Line 6 M series - Expression Control of Beat Divisions

[pilotbicycles]

Line 6 M series pedals are great, but sadly lack the ability to control beat divisions with the expression pedal(s).

However, this morning whilst playing around with my pedal board trying to get some sounds for a new gig I stumbled on a little workaround if you're wanting to control beat divisions of a hard trem effect (useful for those trying to achieve dubstep wobbles).
Thought some might find it useful...

Here we go:

1. Pull up the "Pattern Tremolo" patch in the Mod section

2. Assign the "speed" knob to beat division: Crotchet (1/4 note)

3. Set all but one of the number knobs to "SKIP" (or set them all to the same number values)

4. Set your remaining knob to "1" in heel down, then "3" in toe down.

Set the tempo by tapping and you'll now be able to sweep from 1/4 notes to 1/8 note triplets, with standard 1/8 notes in the middle of the sweep.
Setting the beat division to lower values allows wider sweeps: Whole note allows you to sweep between most divisions you could want (except dotted notes) - the number value denoting how many beats will fall in the bar... though this makes it harder to hit the in between settings of the sweep accurately, hence my favouring the 1/4 note setting... thought i imagine some practice would help here.

Unfortunately this effect doesn't allow any other control over the trem settings: basically it's fixed on a hard square wave trem.

Now you can wobble that bass to your hearts delight!

[EskimoBassist]

Nice cheers for this, I'll give it a go in a fortnight and et you know how I get on .

[Ant]

any other cool sounds?

[GarethFlatlands]

Very interesting, I'll give it a try. This is why I need to sit down and have a proper play instead of just using it as a modulation/tappable delay pedal.

Thanks for the tip.

[tayste_2000]

The M series is still the best processor I've owned (shame the guitarist uses mine at the moment) the sounds and control are amazing.

[bassjamm]

This is interesting pal...just getting my head back into my M13.

I know it's a bit cheeky, but if you get a chance to make a quick video or anything of any cool tricks like the one you've mentioned, I for one would be extremely grateful, as would many others I'm sure!

Thanks for this though.

[pilotbicycles]

Glad it's of some use.
Will try and get a video together if I get a chance.

...yeah they're great sonic magic makers. Finding cool tricks all the time. - expression pedals really bring a whole world of possibilities: morphing between settings, fading effects in/out...etc

[GarethFlatlands]

Not sure it was as intended but I found it was a very good way of getting a really hard square wave tremolo which the M series lacks. Good trick.

[bassjamm]

Programmed this in last night. Very funky!

Found it to be quite harsh though as mentioned. Any ideas for how to temper it a bit? Maybe add in a filer post trem or something? Or some reverb?

I'm just throwing ideas out there.

In any case,thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

Jam

[phil.i.stein]

low-pass filter before the trem ? (more subby)

[pilotbicycles]

Yeah, It's pretty harsh- Square wave trem so basically flicking between on/off.
An envelope filter afterwards and some reverb definitely help to soften it a bit.
...there's always the other trems and the panner for smoother sounds, but there's no way of sweeping through beat divisions with an expression pedal in those patches.

[GarethFlatlands]

It's fine, I wanted harsh and the other 2 models on there weren't cutting it (literally).