Building A Tone With The Fractal FM3 MKII Turbo! 

But just 2 options, I think? It’s incremental on the other devices.

It doesn't really have input sensitivity control but 4 fixed input pad values: 0, 6, 12, and 18dB. IMO more than enough for most practical cases.

Do you prefer it to your Stomp enough to change?

Cliff posted in the fractal forum on Aug 8th that a new product will be released in the coming weeks 😮

This.... yes. Same. Word on the street is that there is a new product coming that will not replace an existing Fractal product. I am very curious.

Sales down?

Tone X

Yeah, I never heard they even released the Turbo stuff. It didn't really seem like they did a marketing blitz like they did when the FM3 first came out. Possibly cause it's just the same unit but with more CPU available, which was probably most needed for the FM3 since the FM9 and Axe 3 have plenty of processing power for what 90% of guitarists would need. My guess is they weren't getting the numbers they wanted for the new units and now have to compete with Tone X and QC, but at launch, they didn't have anyone besides L6 and Kemper.

Fractal paying probably

@@ejw3006 I mean its cool, I'm glad, its a great unit, but you really can't call it 'new'...lol.

If you can only use shorter IRs than on the bigger units, then it really doesn't sound the same or am I missing something?

@@josuastangl7140 I doubt that you can hear those more than subtle differences, even isolated.

@@MatthiasBuesing Of course I don't know how big the difference here is exactly and I know they both sound great, but in general there is a significant difference between shorter and longer IRs. This is probably one of the bigger reasons why older digital amp modelling technology sounds far worse than that of today.

@@MatthiasBuesing I just looked it up, Fractal's standard IRs are 20ms long, their Ultra-Res IRs are 170ms long. That is certainly a difference that you can hear and gives more realism to the low end.

​@@josuastangl7140The FM3 can play UltraRes IRs since FW 3 i think. It eats a couple of percent from your already limited CPU budget though.

I mean like the III tho but yea you are right

@@RiffsAndBeards The input trim on the amp block also has nothing to do with the pad. There is a global input trim setting if you want it, since you mention the trim resetting when you change amps.

Same. I've got a lot of ownhammer, Nolly and ML Soundlab IR's and I ALWAYS go back to the dynacab. After having spent about a month now with a Tonemaster Pro though, whatever voodoo they did with their IR's is seriously impressive and not only is that thing MILES easier to work with both at home and on stage, I feel like it was a lot easier to dial in a sound that would have taken me hours to get to on my FM3. I still think that the FM3 is capable of slightly better sounds but it feels like it takes an order of magnitude longer to get there.

You aren’t missing anything.

@@joefh1985 lol. Ty

I'm 53. So, I'm old. I have an Axe FX III. I absolutely love the thing. No chance I'd go back to using tube amps at this point. Can't tell you the amount of times I've had other guitarists come up to me and ask me about 'one of the best live tones they've ever heard.'

@@nahnotsomuch2292 lol @ 53 being old . Glad you enjoy your tone . I love mine as well . I’ll play my tube amps till I die . But I’m glad you kids have cool shit . 🤘🏻👍

Just ten? How many do you need ?

No, it's limited by DSP. You can route it across the grid however you want.

Input boost will leave the mids alone, just a personal preference

quad cortex

L6 will have more options in terms of your buttons and also have more power; the normal helix has the same DSP power as the LT. I would get a helix over an FM3, but I would do FM9 (more options) over a helix. So, for me, it comes down to switching options in a live scenario; if you aren't trying to do live stuff, the FM3 will be good cause you can just program midi switching for recording. In short, if you play live Helix. Otherwise, you'll have to get an FM9 to have similar flexibility (except you have to buy a foot pedal if you want to do the wah, pitch shift, or volume stuff live.) If you play at home or in the studio, FM3 (MK1 or Turbo). Just know your preferences, and you'll know what to get. Also, I don't have a bias here because I'm a Kemper user. Good luck!

Fractal FM3, without a doubt. I had the Helix LT and the HX Stomp XL. Both are good devices for sure, but Fractal is another galaxy.

My buddy plays huge venues with Fractal Racks. You can even see videos of them backstage of band like Metallica. I don’t know what level player you are, but I will tell you this, hoping it will help. I own basically ALL of the high end ones. i have no wife, no life, and no kids. so I spend my money on crap that I don’t need at all. That being said. Just as the other commenter said, Fractal is top notch. People will argue the quad cortex is. So, I havre all this high end modellers etc. But just like computers, they go out of date and become dinosaurs eventually. I acually picked up the powered kemper rack recently and really like it, but the controls are from 1967 or something. Lately I’ve been buy here and there the cheaper units off Amazon. And I’ll tell you what, I had the Katana Go first (tiny unit, basically fully wireless but you need corded headphones. Now I have the Mooer P2. About the size of an iphone and now I just jam all night with headphones on. But these are just entry level “get into the modeler scene”. In my opinion, though I also have the Mooer 1000Li I think? It’s there flagship. Let me preface that I really only use these for practice, not stellar tones. So a $500 unit (as well as the Flamma 300 I think) are battery powered! So you can play for about 5 hours without needing a cord. Even the smallest hotone mini with two buttons needs a cord. Blows my mind. I will also tell you, you’re asking OTHER people what to get. So you’re like me. Now I have dust on most of my stuff because I just didnt’ vibe with it. Next is software. I can’t stand having to use my computer to plug in a guitar lol. I don’t know anything about you, but I would , if you can, go check out some units. I got into the trap that I bought evertyhing that Fluff and Ola and such would demo. The ONLY thing I have about my battery powered Mooer 1000li, is the built in footswitch. If I wanted one, I’d buy one. So if you really think about it. I mean really. You might be spending more time on firmware updates and tweaking stuff than just getting down and dirty and practicing. I don’t know if you mentioned this, but Blackstar makes 3 units. The Amped 1, 2, and 3. They have “nano tube” technology, so it’s somone analog, but somewhat digitial. The amped 3 I really love. It has 3 (maybe 4 I can’t remember) channels. Each has a programmable footswitch. It has clean channel, then crunch, Then crunch with overdrive, then channel 3 is moremoremore overdrive, then it has a super duper tastic overdrive. AND, you can switch which tubes you want just with a switch. 6L6, EL34, KT88 (might be KT77) and I think flat response or something. Now, even better! You can switch between 1 watt, 20 watts, or 100 watts. So I program my channels, hook up a wireless thigamahooker and I’m totally wireless. I can go poop and still be playing! At the very least, even if you don’t like it, it can power your Helix, Fractal, or whatever because it is powered as well. So sorry man, but I’ve spent over $600,000 tone chasing, I need to sound like this or that, oh look a new modeler etc. So my advice, make pros and cons, test them if you can. If you can’t and are still unsure, buy something cheap that won’t break your bank and save some other money for when you know what your needs are. I have amps around $5k i’ve never even played. Wait until you see my youtube channel. I never practiced until I got that little Katana go for $100 (i guess they are discontinued due to lack of parts, but are redesigning them?). Now I do, and you’re going to see what its like to have the most expensive gear you could want, and only be able to play a D chord. Okay not even that, Just drop D. My channel is going to be for fun, and show what an average (or less than) needs to get better. BTW, this video, a Mark II, is this a NEW unit? Crap! I need it! lol. Again sorry for the rant, but don’t do what I did and go down a path that ends up where you started. Cheers brother!

Smaller and less CPU/DSP power, only 1 amp and 2 cabs. Enough for most musicians though ;-)

Same as Matthias said. The turbo actually a decent boost in DSP. Most musicians will use FM3 just fine and if you need more switches just grab a MIDI controller, tons of them out there.

Thanks guys I already have a axe 2 didn't know if it would be worth upgrading to something like this

@@Raijinx13 Should be thanks to the newer Cygnus modeling technology alone...

@@MatthiasBuesing word I'll take a look cause I think the only time I've ever blended amps was on the 2 for a clean that I found sick . !

Naah, why do you think that? Fractal doesn’t have a power amp so don’t worry about that. Without a cab you will hear annoying, harsh, raw sound. Just like with the amp plugins on PC

There was a software update to all of them. 2 years ago you couldn’t run the Ultra Res stuff and my patches had noticeably less top end.

Yeah this is where my brain is at as I was getting ready to make the decision.

Burpia... It's a cold mocha frappuccini Burp.... Hi Yaw!!!!... How do you say burp in Italian" Burpini" ?

I think not for $1200cad.

I don’t wanna talk about it

They found a huge old stock of them from K-Mart.

Fractal devices are literally built like a tank.

Who actually steps on the switches? I bend down and carefully push them by hand and ask them if they’re okay.