In
a previous post I mentioned having ordered a custom carrying case for the FM-3 + FC-6 from Studio Slips. It arrived this morning, and it's really, REALLY nicely done. It's beyond what I expected.
Studio Slips make regular slip covers, but their best product style, in my opinion, is their clamshell bags, which totally wrap whatever they're designed for, in a nice form-fitting, padded cover. This is such a bag.
Here are some photos...
Right out of the box...
This shows the inner padded divider. It's attached using Velcro so it can be removed if necessary...
The FC-6...
The FC-6 with the divider down...
The FM-3 on top of it...
The padded slip cover for the small Fractal expression pedal...
...but unfortunately it looks like the padding eats into the length, or the flap isn't long enough to latch to the Velcro. I'll talk to Studio Slips to see what happened there, as we confirmed the size of the pedal twice.
As an update, I received the new pockets and they fit the EV-2 perfectly.
This is the bag with the FM-3 + FC-6 in the main compartment zipped. They fit snuggly so there's no chance of them rubbing together or bouncing around, but there's no difficulty closing the zipper. Two EV-2 fit with some space for cables. I haven't tried to put the AC cord, EV-2 patch cords and a short XLR for the FC-6 in there but I think they'll fit. The unzipped slot below the pocket is for slipping in protective stiffener to spread any pressure across the entire surface of the FC-6 or FM-3, rather than against a switch or display. There's a matching slot on the other side of the bag.
The opposite side slot for a stiffener...
Loaded, the bag weighs 21.6 lbs, and is 13"x11"x10.5-ish". The balance is perfect and nicely tucks under my arm so I easily imagine it'd be convenient carrying a gig-bag, this, and maybe a suitcase or pulling a folding hand-cart. I also imagine we could even have a strap added on the back that'd slide over the handle of a rolling suitcase; Studio Slips are really good about customizing that way.
As I said, I'm delighted with the bag. This is the third bag I've ordered from them and, yeah, they're more expensive than cheap make-do attempts like I used to do but I'm firmly convinced I got what I paid for; Once we get the pedal slip cover tweaked it'll be perfect for what I want, something as compact as possible for travel.
PS. The updated slipcovers came in and fit perfectly. This bag and the covers are exactly what I wanted. I highly recommend them!