FM9 Firmware Version 2.01 public beta

[shawnfitz1222]

hopefully a Beta 2.02 at least with the transformer tuns fix for the weekend . finger X'd

I rolled mine back to 2.00b for now. I was hoping for 2.02b for this weekend but am fine with 2.0b until 2.02b rolls out.

 

[la szum]

I'm vocalizing a position that I feel ultimately advances Fractal Audio and their products. Make product stability the bedrock upon which the goodies are built.

Do you think Fractal is trying to NOT do that on a daily basis?

Where's some faith and trust in the process, man??

 

[Musikron]

Yes this beta 2.01 sounds worse to me than v1.
V 2 beta sounds great but was buggy as all hell so had to get rolled back.
I am starting to feel a bit more buyers remorse again. The FM9 has definitely failed to fully live up to my expectations. There's build quality issues with the switches, the scribble strips are underwhelming, and 5 months in and no official firmware update, while there's been about a dozen for the other platforms.
At first I was pleased with the units price, but now I'm kinda not seeing the value. The build quality is compromised by defective switches, and stable current firmware is apparently on the back burner for the foreseeable future. I normally don't buy version one of anything, but fractals track record of flawless manufacturing and my desire to lighten my rig suckered me in. I mean I told them for years to make this thing, I just expected then to get it right, whoever inspected my unit should be fired. For the money I paid for this thing I could have bought a used III and just ad a bit more for an FC of some sort. Not the firm factor I wanted, but I don't think I'd feel as frustrated about it as I do the fm9.

 

[Admin M@]

A new release is underway and will address the known issues with this build.

 

[ethomas1013]

Thanks for the update @Admin M@

 

[zedeloc]

A new release is underway and will address the known issues with this build.

Thank you papa M@!

 

[BCy2k]

A new release is underway and will address the known issues with this build.

Awesome - thanks for the info!

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

A new release is underway and will address the known issues with this build.

<img src="f5-jackhammer.gif" />

 

[danchez]

Still on v1 and haven't updated to the 2.x beta.I have the utmost respect for beta testers -- I'll keep on waiting for the official stable release

 

[bdrepko]

A new release is underway and will address the known issues with this build.

Does that include the hang on boot? Not sure how prevalent this issue is.

 

[Theodore84]

I've had an issue with the FM9 ever since I bought it. The issue was that it stopped producing output. I went through every troubleshooting step possible and ended up sending it to Fractal to have it looked at. Got it back and it was working for a few weeks and then it started doing it again. I installed the new beta 2.01 hoping it would fix the issue and it happened once so far, along with a bunch of other bugs. Here is what I'm now dealing with on top of the no output issue:

* When starting the FM9, it froze on the first screen before loading. Turning it off and on fixed it.

* It's doing really weird stuff with delays and reverbs. For some reason the delay feedback on a few presets increased on its own. Adjusting the feedback and saving didn't save when going back to the preset.

* When switching reverbs, it's super laggy and sometimes won't let me select a different reverb at all.

* Screen went blank all of a sudden while on a preset. Turning it off and on fixed it.

Is anyone else experiencing these issues? At this point, I feel I can't rely on the FM9 for gigs. Actually lost a couple because the FM9 wouldn't produce output. It seems like my FM9 is defective. I told Fractal about this and they just told me to post on this forum.

 

[hobbes1]

Do you think Fractal is trying to NOT do that on a daily basis?

Where's some faith and trust in the process, man??

IDK what their "process" is. Second beta is arguably worse than the first beta. I trust that Fractal is going to do what they think is best for their business. As they should.

When beta/firmware updates introduce lockups, freezes and blasting noise from outputs, I feel that fixing that is more important to users than adding Scene Ignore or another Bassman sim. But that's just me. I hope they will be introducing a comprehensive fix soon.

 

[bleujazz3]

 

[Theodore84]

Yes this beta 2.01 sounds worse to me than v1.
V 2 beta sounds great but was buggy as all hell so had to get rolled back.
I am starting to feel a bit more buyers remorse again. The FM9 has definitely failed to fully live up to my expectations. There's build quality issues with the switches, the scribble strips are underwhelming, and 5 months in and no official firmware update, while there's been about a dozen for the other platforms.
At first I was pleased with the units price, but now I'm kinda not seeing the value. The build quality is compromised by defective switches, and stable current firmware is apparently on the back burner for the foreseeable future. I normally don't buy version one of anything, but fractals track record of flawless manufacturing and my desire to lighten my rig suckered me in. I mean I told them for years to make this thing, I just expected then to get it right, whoever inspected my unit should be fired. For the money I paid for this thing I could have bought a used III and just ad a bit more for an FC of some sort. Not the firm factor I wanted, but I don't think I'd feel as frustrated about it as I do the fm9.

Yes this beta 2.01 sounds worse to me than v1.
V 2 beta sounds great but was buggy as all hell so had to get rolled back.
I am starting to feel a bit more buyers remorse again. The FM9 has definitely failed to fully live up to my expectations. There's build quality issues with the switches, the scribble strips are underwhelming, and 5 months in and no official firmware update, while there's been about a dozen for the other platforms.
At first I was pleased with the units price, but now I'm kinda not seeing the value. The build quality is compromised by defective switches, and stable current firmware is apparently on the back burner for the foreseeable future. I normally don't buy version one of anything, but fractals track record of flawless manufacturing and my desire to lighten my rig suckered me in. I mean I told them for years to make this thing, I just expected then to get it right, whoever inspected my unit should be fired. For the money I paid for this thing I could have bought a used III and just ad a bit more for an FC of some sort. Not the firm factor I wanted, but I don't think I'd feel as frustrated about it as I do the fm9.

Totally feel you on this. I've been losing gigs because my FM9 at times doesn't produce output. Turning if off and on a bunch seems to fix it but I can't keep doing this. I've sent it to Fractal and they just did a hard reset, which fixed it for a couple of weeks and then the problem persisted. The new beta 2.01 didn't fix the issue. I feel helpless. It's a shame because, it's the best sounding Fractal I've owned but it's just too buggy and unreliable.

 

[ezvictor]

updated 2.00b to 2.01b but don't see a large reduction in CPU. Sounded good before and to my ears still sounds good. No issues as far as I can tell.

 

[Fat Biscuit]

Totally feel you on this. I've been losing gigs because my FM9 at times doesn't produce output. Turning if off and on a bunch seems to fix it but I can't keep doing this. I've sent it to Fractal and they just did a hard reset, which fixed it for a couple of weeks and then the problem persisted. The new beta 2.01 didn't fix the issue. I feel helpless. It's a shame because, it's the best sounding Fractal I've owned but it's just too buggy and unreliable.

Randomly not producing output sounds like a terrible issue to have. Does the output cut out on any factory presets? Does a low cpu usage preset (amp, cab, output) also have the cutout issue?

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Totally feel you on this. I've been losing gigs because my FM9 at times doesn't produce output. Turning if off and on a bunch seems to fix it but I can't keep doing this. I've sent it to Fractal and they just did a hard reset, which fixed it for a couple of weeks and then the problem persisted. The new beta 2.01 didn't fix the issue. I feel helpless. It's a shame because, it's the best sounding Fractal I've owned but it's just too buggy and unreliable.

I told Fractal about this and they just told me to post on this forum.

That doesn’t sound like anything they’d say. The forum is not their official support channel, support is.

Have you contacted support about it again?

Did you buy the FM9 used?

 

[hobbes1]

Totally feel you on this. I've been losing gigs because my FM9 at times doesn't produce output. Turning if off and on a bunch seems to fix it but I can't keep doing this. I've sent it to Fractal and they just did a hard reset, which fixed it for a couple of weeks and then the problem persisted. The new beta 2.01 didn't fix the issue. I feel helpless. It's a shame because, it's the best sounding Fractal I've owned but it's just too buggy and unreliable.

I feel your pain for sure as I have experienced numerous issues with first FM9 (that was replaced by Fractal) and second FM9 as well, that seems more software/firmware related. I just rolled back to firmware v1 last night. I haven't had time to do anything but verify that a few presets work (eg: produce a pleasing sound). Hoping to test it more thoroughly this weekend. Fingers crossed it is stable without lockups/noise, etc.
I detailed my (bumpy) ride back to v1 upthread. It was just not a smooth process for me at all. I don't make my living playing music but I feel for anyone who has one of these and does, after spending this much money and having potentially problematic units. Hoping it's all sorted soon.

 

[Theodore84]

That doesn’t sound like anything they’d say. The forum is not their official support channel, support is.

Have you contacted support about it again?

Did you buy the FM9 used?

I contacted support and they told me my best bet is to let these issues be known on the beta forums and he gave me the link to this forum. I bought the FM9 brand new. I think support is done helping me.

 

[Theodore84]

Randomly not producing output sounds like a terrible issue to have. Does the output cut out on any factory presets? Does a low cpu usage preset (amp, cab, output) also have the cutout issue?

Yes, output is not produced on factory presets as well as my presets and presets started from scratch. CPU on all presets is usually around 60 or 70%.