of years there's a FM3mkII, I would totally expect that to be in the same chassis as the current FM3. I could still see (and I argued for) that there could be a FM9 that would be an all-in-one thing that would sit between the FM3 and FM3+FC6 in size, but I think it's more likely that we'll see a FC2 or FC4. The FM3 + FC6 is really wide so by just adding another couple of buttons (without the external screen on the FC6/12) would be really useful while not pushing it super wide. Again, not really expecting that to happen but it would be a nice addition. The other thing I'd really love would be a range of FC+ series (FC6+ and FC12+) that would use screens similar to what's on the Mastermind GT series - more expensive for sure but I'd happily pay extra for bigger screens.
This is just some notes about my experiences in my transition from the Ax8 to the FM3 + FMC6/12. Enjoy!