A new MOD competitor

[James]

@unbracketed I had some time to read through your post earlier and since you took the time to formulate a very detailed message I wanted give you a detailed response

@unbracketed

For a while I’ve longed for more of an all-in-one device - with any non-trivial pedalboard you run out of actuators quickly.

I personally would love to design a new device that has 10 footswitches, 2 expression pedals and maybe 8 knobs, that is an all in one. In the same space as the Helix for example. Or perhaps a controller of the same design to be used with the dwarf or duo x. But it may not be what everyone wants and there are many products that we want to develop. One step at a time

@unbracketed

I have been able to use external USB controllers successfully, but the all-around experience for managing device mappings could use a lot of improvement IMO. A few examples:

• There’s no way to know what’s mapped to what when you load an arbitrary pedalboard.

I agree, I think ideally each footswitch on a midi controller should have it’s own display or the device needs to have a really large display that spans across it so the labels can be spatially paired with the footswitches. This is really expensive though and requires some serious RND

@unbracketed

I’ve always wanted to depend heavily on the idea of managing state through patches/presets/snapshots but these features are still clunky and unstable. I’ve spent a lot of time re-checking Duo and controller settings to make sure the channels are correct etc., restarting devices, to get the snapshot and pedalboard MIDI navigation to work.

MOD UI v1.10 is planned to add improvements for this because they are needed for the Dwarf. It’s likely to get even better in v1.11/v1.12

@unbracketed

Displaying current pedalboard and snapshot name still not working consistently, etc.

This feature is also planned to come to the Duo in v1.10

@unbracketed

MIDI use is a black box - no logs or monitors available yet.

v1.10 is planned to bring raw MIDI data access to plugins. There will be a MIDI monitor plugin available.

@unbracketed

Due to underlying tech / spec details passing state back-and-forth between plugins is difficult to implement, meaning things like coordinating hardware LEDs with toggles is usually non-existent. Other systems offer much more in terms of custom coding LEDs / visual indicators to reflect changes in state. If you rely on MIDI controllers, you lose a lot of potential visual cue feedback since the LEDs are effectively meaningless (and often technically wrong) when switching between pedal states or snapshots.

v1.11 is planned to bring HMI widgets. This means plugins can take over the part of the display + actuator state + LED

@unbracketed

Computer/browser-based editing hasn’t been an important feature for me. It’s nitpicking but I’ve never loved the web interface from a productivity perspective. For 95% of my needs a grid and panel approach would likely be a smoother and faster experience.

There are many other plugin effect systems out there that work like this but they generally lack in terms of routing flexibility. That’s the beauty and uniqueness of our platform. Infinite routing possibilities. I really like Guitar Rig and Amplitube but the routing options in our system are much better in my opinion. I think it would be crazy to change that unless it were to be an extra more simplified pedalboard builder. Could be a separate app that uses the same pedalboard builder back end but this would still be in the web gui. The pedalboard blocks might be the solution for you then we have an on the fly pedal board builder coming with the dwarf that should also get ported over time to the Duo X and also the Duo if possible.

@unbracketed

Beyond my own judgements of the browser-based editing though is the question of how editable things are without the computer. As of today, on a Duo, you basically need to map every possible parameter you might need to an actuator in case an on-site adjustment is needed. I’ve had a few times of taking the Duo out for jams or gigging and having gain or EQ problems that I couldn’t do anything about.

OTF (on the fly) pedal board builder may help with this. The Pedal Board Builder will also see the addition of “Pedal Board Blocks” which will mean we will have blocks with premade assignments so you don’t need to make all the assignments yourself. For now, if bringing your laptop to a rehearsal is too much trouble then you can also use your phone if you have a bluetooth dongle in the device.

@unbracketed

The main system of organization Banks has a slow and less-than-elegant interface for organizing and managing pedalboards. You cannot go directly to a pedalboard that you see in the Banks view to that pedalboard (For example, by being able to click on a pedalboard or “open this” button)

This is something we talk about fairly often. The feature request is in our backlog and we definitely will address it but it has not been scheduled into a software release yet

@unbracketed

I’ve always hoped for more progress related to file-system integration and related features. When I first got my Duo I hoped there would be a way to load up samples or backing tracks and trigger them with the device. Similarly, be able to capture looper recordings, record live audio and access these files at a minimum.

File management is almost here. It’s coming with v1.10 which is our next release. We are already testing an IR loader for cab sims, an IR loader for convolution reverb and there are 3 new loopers coming which will integrate recording and HMI widgets

@unbracketed

Other market devices offer these capabilities as well as features like audio interfacing / DAW integration / re-amping tracks.

Audio interfacing over USB is in the pipeline. We have already managed to get input working. More testing needs to be done to see the full capability but currently there are more pressing issues on the developers plates

@unbracketed

I know that these things are coming to the MOD devices in various forms but it has been a long wait

We’re a small company trying to achieve a lot of big things simultaneously while also trying to keep ourselves afloat financially

@unbracketed

On-the-fly ability to change the pedalboard’s amp/cab setup - critical if you move between spaces or venues and might be playing into any of PA or amp / cab available.

The situation will be much better with the introduction of the OTF pedalboard builder and pedalboard blocks

@unbracketed

Reverb tails - switching between snapshots that are using different reverb or modulation states leads to nasty artifacts unless those are specifically handled

This is very much caused by the implementation of the plugins. Therefore we can usually not do much about it other than request the plugin developer to fix it. Please report issues with specific plugins either directly to the developer of said plugins, or to us so that we can forward the report.

@unbracketed

The diversity and quantity of plugins available is neat and offers lots of opportunity for the curious and patient. Still, I find myself a little frustrated sifting through dozens of plugins with no descriptions or information about what the params do. For me the “wild west” nature of the store is a little distracting and I’d enjoy more of a catered experience. I don’t mind shopping at the second-hand store if I’m not looking for anything in particular, but if have a goal in mind I’d rather go to the department store where I know they’ll have something good enough for my needs

I totally agree with this. Firstly we are getting very close to going live with “LABS” which will make a much clearer distinction between official and community made plugins. Secondly, we have spent some time already conceptualizing a better way to categorize and browse the plugins. The OTF pedalboard builder was a big driver for this and we have made some improvements browsing plugins on the device. I hope this will also be reflected in the web GUI since we want to improve the experience there too but the process is evolving over time.