New Fractal FM9 floor unit - looks good!

March

I buckled and put myself on the waiting list and have been given an eta of 15th October. I’ve also ordered a Laney LFR-112 cab. If the amp models can do an accurate impression of the  blue and red channels of a Bogner Ecstasy 101B I’ll be happy…

Nerine

March said:

I buckled and put myself on the waiting list and have been given an eta of 15th October. I’ve also ordered a Laney LFR-112 cab. If the amp models can do an accurate impression of the  blue and red channels of a Bogner Ecstasy 101B I’ll be happy…

The Bogner models I've played with sound really good. 

There is plenty of modded Marshall goodness in the FM9 - you'll definitely be well catered for, there.

In fact, I may even build a rig around an Ecstasy this afternoon.  

fastonebaz

How come everyone has so much money? 

£2k  fm9
£500 frfr cab
£100 case
£150 expression pedal
.
.
.
.

mrkb

1 drive pedal £200
1 fuzz pedal £200
1 Strymon Delay £400
1 Strymon reverb £400
1 Modulation pedal £200
1 Wah Pedal £100
1 Pedaltrain and case £100
Pedal board cables £100
Pedalboard powersupply £100
Marshall Valve Amp £1500
Cabinet £500
Fender style Amp £1000...
...
...
...
Mics £1000+
Usb audio interface £200
Professional recording studio hire £1000….

firepaulmusic

Nerine said:

Continued with the digital recreation of my pedalboard today. 

Was worried that I wouldn’t have enough switches so decided to piss about with the layouts. 

I like to be able to switch some settings on my analogue board for different songs etc.

How to accomplish this?? 

Well, you just use the press and hold feature of the switches. 

For example, my pitch block at a press turns on the virtual capo so I can Eb it up. But what if I want to use the octave function on my virtual Digitech Drop pedal where I would usually turn the knob on the actual unit between songs? Set up channel B of the pitch block to the desired sound and set the hold function of its corresponding switch in the layouts to change to the channel B (octave) setting instead. You can then switch that in and out as you wish. If you want to go back to the other function (in my case Eb mode) you just press and hold to change it back. What’s great is that it remembers what channel you’re on and brings that channel in and out until you press and hold it again to revert back to the previous sound.  

It’s absolutely brilliant. 

I’ve also got two reverbs set up. My standard one, and then press and hold for a more ambient one for a couple of songs. 

My delay tap tempo switch doubles up as a tuner if you hold it down. 

Effectively gives you 18 stomp boxes on the floor in front of you. 

Then you can use the shortcut to get back to the layout menu and access scenes etc. 
On my scenes menu on the floor I have a “per preset” layout switch which takes me back to being able to switch in everything manually. 

It’s bloody genius. 

Hopefully those that have one have played around with this. It’s so good. 

Like you can have effectively a triple layered board. (In reality it’s actually more than this). 

1 layer acts like a preset switcher a la Gigrig G3 or Boss ES8 etc, then you can tap to access the layer underneath allowing you to turn individual effects on and off, then you can press and hold switches in that menu to change the channels and therefore the effect settings for each block and switch those in and out as you see fit. 

So switcher layout, individual stomp layout and alternative individual stomp layout. 

It surprises me every time I plug into it.  

Killer. 

Also. Fuck it sounds good.  

Layouts and scenes is where I'm struggling at the moment. I found the AX8 easy to figure out but this has me baffled. Reading your experience a couple of times I will give it another go. I also can't understand how to dictate where (which footswitch) on my FC-6 e.g. another drive pedal is assigned? I'm sure I'll get there in the end...

Benm39

Any folks here tried the Cooper Carter tutorial classes for the Fractal Products. I've an FM3 that I'm now wanting to get back to using in earnest rather than just playing around with stock presets.... it seems quite comprehensive. Looking to get a sterro pair of the Redsound Elis speakers as well at some point...  @Nerine now has me GASsing for the FM9 though even though it way more than I'd ever need or likely use....

mrkb

^ I did have an earlier course of his for Axe FX II and found it useful as I was new to Fractal and modelling, but there’s plenty of information on the Fractal forum and YouTube that cover a lot of his content. He’s just packaged it up in one course which might be more useful in the long run.

DavusPG

Benm39 said:

Any folks here tried the Cooper Carter tutorial classes for the Fractal Products. I've an FM3 that I'm now wanting to get back to using in earnest rather than just playing around with stock presets.... it seems quite comprehensive. Looking to get a sterro pair of the Redsound Elis speakers as well at some point...  @Nerine now has me GASsing for the FM9 though even though it way more than I'd ever need or likely use....

I had the Cooper Carter course for the Axe-Fx 3 and it's good, but so much of it out there for free of you can be bothered to look for it. 

I also have a single Redsound speaker - it's brilliant

Aidanspaghetti

mrkb said:

1 drive pedal £200
1 fuzz pedal £200
1 Strymon Delay £400
1 Strymon reverb £400
1 Modulation pedal £200
1 Wah Pedal £100
1 Pedaltrain and case £100
Pedal board cables £100
Pedalboard powersupply £100
Marshall Valve Amp £1500
Cabinet £500
Fender style Amp £1000...
...
...
...
Mics £1000+
Usb audio interface £200
Professional recording studio hire £1000….

And one spilled £5 pint of beer and its goosed.

Nerine

Some more praise for the FM9 today. 

Used some of the factory presets to add a load of production guitars and synth type sounds to an album I’m producing. 

Sounds absolutely killer. 

Then this evening for some R&R and practice I just pulled up a Two Rock style preset and noodled for a couple of hours over some jam/backing tracks on YouTube. All of it coming through my studio monitors via my SSL BiG SiX.
At no point did I think I needed a different sound or felt the inclination that it could sound “better” or anything. I just enjoyed playing, loved the tone and totally forgot about the gear. 

The absolute best thing about it for me is that it makes me play guitar more. It’s inspiring. 

It’s also integrated seamlessly into my live setup. One of the major criticisms I had of the Quad Cortex was some noticeable (to me) latency when using it direct live or 4CM with my amp. I’ve tried my hardest to notice it with the FM9 and I can’t. 

Such a great piece of gear, it really is. You could call it “expensive”, but I’d argue that it’s an excellent value proposition. It sounds incredible, can create just about any sound you can think of, works great live, it’s perfect for recording, makes gig load in easy, the modelling is nailed on, it feels great to play, it’s stacked with amps, cabs, drives and effects, massively flexible, the firmware is often updated and improved, and it’s well made. 

Earlier in the week, I tried out something cool, too. 

I ran the Friedman Small Box amp model in the FM9 into the FX Return of my Friedman Small Box to see if it sounded the same when switching between the FM9 and the amps preamp section. 

I matched the tone and gain controls on both. 

It should come as no surprise that it sounded and felt the same. If someone blindfolded me and switched them randomly I don’t think I’d be able to tell them apart. 

I sound like one of Cliffs shills… 

Roland

Aidanspaghetti said:

And one spilled £5 pint of beer and its goosed.

I can tell you from experience that it is quite resilient

Roland

firepaulmusic said:

Layouts and scenes is where I'm struggling at the moment....

It’s a personal thing. I’ve found it easiest to run Scenes from the bottom row, and individual pedals from the top row, by modifying one of the Performance layouts. One of Cooper Carter’s recent videos for G66 describes how to do this. The pedal on top right is then tap for next patch, and hold for previous.

If you use a volume pedal then can also save a button by engaging the tuner when volume is off.

fastonebaz

Question:

Does the FM9 have a way to convert your guitar from standard tuning to open G tuning? 

susbemol

fastonebaz said:

Question:

Does the FM9 have a way to convert your guitar from standard tuning to open G tuning? 

No, it doesn't. Generally speaking, only setups with individual pickups for each string (like the Roland GK system, etc) can do that.

fastonebaz

Thanks

Vibetronic

this is all making me want one, and trying @mrkb s last weekend didn't help! Now weighing up what I can part with to make it work!!

mrkb

Vibetronic said:

this is all making me want one, and trying @mrkb s last weekend didn't help! Now weighing up what I can part with to make it work!!

Theres someone on here looking for an AX8 last week. 

WTB: Fractal AX8 - FX £ Discussions on theFretBoard

Vibetronic

mrkb said:

Vibetronic said:

this is all making me want one, and trying @mrkb s last weekend didn't help! Now weighing up what I can part with to make it work!!

Theres someone on here looking for an AX8 last week. 

WTB: Fractal AX8 - FX £ Discussions on theFretBoard

Haha cheers, yes I saw that!! I can afford one but I’d rather do it by selling stuff I already have so will give it some thought. Trouble is I really like all my guitars at the moment, my collection is pretty fine-tuned now!

Gassage

I have to say I am very tempted...

mrkb

You might as well get your name down on the waitlist, there’s no deposit or obligation to buy once it gets to your turn.