HX Stomp in Loop of FM3?

Ugly Bunny

Ugly Bunny

Power User
As many of you who, like me, occasionally cheat on Fractal know, the HX 3.15 FW dropped yesterday. I'm intrigued by the slew of new effects, but I despise the HX amp/cab tones, so I want to try the effects out with my FM3 instead, whose amp/cab tones are to die for (there, I said it. Where's my check, FAS?).

Just looking for quick tips/pointers or things to avoid when connecting them. I plan to go:

  • Output 2 (stereo) to L/R In on the Stomp to stereo out on the stomp to Input 2 (stereo) on the FM3.

Any tips for settings, impedance, volume matching, etc. that you can offer would be appreciated. I don't think it'll be too difficult to figure out, but you never know what little thing you might miss that'll make you hate your tone and think everything's broken.

I'm intrigued also by the new drives in the new FW, but I guess if I want to hear the new drives AND time-based stuff without having to change connections to hear one or the other, I might have to wait until I get my Axe Fx III back to have the flexibility I need to run a mono loop for the pre-amp stuff and a stereo loop for the time-based, post-amp stuff.
 
I just picked up a Stomp to run in the loop for some DSP relief and to have a backup on the board. I run it in mono, so my signal chain isn't quite as complicated, but I run it in the loop following my cab block and run a Strymon Volante into the loop of the stomp. I use the Stomp for some always on effects (room reverb, light studio compression) and a couple switchable modulation or delay effects. Both the Stomp and Volante are controlled via MIDI for presets and then I can tweak knobs or footswitches on the fly. This allows me to run volume, a compressor, two drives, amp, cab, and EQs before the loop as well as the plex delay after the loop so my total signal chain looks something like this: Volume (Exp Pedal) - Compressor - Drive 1 - Drive 2 - Amp - Cab - PEQ - (into Stomp) - GEQ (bright setting for my tele) - Chorus - Cosmic Delay - Studio Comp - Volante - (Out of Stomp) - Plex Delay. I play in a cover band, so this gives me a ton of flexibility and I'm still exploring some other routing options. I could absolutely get away with not using the Volante, but I adore the sounds and the manual tweaking ability with all of the knobs and heads accessable. The SOS looper is also a really cool feature to have. I was hoping to be able to do without the Plex Delay, but the shimmer reverb on the stomp just doesn't sound as good as the Econo Shimmer 2 setting I have in the FM3. I also love the stack/hold function and use it with the Plex Tape Echo setting to get a really dynamic pad sound for a couple of songs using an expression pedal, so it remains in my signal chain. Crazy flexible, built in backup, and the ability to get the best of both worlds from Fractal and Line 6.
 
@Cam Heiliger I fell in love with the Volante when I was playing it in the store; played it for about 2 hours straight (I'm sure the employees loved me) but then as soon as I got it home, I probably haven't spent more than 2 hours with it in the 2 years I've owned it. I don't know. I guess the magic was in the store, not the pedal for me lol!! I still have it, in hopes I might dive into it again, but I don't know. I couldn't figure out how the various buttons changed the sounds (tapeheads?). Cool pedal, though, from what I remember of my initial time with it...
 
Ugly Bunny said:
@Cam Heiliger I fell in love with the Volante when I was playing it in the store; played it for about 2 hours straight (I'm sure the employees loved me) but then as soon as I got it home, I probably haven't spent more than 2 hours with it in the 2 years I've owned it. I don't know. I guess the magic was in the store, not the pedal for me lol!! I still have it, in hopes I might dive into it again, but I don't know. I couldn't figure out how the various buttons changed the sounds (tapeheads?). Cool pedal, though, from what I remember of my initial time with it...
Click to expand...
If you love the sounds, then it is worth exploring to learn how to dial it in. Especially if you like weird, warbly delays or really worn down tape ambience. I like it because i can get my hands on all of the features and dial in sounds on the fly quickly. I'm sure if I spent enough time I could dial in similar sounds on the FM3, but it would take forever. If you do anything ambient it also really excels there - use the Golden Ratio settings and crank up the spring reverb and you will be a very happy camper. If you don't use MIDI, it is pretty limited, but if you do, it opens up a lot of possibilities. The only downside is that, unlike the Timeline, it doesn't have visible presets on a screen, so you have to keep a running note on what PC settings correspond to your presets. It also stores tap tempo, reverb decay and size, tape speed, etc. Plus you mess with all the knobs in a live setting and get those crazy analogue/tape sounds by cranking up the repeats and volume and turning the time knob. Tons of fun.
 
Hello All,

First post!!
I hate to intrude on this post, but I thought it a relevant thread, so my apologies.
I recently purchased an FM3 along with an HX Effects and a BOSS RC600. The idea is to use the HX Effects as a supplemental effects pedal and then the looper as a composition tool, which i would like to place in the fx loop of the HX Effects. I am, however, having doubts about the way everything needs to be set up and, more specifically, about how i arrange the signal chain in the FM3 to route certain effects from the HX before (drives, comp, etc.) and after the amp (mod, delay, reverb) in the FM3 or at any point for that matter. I’ve included a diagram i drew up to give you guys an idea of what I’m thinking in terms of cable routing. I’m hoping that would help you all determine the best course of action for this particular setup. Any help with this would be immensely appreciated. Thank you!!
 

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Pr0ject2500 said:
Hello All,

First post!!
I hate to intrude on this post, but I thought it a relevant thread, so my apologies.
I recently purchased an FM3 along with an HX Effects and a BOSS RC600. The idea is to use the HX Effects as a supplemental effects pedal and then the looper as a composition tool, which i would like to place in the fx loop of the HX Effects. I am, however, having doubts about the way everything needs to be set up and, more specifically, about how i arrange the signal chain in the FM3 to route certain effects from the HX before (drives, comp, etc.) and after the amp (mod, delay, reverb) in the FM3 or at any point for that matter. I’ve included a diagram i drew up to give you guys an idea of what I’m thinking in terms of cable routing. I’m hoping that would help you all determine the best course of action for this particular setup. Any help with this would be immensely appreciated. Thank you!!
Click to expand...
You won’t need any of the drives from the HX effects, so you can easily place this after the FM3 to just use for delays and verbs. My suggestion: FM3 > HX effects > Looper. Done. Easy peezy.
 
Ugly Bunny said:
You won’t need any of the drives from the HX effects, so you can easily place this after the FM3 to just use for delays and verbs. My suggestion: FM3 > HX effects > Looper. Done. Easy peezy.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the answer. What I would like to do, though (if possible), is keep the rc600 in the loop of the Hx effects while pairing the Hx with FM3 in a stereo 4-cable method. I love the FM3’s reverbs, so I plan making good use of those along with the amp/cabs, but would also like it if I could use some poly pitch effects from the HX before the amp and some delays as well after. I hope that made sense.
 
Pr0ject2500 said:
I really appreciate the answer. What I would like to do, though (if possible), is keep the rc600 in the loop of the Hx effects while pairing the Hx with FM3 in a stereo 4-cable method. I love the FM3’s reverbs, so I plan making good use of those along with the amp/cabs, but would also like it if I could use some poly pitch effects from the HX before the amp and some delays as well after. I hope that made sense.
Click to expand...

Just remember, every A/D stage is going to incur latency. Maybe the sum will still be under your threshold where it matters, maybe not...
 
Will Chen said:
Just remember, every A/D stage is going to incur latency. Maybe the sum will still be under your threshold where it matters, maybe not...
Click to expand...
Yeah, when I read his plan, all I could think about was how much latency there'd be with that many pieces of digital gear lol!
 
@Pr0ject2500 There are a number of ways of doing this. Here’s one that I think does what you want. This is a variation of the 4-channel (7-channel) method that has the FM3 stand in for the amp as far as the cabling goes. The signal hits the FM3 as mono but from there on in it can be treated as stereo. This approach only speaks to cabling not latency but when you think of a typical pedalboard today with many of the pedals being digital and the signal undergoing multiple stages of A/D conversion, this could be ok.

NxJH5mA.jpg


The guitar goes into the HX Effects and from there into the FM3. From there the signal is routed from the FM3 into the HX Effects and then back into the FM3. Finally the output from the FM3 is routed from to the RC-600 where it can be fed to either speakers or headphones - (my reading of the Parameter Guide says you can set your levels from the system settings).

Guitar -> HX-14 INPUT
  • HX blocks
  • HX-13 Send -> FM3-16 instrument input
  • FM3 blocks ( …, Amp+Cab, …) to Out 2
  • FM3-20 OUT 2 / FX SND (L+R) -> HX-13 RETURN (1+2)
  • HX blocks to Output
  • HX-15 OUTPUT (L+R) -> FM3-19 IN 2 / FX RTN (L+R)
  • FM3 blocks to Out 1
  • FM3-17 XLR OUT 1 (L+R) -> RC600-7 INPUT (L+R)
  • RC600-8 -> Speakers/Headphones
This does require a pair of XLR or XLR to TRS cables but I think achieves what you want.
 
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Ugly Bunny said:
@Cam Heiliger I fell in love with the Volante when I was playing it in the store; played it for about 2 hours straight (I'm sure the employees loved me) but then as soon as I got it home, I probably haven't spent more than 2 hours with it in the 2 years I've owned it. I don't know. I guess the magic was in the store, not the pedal for me lol!! I still have it, in hopes I might dive into it again, but I don't know. I couldn't figure out how the various buttons changed the sounds (tapeheads?). Cool pedal, though, from what I remember of my initial time with it...
Click to expand...
Top four buttons are the actual delay sound, bottom four buttons are the "feedback" sound of each delay.

I keep mine set to all clean, "studio" mode, no preamp gain, no wear, no lo cuts, and just have it as an always on delay.

It has a "jfet" preamp if you turn up the input.


Its definitely a great pedal.

Your head would explode if you saw the NIghtsky though... That one... little more of a learning cure.
 
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