FM3 incoming... How do I connect?

V

vejichan

Inspired
Getting the FM3 this week. How do i setup and connect fm3 to my 2014 imac for recording and jamming in real time for best quality? I am using audio technica headphone and jbl monitors. Reaper daw.
 
Does the FM3 come with a USB cable? do i hook up the monitors directly to the FM3? right now i have a focusrite 2nd gen solo and the monitors are hooked up to it. Please advice for best connection/settings.
Thank you
 
vejichan said:
Does the FM3 come with a USB cable? do i hook up the monitors directly to the FM3? right now i have a focusrite 2nd gen solo and the monitors are hooked up to it. Please advice for best connection/settings.
Thank you
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I had a similar setup, but I use an AxeFX instead of an FM3. In your case, I would use the AxeFX as your interface, replacing your Scarlett. Hook the monitors up to the AxeFX. I still use my Scarlett, but only for recording vocals. I just switch the input in Logic, but it still sends all the audio out to the AxeFX. I can’t remember if it came with a USB cable or not, I bought a long one ahead of time knowing that my AxeFX wasn’t going to be right next to the computer.
 
Thanks but my cables are unbalanced red/white color coded cables from the back of the monitors to the back of the scarlett. what do you suggest.
 
My FM3 came with USB cable.
The manual displays a couple of ways you can connect, depending on what you want to do, so I'd recommend looking into that already now.
If you want to, you can ditch the interface and record over USB. I use my monitors for other stuff than the FM3 and I don't want to always have the FM3 on, so I keep the monitors connected to my interface, and then connect the FM3 to the interface instead. For recording, I'd probably go USB instead, so I could re-amp easily.
 
I'd suggest reading through the manual, starting at page 27, as it covers connections quite well. Also Fractal's wiki has a lot of good information.

You don't need the Scarlett for recording the FM3, and actually using it will degrade your sound and add latency because you'll force the FM3 to convert from digital to analog (audio) then the Scarlett to reverse that, so... don't. Stick with USB and your sound quality will be what the FM3 is using internally. Use the Scarlett for recording from microphones or when the source is audio, not digital. I also use mine to drive my headphones because it has a very nice DAC, but you can route your sound to the FM3 and use its headphone output, which will let you monitor the sound from the DAW plus what you're playing.

Again this is all covered in the manual so read it a couple times.
 
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But that means i will be usign the fm3 for my audio interface and my monitors would be connect to the fm3? meaning fm3 would be on everytime i use it?
 
vejichan said:
But that means i will be usign the fm3 for my audio interface and my monitors would be connect to the fm3? meaning fm3 would be on everytime i use it?
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Not necessarily. You can have a different output device for system audio output and your DAW output. That way you only need to turn on the FM3 when recording guitar.
 
vejichan said:
But that means i will be usign the fm3 for my audio interface and my monitors would be connect to the fm3? meaning fm3 would be on everytime i use it?
Click to expand...
Have you read the manual where it discusses how to connect the unit in various scenarios?

What did you try and what happened when you tried?

It's SO much easier to help diagnose and fix a problem that occurred than to try to fix an imaginary one that hasn't occurred.
 
here is whats going on.. i plug my guitar into my focusrite solo 2nd gen which is connected via usb into my late 2012 imac and using reaper DAW to record. my jbl 305 is connected to my focusrite via unbalance red/white cables. The focusrite remains connected and is on all the time for recording/jamming/watching movies/listing to music.

now enter the FM3.. what do i do?
 
vejichan said:
here is whats going on.. i plug my guitar into my focusrite solo 2nd gen which is connected via usb into my late 2012 imac and using reaper DAW to record. my jbl 305 is connected to my focusrite via unbalance red/white cables. The focusrite remains connected and is on all the time for recording/jamming/watching movies/listing to music.

now enter the FM3.. what do i do?
Click to expand...
Connect your FM3 to your computer. Connect your guitar to your FM3. Connect your monitors to both the focusrite and the FM3 with a small inexpensive mixer. Done.
 
so leave the focusrite connected?
how do i connect the monitors to the fm3 when it's already connected to the focusrite?
 
You mentioned you don't want to leave your FM3 on all the time when listening to system audio. So, connect both the FM3 and the focusrite to your monitors with a mixer. That way you can listen to system audio when the FM3 is off. You can use something like this:
Amazon product ASIN B08393DLGV
 
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i have a problem. I have focusrite solo (2nd gen) audio interface connected to my imac late 2012 via usab and i have my monitors connected to my focusrite via red/white unbalanced cables. The focusrite is on all the time because i use it for music/watching movies/videochat etc. How do i incoporate the FM3 into this setup so that i can record and jam with it? please advise..does it involve me unpluging/pluging the fm3 usb into the imac and unpluging/pluging the monitors from fm3?whats the best way of doing this?
 
sounds like a new interface that can take your two channels from the FM3 is the best compromise.. also, the manual is worth reading.
 
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