Help! Noise issue with new FM3

Admin M@ said:
Also, try powering off your computer or other devices to try to find the source of the interference. Phones. Dimmer switches. Even expensive computers often have cheap power supplies or cases that emit a lot of RF/EMI.

If you weren't hearing it before that may be because it was being gated more aggressively, or maybe a different product didn't have the bandwidth to reveal this problem in your environment.
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I’ve tried shutting off everything in the room and it’s still there. Moved the set up to another room and it’s also there. The product I was using before was the hx stomp and I could get everything quiet with minimal tweaks on the noise gate. No weird interference on the decay of palm mutes or any mutes for that matter.

I’ve tried multiple gate settings and no matter how hard I crank down it’s still very apparent only on the decay of mutes or touches. Tried putting two gates in the chain and still there.

This house is pretty old. We don’t have any light dimmers in the house that I’m aware of.

I’m really kinda lost at this point. I thought it might have been my frfr but after doing some tests and using my computer monitors it does the same exact thing.
 
Rex said:
The fact that it doesn't change as you move around suggests that the interference might be in the house wiring. In other words, everywhere at once.
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So in other words there pretty much nothing I could do? It is a super old house. And we’re renting it. It was wired by the landlord to my knowledge.

would a hum buster cable to connect my frfr and maybe a mogami shielded instrument cable make any difference?

or buying an external ISP Decimator?
 
only other thing I can thing now is that your patch on the fm3 may just be loaded up with too much gain? (a thought) while I do not have a problem turning up excessive gain on my setup just wondering, is the sound prevalent on say a clean patch with no gain/distortion?
 
DaveO said:
only other thing I can thing now is that your patch on the fm3 may just be loaded up with too much gain? (a thought) while I do not have a problem turning up excessive gain on my setup just wondering, is the sound prevalent on say a clean patch with no gain/distortion?
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Nope no issues on a clean patch. I’ve tried turning down the gain to the point to where it’s not even usable for heavy stuff and it still prevails. Weirdest thing I’ve ever dealt with and easily the most annoying.
 
Egraham93 said:
So in other words there pretty much nothing I could do? It is a super old house. And we’re renting it. It was wired by the landlord to my knowledge.

would a hum buster cable to connect my frfr and maybe a mogami shielded instrument cable make any difference?

or buying an external ISP Decimator?
Click to expand...
When I use to rent, in my homes my music room I'd run a ground wire or two for each outlet to a cold water pipe, if the home is old and has knob and tube ground wiring it should help, it use to help me, it was a trick my dad taught me...
 
Egraham93 said:
Nope no issues on a clean patch. I’ve tried turning down the gain to the point to where it’s not even usable for heavy stuff and it still prevails. Weirdest thing I’ve ever dealt with and easily the most annoying.
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are you in a multi unit dwelling or single family detached?
 
Egraham93 said:
It’s just a old single family
Home
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if you can, drill a small hole to run a ground wire to the cold water pipe and switch out the outlet for modern plug to accommodate it I'd highly recommend, I lived in a old single family in the 80's, w/knob and tube and fuse box, at the time I had synthesizers, MC500 and a GP8 it really cleaned up things in my music room, but that's just my suggestion. Good luck..
 
Egraham93 said:
So in other words there pretty much nothing I could do? It is a super old house. And we’re renting it. It was wired by the landlord to my knowledge.
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The interference must have a source, even if it's getting into your house wiring. You have to find the source.


Egraham93 said:
would a hum buster cable to connect my frfr and maybe a mogami shielded instrument cable make any difference?

or buying an external ISP Decimator?
Click to expand...
Humbuster won't touch interference that's coming in through your guitar. Neither will a shielded cable. A Decimator may or may not work better than the FM3's built-in noise gate.

Shielding your guitar could help. Or, if you're using single-coil pickups, consider humbuckers. But the ultimate fix is to identify and shut down the source of the interference.
 
Rex said:
The interference must have a source, even if it's getting into your house wiring. You have to find the source.



Humbuster won't touch interference that's coming in through your guitar. Neither will a shielded cable. A Decimator may or may not work better than the FM3's built-in noise gate.

Shielding your guitar could help. Or, if you're using single-coil pickups, consider humbuckers. But the ultimate fix is to identify and shut down the source of the interference.
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I’ve tried everything,literally that I can think of. At this point the only option I have is to try and get my money back by selling it. Which blows because it sounds amazing if it wasn’t for al the noise. As mentioned i rent this house so I’m not to confident in messing with the wiring. Someone mentioned a ebtech hum x eliminator but I’m not sure if that would work for what’s going on
 
Egraham93 said:
I’ve tried everything,literally that I can think of. At this point the only option I have is to try and get my money back by selling it. Which blows because it sounds amazing if it wasn’t for al the noise. As mentioned i rent this house so I’m not to confident in messing with the wiring. Someone mentioned a ebtech hum x eliminator but I’m not sure if that would work for what’s going on
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FWIW, I’m not talking about messing with the wiring, but rather hunting down the appliance/light/gizmo/whatever that’s injecting the interference into your wiring — if that’s what’s going on.

What gear do you have now that doesn’t have this problem when running the same amount of gain?
 
Rex said:
FWIW, I’m not talking about messing with the wiring, but rather hunting down the appliance/light/gizmo/whatever that’s injecting the interference into your wiring — if that’s what’s going on.

What gear do you have now that doesn’t have this problem when running the same amount of gain?
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I know you weren’t. I was referring to what the other guy had mentioned doing too. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to try and help me honestly.

the fm3 is all I have right this second with my laney lfr112 FRFR. But I was using a hx stomp through the laney for quite some time until I decided to try and fm3 again. All I had to do was tuna minimal gate setting and it was dead quiet.
The main issue I’m having is from noise just all’s round. The rig is mostly
Silent but the only time I’m having the feedback issue is when I play palm mutes. You can hear it when the note decays. Literally only on mutes or mutes chugs it comes through and is very annoying. If I’m just playing normal stuff and not chugging or muting at all it’s dead quiet for the most part. It’s definitely not a technique thing either.

I didn’t have this interference with mutes and all of that with the stomp. Or my old pod go or tube amp with cab. I’ve lived here for 2 years and had a few different set ups. This is the only one I’ve had issues with.
 
Egraham93 said:
I know you weren’t. I was referring to what the other guy had mentioned doing too. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to try and help me honestly.
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No worries. I don't envy your situation. Hunting down interference is a PITA.


Egraham93 said:
The rig is mostly Silent but the only time I’m having the feedback issue is when I play palm mutes. You can hear it when the note decays. Literally only on mutes or mutes chugs it comes through and is very annoying. If I’m just playing normal stuff and not chugging or muting at all it’s dead quiet for the most part. It’s definitely not a technique thing either.

I didn’t have this interference with mutes and all of that with the stomp. Or my old pod go or tube amp with cab. I’ve lived here for 2 years and had a few different set ups. This is the only one I’ve had issues with.
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That's key information. It only happens with your FM3, and it's only after palm mutes, when it's coming out of saturation.

We know that the self-noise of Fractal gear is as low as it gets. If we assume that your FM3 doesn't have a hardware malfunction, the most likely culprit is that you're using more gain than with previous rigs. Beyond a certain point, increasing gain doesn't produce additional apparent distortion; it just brings the noise floor up. And gain is at its maximum when the signal level goes down, because that makes compression back off.

Pick through your preset, looking for sources of gain and compression. Each time you find a source, see how far you can back it down without substantial changes to tone or feel. With each reduction, your interference problem will be reduced. You might just find a few happy spots along that journey. :)
 
Rex said:
No worries. I don't envy your situation. Hunting down interference is a PITA.



That's key information. It only happens with your FM3, and it's only after palm mutes, when it's coming out of saturation.

We know that the self-noise of Fractal gear is as low as it gets. If we assume that your FM3 doesn't have a hardware malfunction, the most likely culprit is that you're using more gain than with previous rigs. Beyond a certain point, increasing gain doesn't produce additional apparent distortion; it just brings the noise floor up. And gain is at its maximum when the signal level goes down, because that makes compression back off.

Pick through your preset, looking for sources of gain and compression. Each time you find a source, see how far you can back it down without substantial changes to tone or feel. With each reduction, your interference problem will be reduced. You might just find a few happy spots along that journey. :)
Click to expand...
I’ve been pretty busy with working at it. No luck thus far. I wish there was a way to tell for certain that the unit isn’t the issue. I appreciate all the help
 
Egraham93 said:
I wish there was a way to tell for certain that the unit isn’t the issue. I appreciate all the help
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The only way to know for sure is with a bench full of test equipment.

Usually, when this type of electronics fails, it fails catastrophically. You know right away that something isn't right. But that's no guarantee. Anyway, open a case with Fractal support before you decide to pack it in altogether.
 
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Rex said:
The only way to know for sure is with a bench full of test equipment.

Usually, when this type of electronics fails, it fails catastrophically. You know right away that something isn't right. But that's no guarantee. Anyway, open a case with Fractal support before you decide to pack it in altogether.
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I sent them a message. It’s rather odd because I have absolutely zero issues with the clean tones or moderately driven clean tones.
 
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