MOD Device (Dwarf/Duo/Duo X) owners' club - Tips, Ideas & Patches

[MrDinsdale]

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Indeed - it can be a overwhelming when you just want to throw something in and realise you have 20 pedals you could use, and you are not sure which one.

 

Yeah exactly, thats only gonna get worse as more are added. Most of them sound pretty decent but there are difinitely a couple which sound like real stinkers (to me at least).

[MrDinsdale]

Just started a little feedback diary so I can waffle at length about my thoughts as I'm using it - https://forum.mod.audio/t/first-impressions-diary/10150

[MrDinsdale]

Right, 2 days in. Created a short list of the drives, chorus, phasers, flangers and delays that have potential and going to uninstall all the ones that don't really suit my needs. 
 

It came bundled with some really nice premium plugins that the previous owner(s) had purchased too including some of the convolution reverbs which sound incredible. The TTAP delay is a standout for being unlike anything else I've heard, the Shiro stuff is all great too.

 

I think now I'm over the number of fx and I've got a more refined list of stuff it's way more daunting. Few small annoyances like not being able to use the headphones because I'm using the channels as an fx loop rather than stereo, this means I get a send in one ear and the actual mono out in the other. Also the editor is a bit laggy even on a wired connection, no where near as bad as via Bluetooth though!

 

All relatively minor issues though and still way less frustrating than some of the issues I had with the Boss GT1000core. 

[Woodinblack]

9 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

Right, 2 days in. Created a short list of the drives, chorus, phasers, flangers and delays that have potential and going to uninstall all the ones that don't really suit my needs. 

 

Thats a good plan, I should probably do that!

 

I just got rid of all the banks that were set, as I realised all those pedalboards were in the way of mine.

 

 

9 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

It came bundled with some really nice premium plugins that the previous owner(s) had purchased too including some of the convolution reverbs which sound incredible. The TTAP delay is a standout for being unlike anything else I've heard, the Shiro stuff is all great too.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I will look at the ttap

 

[MrDinsdale]

Not a clue where I'd use TTAP in a practical application. I feel like its the kind of thing you'd layer in to some big synth type sounds rather than slapping it on a guitar/bass etc.

 

Also apparently now that they got out all the convolution reverb packs, next up is delay so I think there will be some pretty cool stuff coming down the pipeline if all goes well.

[MrDinsdale]

PS is AIDA-X developed by MOD under a different brand? I couldn't quite work out what the deal was there.

 

Had a go with a GK 700rb profile someone had uploaded and it was great, its a few years since I had one but it sounded exactly how I remembered it 🙌

[Woodinblack]

I have 'stuff I use with the band' and 'stuff I use just for me', so there are options for either.

The second group has things like an analogue echo pedal where the delay time is controlled by a CV from the pitch to cv pedal, it it makes a very pleasing if not always musical effect!

[MrDinsdale]

Borrowed a reamp box so going to have a go at capturing some pedals. Going to start with my EAE Halberd, great pedal but a lot of options to choose from.

 

3 voicings that go from thin and clanky all the way to thick and chewy plus a very interactive eq. Think I'll just pick a few settings I like best as a starting point.

 

[rwillett]

Just got myself a 2nd hand Mod Dwarf. Got it fired up and upgraded. Looked at the documentation and realised why developers should not under any circumstances write documentation

 

The docs are pretty rubbish, but t'other half is out for tonight with the gals, so I have a few hours to

 

1. Have a look at the docs properly and have a play.

2. Open a nice bottle of white as that always helps me working. One the girls is driving so I don;t have to pick her up

 

I managed to create a simple pedal board but the volume was very low, I'll wait until she's gone and sit down and study.

 

Just seen dev toolchain for it (https://github.com/moddevices/mod-plugin-builder) Typical, only had it four hours and already looking to write code. I can't remember the last time I used ncurses but it's a dependency. I'll fire up VMWare Fusion and have a play,

 

Rob

Edited July 15, 2023 by rwillett

[SamIAm]

Awesome news @rwillett, welcome to the family.

If you;ve not already, I can highly recommend joining the MOD forum, loads of info and support there!

https://forum.mod.audio/

 

S'manth x

[Woodinblack]

I wasted half the day trying to get going on plugin development - unfortunately it is like a lot of open source stuff where it is a badge of honour if you can actually work out the way to do something*, with half a ton of things you are supposed to download to make it easier, a lack of documentation and everyone saying 'use this framework' or 'watch this video' (I can never get any useful programming information from a youtube video!).

the code itself looks pretty simple, the 'how to get from your text editor to the mod device' seems opaque as hell. 

 

* the joy of freedom. Want to write a windows app? write it like this. Want to write a mac app? write it like this. Want to do an open source or linux project, we aren't going to restrict you, you can use one of these 250 ways, but we only documented 3 and it is all out of date and probably doesn't work on your system!

[rwillett]

16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I wasted half the day trying to get going on plugin development - unfortunately it is like a lot of open source stuff where it is a badge of honour if you can actually work out the way to do something*, with half a ton of things you are supposed to download to make it easier, a lack of documentation and everyone saying 'use this framework' or 'watch this video' (I can never get any useful programming information from a youtube video!).

the code itself looks pretty simple, the 'how to get from your text editor to the mod device' seems opaque as hell. 

 

* the joy of freedom. Want to write a windows app? write it like this. Want to write a mac app? write it like this. Want to do an open source or linux project, we aren't going to restrict you, you can use one of these 250 ways, but we only documented 3 and it is all out of date and probably doesn't work on your system!

So pretty much like every other open source project ....

 

I hate watching videos as well. I agree that they are pretty much useless for development. I like paper, I used to develop in C on SunBSD (and that shows my age), but behind my desk was approx 2M of ring binders with every command and system function documented along with examples. I recall putting together a proof of concept network sniffer in an afternoon as the code was all there to turn the network adapter into promiscous mode, and how the structs for each network packet was formatted. <sigh> Now I have to look at StackOverflow and work what actually works from what doesn't as my version of the framework is 1 minor version out.

 

64bit ARM Ubuntu is now installed in VMWare Fusion on the Mac, so I'll have a look. I saw the dependency list and noted ncurses and wondered what the hell used that. I suppose that could be the menu system on the Mod Dwarf.  One advantage of VMWare is that I can snapshot it, load up some new stuff and try it out, and then if that doesn't work, roll back. The fact you thought that getting to the mod device is opaque is worrying.

 

So you never found a complete here's "how to build a simple plugin that copies data from one input to the other and does nothing else and here's how to download it to the Mod Dwarf"?

 

Thanks

Rob

[Woodinblack]

2 minutes ago, rwillett said:

So pretty much like every other open source project ....

 

I hate watching videos as well. I agree that they are pretty much useless for development. I like paper, I used to develop in C on SunBSD (and that shows my age), but behind my desk was approx 2M of ring binders with every command and system function documented along with examples.

 

Yes - documentation. I don't mind if it is paper or electronic, but static text that you can read at your speed and look up the bits you want to see in the order you want to see it. I don't want someone describing the parameters to me, I want to look for the thing I need info on and nothing else!

 

 

2 minutes ago, rwillett said:

I recall putting together a proof of concept network sniffer in an afternoon as the code was all there to turn the network adapter into promiscous mode, and how the structs for each network packet was formatted. <sigh> Now I have to look at StackOverflow and work what actually works from what doesn't as my version of the framework is 1 minor version out.

 

Not knocking stack overflow, it is there and it is useful (I have contributed myself) and it is a good resource. Its just that it helps to build understanding, but for many open source projects its 'why isn't this working' - half an hour browse, find a post on some random forum that says 'oh of course if your system is this type and it is a tuesday obviously you need to set the time to 38 minutes back from your request time, set the other variable to less than 16 and then the counter variable works again'.

 

 

2 minutes ago, rwillett said:

So you never found a complete here's "how to build a simple plugin that copies data from one input to the other and does nothing else and here's how to download it to the Mod Dwarf"?

 

I found a 'how to build a LV2 plugin from start to finish' that is perfect, by the guy that wrote LV2 - that much is easy. Its the 'how to translate that to get it running on the mod' that seems a lot harder than it should be.

I guess I should build a generic LV2 plugin (as that will work on any platform), and then when I have done that, I can hope the next step is easier!

Probably just a bit pissy as I spent the afternoon trying to get docker and everything working, with the usual spotty random level of success. It seems to work, no idea where anything is but I am sure I have a couple of less gig on the machine now!

[SamIAm]

Some LV2 stuff I've found useful:

• https://lv2plug.in/  their book https://lv2plug.in/book/ has simple examples.
• https://github.com/sjaehn/lv2tutorial#programming-lv2-plugins-from-scratch-i---getting-started

I'm still trying to really figure out the MOD build stuff, just trying to copy/edit stuff from other plugins in the mod plugin builder.

 

S'manth x

Edited July 15, 2023 by Smanth

[Woodinblack]

5 hours ago, Smanth said:

Some LV2 stuff I've found useful:

• https://lv2plug.in/  their book https://lv2plug.in/book/ has simple examples.

 

 

Yeh, that is the kind of definitive LV2 resource, but the guy that did a lot of the LV2 stuff.

[Woodinblack]

Yeh, another few hours trying to get stuff working. I think maybe I have just been doing too much windows and mac devopment recently and have gone too soft in the head to go back to the open source jungle for a while, I have got kind of used to stuff actually working, and spending time actually writing code, rather than spending 4 hours just to try and find random unconnected parts of documentation telling you which frameworks and scripts and libraries you need to do, contradicting the last parts and sending you round the loop again.

 

Which is a shame as the writing LV2 plugins seems pretty simple, and the documentation is good on that. The Dwarf stuff at the moment seems like somewhere between guesswork, magic and luck

 

I will get my LV2 plugins built and tested and all working as actual plugins first on the mac, then and only then I may have renewed energy to dive into the murky badly documented world of getting them onto the dwarf!

[MrDinsdale]

10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Yeh, another few hours trying to get stuff working. I think maybe I have just been doing too much windows and mac devopment recently and have gone too soft in the head to go back to the open source jungle for a while, I have got kind of used to stuff actually working, and spending time actually writing code, rather than spending 4 hours just to try and find random unconnected parts of documentation telling you which frameworks and scripts and libraries you need to do, contradicting the last parts and sending you round the loop again.

 

Which is a shame as the writing LV2 plugins seems pretty simple, and the documentation is good on that. The Dwarf stuff at the moment seems like somewhere between guesswork, magic and luck

 

I will get my LV2 plugins built and tested and all working as actual plugins first on the mac, then and only then I may have renewed energy to dive into the murky badly documented world of getting them onto the dwarf!

I would definitely flag some of these woes on the forum. A healthy development community is a good way to keep the product afloat. If it's hard to get up and running that's gonna deter a lot of people. 

[MrDinsdale]

Scrap that, just seen your posts 😂

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, MrDinsdale said:

I would definitely flag some of these woes on the forum. A healthy development community is a good way to keep the product afloat. If it's hard to get up and running that's gonna deter a lot of people. 

 

Yeh - not going to make myself popular there am I!

Never mind, there isn't much point me trying to get the LV2->Mod thing done until i have a LV2 that I am happy with, I guess there is no problem, just that I have an LV2 in mind that I actually need gigging right now, so if I can get that made this week, I will get back to trying to get on the mod. 

[MrDinsdale]

8 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yeh - not going to make myself popular there am I!

Never mind, there isn't much point me trying to get the LV2->Mod thing done until i have a LV2 that I am happy with, I guess there is no problem, just that I have an LV2 in mind that I actually need gigging right now, so if I can get that made this week, I will get back to trying to get on the mod. 

Haha dunno about that, it all seems constructive! I'm guilty of siloing information and being oblivious to others having issues, feedback is vital. 

[rwillett]

I suspect between us we may manage to make it work. I’ve now built the dev environment but have not done anything else. 
 

what I was trying to find was a sample project that simply moved the input to the output and nothing to it. That should be the simplest project of all. 
 

rob

[tauzero]

28 minutes ago, rwillett said:

I suspect between us we may manage to make it work. I’ve now built the dev environment but have not done anything else. 
 

what I was trying to find was a sample project that simply moved the input to the output and nothing to it. That should be the simplest project of all. 
 

rob

 

The simple amplifier https://lv2plug.in/book/#_simple_amplifier is close to that. A single control which just requires a tiny bit of arithmetic manipulation.

[Woodinblack]

Yes, the simple amplifier project is good - shows conceptually a lot of what you need to know - the input coming in, the output going out, taking a value from external control etc. The other link that smanth posted up there covers almost the same project in a slightly different way if you prefer / can deal with youtube videos.

I have tried that, it does build as a project and work.

[rwillett]

Thanks for this. Is the issue now that you can’t package it for downloading to the Dwarf?

[Woodinblack]

Currently no, but I have installed everything on another machine so I will see if that helps anything. Currently I can't get the mod-plugin-builder image working.