Fractal FM3 - Two Weeks Later

Broken screen, locked-up presets, footswitch display issues - are any of these enough to curb my love for the Fractal FM3?
My FM3 First Impressions: • Fractal FM3 First Impr...
Zack Seif's Pitch Shifting video: • The ONE DOWNSIDE Of Fr...
This is not a sponsored video, though I am affiliated with the following brands that feature in this video: ML Sound Lab
I do have a bunch of affiliate links through Amazon - these cost you nothing to use and help me out massively.
Guitar Gear (Cables, Guitar Stands and Pedals): amzn.to/3RTn7wV
Camera Rig (Cameras, Lenses, Lights and Stands): amzn.to/3XHTiTT
Production Gear (Monitors, Interface, XLR): amzn.to/4bnqjIh
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
0:38 Stock Preset 102
0:58 Display Issues
3:01 The Fractal Experience
3:57 Stock Preset 11
4:28 Trying New Things
6:22 Finding New Weakpoints
6:47 Weakpoint: Bass
7:49 Weakpoint: Pitch Shifting
8:39 Weakpoint: Footswitch Lag
10:23 Weakpoint: Presets Not Loading Correctly
11:22 My Preset: Metalcore
12:24 Scene: Clean
12:41 Scene: Rhythm
12:58 Scene: Freaky Lead
13:05 Scene: Main Lead
13:20 Scene: Ring Mod
13:34 Scene: Pitch Shift 5 Semitones
13:53 Conclusion
14:37 What's Next?
15:41 Stock Preset 33
16:01 Outro

[@paulbradshawguitar]

great to see more of the voyage, sorry about the water damage but that turnaround is crazy quick for a repair a quick tip and on the quirk: -if you hold CTRL + Click on drop down menus (e.g for amps) it Pins the menu once open, saves you an extra click =) -Footswitch : that's the caveat when using a 'hold' function for the footswitch, however you can tweak this time down to 0.25ms or up to 2seconds hold before it activates the hold function, maybe that helps, turning off the hold function of that switch will keep things snappy , external footswitches are really quick and classic feeling otherwise -Level quirks is a BUG currently in firmware 8 relating to the Killdry function, it happens only on first boot/use of said preset, once you've switched scenes back and forth it's all back to normal, should hopefully be fixed soon, you can do it oldschool and set your blocks in parallel with mix at 100% otherwise in the meantime and level to set the mix, but it's just something to be aware about for now, i use the killdry function as it will be fixed soon -no template but i'd suggest having a 'base' preset that can serve as a template, so you can just use that as a base to quickly build new presets -quick heads up on the envelope/pitch follower, make sure within the controllers tab that the envelope/pitch follower is set to INPUT 1 , otherwise it won't work as it should, for some reason it can default to Input 2 as you know i got a bunch of videos on fractal stuff, check out the 'auto freeze' preset/build if you want a fun use of the Envelope follower =) you can also use an extra footswitch for one button expression stuff, lots of fun

[@KaiDown]

You are an absolute legend! Thank you so much for the tips, glad to hear the level quirks are a known issue in firmware 8 too, means that it'll likely get resolved nice and fast.

[@fractalaudiosystems]

Kai, you purchased that unit used from Turkey, so we're not sure of its history. We can't do this for everyone but your video was well considered and well played, so I'd like to try to help. Please contact Fractal Audio support in the USA and we'll see what can be done.

[@KaiDown]

Thank you for stopping by! I wanted to keep this video nice and level - while I’m obviously gutted at the way the situation panned out, I hope my love for the FM3 resonated regardless. I’ve sent an email over 💪

[@Burak_Egeli]

Very high quality video. Keep up the good work Kai.👌

[@KaiDown]

Thank you so much!

[@m3ssym3ss]

i bought mine brand new in the UK. the best thing I ever bought of that type. also, the fm3 combined with my dual rectifier in 4cm as a drive + delay and reverb in the loop sounds spectacular. i ll be getting a shield for it though lol. take care

[@josephadriancontreras7095]

I got the same problem with the freezing and letter zooming and mine was brand new …

[@josephadriancontreras7095]

Ima try to contact fractalaudio soon since its only a month old

[@KaiDown]

Seems to be software related, should be fixed in a hotfix update shortly - I wouldn’t panic about it

[@AlexisGitarre]

I had the Axe FX 1 Standard, Axe Fx 1 Ultra, Axe FX 2, Axe Fx 2 XL and the Axe FX III. All of them failed me several Times. My posts on the FAS forum and even my Account got deleted for posting the situations. Worst thing was with the Axe FX 2: They install such band fans, that the fan exploded basically and ripped out some parts of the PCB. I always on ANY Axe Fx installed new fans but on the II I waited of the delivery of a fitting silent fan. For me honestly, compared to the Helix that I have now almost 10 years since release, I never had a single problem and I used it daily for teaching and practicing for around 4-8 hours. I really wanted to keep the AXE FX because I like to have 3 Parallel FX like on the old Bradshaw rigs from Luke , Eddie and Landau. Also the input stage of the Helix is a different kind. Playing Fuzz and Treble Booster behaves exactly like the real deal I have but on the Axe Fx? Not even close. If you turn down the volume knob on the guitar with the Helix Mesa Mark IV Sim it is spot on like my real Mark IV Rev A. With the Axe Fx, the guitar sounds thin and brittle. No matter which input setting you choose. Just try it and roll down your pot, the Helix stays thick and juicy but nicely cleans up like any real amp does. Also latency is twice as much on the Axe Fx compared to Helix. Ah man... I wish I could grab a FM9 for all the cool routing and programming. It would make many things way easier for me but no.... I need my dynamics and I'm a heavy volume pot user.

[@alexdoyleguitar]

Enjoying these videos. I’m interested in the fm3 most of all but I do wonder if it’s really worth it as it’s so expansive. I still love the ml Plexi and 800 as well as sgear, would it offer much more for core amp tones?? (I know the hardware nature and amazing effects are above the plugins but I’m just playing and teaching at home so……..

[@KaiDown]

My situation is pretty unique in the grand scheme of things given my ML affiliation, but the Fractal for me is more about frame of reference than anything. It's where most people's gold standard of modelling and effects lie, so it's been interesting for me to dig into it. I love the quantity of high-quality amps, and the depth of the controls - that's a pairing that you just won't get elsewhere. If it's consistently fun and fresh enough to keep you excited to play music, that's really all that matters. I'm having so much fun just playing around with the unique features (like the ring mod here - that's a tone I've never played through before).

[@alexdoyleguitar]

@@KaiDown good perspective 👍 it’s a shame they aren’t easier to tryout here in the Uk but in sure it will be worth it. Thanks for the content

[@user-hr6ox7rx4h]

please, share your Kai Preset and Kai Preset 2 with Cab IR

[@harryanderson7282]

Did you go w/ any of Balaguer's stock pups in that, or did you have them use something else?

[@KaiDown]

Stock! This is the Feral set

[@electronik808]

also the mini display not centered is another known issue just keep the scene names short for now it happens when the name is longer than the display max characterss

[@millman82]

The one thing Zack Seif gets wrong and I see repeated here is when playing or arpeggiating clean chords you want to set tracking to smooth. There will still be some warble but it is a lot better. Fast is for high gain and distorted single-notes.

[@KaiDown]

Thanks Tim! I’m typically playing faster parts needing the faster tracking, I only ran it through the clean here to show the warbling. I’ll have to A/B it properly against the smooth mode and see which works best for me

[@misterringer]

@@KaiDown Please give that a go and tweak the tracking. Now that there's gapless preset switching, you could even swap between fast and smooth with tweaked tracking parameters so I'm curious to see the difference. Also, while it shouldn't make a difference, change the pitch block input to Input1 instead of Block In. I know it's first in the chain, but you never know how software behaves haha. If you still have your helix you can slap that in front to compare the pitch shifters as well.

[@TheGooseChaseMusic]

Somehow the pitch shifter of the Helix still sounds better than the newer stuff, Fractal or Neural. Kinda crazy. And yeah, i turn off the hold functions on my FM9 as well. Not my favorite for timing.

[@KaiDown]

Prior to buying the FM3 I probably would've assumed that the pitch shifter was at least up to par, so I'm pretty shocked by it really. Thankfully, it's not a feature I rely on all that much (at least, not cleanly). Warbly weirdness is totally cool when you're up two octaves. Tap/Hold is a great way to maximise the functionality of the switches, but I am very glad to see the timing is restored to "down = activate" when you disable the hold function

[@BudgetPedalChap]

From what you've said here, I'd be reluctant to ever use it live. Too many things stacked against it to be reliable. Great vid gent 👍

[@KaiDown]

Thanks dude! I’d say outside of the splash-guard stuff, this is somewhat typical of modellers - the “.0” version of the firmware has some rare little quirks, but the hotfix that comes along after stabilises it. Had the same thing with my HX One too

[@fractalaudiosystems]

I want to offer you a strong reassurance that this is a highly unusual case, This unit could have a sordid history after being purchased used. There are so many FM3s without any problems it would be almost impossible to count. The FM3, FM9, and Axe-Fx III are steadily relied on live on pro stages, tours, theaters, and studios all over the world -- not to mention homes, churches, etc,, We also have an excellent 1-year warranty with 3 years optional in the USA and included standard in the EU.

[@electronik808]

as they said 1) purchasing the unit from Turkey used without knowing it's history it's risky you could have gotten a reconditioned one from g66.... 2) nobody says that the fractal is water proof but i think none of your gear is.... blaming fractal with that bad thumbnail and then saying what you're saying is really in bad faith i think...clickbait?

[@KaiDown]

I’m not blaming Fractal here - the thumbnail is my experiences with the unit, so while it focuses on the negatives, it’s not clickbait. I never said that Fractal need to hold up the warranty on a used item, in fact I actively held my hands up to say it’s my fault for buying used. While I don’t expect gear to be waterproof, I was disappointed that my computers and pedals on the floor got damaged less than the Fractal that was up out the way. I apologise if this came across as being negative, the experience itself was a negative to me but I still like the unit a lot (and I hope I made that part clear throughout).