Sure, I’d be glad to help with my insights and opinions.
Now, and I’m sorry if you feel like you’ve already explained this, but what is the purpose of this new Community page? Is it intended for existing device owners, prospective customers, or both? Is it trying to fulfill different needs than what the forum currently provides? Is it meant to convince people that they should purchase a Dwarf?
For me personally, I’d be most interested in sound demos and/or detailed tutorials if they’re done well. There are moments to enjoy artistic performances, but every site has a hip-looking musician(s) playing upbeat riffs and technical solos on their equipment so I think there is limited value in trying to curate and promote much of that content. I might be in the minority here, but I think unboxings and reviews are more the province of MOD user testing and I’m skeptical whatever audience you’re targeting would get much from those. The reverbs review linked above I’d consider more in the sound demo category because it’s carefully focused on one specific aspect rather than “here’s a few basic things the device can do”.
The purpose is to show to non-customers how the community uses the device and also how they interact. I believe that the key takeaways for visitors of the page are:
1 - the MOD devices can be useful in many different use cases and it adapts to the user needs
It is difficult - if not impossible - to explain all that one can do with our devices and I believe that a “show, don’t tell” approach is more useful in this case
2 - if you join, you are also being embraced by the community and you will be able to learn a lot
Being a musician is a learning path, not only of the instrument, but also of the equipment and the sound design it involves.
Whatever content you decide to feature for this, I’d echo @QuestionMarc’s advice from above and make sure to have a good amount of supporting description text so you can benefit from SEO and to help attract visitors from a wide range of search terms. That way people who are searching for “MIDI drum pedal” or “guitar synth” or “reverb effects” or “band in a box” or “record my jam session” or “looping pedal” have a chance to find the site.
For this I would emphasize the forum since it already serving that purpose successfully. In my opinion the forum defines the MOD community and it stands out as a valuable and useful resource. You could highlight the longevity of the forum and share some general participation stats. Many people might appreciate that basically everyone in the company participates - engineers, designers, and executives - whereas in other sites you might get generic responses from a marketer and empty promises to “check with the developers”.
I think many of us would be willing to provide a brief testimonial and if you shared a very basic Google form you could collect a bunch of statements along the lines of
ignore the messed up styling but I’d do it like that. Headline, under that the username and description. Keep it as short as necessary and don’t repeat what’s already in the headline.
Sorry for getting back so late in this topic. After a long period of inactivity I am now juggling 3 activities between complex jobs and training, working 10-hour days 7 days a week.
Not only this page, but the entire website has to show what MOD is good for and how that can be done. Except for the “Meets” series videos, there’s little of that on your website, Instagram, and elsewhere.
There’s a lot of talk of “perfect tone”, “endless possibilities”, and “community”, but MOD as a business fails to provide even a decent instruction manual worth of the device it offers. I know everybody there is wearing 200 hats at the moment, but this should have been done a long time ago. Every company else talks about how good your tone can be with their devices, how endless your possibilities are. Even the HX Stomp, which is limited to 6 slots only, has “endless possibilities” in their words. A 25-minute nonstop talking video of a pedalboard with 18 plugins and 47 cables doesn’t cut it. There should be more basic instructions, demos and otherwise performance videos that can highlight MOD’s uniqueness. Mod devices are alone in what they do. Yet you are trying to fight the competition in what they also do well (if not better) and make a case with little to show for it.
Here’s an example of how Ableton demonstrates their awesome Tempo Follower feature:
Ok, I understand, maybe Mod doesn’t have the means to go super fancy. But you have produced some good videos, such as tutorials for guitar synth, effects chains and others. That video with James was very illustrating. And the initial demo by Benn Jordan in that performance video (linked above) is priceless.
Therefore, think of a video with a simple pedalboard – not too bloated or complex – where each effect is toggled one after the other, showing the raw sound, then the amp sim, then cabsim, then reverb, some juicy delays, distortion, more distortion, a lot of distortion, then a drum sequence, then a synth bass is recorded on LP3, then the guitar plays over that drum and bass? That is something NOT ONE of your competitors can do. It’s a 2- to 3-minute video maximum. No voice, only sound.
I have to agree with @QuestionMarc here. His answer is well crafted, insightful and also really helpful - as always. This shouldn’t be a question of thicker skin. This is free advice and from the COMMUNITY.
I get the you have to work with what you got but a community video where the product isn’t shown once makes no sense to me.
Why not use the time and effort and re-edit this video? Start with music and the product, add some closeups, beauty shots. Done.
Hey! Many months ago when I was saying things like “your plugins have seemingly random value ranges which is made worse by vague plugin descriptions/no documentation” I used to be the bad guy!
(admittedly, once or twice, I wasn’t that polite about voicing my views, which I’m sorry for, being a douchebag is never justified)
It’s actually 8. Also, I’m a bit math-challanged, but basic combinatorics indicate that you don’t need that many elements to provide users with “virtually/practically/functionally endless possibilities”. I don’t think anyone cares about that either. People care about having many good options and, those aforementioned 8 slots on HX Stomp can be occupied by digitally modeled representations of gear that musicians (mostly guitar players but synth and music production enthusiasts as well) actually care about.
As for the rest of your post, I completely agree. Well, I sorta agree with the above bits as well
Benn Jordan basically sold me the Dwarf by showcasing both the basic signal chain creation and using Mod Duo X as a groovebox. Now, for me, Dwarf fell short (damn you Benn Jordan! you talented, smart. bastard, you!). Using Ableton + Launchpad for looping and outsourcing my guitar tone to HX Stomp + small pedalbard, proved to be orders of magnitude more pleasurable and seamless, but that Benn Jordan video where he actually showed how to use the MOD product, and that it could potentially be used to do something, the competition can’t do, was enough to convince me.
Sorry if I expressed myself in the wrong manner @spunktsch
Between the daily hate emails I get from angry backers, the use of our ads as a platform for complaints and the general fires we daily need to put out, reading one more comment from users who have the units in their hands and are engaged here, telling us once more that something should have been done a long time ago is sometimes a bit frustrating. That is why the comment about the demotivation.
I also think it is a pity that the community video looks so worthless to you. It took practically none of my or the staff’s time, seems to have been a fun thing for those who participated, and has a lot of branding value for the fundraising efforts we are doing.
If the improvement of the existing videos is so easy and straight forward, I’d gladly provide the original files for those who step up to improve them.
I think he’s right to point out that MOD devices strength is their uniqueness. The products themselves stand out from the competition. It’s good news. Now you might need to advertise a bit more on that aspect.
The video is nice and that’s cool that the community participated and had fun. It may not help you sell the product but as long as it didn’t need too much effort on your side, it could be considered as a fun exercise that puts some light on the community. Maybe there are some misunderstandings between its realistic goal and what people expect as proper advertisement.
So let’s be positive and consider this video a way to show MOD has a cool community. I’d be happy to participate in another one (dude, how dare you make a funky tune without the funkypou ?).
Indeed! “Who d’ya get ya funky from?” Not Bootsy, it’s @funkypou!!!
Thanks for your kind words, @spunktsch! Love your Metal Groovebox video, it does exactly what you propose.
Isn’t that the best combination of all? Ableton has proven to be irreplaceable in my workflow, a Launchpad or Push is a phenomenal addition, Helix is fantastic (I own a rack one), and between them there are sounds, loopers, synths, and top quality effects and digital processing. I’m happy for you.
Thanks for the update. All the way to revision C it was 6 slots only and a major source of complaint at the Line6 forum. I didn’t really research further as I acquired my Helix for just about 300 Euro more than the HX Stomp.
Your earned your “reputation” by means of your repeated snarky and ill-tempered comments, which regardless of being right or wrong hit the community the wrong way. Most, if not all of us, agreed with the issues regarding the lesser quality of amp sims, the lack of superior models, the limited IR loader, the inconsistency of effects levels, naming, values, documentation etc. In fact, just recently I posted something to that exact effect – fix the levels of the plugins! People didn’t necessarily disagree with you there, but your repeated rambling long past you had returned your Dwarf was indeed unnecessary. @Elk_wrath even discussed that with you, in which his opinion was likewise that your points were correct but the manner of saying them was not the best.
(I was young when I learnt that “the one who screams loses the argument even when one is right.”)
We too interacted and discussed in the past, and I wholeheartedly supported you in your decision to return your Dwarf, go for the pedals that made you feel happy, and move on with your life. It is you who, in spite of requesting to be deleted from the forum more than once, keep coming back repeatedly to grind your old grievances.
It looks like Mod Dwarf was a major trauma in your life – damn you, Benn Jordan! Guy is a good seller, showcasing a Duo X made you buy a Dwarf! Hire him, Mod Audio!
But now you have a nice set up, with much more enjoyable and higher quality effects, so if I may give some advice, you should look forward to years of enjoyment and good music, and hopefully overcome the sad mark left in your heart, move on and be happy.
I guess I didn’t connect my name with my handle.
