FM9T Startup bugs

ShomerShabbos

ShomerShabbos

Member
I purchased an FM9T about six weeks ago. I’m the second owner. The unit looks pristine. Still has plastic in the display screens.

About once every 5-6 days there is some kind of weird problem at startup. One time one of the footswitches was unresponsive in all presets / scenes. One time all sounds had a digital distortion. Several times the unit powered up, but all screens were blank except for dashes. For each problem, turning the unit off then back on solved the issues. Everything was normal again after a reboot.

I emailed with several folks in FAS support. They weren’t sure of the cause / solution. I’m depending on this unit for lots of upcoming travel dates. Is anyone else experiencing these kinds of startup bugs?

FYI: I run all my presets at 70% CPU or less.

Video of digital distortion:


Photos attached.

Thanks for sharing your experience!
 

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boyedav said:
After you received the unit, did you factory reset all settings, and are you running the latest firmware? Does it start up to the same preset every time? Is it starting up with USB/MIDI devices connected?
Click to expand...

No, I didn’t do factory reset. I suggested that to the support guys, but they felt it wouldn’t make a difference.

No, different preset every time.

Most of the time USB is connected
 
ShomerShabbos said:
I purchased an FM9T about six weeks ago. I’m the second owner. The unit looks pristine. Still has plastic in the display screens.

About once every 5-6 days there is some kind of weird problem at startup. One time one of the footswitches was unresponsive in all presets / scenes. One time all sounds had a digital distortion. Several times the unit powered up, but all screens were blank except for dashes. For each problem, turning the unit off then back on solved the issues. Everything was normal again after a reboot.

I emailed with several folks in FAS support. They weren’t sure of the cause / solution. I’m depending on this unit for lots of upcoming travel dates. Is anyone else experiencing these kinds of startup bugs?

FYI: I run all my presets at 70% CPU or less.

Video of digital distortion:


Photos attached.

Thanks for sharing your experience!
Click to expand...

I have experienced something very similar. So similar in fact I think it's probably the same issue, although with things like this you can never be certain ofc. I have a call open with support, and have agreed with them that I will send diagnostic data the next time it happens.

Unfortunately that's as much as I can tell you atm, except to add that I have owned my FM9T from new and only in the last few months have I experienced this type of issue.

As @Anton Karelin suggested, reverting to the stock Presets is probably a good idea. I'm also not sure I agree with the support team that a factory reset wouldn't help, because what I do know is that this is an intermittent issue that is very difficult to replicate, which tends to suggest that it is some obscure combination of versions/settings/drivers etc. Reverting to default and starting over might (at least for a while), prevent you from seeing the issue as often.

What would be great (just to help get to the bottom of the issue), is if the next time it happens, you could make note of exactly what is connected to the unit, and what order you did things, before power off and power on, then post on here 👍
 
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The distortion thing happened again.

FYI:
I don’t have the USB cable plugged into my computer.
The first preset I’m on is a dirty sound; the second is a clean sound.

What the hell?

 
ShomerShabbos said:
The distortion thing happened again.

FYI:
I don’t have the USB cable plugged into my computer.
The first preset I’m on is a dirty sound; the second is a clean sound.

What the hell?

Click to expand...

Useful to have the video 👍

Just for info, how are your cables connected? It looks as if you've got Output 1 & Output 2 routed to L&R of something (speakers/interface) ?

Then presumably the Guitar is just Input 1? What about the pedals to the right in the video, how are they connected?

Do you have anything like SPDIF connected?

I got the issue again last night - this time on a Preset that routes via SPDIF, which is part of the reason I ask. It may be totally unrelated ofc.

I also note that like me you have Output 3 volume at max for Unity Gain setting... could this be related?
 
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WhiteRoom said:
Useful to have the video 👍

Just for info, how are your cables connected? It looks as if you've got Output 1 & Output 2 routed to L&R of something (speakers/interface) ?

Then presumably the Guitar is just Input 1? What about the pedals to the right in the video, how are they connected?

Do you have anything like SPDIF connected?

I got the issue again last night - this time on a Preset that routes via SPDIF, which is part of the reason I ask. It may be totally unrelated ofc.

I also note that like me you have Output 3 volume at max for Unity Gain setting... could this be related?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

Out 1 L&R go nowhere at the moment. They were plugged into my mixer for recording. These outs are dedicated for FOH.

Out 2 L&R go to a pair of QSC powered wedges for stage volume.

Out 3 was used to experiment using a Keeley Halo in the effects loop. I read to keep the level at 100% for that application. I no longer use the loop, because I was getting pretty big tone suck.

No other connections.

I’m using a satellite board with a wireless and two pedals “in front of the amp.” I had these issues before I had the satellite board.
 
Thanks.

I have a few more questions sorry :grin:

Did the issue continue when you switched Presets?

What are your Gapless settings? Mine are "All" and "All".

Is Output 3 still on the Grid in the Preset in the video?

Would you be willing to upload the Preset in the video, so I can compare it with one of mine that had the issue?
 
WhiteRoom said:
Thanks.

I have a few more questions sorry :grin:

Did the issue continue when you switched Presets?

What are your Gapless settings? Mine are "All" and "All".

Is Output 3 still on the Grid in the Preset in the video?

Would you be willing to upload the Preset in the video, so I can compare it with one of mine that had the issue?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your help!

Yes, the issues don’t seem at all related to a specific preset. In the most recent video I shared, I switch from a dirty preset to a crystal clean preset. The problem remained until I rebooted.

Gapless settings? I have Spillover set to All. I’m new to the Fractal stuff. I don’t know all the ins and outs yet.

No, Out3 is not on the grid.

I’d be glad to share presets, but the issues don’t seem tied to one of them.
 
FWIW, my FM9T has displayed '---' in each scribble strip a couple of times using factory presets and FW v6.x. Cycling power always results in a normal boot. Happens very infrequently... maybe once every 100+ boot ups.
 
I have subsequently been in contact with support after capturing some USB diagnostic data they'd requested. They confirmed that USB drivers did not appear to be the main cause of the problem, and that data comms over USB was not at fault.

A few emails later and an offer for support to look at the unit rejected (by me), and I was told that the dev team are looking into the issue.

I'm confident they'll get to the bottom of it simply because it must surely happen on one of the many units they test on at some point. It may take a while because it's a sneaky one, and very difficult to replicate, even for those of us that get the problem every now and then.
 
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