MOD and G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) - Part II

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#1

Rather than revive a 9 month old thread about how owning a MOD has affected one’s desire for more/new gear, I figured I’d start something new for any new-to-the-MOD scene types like myself to post on without reviving a zombie thread.

My take:

If anything, the possibilities of this unit have made me want to go out and buy a few more cool oddball effects and instruments to pair with/run through the MDX I just bought on the used market.

As cool as the MDX is on its own, I’m picturing using it with something like a Chase Bliss Mood or a Hologram Microcosm. Not to mention wanting to finally pull the trigger on getting an Arturia Microfreak to use with the MOD.

And, strangely enough, wanting to get a cassette 4 track like I used to have back in the day for lo-fi tape sampling experiments.

Although, I have recognized that I would need to tame my current collection of guitars (21!) in order to realistically make room for more noise toys.

And yes, I would like to add another MOD device (Dwarf or DUO X) to the fleet to really go crazy in terms of the sounds I can create.

But for now I’ll stick with what I have now, and try to combine some cool tones and see what comes out of it.

Anyone else feeling like they can see the possibilities of adding addtional pedals/effects to the MOD to make some awesome noise?

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#2

Oh, absolutely. My pedalboard has a Dwarf as the centerpiece with some more unique offerings in physical pedal form. I love it!

#3

I would love to eventually use the MOD to do what Rhett Shull is doing in this video:

(timestamp 15:54 in case the video starts at the beginning)

Using my guitar or other instrument to control and generate backing music underneath my playing that I can further manipulate with external effects just sounds like the dream scenario. And it’ll take a TON of trial and error and a few key pieces of gear, but this little digital music brain is just so awesome that I feel it’s something that I have to try.

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#4

Wow that’s significant (is that all pure guitars, or also including other string instruments?).
I could really use just a single different electric guitar (still using the fake strat I got ~25 years ago as a young teen. mainly keeping it for nostalgia).

Some chase bliss/microcosm style effects would be nice. We did get a basic build of CHOW Tape plugin built for MOD, but without a custom UI and some limits on oversampling (too heavy) it’s hard to use.

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#5

MDX basically replaced everything I used before. I only had to add a couple of midi controllers on top to be able to assign controls for all that plugins and buy several premium plugins. So it is mostly helping to deal with GAS, rather than provoking it.

What I really still miss is a RC300 looper workflow, which I could not reproduce even with LP3 (which has different approach).
And I am missing my GR55 that could unleash the potential of my GK3 hex pickup for midi stuff that could be fun with MDX synths.

BeatBuddy drum machine could be in that “miss” list, but I’ve made myself a surrogate drum machine with RPI0 and some python coding, which basically does the same but in midi.

However the experiment is not clean, as my GAS is also constrained by living in a foreign country as in some kind of a nomadic limbo, where I cannot afford having weighty belongings.

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#6

You should check out Cardinal and Cardinal mini plugin of you want to go into modular eurorack style.

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#7

I never was a purist and 25 years ago I was convinced digital tech would soon replace my cumbersome setup op pedals, power cables, patch cables, …

Buying the Dwarf quickly brought me to buying a pedalboard amp, greatly simplifying my setup!
I was experimenting with amp sims but the biggest breakthrough came from the AIDA-X, since it fulfilled a n old dream in the most portable and lightweight way I’ve ever seen.

I love how my gear AND workflow became a lot “lighter” and by now, I invested more time than money in MOD, capturing models, writing content, promoting the tech, etc.

I wasalso triggered to by a simple Roland GO:piano for it’s simple MIDI capability. Both synthesizers as soundfonts boosted my interest in playing keys (I’m a guitar playing singer)

It inspired me to buy some jack to XLR cables to though :smiley:

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#8

@dreamer the collection is just acoustic and electric 6 string guitars. I also have 3 electric bass guitars that I’m equally terrible at playing Hehe.

I have been making an effort to scale things down as I don’t want to collect for the sake of collecting.

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#9

Well I have 1 electric (the old Probe fake strat). a factory western semi-acoustic. a recently tuned and revised active electric bass, and a semi-accoustic mandolin :slight_smile:

But I would really like a “new” electric guitar, just no clue what would fit my style/sound or where to begin.
So I might be interested if you are ready to part with something :wink:

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#10

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#11

@gianfranco :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Too true.

Although, it does get complicated finding time to play them all.

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#12

Well, my GAS is focussed primarily on the instruments - guitars/bass, drums (electronic) and percssion, and others. As for the processing equimpent, I’m content with a few of the best (never been a pedalboard maniac) - an analog part of the chain being represented by Fender Blues DeLuxe reissue (the one I have modelled with AIDA-X btw), and a digital part of it was good ol’ Line6 HD500, which served me well for years on gigs and venues. I bought MOD Dwarf impressed by its flexibility and compact size, with an expectation that it could replace HD500. But, although I still don’t give up hope, I’m not there yet with Dwarf: I’m lacking the ability to control plugins, snapshots and pedalboards with an external stompbox-like device (being a ControlChain or a MIDI controller) that would fit my basic needs and workflow, but that’s a separate subject.

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#13

I’ve got a huge pedalboard (wa, Monteray, Dark Side, volume pedal, Data Corruptor, two loopers, Hall of Fame, Freqout, Keeley compressor & more
I use the Dwarf with my guitar, cello, keys and a Ztar (www.starrlabs.com)

#14

I used to spend a lot of time online comparing effects and tools. The MOD Duo completely stopped my GAS since it is much better-sounding and flexible than the multi-effects I tried before. In every category, there are effects out there that beat the MOD version, but to my ears it is often just nuances. Sure, if you are a tone hunter, a MOD device likely won’t cut it, but I only play at home and like trying out effects, settings and combinations thereof. It is a quiet, peaceful life :wink:

Sometimes I still check out new effects online, of course, and almost all the time I think: my Duo can do that, more or less, too. While my expectations and needs seem to be low, I am eagerly following the evolution of the software and the ecosystem, since there is certainly room for improvement.

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#15

Still pretty gassy over here :joy:

Just this very week I grabbed an EAE Dude Incredible and Boss OC-5 2nd hand.

Tbh the Dude Incredible has always been something I wanted to try for some Steve Albini/Shallac vibes. I’m not sure I’d keep it as it’s not really that useful on bass but will certainly grab some AIDA-X models.

The OC-5 was mostly just because I found the tracking wasn’t great on the Dwarfs OC2 or other pitch shift plugins. It’s just a lot more consistent.

Personally I love tools like the Dwarf for experimenting with different effects I wouldn’t typically use or couldn’t justify owning. The delays and reverbs are incredible too. While I could probably get pretty close to my current bass tone via the Dwarf I’ve still not got to the point where I’m ready to say goodbye to real pedals. I also lack the confidence that I could turn up to a gig and have all the parameters mapped I might need to tweak on the fly etc.

I’ll probably get there one day though.

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#16

i’ve done a lot of playing lately with only a MOD device (and a ton of controllers for that device) in front of me. well, now i’m sliding down the slippery slope a little bit… partly it’s driven by the struggle with control in the MOD devices.

we always have to juggle a bit to balance how many parameters we really need to control in realtime against how many knobs, switches, etc. we have available on-device, and in MIDI and CC controllers. not necessarily a bad sort of limitation to have to work within, but there’s something really helpful and freeing about just buying a hardware pedal and knowing that all the controls are just sitting right there all the time! :wink:

…and there’s a unique, quirky sound to everything - not that that isn’t also true for the MOD plugins, but when i find a hardware pedal which is just simply compelling for me in some way, it’s easy to give a place to that “voice” in my rig (and not have to worry about CPU load, parameter control, etc…).

i’m coming up to a big show with my buddy - it’s an electronic/looping/experimental duo project and as i’m building my “spaceship” for this outing i’ve added a number of small, characterful hardware devices to the rig…

Donner triple looper - 3 slots (30 minutes each), running time display

Rowin twin looper - with reverse and continuously variable speed-up or slow-down

Hotone Krush - nice, wide range of bit reduction and downsampling - with character!

two MXR smartgates - the wide threshold range and bandwidth adjustments on these allow me to punch holes in the carpet of sound from my dual NovaDrones in really interesting ways.

Artec APW-7 wah pedal - a unique, wide-range magnetic pot wah pedal

they’re fun. they all contribute unique things. they’ll be totally in synergy with the Dwarf and DuoX. yay!

like i said… feels a bit slippery-slopey, but it also really enriches the palette and workability of what’s in front of me.

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#17

haha… for what i do, the slightly weird, glitchy tracking, especially of the infamous ewham, is exactly what i’m looking for! :wink: …one man’s poison…

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#18

Haha yeah, in the right context that kind of stuff can be great. Really enjoying the Harmonic Percolator on the Dude Incredible, it’s a spluttery gross fuzz but just sounds excellent.

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#19

Love that sound too! Have you checked out the Hudson Broadcast pedal? :heart_eyes:

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#20

No although a few people have suggested it.

I’m currently playing with the EAE OxEAE Fuzz which is basically an obelisk of doom.

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