Lohengrin
Inspired
I have recently received my FM3. I was curious to check if it could substitute the AF2 in my band's rack, because I could take advantage of the added portability. It's a narrow use case but I think some of the points I made are still valid for this discussion: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/fm3-vs-axe-fx-ii-as-a-racked-device.163549/
I'm still in the process of stretching my presets to determine if anything has to really go, but one thing that surprised me is the short time between scene changes with different amp channels (different models). This is a feature I barely use In the Axe Fx, because I normally have two amps in parallel for seamless switching between rythm, solo or clean. I thought this was going to be a problem, but I stand corrected: switching time in this case is so small that I can perfectly use that for gigs, even being the only guitarist in the band.
Still, there are some things that I still didn’t found a way around: a pitchshifter for dual guitar sim together with a pitchshifter for harmonies; songs in which I use different effects for different sections that I can’t keep in the same preset so I need to switch presets in-song, etc.
That being said... chances are that for some scenarios you will find some of the advantages in the AF3 a game changer. For someone it could be I/O for quick reamping, for some others it could be the dual amps, maybe just the sheer CPU power which greatly speeds up preset creation, or running multiple instruments through a single device… In other cases everything will seem to be 100% great with the FM3 and then suddenly you could hit an annoying wall that an AF3 could break: wanting to spillover rev+delay between sounds with different rev and delay parameters. In my experience, these are things you are not using 95% of the time, but when you hit one of them it could be annoying.
Long story short: for bedroom playing… I would say FM3. AF3 in this scenario makes perfect sense as well, but I would say it is “luxury”, so speaking, in most cases.
I'm still in the process of stretching my presets to determine if anything has to really go, but one thing that surprised me is the short time between scene changes with different amp channels (different models). This is a feature I barely use In the Axe Fx, because I normally have two amps in parallel for seamless switching between rythm, solo or clean. I thought this was going to be a problem, but I stand corrected: switching time in this case is so small that I can perfectly use that for gigs, even being the only guitarist in the band.
Still, there are some things that I still didn’t found a way around: a pitchshifter for dual guitar sim together with a pitchshifter for harmonies; songs in which I use different effects for different sections that I can’t keep in the same preset so I need to switch presets in-song, etc.
That being said... chances are that for some scenarios you will find some of the advantages in the AF3 a game changer. For someone it could be I/O for quick reamping, for some others it could be the dual amps, maybe just the sheer CPU power which greatly speeds up preset creation, or running multiple instruments through a single device… In other cases everything will seem to be 100% great with the FM3 and then suddenly you could hit an annoying wall that an AF3 could break: wanting to spillover rev+delay between sounds with different rev and delay parameters. In my experience, these are things you are not using 95% of the time, but when you hit one of them it could be annoying.
Long story short: for bedroom playing… I would say FM3. AF3 in this scenario makes perfect sense as well, but I would say it is “luxury”, so speaking, in most cases.
