My Fractal FM-3 thread.

In other news, I built a preset today for my Ken Foerch Band gig. Since I’m playing a ton of Mike Stern it took the Twin Reverb preset, added chorus and a Super Overdrive and I was done. It took about 90 seconds to get the base sound and then built a few different scenes with different options and I tried a John Scofield version with a rat pedal and and a different chorus. I think that my first outing with this thing will be a KFB rehearsal a week from Thursday.
 
So in working on this sound, it turns out that (just like EVH) he doesn't really use chorus but an SPX90 pitch detune. This particular gig is all about Mike Stern and Pat Metheny tunes so I think this is going to work. If you want to play with the idea on other devices, here are the settings:



Effect Type: DETUNE
V1 Detune: -11.0 ct
V2 Detune: 11.0 ct
Level 1 & 2: 100%
Pan 1: -100, Pan 2: 100
Delay 1 & 2: 30 ms (I leave these set to 0 ms on mine)
Input Mode: Mono (I have this right after the amp Block)
Low Cut: 20hz
Hi Cut: 9999hz
 
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I plugged it in for a few minutes last night. Already better than the Gemini but it's going to take some work to dial it in. Even in this video Leon Todd has to do some stuff to his patches to make them work with the Atomic CLR cabs:



I was just kind of hoping that it would be more "plug and play" but I'm getting the feeling that it is not, especially if you want to make your modeler sound like the "amp in the room" vibe through a monitor.
 
Hope it ends up working for you.
When I play through the Headrush frfr, I've found that getting it off the floor takes away the boomy low end--everything else seems to translate pretty ok.
 
micwalt said:
Hope it ends up working for you.
When I play through the Headrush frfr, I've found that getting it off the floor takes away the boomy low end--everything else seems to translate pretty ok.
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I'm getting there!

The parametric EQ trick that Leon Todd shows in that video helps quite a bit.

Plus, I set the speaker flat and turned in on in the "monitor on a stand" mode like Scott Abene suggested and I'm most of the way there already.

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I've got one fucking fantastic crunch sound going. Out of time for the morning, though. I feel much better about this.
 
miguel said:
Can you pull the Carvin X100B reissue video sounds from the FM-3?
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I'll have to go listen to the video. I know there is a Carvin Steve Via VL100 model in the firmware, so it might not be that hard to get that sound.
 
So far I've gotten pretty close to the sound of my Deluxe with the extension cabinet. I actually loaded a few IR's from the Celestion packs that I bought last year for my Iridium and now I have a mix of an open back greenback cab.

the rest of my day was spent trying to recreate my rig until I came to the realization that I can’t do that. Before I closed up the studio for the night I tried a few different guitar combinations and presets and I think I have a new strategy to try this weekend.
 
Things I'm thinking about trying today:

  1. Building two or three presets around specific amp and effect combinations that I use at certain points in a cover band night and working through first, second and third set song lists to see how that works out.
  2. I'm not in love with the pedals in the drive block so I might experiment with putting my beloved JRAD The Dude pedal in a loop and switch it in and out as needed. I just want to be able to take a clean amp sound and get a good crunch sound without dropouts (explained below).
The reason why I'm doing these things is because the FM3is the only Fractal device that cannot run more than one amp or cab block at the same time so when you switch between presets or scenes there is a slight dropout if you want to change amp or cab sounds. You can change parameters in the amp for gain levels or switch in drive blocks for more gain without the dropouts, though.

If I had the ability to buy an FM9 I would upgrade for this reason alone. It's all a matter of processing power and in order to offer a Fractal product at this price point this is the tradeoff. Other than that and needing a few more buttons this is fantastic. I'm still very happy with my purchase and I think that I can still gig the way I want to with it but I need to be little more strategic in how I build my sounds.

I'm on the list for the FM9 and I can either buy one of those in several months when my name comes up or wait just a little longer and buy whatever the next big thing is from Fractal. In a half years' time I think the FM3 will be 2-3 years old and the FM9 will be a couple as well.
 
Also, there is a wait list for the FC6 now so I'll probably use the ES-8 as my midi switcher for a while. Part of me doesn't want to spend a ton of cash on another set of buttons but I've also been abusing the ES-8 for the last 5-6 years and I probably should sell it before it becomes a maintenance issue.
 
I hadn't heard about the dropouts--that's kind of a big bummer. As for MIDI switching, there's a shit-ton of products out there these days that'll do the trick.
Now that I upgraded my studio computer, I was finally able to update my POD Go to the latest firmware version and mess around with it. I'm trying to create one preset with four snapshots that'll get me all the sounds I would need for the Def Leppard tribute (still deciding if I'm returning or not). So far, I've got the heavy tone and the solo boost sorted, but I still need an almost clean for Bringing on the Heartbreak and a totally clean for Foolin' and Love Bites. The amp model I'm using only cleans up so much, so I'm checking out the acoustic sim--but I may run out of blocks. So I may end up putting the BOSS IR-200 in the loop of the POD or running the POD four cable into the BOSS. Or I might just scrap the whole thing and buy something bigger with more DSP.
 
micwalt said:
I hadn't heard about the dropouts--that's kind of a big bummer. As for MIDI switching, there's a shit-ton of products out there these days that'll do the trick.
Now that I upgraded my studio computer, I was finally able to update my POD Go to the latest firmware version and mess around with it. I'm trying to create one preset with four snapshots that'll get me all the sounds I would need for the Def Leppard tribute (still deciding if I'm returning or not). So far, I've got the heavy tone and the solo boost sorted, but I still need an almost clean for Bringing on the Heartbreak and a totally clean for Foolin' and Love Bites. The amp model I'm using only cleans up so much, so I'm checking out the acoustic sim--but I may run out of blocks. So I may end up putting the BOSS IR-200 in the loop of the POD or running the POD four cable into the BOSS. Or I might just scrap the whole thing and buy something bigger with more DSP.
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Its funny that for as powerful as these devices are, we are still trying to find work-arounds for sounds that we use every day. This is supposed to make things easier.
 
Mark Wein said:
Its funny that for as powerful as these devices are, we are still trying to find work-arounds for sounds that we use every day. This is supposed to make things easier.
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Yeah! To be fair, though, I did kinda cheap out with the POD. I probably should've gone full Helix or at least LT.
I'm clinging to the thought that, once I had my core sounds figured out on the old GT-8, I was able to do everything I needed for about a decade without futzing with it. Hoping this ends up the same.
 
micwalt said:
Yeah! To be fair, though, I did kinda cheap out with the POD. I probably should've gone full Helix or at least LT.
I'm clinging to the thought that, once I had my core sounds figured out on the old GT-8, I was able to do everything I needed for about a decade without futzing with it. Hoping this ends up the same.
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I've never been lucky enough to have made a digital product sound good but this afternoon (with the help of my son's ears) I was able to duplicate the sound of my Deluxe Reverb to about 98%. Now on to some crunch sounds!
 
So I was able to duplicate the rhythm guitar sound on “You Shook Me All Night Long” using the jumpered Jtm 45 model and a blending of vintage 30 and greenback 4x12 cabs from the impulse responses that o bought from Celestion last year. Things are going well :)
 
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I wasted my morning trying to use the ES-8 with the FM3 and gave up. I was waiting for the FC6 switcher to come back into stock but apparently they have V2 out now so I bit the bullet and ordered one. Watch this space for a massive gear sell-off to pay for all this shit once it gets here and I know I'm happy with it.
 
Hey Mark. I have been keeping tabs on this thread and I don't think I have seen you mention anything about how the Fractal "feels" compared to an actual amp. That has been my problem with the modelling/digital stuff is that while there are good tones to be had the "feel" of a tube amp was never there for me. It seems like you are learning the tech and getting sounds you dig but how is the "feel"? Will the Fractal eventually replace your amps/effects or are you always gonna keep some analog around around because there is no replicating it?
 
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