Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler

Compared to other stomp boxes, its quite easy to use. The knobs are pretty self explanatory, and the controls are defined on stickers that Line 6 give you to put on it. Out of the many settings each knob does different things for each setting which is a little tough to get used to. It also took a while to figure out how to use the memories. The manual is very easy to use and gives recommended knob settings for each sound setting.

This pedal can get many sounds. Some sounds like the filters are very funky and get the sounds of guys like John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some of the synth settings can get you some very '80s type tones.

The Tron up and Tron Down are incredible. The Tron Up is just a filter. The Tron Down gets almost laser type noises.The Seeker setting is pretty cool, kind of a tremolo-y wah.The Comet Trails isn't that good. The Voice Box and V-Tron are terrible. They sound very ugly. The Attack Synth is pretty good. Its just a tremolo type synth. The Synth-O-Matic has like 10 different synths. Some are very good and sound like Moogs and others sound like farts honestly. The Synth String is very cool It sounds like what you expect. the Growler is my favorite and it just makes insane noises.

I'm using a Gibson SG Special into this-> MXR Blue Box-> DigiTech Whammy-> Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz-> Dunlop Crybaby-> DigiTech Flange-> DigiTech Delay-> EHX Small Stone-> Boss Noise Suppressor-> Fender Twin Reverb. It's not in that exact order though, the delay is after my phaser, not before, . I have not seen problems with this set-up.

It's noisy on the OctiSynth, but it's supposed to. On the ObiWah it's the same deal.Otherwise it's good.

The effects are mostly strong. Some like Comet Trails, sound very weak. The Synth-O-Matic is very powerful on the first and last settings of it.

When I got the pedal, I was given a floor model. It worked for an hour after I brought it home. Then in the middle of a jam withs some friends it started making crazy noises. It didn't work after that. I went back to where I got it and they replaced it and that was the end of that. Now I would depend my life on it. I would not need a back-up. This thing is very strong on the outside.

I never dealt with them.

I play electronica, funk, psychedelic, new wave, and experimental. It works well with all of them. It works espcially well with funk. I've been playing seven years.

If it was lost I would buy the EHX Micro Synth. It works better for my style.

I love that the synths sound great compared to the originals. I hate that many of them are monophonic. My favorite feature is that you can shift the pitch and the dry to wet output.

Compared to the DigiTech SynthWah, this owns. It has more features for the same purposes and sounded much more high quality.

I wish it was polyphonic and I wish it had some more dance-y synth type tones.

It does what I need for my type of music.

strange thing, easy enough to use, once you get your head around the variety of different functions for the knobs, dependent on the effect ur using. Hard-ish to get really usable sounds, can totally take over sometimes, but has some excellent quirks, if you want something off the wall, this is it.

sounds are crazy, hard to rate quality as it's not really comparable relative to anything you'd expect to hear anywhere...
some of the synths are almost just a novelty...

this is an original one, I rely on it....

no dealings.

I play Drone-rock, sometimes going way out into space, so it suits to a certain extent...
Guitar: DeArmond M75-t, with Bigsby tremolo or 1983 Peavey T-60.
Amp: Line6 Spider II with foot control and programmed efx.
Efx: Boss me-6, Danelectro Fab Tone, This pedal, line6 dm4.

Controls are simple, all knobs, no screens or menus. It's a powerful box and can do many things so you do have to work on it some but I was able to get usable sounds within an hour, and it was a fun hour!

I dig this thing. It's awesome, first pedal I've ever loved without reservation.

I'm able to get usable sounds out of it, I just need to use the Level knob to keep things in control. It's great for getting out beyond normal guitar sounds which is what I wanted.

I use it for funk/jazz/jam work. Scofield uses one which is how I got interested in it.

Pure silence in bypass mode.

It's brick like in build. Haven't had it for long.

I'd bring it without a backup because I'm not worried about it breaking (it feels solid), and I could live without it if I had to.

Like I said before, I dig this box. I even dig the box it came in (it's got some jokes hidden in the fine print).

It turns my guitar into a dramatically different instrument.

I'd probably replace it if something happened to it.

This is the pedal for people who hate pedals. I got this thing to make weird noises, and I think that if you want it for anything else, you should probably look elsewhere.

It's tough to find usable sounds on this thing. I have been able to pull some "normal" pedal tones out of it - to thicken up the sound or add fuzz, but it takes a lot of work and careful tweaking. And if you want your guitar to sound like a synth - nope. The thing will only sound like a broken synth. Just spend the money for a real keyboard and a switcher box.

Once you nail down some presets, the thing is a snap to use. Just hit the buttons. But although it's tough to program, it's also fun, fun, fun! This thing is full of crazy sounds, some of which just go without playing a note!

Sound quality is good. Carefully tweaking the "Mix" knob is essential to tame the wild beast.

It works - never had a problem. i don't know how it saves the presets, but I have written them down just in case they ever fail.

Nope.

This is my first foray into pedals. I really hate pedals, and this is the one for people who hate pedals. It does much different things than your average flanger, chorus or distortion pedal. If you want to add noise, blips and beeps to your sound, this is the one.

The FM4 is a strange box, with a lot of sounds, so the ease of use varies a lot, depending on which model you choose. The knobs control different functions in most of the models, so editing can be a beast. Anyone who hated the Tweak & Tweez knobs on the DL4 or MM4 will hate editing the FM4.

You WILL need the manual to figure out this box; you'll probably want to use the little cheat sheet stickers, too. While you might come up with a cool sound by accident, you won't know how you got there without the manual. The patches/models are divided into two categories; filters & synths. The filter models are easier to navigate than the synth models. I give the FM4 a 7, because it's the most confusing Line6 Modeler pedal to use.

I've never heard anyone using the FM4; I don't know if any of my favorite artists use one, but I could see Adrian Belew or The Residents with an FM4.

The filter effects are a lot of fun, especially Comet Trails, Obi-Wah, and Seeker. You can get AdrenaLinn-style filter sequencing with Seeker, Obi-Wah & Throbber. The Mutron models aren't as impressive.

The synth models are a mixed bag, and harder to use; you have to play monophonically, and you can get some nasty glitching, especially with the expression pedal. Octisynth is particularly hard to tame, but I love ring modulators, so I dug in and held on. I don't agree that the FM4 is the fastest-tracking synth pedal for guitar; the Boss WP-20g Wave Processor is faster, but you need a GK-style pickup to use it.

I use my usual LP Special or SG with the FM4, but I tend to use it with other weird effects rather than my GT-3. (I want to thank the reviewer who suggested using the FM4 together with the Digitech Synth-Wah; what a deliciously sick combo. Add a ring mod pedal to the mix, and your guitar becomes an alien WMD.) Running a guitar synth through the filter effects adds a new dimension to the synth sounds, like nothing you'll get from a phaser or a flanger.

The expression pedal adds control, but it makes some nasty glitching sounds, depending on which model you're using. I also found that the expression pedal tends to switch from one setting to another about halfway down; there isn't a smooth transition like a good wah pedal offers. Even so, get the expression pedal; you'll have two sounds for every memory slot.

I love the sounds I use, and I still explore the others when I feel the need for some new weirdness. I give the FM4 an 8 for sound quality because the expression pedal noise is annoying.

So, my first experience with a funky Line6 pedal. About a month after I bought my FM4, the knobs started to stick. Everything worked, everything sounded fine, but I didn't like forcing the knobs every time I went to tweak a sound. Everything I've read about the Modeler pedals suggested that the main boards are fragile; I could see myself cranking one more knob one more time and cracking the board. I took my FM4 back where I bought it, and they handed me another one, which is still fine, nearly one year later. I give the FM4 a 5 becuase I returned one, and got one that still works.

The website isn't very helpful, and trying to participate in the forums is a pain.

I play weird experimental music, heavy on synths, delays & effects. I've been playing since the dawn of Surf Guitar, before the birth of Metal. The FM4 is one of my favorite "outside" boxes. I don't use it all the time, but when I need it nothing else will do. If it were lost, I'd be reluctant to buy another, because they're not cheap. I love Comet Trails, Obi-Wah & Slow Filter; I hate the noise from the expression pedal. (There must be one factory that makes all the cheap exp./volume pedals out there, and the Line6 expression pedal is one of the cheapest-looking I've seen.) The FM4 is much easier to use than the Boss SYB-3, and you can store your sounds. The Digitech Synth-Wah is much cheaper and easier to use, if you hate endless tweaking. I wish the FM4 had more memory: I have thought of getting a second one, so I can run a sound like Synth-O-Matic through a sound like Comet Trails. I don't know if it helps me make music, but it helps me create new sounds, and those sounds go into my music.

the manual is absolutely essential. you can find one here:
http://line6.com/data/l/c0a8090bee7e404faf1d708a2/application/pdf/FM4%20User%20Manual-English.pdf
with it it's not too hard at all, experimenting with all the different sounds will definently take some time though. getting a good sound on some of the effects is near impossible though.

some of the effects are great and some aren't. the seeker is absolutely amazing. you probably wouldn't need to buy an envelope filter if you had one of these. i can get some amazing sounds when i use this with a digitech synth wah.

it hasn't let me down so far.

if you like making experimental sounds and have some interest in filtering this thing is really cool, especially if you get it for around 150$. i love it and use it all the time. how hard you're picking makes a big difference on a lot of these effects, which is hard at first, but once you're used to it you can blow people away jammin'. i wish the envelope filters were better. when used in combination with a good envelope filter the results are amazing.

There's a lot packed into this pedal, and dialling in sounds from the 1000s of possibilities using just five knobs (plus a wet/dry blend control) takes a lot of experimentation. It would have been nice to have more than 4 programmable presets; if you really enjoy playing with this thing you'll soon find you need to keep a notebook of your patches.

That said, hunting for good sounds is part of the fun with this box. Nobody needs more than four presets when playing live because most of these sounds are too extreme to use all the time.

You can get an expression pedal for this thing which, within a single effect type, will morph more or less smoothly between two settings (taking all 5 parameter controls into account). This is an essential accessory & increases the play value massively.

I haven't played this thing through a big rig, but at home it's one of my quietest stomp boxes. It also has true bypass, meaning that when it's turned off your signal doesn't go through its circuits.

The sounds fall into two categories: basic filtering effects that are variations on the wah-wah theme, and some analogue synth models. I don't use the filters much -- I've got a crybaby, thanks, and I don't need a "parked wah" or "auto wah"... I might revise that judgement next time I play some funk, though, as there are some nice Parliament-style sounds here.

IMHO the synths are where the real action is. I won't repeat the detailed descriptions others give below, except to say (a) yes, the tracking sometimes sucks, although playing cleanly with a compressor in front of the pedal with single coil neck pickup only minimises the number of times your notes turn int splatter, and (b) I like it when your notes turn into splatter anyway. There's a naturalness about the wya it glitches that means you can use these noises deliberately (playing double stops/chords will usually fire them).

One thing I noticed is that the synths seem designed specifically to take guitare input. I tried my electric violin and guitar with ebow and the tracking got dramatically worse.

It's true that what's a "usable sound" to me is probably not to you, and vice versa. But there are a lot of different sounds here and the quality seems to be uniformly high.

Have only had it for about 6 months, never gigged yet. It seems very phyically robust, but you never know, and given some comments below I would keep it well out of the way of moisture (I'd treat the equivalent battery of analogue gear that way too).

Never dealt with them. I'm in the UK, they're in the US, so my bet is that I'd have to get it repaired by a hacker with a soldering iron if it ever developed a fault.

If you like making whacky noises with your guitar, this thing is the best toy you can get for the money. Absolutely brilliant value -- imagine trying to buy even one quarter of the effects this thing emulates.

Yes, the original units do probably sound and behave a bit better, and you can chain them in bizarre ways, but it would cost you a huge amount more than the FM4 and be a lot of stuff to carry around. There's really no point in comparing this with the originals. Really it's a huge box of tricks at a very affordable price. I'd defy anyone except the most conservative folks not to find roo many really fun and useful settings to save on the four stomp switches.

Out of the box it's kinda ok, but beyond that it takes a lot of experimentation to get good sounds - it's actually much easier to make really hideous sounds than it is to make really musical sounds. This of course may be your bag. Most of the filters modelled have quite complex controls, so you need to really work with the manual and adjust things with care.

Hmmm ... I'm submitting this review because I'm about to sell mine. Ive had it for a couple of years and have persevered, but I'm just not a happy bunny. I think the problem is the same as with a lot of the other digital modelling products around - they suck tone and lack the warmth and shimmering quality of analogue. eg. I AB'd the Mutron model with an Electro Harmonix Q-Tron and the results were just plain scary - the Line 6 was harsh & cold sounding. If you want to get some funny noises for the hell of it, then there's loads here. But if you're looking for really musical sounds that truly enhance the tone of your guitar, I really think you'll struggle. Another eg. whilst I didn't AB it, I tried a Z-Vex Seek Wah a month or so ago and it was utterly sublime. The Seek Wah on the Line 6 simply isn't - it's like listening to an impressionist doing an impression of a famous person ... you recognise who it's meant to be, but you know it's not really them.

No problems at all.

Never had to deal with them.

I think I've just grown out of digital modelling. I've been playing for over 30 years and have done all sorts of stuff in that time. But at the end of the day, it's stunning guitar tone that makes the difference between hair standing up on your neck and something that just doesn't quite cut it. And I just don't think this pedal will ever quite get that hair standing up ...

it's just a matter of twiddling knobs until you get something that you can use...i sort of am familliar with how filters/synths work but you don't really need to know much about it to use this.

cool...i like how the speed can be touch sensitive on some of the filter patches and the mix knob is great for making a crazy sound more subtle if you want-the synths can be unpredictable(like the originals they are based on)but are definitely good for more than just strange noises . the spikes in volume can be a pain but you can kind of dial it out somewhat with the freq knob(depending on where other knobs are set!)-a compressor can also help with this like others have said. just the fact that all this stuff is in one box is pretty amazing.

i hope it's going to hold up-it has a year warranty so we'll see...i have not heard good things about line 6 pedals but mostly it's the DL4 that seems to break more than this one or the MM4-the reviewers below haven't seemed to have had a problem with theirs yet so even though i am slightly concerned i'm got going to stress about it.

with a little imagination you could use this for something with most types of music-i guess if i was in a country band(whatever that is these days)i might not bust it out but...you have all these good to great sounding models and can very easily store 4 completely different sounds-how could anyone not think that was a good thing?

...if you think that this product will be intuitive like the Modulation- and Delay modelers that line 6 makes, you are sorely mistaken. while all the mods share a common speed/depth basis and all the delays share a basic time/repeats basis, and these models come with cute stickers to tell you what the Tweek and Tweez knobs do to set additional model-specific traits), there is a WIDE variety of completely unrelated and dissimilar stuff crammed into this box. The knobs are labeled Freq, q, Speed, and Mode, but these things change a lot, depending on model. More to the point; this thing comes with stickers to tell you what the knobs do for each model, but these stickers have 1- or 2-letter abbreviations, and there is a THIRD sticker that serves as a legend to tell you what these things do... having to consult a fucking KEY for a stompbox with no screen is hardly ease of use...
(alas...i am still thankful it doesn't have a screen...).
However, this purple monster is a freakbox, through and through. people who buy the mm-4 and the dl-3 with their consistent time/depth fucntions and modestly variant Tweek/Tweeze variations want something they can understand, and feel good about themselves by having so many variations on a theme.
people who want/buy the fm-4 want it becuse they desire to relate to something they don't understand....something they can't master...something that reminds them of themselves; confused on the inside, and unpredictably violent, yet undeniably sexy....

this thing is very hard to use... but given what this thing can do, using it makes me hard...

I'm not rating the sound quality high becuase it sounds pristine, but because it's sounds are so flexible. The modulations on the mm-4 can only go so fast and slow, and only sweep so far (...I really wish the ring mod could be set for Deeper AM/FM...), and the delays on the dl-3 can only change so much (...but, then again, nobody needs more than two seconds...what the fuck is 23-seconds of GIGA-delay company BOSS thinking?...). of course these behaviors are limited in the name of emulating the classics they model.
thankfully, the fm-4 isn't really trying to caputure any classics, and is basically making it's own rules; hence, the filters and synths that it models offer HUGE speed- and sweep- ranges. Again, unlike it's brothers, the FM-4 is all about creating your own sound.

this huge range of parameter gauging is important for me, because I'm using it for a lot of stuff OTHER THAN guitar (microphones, drum machines, loops, keyboards), which have different dynamic and transient ranges...
thankfully, the frequency response range on all line six products goes a litte farther than guitar range - (but lacking low frequency heft makes it crap out on bass or kick drums... oh well, it still does a great job munging the sound).

For specific effects;
there are filters of all shapes and sizes, (and most can be adjusted in low/band/hi pass range...amazing...).
youv'e got everything from wonderful mutron 3 envelope followers to stepping filters (obi- and seeker), to crazy LFO stuff...

rather than review specific effects, I'll explain this;
if you don't know how filters work and how these things can be designed, then you are just likely to plug you guitar in, dial up a patch, and make some simple "mmm...that makes my tone kinda sweep/warble/sparkle" in a way that you'll either think is cool or stupid.
some of the effects are kinda weak, but still very well designed.
if you do know how filters really work, and (likely) have your own ambitions of how you wanna use them to shape sounds, then reading the manuals is like reading a porno-fantasy letter written about you... if you understand how these models work and how they can sound, then there is a lot of exciting promise in this very powerful and highly versatile package of filters.
to put it another way, only people who really know what filters are about use the Sherman filter bank, and I've actually heard that someone sold their sherman to buy two of these.

given all the promise of what the synths can do, thankfully, most of them deliver. the voice/formant stuff is a little dilute/weak and the comet trails is not what it's cracked up to be (...but still turns legato riffs into dripp-down-your-leg creaminess...).
overall, the filters whup ass
THEN we come to the synths.
the octisynth will inspire some people to start skronk bands, and just piss the rest of you tone-purists of...as far as I can tell, it's two effects that create two sounds out of your one guitar sound...on one end, your guitar seems to go through a ring mod and a LFO filter that's sweeping at audio FM-sideband ranges, making splatter noises, and the other end is a VCO (where your guitar controls the center pitch of a tone that you can set to stay constant or LFO warble at sickening sweep width and speed...). hence, as they claim, some VCO and vibrato and ring mod are involved...exactly how I don't know... the octisynth can be set to make snarling splatter noises or warbling tone wags, and some stuff in betweeen... either way, it turns anything into noise-fodder. my guitar player says "it's too fucking easy to play [in our noise band with it]," and he now hates me for getting him addicted to it.

the other synth models are more like guitar synths, in that they actually try to track the pitch of the note your guitar plays and recreate that pitch with a selectable waveform. different synth models have different waveforms (the synth-o-matic having the best stuff; the clickly pulse-mods and hummin

I bough it used, and the previous owner seems to have not treated this thing well. all the knobs and buttons and brain work fine, but the knobs are really dirty and get stuck.

I made the unfortunate mistake of getting a piece of snow in the knob-trough... it didn't work for 2 days, and I almost went comatose from guilt and remorse. after taking it apart (no warrantee to void) and gently blow drying it, still nothing... then, two hours later I tried again, and it sputtered to life.
these things are rugged as all hell in construction, as I have damn near used the heavy chassis to abuse my housemates...but the things have an achilles heel to moisture (read the beers story below)....the recessed trough begs to collect sweat and water and grease, vulnerable circuitry is obviously close to these access holes, and the knobs cannot be easily removed for service/cleaning. this is the one weakness.
I will definitely learn from my mistake, and I was lucky enough not to lose it. I cried a lot when I feared it was broken, but I made sure not to cry into it's vulnerable drip-holes.

it is definitely the dark-horse among line-6's stomp boxes, and among musicians.
most people will hate this, because it is of no use for it...
for a select few, this thing is WAY cooler than most stompboxes (including the dl-3)...



this thing is sickeningly powerful, and may be too versatile for some guitarists usage.
let me put it to you this way...
at practice, my guitarist was spazzing out on a synth noise patch. at some point, he dropped his pick and started using a COUCH CUSHION to rub the stings... I didn't hear the difference, and so I only fell over laughing once I notice the bass player fell over laughing and decided to look and see for myself.

...does this help me create music... NO... it is so powerful it makes me feel insecure about the frai and limited nature of my human feelings.
this thing has brought new colors (other than purple) and meaning into my life...it has even helped me maintain and reconcile my relationship with my girlfriend while she has estranged herself to california.
...no I'm serious...this pedal saved my love-life. thank you LINE 6.