Right now I am working on a loop-switcher plugin, similar to how (for example) the Carl Martin Octaswitch works. This plugin will allow you to turn on/off loops of plugins with the press of one button.
My questions is, what would YOU, our user-base, like from this plugin?
Amount of loops | 4?
Serial/parallel loops | serial? toggle between serial and parallel?
Send/return levels | gain plugins can also take care of this, do you want this feature?
Layout | See below
Since we can only have inputs/outputs on the left and right side of the plugin, we came up with the following sketch for the layout:
Yes, 4 or 5 Loops sounds good ! How could be this Assign ?? MIDI learn, Control 1 and 2 ?
Toogle between Seria/Parallel - Very Important !!
Send/Return Levels ?? I agree with you, that plugins can take care of this… when using some kind of looper/switch, like Octaswitch, or even Pentaswitch (by Pedrone), the pedals control that…and so… I don´t think that is necessary.
I will see more accurate the layout, but something as you showed, seems good… In fact, the goal is the functionality…rsrs… but I know the layout is important, even for help an intuitive operation.
I think it could be nice to have two loop switcher plugins.
One with 2 loops and another with 3 loops.
The users could combine odd and even numbers to better accommodate their needs.
Just an idea!
I’m guessing the way MOD designed the current pedalboard requires you to have inputs on left and outputs on right. It would be cool if you can put in/outs on the top and make it look like a hardware loop switcher…
My suggestion would be to have both the main in/out on the top or bottom. That way you would have less cables crossing… but with all the loops it will quickly become a mess of cables…
-They could be assigned to any of the following: footswitches on MOD, MIDI learn, control chain devices.
-How would you like this to be implemented? One switch that selects if all loops are parallel, or all loops are serial?
-It would be really easy to implement this though, so if it has some use, then it will help with the screen-clutter that happens when you use a lot of pedals. Do you think you would use the gain plugins to control the send/return levels in some occasions?
Changing our interface to allow for that is a big, big job, so that is not really an option for now. Having the channels like they are now, instead of regular rectangular channels should help a bit with the cable mess (inputs and outputs don’t have the same y-coordinate with the proposed layout).
It does bring the “problem” that the input and output can’t be at the same height. Would you reckon that it’s worth it to have the slanted channels?
The assignment in that way, I mean, the mentioned options as MIDI learn, control chain, footswitches, sounds absolutely PERFECT !!
I think that it´s the best way to implement: One switch that selects between parallel or serial.
Yes, I consider the use of a Gain plugin for that, but… sometimes, the use of another one or two plugins (or more), in this case, Gain, could “eat” some usage of CPU, or not ? But, If it´s easy to implement, I think that could be usefull, if you think in some effects (plugins) that you can use it with lot gain internally in the chain, but, want a low volume in the return of a specific loop.
Yes, you convinced me. It could be a good feature to control levels in each loop.
I think that is it for while…
I look farward to using it.
By the way, just to inform my interest in MIDI Learn controls, to control my MOD DUO, I´v been using a FCB-1010, with an EurekProm chip, that gives me a lot flexibility. But, of course, I´m waiting with anxiety, the ModDevices external footswitch, and Expression pedal… in the meantime, the FCB do the job. Another way to control it, is an Eventide H9, controlled by a Pedrone Yeti Looper (That only sends Program Changes signal), and connected via MIDI Thru (chain) to my Mod Duo.
I think having each send/return on the same level would be easier to follow. Also having the main in/out on the same level would be the best either on the top or bottom. (I suggest the bottom)
I think the challenge will be to make sure it’s clearly labeled. I noticed none of the pedals have any labels for the in/out except for the pedal that looks like a Boss pedal.
Will you make it programmable so that each button/switch can activate multiple loops?
I would suggest 8 loops but that will probably get pretty big…
I also suggest being able to choose between series and parallel. I like my reverbs and delays in parallel but distortions in series. Can you program different orders for each switch? I’m thinking of a switcher like the GigRig G2. http://www.thegigrig.com/g2-c2x17827986
Another great feature of the G2 is that it switches the input only for a delay or reverb. So you can switch it off and you still get the delays or reverb to ring out.
In this case 4 or 5 loops must do the job for most users.
About the use of gain controls I think a gain control with a on/off option on each loop send is a good idea.
love the idea of this plugin - 4 or 5 loops, series/parallel switching, would LOVE to have both input AND output gain controllable via CC (could do this with gain plugins, but having it built in keeps things neat, if it doesn’t eat up too much CPU).
As for the UI, I’m sure we’ll work out how the ins and outs are structured (though it might be worth putting in an auto-off for when things are mis-connected into infinite feedback loops by accident
@Skydiver
The GigRig G2 is an amazing product, and as much as we would like to provide you guys with something with that featureset, it is simply too complex to release in a relatively short amount of time. For now, the switches will address one loop at a time.
In the future, especially the functionality of only switching the input for delays and reverbs is a great suggestion, if we find the time to further develop the plugin, we definitely will include this feature.
For the initial version, there will be a limited featureset, upon which we can expand in later versions after we get some play-testing done.
The features that have been decided upon for the initial version:
-4 loops, all in series by default
-toggle switch to make loop 3 and 4 run in parallel to eachother (loop 1 and 2 always run in series)
-send level controls for all channels, including the output
If anybody wants to test the plugin without an interface: Monday we will provide you with a script that can be run in the command line (mac, linux, windows with bash) to install it for testing purposes.
Honestly, I’ve been thinking a lot about this and have had several implementation ideas that I shot down myself. I think pedalboard presets might be a much cleaner way to do this than the loop switcher plugin with a bunch of feedback loops. With pedalboard presets you can easily put in a bunch of switches and change them around in whatever parallel or serial combinations you can dream up with one touch and (I think) much less configuring.
While the loop switchers are really great for hardware pedals, I think the mod can be much greater without trying to imitate them exactly. This just seems a little like a square peg in a round hole.
Just my $.02.
I also think pedalboard presets are a better solution but I´m not sure how long the MOD team will take to implement that.
On the other hand the loop switcher it´s already under development.
Maybe a new topic on this subject is necessary: Pedalboard Presets or Loop Switcher Plugin?
It certainly seems that way. Sounds like pedalboard presets are several months out. And I don’t have to use this plugin so it doesn’t hurt to have it exist. I just keep imagining horrible spaghetti bowls of looped pedalboards
I love the idea of having several loops and being to combine them.
On my side a key feature is to be able to set the exact length of the loop and only do overdub on this loop without changing the length.
Typically on my JamMan I would manually load a silent file of the needed length and that would do the trick.
I think this feature is key whenever someone is playing music with other machines, else it is very hard to synchronize.
I completely agree that the pedalboard presets are a much cleaner implementation for most cases. We do however feel that this (for some users temporary) solution is much needed for the time being. Especially considering the development time for the loop-switcher is a lot shorter than for the pedalboard presets.
I have the feeling you are expecting something different from the plugin, it will not be a looper like the JamMan, Ditto loopers or Boss RC loopers. It is a plugin that allows you to turn on/off chains of effects, like the hardware loopswitchers such as the GigRig G2 mentioned by @Skydiver.
