Fractal Talk

[Whizzinby]

I’ve had the AxeFx for about six months and I have two presets.

90% of the time I build a preset on the fly and don’t even bother saving because it’s so easy to setup and get some great tones the next time out.

I tip my cap to the road warriors among us dealing with these struggles.

 

[LCW]

I’ve had the AxeFx for about six months and I have two presets.

90% of the time I build a preset on the fly and don’t even bother saving because it’s so easy to setup and get some great tones the next time out.

I tip my cap to the road warriors among us dealing with these struggles.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I’ve had the AxeFx for about six months and I have two presets.

90% of the time I build a preset on the fly and don’t even bother saving because it’s so easy to setup and get some great tones the next time out.

I tip my cap to the road warriors among us dealing with these struggles.

same here. most of the stuff I do have saved is either for complex routing through outboard fx that would be annoying to remember, or my chain that lets me A/B axe models against real amps using a footswitch.

Most of the time I just dial in whatever i need in that moment, much like I would a real amp

 

[Stone]

I use one patch at a time for whatever song im learning, so far with my FM9 ive only used 3 patches 4th one coming soon

 

[Rock Chalk]

Just some fun with Adobe.........

 

[mbenigni]

Please don't ban me for this...

Please don't fire me for having clicked on this...

(And NOW I see there's a special "Spoiler NSFW" tag.)

 

[mbenigni]

The FM3 Firmware 8.0 thread:

View attachment 22273

I really need to sell this FM3, but...

 

[metropolis_4]

I vote nuke the presets any time there is a major modeling upgrade.

That’s what I do every time

 

[JiveTurkey]

Wishlist item for FM3 TURBO MK II: This Time It's PerfectTM:

Add an Output 3 to make 4cm a viable option when you so desire. You can dump that USB A port that we aren't using and move the FASlink over to make it happen!

 

[Mongillo19]

I really need to sell this FM3, but...

Would you ever contemplate waiting to see what the fabled mini QC product is and then keeping both the FM3 and mini QC while selling the big QC?

 

[JiveTurkey]

Would you ever contemplate waiting to see what the fabled mini QC product is and then keeping both the FM3 and mini QC while selling the big QC?

 

[mbenigni]

Would you ever contemplate waiting to see what the fabled mini QC product is and then keeping both the FM3 and mini QC while selling the big QC?

No, that would be the worst of both worlds for me. :) The appeal of the QC over the FM3 (apart from usability) mostly comes down to the additional I/O and extra DSP. (Having an additional processor and lanes to accommodate other instruments, high quality reverbs, whatever.) A "mini QC" might eventually be nice to have connected to an amp for "live" applications, while the big QC would stay connected to my PC as more versatile studio hub. The presumed benefit would be (partial) compatibility between the two, and consistent usage, so I'm not scratching my head and re-solving problems half the time.

As it stands... every other day I decide I should lose the FM3. Owning both platforms is a distraction, and the QC is more versatile and easier to use overall. (That's not a FAS vs. QC thing - it's specific to the FM3, which has its own unique limitations.)

On the other hand... I do prefer the sound of some of the amp models in the FM3, and I know I've only scratched the surface in terms of the variety it brings to the table. This makes me think: just keep the FM3 around for the "library" of FAS content. But trying to come to grips with the FM3 and make the most of it is taking time away from playing guitar, whereas the QC is pretty much plug-and-play, what you see is what you get.

Serious first world problems.

 

[JiveTurkey]

No, that would be the worst of both worlds for me. :) The appeal of the QC over the FM3 (apart from usability) mostly comes down to the additional I/O and extra DSP. (Having an additional processor and lanes to accommodate other instruments, high quality reverbs, whatever.) A "mini QC" might eventually be nice to have connected to an amp for "live" applications, while the big QC would stay connected to my PC as more versatile studio hub. The presumed benefit would be (partial) compatibility between the two, and consistent usage, so I'm not scratching my head and re-solving problems half the time.

As it stands... every other day I decide I should lose the FM3. Owning both platforms is a distraction, and the QC is more versatile and easier to use overall. (That's not a FAS vs. QC thing - it's specific to the FM3, which has its own unique limitations.)

On the other hand... I do prefer the sound of some of the amp models in the FM3, and I know I've only scratched the surface in terms of the variety it brings to the table. This makes me think: just keep the FM3 around for the "library" of FAS content. But trying to come to grips with the FM3 and make the most of it is taking time away from playing guitar, whereas the QC is pretty much plug-and-play, what you see is what you get.

Serious first world problems.

Where are these high quality reverbs coming from?

 

[mbenigni]

Where are these high quality reverbs coming from?

QC doesn't have a good spring reverb, but it does have some nice reverbs IMO. Plate was a long time coming, but is now well-represented. Halls, etc. were always good. On the FM3 I'm stuck with Economy verbs much of the time, and honestly, I prefer the sound of the QC reverbs overall.

Yep, I just said that.

 

[JiveTurkey]

QC doesn't have a good spring reverb, but it does have some nice reverbs IMO. Plate was a long time coming, but is now well-represented. Halls, etc. were always good. On the FM3 I'm stuck with Economy verbs much of the time, and honestly, I prefer the sound of the QC reverbs overall.

Yep, I just said that.

Is your signal chain that crazy that you can't turn up the reverb quality? That's odd. I don't use reverb in my gigging presets and even on the III; it's this cool novelty that I never use for anything that actually serves a productive purpose other than "oooohh those sound nice!".

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

But what about those who are?

Depends on the level of preciousness. If they genuinely don't want the sound of their presets to change and a firmware update makes changes to the underlying amp modeling, well -- there's only one answer and its not the one they're going to like.

Otherwise -- take note of exactly where all the advanced parameters are in your fave preset in whatever means is most convenient to you, and make sure that you get your updated patches back to those settings after all is said and done. If it still sounds different in a less-good way, I don't know what else you can do but turn the knobs until its closer to something you like and/or revert to previous firmware?

Or -- just do what you do and avoid Fractal products?

Wishlist item for FM3 TURBO MK II: This Time It's PerfectTM:

Add an Output 3 to make 4cm a viable option when you so desire. You can dump that USB A port that we aren't using and move the FASlink over to make it happen!
View attachment 22402

or even just let the left and right output2 ports be used separately if one wants.

 

[mbenigni]

Is your signal chain that crazy that you can't turn up the reverb quality? That's odd. I don't use reverb in my gigging presets and even on the III; it's this cool novelty that I never use for anything that actually serves a productive purpose other than "oooohh those sound nice!".

My signal chains are pretty modest for the most part. But it's surprisingly easy to make an FM3 throw a CPU usage warning, or kill audio altogether. Yes, I can intentionally build very simple presets with the intention of carving out room for better reverbs, but tip-toeing around like that is a bit of a (here comes that word again...) distraction.

 

[OrganicZed]

@mbenigni Why not split up your sounds across multiple presets and utilize the gapless switching?

 

[mbenigni]

@mbenigni Why not split up your sounds across multiple presets and utilize the gapless switching?

Sure, that'll work for some presets, but not others.

This isn't really a "problem" I'm trying to solve either way. It's more a question of figuring out which product to commit to. (Or whether to keep trying to serve two masters.) All of these workarounds just reinforce the sense that QC is the better workflow for me. In fairness, it's also the more expensive product...

 

[Los-D]

QC doesn't have a good spring reverb, but it does have some nice reverbs IMO. Plate was a long time coming, but is now well-represented. Halls, etc. were always good. On the FM3 I'm stuck with Economy verbs much of the time, and honestly, I prefer the sound of the QC reverbs overall.

Yep, I just said that.