I still consider myself a newbie in the synth-world. I have a few pedals for effects, but each have a new interface, and it can all seem very overwhelming. Then there are the desktop-effects like Oto Machines, but still you (well - I?) would end up with numerous little machines on my desk.
So what about that Mod Duo X? Can one box really do it all?
What are your thoughts?
Cheers
Thomas
I watched the RMR video and it looks like a fun box.
I like the idea of these 'one box for all` devices such as zoia, organelle etc, but for me there’s too much prep to these things, which is just how I feel about modular systems.
I played a daytime festival at the weekend, and afterwards was beers and nerding out with some of the djs and artists that were there, and this question came up and as we were talking. For me I realised that in order to get anything done, I need the building blocks to be there already. I have time to create from a foundation, but not the time to set aside a prep session before a creative session.
That’s all imo anyway. I know some people feel the opposite and see it as all part of the same thing.
Horses. Courses. Etc.
Zoia is all about patching on the Zoia itself - no software editor or anything. A plus for some, a negative for others.
Most of the “prep” is in deciding how you want to control a Zoia patch if you’ll be playing live with it, rather than creating a patch on a computer.
Earlier Mod Duo thread
I’d love it if it were super-portable like my OP-Z or Blackbox. But the Mod Duo X is almost the size and weight of my Digitone, and it’s actually heavier than my laptop, which can do more musically with Omnisphere and also play dirty movies.
At first I was super interested, but am in the same boat via prep time needed. Being able to build your own chain is super sweet but it will come down to how it sounds - I also looked at the Line6 effects unit but it didn’t sound as good as having separate effects for dedicated uses. I ended up going with a dub delay and reverb pedal.
Oh wow. No thanks.
Someone needs to ship you guys off to boot camp—curl some rack gear, put some meat on your bones… 
Cheers!
But it is smaller than the Analog Heat 
I guess that would be nice. The analog circuits of the heat, and then the digital possibilities of the Duo X - and lots of performance knobs.
Looks like a dead thread but here’s my 2 cents anyway. I got the Mod duo x a couple of months ago and generally very happy with it. I had it paired with a digitakt + digitone combo and now it’s on an analog rytm mkii. The sound quality of the effects is not really high-end, but good enough, especially with the digital units it actually sounded great. With the heavier analog sound of the AR it seems to struggle a bit but still good. I’m also using the alo looper and experimented with the TAL noisemaker synth, which are bloody awesome and insanely useful. I also use it to treat the master signal with a parametric eq, saturator and a final gentle compressor. It gives a grip on my sound which I would otherwise only have with a daw.
The versatility is what really makes this device, you can sculpt it to whatever you happen to need for your project. You can connect it in loads of different ways to other units, modular, daw you name it. It’s now an absolutely essential part of my super basic setup.
In stock now at Juno.co.uk
Is anyone able to shed some light on what the real world application differences between the Duo X and the Dwarf are?
There isn’t much of a comparison on the Mod devices website.
I’m guessing it’s processing power?
Duo X has a Hexa-core 64 bit ARM CPU, Dwarf a Quad-core 64 bit ARM CPU.
What does this actually mean in terms of functionality?
The Duo X has more knobs/buttons/screen space.
But the price difference is fairly dramatic.
The cores on the X are also faster, and it’s got twice the ram and storage. Mod duo/mod duo x/mod dwarf differences - Hardware - MOD Devices Forum
Ace! Thanks that’s super helpful.
I guess probably hard to know what kind of limitations Dwarf users will hit with the reduced spec vs. Duo X until they are out in the wild.
My understanding is it is quite hard to max out the processing power on the Duo X?
It’s a bit of a beast, yeah… I’m sure it’s doable, but it’s not easy, especially as they’re slowly tuning plugins and squashing performance bugs. The original Duo is much lower power than either device, and you can probably find folks talking about how the Duo experience differs from the Duo X.
Bring this thread to life to see if some other users are using this effects unit on their set up?
I needed a set up that allowed me to travel and continuing being nomad. I could’ve bought a bunch of pedals but the though of carrying my guitar plus lots of gear/power units, etc doesnt look so appealing.
I got this unit to work with my guitar to be able to create soundscapes using a couple of reverbs, pitch shifters and delays. Pairing it with the loop pedal inside. Also using my SP 404 mk II on the 2nd input to be able to record live drums/FX sounds/any other type of sounds to the same loop.
Sounds like a neat solution to me but need to try it out and see if I would need a midi foot controller to get it easily going with the live looping.
Looks like this company is on extremely shaky ground at this point. Glad I cancelled my preorder for the Duo X after it kept getting delayed before the pandemic even started. Sucks that it ended this way but making a device that’s only really good for live performance right before an unforeseen pandemic was just really bad timing.
I don’t know that it’s live-only, honestly, but between the pandemic production delays and the chip shortage, it’s kind of amazing that they shipped as many as they did. I hope the system lives on, at least as open source, because I think the hardware they did ship has a lot of potential.
There’s only really benefits if you’re using it live. Being able to creatively route audio modules is something any DAW can do and you need to be at a computer to set that up with the Mod Duo anyways so where is the benefit? On top of that they were really trying to push an idea that company’s could make and sell their own modules which is cool from the perspective of expansion but we already have plug-ins at our computers.
I dunno, there’s just not much functionality out of this thing if you’re sitting in a studio unless you’re content on using presets and refuse to use a computer which at that point there’s many other multi-Fx pedals out there.
If in the studio means running everything in the box for you, then sure. You can just add easily configure them from a tablet on a Bluetooth dongle as via a laptop, though.
