There was a lot of talk about Universal Audio's first foray into pedals last year; namely its reverb and delay units, but for live potential we were dazzled by the Astra Modulation Machine and its very accurate recreations of classic chorus, flanger, phaser and tremolo classics. But now it seems that UA and Strymon before them have serious competition in the market with Walrus Audio's M1 Modulation Machine.
The latest in its Mako series of pedals, the M1 already trumps the Astra on presets; nine here vs the Astra's one, with 128 in total available via MIDI.
Elsewhere, there's six studio-quality algorithms with chorus, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, rotary and filter. These can be degraded and warped with the Lo-Fi control.
The M1 is available now for $349 / £319 . Check out Yvette Young performing a bespoke song she wrote for the M1 above.
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Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.

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