Submit your Fractal unit ID

// How it works

1. Connect the unit to your Mac or Windows PC over USB, and open this page in Chrome or Edge (Safari doesn't support Web MIDI). On Windows: install the Fractal USB driver first — get it from fractalaudio.com/support, which has a driver page for each USB unit (Axe-Fx III, FM9, AX8, FX8, AM4, VP4, the II family). Without it Windows shows no MIDI ports at all. Close any other MIDI software — Windows gives the MIDI port to one program at a time, so an open editor leaves this page hearing nothing. No USB on your unit? The FM3, and the original Axe-Fx Standard and Ultra, connect through a 5-pin MIDI interface instead (no driver needed for the interface path) — full directions in the section below.
2. Start listening and allow MIDI access in the browser prompt.
3. Press IDENTIFY MY UNIT. Fractal units only speak when spoken to — the page asks for the firmware version in every Fractal dialect, your unit answers, and the answer is the capture. (Opening your Fractal editor for a few seconds works too.)
4. Once your unit is identified — any unit, from the Axe-Fx Standard to the III, FM3, FM9, AX8, FX8, AM4, VP4… — a DEEP PROBE section appears below. Press START DEEP PROBE for a read-only capture — your current preset plus a small sample of others, grid, blocks, parameters, model lists. It's sent with your submission automatically and is exactly what confirms support for your unit.

// No USB on your unit? (FM3, Axe-Fx Standard, Ultra)

The FM3's USB carries no MIDI, so it connects through its 5-pin jacks — and either path works: a wired USB MIDI interface like the Roland UM-ONE mk2 (affiliate link; Mac or Windows), or a CME WIDI Master (affiliate link) over Bluetooth (Mac only— Windows Chrome can't see Bluetooth MIDI, and no iPad browser supports Web MIDI at all). The plug rule is the same for both, and it's the step people miss:

1. Cross the plugs over: the interface's OUT plug into the FM3's MIDI IN, its IN plug into MIDI OUT (on a WIDI Master: main plug → MIDI OUT, tail plug → MIDI IN). Both matter — the probe asks questions through the FM3's IN side; with only one plugged in your unit either never hears us or we never hear it.
2. Wired (UM-ONE mk2): plug its USB into the computer — done, skip to step 4. Bluetooth (WIDI Master): first disconnect your phone (or anything else) from the WIDI — it holds one connection at a time.
3. Bluetooth only: on the Mac, open Audio MIDI Setup (Applications → Utilities), then Window → Show MIDI Studio, click the Bluetooth button in the toolbar, and press Connect next to the WIDI Master.
4. Come back to this page in Chrome or Edge, press START LISTENING, then IDENTIFY MY UNIT. The port is picked up automatically — even if you connected it after the page was already listening.
5. Run the DEEP PROBE when it appears. Bluetooth MIDI moves at 5-pin speed, so the capture takes a minute or so — the counter ticking up means it's working. When it says captured, press SUBMIT.

Own an original Axe-Fx Standard or Ultra?They have no USB at all — 5-pin MIDI only. You only need one plug: the interface's IN plug into the unit's MIDI OUT. We recommend the same Roland UM-ONE mk2 (affiliate link). Don't use a CME WIDI Master here — it powers itself from the unit's MIDI OUT port, and phantom power on a gen-1 5-pin jack is unverified on our bench. The capture itself is listen-only: your unit's dialect has no verified read request, so the page transmits nothing at all — you'll be guided to power-cycle the unit, turn a knob, and switch a preset, and we record what it says on its own.

// Your gear is safe

The page listens by default and transmits only when you ask it to — and everything it sends is a read-only request: the firmware-version query on IDENTIFY, plus, on units we haven't confirmed ourselves, the deep probe's requests for presets (read from flash without switching), the grid, blocks, and model lists — asked in your unit's own dialect. All of them are questions your unit's own editor asks. It never changes a parameter, switches presets, or writes anything to your unit. Nothing leaves this page unless you press submit.

// The deep probe — every unit counts

Whatever Fractal you own — Axe-Fx III, FM3, FM9, AX8, FX8, a II variant, an original Standard or Ultra, or something newer like an AM4 or VP4 — once the tool identifies it, a deep probe appears. Every capture deepens support: firmware differences, regional variants, and dialect quirks only show up across many real rigs. Press it and the tool asks your unit — in its own dialect, with the same read-only questions its own editor asks — to describe your rig: the preset you're currently on plus a small sample of others (read straight from flash, without switching), the routing grid, the blocks, their parameters and model lists. It never switches presets, changes a parameter, or writes anything to your unit; it only reads. The replies are captured as a .syx capture and sent with your submission. That one capture is what turns "should work" into confirmed support for your unit — your rig is a bench we don't have.

Running it takes about two minutes:

1. Connect your unit and press START LISTENING, then IDENTIFY MY UNIT — same as a normal identify.
2. When your unit appears, a // DEEP PROBE section shows up below it. Press START DEEP PROBE →.
3. Wait. Over USB it's quick; over 5-pin or Bluetooth MIDI it takes a minute or two. The frame and byte counter ticking up means it's working — don't close the tab.
4. When it says captured ✓, fill in the firmware number shown on your unit's own screen — front-panel Utility or Setup screen, unit-dependent — and add your email (so we can follow up and credit you), then press SUBMIT CAPTURE →. The .syx capture rides along automatically.

One special case: the original Axe-Fx Standard and Ultra. Their dialect has no verified read request, so their probe transmits nothing at all— it's a guided listen-only capture: you power-cycle, turn a knob in your editor, switch a preset, and we record what the unit says.

// Capture

// Why we built this

We make AxeBlock EDIT, an iPad editor for Fractal hardware. Supporting a new unit starts with one byte — the model ID in that header — and we confirm every unit on real hardware before we claim it. Submitting your capture is how the FM3, FM9, AX8, and FX8 get supported. If you want in on the beta, sign up here.

Bloody Finger Software is an independent product, not affiliated with or endorsed by Fractal Audio Systems.