Fractal FM9 User manual

Manual Version 1 for FM9 Firmware 1.x
PRESETS SCENES EFFECTS CHANNELS LOOPER PER PRESET
TUNER TEMPO MORE

Inside Front Cover

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Declaration of Conformity
Manufacturer’s Name: Fractal Audio Systems, LLC
Manufacturer’s Address: 4 Wilder Drive, Plaistow, NH 03865 USA
Declares that the product:
Product name: FM9 Product option: None
Conforms to the following Product Specications:
Safety: EN60065:2014
EMC: EN55013:2013
EN55020:2007+A11:2011
EN55024:2010
EN61000-3-2:2014
EN61000-3-3:2013
Supplementary Information:
The product herewith complies with the requirements of
the Low Voltage Directive 2006/95/EC
and the EMC Directive 2004/108/EC.
Clifford Chase
President / CEO
April 5, 2021
EMC/EMI
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B Digital device, pursuant
to part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful
interference in residential installations. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency
energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to
radio communications. There is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If
this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined
by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or
more of the following measures:
Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION .......................1
Welcome .............................1
Feature Summary ......................2
Quick Connect Guide ...................4
Setting Levels .........................5
Humbuster™ Cables ....................6
Mono vs. Stereo .......................6
The Home Page: Presets ................7
Layouts ..............................8
Footswitches..........................9
Expression Pedals.....................10
Global Expression Setup ................11
Global Volume Setup...................11
External Switches .....................12
USB Audio ...........................13
Fractal-Bot & FM9-Edit .................13
Intro to the Layout Grid .................14
Intro to Scenes and Channels ............15
Grid Editing: Quick Start ................16
Block Editing: Quick Start ...............16
The Fractal Audio Blocks Guide ..........17
The Footswitch Functions Guide..........18
2 HARDWARE OVERVIEW ................19
The Top Panel ........................19
The Rear Panel .......................21
3 USB ...............................23
Computer Integration ..................23
USB Audio ...........................24
Basic Playback .......................25
Basic Recording ......................25
USB Re-Amping .......................26
4 SETTING UP.........................27
General Principles .....................27
FRFR/Direct..........................28
FM9 As AUDIO INTERFACE ..............29
FM9 + Third-Party Audio Interface ........29
Neutral (“Flat”) Power Amp & Guitar Cab ...30
Traditional Guitar Power Amp & Cab.......31
Front-Of-House + Personal FRFR Monitor ... 32
FRFR Front-Of-House + Guitar Cab Backline 33
FX Processor Only (“Pre”) ...............34
FX Processor Only (“Post”) ..............35
Four-Cable Method (“4CM”) .............36
Inserting Outboard Gear ................37
Electric And Acoustic ..................38
5 PRESETS ...........................39
Overview ............................39
The Layout Grid ......................40
Working with Blocks ...................40
Connector Cables .....................42
Block Inventory .......................44
Example Preset Grids ..................45
Editing Effect Blocks...................46
Saving Changes.......................47
Preset CPU Limits .....................48
6 SCENES & CHANNELS .................49
How to Change A Block’s Channel ........50
Setting Up Channels ...................50
Selecting Scenes......................51
The Default Scene.....................51
Selecting Scenes & Channels Remotely ....52
Program Change Mapping...............53
Transmitting MIDI With Scenes...........53
Scene Levels .........................53
Scenes, Channels & Modiers............54
Scene Revert .........................54
7 LEVELING PRESETS ...................55
A Method for Leveling..................56
Bypass and Level .....................57
TIP: Page numbers in this Manual are linked to the Table of Contents.

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8 BLOCKS ............................58
9 MODIFIERS .........................59
Creating a Modier ....................59
Modier Tutorial: Wah Pedal .............60
Modier Tips And Tricks ................60
Modier Sources Overview ..............61
Modier Parameters ...................62
Internal Controllers ....................65
Control Switches......................66
Metronome ..........................67
External Controllers....................67
Modiers List ........................67
Tutorial: Scene Controllers ..............68
10 LAYOUTS & SWITCHES................69
Changing Layouts .....................69
Tap & Hold Functions ..................70
Factory Default Layouts ................71
Switch Flow..........................71
Easy (“EZ”) Edits ......................73
The Layouts List ......................74
Edit a Layout .........................75
Edit a Switch .........................76
Naming Layouts ......................77
Startup Layouts.......................77
Backing Up Layouts....................77
Per-Preset Switches ...................78
Stand-In Switches .....................79
Using the FM9 with an FC Controller.......80
Layout Views.........................81
FM9 Footswitch FAQ ...................82
11 TEMPO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Synchronizing Sound Parameters .........84
12 TUNER ............................85
Advanced Tuner Functions ..............85
Mini Tuners ..........................86
Footswitch Tuner Mode.................86
13 SETUP MENU .......................87
FC Controllers/Onboard Switches Menu....87
The Global Settings Menu...............89
The I/O Menu ........................92
The MIDI/Remote Menu ................95
The Utilities Menu .....................99
14 ADDITIONAL TOPICS ................101
Fractal-Bot..........................101
Backing Up & Restoring................101
Firmware Updates ....................102
Recovery ...........................103
Getting Help ........................103
Optional OFM9G Layouts ..............104
Loading User Cabs ...................106
Axe-Change.........................107
Performance Control Pages ............108
Digital Input Sources..................110
Digital Output Sources ................111
Frequently Asked Questions ............112
Shortcuts...........................114
Spillover ...........................115
Sending and Receiving MIDI ............116
MIDI Reference Tables ................118
15 SPECIFICATIONS ...................121
MIDI Implementation..................123
WARRANTY .........................124
EULA ..............................125