Axis

A fast, touch-friendly editor for Fractal Audio devices (FM3 first) — the visual front end for ForgeFX. Axis is a SvelteKit app that decodes and edits the live preset off the device: the real routing grid, every block, a widget-grid control surface you can rearrange, real EQ editors, a cab IR / DynaCab picker, tuner, tempo, and scenes.

The desktop app bundles ForgeFX, so it's one install — plug in your unit and go, on Windows, macOS, or Linux.

Status: community beta, hardware-verified on FM3 firmware 12.0. Field testers welcome.

⚠️ Independent, third-party project — not affiliated with or endorsed by Fractal Audio Systems. Use at your own risk. Always back up your presets. See DISCLAIMER.md.

Install (desktop app)

Grab the installer for your OS from the latest release — Windows (.exe), macOS (.dmg), Linux (.AppImage / .deb). It includes the ForgeFX engine; no separate setup. Connect your FM3 over USB and launch.

On Windows the FM3 is a COM port via Fractal's USB driver; on Linux/macOS it's native CDC, no driver needed. Quit Fractal's FM3-Edit (or any other editor) first — only one app can hold the port.

macOS: first launch

Axis isn't code-signed/notarized yet (it's a free beta), so macOS Gatekeeper marks the downloaded app as "damaged and cannot be opened." It isn't damaged — that's just the quarantine flag macOS puts on unsigned downloads. Clear it once:

1. Move Axis.app into /Applications.
2. In Terminal, run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Axis.app

3. Launch Axis normally.

✅ A tester confirmed Axis launches and runs on macOS with an Axe-Fx III after this step. (Signing / notarization to remove the quarantine prompt is on the roadmap.)

Run (dev)

Requires Node 20+. Axis talks to a running ForgeFX server.

# 1) start ForgeFX (sibling repo) — owns the serial port
cd ../ForgeFX/server && npm install && npm run dev      # http://localhost:5056

# 2) start Axis
npm install
npm run dev        # http://localhost:5173  (proxies /api -> ForgeFX on :5056)

Override the API base with VITE_FORGEFX_BASE (see .env.example).

Desktop dev / build

npm run electron:dev      # runs Electron against the Vite dev server + sibling ../ForgeFX
npm run desktop:build     # builds the UI + packages the app (needs ../ForgeFX built; see electron-builder.yml)

The release workflow builds the installers for all three OSes on tag push.

Build (web SPA)

npm run build      # -> build/  (static SPA; ForgeFX can serve it for a headless/Pi setup)

Layout

• src/lib/forgefx.ts — typed ForgeFX API client (device, blocks, preset/grid, params, cab, telemetry)
• src/lib/editor.svelte.ts — central runes store (grid, params, telemetry, device auto-detect)
• src/lib/ControlSurface.svelte — the widget-grid control surface (pages, per-control views, arrange)
• src/lib/SignalGrid.svelte · BlockEditor.svelte · CabPicker.svelte · EQGraph.svelte — UI
• src/routes/+page.svelte — app shell: tool rail · top bar · Signal Grid · editor
• electron/ — desktop shell (starts the bundled ForgeFX in-process, opens the window)
• design/ — the design prototypes (visual reference, not built)

Design language

Dark, pro-audio. Hanken Grotesk (UI) + JetBrains Mono (technical). Accent cyan #35c9d6, amber #f5a623, coral #d6543f (bypass/destructive) on layered near-black.

Support

Axis is free and open source. If it's useful to you, you can support development on Ko-fi:

License

MIT — see LICENSE. Axis is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Fractal Audio Systems. "Axe-Fx", "FM3", and "FM9" are trademarks of Fractal Audio Systems, used for identification only. See DISCLAIMER.md.