Mod Duo User manual

MOD Duo
User’s Manual
Rev. A
Before using the unit carefully read the “Important Safety Instructions” present in this manual.

Important Safety Instructions
Carefully   read   these   important   safety   instructions   and   save   them   for   future   reference.
  Warning
  To reduce the risk of fire, electrical shock or product damage:
●Do not expose the apparatus to rain, moisture, dripping or splashing and avoid
placing objects filled with liquid, such as vases, on or near the apparatus.
● Only use accessories approved by the manufacturer.
● Do not open the enclosure. There are no user repairable parts inside. Leave
service and repairs to trained service personnel only.
Power adapter
  Warning
●The adapter is not safety grounded and may only be used indoors.
● To ensure adequate ventilation, do not place the power adapter in tight spaces.
● To prevent risk of electric shock and fire because of overheating, please ensure
that curtains and other objects do not prevent adapter ventilation.
Audio outputs
  Warning
● Always mute or turn down the volumes before connecting any equipment to the
audio- or headphone outputs.
● The apparatus is capable of outputting loud signals via the audio and headphone
outputs. These volume levels may damage your gear. Verify that the output
volume is set to a level that your equipment can handle.
● High volume levels may damage your hearing, please protect your hearing by
paying attention to the output volume.
1

Table of Contents
Important Safety Instructions 1
Table of Contents 2
Getting ready 4
Overview 4
Connecting the MOD Duo 5
Adjusting volumes 5
Inputs 6
Outputs 7
Headphone 7
Tuning 8
Playing 9
Loading a pedalboard 9
Adjusting pedalboard parameters 9
Editing 11
Accessing the graphical interface 11
Accessing via USB cable 11
Accessing via Bluetooth 11
Creating a pedalboard 13
New pedalboard 13
Adding and connecting plugins 14
Adjusting plugins parameters 15
Assigning plugins parameters to actuators 16
Saving / loading pedalboard presets 18
Saving a pedalboard 19
Organizing in banks 20
Installing new plugins 20
Sharing a pedalboard 22
Expanding the MOD Duo controls 25
MIDI devices 25
MIDI DIN - Input 25
MIDI DIN - Output 26
MIDI USB 26
Control Chain devices 27
Assigning plugins parameters to Control Chain actuators 27
Advanced information 28
True Bypass 28
2

CPU Usage 29
LED audio meters 29
About plugins 30
Upgrading the MOD Duo 30
More information online 31
Social Networks 31
3

Getting ready
Overview
4

Connecting the MOD Duo
To ensure a safe connection, follow the steps below.
1. Turn down the volume of your amp and connect it to the OUTPUT jack(s)
2. Connect your instrument(s) to the INPUT jack(s)
3. Turn on the MOD Duo by plugging in its power adapter
4. Wait until the MOD Duo boots up
Adjusting volumes
The MOD Duo allows each input and output volume to be individually adjusted. To access
the Volume and Gains menu, first press and hold the left knob for one second. The
SETTINGS menu will show up, now turn the left knob to select the Volume and Gains
option and finally short press the knob to access it.
5

In the Volume and Gains menu, turn the knob to select the input or output you want to
adjust and short press the knob to access it.
Inputs
The options for adjusting the inputs are Stage and Fine Adjust.
The Stage menu allows you to adjust the gain stage of the selected input. Inside of the
Stage menu there are 3 options: Low,Mid and High, representing the following input gain
levels:
●Low = -22dB
●Mid = -9.5dB
●High = +3dB
You should select the gain stage that best applies to the instrument you have connected.
Short press the knob to activate the selected gain stage.
Once you have chosen the desired Stage value you can return to the previous menu by
selecting the Back to ... option.
The Fine Adjust menu allows you to adjust the gain of the selected input. You should turn
the knob until you get the desired value.
Simply short press the knob to return to the previous menu.
6

Outputs
The Output menu has only one option, which allows you to adjust the attenuation of the
respective output. Turn the knob to adjust the value. To return to the previous menu simply
short press the knob.
Headphone
In the SETTINGS menu you can access the Headphone option and adjust the volume of the
headphone output. The volume can be adjusted from -33dB to +12dB.
Simply short press the knob to return to the previous menu.
There is also the option to enable the Direct Monitoring. By enabling the direct monitoring
the headphone will work as a monitor for the dry sound coming into the MOD Duo. To toggle
the monitor between ON and OFF press the knob while the Direct Monitoring option is
selected.
7

Tuning
The MOD Duo has a built-in chromatic tuner which can be accessed by pressing and holding
the right knob for one second. Both inputs can be used as the tuner input, to select between
them short press the right knob. To exit the tuner press and hold the right knob for one
second.
If you see a question mark on the tuner screen, it means the MOD Duo is not receiving any
input.
To tune a guitar, play an unfretted note on a string and tune it until you see the correct note
on the display. When the background of the rectangle becomes black the string is in tune.
Each vertical bar represents 10 cents. The first bar, to the right or left of the central
rectangle, is filled when the signal is between 1-10 cents out of tune, the second bar when it
is 11-20 cents out of tune, and so on, and so forth.
8

Playing
After you have powered on and adjusted the volumes of your MOD Duo, it is ready for
playtime. The MOD Duo comes with many pedalboards ready to be used. They are
organised in banks and can be accessed via SETTINGS menu.
Loading a pedalboard
In order to load a pedalboard, first access the SETTINGS menu by pressing and holding the
left knob for one second, then select the option Banks with a short press.
Once you have the Banks menu open, you can select any bank according to your
preference. The name of each bank should give you an idea of the style of the pedalboards
it stores. A short press on the knob will open the selected bank showing the pedalboards
inside of this bank.
To load a pedalboard, make your selection by turning the knob, followed by a short press on
the knob. Each time you load a pedalboard you can try how it sounds and once you find a
pedalboard that you like, you can exit the Banks or Pedalboard menu by pressing and
holding the left knob for one second.
Adjusting pedalboard parameters
As you might have noticed already, the default view of the displays shows the assigned
parameters of the plugins for the current pedalboard. You will learn more about assigning
parameters in the next chapter.
9

These parameters you see on the displays were considered important to be accessible to
the user when the pedalboard is loaded. To adjust the value of each parameter you just
need to turn the knob until the desired value is reached. More than one parameter can be
assigned to the same knob, to cycle between them, short press the knob. On the top-right
corner of each display you can see the index of the parameter being adjusted and the
amount of assigned parameters on this display.
After you have changed the values you might want to save or reset them. The reset will
restore the last saved values for all assigned parameters, while the save option will save the
current parameters values to the current pedalboard. To access these options, press and
hold the left knob for one second to open the SETTINGS menu, then turn the knob moving
the selection until Current pedalboard option and short press the knob to select it.
Inside the Current pedalboard option there are two options: Save State and Reset State.
Turn the knob to select the desired option, and short press the knob. Finally, confirm the
action by selecting YES in the pop up dialog, and short pressing the knob. To exit this menu
press and hold the left knob for one second.
10

Editing
Accessing the graphical interface
The MOD Duo has a built-in graphical user interface (GUI), which means you don’t need to
download any extra software in order to configure the device. To access the interface, you
only need a web browser, such as Chrome, Safari or Firefox.
Accessing via USB cable
The easiest way to access the GUI is through the USB cable. Simply connect the USB
cable, which you received along with your MOD Duo, to your PC or Mac. The operating
system should recognize the MOD Duo as a network device and configure it automatically.
However, this process may fail in certain Windows versions, if that is your case please check
the troubleshooting page on the MOD Devices Wiki
(http://wiki.moddevices.com/wiki/Troubleshooting).
After successfully connecting the MOD Duo to your PC or Mac, open your favorite browser
and navigate to http://modduo.local (or http://192.168.51.1).
Accessing via Bluetooth
To access the GUI via Bluetooth you will need a Bluetooth USB dongle (version 3 or higher).
Connect the Bluetooth dongle to the USB host port on the MOD Duo, then press and hold
the left knob for one second to open the SETTINGS menu, turn the knob to select the
Bluetooth option and short press the knob to access the Bluetooth menu.
In the Bluetooth menu, turn the knob to select the Enable discovery option and then short
press the knob to enable it.
11

You will see a message saying the discovery mode will be enabled for 2 minutes, short
press the knob again to close this message. Now your MOD Duo is ready to be connected to
your PC, Mac or tablet. From this point on you should proceed with the Bluetooth connection
according the device you are using to connect to the MOD Duo.
12

Creating a pedalboard
Once you have accessed the GUI you should see a screen like this:
The numbered areas on the interface are:
1. Pedalboard name
2. Pedalboard actions bar
3. Pedalboard assembler
4. Plugins bar
5. Mode selector (Assembler, Pedalboards, Banks and Store)
6. Status bar (Device actions and information)
On the left edge of the assembler area there are 3 connectors: 2 audio inputs and 1 MIDI
input. On the right edge there are another 3 connectors: 2 audio outputs and 1 MIDI output.
All those connectors represent the real inputs and outputs of your MOD Duo. Be aware that
on the interface the signal flows from left to right. Purple cables transport audio signals, cyan
cables transport MIDI signals and orange cables transport CV signals.
New pedalboard
To create a new pedalboard click on the button in the pedalboard
actions bar. This action will load the default pedalboard, which is a stereo gain connecting
the audio inputs to the outputs.
13

Adding and connecting plugins
To add plugins, drag-and-drop one from the plugins bar to the pedalboard assembler area.
To make a new connection, click on the plugin’s output jack and drag it to where you want to
connect it to. To unmake a connection, click on the connected jack, then drag and release it
to any empty area on the assembler.
14

Note that the inputs and outputs of the MOD Duo are completely independent and can
process multiple audio paths. The MOD Duo allows you to create multiple connections
coming out from the same output and also allows multiple connections to come in the same
input. This feature allows the user to create complex pedalboards.
Adjusting plugins parameters
Each plugin has 3 icons on its top: info, settings and delete. To adjust the
parameters of the plugin click on the settings icon.
15

Each knob, list and switch represents a parameter of the plugin and can be adjusted as
desired. The combination of all parameter values can be saved/loaded as a user preset and,
for the cases in which they are available, factory presets can be loaded.
Assigning plugins parameters to actuators
One of the most powerful features that the MOD Duo offers is the ability to assign plugin
parameters and preset lists to physical actuators, like knobs and footswitches.
To create an assignment, first click on the fader icon , found on the bottom-right corner of
each parameter box, to open the assignment dialog box. Afterwards, select the actuator you
16

would like to assign the parameter to from the dropdown list. The knobs can hold multiple
assignments but footswitches can only hold one.
Any parameter can be assigned, but some parameters can only be assigned to a specific
type of actuator. The interface will not show the actuator as an option if it is not allowed to be
assigned to. Note that preset lists can also be assigned to actuators. There is also the
possibility to adjust further options by clicking on the EXTENDED label.
17

Once you have done the adjustments, click on the save button to execute the assignment.
At this point you should see the assigned information on the display and be able to operate
the parameter through the actuator you have chosen.
Saving / loading pedalboard presets
You have the possibility to save the combination of parameter adjustments as a pedalboard
preset. In order to do so, turn on the pedalboard presets mode by clicking on the presets
button , positioned on the pedalboard actions bar.
To save the changes to the current pedalboard preset, choose the option Save. To save a
new preset use the option Save as and give it a name. To load, delete or rename a saved
preset use the option Load / Manage.
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A single click on the name of the preset will load it. You also have the option to assign the
presets list to an actuator by using the Assign all button.
Saving a pedalboard
To save a pedalboard use the buttons Save or Save as on the pedalboard actions bar. All
previously saved pedalboards can be found and loaded from the pedalboards library. To
access the pedalboards library click on its button   in the mode selection bar.
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