FM3 Firmware Version 6.00 beta 3

[Guitars&Videogames]

Still shutting down with High CPU , 65 is good 75 is when mine freezes. MAC BIG SUR 11.6.7 I did Beta 3 earlier.

 

[skolacki]

Still shutting down with High CPU , 65 is good 75 is when mine freezes. MAC BIG SUR 11.6.7 I did Beta 3 earlier.

Looks to me like about a 3-4% gain on cpu over 5.3. That’s awesome. It shouldn’t freeze at 75%. Are you kicking in a different channel of an effect? For something like the Plex or Multi tap or pitch, not all modes are the same. You should base a preset on the most demanding situation you can have with your blocks.

 

[Guitars&Videogames]

Looks to me like about a 3-4% gain on cpu over 5.3. That’s awesome. It shouldn’t freeze at 75%. Are you kicking in a different channel of an effect? For something like the Plex or Multi tap or pitch, not all modes are the same. You should base a preset on the most demanding situation you can have with your blocks.

Im just switching through presets and its freezing. I may be wrong on the 75% when it freezes the value shown froze could be wrong. All of my presets worked before so I assumed they were under 80. I stay around 75 normally, No PLex delays or Ultra Res cabs. I will work on it after rehesal , as long as I stay inside same patch ill be fine.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

As for the Deluxe Tweed, I don't believe the way it was working would be expected behavior. If I turned the normal gain anywhere from 0 to around 9.9 it was fine. Once I pushed to 10, there was a large gain drop. I'll reproduce tomorrow morning and confirm there wasn't another variable involved.

The Deluxe Tweed behaves authentically, resulting in an “interesting” amp to dial in, and as a result, “expected behavior” doesn’t apply to the Deluxe Tweed amp as the controls are very interactive and different than most amps. At 10 there’s a lot of blocking, basically the amp is choking.

There are a lot of articles and videos out there describing how to get various tones from it; Yek’s write up is a good starting place to start reading.

 

[austinbuddy]

Awesome job on this new FM3 firmware! Am able to get all my needed effects blocks and still hold at 80% CPU for my personal Van Halen preset - yay! Got lost on that for an hour today riffing away.

Noticed that the preset volume is more equalized to the III's identical preset volume, when importing (same for FM9).

Coming out the XLRs, I max the Out1 knob and that matches the level in my DAW/Console the same as the identical preset on the III with Out1 at 3:00 or an FM9 at 3:00 - this is good to see, in prior firmware use to have to add 2db in Global Out1 to make the identicl lpresets levels match across units with the above Out hardware knob settings - no more!!!

Editor seems to be working well too. I did walk away from unit/editor for a few hours and it stopped reading the unit, but just a simple preset change on hardware and it woke up, don't see it as any issue.

Again - fabulous job on this, making the latest public beta (III originally) work within the FM3's CPU limitations! Well done!

 

[guitarcal]

The Deluxe Tweed behaves authentically, resulting in an “interesting” amp to dial in, and as a result, “expected behavior” doesn’t apply to the Deluxe Tweed amp as the controls are very interactive and different than most amps. At 10 there’s a lot of blocking, basically the amp is choking.

There are a lot of articles and videos out there describing how to get various tones from it; Yek’s write up is a good starting place to start reading.

Thanks, I’ll read the guide. It just shocked me the sound would change so drastically going from 9.9 to 10. I figured the blocking would have been more gradual. It goes against everything I understand about electronics.

I’ve not had the privilege of playing a Bassman that much to know all of its quirks, so trust you all on this. It does make me want to find a real to test just to hear this behavior with my own ears.

It’s cool Fractal models these quirks as well.

 

[guitarcal]

There are a lot of articles and videos out there describing how to get various tones from it; Yek’s write up is a good starting place to start reading.

And like you said, from Yek’s write up:

“Also note that this amp suffers from extreme blocking distortion at or near maximum gain. This is common in very old designs. As it is virtually unplayable like this, the model uses a somewhat reduced level of grid conduction to lower the amount of blocking distortion and make the amp more playable at high Drive settings.”

Thanks!

 

[Joe_Pools]

Hi, from Spain, in the New and Improved Features i can read... "SPDIF output level will no longer be dependent on the volume knob."

I used Spdif for recording and in this beta version of firmware, I have no sonud on this output. Spdif is now off?, where i can turn on?

Thanks!!!

​

 

[Greg Ferguson]

I’ve not had the privilege of playing a Bassman that much to know all of its quirks, so trust you all on this. It does make me want to find a real to test just to hear this behavior with my own ears.

I had a gen-u-ine Tweed Bassman years ago, with 4x10s, and it was super clean until turned up, then it screamed like a banshee and was SO loud. It taught me that I like amps that I can turn up to 8-10 and they'll put out a reasonable volume, and then I could mic it if I needed more.

 

[[Nathan]]

I'm having some different findings to most when it comes to gain/low end. I feel like things are a bit "fuzzier" than before, like the distortion breakup is more in the fuzz realm than the 5150/"colder" realm as I like to call it. Ontop of this there are some occasions where I feel like there's a slight chorus or phaser effect going on and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I've been playing 5.03 for too long but the gain felt "right" to me whereas the gain on FW6 is feeling a bit bloated and adding fuzz. I wish I could articulate this better but maybe someone can hear the samples and pinpoint something that could be causing this.

I went back to fw5.03 and created a basic patch with 3 scenes for different amps. I used the same drive/cab/rest of the patch. I reamped a DI through these to make sure the conditions were the same. I then installed fw6 b3, recreated the same patch and ran the reamp through it. I've got the two patches here, all the audio samples as well as the original DI:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/j4cn5kf1r1bxcze9racwf/h?dl=0&rlkey=symzig7e56jbe31mum6lv5cc9

When I hear them back the differences seem subtle in these clips but it's enough to weird me out in fw6. Is it possible there's a new parameter that's defaulted to something causing things to be a bit "hotter" or "fuzzier"? I purposefully didnt touch any additional settings, I wanted everything as "stock" as possible, basically no amp tweaks (and the patches have the amps set the same way).

As an example If you compare the JVM models, on the second pass of the riff in the palm mute sections in FW6 is where I'm starting to hear/feel the phasery "jet engine" kind of thing going on. I could just be volume, could just be the added distortion/fuzz but it's throwing me off for dialing in a sound. When I briefly went back to 5.03 I was dialing in patches in 30 seconds. Going back to FW6 it feels like theres some global setting or something causing the bloat.

Edit: Input Pad 1 was set to 18db on both FW's as well.
For these examples I'm going SPDIF to the DAW. I've tried SPDIF and Analog and the results are the same.

TIA

 

[[Nathan]]

Hi, from Spain, in the New and Improved Features i can read... "SPDIF output level will no longer be dependent on the volume knob."

I used Spdif for recording and in this beta version of firmware, I have no sonud on this output. Spdif is now off?, where i can turn on?

Thanks!!!

​

Check your global I/O, the first option is "SPDIF OUT Source", maybe it's set to OUTPUT2 and you want it as OUTPUT1.

 

[Randalljax]

I'm having some different findings to most when it comes to gain/low end. I feel like things are a bit "fuzzier" than before, like the distortion breakup is more in the fuzz realm than the 5150/"colder" realm as I like to call it. Ontop of this there are some occasions where I feel like there's a slight chorus or phaser effect going on and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I've been playing 5.03 for too long but the gain felt "right" to me whereas the gain on FW6 is feeling a bit bloated and adding fuzz. I wish I could articulate this better but maybe someone can hear the samples and pinpoint something that could be causing this.

I went back to fw5.03 and created a basic patch with 3 scenes for different amps. I used the same drive/cab/rest of the patch. I reamped a DI through these to make sure the conditions were the same. I then installed fw6 b3, recreated the same patch and ran the reamp through it. I've got the two patches here, all the audio samples as well as the original DI:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/j4cn5kf1r1bxcze9racwf/h?dl=0&rlkey=symzig7e56jbe31mum6lv5cc9

When I hear them back the differences seem subtle in these clips but it's enough to weird me out in fw6. Is it possible there's a new parameter that's defaulted to something causing things to be a bit "hotter" or "fuzzier"? I purposefully didnt touch any additional settings, I wanted everything as "stock" as possible, basically no amp tweaks (and the patches have the amps set the same way).

As an example If you compare the JVM models, on the second pass of the riff in the palm mute sections in FW6 is where I'm starting to hear/feel the phasery "jet engine" kind of thing going on. I could just be volume, could just be the added distortion/fuzz but it's throwing me off for dialing in a sound. When I briefly went back to 5.03 I was dialing in patches in 30 seconds. Going back to FW6 it feels like theres some global setting or something causing the bloat.

Edit: Input Pad 1 was set to 18db on both FW's as well.
For these examples I'm going SPDIF to the DAW. I've tried SPDIF and Analog and the results are the same.

TIA

What’s the master volume set at
I hear a lot of breakup in the low end I would say it’s clipping somewhere
If I listen to Leon Recto in the Beta vid he posted it sound great
No fizz and it is amp / cab only

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Awesome job on this new FM3 firmware! Am able to get all my needed effects blocks and still hold at 80% CPU for my personal Van Halen preset - yay! Got lost on that for an hour today riffing away.

Noticed that the preset volume is more equalized to the III's identical preset volume, when importing (same for FM9).

Coming out the XLRs, I max the Out1 knob and that matches the level in my DAW/Console the same as the identical preset on the III with Out1 at 3:00 or an FM9 at 3:00 - this is good to see, in prior firmware use to have to add 2db in Global Out1 to make the identicl lpresets levels match across units with the above Out hardware knob settings - no more!!!

Editor seems to be working well too. I did walk away from unit/editor for a few hours and it stopped reading the unit, but just a simple preset change on hardware and it woke up, don't see it as any issue.

Again - fabulous job on this, making the latest public beta (III originally) work within the FM3's CPU limitations! Well done!

I'm glad!

I know it's a balancing act for you, waiting for them to get their changes in so you can begin tweaking!

 

[[Nathan]]

What’s the master volume set at
I hear a lot of breakup in the low end I would say it’s clipping somewhere
If I listen to Leon Recto in the Beta vid he posted it sound great
No fizz and it is amp / cab only

For the amp block the master vol is on 4.00 on the JVM for both firmwares, the patches are all matched.
Is there some sort of global volume that could be jacked up somewhere? Yeah I'm inclined to think that there's a setting somewhere, this would be pretty noticeable I would imagine if it was happening to everyone.

Like I said I have it all hooked up to my interface, on fw6 its like this. When I downgrade to 5.03 it was instantly better, back up to 6.00 and things are sounding hotter, not sure what the culprit is.

 

[sedorjulian]

Everything has felt amazing since the updates. I have really enjoyed the FM3 since I first got it, but now it’s so much nicer. I don’t even really understand how not only the sound, but the feel is improved. Sound can not change the physical characteristics of my guitar, but I distinctly feel a difference when playing with thump and drive set right and the low end is incredibly improved, for cleans and distorted sounds I notice a difference. Thank you guys sincerely.

 

[Namewastakendamn]

Never cared much for a klon as I thought a TS was just fine for my boost, but holy overdrive!

Shout out to the Recto with the horizon drive too! I played that for hours with @2112 multi band settings and it’s defintely my new main and quiet possibly the best sound I’ve ever played myself with my new Gibson Classic.

I just don’t see how this thing improves form here, but Ciff and company never cease to amaze me.

Thank you FAS for my new FM3 Turbo!

 

[Petrocelli]

Hi, from Spain, in the New and Improved Features i can read... "SPDIF output level will no longer be dependent on the volume knob."

I used Spdif for recording and in this beta version of firmware, I have no sonud on this output. Spdif is now off?, where i can turn on?

Thanks!!!

​

No Problems with SPDIF here! Is your Soundcard set to 48KHz and ext. Sync (FM3 should be Sync Master)
SPDIF is now independent of the Output Vol Knob and always maxed, which makes sense in a digital system!

 

[RB_Guitar]

No Problems with SPDIF here! Is your Soundcard set to 48KHz and ext. Sync (FM3 should be Sync Master)
SPDIF is now independent of the Output Vol Knob and always maxed, which makes sense in a digital system!

I had the same "problem" but the issue was an user error. I used Out2 instead of Out1.

 

[RB_Guitar]

I really enjoy the improvements for the Rectos and Marshalls, but I'm struggling with the Herbert3 model. If I remember correctly, in the past I could dial in immense amounts of amp gain and just get an overly saturated tone as expected.

With the current FW I can't go past 5, otherwise the tone becomes quite chocked. I've tried it with 2 guitars and also with deactivated power amp modeling, same result.
Does the Herbert3 sound right to you on really high gain settings >5?

 

[Smilzo]

I really enjoy the fender's... they remaind me the feel of my vintage bassman and silverface. Each note has "weight" and roundness, chords have clarity... fun to play and forget it's not real tube amp!