Hi everyone. After years in the Fractal world, I’ve recently switched to a Boss GT-1000 Core, and I wanted to explain why. This wasn’t a rage-quit, nor a reaction to one bad rehearsal. It was a slow accumulation of friction—what I now call functional fatigue—that eventually made the unit incompatible with my reality as a gigging guitarist.
First, let me be absolutely fair:
Fractal’s modeling is unmatched.
There is a depth, dimension, and realism that is simply astonishing. If you enjoy fine-tuning virtual mics, adjusting speaker compliance, sag behavior, diode curves, and transformer HF, Fractal is the best tool ever created. Nothing compares.
But I am not a studio tinkerer. I’m a live musician.
And in that world, the FM3 slowly became an obstacle.
1. Ergonomics: Scale, Weight, and Practicality
The FM3 is marketed as compact, but in a pedalboard scenario, it’s the opposite. A massive portion of the top panel is dedicated to screen/buttons you don’t touch in live use. Only three footswitches remain, forcing you into a labyrinth of layouts, tap/hold logic, and mental bookkeeping.
And then there’s the practical side:
On my TempleBoard the FM3 was simply too tall to fit in any standard gig bag. Add the required peripherals—expression pedal, MIDI controller, wireless, external switches—and the “compact unit” becomes a heavy, awkward system.
My new GT-1000 Core board is 45 × 24 cm and weighs 3.5 kg.
My FM3 board was 48 × 35 cm and the FM3 alone weighed 3 kg.
It’s absurd that my entire new rig weighs the same as the FM3 by itself.
2. The Grid Fallacy and CPU Tyranny
The Grid gives an illusion of limitless freedom… until the CPU says no.
A blank preset with Amp + Cab + Drive already eats nearly half the CPU. Add a proper Reverb and Delay and you’re negotiating with “Mr CPU Limit” every step of the way.
Worse, this shapes your entire workflow:
• You avoid experimenting.
• You avoid “leaving blocks ready” for rehearsal.
• You think twice before trying a new effect.
In the Core, the fixed chain is massive, predictable, and everything can be turned on simultaneously without tanking the system. I’ll take genuine stability over theoretical flexibility any day.
3. Footswitch Psychology: Flexibility That Backfires in Real Life
Fractal’s footswitch architecture is brilliant on paper and stressful on stage.
• Tap vs Hold delays: the unit waits for you to release your foot, so effects trigger late on the downbeat.
• Layout jumps: a slightly wrong press and you’re suddenly in Master Layout mid-solo.
• Scene toggles: needing a double-click to jump from Scene 1 to Scene 3 means hearing Scene 2 in the transition—completely unusable live.
The GT-1000 Core forced me into predictability. One pedal mode. No layouts. No double logic. If I push a switch, the unit reacts instantly—always.
4. Connectivity and Rehearsal Reality
It still amazes me that a 3-kg floor unit with a huge internal power supply has no 9V DC out. Something as ordinary as powering a wireless receiver becomes a separate problem.
But the real dealbreaker:
Fractal forces you to depend on the editor.
If you want to test a new block in rehearsal, you need to stop the band and open a laptop. You can’t leave blocks in place “just in case” because CPU constraints won’t allow it.
On the Core, all blocks exist in the chain by default. I don’t build a routing—I just turn things on. Seconds vs minutes. This alone is worth gold in rehearsal settings.
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Leaving Fractal wasn’t easy. Their modeling is the best in the world.
But the GT-1000 Core brought me something I didn’t realize I had lost:
The ability to just play.
No fear of layouts.
No CPU anxiety.
No accidental jumps.
No laptop dependency.
No six-layer modifier structures just to run a wah and a whammy in the same preset.
With the Core, I regained immediacy, predictability, and peace of mind.
And honestly? My back and my pedalboard thank me too.
See you all on stage.
And truly—thanks for the years.
