The Fractal FM3 Sucks (Kind of)

[JT]

Sorry, @JiveTurkey - I didn't realize there were three more pages of discussion following this post.

I'm kind of all over the place

 

[DrewJD82]

Fwiw, I'm more than happily called "UI whiner", "idiot" or "local contrarian" (just pick your poison - or even all of them). After all, there's more than just good enough reasons to complain about UIs, and in case people don't agree, it's likely telling more about them.

Maybe I should make less music and find more reasons to complain?

 

[GTR37]

It is both flexible and a bit weird. Once you start bringing in the Mixer blocks it gets odd. The grid should be basically just a visual alignment thing and everything is connected as nodes with in/outs.

But the Mixer blocks operate based on "signal coming into the block from this row" behavior which can be hard to understand compared to "signal coming in from the last block connected before Mixer" because visually the row is almost never connected intuitively. Mixers should probably be more like a huge rectangular block spanning all rows to be more understandable.

I hope for next gen Fractal keeps the grid as a visual organization aid but removes the need to play with shunt blocks, instead semi-automatically connecting blocks.

But compared to the current competition it's definitely better as it allows for a lot more parallelism. Of course the Helix/QC style CPU management with paths has plus sides too by allowing more efficient use of the processors, with the caveat being the lack of block channels and complex presets becoming complicated to manage compared to Fractal because you have to consider their placement.

Good points , GlennO on FAS made a little animation on the adding blocks in which is kind of similar to what you said about cables connected
It would be nice to just be able to drag a block like say a delay place it in the spot you wanted and have the blocks
Automatically shift left right
Make a space for the new block and always stay connected

 

[mbenigni]

Good points , GlennO on FAS made a little animation on the adding blocks in which is kind of similar to what you said about cables connected
It would be nice to just be able to drag a block like say a delay place it in the spot you wanted and have the blocks
Automatically shift left right
Make a space for the new block and always stay connected

It's funny - I honestly expected to read through this thread and have the FAS fans shed light on how the UI would get better once I became more familiar. Instead, I keep reading posts explaining that it's worse than I ever assumed it was.

 

[JT]

I replied to Orv on the other forum on this; but basic editing functionality if it is getting looked at at some point should be available across ALL devices. It's one thing to hold out on dsp-eating reverbs but leaving basic editing upgrades out would be a no bueno from my POV.

 

[laxu]

It's funny - I honestly expected to read through this thread and have the FAS fans shed light on how the UI would get better once I became more familiar. Instead, I keep reading posts explaining that it's worse than I ever assumed it was.

You will get faster at using it but you will never love it.

My advice is doing only tweaks to your already built presets rather than trying to build them from scratch using the onboard UI. Axe-Edit is just much better for that.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Maybe I should make less music and find more reasons to complain?

Maybe.

On a serious note: It's actually *because* I'm making a lot of music (see above, I'm making my living from it since plenty of years) that I'm complaining. If I was an occasional home noodler, I couldn't care less.

 

[la szum]

Everyone knows the top tier complainers are also the bestest of all musicians. Duh? They've always gone hand in hand.

Next!

 

[Stratzrus]

It's funny - I honestly expected to read through this thread and have the FAS fans shed light on how the UI would get better once I became more familiar. `````````

I tried.

 

[Frodebro]

Back in the day, we had to program these from the front panel:

Because there was no software editor for these:

Perspective…

 

[deadpool_25]

My last post mentioned how I didn't care about capturing. And in general, I don't. But I recently tried a capture that is definitely my favorite clean tone I've tried in a modeler--as far as I can remember I like it even more than any real amp I've played. Funny enough, that "capture" was a Fractal Tone Match made on the AxeFX III and imported into my FM9 (then played through the FR-12 with Lysander 1604 mod). It's

 

[mbenigni]

Back in the day, we had to program these from the front panel:
...
Perspective…

Sure, that's a perspective. It's an arbitrarily skewed perspective by 40 years give or take, but no one can deny it's a perspective.

 

[Frodebro]

Sure, that's a perspective. It's an arbitrarily skewed perspective per 40 years give or take, but no one can deny it's a perspective.

Perspective is perspective. Mine may be different than yours, but it shapes how I view things.

 

[mbenigni]

Perspective is perspective. Mine may be different than yours, but it shapes how I view things.

No one can deny that, either. Like I said, at the end of the day, use what you dig.

FWIW, I'm old enough to remember using devices like the ones in your last post - and worse. Doesn't mean I want to continue doing so any longer than necessary.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Doesn't mean I want to continue doing so any longer than necessary.

This. Just because you can get away with roasting unpeeled potatos in a campfire doesn't mean a pizza fresh from an oven isn't desireable.

 

[mbenigni]

This. Just because you can get away with roasting unpeeled potatos in a campfire doesn't mean a pizza fresh from an oven isn't desireable.

This is a strange metaphor, mainly because both of those scenarios sound lovely. But I think we're in agreement.

Maybe I'm just hungry? Or maybe I'd rather be sitting by a campfire. Or almost anywhere else...

 

[Sascha Franck]

This is a strange metaphor, mainly because both of those scenarios sound lovely.

Sure. I love campfire roasted potatoes. But they're not exactly the fastest food there is...

 

[unix-guy]

So what? There are lots of hardware and software differences between all 3 products. The FM3 doesn't give you the same amount of blocks, it doesn't give you the same I/O, some of them don't even give you a headphone jack!

It isn't a reason to poo-poo the idea.

Did you actually read what I wrote?

I literally said it's a good idea.

I'm simply pointing out that it won't work as described on all devices and typically that experience is pretty consistent.

 

[Orvillain]

Did you actually read what I wrote?

No.

 

[Frodebro]

No one can deny that, either. Like I said, at the end of the day, use what you dig.

FWIW, I'm old enough to remember using devices like the ones in your last post - and worse. Doesn't mean I want to continue doing so any longer than necessary.

I don’t even think about it, but that’s because it is WAY down on the list of things that I choose to worry about. Actually, it’s not on my list of things to worry about at all. There is very little in this world that could not be improved upon, so at the end of the day we each have to decide for ourselves which things are important to us and which are not.