I have recently received my Mod Duo X, and I am wondering how to use all of its features. I really want to experiment with it, and understand its power.
It was fairly easy to set up a pedalboard, configure a few (audio) pedals, and since I am a guitarist, I configured my Mod footswitch to switch the pedals. It was also very intuitive to find pedals in the library.
Next to that I was able to configure a Midi pedal to switch my amp’s channels.
The following things I find hard to find out:
what are each and every button physical button on the Duo X for, what can I do with them;
how to work with different pedalboards, how can I switch pedalboards (I have found some default pedalboards in a library, but I don’t know how to activate one) ;
how to create presets and switch those (with the footswitch) .
Hi, I actually joined the forum just now to join this question too.
Though the MOD DUO X seems to be a powerful device, I am struggling quite a bit to use it appropriately.
A manual should be an obviousness for a product such as the MOD DUO X.
My amp is outputting a high-pitched noise when I’m putting the DUO X in the signal path between my bass guitar and the amp (ground loop?). This does not occur when I replace the MOD DUO X with, for instance, a Boss pedal.
At least, the release 1.7.3 fixed the issue about the screen turning off constantly. Before 1.7.3, I was definitely considering returning the DUO X as it was simply unusable.
The DUO X, if I get it right, is still not fully usable as it was intended to be, or in a way such as described on the DUO X product page (apart the CV function (“currently in development”), do the “2 instant “snapshot” push-buttons for easy setting recall and alternation” work, and if so, how?).
Thus again the urge for a manual covering the basic functions that do work at the moment, and which could be complemented in the future.
Basically, that’s it. I hope it is relatable that I feel slightly frustrated, mainly because of the communication by MOD. I really appreciate the input of some of the MOD employees in the forum, but it is suboptimal that there is no official statement about the actual state of development. Has the “last mile countdown” reached 0 or is it still counting? Will it ever reach 0? Statements in the way of “there is some delay with the shipping of the units because we want to ship a functionning product” just don’t seem credible anymore. I received MOD DUO X n° 56 while it was definitely NOT running as it was supposed to. I fully understand that MOD is a small company, that’s one of the reasons why I chose to preorder a DUO X and to support them. But I feel like MOD’s communication (like an email :“your DUO X will arrive very soon…They (new features) were recently announced in our final pre-shipment email from last week.” - I never got that pre-shipment email!) needs to be improved. Some employees really do a great effort on the forum, but I feel like the main communication about the state of affairs should be done officially, by email or a dedicated thread in the forum. I was aware that some features would only be implemented at a later date (such as CV), but I was not aware that there would not even be a manual by the time of shipping the first units. So I really hope that those small but crucial details will be resolved in the near future, so that I won’t have to regret having chosen a DUO X over a HX Stomp or an H9.
Thanks for the feedback.
The user manual is something I have been trying to push for as much as possible, but we are a bit out of resources for it while concentrating our focus on finishing Duo X things and a few others.
We realize it is something quite important that the product is lacking.
A few months ago we were in a situation where we could deliver a sorta MVP (minimal viable product).
If we kept waiting until we sorted out everything, the Duo X would take even longer to begin shipping.
So, as you know, we started shipping even though a few things were not ready.
We learned the lesson to not announce products so much beforehand.
(I was not part of the team back then, the announcement caught me by surprise, I wondered how they could ever deliver everything on time)
Anyway, we are in a much better position now. To answer your questions regarding milestone, the last mile countdown is over.
Most of the units were shipped, and more leaving now. From what I have heard, around 20 or so left today.
A few software updates are needed to bring it close to what was promised, but we are getting there.
v1.8 will be out very soon (end of this week or early next week) which brings the features we had disabled during development and now have finished/completed.
After this, v1.9 will finally bring CV and SPDIF.
Oh, and regarding the “snapshot” buttons… they are the 2 buttons on the side of the 3 smaller buttons in the middle of the device. (the middle one is the “pages” button, which cycles between 3 pages of parameter addressings)
Pressing and holding one of these buttons will save the current parameter values as a snapshot. A single press from then on will make it load those values.
The idea is that you save a known good setup, change a couple of things, and then quickly revert back to a previous state.
These 2 snapshots (because 2 buttons) are never saved on disk, will be cleared when you load a new pedalboard.
Thank you very much for the exhaustive and fast reply!
I do feel much more comfortable now, looking forward to the upcoming software updates!
All the best
Tom
Well, I don’t find the answer by @falkTX comforting at all.
Next to the unresolved mystery of how to make presets and switch them, I notice the same high pitched noise as @musesick mentioned. I have the MDX in the amp’s send/return loop and the noise is gone only when clicking bypass in the gui.
Hey Kjeld,
be patient regarding the manual and further HowTos. You have a unique and youg product in your hands which is not quite mature softwarewise. But it is already an extremely powerful tool, when you are curious and experimental.
If you prefer to have a mature and well documenmted product, why did you preorder something that is not existent yet? In any way I think it might be best if you put the X back into it’s box and start fresh with it when v1.9 or 2.0 and the documentation is released.
I prefer to be experimental, try to figure it out by myself, and just have fun in the process. And every new release is a new box of oportunities.
By the way, my unit has serial #4 and the audio path is quite - as it should be. Check your cables and separate audio cables from power cables and power supplys as much as possible. Sometimes even plugging the power supply in the same socket turned by 180° makes a huge difference - especially when non-digital audio devices are also in the system.
Enjoy, this is an adventure trip.
Best,
Marc
Hi Kjeld,
I am really a novice in the MOD environment, but the existing MOD DUO manual has already some explanations that also apply to the DUO X. So I had no problems building my own pedalboard, loading it to the device and using it. There are also loads of premade boards by MOD themselves, or even by creative minds such as Modeselektor, Red Means Recording (RMR), Marc () and many others. Those are a good starting points to experiment. RMR’s first video about the DUO X even explains the buttons and knobs on the interface and how to use them. Currently, I still have to find the source of the noise when I connect my bass guitar, but I also tried the DUO X with my Reface CP and it worked just fine, without any ground noise. So, as Marc mentioned, I guess the DUO X’s signal path is ok and I just have to check my cables, haven’t had the time to do that yet. And as already mentioned in the forum, it might be a good idea to place a gain plugin or a compressor at the end of the chain to control the volume (because of the digital to analog conversion of the audio signal). At this point, the DUO X isn’t yet fully functionnal as for instance the ZOIA was when it was officially shipped, but I am confident that the MOD team will deliver the promised features in the near future. Anyhow, the DUO X should be working (apart the features that haven’t been implemented yet).
Best,
Tom
You are right, we need a User guide for the Duo X.
In fact, with the release of 1.8 in the next weeks (RC is already available), all the menus in the device will change not only for Duo X users but also for Duo users. So we definitely need an update for that. There are also new features, such as User Profiles, that need to be explained.
I will be working this week on a first version of the manual.
Since it is a wiki, I invite everyone to collaborate, either editing the pages or simply pointing what is missing or giving feedback on whether the text is comprehensible. We can keep discussing it in this thread.
As @musesick pointed out, there are many topics in common between Mod Duo and Mod Duo X, so it is going to roughly organized in 3 parts:
Device User guide -> Device-specific instructions and specifications Device Settings -> How to use the built-in device settings and menus, highlighting a few differences between the two products. Web GUI -> Instructions for the Web GUI. These are pretty up to date already, just need a review and new screenshots for some sections.
I must admit I have not yet put an incredible amout of time and effort in investigating the MDX (as I like to call it …) but on the other hand some documentation would have made me do that. Yes there are the several demo video’s, but after waiting this long I would like to get somewhere quick with it. @Marc One does not exclude the other… But both you and @musesick thanks for your suggestions. I did not find some of those functions very intuitive to find, but again, I admit I should probably take some more time soon to start working with it. I will use all the suggestions and take a look at it all again this weekend.
@Leo_Germani Good, that is a comforting idea! Keep up the good work. I will contribute as soon as I have tried the suggestions.
if it helps o add the 3 recent 3rd party modx videos to the wiki as I found these answered a LOT of my questions like those mentioned here. I’m also new to MOD
I felt the fact I was purchasing a early release device was made reasonably clear. i would have like less problems but its a complex an uniwue device. The issues I’ve hit have met with positive effort, especially from @falktx! I actually enjoy working with the team as part of the community in an open source fashion.
This is the 1st indication that others have the high pitched processing noise and it’s not just me. I’ve explored a lot and not managed to stop. one amp its always there and another depends on the gain setting which is weird. I did think I’d try a proper earth in the system as all mains connections are floating. but doubt it will help. I also tried RF filters on the lead to amp but that has no impact.
most issues are software and can be corrected by updates. but I worry this noise will be harder to fix. for now it makes playing hard and recording pretty pointless.
I really hope thus will be fixed soon. it’s the one wrinkle in an otherwise brilliant piece of musical kit.
) and many others. Those are a good starting points to experiment. RMR’s first video about the DUO X even explains the buttons and knobs on the interface and how to use them. Currently, I still have to find the source of the noise when I connect my bass guitar, but I also tried the DUO X with my Reface CP and it worked just fine, without any ground noise. So, as Marc mentioned, I guess the DUO X’s signal path is ok and I just have to check my cables, haven’t had the time to do that yet. And as already mentioned in the forum, it might be a good idea to place a gain plugin or a compressor at the end of the chain to control the volume (because of the digital to analog conversion of the audio signal). At this point, the DUO X isn’t yet fully functionnal as for instance the ZOIA was when it was officially shipped, but I am confident that the MOD team will deliver the promised features in the near future. Anyhow, the DUO X should be working (apart the features that haven’t been implemented yet).
…) but on the other hand some documentation would have made me do that. Yes there are the several demo video’s, but after waiting this long I would like to get somewhere quick with it.
