SamIAm Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 (edited) I've been geeking out with the MOD multi effects software on a raspberry pi + audio card for quite some months, but never got the audio quality I'd hoped. A few days ago I spotted a real MOD Dwarf in the BC marketplace ... as new and at a price I could not resist. I picked it up today and have been playing with it and thought I'd share as I haven't seen much here on BC about this amazing device. It's a really sturdy metal housed unit measuring 200mm x 100mm x55mm. Conceptually the Dwarf allows one to construct pedalboards by wiring together plugins. This is done using a web browser from a device connected to the dwarf using a USB cable or bluetooth. There are hundreds of plugins available ranging across effects such as compression, delay, reverb, distortion, eq, filters, chorus, octaving, etc but also include amp and cab simulations, looping, midi driven synths and sequencers and so on. There are no preconfigured limits to the number of plugins or routing between them on a pedalboard, but each plugin consumes CPU and memory which are finite (The CPU and Memory use is displayed), plugins such as crossovers, switches, etc allow you have have as many internal signal paths as you want (it seems). An example pedalboard The knobs can be tweaked to configure the plugins to get the sound desired and the settings of all the plugins can be saved as snapshots. Two ins, two outs (and a headphone jack), midi in and out (for the aforementioned midi plugins and also to allow midi control of the other plugins). The controls on the unit (a combination of rotary knobs, switches and stomp switches) let you change between pedalboards, select snapshots, tweak plugin settings and switch on/off plugins, they can be assigned in almost any way you want (This can also be done using MIDI) There is a built in tuner, no built in drum machine ... but using a midi sequencer + drum synth plugin addresses this. It is not perfect (what is!?) Only three footswitches so I'll need to add an external midi foot controller, whilst the plugin settings can be modified using the onboard controls, adding/removing the plugins in a pedalboard requires a laptop or tablet (Tho this is not unlike a physical pedalboard where the design and build does not happen at gig time) but for me, having played with some other multi-fx units (Zoom B1XFour, HX Stomp and Stomp XL, HX Effects, Boss GT-1b) I think this is the unit for me. It's going to take me some time to configure some pedalboards to get the sound I want as there are so many different plugins to play with ... but what fun it will be! There is an online collection of pedalboards, shared by users which can be installed onto the Dwarf at the click of a button; these will give me some ideas. S'manth x Edited January 28, 2023 by Smanth 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Crazy looking. Veey cool. Soxthese plugins are written by the users? These aren't like VST plugins, correct? Can this be used live or recording only? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Hughes Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Enjoy! I’m waiting on mine - though not with baited breath, I’d die. I backed it on Kickstarter and then that went pear shaped, so maybe one day it will happen. Anyway, hope you like it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 52 minutes ago, lidl e said: Crazy looking. Veey cool. Soxthese plugins are written by the users? These aren't like VST plugins, correct? Can this be used live or recording only? Similar idea as VST plugins, but a different technology called LV2. Most of the available plugins are open source (I'm not sure yet if they can be produced by someone who does not program), but there are commercially produced plugins ones also ... for example, looperlative (who make a couple of hardware live looper units) have produced a powerful looper plugin (I think its about £20) and the Dwarf has the ability to load cab and reverb IRs of which I think there are free and commercial options. (Its not something I've played with ... yet!) The Dwarf can be used in the studio for recording but it's in a stompbox format (Like an HX Stomp or GT-1000 core) so can sit nicely on a physical pedalboard for gigging ... for example S'manth x 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 1 hour ago, Gareth Hughes said: Enjoy! I’m waiting on mine - though not with baited breath, I’d die. I backed it on Kickstarter and then that went pear shaped, so maybe one day it will happen. Anyway, hope you like it! I'm sorry to hear that Gareth, I gather there are a lot of kickstarter folks who have not yet received theirs ... yet they are for sale from places like Thomann ... I don't understand the commercial choices that led to this but it does not seem fair to me! S'manth x 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige1968 Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Also hoping to get my crowdfunded unit one day. How are the effects themselves? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 On 29/01/2023 at 07:39, nige1968 said: Also hoping to get my crowdfunded unit one day. How are the effects themselves? So far they are quite good. I’m getting low noise from the Dwarf and the effects I’ve tried sound good. I’m surprised (in a good way) at how well the octave (an oc-2 clone) seems to track. I’m playing with setting up a full bass rig, which is taking a lot of time … there are not too many bass orientated examples about, tho I’ve found one config to make a UBASS sound more like an upright and it is surprisingly effective! S’manth x 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarsTimm Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 15 hours ago, Smanth said: I’m surprised (in a good way) at how well the octave (an oc-2 clone) seems to track. Can you get it to track all the way down to low E? I was fooling around with the “live-usb” version on my laptop, and couldn’t get it to work below C… Have you tried the pitch-shifters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 4 hours ago, LarsTimm said: Can you get it to track all the way down to low E? I was fooling around with the “live-usb” version on my laptop, and couldn’t get it to work below C… Have you tried the pitch-shifters? I'm trying to get my oscilliscope hooked up to check, but I think it was tracking down even lower than the E (I've a fiver). I wonder if the hardware architecture would make a difference to the ability of the plugin to track 🤔 Not tried any pitch shifting yet, but once I've got my scope running I'll try out some options and share the results here. S'manth x 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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