Ok, so I don’t yet have all of the pieces, so I can’t exactly show off my finished idea for a “faux modular” inspiration board. But these is what I currently have envisioned in my mind:
Instrument → Tuner → Bogner overdrive → ProCo RAT → Koch Pedaltone → Mod Duo X
With the middle bits being routed through some or all of the other pedals on the board depending on what kind of sound I’m going for before being run through the Milkman The Amp 50 or a Universal Audio Dream 65 and into my interface, or DI box to a mixer. And I’d probably add some form of MIDI foot switcher for the MOD, as well as some form of knob/fader controller for parameters inside the MOD like a Behringer BCR2000 or Akai APC type controller.
Of course, this is assuming this doesn’t turn into a monster ground loop generator. But hey, optimizing and troubleshooting is part of the fun right?
Please say it’s part of the fun. Lie to me if necessary.
@Kim I actually have most of the pedals I want for my setup, with the exception of the Microcosm and the 2 UA pedals, both of which are surprisingly affordble on the used market. I’ve actually seen a bunch of the Microcosm pedals come on the used market lately, which to me sounds like people never really explored it as a “real time” pedal where you mess with the settings, and just got bored of the stock beep-boop noises.
My setup!
It’s a little outdated in the photo. Today, in addition to the tablet, I put my cell phone with it to monitor the status (on/off) of the M-vave chocolate buttons. As much as I had to buy the chocolate and the expression pedal to meet the need (since the expression I bought from the MOD will be sent to me), I achieved good results using its mid configuration in advanced custom mode. I can work with it by turning effects on and off and I can also use it by holding the button to change banks and activate entire presets without having to use many MIDI tools on the DUO.
I’m using the MIDICOMMANDER app on both my cell phone and tablet and I managed to make everything responsive.
Pedalboard update: picked up a Pedaltrain Nano+, and I think it’s pretty close to perfect for my needs. Mounted the Dwarf, a strobostomp mini and can fit 2-3 other pedals on it. All powered by a CIOKS system underneath
…there’s also a bassoon and a clarinet feeding into part of the rig, out of the frame.
as you can see, more hardware effects this time, and all 3 MOD devices are in the game. i’m also running headless this time - don’t wanna deal with a computer in performance (well, except for the Duo, Duo X, and Dwarf… haha!). but i’ll have a laptop on hand, in case anything goes haywire and requires a quick fix in the GUI. i’ve got a lot of parameter assignments in multiple pages (and subpages too, on the Dwarf) - i’ve attempted to be as logical as possible with the layouts and it feels fairly intuitive in rehearsal. but, yes, it’s complicated. we’ll see how the old brain does, accessing all the controls on the fly during performance! lol
in case any of you are interested, the first track in the set of four tracks from 2022 is now live:
Wow @plutek ! This is a cool setup. And I can see at least three, maybe four Mod units. I’m a bit jealous…
Do you have an audio sample online? I would like to hear what kind of music you make.
Yes, the Crux is for the Dwarf. I haven’t tried using a single DC7 port or a “merged” pair, but I’ve seen a few people (like you) have success with that setup.
haha @Kim … yeah i’ve been on the MOD bandwagon from the start! my motto has always been “adopt early and often”. lol …although that means my Duo and Footswitch are both the Kickstarter Edition, and my Duo X is an LE, so i’ve missed out on some improvements that were made later. i waited to get a later Dwarf… yay!
most of this stuff has happened live, but there are a few things online to listen to…
Here my minimal contraption for jamsessions, allowing for a 3-minute setup time
I use it mainly with saxophone input through my rusty and trusty SM58.
It’s mounted on a stand, so that I can adjust things on the fly without too many workout moves.
Signal goes into the Dwarf, then into my DD3 (with additional foot button), back into the Dwarf and into the P.A.
The mechanical part of the foot pedal is an old Boss control pedal, but the innards have been replaced by an Arduino Nano which sends Midi to the Dwarf (while I patently wait for my MOD foot pedal )
love the minimalist approach… i tend to run monstrosities which take an hour or so of setup and config, but lately have been trying to develop much more efficient rigs for specific shows.
oh ja, and an old Alesis Nanoverb, which has the nice attitude of not stressing out when putting sounds in endless reverb space, but just adding a nice distortion to the result. Would be nice to teach that trick to my Dwarf!
we’ll see how the old brain does, accessing all the controls on the fly during performance! lol
