Fractal FM9 tips and tricks

Fireproof

Shredder
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Seems like we should have a thread for the awesome FM9 here. Unfortunately I’m not one to give out tips and tricks. The best I can do is point you to Leon’s (@2112) videos or suggest one consider Austin Buddy’s presets which are awesome. Or tell people to start with the OFM9G footswitch layout.

But I love learning from others.

So post any must know or nice to know tips. Or creative usages. Or just tips for beginners that are just scratching the surface like me.
 
First gig with the FM9 last night into my amp loop return. Went well. Sounded legit.

Today was straight "FRFR" on stage at a festival. It worked!!!
 

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Not specific to the FM9, but does anyone know if any of the stock Fractal presets are designed with a power amp + real cab setup in mind?

I have found many of them to sound surprisingly underwhelming, however I assume that's because a large part of the intended sound involves the selected cab/IR, which is missing/altered with this setup…
 
Not specific to the FM9, but does anyone know if any of the stock Fractal presets are designed with a power amp + real cab setup in mind?

I have found many of them to sound surprisingly underwhelming, however I assume that's because a large part of the intended sound involves the selected cab/IR, which is missing/altered with this setup…

I think they‘re mainly dialed in to be used with studio monitors/"FRFR". While the presets have gotten better since I first got my III, when I first bought it and started going through the factory presets I was like “Uh……really? These aren’t doing it for me at all.

I ditched ‘em that same day and just started dialing in my own, but a few months later got a guitar with single coils then tried the presets again and it was a world of difference.
 
I think they‘re mainly dialed in to be used with studio monitors/"FRFR". While the presets have gotten better since I first got my III, when I first bought it and started going through the factory presets I was like “Uh……really? These aren’t doing it for me at all.

I ditched ‘em that same day and just started dialing in my own, but a few months later got a guitar with single coils then tried the presets again and it was a world of difference.

I should add: I tried a lot of them with a "FRFR" speaker when I got an FM3 a last year. I did really like the very first one with the cranked Bassman - it was actually my first “holy sh*t” experience with a modeler - but I couldn’t find a basic rock crunch sound at all that I loved, even with all those Marshalll presets.

Now, with the FM9 and PA+ guitar cab setup, I have had much better luck by creating crunch sounds from scratch, but the stock presets all sound pretty strange, even the Bassman, which makes sense because of the missing cab/IR component.

Just wondered if there's a batch of presets in there that aren't so cab/IR dependent. Probably not.
 
I have made both rock and country kitchen sink presets. Nothing but high compliments on the tone. Played a pretty big outdoor gig Saturday and it sounded fantastic.
 
Tips and tricks. Hmmmm. Take advantage of the long press switches to toggle between banks for effects or amp blocks. Find the OMFM9G layout. Get yourself hooked up with some Zenrigs covers. Other than that I got nothing.
 
Quick / dumb questions about preset organization:

Assuming you keep a bunch of factory presets, or like to load in a bunch of others like Austin Buddy’s… where do you like to store your user-created presets? From the first slot (near the beginning)? Or at the end? I tend to put all mine at the beginning…

And then within that, how do you like to organize them? I have mostly “kitchen sink” patches, and I am currently organizing them by amp flavor. So I’ll put a few marshall/friedman presets together, then a few fender, etc. Then after the kitchen sink presets - I’ll have my few song or artist specific presets….

Just curious how others like to keep organized…
 
Quick / dumb questions about preset organization:

Assuming you keep a bunch of factory presets, or like to load in a bunch of others like Austin Buddy’s… where do you like to store your user-created presets? From the first slot (near the beginning)? Or at the end? I tend to put all mine at the beginning…

And then within that, how do you like to organize them? I have mostly “kitchen sink” patches, and I am currently organizing them by amp flavor. So I’ll put a few marshall/friedman presets together, then a few fender, etc. Then after the kitchen sink presets - I’ll have my few song or artist specific presets….

Just curious how others like to keep organized…
At the beginning but I don’t use much of the factory presets.
 
First free slot. After that it’s pretty random.
Am I remembering correctly that you’ve said you have a bunch of kitchen sink presets? Do you organize them in any particular order (level of gain, types of amps used in the core tone, etc.)?
 
Quick / dumb questions about preset organization:

Assuming you keep a bunch of factory presets, or like to load in a bunch of others like Austin Buddy’s… where do you like to store your user-created presets? From the first slot (near the beginning)? Or at the end? I tend to put all mine at the beginning…

And then within that, how do you like to organize them? I have mostly “kitchen sink” patches, and I am currently organizing them by amp flavor. So I’ll put a few marshall/friedman presets together, then a few fender, etc. Then after the kitchen sink presets - I’ll have my few song or artist specific presets….

Just curious how others like to keep organized…

Both my III and FM9 have Live Gold installed, I put those as the last presets in the banks and all my own presets first. A lot of times, when I find one of Austin’s I really love, I’ll just drag it over to my presets and keep it there. I don’t bother organizing them that much unless I’m gigging and then I’ll organize them as needed for the gig.

In between mine and Austin’s are a bunch of weird/synth ones I keep close so in between songs or at the end of a set I can just jump to one of those and make some weird sounds. That Bladerunner preset always gets some funny looks.
 
Quick / dumb questions about preset organization:

Assuming you keep a bunch of factory presets, or like to load in a bunch of others like Austin Buddy’s… where do you like to store your user-created presets? From the first slot (near the beginning)? Or at the end? I tend to put all mine at the beginning…

And then within that, how do you like to organize them? I have mostly “kitchen sink” patches, and I am currently organizing them by amp flavor. So I’ll put a few marshall/friedman presets together, then a few fender, etc. Then after the kitchen sink presets - I’ll have my few song or artist specific presets….

Just curious how others like to keep organized…

My recommendation is to put your User presets at the end of the Factory
presets (400 or later), and then when Fractal updates the Factory presets you
can just overwrite them all without having to worry about it messing with your
own presets.

It's just numbers. No real need to have your presets at the beginning.
 
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