Release 1.11.0-RC1

[falkTX]

Hi there everyone, a release candidate for a new major release is here - v1.11.0-RC1 aka “Has anyone ever told you that the configuration and juxtaposition of your features is extraordinarily apposite?”.

This release is mainly focused on the Dwarf, but the rework and improvements (see below) are made available to the other units too.
A few of the new controller features are exclusive to the Dwarf on this release.

Please note that this is a release candidate.
That means it might be stable, but needs widespread testing first to make sure.
If no issues are found in around 2-3 weeks we’ll release it as stable, otherwise we’ll do a RC2.

 

So, what’s new?
Let’s start with the stuff that applies to all units, then go into Dwarf specific items.

(Virtual) MIDI Loopback

Coming from a request by our community in this release we have added a “Virtual MIDI Loopback”,
basically a way to feed back MIDI generated by plugins back into the system input.
The main idea being that, through the use of MIDI learn, MIDI output from plugins can be used to change/modulate other plugins parameters.

Previously the community resorted to hardware loopback solutions (MIDI DIN in & out connected together), this feature removes the need for such tricks.

To enable it simply click the “MIDI PORTS” button on the web gui, tick the new “Virtual MIDI Loopback” option and click Save.
This setting will be saved on a per-pedalboard basis.

 

Snapshots rework, now always on

Stability and reliability are important to us, so in this release we have reworked some core elements that either didn’t always work right or got users confused.
One of such elements are pedalboard snapshots, which we have now decided to make always on.

Previously depending if you had snapshots enabled or not on your pedalboard, the way that plugin state was saved worked differently.
When a pedalboard was loaded with snapshots enabled, the first snapshot and its corresponding plugin parameter values were the ones that got loaded.

Now starting with v1.11, snapshots will always be enabled.
To make things easy for users, the state of the pedalboard that is saved will match exactly the state it is currently on.
So if you were on snapshot #3, changed a few parameters differently from what the snapshot has set and then saved, this same state is what gets restored.
You will be on the same snapshot #3 with the same parameter values exactly as before.

 

NOTE: the features now described below are dwarf specific for this release

Audio processing options

A noise gate, compressor and pedalboard gain are now accessible directly from the device, through the input processing and output processing settings.
They are built in the audio chain and do not appear as plugins in the pedalboard.
These are optional and not enabled by default.
Settings are persistent across pedalboard changes and reboots.

 

Bank, pedalboard and snapshot management

It is now possible to create and manage banks and snapshots on the Dwarf without the use of a PC or web browser.

For banks management you can import all the pedalboards from another bank or individually.
You can also delete individual banks.

On the snapshots side you can use the save function and give the current snapshot a new name as a way create new snapshots.
Deleting snapshots is possible as well, working the same way as for banks.

And for pedalboards, it is now possible to save (overwrite) or save with a new name, directly from the device.
You can do this by opening the menu, pressing the save button, and following the steps on the display.

 

Controller feedback for plugins

This is a new MOD-specific LV2 feature we implemented to give plugins the possibility of taking over certain parts of the device screen and LEDs.
Plugins cannot draw custom shapes but can change the text, indicator value and LED color.

As typical for such new features, we have to create them first and only then plugins can make use of it.
We have verified that the feature works by the use of test plugins.

For something actually useful on real plugins, we have modified die-fluidsynth plugin to blink the LED when loading an sf2 file and its on/off switch is assigned to a footswitch.
You will see the LED blinking to indicate the file is loading in the background.
The blinking will stop once the sf2 file has finished loading, indicating the plugin is ready to be used.

We are working on developer oriented documentation so external developers can implement this too.
The upcoming Looperlative plugin is one that makes heavy use of this feature and the main reason we have implemented it.

 

There’s also quite a few more changes and tweaks.
You can read the full changelog below.

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Because this release is still under testing, for most users it won’t appear as an update in the web interface just yet.
You will have to manually download and apply the update file if you wish to try it out.
(Beta/Release testers, also known as ‘group 1’, receive this update as usual)

Here are the manual download links:
Duo: http://download.moddevices.com/releases/testing/modduo-v1.11.0.2468-RC1.tar
Duo X: http://download.moddevices.com/releases/testing/modduox-v1.11.0.2469-RC1.tar
Dwarf: http://download.moddevices.com/releases/testing/moddwarf-v1.11.0.2474-RC1.tar

The upgrade procedure is explained at the top of our releases page, here:
http://wiki.moddevices.com/wiki/Releases

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Here’s the full changelog:

• NEW: Virtual MIDI Loopback
• Banks, pedalboards and snapshots will now have unique names
• Better handling of smaller web browser sizes and high-dpi screens
• Change input and output gain levels to use dB units instead of %
• Do not auto-remove empty banks
• Improve responsiveness of webgui dynamic parameters
• Fix logic around knob/sliders film steps (with proper integer support)
• Fix ordering of loadable plugin files
• Rework snapshot handling (more robust/stable), now always enabled
• Rework tempo addressings (more robust/stable)
• Other minor fixes and system tweaks

Dwarf specific changes:

• NEW: Audio processing options (built-in noise gate, compressor and gain accessible through the device menus)
• NEW: Bank, pedalboard and snapshot management (with on-device bank and snapshot creation)
• NEW: Controller feedback for plugins

Duo specific changes:

• Update to 5.10 kernel (same exact version as the Dwarf)

Dwarf specific changes:

• Add “click-list” option for lists on knobs
• Add button color for banks
• Change text of buttons in menu mode
• Improve led behavior in navigation mode
• Fix actuator group items not always displayed correctly
• Fix play status not always displayed correctly
• Fix unassignment of the last actuator on a page
• Rework controller dialogs (more robust/stable)

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We hope you’re enjoying your MOD unit.
Let us know if you find any issues.

[redcloud]

Thanks for the huge effort! Just installed it on Dwarf but I’m unable to load previously saved pedalboards with 1.10

[falkTX]

That is unexpected… I can pretty much load all the pedalboards from the 1.10 factory reset image without a problem.
Since you know your way around the system, please run

journalctl -u mod-ui

and see if any errors pop up in there.
(on v1.11 onwards there are systemd logs for duox and dwarf)

[redcloud]

Tried again and it works now. This is what I did on the first try:

• firmware updated to 1.11.0-RC1
• started the web UI
• made a new pedalboard without saving it
• switched to another pedalboard but no alert dialog popped out (“There are unsaved modifications…”)
• UI stuck on Loading message
• rebooted the Dwarf but now I’m unable to reproduce the issue

[redcloud]

Is the embedded noise gate different from abGate or other noise gate plugins available in the store?

[falkTX]

This is a custom implementation.
compressor is adapted from an existing open-source project.
Full source code of those is available at https://github.com/moddevices/mod-host/tree/master/src/dsp (it is part of mod-host)

We initially had them as plugins so we can more easily test until reaching a good state, then went and place it directly on top of the host.
These original plugins can be found at https://github.com/VeJa-Plugins/Noise-Gate and https://github.com/VeJa-Plugins/Compressor

[shaggydog]

Nice update, one problem. I used it fine with a basic pedalboard for a bass, TubeDriver, GXVbasspreamp and RMPro, was clean when first used, then turned on the noise gate on input and started to get clicks on the output. Will try to get a recording. Basic Bass - MOD Devices
Here is a recording - first section with noise gate enabled, second bit after the gap without.

Simon

[Jan]

A recording would be nice, thanks for the report!
Also, what are the current settings of the noise gate?

[shaggydog]

Recording on the shared pedalboard in the previous post (just edited it in there, you didn’t miss it!). I didn’t consciously change the noise gate settings, so sitting at threshold -60db and decay at 10ms. I’m only using the gate on input 1 as that is the only channel I’m using. Listening back to the recording it sounds like something overloading, but there’s no red lights anywhere!

[Jan]

So I think I know whats happening here. I would recommend to try and change the settings of the noisegate a bit. It seems like your input level is a bit low, just opening the noisegate barely and then closing right away with a pretty small decay.
To fix this I would either increase the input gain or decrease the noisegate threshold. Also unless this really tight gate is what you are looking for, I would increase the decay.

Hope that helps!

[shaggydog]

Playing around with it I had worked out much the same - I’ll try with a less harsh gate and see what happens.

[shaggydog]

That worked, thanks for the quick reply and solution. Can you get rid of the shared pedalboard before folks get idea that the Dwarf is still noisy!

[whosagoodwizard]

Does this mean that the compressor and noisegate will now always sit at the start of the chain? Or can we still move them around within the implementation? For example I sometimes run a compressor after my overdrive pedals if I’m going for a certain kind of tone.

[falkTX]

noisegate is before the inputs (in the pedalboard), compressor is after the outputs. you cannot change this.

[jon]

adding on what @falkTX said before, you cannot change the position of this particular ones, but you still can turn them off and add any noise gate or compressor from the plugin library wherever you want.
This is not exactly a plugin like those you search on the plugins bar.

[whosagoodwizard]

Perfect, thanks guys - so turning thee off will bypass them if we don’t want to use it?
Sounds really good, and I’m looking forward to testing it out!

[falkTX]

They are “opt-in”, so unless you activate them manually they will do nothing.

In future Dwarf batches (once v1.11 is released officially as stable) we will have them enabled by default on new units.
But for the sake of smooth updates of existing users, we do not enable them automatically.