SamIAm

The ability to run a synth on the Dwarf was a major plus point for me. Glad to see you are having fun ... more to come! S'manth x

Here she goes again! I've built a couple of DIY MIDI Foot controllers in the past, sadly now resigned to a slag of melted bits due to my fire. The time has come ... to build another! I've 'sorta' settled (at least as much as anyone can) on a pedalboard setup. A MOD Dwarf is at the heart, an insanely powerful audio processer providing multi-fx, audio synth, IR and AI Neural modelling. I've an expression pedal for those ... times! And some bits and bobs to link these elements together. I initally had a setup with a MVave Foot Controller, a very cost effective device, nice and small ... but not very sophisticated in MIDI configurability ... thus Trampa v3. This diary is to share my progress, seek ideas and feedback and keep a record of my progress. Features: Four footswitches (due to pedalboard size constraints) , each with a scribblestrip display so I know which does what. Expression pedal with TRS input (Which will be translated to MIDI). USB to connect to my Dwarf (To carry MIDI and supply power). Ultra flexible MIDI configuration (Think Morningstar!) eventually via a web based editor. Inexpensive - Totaly hardware costs are likely to be under £50. This is my current prototype (A bit Heath Robinson at present as my 3D printer is not yet operational). Once operational I will look to getting a more ... robust ... enclosure sorted. Warning - Geekspeak ahead Hardware: Raspberry PICO W microcontroller. Cheap, powerful, readily available and with WiFi connectivity. 4 OLED SSD1306,I2C Displays (driven using a TCA9548A I2C Multiplexer) 1 Adafruit 24LC32 I2C EEPROM (For holding configuration data) Switches, wires, housing, etc Software: I started off using platformio/c++ to prove out the concept; this allowed multiple displays (with scrolling), button action detection (Tap, Double Tap, Long Tap, Repeat and multiple button tap), expression pedal reading (With automatic calibration, this converts the pedal position to a MIDI CC message)and MIDI messaging over USB. All these basic elements worked, but performance/responsiveness was poor when I started to use them all together, as a result I've switched to using the PICO C++ SDK, heavier lifting ... but it is very fast and also allows me to more readily use both input interrupts and multicore (The PICO has two cores) to ensure this wee beast will run like lighting. Operation: Press a footswitch and it will send MIDI message(s), release the footswitch and it will send MIDI message(s) (This is the toggle mode). Tap, Double Tap or Long Tap a footswitch and it will send ... MIDI message(s). Press the left or right pair of footswitches and it will shift banks (A Trampa bank is a set of MIDI messages assigned to each footswitch and the info that will be displayed on the scribblestrip). The ultimate goal is to have all configuration carried out using a web browser connected over WiFi. My aim is to have a tightly integrated setup between my Dwarf and Trampa. The Dwarf has the ability to use its footswitches to select a pedalboard (a configuration of plugins and interconnections) or snapshots (A set of parameter setting for a particular pedalboard) and it is possible to get it to send a MIDI message when this happens, this MIDI message will be recognised by Trampa and used to select the Trampa bank appropriate to the pedalboard/snapshot, for example if I load a pedalboard with a looper, Trampa will be configured to load (among other things) a looper configuration bank. Conversely, Trampa will be able to send MIDI messages to select pedalboard/snapshots on the Dwarf. Whilst aimed at my Dwarf, Trampa should be suitable for any MIDI controlled system. More developments as they occur. S'manth x

That's a fiddle! I've never replaced a zip mechanism, it looks rather fiddly! I wonder if a short length of paracord (with a Monkey fist knot to act as the bit that you grab) superglued to the current zip slider would work 🤔 S'manth x

Sorry to hear of the noise issue, thats a major bummer in a new gadget, MOD have a noise troubleshooting page that may bear some fruit. On the Dwarf User Guide page (definately worth reading and rereading), there is a section Accessing via USB Cable with two clickable links (http://moddwarf.local/ or http://192.168.51.1). S'manth x

IF the zipper gliding part is still OK, I've used a short bit of thin paracord in the past to provide a zipper pull, or something like this. About a fiver from Amazon ... S'manth x

I can sing (not great) but when playing my bass the most I can contribute is the odd "ooohhh" or "aaahhh" to the melody. S'manth x

Totally ... and that is why I've ended up with a Dwarf, but the playing I did on the Pi+MODEP made me realise it was the unit for me! S'manth x

Unless you have loads of power hungry effects (eg IR) or huge numbers of plugins I'd expect it to deal nicely. Just the other day a person on the MOD forum was asking about parallel processing chains utilising the pair of inputs for their stick. Here is a pedalboard from an other user, described as No astonishing effects, just searching for a "jazzy" sound, soft and warm for the dual channel Chapman Stick. Dynamic controlled by compressors, simple eq to make melody strings "sing", to make bass string fuller and to avoid thin harpsichord-like sound. Reverbs are adding light ambiance, Both are sent to both outputs to have best sound if sent directly to a PA mixer or to have two identical mono signals, one for amp and one for mixer. Crossover helps to have chorus only on the higher strings of the bass side of the Stick for a steadier bass sond. Mono Tiny Gain is controlled by right footswitch to add gain during jazz solos, left footswitch assigned to chorus. Knobs are controlling final gain, reverbs, eq and mono gain for last moment live adjustments. Using a 128 frame sampling size (the lowest latency) it's using about 31% CPU and 30% RAM. S'manth x S'manth x

If by any chance you have a Pi 4b (or even a 3b) and a HiFiberry ADC+DAC you can build something similar to a MOD using MODEP (This is a slightly modified version of the MOD OSS host & ui and is what I started with about a year ago) All control would have to go via MIDI, but you could give it a really good 'kicking' and see if you like it. S'manth x

Ah sorry, the dwarf has one in and one out 3.5mm TRS MIDI type A ports. I'm a wee bit blind to them as I only use MIDI over USB. And AFAIK there is no MIDI adapter supplied. S'manth x

If you are using a number of IR or the new AIDA-X DSP plugin it will consume a fair bit of CPU. My current board only chews up about 31%. The need for additional footswitches is certain (IMHO) ... I bought a £30ish MVave Chocolate from Amazon and it is ... OK, but I'm in the process of building a DIY pedal in the space of ... think Morningstar! that is not going to cost more than about £40 for parts (Will do a build diary at some point). And Thomann have a 30day return, so you could have a careful pplay for 3 weeks and then decide if you get on or not. S'manth x

The Dwarfs have two USB ports. One is a DEVICE interface with a USB-B socket. The supplied cable can be used to connect to a device to provide USB-Networking to access the web browser. The other is a HOST port with a USB-A socket, this is where one can connect a Bluetooth dongle, WiFi dongle or MIDI keyboard (or other stuff I guess). In my setup I've attached a 4 port passive hub and have connected all of the above! lol S'manth x

I believe it is, there are a few pedalboards I've seen that have that level of complexity ... but I've not played with them myself as it is above what I need. I get the impression that you use one of the high end Helix units (you mention IEC power) ... the Dwarf cannot compare to those, it plays more in the field of the HX Stomp. And yes, the power supply cable on my rig is ... iffy! I'm trying to locate a 90 degree adapter so it has a lower profile and then secure it in place more robustly S'manth x

The tech is amazing, the community is amazing ... marketing wise they could do a lot better! Check out https://wiki.mod.audio/wiki/Dwarf_User_Guide It is plugin based, MOD use LV2, which is a linux based technology (similar to VST) and can be used in the MOD, Ardour, Claudia and a number of other linux DAWs/Apps ... the plugins that are available are mostly free of charge and can be viewed here (iI is possible to add more from other sources and it does not show the beta plugins available) ... pedalboard configurations that users have shared can be seen here and you can even have a play with an online version of their editor to play with here There is also a very active forum here Yes. As an example, on my setup, you can go into the configuration for the compressor. Click on any of the "vertical slider icons" and assign MIDI to it You then use your MIDI device to send the message and the Dwarf recognises the CC message and assigns it to control that parameter. You can tweak all the settings for a pedalboard and save it as a named "snapshot" (More than the three of the HX) and easily select them at gig time using footswitches, it is possible (using one of the plugins) to send a MIDI message when you load a snapshot (which is sub second) to reconfigure an external MIDI device as desired. Fair point. It is possible (but not easy!) to get MIDI over BLE working, if you add a Bluetooth dongle to the Dwarf. I've a passive USB hub on my rig and I connect my external MIDI footswitch (which also supports my TRS expression pedal->MIDI) using MIDI over USB ... some cable ties ensure it is solid. I've yet to come across any pedal that has a locking power supply (But I've only a handful of years playing with this tech). Thomann is probably the biggest name selling them and the usual suspects for pre-loved ... I saw one go here on BC recently and I acquired mine here also. Apologies ... I realise I'm banging on about them ... biased of course and they are not perfect, but they are really amazing yet sadly (IMHO) not widely known. And at their price point they offer some stunning capabilities! S'manth x

Two for me ... My Kala California fretless and my Ibanez GSRM-25 Yes, I'm a short (or even sub-short) scale five string aficionado! S'manth x

Like some other BCers, I've played around with a number of Multi F/X units (Being a techie nerd, I've not gone down the separate pedal route). Various Zooms (MS60-B, B1On, B1-Four, B1X-Four, B3) all great bang for the buck! Helix Stomp, HX Effects, HX Stomp XL, Boss GT-1B. Several of these could be battery powered (or I moved them on if not) but my HX Effects was destroyed in my fire. I've finally landed on the little known MOD Audio Dwarf. Not just F/X but also Synth, Looper (By Looperlative), Sequencer, Recorder, IR (of course) and recently Neural Modelling by AIDA-X. I know only of three other BCers who have these amazing units, flabbergasted as to why it is not more widely adopted. It does only have a few hundred plugins and two audio in/out sockets, but the internal routing is insanely flexible ... as you can see from this pedalboard layout (MOD pedalboard layout is created using its built in web server)) by Steve Lawson (Tho he uses the Dwarf predecessor the MOD Duo). With the addition of an external MIDI footswitch+expression pedal and a laptop battery brick, I now have a mains-less, compact and mind-blowingly powerful system that sounds great and does much more than I will ever need! In my new band, it is our "Drummer in a Box" as well as my bass audio chain. And there is still the option to "share" the second audio in/out + processing with a bandmate! S'manth x

Switching between watching Peaky Blinders, Arranging a song for the band, Fiddling with a new self build MIDI controller and of course skimming through BC. S'manth x

Interested to see the variety ...

👋 Welcome Steve! S'manth x

I find it good (but I'm no expert). It has a number of bass specific plugins and any number of IR cabs and reverb which deal nicely. Like a lot of units it sometimes struggles to track v.low notes for some f/x (I play a 5 string), but they have recently added the AIDAX Neural Modelling plugin (Think Quad Cortex) and I'm going to try to either borrow some pedals or get some dry/wet audio recordings to model. For my purposes the v.powerful looper plugin as well as the variety of MIDI instrument plugins allow me to drive everything in the one box. This is not the best video, but gives some idea of the bass capabilities (the MOD Duo X was a non footpedal system that runs the same software) S'manth x

Good point ... thank you! I've just sent GSS an email in case it might affect other customers. S'manth x

Yes

I can only speak from my personal experience, it was one of these systems that suffered a catastrophic battery on charge failure leading to my flat fire S’manth x

I was getting 7-8h on a Roland Micro Bass Cube RX using 6 2,400 AAs. The Boss dual LX bass I’m now using should give me 8-10h on 8 AAs, so for either of these I’d expect to get 10h easy with one the 25,000 mAh Krisdonias S’manth x