FM3 Firmware Version 5.03

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Greg Ferguson said:
And how many releases has Line 6 had in that period? 0.

Or, better yet, how many releases has the FM3 had since 2/8/22, which was the last Helix release? 12.

P.S. - that was JUST the FM3. I didn't bother checking for the releases of the FX3 and FM9. That number would only make Line 6 look worse and there's no reason to beat a dead horse.
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In my mind there’s just no conceivable comparison anymore. Not trying to knock Line 6 because they were my first experience in modeling many moons ago. But as things stand today, I’ve never had a modeler as accurate with tone and feel as Fractal. That coupled with the amount of updates and improvements they implement for all 3 platforms is just staggering to me. Blows Line 6 or anyone else for that matter out of the water. Does Cliff sleep, ever?
 
Fearuvthedark said:
In my mind there’s just no conceivable comparison anymore. Not trying to knock Line 6 because they were my first experience in modeling many moons ago. But as things stand today, I’ve never had a modeler as accurate with tone and feel as Fractal. That coupled with the amount of updates and improvements they implement for all 3 platforms is just staggering to me. Blows Line 6 or anyone else for that matter out of the water. Does Cliff sleep, ever?
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That’s been my experience too. I’ve wondered many times about what my desert island gear would be. I know it’d start with my FM9 and speakers instead of one of my tube amps.
Though, if I was going to travel a lot it’d be my FM3+FC6/OMG9 combo. It’s smaller and easier to move around.
 
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They trying to squeeze in the Klon Tubes... :mask: in a smaller box, so we just at sooner, not soonerest.
 
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One could argue that Fractal releases firmware updates too often compared to other companies.

I wouldn’t say Line6 is behind the ball at all. They have a very successful and feature-rich product. In my experience, their firmware releases are more stable and less bug-ridden than each of the Axe-FX releases.
 
ruso said:
One could argue that Fractal releases firmware updates too often compared to other companies.

I wouldn’t say Line6 is behind the ball at all. They have a very successful and feature-rich product. In my experience, their firmware releases are more stable and less bug-ridden than each of the Axe-FX releases.
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yeah, that's their position as well. While fewer and further between, their updates are far more substantial. Just a different way of doing things. Both are obviously wildly successful :D
 
ruso said:
One could argue that Fractal releases firmware updates too often compared to other companies.

I wouldn’t say Line6 is behind the ball at all. They have a very successful and feature-rich product. In my experience, their firmware releases are more stable and less bug-ridden than each of the Axe-FX releases.
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This is my experience as well. I have managed to get my FM3 to have garbled output, non-working footswitches, my Axe-Fx 3 crashed on the first week I had it (but has been stable since then), there's plenty of FC-related fixes in many Fractal releases. During the two years I had the Line6 Helix Floor I managed to get it to crash once. That was literally the only bug I experienced on it. So there is definitely some merit to their lengthy release and testing cycles.

The FM3 and FM9 actually get the more polished version as they are usually larger updates behind the pace of the Axe-Fx 3 which is the bleeding edge, break stuff type thing. The floor units get the version of those new features where the kinks have already been worked out. The different processor does seem to introduce its own set of problems as I have found my FM3 to be less stable than the Axe-Fx 3, sometimes requiring a reboot to fix something like outputs not working right.

It's a very different process and for Line6 you could complain that their release process takes way too much time. For the much expected 3.2 release it's been probably over 6 months now, I've lost track. It will either be a really massive new feature release or it will end up disappointing Helix owners. I'll be interested to try it using Helix Native as I no longer own Helix hardware.

I think FM3 6.0 will be a very nice update based on what I experience with the Axe-Fx 3. Fractal has done some really great stuff recently.
 
ruso said:
One could argue that Fractal releases firmware updates too often compared to other companies.
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You should look into the Kemper ecosystem. They are fairly heavy in updates as well. But as with Fractal, Kemper appears to give more feature updates and refinements than bug fixes. Both Fractal and Kemper, with such a philosophy, gives the initial high price paid for their items much more value. Now compare that to Roland/Boss; in the past at least you were lucky to get one upgrade for bug fixes in the life of the product. Not sure what they do now.

It's quite a great thing when a company will provide ongoing support of their products by adding significant features with free upgrades. That is almost unknown in other product categories; most companies will either charge for the upgrade or fold the upgrades into a new product or release, so they can make more money off the development. Anyone that has an issue with the cost of a Fractal product must take the ongoing feature upgrades into account, it gives the unit FAR more ongoing value. But you have to tip your hat to Kemper; their original product first sold in 2011 is to this day kept current with free upgrades to the latest features. That is unprecedented to my knowledge.

Line 6 issues feature updates but much less frequently than Fractal or Kemper. But they are the only modeling company I can recall that had to issue a hardware recall/destruct order for a fire hazard with their lower end wireless system (G10?) I sure don't miss that big banner that used to pop up at the Line 6 site telling you about the danger with those products.
 
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