Instead of using Amp Drive knob to increase gain, use the Input Trim knob. It doesn't change the EQ, so you won't also have to fuss with the bass knob to compensate.
Just a note for CPU savings. All those shunt blocks use a small amount of CPU. Once you have your preset in it's final state, moving the drive and send blocks next to the comp block will save you some CPU. On the AxeFX III it doesn't really matter but on the FM3 it could save you enough to bump up the reverb quality or something similar.
@@EstebanOnGuitar Blank blocks don't use any CPU, but the Shunt blocks (the little "cable" links between other blocks) do use a small amount of CPU each.
Sold my axe iii because it was way overkill. Waiting on my fm3. In comparison to the helix I found the Axe stuff so much easier to get sounding good. I just miss the ease of use of the helix
couldn't agree more on the ease of use... I'm still stuck with my AxeFx 2 and it's just a pain in the ass to tweak for a performing musician (I now have laptop in my rack just because of it). At least fractal finally admitted that their UI is garbage and greatly improved it with the current gen of products. Still it's worlds apart from Line 6 or Boss. I blame the sycophantic bubble of their forum for their severe lack of ingenuity UI-wise.
This is great stuff! I’m new to the FM3 and have been trying to wrap my brain around some of this stuff. This video is a big leap forward for me in getting Some of these concepts. Thank you so much!
Man this video really helped me. I spent most of the day with the unit and now I feel like I have a very usable template to create patches for live use moving forward. The FM3 sounds amazing and even coming from Helix world (LT and Stomp) it still seems to outshine. These tips you gave here are definitely things that put the FM3 above the Stomp in terms of performance use. Thanks for your content.
@@gabrieladdenbrooke1964 yes I still own it. Used it for 3 shows this weekend in fact. If I were buying from scratch I would go with FM9 because of the added foot switches and how I use them. Aside from that, it was still very capable with only 3 switches. But I’d go FM9 if I were starting over.
Haha yep! My cleans are always ‘clean-ish’. I find that amps just sound better when they’re gained up just a bit, and you can always just play lighter to get a cleaner tone.
When recording the FM3 you can hear those snaps/pops in the audio. I've found the way to avoid this is to set the DAW clock to the Fractal (same on FX II / III). Goodbye pops clicks!
Great video! God bless you! Please, can you tell me if in fm3 I can create two output blocks and send two different delays? One for "L" and one for "R" as a stereo effect? I know I can't use two amps in stereo. But I thought if there would be the possibility of using two delays.. with different rhythmic figures one for each side.
Since I was one of those that was asking/waiting for this--I should write here to say, I am super excited for this video! Thank you very much for the time investment on this! I love to see your thought process and workflow.
The problem is with the nervous guy in this video. Not with FA FM3. He is moving his finger non-stop on the touchpad. Talking too much without explaining details. The small window hides the important things. Very very unprofessional.
Great video! Thank you! Question. Adjusting the scene levels in the output block is great. Ok new to the fm3 (and fractal) and struggling with scene levels. This seems like the solution. I was increasing the level of the amp block on my lead scenes but this got me into all sorts of trouble In that I didn’t realize adjusting the level would effect the scenes on the same channel. So much to learn but it’s a fun ride this far.
Forgive me if this is covered but in terms of a livestream mix, what’s the best way to get the guitar out of the center and spread left and right more (similar to using dual cabs on the Iridium)? Thanks
Yeah you can use two cabs in the cab block and pan the hard L/R. You can also adjust the L/R time ratio of a delay and set it to like 98.5%. This gives a lot of width. Finally there is an enhancer/widener effect that really does it well, too.
@@worshiptutorials thanks! Thinking about shifting from the Iridium to this and just wanna make sure I can get the guitar out of the center for a clearer mix.
Thanks for the in depth video! I’m getting ready to buy an all in one unit for worship, and I’m stuck between the Fm3 and the kemper stage. Does the kemper have more processing power and are the new updated effect comparable to fractal? Also, Does the Transpose function on each unit actually work as good as a capo?
@@BagusWibisono I ended up going with the Kemper stage, because to me It seemed like less tweaking, and I had been on fractals waitlist for five months. I use the transpose function in the rig settings as a capo. It works pretty good, as long as you don’t get too far away from zero. The farther away you get the worse it sounds. But if you’re into metal, and you have a heavily distorted sound, the detuned distortion sounds pretty cool. The effects on the Kemper are top notch, I think they sound amazing! One drawback I can see is just having 4 pedals in front of the amp and 4 pedals and back of the amp. I had an EQ pedal, two delays, and one reverb, and I needed a boost, but I didn’t have any more room, but there’s workarounds for that with things like morphing, And I’m sure there’s others that I don’t know about yet. One other draw back is that fractals FM3 works as an interface by itself, the stage does not. you need an interface if you want to record with it. Or mic it up Through a cabinet, but it sounds amazing direct! The FM3 also has Bluetooth capability to work through an iPad also. you have to buy some external hardware, And buy a third-party app, though. The stage does not. The main reason that I bought the Kemper instead of fractal or the helix is because there’s so much out there for praise and worship sounds through ToneJunkie and other sites and there’s so many videos on how to use it, and everything I’ve heard sounds amazing, and I am not into spending forever tweaking things, I work full-time and I just want to find a good sound and roll with it, and the kemper does just that. But honestly before you make any decisions, I would look into the quad cortex. It does modeling and profiling and it seems promising. Sorry this is long. Hope it helps God bless you
Just used your Chieftan in my church stream this week. The sound guy told me he had my EQ flat, which means he liked what he was hearing and didn't change a thing. However, I am sometimes getting a strange ringing/tails sound when I switch from a more ambient scene to a more basic scene such as clean or drive...or vice versa. Is it possible the scene changes are too much DSP? Even though my volume pedal was off I made a strange sound changing scenes at one of the most awkward of times. Any ideas how to fix?
So, I also have been blessed with a wealth of gear. I own a Kemper Stage, a Helix LT, and have just gotten to the top of the FM3 waiting list, so I have one on the way. Do you think it is more user friendly than the Kemper? If it sounds as good, but the interface is better, my Kemper may be for sale.
Hi man.. How about your fm3? It’s great unit? How if compare with kemper stage as amp and fx sound quality? I cannot try both live, so I need the real answer. 🙏
Is there a video or easy explanation on how you could use a expression pedal or standin switchs to control the volume of the delays and reverbs in your FM3 patches or song patches? Sorry not tech savvy
Hello from Spain. Do you think fm3 is very limited cpu to guitar?. Like ax8 or more powerfull?. I'm thinking to buy a digital multieffects and no money for TOP, axe FX III. There are much models, and i don't know what buy, Helix, fm3, in similar price. I always analog!!. YOUR OPINION PLEASE . THANKS
Please tell me there’s a way to save all your presets externally so if it glitches or needs a factory reset or whatever you can just upload them back and not have to spend 3 years programming it again lol.
Kind of disappointing that such a nice piece of equipment like the fractal gets to its DSP limit so easily. I would expect a lot more for the price point. I know they have a turbo version now, perhaps that's their fix. This would severely limit updates because if you max out your DSP, there's not a lot of room for updates of effects and amps without exasperating the issue.
@@Matthew-px9nu the reason you would put a delay off in its own row for parallel is because it doesn’t get in the way of your guitar signal. Series is great especially for that cliche dotted eighth U2 stuff. Parallel is just a different taste it works great for a lot of ambient washes and lead work. Hope that clarifies. I know the guys at worship tutorials are kinda busy so I thought I would chime in to help out. The fractal Fm3 and Axe fx 3 are great units.
FM3 CONS (-): 1) Crash when turning on the FM3 and while in use. My FM3 pedalboard has already crashed 5 times since I bought it. 1 time at start up where the fan was spinning crazy and the pedal couldn't load the program: Shame!!! . Also, 4 times over 9 months (October 2021, I'll do the count by changing the date each time there is a crash. Too bad for Fractal: never take musicians for fools), the pedal has locked up (either by pressing a switch or by browsing the pedal's menu pages). Imagine that on stage! I had no access to anything. No matter how many times I pressed all the buttons, nothing. The only remedy : Switch Off & On! Switch everything off and on again. For $1,300, I find this intolerable from Fractal. Even Roland, Boss, Kemper, Line 6 (none of the POD's did this to me)... don't make bugs like this, that's saying something !!! 2) A limited CPU. For $1,300 it's pathetic ! It's very frustrating if you have good ideas in mind because you'll have to make compromises or even deletions that are very important to you to achieve your sound. It's like being presented with lots of tempting Viennese pastries or cakes in a shop window and being forbidden to touch them. This is the second black spot of this machine : the processor already has its limits, which means that if you choose effects with high quality (Optimal for the Reverb, for example) and well you can only put two or even three effects and not more, otherwise you exceed the 80% of the CPU and the FM3 blocks the sound... even if you have only 1 amp of the FM3 compared to the 2 in the Axe Fx III and the recent FM9. That's why you need to know this before you buy the FM3. 3) Only 4 channels for 8 scenes. Again this is frustrating. One channel can allow you to change Amps and Speakers/Cabs, which means that you have the possibility to change the sound configuration. There are 8 scenes per preset but there are only 4 channels... It would have been smart to have the same number of channels as scenes, i.e. 8 channels and 8 scenes. 4) Updates that change your programs. Some updates of Fractal (especially the last one with the Cygnus amps) that upset the sounds you programmed in the old version. Although I recognise the improvements sought by the engineers at Fractal and their eternal and relentless quest for progress, from time to time and on certain firmware modifications it sometimes happens that sounds that you have finally set up and recorded after much difficulty are completely different after the update. So be very careful. Your ears and your tastes are yours and not those of others (even if they are sound engineers...). They may have completely opposite tastes). 5) 800 milliseconds of cuts between each preset. That's a lot of time between preset changes! (Even Line 6 does better than that!). The "Spill Over" of the FM3 (to make the delay and reverb tails last between presets) is ineffective on the presets because it abruptly cuts all the reverb and delay tails at each change: the horror! I searched everywhere, studied the manual and the bike for days : Nothing !!! I even contacted the after-sales service and the answer given was : "it's normal, we can't change anything. The pedal is built like that". LAME!!!. This is the third black spot on the FM3. Even a good old TC ELECTRONIC G FORCE type effects rack (1996 or even 1998) has a very effective Spill Over that works well. Fractal Audio has completely missed the preset changes... I can't believe it, especially for the price of the FM3. 6) Edit software: knobs, knobs, knobs, knobs... everywhere until you feel nauseous. Even with the FM3 Edit software, it's still complicated to make a sound. You'd think FRACTAL was made for computer geeks who wank on RUclips. Despite the videos that praise the brand, you spend hours programming and then it becomes a bit of an obstacle course. In fact, you have to keep coming back to it, otherwise you'll get annoyed. Sometimes you spend a lot of time creating your sounds because you have to be very careful between scenes and channels. You can quickly get confused and think you're on one channel of a scene, having changed everything for that scene when you've changed one channel for another scene. And then your sound has not only been modified but you have overwritten scene 2 (for example) when recording scene 3 because you forgot to change the channel. That the reaseon it will be very clever to set 8 channels for 8 scenes. A tip: make copies of presets to avoid mistakes, especially when you are new to FM3. 7) "Plocks" on the headphones by turning the FM3 on and off. To make your ears explode. For the price (the famous $1,300), I think it's really not honourable from Fractal to let this kind of bugs in their machines. Even HeadRush, Kemper, Line 6 and Boss solved this problem a long time ago. Conclusion: A lot of parameters means a lot of knobs, clicks, switches to touch, to modify, to fiddle with, to adjust... It is a GAS FACTORY to be able to have a nice sound. Last but not least : I would have preferred an FC8 that would allow you to have the 8 scenes at your feet (like the 8 switches of the Quad Cortex: efficient!) instead of the ridiculous and pathetic FC6 (the worst is that Fractal is repeating the same bullshit with the FM9: you'd think they weren't thinking). That's the last thing I can say. Cheers
💯% agree with you, you shouldn't have to upgrade to the big boy, at the price point this thing sits, with the limited amount of foot switches that come with it. For the price of commands, it should have more DSP, and Wi-Fi. Perhaps with new competition like the HeadRush Prime, and some others coming out, they will up their game. The core sound of the unit is very good, however the poor UI on board, and limited DSP, is not inspiring.
To much reverb and delay your drowning your tone, no clear note definition. you don't need reverb if you use a very ambient low delay it has its own reverb. Add that to a big hall and the sound will saturate the audience. Dry tone then colour it slightly. Good tutorial though.
Alright. But please stop moving the mouse pointer. Leave the guitar pick and then use the pad. Show us something and talk less. Have you ever tried to watch this video after uploading it? Probably you did a great job but it's annoying, Sorry to say that.
Instead of using Amp Drive knob to increase gain, use the Input Trim knob. It doesn't change the EQ, so you won't also have to fuss with the bass knob to compensate.
Just a note for CPU savings. All those shunt blocks use a small amount of CPU. Once you have your preset in it's final state, moving the drive and send blocks next to the comp block will save you some CPU. On the AxeFX III it doesn't really matter but on the FM3 it could save you enough to bump up the reverb quality or something similar.
Wouldn’t the there still be a ton of blank blocks after the send block anyways?
@@EstebanOnGuitar Blank blocks don't use any CPU, but the Shunt blocks (the little "cable" links between other blocks) do use a small amount of CPU each.
HellBatDC oooh okay. I gotcha. Thanks!
Sold my axe iii because it was way overkill. Waiting on my fm3. In comparison to the helix I found the Axe stuff so much easier to get sounding good. I just miss the ease of use of the helix
Good luck.. you will hopefully find one at retail price by 2023
Already have one on the way
couldn't agree more on the ease of use... I'm still stuck with my AxeFx 2 and it's just a pain in the ass to tweak for a performing musician (I now have laptop in my rack just because of it). At least fractal finally admitted that their UI is garbage and greatly improved it with the current gen of products. Still it's worlds apart from Line 6 or Boss. I blame the sycophantic bubble of their forum for their severe lack of ingenuity UI-wise.
Same boat here. I sold my FM3 to get another Helix, and in 2 weeks realized why I sold the Helix, and loved the FM3. The amps. They're fucking better.
This is great stuff! I’m new to the FM3 and have been trying to wrap my brain around some of this stuff. This video is a big leap forward for me in getting Some of these concepts. Thank you so much!
Man this video really helped me. I spent most of the day with the unit and now I feel like I have a very usable template to create patches for live use moving forward. The FM3 sounds amazing and even coming from Helix world (LT and Stomp) it still seems to outshine. These tips you gave here are definitely things that put the FM3 above the Stomp in terms of performance use. Thanks for your content.
Do you still own it? Would you recommend this or the fm9 for worship?
@@gabrieladdenbrooke1964 yes I still own it. Used it for 3 shows this weekend in fact. If I were buying from scratch I would go with FM9 because of the added foot switches and how I use them. Aside from that, it was still very capable with only 3 switches. But I’d go FM9 if I were starting over.
You crack me up, “the clean” setting: “CrUnCh!”
Haha yep! My cleans are always ‘clean-ish’. I find that amps just sound better when they’re gained up just a bit, and you can always just play lighter to get a cleaner tone.
Great video. You guitar players are turning into rocket scientists with your gear. I'm glad I can just turn a fader up and down ;)
I'm on the waiting for the FM9. Supes excited, hope its not to long.
I like the way you sound, and the way you tweak, Great !! 💪💪💪💪💪
This guitar is amazing!
When recording the FM3 you can hear those snaps/pops in the audio. I've found the way to avoid this is to set the DAW clock to the Fractal (same on FX II / III). Goodbye pops clicks!
Very very interesting, man! Yeah as Axe Fx III and FM3 owner I REALLY would like to see the same explanation with an Axe Fx III patch!
+1. Me too. I am trying to decide whether to purchase an FX III or an FM3.
dimension 1 = roland dimension D likely. Great video dude.
Great video! God bless you! Please, can you tell me if in fm3 I can create two output blocks and send two different delays? One for "L" and one for "R" as a stereo effect? I know I can't use two amps in stereo. But I thought if there would be the possibility of using two delays.. with different rhythmic figures one for each side.
I’m sold bro the deep dive sold me that’s where you can create your own world
Should do a video called.. "How to get an FM3 if you are not a RUclips personality"... would love to know!
PlayMoreGuitar you sign up, not that difficult to understand... I have one.. great unit.
I got on the wait list when they announced it and then paid for it when my name came up 🤷🏻♂️
Dude we get it your angry. Haha. Put your name on the list and patiently wait like everyone else
I currently own a HX Stomp and planning on upgrading.Do you think AX8 is still worth it today or should I just save more and buy the FM3?
Dang, that guitar is hot.
Yes - yes it is. I may tell Kurtis that I'm stealing it, haha.
Worship Tutorials I wouldn’t even tell him! 😂
Worship Tutorials would you put the quality and playability in the realm of a Jennings, Suhr, etc?
Worship Tutorials Do you prefer Grinders or Cremas?
Dmitriy Polskoy I had a grinder bridge + Crema neck in my Custom 24 for a while, and that combo is awesome. For a bridge pickup I prefer the Grinder.
Since I was one of those that was asking/waiting for this--I should write here to say, I am super excited for this video! Thank you very much for the time investment on this! I love to see your thought process and workflow.
Awesome Brian - SO HELPFUL 🙏
SOOOOOZE! Are you dipping your toes into the Fractal world?
@@worshiptutorials yeah I'm on the FM3 list! Can't wait :) 😊
Really enjoyed this video. Thanks
They should bring the AX8 back😄.
Btw that's a pretty nice guitar 😇💯
This unit seems extremely complicated. I’m scared to try it 😳
It doesn't have to be, but it does give you the option to really deep dive. On the surface it can be very simple if you want that.
Don't worry you won't find one! Only youtubers own them.
PlayMoreGuitar well I’ve already purchased one, and I’m not a RUclipsr, so 🤔🤔
What’s the weird background clicking sound when you play the guitar? Is that coming from the FM3 or your interface?
Kinda sounded like there was a lot of pops and clicks as you were playing
Is that coming from the unit or done other thing in the chain ??
I worship and praise you for this helpful video.
Thank you! This is very helpfull! Your content is GREAT!
Do you prefer the FM3 over the helix for worship? I've had a helix for a year now and I love it but the FM3 sounds pretty sick and its next gen.
The problem is with the nervous guy in this video. Not with FA FM3. He is moving his finger non-stop on the touchpad. Talking too much without explaining details. The small window hides the important things. Very very unprofessional.
Is the fm3 sufficient enough for worship music and best reverb than the fm9?
hello, do you usually high cut on the can model ? let’s say 6k ?
Great video! Thank you! Question. Adjusting the scene levels in the output block is great. Ok new to the fm3 (and fractal) and struggling with scene levels. This seems like the solution. I was increasing the level of the amp block on my lead scenes but this got me into all sorts of trouble In that I didn’t realize adjusting the level would effect the scenes on the same channel. So much to learn but it’s a fun ride this far.
What is your FM3 going into? Studio monitors? FRFR cab?
Yes please to this video with the Axe FX III
What about boss gt 1000.kindly
Forgive me if this is covered but in terms of a livestream mix, what’s the best way to get the guitar out of the center and spread left and right more (similar to using dual cabs on the Iridium)? Thanks
Yeah you can use two cabs in the cab block and pan the hard L/R.
You can also adjust the L/R time ratio of a delay and set it to like 98.5%. This gives a lot of width.
Finally there is an enhancer/widener effect that really does it well, too.
@@worshiptutorials thanks! Thinking about shifting from the Iridium to this and just wanna make sure I can get the guitar out of the center for a clearer mix.
Thanks for the in depth video! I’m getting ready to buy an all in one unit for worship, and I’m stuck between the Fm3 and the kemper stage. Does the kemper have more processing power and are the new updated effect comparable to fractal? Also, Does the Transpose function on each unit actually work as good as a capo?
I need the answer too
@@BagusWibisono I ended up going with the Kemper stage, because to me It seemed like less tweaking, and I had been on fractals waitlist for five months. I use the transpose function in the rig settings as a capo. It works pretty good, as long as you don’t get too far away from zero. The farther away you get the worse it sounds. But if you’re into metal, and you have a heavily distorted sound, the detuned distortion sounds pretty cool. The effects on the Kemper are top notch, I think they sound amazing! One drawback I can see is just having 4 pedals in front of the amp and 4 pedals and back of the amp. I had an EQ pedal, two delays, and one reverb, and I needed a boost, but I didn’t have any more room, but there’s workarounds for that with things like morphing, And I’m sure there’s others that I don’t know about yet. One other draw back is that fractals FM3 works as an interface by itself, the stage does not. you need an interface if you want to record with it. Or mic it up Through a cabinet, but it sounds amazing direct! The FM3 also has Bluetooth capability to work through an iPad also. you have to buy some external hardware, And buy a third-party app, though. The stage does not. The main reason that I bought the Kemper instead of fractal or the helix is because there’s so much out there for praise and worship sounds through ToneJunkie and other sites and there’s so many videos on how to use it, and everything I’ve heard sounds amazing, and I am not into spending forever tweaking things, I work full-time and I just want to find a good sound and roll with it, and the kemper does just that. But honestly before you make any decisions, I would look into the quad cortex. It does modeling and profiling and it seems promising. Sorry this is long. Hope it helps God bless you
Just used your Chieftan in my church stream this week. The sound guy told me he had my EQ flat, which means he liked what he was hearing and didn't change a thing. However, I am sometimes getting a strange ringing/tails sound when I switch from a more ambient scene to a more basic scene such as clean or drive...or vice versa. Is it possible the scene changes are too much DSP? Even though my volume pedal was off I made a strange sound changing scenes at one of the most awkward of times. Any ideas how to fix?
With your experience, what difference between fm3 and Helix to choice one or other?
And.... have you tried fracpad editing software for iPad? I was wondering how different it is from the computer.
Very Nice. Please make one for the AX3!! Go in depth please.
So, I also have been blessed with a wealth of gear. I own a Kemper Stage, a Helix LT, and have just gotten to the top of the FM3 waiting list, so I have one on the way. Do you think it is more user friendly than the Kemper? If it sounds as good, but the interface is better, my Kemper may be for sale.
Hi man.. How about your fm3? It’s great unit? How if compare with kemper stage as amp and fx sound quality? I cannot try both live, so I need the real answer. 🙏
? Update ?
what if you compare this with Line6 POD Go??
Is there a video or easy explanation on how you could use a expression pedal or standin switchs to control the volume of the delays and reverbs in your FM3 patches or song patches? Sorry not tech savvy
When is MATCH DC-30 FM3 PRESET
Ver 1.0 going to get update to Ver 2.0 on WT website? I got Ver 1.0 :-)
Where u get yours waxed
Hello from Spain. Do you think fm3 is very limited cpu to guitar?. Like ax8 or more powerfull?. I'm thinking to buy a digital multieffects and no money for TOP, axe FX III. There are much models, and i don't know what buy, Helix, fm3, in similar price. I always analog!!. YOUR OPINION PLEASE . THANKS
It has about the same CPU power as the ax8. Kind of disappointing tbh but it’s really good for that price point.
Please tell me there’s a way to save all your presets externally so if it glitches or needs a factory reset or whatever you can just upload them back and not have to spend 3 years programming it again lol.
Kind of disappointing that such a nice piece of equipment like the fractal gets to its DSP limit so easily. I would expect a lot more for the price point. I know they have a turbo version now, perhaps that's their fix. This would severely limit updates because if you max out your DSP, there's not a lot of room for updates of effects and amps without exasperating the issue.
How do we find out if we win the giveaway?
ricardo sanchez heck yeah coheed and cambria
why sounds so dark?
Can you plz do battle belongs on electric guitar by Phil Wickham.
Why put delay on another row by itself ?
So it is in parallel
@@worshiptutorials cool thanks , what’s the main benefit in your view vs serial ?
@@Matthew-px9nu the reason you would put a delay off in its own row for parallel is because it doesn’t get in the way of your guitar signal. Series is great especially for that cliche dotted eighth U2 stuff. Parallel is just a different taste it works great for a lot of ambient washes and lead work. Hope that clarifies. I know the guys at worship tutorials are kinda busy so I thought I would chime in to help out. The fractal Fm3 and Axe fx 3 are great units.
Can you try nux mg300 pls~
You should do guitar tutorial for Dear God
FM3 CONS (-):
1) Crash when turning on the FM3 and while in use. My FM3 pedalboard has already crashed 5 times since I bought it. 1 time at start up where the fan was spinning crazy and the pedal couldn't load the program: Shame!!! . Also, 4 times over 9 months (October 2021, I'll do the count by changing the date each time there is a crash. Too bad for Fractal: never take musicians for fools), the pedal has locked up (either by pressing a switch or by browsing the pedal's menu pages). Imagine that on stage! I had no access to anything. No matter how many times I pressed all the buttons, nothing. The only remedy : Switch Off & On! Switch everything off and on again. For $1,300, I find this intolerable from Fractal. Even Roland, Boss, Kemper, Line 6 (none of the POD's did this to me)... don't make bugs like this, that's saying something !!!
2) A limited CPU. For $1,300 it's pathetic ! It's very frustrating if you have good ideas in mind because you'll have to make compromises or even deletions that are very important to you to achieve your sound. It's like being presented with lots of tempting Viennese pastries or cakes in a shop window and being forbidden to touch them. This is the second black spot of this machine : the processor already has its limits, which means that if you choose effects with high quality (Optimal for the Reverb, for example) and well you can only put two or even three effects and not more, otherwise you exceed the 80% of the CPU and the FM3 blocks the sound... even if you have only 1 amp of the FM3 compared to the 2 in the Axe Fx III and the recent FM9. That's why you need to know this before you buy the FM3.
3) Only 4 channels for 8 scenes. Again this is frustrating. One channel can allow you to change Amps and Speakers/Cabs, which means that you have the possibility to change the sound configuration. There are 8 scenes per preset but there are only 4 channels... It would have been smart to have the same number of channels as scenes, i.e. 8 channels and 8 scenes.
4) Updates that change your programs. Some updates of Fractal (especially the last one with the Cygnus amps) that upset the sounds you programmed in the old version. Although I recognise the improvements sought by the engineers at Fractal and their eternal and relentless quest for progress, from time to time and on certain firmware modifications it sometimes happens that sounds that you have finally set up and recorded after much difficulty are completely different after the update. So be very careful. Your ears and your tastes are yours and not those of others (even if they are sound engineers...). They may have completely opposite tastes).
5) 800 milliseconds of cuts between each preset. That's a lot of time between preset changes! (Even Line 6 does better than that!). The "Spill Over" of the FM3 (to make the delay and reverb tails last between presets) is ineffective on the presets because it abruptly cuts all the reverb and delay tails at each change: the horror! I searched everywhere, studied the manual and the bike for days : Nothing !!! I even contacted the after-sales service and the answer given was : "it's normal, we can't change anything. The pedal is built like that". LAME!!!. This is the third black spot on the FM3. Even a good old TC ELECTRONIC G FORCE type effects rack (1996 or even 1998) has a very effective Spill Over that works well. Fractal Audio has completely missed the preset changes... I can't believe it, especially for the price of the FM3.
6) Edit software: knobs, knobs, knobs, knobs... everywhere until you feel nauseous. Even with the FM3 Edit software, it's still complicated to make a sound. You'd think FRACTAL was made for computer geeks who wank on RUclips. Despite the videos that praise the brand, you spend hours programming and then it becomes a bit of an obstacle course. In fact, you have to keep coming back to it, otherwise you'll get annoyed. Sometimes you spend a lot of time creating your sounds because you have to be very careful between scenes and channels. You can quickly get confused and think you're on one channel of a scene, having changed everything for that scene when you've changed one channel for another scene. And then your sound has not only been modified but you have overwritten scene 2 (for example) when recording scene 3 because you forgot to change the channel. That the reaseon it will be very clever to set 8 channels for 8 scenes. A tip: make copies of presets to avoid mistakes, especially when you are new to FM3.
7) "Plocks" on the headphones by turning the FM3 on and off. To make your ears explode. For the price (the famous $1,300), I think it's really not honourable from Fractal to let this kind of bugs in their machines. Even HeadRush, Kemper, Line 6 and Boss solved this problem a long time ago.
Conclusion:
A lot of parameters means a lot of knobs, clicks, switches to touch, to modify, to fiddle with, to adjust... It is a GAS FACTORY to be able to have a nice sound.
Last but not least : I would have preferred an FC8 that would allow you to have the 8 scenes at your feet (like the 8 switches of the Quad Cortex: efficient!) instead of the ridiculous and pathetic FC6 (the worst is that Fractal is repeating the same bullshit with the FM9: you'd think they weren't thinking).
That's the last thing I can say.
Cheers
Getting up there in CPU
It’s a pity that FM3 is lacking of CPU horsepower just to be at ease.
It’s pretty impressive for what it is. If you want more, that’s what the Axe-FX iii is for 😎
💯% agree with you, you shouldn't have to upgrade to the big boy, at the price point this thing sits, with the limited amount of foot switches that come with it. For the price of commands, it should have more DSP, and Wi-Fi. Perhaps with new competition like the HeadRush Prime, and some others coming out, they will up their game. The core sound of the unit is very good, however the poor UI on board, and limited DSP, is not inspiring.
Is that Ray Lolitas brother??🤔😂
Plz next time record the audio in stereo your stereo delay was not stereo on youtube
To much reverb and delay your drowning your tone, no clear note definition. you don't need reverb if you use a very ambient low delay it has its own reverb. Add that to a big hall and the sound will saturate the audience. Dry tone then colour it slightly. Good tutorial though.
Your sound is mono...
Alright. But please stop moving the mouse pointer. Leave the guitar pick and then use the pad. Show us something and talk less. Have you ever tried to watch this video after uploading it? Probably you did a great job but it's annoying, Sorry to say that.
Am I one to romanticize what we once were?