Axe-Fx III
A rackmount processor built around a 14x6 stereo grid, with two amp and cab pairs per preset, eight scenes, and four independent channels inside every block. Extremely deep and, unusually for its class, driven from a front panel rather than from footswitches — those are a separate purchase.
If yours is a floorboard with nine switches it is an FM9; with three, an FM3. If it uses X and Y rather than channels A to D, it is an Axe-Fx II, a different generation running Ares rather than Cygnus.
The pages that exist nowhere else
Scenes and channels
The two axes that make one Fractal preset replace a dozen — and the concept Helix has no equivalent of.
The grid and CPU
14 by 6, all stereo, and a CPU budget you manage rather than fixed caps you hit.
What the effect names really are
Every model Fractal themselves describe — and an honest account of the ones they don't.
Troubleshooting
Symptom, cause, fix — including what is documented behaviour rather than a fault.
Controls
Every front-panel control on an interactive diagram, and what the FC controllers add.
Inputs and outputs
Every jack on an interactive rear panel — four inputs, three stereo outputs, Humbuster and FASLINK II.
Specifications
The numbers that answer a question, with the FM9 and FM3 comparison where they differ.
Scenes and channels
The two axes that make one Fractal preset replace a dozen — and the concept Helix has no equivalent of.
The grid and CPU
14 by 6, all stereo, and a CPU budget you manage rather than fixed caps you hit.
What the effect names really are
Every model Fractal themselves describe — and an honest account of the ones they don't.
Rig setup
Studio, live with an FC, into a real amp, or both at once.
Questions and answers
Straight answers to the things people actually ask.
Troubleshooting
Symptom, cause, fix — including what is documented behaviour rather than a fault.
Glossary
Grid, scene, channel, shunt, Humbuster, FASLINK, Cygnus, Ares.