Nowadays, if you buy a digital pedalboard, you have access to a limited number of effects. In order to increase the musical possibilities, you have to buy more devices. Besides that, the sound processing industry is very focused on guitar, bass and synths, which excludes a lot of musicians. A project currently on Kickstarter promises to to change this. Last week, the MOD Duo was launched.
Install effects from independent developers
The first big feature of the MOD Duo is that it allows you to install new effects from a cloud repository. The effects follow a standard that is already used in desktop computers, so there’s already a stablished community of developers working on them. The MOD Cloud already contains more than a hundred effects, and using an open SDK, new effects can be created and installed, even if it’s not published on the Cloud.
Freely arrange several effects at once
Several effects can be loaded at once, and they can be arranged in an unlimited number of ways. The possibility to make multiple connections from the same plugin, either in parallel or in series, gives the musician a lot of freedom to invent new sounds.
Control the sound in the most creative ways
Any parameter of any effect can be mapped to any control of the device. By using external peripherals, the controls can be extended, to add more footswitches or to have an expression pedal, for example - those can all be acquired in this Kickstarter campaign. The MOD also provides an open protocol that allow the creation of new devices, and there’s also an Arduino Shield that allows hackers to invent the craziest controls.
Store hundreds of configurations to play live
By using a computer, the musician can create several “virtual pedalboards” and organize them in banks. To play, the computer is not necessary, since the banks can be accessed on stage using the MOD Duo’s builtin controls. You can also use a footswitch to choose the pedalboard being used with your foot.
Share with your friends
Reaching a desired timbre may require some work. When you do that, you can share your whole configuration in the MOD Social Network. For that, you are allowed to play a sample, and a video will be rendered at the MOD Cloud server, showing all plugins and sound obtained. When you need a new sound, you can search what other musicians have done. When you load a pedalboard from other musician, any missing required plugin is automatically installed.
Check the campaign
Check the MOD Duo’s Kickstarter campaign. It has already reached 60% of the goal.
Gianfranco is a mechanical engineer and musician, and has been playing the guitar for 24 years. In 2010 he quit his career job and got fully dedicated to the creation of the MOD concept. He started his business in Brazil, and recently has taken his company to San Francisco, CA.