Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler

this unit is very easy to make cool sounds with, but it is a little harder to make useful sounds. Programming is simple. Once you learn what the knobs are and how to use them, you are on the way. It is more difficult to get a consistantly good sound on some of the synths. THe expression pedal is a little more difficult to learn how to use, but well worth it. THe manual is very comprehensive, but the best way to really learn how to use the FM$ is to experiment.

There are two major problems with the sound quality. On any of the filter settings, if I play with full volume on my guitar (I play a de armond M65c) the sound kind of breaks up. THat problem is solved by turning down the volume knob.
As for the synths, the synthomatic, attack synth and the synth string settings have a hard time staying on one note for a guitar. THat makes them somewhat useless in a live setting.
Now that I have told you the downside of the FM4, I can tell you about how fantastic the effects are. THis is the most entertaining piece of musical equipment I have ever seen. you can come up with an infinite variety of sounds with only six knobs. My favorite settings are the seeker, the slow filter, the octisynth, the attack synth, and the growler. Try using this with a synthesizer, you can hav more control of the sounds, and it is much more consistant.
It is amazing how much of a variety of sounds this unit can generate. With the proper tweeking, you can get a PHaser-like effect from the voice box, and a tremolo from the throbber.

The FM4 is built like a tank, yet it is not even that heavy. It has never failed on me.

I have not dealed with line 6 yet. Their web site is very comprehensive. I could not figure out how to register this online, so I sent in the registration card by mail

For anybody that wants to get their hands on any analog equipment, but will settle for a replica, this is well worth the $250. The FM4 has the flexibility of analog equipment, even though it is digital. For the same amount of money spent on some real analog gear, you could get 1/16 of what your would get with the FM4. To me the FM4 is a usefull tool, but also the best toy I have ever had

Very easy to use - turn the dials and away you go. And to respond to Chris's review of 10/24/2001 "the manual is 87 pages long!" - if you had taken the time to read said manual, you'd have noticed that it's the manual for ALL 4 of Line 6's footpedal boxes (MM4, this one, DM4 & the DL4) and if you had had any prior experience with Line 6 you'll know that the majority of that is just "humourous" filler (probably the strangest thing about this company) and historical text about the various synths they've studied to make this.

From my Godin LGXT, I go straight into the FM4, which goes into a Digitech Whammy pedal, which goes into the Line 6 POD. That goes into a mixing desk which come out into a Boss Loopstation and back into the mixing desk. Sound quality is excellent - especially with the True Bypass this baby has to offer.

Now, to respond yet again to Chris:

"Out of the 16 effects, maybe 2 are anywhere near usable."

This is actually pretty close to the truth, although I'd say about 6 are useable. However, you're opinion on what is useable or not depends on what you're intending to play. I have a feeling Chris thinks the only 2 that are useable are the autowahs that he likes, and the rest just noise. The noisy ones are the ones I love and the reasons that I bought it.

and another:
"Sounds are fizzy and brittle, synthesizer emulations track miserably and sound terrible."

From this statement, you can tell that Chris has very little in the way of experience with 80s Filters/Synths. The sounds are fizzy and brittle because that's how they were, and synths (such as the GR700 which is modelled on this under "Synth String") tracked very badly. Even the faults have been modelled on this, another reason why I love it so much - because the vintage sound is true to the original.

I only bought it yesterday, so I can't comment, although looking at it, it does seem like I could drop it and the only damage would be a slight ding in the paintwork.

Never had to deal with Line 6 as far as customer support goes.

I play metal normally, but I'm attempting to force the band into a more Radiohead meets Pink Floyd style, and as such this will be of great importance.

If this were stolen, I would beat people to death on the street and steal as much or as little money as they had so I could buy another one of these. If weirdness interests you, this is perfect. If, however, you want slightly trippy guitar sounds that still sound like Guitar, I suggest you do what Chris did and buy the Frequency Analyser.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you read the manual it's pretty much smooth sailing....

I've got an arsenal of axes and various amps (Fender, Rivera, Mesa, Dr Z) depending on the gig. Effects are Teese wah, Fulltone FD2, and just yer standard Boss or Ibanez pedals for delay and phaser and such. This unit is True Bypass, so it does not suck yer tone when it is off--a definite plus. The Seeker and Obi Wah settings are just phenomenal, as are the various MuTron simulations. Most of the synth simulations are only ok--kind of tough to get used to, and I'm not sure if I really have an application for them. I was considering buying a Seek Wah anyway, but for the cash it was worth it for me to pick up the FM4 instead. Good sound and great tone preservation.

So far so good...roadworthy.

Haven't had to deal with Line 6...

I play various styles--heavy rock, blues, funk, jazz--this thing is kinda cool, but it's not an essential part of my rig. However, I really like the Seek Wah simulations and the flexibility of the MuTron effects. The unit sounds good overall, and can help you get creative and expand your sonic pallette. I own a lot of boutique gear, and I'm more of a purist--not into the digital crap--but this is the only Line 6 product I own and it works extremely well in a live setting, helps you get some good hard-to-find sounds without actually coloring your tone. I could live without the so-so synth simulations, but it's still a pretty good unit. Also, the fact that you can store 4 footswitchable presets is pretty cool--wish it had more. Still, it's definitely a good value for the money.

This is relativly easy to get some really cool sounds out of, especially considering that I'm using it for a BASS. Some of the options take a little messing with or an "outside the box" approach. I don't know how much I'd want to be tweeking sounds on stage with it since with a bass it was a little unpredictable.

I'm running this with a 5 string bass and eden amp/4x10. the sound quality is defiantly decent, not much signal loss at all. some of the synth sounds are a little strange with a bass but definatly yealded some interesting results

seems very well made, let's see how it is after a few G&T's get spilt on it.

AS far a effects go this is the coolest effect i've found for a bass. I play a lot of electronic music and this makes it possible to make my bass do some of the things that I hear synths doing. The versatlity made me choose this over a q-tron type effect. Be careful with some of the synth effects I don't thing they were mande to handle really low frequencies

In theory, it's not that it's all that difficult to use, i.e., dial in the knobs to get a sound. It's just that in the real world, it's difficult to pull a good sound out of it. It's supposed to model simple stomp boxes, but the manual is 87 pages long!

Strat though an Electro Harmonix Frequency Analyzer, Boss CS3 compressor, Ausone Textone, Tech 21 Comptortion, Boss DD5 delay, Dano Hash Browns flanger, Fulltone Choralflange, Crybaby. This thing is a really lame piece of digital crap. To say it even comes near the analog sounds it tries to "model" (what a joke) is laughable. Out of the 16 effects, maybe 2 are anywhere near usable. Please, how many variations of an auto wah do you really need? Sounds are fizzy and brittle, synthesizer emulations track miserably and sound terrible.

Don't care

Don't know

I returned this thing the day after I bought it and purchased the Frequency Analyzer instead (sounds great and I saved a hundred bucks, too). Don't waste your money on the FM4.

Pretty easy to use, I have the line 6 delay modeller also and once you have got used to the way they lay out the controls, its all plain sailing. You need to experiment a lot with the dials though as you can get some completely different reults from the same effect. The Manual is very helpful and a good refernce

Using a Mesa Boogie Caliber 50, and an Epiphone Les Paul. Sounds fantastic. The Moog emulator combined with boogie crunch is pure evil! One of my favourite setting (the seeker) can sound a bit quiet when the filter is up high, buts its a fantastic effect.

I havven had any problems with it so far, or the delay modeller I also have. Seem to be very sturdy

Never been in touch

I play rock/pop and Im always looking for ways to change my guitar sound into something different than the standard set of effects (e.g chorus, flange etc). This is the dogs wotsits!

All knobs. No menus. Many, many sounds. It's pretty easy to get going, but since the knobs do different tasks for each filter modeled--there's a bit of a learning curve, I suppose. This thing has enormous sound-creating capability. Honestly, you're limited only by your imagination with these filters. You can only save 4, however (a couple more would be nice). The manual is very good, and even goes into a bit about the classic pedals/filters that the sounds are modeled after. The best way, though, is to just jump right in and start dialing. The only bummer is that there are only the available presets and no switchable area that you can bounce back to that remembers your last selected filter effect and knob settings. Not too hard to do without, but it would've been nice to have this capability.

I use it with many different setups--ranging from a basic Carvin 150 bass amp to a Line 6 AxSys 212 to a Sovtek Mig100h through a 4x12 cabinet. I run all sorts of stuff through it: G&L Legacy & Carvin DC127 guitars, keyboards, +mics, drum machines, theremin, etc. It has stereo ins and outs and is very flexible. It's not noisy at all, unless you count the breathing of some of the more radical filters. All of the effects sound great. The 'Trons are dead-on, and the more crazed (Octisynth & GR-700+Mu-Tron) are completely brain-melting. I run it mostly through a Sovtek Mig100h head and a 4x12 cabinet. You can get things as simple as basic envelope filter followers and bubbling Hendrix-like tones--all the way to plaster-cracking synthetic noise. Sound quality is great on everything. True bypass is a plus, too. The best addition is the MIX knob, which allows you to control the levels between your original instrument's sound and the filtered. A very nice touch.

It's built like and industrial-strength Tonka truck. Heavy-duty. I wouldn't worry about it at all. I'd love to have 2, but I would definitely use it without a backup. I've had no problems so far.

Line 6 has super customer support, and my experience with them in the past on other issues has been very pleasant. There are people there who go out of their way to help.

I play a mix of experimental improv and dark, dissonant instrumental prog-type stuff. This pedal is a perfect match. It can get as weird as you want it . . . and then some. I've been playing for over 20 years and have many goofy pedals (i.e. Z. Vex Fuzz Factory, etc.), and the FM4 fits right in there. I'd definitely want to get another eventually if this one were stolen or lost. I love the sounds and the ability the pedal has to mangle sounds totally beyond recognition. I wish, though, that it had more preset slots (at least a couple more) or some way to just switch to a mode other than presets where you could have the knob status remembered where you last left it. No big deal, really. Just something that I think about when I use it.

This is my first Line 6 stompbox and I must say it is a bit confusing after setting one of the patches you can't go back and recall its setting for future reference. So when it says "four bays" it means it. The knobs are not helpfully labelled either. But once you get the hang of each model, it gets easier.

The sound quality is decent (it's digital) but you've got to be very careful never to play more than one note in a synth model, it sounds terrible. It also seems to slip on open strings. The effects are tip-top, some of them respond fiercely to playing dynamics so pick consistently. But otherwise the sound is amazing. I run it from an Epiphone Sheraton through a Fender 212 amp with several FX. Put the Fm-4 before your outboard loop.

I don't know. It seems to be built really well. Heavy.

I thought that one of the filters wasn't working so I e-mailed them. They were helpful enough not to say "try adjusting the controls, you moron."

I got this in the hope of staving off my desire for pricey vintage analog effects and so far I'm satisfied. The FM-4 has several models based on the Mu-Tron III and they sound great. The synths are just as warm and buzzy as the originals. Some of the effects here are original too, like the growler and octisynth, and blow my mind. Very wierd stuff this thing is capable of. I've been listening to alot of the Welsh band Super Furry Animals lately and these models capture alot of the spacey synths sounds they utilize. The expression pedal option is just killer. I love this pedal.

not incredibly hard to use. Some might need the manual. It's easy to program (a matter of holding down ONE button).

I enjoy this pedal alot. great filters and synths. you have to be careful with a few of the synths because the tone can ocassionally get out of hand like it slips or something (it is digital). think of playing a computer game on a computer that has a very full hard drive. its not bad, you just have to be careful. I play a strat and i find that it slips *MUCH* less when i play using all of the pickups. I NEVER play through it in only bridge position. It is also important when using the SYNTHS that you attack the stings at a constant force, no light picking. The filters however, dont give me any trouble, and you CAN play chords with the filters, not the synths. the effects have good depth and tone, you can fool around to make them sound as you want.

ive only had it 2 days, but its solid metal and heavy for it's size. Im not worried about it breaking, im just scared someone might run off with it!!

never dealt with them

If you wanna get cool synth sounds, but dont want to shell out thousands of bucks for keyboards and pedals, get this pedal. I play space-rock and electronic styles of music. If you want weird funky and ambient vintage tones, you'll dig this one alot. I have no regrets about spending over $200 for this one. You will have fun with it!

Peice of cake, but you will want to read the manual.

Most of the sounds are monophonic, single note leads tend to sound best. Chord can get out of hand very quickly. I also ran a casio CZ 101,through it and got some really kick ass sounds.

only had it a month or so.

Never Needed yet

If you are looking for that one thing that will make the bizarr-o sound thing happen in one of your tunes, look no further. If you love the guitar for the pure tone of your guitar, why would you ever want a gadget like this? The thing that keeps killing me about line6 is that every time I need a new pedal or one of my old stand-bys quits on me I think, oh I'll just get the line6...whatever, distortion, delay, modulation....POD. I feel like a walking advertisment, but damn they make good stuff.