MOD feedback

So i have had the device for a couple of weeks and its fantastic. The build quality is excellent and the device works as expected. In the spirit of constructive criticism a couple of things seemed odd to me:
1: the signal chain on-screen is left to right and on the device is right to left. Its a detail but it jars a little.
2: no on off switch. I currently turn it off by unplugging it. I will wire a switch into the line , but it seems odd to have a thing in the studio which I have to unplug to turn off.
3: less a complaint and more a suggestion. Shipping the right sort of power plug for the country being shipped to should be a simple thing. Its easy enough to get an adaptor but to serve a truly international audience it would be a nice touch to have people select their countrys plug type from a list and supply that.

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Hello Swani, thanks for the feedback![quote=“Swani, post:1, topic:327, full:true”]
So i have had the device for a couple of weeks and its fantastic. The build quality is excellent and the device works as expected. In the spirit of constructive criticism a couple of things seemed odd to me:
1: the signal chain on-screen is left to right and on the device is right to left. Its a detail but it jars a little.[/quote]This was one of the first things that struck me too. It’s a bit where conventional guitar FX design and modern UI design clash with each other :wink: But I’ve come to like it, it feels as the most logical solution as almost all UI’s of FX software work from either left to right or from top to bottom and basically all guitar FX have the input on the right.

[quote=“Swani, post:1, topic:327, full:true”]2: no on off switch. I currently turn it off by unplugging it. I will wire a switch into the line , but it seems odd to have a thing in the studio which I have to unplug to turn off.[/quote]The MOD Duo is built to be switched off by unplugging the power cable. It’s a mobile device, akin to guitar FX that don’t have power switches either. It’s a bit like the RE-20 version of the Boss Space Echo if you know what I mean. The old Space Echo was meant to be used in a studio and had a power switch. The RE-20 is its modern mobile little brother and doesn’t have a power switch.

[quote=“Swani, post:1, topic:327, full:true”]3: less a complaint and more a suggestion. Shipping the right sort of power plug for the country being shipped to should be a simple thing. Its easy enough to get an adaptor but to serve a truly international audience it would be a nice touch to have people select their countrys plug type from a list and supply that.
[/quote]The MOD Duo’s should be shipped with a power adaptor that matches the wall sockets and current of the country where it’s being shipped too. So it could be you received the wrong power adaptor maybe. Me or another member of the team will get back to you on this.

Jeremy

Hi @Swani

Did you receive the US (flat) or the EU (round) version ?

If my records are correct you’re from New Zealand and we shipped the US version. If not there must have been some packing mistake.

We can surely send you the other one if you desire.

Best

If you’re down under, you need to turn the MOD by 180deg :wink:

Well, while the current way is indeed inconsistent it definitely is more practical in my opinion. At least until there’ll be a MOD with left-in to right-out plugs for left-handed guitarists and an Arabic GUI with right-to-left connections.

  1. I personally like the signal chain going left to right since I work with recording effects in my DAW. But it was a little strange to see guitar pedals going left to right. SUGGESTION: maybe the GUI can have a function to show it either way and make it mirror image.

  2. I like it that there isn’t a power switch. It’s one less thing that can go wrong at a gig. I’ve always worried about my gear getting bumped on the stage and suddenly losing my sound…

I like it too, and I think it is the best option. I think making it configurable will make it harder for new users because they’ll see screen shots with it going both ways. So this is one instance I think its better just to keep consistent rather than configurable.

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The more I think about it the better it will be to keep it one way so that there is no confusion when sharing screens.

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Ok, thanks for your comments guys. Since I got your attention, and there’s not a hardware forum, my main computer is currently broken and I’m using a laptop to fiddle with the MOD. I’ve got a wicked static hum when its plugged in to the laptop. Any ideas about earthing a laptop? I’m wondering about making an eathed plate to sit it on or something.

Are you using the same USB cable?

It’s possible that you have a bad USB cable.
You can also try a different guitar cable. I had one that works fine at home but at other places it causes issues.

I hope you figure it out.

is the laptop plugged in? Any time you have 2 devices plugged into AC power, you have potential for ground loops. Typically laptops are nice because you can unplug them and it breaks any ground loops. @ricardocrudo can the mod be powered by the USB-B connection? This would be one more place you could disconnect potential ground loops.

@ssj71 No, mod cannot be powered via USB.

@Swani You can try to use a USB cable with ferrite bead.

Most likely a Ground_loop. Try @ssj71’s suggestion of unplugging the laptop

If unplugging the laptop is not an option, you can get a ground-lift box from your music store.

Under no circumstances disconnect the ground from any of the devices!

PS. if you use other peripherals with the laptop, also try without.

That’s what I had here: Screen <> HDMI <> Laptop <> USB <> Soundcard <> Active Speakers. In my case the switching power supply of the screen has an offset. Luckily the active speakers have a balanced input so I simply went for Jack <-> XLR cables with separate shield, no shared ground.