I miss my Fractal...

Ron_R

Power User
I had an Axe Fx II Mark II for about a decade, and for a lot of reasons had to get rid of it. Which was actually quite lucky, as a few months after I did, I had a horrible flood in my studio. Which basically ruined just about everything.

I now have one guitar and a Spark and am having fun, but really miss the versatility and hi fi aspect of the Fractal products. As well as the thousands and thousands of sounds in the Fractal Products. I have no use for a rack mounted unit like the Fx III, but have started looking at the FM3. I did have an HX Stomp for awhile, and it just didn't do it for me. The FM3 seems like the perfect little unit for a now home hobbyist like me.

For someone who had a rack unit and moved to the FM3, are you satisfied with it? Sound, functionality, and user interface wise? I was very adept at the Fx II, both with Axe FX Edit and the front panel.

Thought?
 
It depends on the depth of your presets. I've always been able to get by with an FM3. I just needed more than the three switches though.

Most of my presets were very simple. Single Amp, Cab, and then boost, delay and reverb for dirty presents, and delay, reverb, chorus or tremolo for clean presets. Never needed dual amp really. As far as more switches, I'm possible looking at the FM9, but don't need the dual amp function at all. I can't afford to get anything right now, so I'll keep an eye out. Thanks!
 
Most of my presets were very simple. Single Amp, Cab, and then boost, delay and reverb for dirty presents, and delay, reverb, chorus or tremolo for clean presets. Never needed dual amp really. As far as more switches, I'm possible looking at the FM9, but don't need the dual amp function at all. I can't afford to get anything right now, so I'll keep an eye out. Thanks!
It's more than just dual amps and extra switches... It has twice the processing power (which is about half of the Axe Fx III).
 
Yeah the FM9 is definitely the best value for what you get. If I was starting again from scratch, the FM9 would be top of my list.
 
I had an Axe Fx II Mark II for about a decade, and for a lot of reasons had to get rid of it. Which was actually quite lucky, as a few months after I did, I had a horrible flood in my studio. Which basically ruined just about everything.

I now have one guitar and a Spark and am having fun, but really miss the versatility and hi fi aspect of the Fractal products. As well as the thousands and thousands of sounds in the Fractal Products. I have no use for a rack mounted unit like the Fx III, but have started looking at the FM3. I did have an HX Stomp for awhile, and it just didn't do it for me. The FM3 seems like the perfect little unit for a now home hobbyist like me.

For someone who had a rack unit and moved to the FM3, are you satisfied with it? Sound, functionality, and user interface wise? I was very adept at the Fx II, both with Axe FX Edit and the front panel.

Thought?
As a long time user, I tend to buy the new ones very time they are introduced. All except the III, which is heavy overkill for my humble needs.
I have the FM3 amd the FM9. I was very happy with the FM3. really didnot need to get the FM9. I like it, don't get me wrong.
But I don't do anything different with the FM9 than I did with the FM3. IAH, I had some extra cash so why not.
I am happy with the FM9 but would be just as happy with the FM3....I am keeping both afaik atm

I should add, many mention the power. one of my beefs about the FM3 was how long it took to scan all the presets whenever you made a change of consequence.
The FM9 ZIPS thru the scan extremeluy fast. That alone is a biggie for me and perhaps why the FM3 is boxed in my closet!
 
For someone who had a rack unit and moved to the FM3, are you satisfied with it? Sound, functionality, and user interface wise? I was very adept at the Fx II, both with Axe FX Edit and the front panel.

Thought?

I had an Axe-Fx 2 Mk 1 for many years. Sold it when the Axe-Fx 3 was released, went with regular amps for a few years and bought a used FM3 at the start of this year.

I do find the FM3 more limiting and I don't have particularly complex presets. I never ran out of DSP on the Axe-Fx 2 but the FM3 it's pretty easy to hit the walls as a lot of stuff is more demanding: reverb at above economy quality, ultrares IRs, using the cab block preamp section...of course they sound good even without them but when you have it you want to use it.

I miss the ability to have dual amps and cabs even if I did not use it all the time. The quality reduction in the Axe-Fx 2 was negligible so it's a shame there's no option like that on the FM3.

At the same time I don't want a FM9 because of its size. I could use the extra I/O and the extra horsepower but just don't want a box as big as this.
Axe-Fx 3 at 3 rack units is a freakin' behemoth as well. The FM3 form factor works best for me. I wish it did not have its 3 switches for even more compact size. Instead I use an external MIDI controller on the floor and leave the FM3 on my desk.

While the onboard UI is better than the Axe-Fx 2, it's still not something I would call particularly great. Going between different blocks is awkward, it's hard to see if on the floor. I don't like how they kept so much from the Axe-Fx 2 front panel. The nav button spacing is still annoying and putting buttons above and below the value wheel is not very good design and the feel of the under display knobs could be better. It's still massively easier to use from FM3-Edit. Comparing onboard user experience alone, to me the Quad Cortex is a 9/10, Helix is 8/10, FM3 5/10 while Axe-Fx 2 is like a 2/10.
 
Switched from axe fx ii to FM3 about one year ago. Took me quite some time as I had the fx2 for 8 years and worked a lot it's sound. Any unit with Cygnus will give you satisfaction I think
 
I love the FM3. I never run into the limit as I don’t use a ton of effects. But if I was starting off fresh I’d get the FM9. I bought the FC6 so together I’m in for $1500 plus tax and ship.
 
I’d also suggest going FM9 if you’re only buying one and done. I went with the new IIIT and love that thing, but do want an FM9 when I can get one for a backup/small setup thing. After years on an MFC-101, then the last couple of years on the RJM MMGT/22, I can’t imagine going to just 3 foot switches for control. Not knocking it, because I know it works well for some, but I need more.

Go FM9.
 
I have an FM9 and use an FM3 almost exclusively. It sounds great, doesn't take up a bunch of space
and does all I want it to.

For those suggesting an FM9, you might want to keep in mind that you probably won't be able to get
your hands on one (apart from paying a premium on Reverb.com) for many, many months. Can get an
FM3 pretty much within days. Not to mention the FM3 is on sale right now for $999.
 
I have an FM9 and use an FM3 almost exclusively. It sounds great, doesn't take up a bunch of space
and does all I want it to.

For those suggesting an FM9, you might want to keep in mind that you probably won't be able to get
your hands on one (apart from paying a premium on Reverb.com) for many, many months. Can get an
FM3 pretty much within days. Not to mention the FM3 is on sale right now for $999.
Related to it's footprint when used together with other equipment like expression pedals, I personnaly still prefer the FM3, but FM9 surely is more performing not that much bigger and an asset if you don't want to encounter any cpu load problems sooner or later.
 
For someone who had a rack unit and moved to the FM3, are you satisfied with it? Sound, functionality, and user interface wise?
I started with the Axe Fx III in 2018 and then got the FC6 when they came out. I gigged this way until about May of this year when I switched to gigging with the FM3. It took me TWO tries (first bought the FM3 last year but didn't get along with it), but now I love my FM3. I just had to scale down the size and complexity of my presets (it doesn't really have enough DSP for a 'kitchen sink' preset). Even though I still have my Axe Fx III and FC6, and even though that's set up in my studio ready to roll at a moments notice and turned on almost all the time, I basically only use my FM3 at home and for rehearsals and gigs. Usually when I'm playing, I'm practicing stuff for the band and, duh, I need the unit that I'm going to be using with the band lol. So, the net effect is that the Axe III basically never gets used now that my workflow centers around the FM3.

All that said, I could reconfigure my Axe Fx III to mirror my FM3 as closely as possible in terms of user IR locations, but there're enough difference - some subtle, some not-so-subtle - that would make trying to make a preset on the Axe III and expect it to sound the same on the FM3 a fruitless and frustrating endeavor (there are more differences between the units than are listed on various Wikis).

Now that I think about it, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off just having two FM3s... Anyway, I digress.
 
I use my FM3 with a "kitchen sink" preset containing 2 Inputs, 2 Outputs, 1 Send/Return, Wah, Amp, stereo Cab, 2 PEQ, Filter, Mixer, Vol/Pan, Trem/Pan, Pitch, 2 Delays, Plex-Delay, plus an external Reverb/Delay pedal and Mosley Dual Foot Switch, which hits the CPU at roughly 75%.

This gives me 8 switches and all needed sounds for a show where most FX changes are automated, though I can/do manually control from the FM3/Mosley Ableton LIVE's Looper Plugin and Session Loop switch, the FM3's Auto-Wah, Tuner, Delay and Pitch FX channels, plus Scene selection in conjunction with the automation.

This is a complex preset featuring both electric and acoustic paths, and is about the upper limit of what the FM3 can be expected to do.

Note that I also have the same preset available without the external Reverb/Delay pedal using the Multi-Delay as a feax reverb, and it hits the CPU at roughly 79%, though the external pedal sounds better for reverb etc.

The FM3 can do quite a bit if you're careful, and especially if you augment it with some external gear.

I'll add that my Axe II does this same preset minus the external Reverb/Delay at around 75% CPU with 2 Pitch blocks vs 1, in conjunction with a tube preamp.
 
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I’ll echo that I’d save for the FM9. FM3 is perfect for some applications, but coming from a II the limitations were noticeable. I use the FM3 to simplify.
 
Thank you all for your excellent input. I think I'm going to head over to the FM9 section. I am not quite in the market for anything right this minute, and hopefully when I will be, the FM9 will be readily available. Thanks again everyone!
 
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