FM3 no audio from output 1 to FOH

[Mr.Tinklesworth]

Hello all, I'm new to Fractal products and have been enjoying the FM3 so far. If I may pick y'alls brain a bit, I'm having a issue with getting audio from the FM3 to FOH. At home, I use either the phones output for my headphones, or the left XLR output 1 to my mixer. I have no issues with audio at home. However, last night at rehearsal I plugged up the FM3 to the FOH using the LEFT XLR output 1 and had no sound coming out. I could see input was going in and the guitar was sending signal to the FM3.

FOH wasn't seeing output from the FM3, so we tried hooking up the same XLR cable to a Line 6 POD GO(using a XLR to 1/4 adapter attached) and had no issues with audio. We hooked the same XLR cable back up to the FM3 and still no output or sound. We changed the XLR cable to see if that was the issue but still no sound.

I got home puzzled, didn't change any settings and hooked the FM3 up the same way I did to the FOH, to my mixer at home and had no issues. Kind of lost what to try next.

Any ideas what I'm over looking?

 

[BBN]

Volume knob on the FM3?
Were you using the same preset?
You definitely plugged into the same XLR output each time?
Are you using an Expression pedal for volume?

(can you post your preset as that will help troubleshoot that the issue is not there)

 

[Mr.Tinklesworth]

Volume knob on the FM3?
Were you using the same preset?
You definitely plugged into the same XLR output each time?
Are you using an Expression pedal for volume?

(can you post your preset as that will help troubleshoot that the issue is not there)

Thank you for the reply.

Volume level knob was all the way up.
Using the same preset that I was using at home. I even tried using different factory preset but still no sound out.
I used the same XLR output each time. I even tried XLR RIGHT output to be sure that wasn't the issue.
No expression pedal is used.

I'll get the preset posted as soon as I can today.

Also to note I changed the Output 1 from stereo to sum L+R cause I'm running mono to FOH.

 

[BBN]

Thank you for the reply.

Volume level knob was all the way up.
Using the same preset that I was using at home. I even tried using different factory preset but still no sound out.
I used the same XLR output each time. I even tried XLR RIGHT output to be sure that wasn't the issue.
No expression pedal is used.

I'll get the preset posted as soon as I can today.

Also to note I changed the Output 1 from stereo to sum L+R cause I'm running mono to FOH.

I think posting the preset is the best way for anyone to help.

If it works at home out of that same Output 1, using an XLR....then it has to be something simple like a bad cable in the chain.
Bring headphones to rehearsal next time so you can quickly plug those in to confirm Output 1 is working (and it's not your guitar or guitar cable).
After that I'd try plugging the FM3 directly into a powered speaker that you know works, and confirm the Output is working.
Just use some process of elimination to find where the bad cable is.
I know you tried the POD go, but I would also pull the XLR right out of the FM3 (if you had no sound) and pop a microphone onto that same XLR (without letting anyone touch anything on the FOH system. Your channel may have been muted, input gain all the way down, a fader that controls a subgroup may have been down....many things can go wrong with FOH as well.
(If I had a nickel for every time my Drummers kick mic wasn't working, only to find out that he plugged into the wrong channel...AGAIN.)

Anyway, folks here can check for anything funky in your preset, but more than likely...has to be a bad cable somewhere.

 

[Mr.Tinklesworth]

I think posting the preset is the best way for anyone to help.

If it works at home out of that same Output 1, using an XLR....then it has to be something simple like a bad cable in the chain.
Bring headphones to rehearsal next time so you can quickly plug those in to confirm Output 1 is working (and it's not your guitar or guitar cable).
After that I'd try plugging the FM3 directly into a powered speaker that you know works, and confirm the Output is working.
Just use some process of elimination to find where the bad cable is.
I know you tried the POD go, but I would also pull the XLR right out of the FM3 (if you had no sound) and pop a microphone onto that same XLR (without letting anyone touch anything on the FOH system. Your channel may have been muted, input gain all the way down, a fader that controls a subgroup may have been down....many things can go wrong with FOH as well.
(If I had a nickel for every time my Drummers kick mic wasn't working, only to find out that he plugged into the wrong channel...AGAIN.)

Anyway, folks here can check for anything funky in your preset, but more than likely...has to be a bad cable somewhere.

I'll definitely give those a try! I just found it really odd that the XLR cable would work for one device(POD GO) but not mine(FM3).Next time I'm also gonna bring the XLR cable I use at home to make sure I can rule that out. I was just thinking there could be a noise gate on the FOH board as well, would having my output level +4 and not -10dp help any?

I attached the preset I was using for rehearsal. Thank you again for looking and helping!

 

[unix-guy]

I'll definitely give those a try! I just found it really odd that the XLR cable would work for one device(POD GO) but not mine(FM3).Next time I'm also gonna bring the XLR cable I use at home to make sure I can rule that out. I was just thinking there could be a noise gate on the FOH board as well, would having my output level +4 and not -10dp help any?

I attached the preset I was using for rehearsal. Thank you again for looking and helping!

If there was a noise gate I think you would have still gotten some output.

Another thing to check if it happens again: go into the grid view and press the page>> button until you get to the Meters view.

You will see 2 bar meters on each block (a green pair and a blue pair). These show the input/output for each block, so you can see if the audio signal is not making to the end of the chain, and if not you'll see where it stops.

 

[BBN]

I'll definitely give those a try! I just found it really odd that the XLR cable would work for one device(POD GO) but not mine(FM3).Next time I'm also gonna bring the XLR cable I use at home to make sure I can rule that out. I was just thinking there could be a noise gate on the FOH board as well, would having my output level +4 and not -10dp help any?

I attached the preset I was using for rehearsal. Thank you again for looking and helping!

Will take a look at the preset when i get home.

Yes a Gate in the mixer could cause that as well.
I had a blow out battle with a sound engineer at a club when he insisted my wireless mic wasn't working and I was positive it was (he blamed it on it being a Sennheiser system, which is simply the dumbest reasoning I've ever heard). Sure enough I walk over to his archaic rack of outboard gear and see one of the gates in his rack lighting up when I used my mic. TURN THE GATE OFF DUDE!!!
Oh, now my mic sounds perfect....yeah, that's what I thought.

XLR working the POD could have just been the way the cable was flexed. I have had plenty of intermittent cables that work when you bend them the right way.

 

[BBN]

I tried your preset.
Scene 1 works fine.
All other Scenes bypass the input and output blocks (no sound).
So if you were on any Scene other than #1 - that was your issue.

To resolve - go into each Scene, double click on the input and output blocks to enable them. Hit save. Done.

 

[Mr.Tinklesworth]

(Following up) Thank you all for your help and looking into the issue I was having. The end result was returning the FM3, and later received a invite for the FM9 (was on the waitlist email for a year). Tried the FM9 into the FOH and sound was clear and loud through the house. Not sure really what the issue was with the FM3, but somehow it worked out.

 

[BBN]

(Following up) Thank you all for your help and looking into the issue I was having. The end result was returning the FM3, and later received a invite for the FM9 (was on the waitlist email for a year). Tried the FM9 into the FOH and sound was clear and loud through the house. Not sure really what the issue was with the FM3, but somehow it worked out.

Moot point now, I know.....but could it have been that you were on Scene 2,3,4,5, etc.? And not scene 1?

 

[Mr.Tinklesworth]

Moot point now, I know.....but could it have been that you were on Scene 2,3,4,5, etc.? And not scene 1?

From what I could see at the time, I was on scene 1 the entire time. I left the settings the same from the house to rehearsal, and back home. I believe the issues lied in with the cabling to the FOH or a setting they fixed from the time period from when I used the FM3 to the FM9.