FM3 Firmware Version 8.00 beta 1

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Rockuronium said:
Agreed. I see the logic in not including a CPU-greedy sim as I'm sure many ill-informed users would complain.

I personally would love the option, though. Especially since it would really be reserved for the most simple compressor - amp - cab - reverb presets.

I don't think we get to vote, and that's fair. But if we do, I vote yes to the resource-hogging reverbs.
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YES!! A THOUSAND TIMES to this sentiment!!
 
Hello everyone. I have a question. I reset the amp block with the preste manager. After I'm done with all of them, I take a preset, do a soft reset to buy it by changing the block and putting the same amp back in and changing the sound, so I deduce that it hasn't done anything with the preset manager. What am I doing wrong?
 
Nef said:
Hello everyone. I have a question. I reset the amp block with the preste manager. After I'm done with all of them, I take a preset, do a soft reset to buy it by changing the block and putting the same amp back in and changing the sound, so I deduce that it hasn't done anything with the preset manager. What am I doing wrong?
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this depends on how exactly you "reset the amp block" with the preset manager.
 
ninjatronxl said:
I had this issue and mucked around with the Output settings. It wasn't a problem with the last firmware, but when I changed SETTINGS > AUDIO > OUTPUT CONFIG > OUTPUT 2 > OUTPUT 2 COPY > from 'Output 1' -> 'None' then the feedback loop went away.

It makes sense that it would create a feedback loop like this, but in the previous version, I never had a problem.
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This was a bug and is now fixed for the release. When the Out2 block is present in the preset, it should override the OUTPUT 2 COPY OUTPUT 1 setting.
 
After not having played my gear for almost two months (!), I decided to update the FM3 today.
Here are the process and my findings.

First, I took a note of the CPU usage of my main preset: 78,7%.

I wrote down the values of the following Amp block parameters: Power Tube Grid Bas, Supply Sag and Cathode Follower (all set to default). I did this for the Deluxe Verb and 195SLP amp models.

I exported the preset to disk.

I recorded simple audio snippets (no DI), using my Steinberger Spirit's not-so-pretty middle pup, fw 7. Soundcloud probably normalizes the audio.




I updated to fw 8 beta fw, installed the updated editor and refreshed its effects definitions.

With the new fw installed, I imported the aforementioned preset.

The preset's CPU usage is now 77.8%. That's a one percent point less, nice.

At this point I did NOT reset the Amp block in any way, and did NOT save it under the new fw, and did NOT not execute Upgrade All Presets in the Utility menu.

I checked the Amp block parameters, mentioned above. They are now different.
This indicates that the new fw does apply the new default values in the Amp block automatically upon loading an 'old' preset , not needing any kind of Amp block reset.

So, the release notes are somewhat confusing in this regard, because they mention a soft or hard reset requirement. @rglr

I recorded audio again, using the same preset, without resetting the Amp block or other changes. Soundcloud probably normalizes the audio.




I applied the three required system changes to enable gapless preset switching.
It took about 15 minutes to finish the "Upgrade All Presets" process (2-3 seconds per preset).
I tested gapless switching of presets, scenes and channels and it works perfectly.

I executed "Reset AMP Blocks" in Manage Presets in the editor to reset the amp block channels in the preset (except authentic controls).
And saved the preset.

These actions did not change the aforementioned Amp block parameters again, because they already had been defaulted, as described above.

N.B. The reset process defaulted a couple of parameters that I tweaked away from default: Speaker Drive, Speaker Thump and Output Compression. This is exactly as expected. I adjusted those to match the old settings.

Suggestions:
  1. Rename "Upgrade All Presets" in the Utility menu to a title that indicates its function more clearly. See post 374
  2. Make "Reset AMP Blocks" available in the main menu of the editor.
Possible bugs:
  1. The Startup Preset parameter is missing in the Setup dialog of FM3-Edit. @Michael Pickens
  2. The two Optical tremolos do not sound right to my ears. I don't have a III or FM9 here to compare.
Testing to be continued.
 
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yek said:
  1. Rename "Upgrade All Presets" in the Utility menu to a title that indicates its function more clearly.
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Maybe "Update All Presets", but historically its purpose was to clear out "muck" that accumulated in the presets after having been touched by multiple firmware. Back when that build-up caused slower changes between presets also, so either name seems like it's appropriate to me.
 
I'm just testing the near final Public Beta. The testers of earlier betas have a MUCH harder job.

Yek:
  1. Rename "Upgrade All Presets" in the Utility menu to a title that indicates its function more clearly.
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Greg Ferguson:
Maybe "Update All Presets", but historically its purpose was to clear out "muck" that accumulated in the presets after having been touched by multiple firmware. Back when that build-up caused slower changes between presets also, so either name seems like it's appropriate to me.
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How about just this:

Re-Save All Presets under Current Firmware

Because that's what it does (and by doing that, the preset revision numbers are updated).
And then explain it in the manual.
 
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Long time FAS user here, can I say that in all my FAS years this might be the best sounding firmware update to date? The Mesa amps sound monsterous and with the Horizon drive pedal in the front it sounds like the amp is about to explode. Super awesome. Thanks again for all that you do Cliff and Co.!
 
Well I’m impressed with this update. Finally got to try it. It was easy to readjust my favorite presets. No cpu bump at all and maybe a small gain. Tone wise there’s more lows and low mids. Sounds really nice. Hard to define in words but the changes are noticeable without a doubt. Not a placebo thing. It was good before but thinner sounding than it is now. Still haven’t tried all the new goods but the gapless works excellent. The Novellium drive is really good if you’re into transparent drives.

Only hiccup so far was with FM3 edit. I was bypassing and engaging the drive block and the rectangular border would change color to show engaged but the inside wouldn’t light up and the shunt showed bypassed, it didn’t switch to the straight line. Rebooted the editor and ok after that.

Excellent work FAS!! I was considering moving up to the FM9 but now I’m going to put it off awhile and catch up on some debt. Gapless. Can’t put it all in one preset no, but now I can actually change presets mid song. The capabilities of this little machine just went up. A true game changer.
 
Joshua_L said:
So I am the only one with this persistent bug??
Nobody have a problem with the intelligent gate in the input block?
I repost the bug here.



Settings are what ever comes when you reset the block.
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Even if you're using factory settings, try resetting the block (Ctrl-i or Command-i).
 
yek said:
This indicates that the new fw does apply the new default values in the Amp block automatically upon loading an 'old' preset , not needing any kind of Amp block reset.

So, the release notes are somewhat confusing in this regard, because they mention a soft or hard reset requirement. @rglr
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Thanks for this! You’ve preempted a lot of hair pulling and gnashing of teeth. :cool:
 
Paki said:
Thanks FAS for the great work done, at the moment I can say that on the presets made by me the CPU has dropped by 2-3%, I'm trying the 5153 Stealths they are phenomenal
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My guess is that those who are reporting large CPU decreases, were using Amp blocks with CPU-heavy tweaks, such as some Speaker parameters, Output Compression etc.

By resetting the amp block, as advised in the current release notes, those parameters are reset to default, and therefore release the CPU load.

IF that's the case, the reports are based on incomparable situations.
 
Agree with whoever said “can’t put the guitar down” and that was only the ac30 brilliant and new Sunrise Splendor
 
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