New FM ???

mcuth1 said:
I’m happy with the power of the FM3. I don’t ask it to do a ton of effects at a time. I mainly have it for amps. The only things I’d love are a decent UI, the better pitch block, and a smaller footprint. Other than those, I’d have no reason to move to a more powerful unit.

POWER is overrated, anyway. Bragging about raw power by a company that has done almost only metal plugins is irrelevant to me. The skill of the programmers is far more important than power. I have a Lexicon 300, an h3000, and some other digital gear that is incredible, not bc of processing power, but Bc of the code it runs. Cliff has nailed that aspect of it.

the Fractal interface still sucks, though. I don’t want to scroll to get to things. I don’t want to make my own envelope filter. Etc etc etc (examples can be multiplied many times over). But the tone? It’s all brilliant. If this is the amount of processing power it takes to make a FLAWLESS version of an FTR37, then that’s how much processing power it takes...not MORE. The notion that a unit with greater raw processing numbers will sound better is laughable.
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Just started using FracPad on my iPad to control the FM3. Pretty happy so far.
 
Coby said:
A product with the power of the Ax Fx III and more features than the FM3 would probably cost more than the Ax Fx III itself. But does this make sense in business language? That is, does it make sense to put on the market a product with super computing power and a few more switches, that will enter the market at an exorbitant price? Surely not. And since FAS is on the market for business and to design products that make sense and not to sell musician's "erotic dreams", I think here we are only talking about speculations that have no logical or market correspondence.
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I think middle ground is where they should target from a performance/price perspective. In my small opinion the "Keystone" processor should be where the development should orbit around. Perhaps a lower performance variant(same code base) as the mother ship.
 
Douglas Costa said:
Tonewise, if you try FM3 or AXIII I think you will come back as a customer.
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I appreciate the encouragement, and for years I upgraded precisely for ever-more-addicting tone/feel, from standard to ultra to 2.

What I'm saying is the dimensions of the 3 and limited switch function of the FM are deal-killers, and all the tone in the world won't change that if they can't be incorporated into my work flow due to dimensions and functionality.
I could explain why, but that'd be a much longer post.
 
solo-act said:
I'd list desired requirements for a new FM, but Fractal is going to do what they do and my input doesn't matter.
They lost me as a 3 customer because of size/dimensions, and as an FM customer because of switch/programability/midi limitations.

Maybe some year I'll see a product in the zone of what I need.
Until then I'm sitting it out with the Axe-Fx II and a Gordius Little Giant foot switch.
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Not sure what you mean about the limitations. I can do more with my FM3 than I can with my Helix. Not taking about number of effects. More about functionality.
 
I was pretty excited about this the Neural DSP; however, now that I've heard more demos I'm not impressed. Sounds a little better than Helix but not wildly better. It sounds more sterile and compressed than I thought it might be.There's also a lack of effects on 1.0 so I'll wait and see what happens. I'm sure they'll make quite a few updates within the first year. I'd never leave Fractal at this point, but different flavors can be fun.

The capture is actually seemingly quite nice though. It sounds a little less cocked wah to me.
 
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thud_peterson said:
I was pretty excited about this product; however, now that I've heard more demos I'm not impressed. Sounds a little better than Helix but not wildly better. It sounds more sterile and compressed than I thought it might be.There's also a lack of effects on 1.0 so I'll wait and see what happens. I'm sure they'll make quite a few updates within the first year. I'd never leave Fractal at this point, but different flavors can be fun.
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Just to be sure: you're talking about the Quad Cortex?
 
bdrepko said:
Not sure what you mean about the limitations. I can do more with my FM3 than I can with my Helix. Not taking about number of effects. More about functionality.
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Limited on midi commands the FM3 can send. Limited on # of switches and functions switches can perform. Limited user configurability of both midi commands and switch functions. Lack of USB/Midi device capability, limited midi & USB ports and port routing, etc.

If Fractal released a new 2-space Axe-Fx, or a new FM with more switches and switch software and usb/midi that was WAY more functional & configurable, I'd jump in. But I doubt either of those will happen anytime soon, so I'm sticking with my Axe-FxII and Gordius Little Giant.

Put another way: if FM3 and Axe-Fx 3 were track-only 300mph supercars with 2 inches of ground clearance and no quick-lift suspension button...the way I configure and run my show is the 6-inch speed bump neither of them can drive over.
 
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solo-act said:
Limited on midi commands the FM3 can send. Limited on # of switches and functions switches can perform. Limited user configurability of both midi commands and switch functions. Lack of USB/Midi device capability, limited midi & USB ports and port routing, etc.

If Fractal released a new 2-space Axe-Fx, or a new FM with more switches and switch software and usb/midi that was WAY more functional & configurable, I'd jump in. But I doubt either of those will happen anytime soon, so I'm sticking with my Axe-FxII and Gordius Little Giant.

Put another way: if FM3 and Axe-Fx 3 were track-only 300mph supercars with 2 inches of ground clearance and no quick-lift suspension button...the way I configure and run my show is the 6-inch speed bump neither of them can drive over.
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Not sure what you are doing live, but I have never run into any limitations myself. But I try to keep things straightforward. I use only 3 presets and just a few models.
 
solo-act said:
I'd list desired requirements for a new FM, but Fractal is going to do what they do and my input doesn't matter.
They lost me as a 3 customer because of size/dimensions, and as an FM customer because of switch/programability/midi limitations.

Maybe some year I'll see a product in the zone of what I need.
Until then I'm sitting it out with the Axe-Fx II and a Gordius Little Giant foot switch.
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And the Gordius Little Giant is the "axe" of midi pedals; using that very same combination with 2 expression pedals and it is absolutely great. FM3 is great also and after 2 months I found a very workable solution without any add-ons. But with that FXII/LG combination, no need to be jealous; also the FXII sounds killer especially on live level, I like both worlds. The automation capabilities of the Gordius are totally beyond any midi controller on the market. Regrettable that these are not made anymore.
 
unix-guy said:
Yeah... I had the LGX for a while. Amazing stuff!

Xavier has a new device now:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/new-option-for-fcb-1010-tiny-box.161881/post-1938982

He also created the UnO 2 chip.

However, I'm not huge fan of the FCB form factor...
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I quite hate the FCB, it doesn't enter in any bag; you need to open it once a year to clean the optical screens of the expression pedals. The "expression pedals"...nah...
Had one for years til I got the LG2, still a very good pedal for the price and the uno eprom with the editor under java are genious.
 
lauke-lux said:
I quite hate the FCB, it doesn't enter in any bag; you need to open it once a year to clean the optical screens of the expression pedals. The "expression pedals"...nah...
Had one for years til I got the LG2, still a very good pedal for the price and the uno eprom with the editor under java are genious.
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I used to have the same cleaning issues with my ART X-15...

The pedals are just too close together... I was trying to figure out a solution to keep from accidentally stepping on the wrong one when I finally found a used LGX.

On the plus side they are cheap and sturdy ;)
 
unix-guy said:
I used to have the same cleaning issues with my ART X-15...

The pedals are just too close together... I was trying to figure out a solution to keep from accidentally stepping on the wrong one when I finally found a used LGX.

On the plus side they are cheap and sturdy ;)
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I just mailed Xavier; if I could retrieve the LG2 automation functions for use with FM3, and liberate the two external inputs it would just be great. The Tiny Box can also drive synths which opens other possibilities.
 
goorguer said:
if you're not requesting your spot in the waiting list... you are LATE!!!:tearsofjoy:
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I remember reading somewhere on the forum about people actually signing up for the waitlist of Fractal products before they were announced, so I thought I would give it a go on this just to see what would happen. Was told:

"I'm sorry, we don't accept wait list requests for products that haven't officially been announced."

Hehehe I guess it doesn't work 😂
 
Please @FractalAudio if you design a new FM/model, consider adding one mic input. It is usefule for singer, to modulate effect (vocoder?) or to capture IR without extenal mic preamp, or as multifx for any unplugged musical instrument. The ability to run parallel chain make the FM3 on stage an astonishing personal musical hub.
 
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