My first FAS product - FM9T - coming from Helix.

sick pickle

sick pickle

Inspired
Just sharing my hot take on my new FM9 Turbo (note: this is through the lens of a former Helix Floor user).

Wow.

At first, the change in workflow was very clunky for me. I had an immediate reaction of 'uh oh, what did I get myself into" – especially when it came to looking at FM9 Edit vs. Helix snapshots, etc.... But after about a week and a half of learning/experimenting and fumbling, all of that worry is gone.

I originally had the FM3, but felt a bit limited (even though the layouts would absolutely work for me) – I just missed the form factor of the Helix floor and that is where the FM9 came into the picture. Once I got it, and loaded up the OFMG9 layouts, I was off the races. It feels perfect at my feet and is everything I could have hoped for from a hardware unit.

Sound quality is on a whole other different dimension. There were many times I would try to recreate a favourite artist tone in Helix, and always kind of struggle to make it work. I would try countless IRs, tweak with random EQ tricks, etc. and it just never really sounded proper. I will admit, there were definitely moments where I thought "man, this thing is so much fun!" over the last few years, but once I heard the FAS FM3/FM9 stuff–I was hooked. I sold the helix shortly after and have immersed myself in tone creation and just sheer enjoyment. I have been playing MORE because the amps are just so real. The feel is there.

This platform just seems more: supported, robust, tweakable, extendable. The community here is pure class.

Now, the workflow (FM9 edit especially) makes so much sense to me. Library blocks and sharing? Incredible. Being able to add all of Leon's block library in one click is amazing. Preset levelling - huge. Managing presets and cabs in the UI - amazing. Just everything about this perfect.

I bought a Moog EP3 expression pedal to get started, but I am hoping to pickup an EV-1 at some point.

I am really looking forward to my next few years using this unit. I am giving it a try at a band tryout this coming Sunday–where I will be playing mostly Foo Fighter covers. I am off to dial in a dual amp (AC30 and Recto) type tone to cover that sonic ground.

Cheers everyone!
 
Looking at the 2 companies, Fractal only does modeling with a handful of products to support so we get their undivided attention. Line 6 is Yamaha. You’re competing for resources from a company that builds engines, lawnmowers and pianos. Oh, and guitar amp modelers. They may say this isn’t the case but……..it’s probably the case.
 
peepeepoopoo said:
Just sharing my hot take on my new FM9 Turbo (note: this is through the lens of a former Helix Floor user).

Wow.

At first, the change in workflow was very clunky for me. I had an immediate reaction of 'uh oh, what did I get myself into" – especially when it came to looking at FM9 Edit vs. Helix snapshots, etc.... But after about a week and a half of learning/experimenting and fumbling, all of that worry is gone.

I originally had the FM3, but felt a bit limited (even though the layouts would absolutely work for me) – I just missed the form factor of the Helix floor and that is where the FM9 came into the picture. Once I got it, and loaded up the OFMG9 layouts, I was off the races. It feels perfect at my feet and is everything I could have hoped for from a hardware unit.

Sound quality is on a whole other different dimension. There were many times I would try to recreate a favourite artist tone in Helix, and always kind of struggle to make it work. I would try countless IRs, tweak with random EQ tricks, etc. and it just never really sounded proper. I will admit, there were definitely moments where I thought "man, this thing is so much fun!" over the last few years, but once I heard the FAS FM3/FM9 stuff–I was hooked. I sold the helix shortly after and have immersed myself in tone creation and just sheer enjoyment. I have been playing MORE because the amps are just so real. The feel is there.

This platform just seems more: supported, robust, tweakable, extendable. The community here is pure class.

Now, the workflow (FM9 edit especially) makes so much sense to me. Library blocks and sharing? Incredible. Being able to add all of Leon's block library in one click is amazing. Preset levelling - huge. Managing presets and cabs in the UI - amazing. Just everything about this perfect.

I bought a Moog EP3 expression pedal to get started, but I am hoping to pickup an EV-1 at some point.

I am really looking forward to my next few years using this unit. I am giving it a try at a band tryout this coming Sunday–where I will be playing mostly Foo Fighter covers. I am off to dial in a dual amp (AC30 and Recto) type tone to cover that sonic ground.

Cheers everyone!
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Good to hear! I have my ticket for the FM9 lottery and am awaiting my turn. I am also currently using a Helix and am looking forward to the same type of "Transformative Change" that you have experienced! :cool:
 
wnlively said:
I never heard 1 line 6 amp modeler/effects board I liked
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I reviewed the full flavored helix. It was pretty good. The AX8 won out over it for me, though. I could have lived with the helix. Wasn’t bad. The headrush to me at the time just didn’t sound very good, but loved the interface/layout. Didn’t really care for the helix editor too much but it worked. No one is really going to have Fractals support though, and being it sounds the best to me, that’s where I ended up.
 
i'm proud owner of FM9 turbo for 1 week only, but that incredible amount of possible tweaks, configurations etc. makes me feel, that i can't cover it within 2 years, i love that challenge :)
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
You don’t have to learn the whole thing. I’m not a power user either. Learn as much as you need/want to to suit your needs. If all you need is 1 amp, a cab and a mono line out, so be it.
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I have learned from the best and knew my ways on the AX8 pretty well. FM9, though, ... man, that's a whole new universe of complexity. Trying to get my head around foot switches and layouts at the moment to somehow mimic the AX8 workflow.
 
ChristThePhone said:
I have learned from the best and knew my ways on the AX8 pretty well. FM9, though, ... man, that's a whole new universe of complexity. Trying to get my head around foot switches and layouts at the moment to somehow mimic the AX8 workflow.
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2 best things I can recommend is find the ofm9g layout. Then learn how to customize buttons per preset. We are ultimately just playing the guitar and you wont need much else. Leave piloting a space shuttle to the astronauts.
 
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Bruce Sokolovic said:
Looking at the 2 companies, Fractal only does modeling with a handful of products to support so we get their undivided attention. Line 6 is Yamaha. You’re competing for resources from a company that builds engines, lawnmowers and pianos. Oh, and guitar amp modelers. They may say this isn’t the case but……..it’s probably the case.
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Yes bruce, Line 6 is Yamaha, but was a pioneer in modelers, founded in 1996 and bought by Yamaha in 2013. Some guitarists have both or prefer one. Price are not the same and yes, Fractal products sound certainly better.
Anyway, Leon Todd and Pete Thorn for eg. have a great sound with any Fractal, Boss, Line 6, NeuralDSP unit...
Yamaha was formerly a piano manufacturer (logo are three crossed tuning forks, even on motorcycles and boat motors).
Fractal Audio is brilliant since 2006, and Fractal's wiki is awesome !
 
lepaisible said:
Yes bruce, Line 6 is Yamaha, but was a pioneer in modelers, founded in 1996 and bought by Yamaha in 2013. Some guitarists have both or prefer one. Price are not the same and yes, Fractal products sound certainly better.
Anyway, Leon Todd and Pete Thorn for eg. have a great sound with any Fractal, Boss, Line 6, NeuralDSP unit...
Yamaha was formerly a piano manufacturer (logo are three crossed tuning forks, even on motorcycles and boat motors).
Fractal Audio is brilliant since 2006, and Fractal's wiki is awesome !
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Leon and Pete are stunt guitarists. They can make a can of tuna fish sound awesome. Given that, what they sound great thru really isn’t very relevant.
I had the original line 6 pod bean and the rack. I currently have the helix plugin and had the board.
 
I have the FM9T and an FM3 (with an FC6 for OMG9), and also a Helix floor and a Kemper Stage. Haven't touched the Helix and the Kemper since I received my FM3 back in late spring, and now with the FM9T I am fully hooked.

So... I'm giving some serious thought to moving the Helix and Kemper on. I need the storage space, and just don't see myself going back to them from my Fractal units. Not even in the ballpark at this point. And that is saying something, let me tell you.
 
@dmacattack your post touches on a lot of the little things I felt. I knew from the AX8 that anything else from Fractal would be good and here we are! Got my FM9T about a month ago, still wrapping my head around the different workflow but customizing layouts and PP overrides is just what I needed to feel better and when I finally have that all dialed in, OH BABY

How long did it take you to decide to sell your Helix? I'm in the same boat. I plugged my Helix in with my perfectly dialed in preset the other night and it still sounds great to me, so I'm struggling with letting it go even though I know the reasons I bought the FM9 will pay off
 
dmacattack said:
I am really looking forward to my next few years using this unit. I am giving it a try at a band tryout this coming Sunday–where I will be playing mostly Foo Fighter covers. I am off to dial in a dual amp (AC30 and Recto) type tone to cover that sonic ground.
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Please post your preset!
 
I'm really having a hard time deciding on If I should get a Fractal Audio FM9 unit. I just got notified of few days ago from being on the waiting list for over a year. I have a line 6 Helix Floor unit and also have a Fractal Audio AX8 unit. The AX8 unit does sound amazing, but I'm more of a on the fly guy and don't use the computer much to do editing. That may change. I'm asking all the people out there who have tried a line 6 helix and eventually converted over to the Fractal Audio FM9 unit. I'm trying to get opinions from different sites. However, I feel that there are plenty line Helix users that have converted over to the Fractal Audio FM9 unit on this site. Your thoughts please?
 
I'm one. Kemper toaster => AX8 => Helix floor => Kemper Stage => FM3 & FM9T. Definitely better. AX8 was great but developed issues so moved it on and went to Helix, always felt I had to constantly tweak the Helix, was never satisfied with tones (although haven't tried. Went back and forth with Kemper, the tones all seemed pretty much the same at higher gains, plus the chain is fixed and the editoris a royal PITA to use. Not so with FM3 and then FM9T. Great tones from the get-go, even using the factory presets, and after I purchased the Austin Buddy Gold pack, Katy bar the door! Less tweaking and more playing! The band and my friends all say the tones are great. And the editor works well also.

The onboard UI is admittedly not as user friendly as that of the Helix, but I have become accustomed to it. It would be fantastic if the Fractal floor units had something similar to the edit-with-feet in real time ability a la Helix. But that would be icing on the cake, love it the way it is.
YMMV.
 
Robert Pezzella said:
I'm really having a hard time deciding on If I should get a Fractal Audio FM9 unit. I just got notified of few days ago from being on the waiting list for over a year. I have a line 6 Helix Floor.........However, I feel that there are plenty line Helix users that have converted over to the Fractal Audio FM9 unit on this site. Your thoughts please?
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ucnick said:
I'm one. Kemper toaster => AX8 => Helix floor => Kemper Stage => FM3 & FM9T. Definitely better. AX8 was great but developed issues so moved it on and went to Helix, always felt I had to constantly tweak the Helix, was never satisfied with tones (although haven't tried. Went back and forth with Kemper, the tones all seemed pretty much the same at higher gains, plus the chain is fixed and the editoris a royal PITA to use. Not so with FM3 and then FM9T. Great tones from the get-go, even using the factory presets, and after I purchased the Austin Buddy Gold pack, Katy bar the door! Less tweaking and more playing! The band and my friends all say the tones are great. And the editor works well also.

The onboard UI is admittedly not as user friendly as that of the Helix, but I have become accustomed to it. It would be fantastic if the Fractal floor units had something similar to the edit-with-feet in real time ability a la Helix. But that would be icing on the cake, love it the way it is.
YMMV.
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I've never used any Kemper other than plugging in to track a lead after someone picked a tone, curious about the general usability on the fly,

The Helix has an incredible workflow. You only need HX Edit to move blocks between paths 1 and 2, other than that I found it really intuitive and REALLY fast to build/change/save/use, and favourites (block library) don't require a computer. The fact that any parameters in any block can be controlled by scenes or footswitches is amazing, and scene changes were completely gapless for me.

After spending a few weeks forcing myself to do things on the FM9 hardware instead of FM9-Edit, I'm a lot more familiar with where most functions are, but you can't copy/paste a channel which would be useful. The desktop editor is definitely faster for complex editing but if you know what you're looking for you can do many things on the hardware. The layouts being infinitely customizable is far more useful (and fun) than I realized at first!

Bottom line IMO - I loved my Helix for over 2 full years and it has the edge on standalone usability, but Fractal is superior in tone, feel, and overall personalization. Especially once you learn your way around the unit and use a desktop for complex editing, the FM9 wins
 
ucnick said:
I'm one. Kemper toaster => AX8 => Helix floor => Kemper Stage => FM3 & FM9T. Definitely better. AX8 was great but developed issues so moved it on and went to Helix, always felt I had to constantly tweak the Helix, was never satisfied with tones (although haven't tried. Went back and forth with Kemper, the tones all seemed pretty much the same at higher gains, plus the chain is fixed and the editoris a royal PITA to use. Not so with FM3 and then FM9T. Great tones from the get-go, even using the factory presets, and after I purchased the Austin Buddy Gold pack, Katy bar the door! Less tweaking and more playing! The band and my friends all say the tones are great. And the editor works well also.

The onboard UI is admittedly not as user friendly as that of the Helix, but I have become accustomed to it. It would be fantastic if the Fractal floor units had something similar to the edit-with-feet in real time ability a la Helix. But that would be icing on the cake, love it the way it is.
YMMV.
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Thanks for your input.
 
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