Fractal FM3. Anyone got one?

TeleMaster

kjdowd said:

Got mine yesterday. Really impressed so far. The fork factor is good - very portable, seems fairly rugged and looks like it could stand up to a few gigs. Screen is good and readable and operation is pretty intuitive (to the point where I've been editing on the unit rather than using the editor). Sounds great (if you like the fractal stuff). What's not to like? Am very much looking forward to comparing it with the quad cortex...

three foot switches are a limitation and would take some reasonable careful gig planning but, that's said, using and swapping between the foot switch modes is very intuitive, as is scrolling across the footswitch 'pages', for want of a better word...

I got one of these. https://www.ottercustomdesign.com/product-page/ocd-duo-for-fractal-audio-fc-6-fc-12-fm-3

I'm using the first three buttons on the FM3 for nearly everything, then if I need 4 or 5 scenes I use the Otter switch. I have hold functions for up and down and tuner and I can turn phasers and trem etc on with the other footswitch tap functions. I could get by with just the standard three. It's extremely powerful.

I think the Quad Cortex has a lot to live up to, although for some reason I don't think that this is being hyped as much as I would have expected. 

kjdowd

Looks good. Thanks @TeleMaster ;

Vibetronic

jonnyscaramanga said:

I'd quite like one but I think I'll probably be using my AX8 until they discontinue support for the editing software. Without the software it's almost comically unfriendly to use, but it sounds great. It's not always indistinguishable from real amps (or even recorded real amps) but it's more than good enough so unless my earnings mysteriously skyrocket amidst a global pandemic and no-deal Brexit, I'll be staying put. 

Likewise - got no reason to upgrade, although I did look into it last week - had a big scare when my volume levels started dipping all over the place. There's a few threads on it on the Fractal forum - seems to be a bug without a known fix - but I just installed the slightly older 10.00 firmware which seemed to resolve it. 

TeleMaster said:

I used the FM3 at practice last night and I'm blown away at how good it sounds through a Seymour Duncan Powerstage and cab.

I've been a long time Kemper used, and tried to adopt the Helix with little success, although I love the HXFX, and I am so impressed with it. In this capacity it's easily the most realistic and authentic sounding modeller I've ever used. If I didn't know it was digital I wouldn't have been able to guess.

I set up a BE100 HBE preset and it absolutely ripped.

I think I'm a Fractal fan boy now! 

Always found the Kemper sounds massively digital in comparison. Mate has one and I've never found a sound I liked! I did use one at the Bristol jam though which had a decent sound dialled in, but that was as good as it got. 

How long was it from going on the waitlist to actually getting one? On the offchance my AX8 does start to mess around again it'd be interesting to know 

BDJohnston

I had the Axe II - Mark II (Quantum firmware) and the new Ares is a huge improvement. The FM3 sounds far more realistic and many of the patches sound great right out of the box. One thing I recommend is to add the 'quality' preamp to the cabinet (there are several to choose from), as this makes the tones sounds even more 3D. I guess Fractal didn't do this because it eats up some processing power, but man, what a difference.