So, I bought a new Fractal FM3 Turbo. Now what?

scottosan

scottosan

Well-known member
Just ordered new today. I have no idea where to even begin with this, but my intent is to use this for more polished and consistent pickup recordings. I am a little scared of how much work will be needed to dial in the tones I need based on my previous experience with modellers and profilers.

I always expect stock patches to be either be way over the top or just unconvincing, but the sounds people are putting out are undeniably good. But, can those tone be had with minimal recording experience?

1. How interchangeable are the patches between the hardware versions?

2. Can I get decent patches without investing a bunch in 3 party patches.

3. Can patches be exported freely between individuals.

Any suggestions as to how I can best acclimate to being a first time Fractal owner would be much appreciated.
 
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The Cooper Carter series is great for learning the FM3.

  1. The patches are mostly interchangeable. The FM9 and FM3 have less resources than the Axe-FX III, so they can do less stuff simultaneous, and there a couple of effects the III does that they FM3/9 don't. I think the Fractal WIKI covers that. Beyond those constraints though, you can move patches between the devices. I have both an FM9 and a III, and I just export on one and import on the other.
  2. I dial in my own patches. 3rd party patches are helpful with finding the sounds you like, and seeing how they're put together, but not necessary.
  3. People exchange presets all the time. You just can't redistribute commercial 3rd party patches or IRs.
  4. Don't be discouraged if you're not churning out your dream tones right away. Even if many of the controls look the same as traditional gear, it's still a different platform.
 
The fractal units are the real deal for sure! I got a fm3 2 weeks ago, and realized how good it was, and ended up upgrading to the fm9 for the extra power, buttons, and dual amp tones to recreate my analog rig.

My biggest suggestion is to use the pc editor, and avoid the physical screen on the unit. It is a royal pain in the ass to edit parameters on the actual unit.

As for the actual presets and amp models, I bought mine solely for the CAE 3+SE model as I have the crunch and lead mods(same circuits) as physical amps, and the models in the fractal are identical. I’ve also enjoyed the slo, Bogner fish, atomica, jcm 800, and 50/100 watt 4 holer presets as well.

I recommend investing in some after market irs, but I was impressed with the stock fractal ones as well.

I’ll attach a chart with amp knob relations to the numbers for the fractal software. The numbers don’t totally line up (ie, 5 on the real amp does not equate to 5 on the digital amp).

Don’t be afraid to divert from the presets, and dig through the amp profiles and cab blocks, and set up your own presets and scenes.
 

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Leon is awesome. I’m afraid of the axe stuff. I like to tinker and fuck around with shit and I am not tech savvy at all. I’m afraid I would just tweak until I cause a singularity and destroy the earth on accident.
 
scottosan said:
What about patches? Do you have to buy them or can people share?
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You can use the ace exchange posted above, but there weren’t really a ton of interesting ones, to me at least. Once you understand the workflow of the unit, it will be quicker for you to dial in sounds you want vs digging for presets and trying 10 different ones before you end up tweaking the one good one out of the 10 you downloaded.
 
The biggest thing I realized when I got my FM3 was the IRs you use will make or break any preset or scene. I like celestion IRs, they are not the best sounding production wise but I feel they are the most realistic sounding to a real cab. My opinion of course, someone else's ears may tell a different story.

I broke down the learning curve into 2 phases. I learned how to dial in good amp tones dry with IRs first. Then I slowly started building more complete presets with effects once I got the hang of the unit with dialing in the amps by themselves.
EDIT:: I was dialing in amps rather quickly in the first session once I had the ins and outs figured out. Then picked up a bunch of nuances from Leon Todd to make them even better.

Leon Todd was mentioned earlier, his channel is RICH with fractal knowledge. That was my first resource and I think its still my only resource for info on the unit.

I use real ODs and clean boosts up front of my FM3. I personally think all the pedals suck in the unit and pimp slapping the FM3 up front with a real pedal works just fine for me. Call me crazy but doing this seems to give the FM3 a more "familiar" feel under the fingers.
 
I owned an Ultra when it was the top modeler. More options than I needed.

Most of the modelers have more things than I need or would use.

I started down the computer rig / plugins path recently, and it's working great for me; sounds great to me. This way I can get what works for me, and not a bunch of extra things I don't need or won't use. Besides, I have Helix Native for that. :D
 
Congrats! My suggestion would be to read the whole manual and take your time. Are you running this through an amp or FRFR?
 
bhuard75 said:
The biggest thing I realized when I got my FM3 was the IRs you use will make or break any preset or scene. I like celestion IRs, they are not the best sounding production wise but I feel they are the most realistic sounding to a real cab. My opinion of course, someone else's ears may tell a different story.

I broke down the learning curve into 2 phases. I learned how to dial in good amp tones dry with IRs first. Then I slowly started building more complete presets with effects once I got the hang of the unit with dialing in the amps by themselves.
EDIT:: I was dialing in amps rather quickly in the first session once I had the ins and outs figured out. Then picked up a bunch of nuances from Leon Todd to make them even better.

Leon Todd was mentioned earlier, his channel is RICH with fractal knowledge. That was my first resource and I think its still my only resource for info on the unit.

I use real ODs and clean boosts up front of my FM3. I personally think all the pedals suck in the unit and pimp slapping the FM3 up front with a real pedal works just fine for me. Call me crazy but doing this seems to give the FM3 a more "familiar" feel under the fingers.
Click to expand...
This is the way. Core dry tones first with quality IR’s. Use real OD pedals up front if needed. After that it’s really as simple or complex as you want to make it. I wouldn’t even bother buying other peoples presets- you’ll get the hang of it.
 
The big thing for me is some signature tones for pickup demos and R&D

early evh
DeMarini
General 80s hair metal with wet FX
Whitesnake, etc
 
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The biggest difference with modelers vs analog gear is that you'll usually be listening to modelers through a PA or monitor type setup as opposed to a guitar cab, so you're going to be forced to deal with IR's. This is usually the make-or-break step for most guitar players who try modeling.

Until most players have to deal with "recorded tone," they really have no idea just how massively influential everything after the amp head is to their sound. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the cab, mics, room, and post EQ account for probably 65-70% of a player's tone, especially high gain tone where so much of the tonal signature comes specifically from how the speakers and mics filter the very prevalent high frequency harmonics, so getting this right is important. Seriously, take all the guitar rigs in a band mix and replace the amps with other amps set to a similar gain levels and there's a good chance most other guitar players won't notice. However, change out the cabs and mics and even the bored girlfriend in the back of the venue will ask if an entirely different band has started playing.

It's also important to know that the vast majority of IR's you try will sound bad. You won't like them. That's ok though. Eventually you'll find a handful of IR's or a blend of your favorites that you'll love, after which point the entire world of modeling will open up to you and you'll wonder how you lived without it for so long, and you'll be able to make almost anything sound good with your IR's.


edit: And just to pile on what everybody else is saying, you should definitely learn to dial in dry tones you're completely happy with before you start messing with effects. It's too easy to use them as a crutch otherwise. Don't use effects to improve sounds you're unhappy with. Instead, use them to elevate sounds you'd be totally happy to use without effects at all.
 
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The no-frills/get-to-the-tone-the-fastest-

Open a blank preset, load an Input, Amp block, Cab block, Output, pick an amp you’re familiar with that doesn’t require weird settings in the pre-amp (IE- don’t pick a Mesa unless you know how to dial in a Mesa, particularly the Marks because it’s exactly the same in Fractal land) and then hit up the DynaCabs. Fuck IR’s at this point. I have over 50K IR’s and ever since the DynaCab update, I haven’t used a single fuckin’ one and there’s only like 15 or so DynaCabs available, they’re just that easy to dial in.

Don’t even adjust the amp block (preamp), go right to the Cab block and start moving the mic around, once you’re in the ballpark then go tweak the amp.

The most common issue I see people experiencing is trying to get something out of an IR/cab that just isn’t there. There’s a million tweaking points in the amp block, but why the fuck go through the hassle if you don’t have to? That’s basically re-designing an amp because the cab ain’t right. Those extra parameters are only there if you’re hellbent on figuring out what they do. Outside of that, the Tone page (actual amp knobs) works just fine.

It’s so much easier than it’s made out to be, as long as you can keep yourself from touching every option in it.
 
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