# Line 6 M5



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I've been busting to tell you folks about it for well over a month, but had to wait until it was released, which just happened this past week in Frankfurt.

The M5 is an inexpensive compact baby brother to the M9/M13 series. Has all the same effects as them except for the looper, but unlike the 9 and 13 can only do one at a time. So its a single pedal, rather than a multi-FX. But it packs everything thats in the entire Modeller series (MM4, DL4, FM4 etc) and the Verbzilla pedal, into a footprint smaller than any modeller pedal for what we (the beta-test team) were told would likely be a $200 or so street price.

Like the bigger ones, it has the exact same sound quality, stereo ins and outs, tap tempo, expression-pedal input, on-board tuner, 20 user-programmable presets (which can be saved to and loaded from your computer), MIDI ports for real-time SYSEX control and updating firmware, and nice bright colour-coded display.

There are a couple of new things which I don't think were previously included in the modellers. One is their version of a Whammy clone (controlled by expression pedal), and they've also included emulations of the straight feed-through preamp from several different well-known tape/tube delays, such that when you cancel the delay you still get the sound the tape machine would normally provide.

As the owner of a Liqui-Flange and Echo Park, I kind of miss some of the tricks those can do, but there are more than enough things in this magic box to keep you happy. If you have any other multi-FX, and feel like augmenting it or simply being able to have one more thing going on at the same time, this is a nice package.

One of the things I thought was never sold or highlighted enough in the Tonecore pedals was the stereo capabilities and the "reprocessing" it allowed. I tried it out on the M5 and am happy to say that, while it doesn't work for everything, it kicks royal ass on many things, particularly the filters.

The expression pedal input can be assigned to many different parameters. I did a neat experiment by hooking up a photocell to the expression pedal jack and parking it on my guitar right near my picking hand pinky finger. That let me work the Whammy with my finger while I picked. Neat!

As with a lot of digital stuff, the distortions don't knock me out, and I kind of miss having the Dr. Distorto included, but they're good enough, and easily compensated for by the reverb, delay, and modulation features.

Comes with a little 500ma 1-Spot-sized switching power supply that has an LED on it. Decent value. I'm happy to let folks in town try mine out, but I have no idea when they'll start showing up in stores.

Oh yes, it weighs less than my Echo Park does.


----------



## Guest (Apr 10, 2011)

The last sentence is key - that Line6 Liqua-Flange had to be bolted to my board, it was too heavy for Velcro!

Will be cool to try one.


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Interesting. I thought their next move might be to make an M7 with everything the M9 has minus the OD/Dist section - since everyone is so particular about thier OD/Dist section. That would be a very cool pedal. I have an M9 and I'm really liking it. It's easy to use and sound pretty good with my amps. I don't use the OD side of it at all hence my suggestion for the "M7" - I really don't know what the 7 stands for. 

I'm not sure how useful the M5 will be other than to use your one favorite effect or just "test drive" a bunch of others. I am not a working musician so I can't really look at it from that point of view. As a basement rocker I would prefer the M9 or better yet the non-existent M7.


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Double Post....Oooops


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I have no idea what their plans are for a "next" in the series. I think folks will probably need to look at this through the lens of whatever they want in a single pedal, and treat everything else as a freebie. In that respect, it is uncomfortably close to those old "shovelware" packs of 1000 fonts, or 10,000 pieces of clipart we used to buy for $9.95; some effects you really want, and some you'll never use, but for pennies more we'll throw them in. As Behringer has indicated, one of the advantages of digital technology is that it lets one generate highly feature-rich pedals for the same money.

That's not a criticism, though. With the Tonecore series, Line 6 was able to have a common "dock" for a whole line of pedals without any differential decoration, graphics, or machining, and then crank out inexpensive little plastic personality plug-in modules for the different pedals. here again, by sticking the entire modeller series into one pedal, they get to maintain the product line, but don't need to arrange for green chassis, blue chassis, gold chassis, etc. When it comes to digital pedals, very often its the packaging required for different products stemming from the same core engine that starts to be the source of your production costs.


----------



## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


----------



## Guest (Apr 10, 2011)

I see it as perhaps the perfect way to offload some processing on my AxeFx and gain some additional tactical controls over an effect. If I can switch what it does via midi: sold! I've always loved Line6 delay algorithms.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Well pop me a note and I'll be happy to loan it for a bit, so you can take a test drive.

The various models provided for the entire series M5/9/13, and the controls for each of them, can be found here: http://l6c.scdn.line6.net/data/l/0a...M13/M9/M5 FX Parameters (Rev B) - English.pdf


----------



## Guest (Apr 11, 2011)

mhammer said:


> Well pop me a note and I'll be happy to loan it for a bit, so you can take a test drive.
> 
> The various models provided for the entire series M5/9/13, and the controls for each of them, can be found here: http://l6c.scdn.line6.net/data/l/0a...M13/M9/M5 FX Parameters (Rev B) - English.pdf


Wow.

Q: Which Line6 pedal would you like sir?
A: All of them!

Nice form factor and holy packed full of algorithms...

I'll definitely take you up on the offer to check it out. I couldn't see anything in that massive document of the effects it run that dealt with MIDI for the unit. As long as I can call up a "preset" on it, I'm in. The M9 and M13 are too big for my needs. This looks just perfect.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

More detailed info can be found here, if you scroll down: http://line6.com/support/manuals/

The "Pilot's Handbook" says: "The M5 will send and receive MIDI CC and Program Change messages
on any MIDI Channel from 1 thru 16 or Omni, selectable from the
MIDI screen in Setup mode. MIDI implementation includes MIDI CCs
for FX Unit On and Bypass messages, Tap Tempo, Expression Pedal CCs
and Program Change messages for presets. You can control the M5 from
a MIDI controller or a computer sequencer."


----------



## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Interesting. I thought their next move might be to make an M7 with everything the M9 has minus the OD/Dist section - since everyone is so particular about thier OD/Dist section. )


...i've pretty much given up hope that ANY manufacturer (except tc electronics) will ever clue in to the enormous market waiting for an effects-only multi-fx pedal.


----------



## Guest (Apr 11, 2011)

david henman said:


> ...i've pretty much given up hope that ANY manufacturer (except tc electronics) will ever clue in to the enormous market waiting for an effects-only multi-fx pedal.


There is?

If you prefer, ignore any of the effects you don't like or won't use. Then it's exactly what you're after. 

The trouble with building an M5 and then excluding OD is it wouldn't be any cheaper. It'd be the exact same price. Since the OD isn't any more work, it's a done deal, including it just as easy as excluding and doesn't really change the cost of the product. So there it is, and if it's not your cup of tea don't sweat it. You wouldn't get it for less if it hadn't been there to begin with.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Bingo. Is there space left in the EPROM? then lets fill it with something.


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Hmmmm....I'm embarrased to say that I didn't really think of it that way. kqoct

There's the box and BLAM I just jumped out and had a though outside of it. Just took a little nudge in the right direction. 

kksjur


----------



## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

That could be really cool if you don't want to fill up your board (an empty out your wallet) for those effects you don't use often.

mhammer: What is you job? You know everything about electronic stuff and about child devellopement...are building robots???


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Ti-Ron said:


> That could be really cool if you don't want to fill up your board (an empty out your wallet) for those effects you don't use often.


Correct. For example, the M5 has a ring modulator, Whammy, sequenced wah (like the Z-Vex Ooh-Wah), a sequenced/patterned tremolo (like the Empress), some synth-sounding filter and sub-ioctave effects, and reverse delay, among many others. None of these are effects you just turn on for the whole song and keep playing. Most are "punch-in" effects for infrequent momentary use. Would you pay $100 for an invididual "punch-in" effect? Not likely. It's a bit like the small piece or orange or canteloupe that comes with a meal: it's not what you paid for, but it's nice to have.



> mhammer: What is you job? You know everything about electronic stuff and about child devellopement...are building robots???


Je suis formé comme psychologue (spécialisant dans le développement humaine à travers la vie), mais je travail comme analyste dans le gouvernement fédérale, ou je fonction comme un "guru des sondages" et le mesurage. C'est pas très souvent reconnu par le grand publique que les psychologues doivent apprendre beaucoup de l'éléctronique. Le premier pré-amplificateur JFET que j'ai jamais construit (1976) a été posé dans la tête d'un rat afin d'ameliorer la qualité du signale de son activité électrique cérébrale. Un de mes cours suivi pour mon maîtrise en science (il y a plus que 25 ans) était la sous-programmation d'assemblage pour le contrôle en temps réel des ordinateurs....offert dans le département de psychologie.
C'est pourquoi je toujours pense dans les terms d'ergonomie quand je considère des pédales ou d'autres appareils musicaux. 
Mark


----------



## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

iaresee said:


> There is?
> If you prefer, ignore any of the effects you don't like or won't use. Then it's exactly what you're after.
> The trouble with building an M5 and then excluding OD is it wouldn't be any cheaper. It'd be the exact same price. Since the OD isn't any more work, it's a done deal, including it just as easy as excluding and doesn't really change the cost of the product. So there it is, and if it's not your cup of tea don't sweat it. You wouldn't get it for less if it hadn't been there to begin with.


...no doubt, but what i tend to resent is the real estate that is used up by stomp switches/controls etc for the o/d effects that could have been used for additional controls for the actual effects or, at the very least, resulted in a smaller overall footprint.


----------



## Guest (Apr 12, 2011)

david henman said:


> ...no doubt, but what i tend to resent is the real estate that is used up by stomp switches/controls etc for the o/d effects that could have been used for additional controls for the actual effects or, at the very least, resulted in a smaller overall footprint.


Ah, yea. The Line6 M-series is unique in that you can assign *any* effect to any slot. So you can have 4 delays or 4 reverbs or what ever you want. The switches are completely soft, they are reassigned based on the effects you're using the in the scene. Not using any OD? Then none of the switches are taken up with OD functions. It's quite cool in that regard.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The M5 has two momentary stomp-switches (TB is handled by relays), one continuous rotary/push switch for selecting a family of models and specific model within family, and 5 assignable control knobs. Some models use all 5 knobs, and some use less than all 5.

Not really any fat to trim, switch/knob-wise, and nothing would really change if all the distortion-related models were omitted, apart from pressing the model-family switch 5 times to cycle through all the families and back to the start, rather than 6 times.

Heck, if anything, it's the reduction in number of switches that I am disappointed by. I'm the sort that would prefer to have a separate switch for a function, than have to memorize what happens if you press and hold this one (instead of lightly tapping), or press those two at the same time. Of course, I'm also the sort that would rather have walls of knobs and a patch panel like the modular synth guys, than have menus to scroll through.


----------

