The Mod Dwarf is NOT what you think..

[@TaylorDanley]

Help Me Make More Videos Like This!! www.patreon.com/taylordanley

[@Bsaunders17]

Hey Taylor. Is there a full song to the riff at 10:30. You play it in every video and I dig it!

[@TaylorDanley]

@@Bsaunders17 yes! open.spotify.com/track/6dFQwdRtUUUXBj895N3x8m?si=-z2TQfzQRf2Fy6o5NmlikQ

[@michaelreed2517]

I have this unit and I’m selling all my gear and will use this exclusively. I’ve tried for years to move to digital but being analogue guy nothing has cut the mustard, except for this. Profiling is easy and it feels great and sounds great. So much cheaper than other options out there and the best bit is that you are in control. Used at band practice already and couldn’t be happier.

[@aida-dsp]

Thanks for checking out our plugin. Great to see it in action with the higher gain sounds and thank you Taylor for the great and honest review. 😍 PS: the plugin is also available for desktop. //Sebastian

[@needsLITHIUM]

I found this out today by poking around the website for KX Studio, as well as on Felipe's github, and came back to the video to mention it, despite originally watching the video on the day it dropped. Seriously, Felipe is EVERYWHERE, lol. He made a bug fix to another open source audio tool I just discovered, as it's the last commit made before the last release publish. Thanks to him, I can have my cake and eat it, too, in regards to pro audio and Linux. I use MX Linux KDE with his repos added on my laptop.

[@rickard9294]

Compiling AIDA-X and NAM with Clang instead of GCC seem to drop the CPU usage A LOT.

[@needsLITHIUM]

Aida DSP - the company backing this project - their main developer has a LARGE background in Linux audio, Felipe Coelho, aka FalkTX, is a former Distribution maintainer for KX Studio Linux, and the current maintainer of the KX Studio Repos for Ubuntu and Debian based distributions, and also the guy behind Distrho DSP, another open source plugin company. He made the Carla plugin host, and contributed to master_me, an open source audio mastering frontend, plugin, and standalone software.

[@_DRMR_]

Felipe isn't the main developer of Aida DSP, he did put their code into the final plugin.

[@needsLITHIUM]

@@_DRMR_ Either way, brilliant work by the whole team.

[@_DRMR_]

@@needsLITHIUM Yup, and it even runs in the browser!

[@_DRMR_]

There's an upcoming feature to be able to drag-n-drop to replace effects in the chain, but being able to drag on top of a cable to insert would definitely also be a nice addition to have.

[@yowild9629]

analog stuff are still 1st in zero latency and feel

[@CrushingAxes]

Cool man! Never heard of this ! Looks very cool, editing seems quite fun! The artwork on the poweramp pedal is great! Really like the statues and the POD 2.0 in the background too! Man this Deviant guitar looks super cool! Very nice tone!

[@TaylorDanley]

Glad you noticed all that. Usually I just had junk right there, and I realized one day I was sacrificing good real estate for cables and nonsense lol.

[@GaryBeilby]

I've had one of these for over a year and I love it. When I first had it - it felt like there were 2 parts: A fully customisable floor pedal and IR device, plus a simulation game where you get to build increasingly complex virtual rigs. I could sit for ages designing and refining my floorboards - just so much fun! But I do wish it had a more powerful processor. My most favoured setup is using it in the effects loop for my Marshall DSL40C. That's an all tube Marshall and I just lurrrve its tone, so all I load on the Dwarf is effects pedals and no amps/cabs etc. However I also will DI it into my steinberg to record (Cause the old Marshall doesn't have a line out and I'm too lazy to mic up). So flexible, so useful.

[@dewberry3043]

Is your preset in the Mod Dwarf pedalboard that I can use? I want to use your tone for a quick fly rig for a friend’s metal band I’m going to do a quick jam.

[@TuckOfIron]

VERY cool idea. Setup seems like you need to front load a bit more work but the form factor for the payoff is nice.

[@TaylorDanley]

Cool idea, working with it for a while reminds me of the LP16... you need everything set up exactly as you need it BEFORE you try to use it live lol.

[@mr.kim7977]

Use the portal plug-in, you will save a lot of DSP power and not noticeable latency. The Dwarf has an aswer on almost all problems. I use two of this unit, one for guitar, one for singing.

[@aligatorsandwitch72]

What's the portal plugin?

[@needsLITHIUM]

Also, apparently the Aida-X plugin is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS as a VST, VST3, AU, and LV2. You can load this shit up in Studio One, Reaper, Cubase, Mixbus, Pro Tools, etc. It's an AI amp capture/modeler plugin, similar to NAM, ToneX, or GuitarML.

[@needsLITHIUM]

Felipe is the guy who gave the Linux Audio Keynote Presentation for the MOD DUO, the Dwarf's precursor, when the crowd funding project was announced. LOL.

[@yunamadsimackomen881]

There is a free plug-in by Kushview called Element which allows you to do the same thing the Mod Dwarf does, while using your laptop’s CPU. You can create chains of various plug-ins, AUs, VSTs, etc, and use it in your DAW. Since with the Mod Dwarf, if you are gigging, you still would take your iPad with you to see the pedal board, why not bypass the unit completely, just bring a laptop, and go direct into the PA?

[@exhumus]

There are plenty of standalone VST hosts out there so you don't even need a DAW, but then you're bringing a laptop and an audio interface with you at a minimum. Then you've got nothing on the floor to control it, so add a MIDI controller and a cable from that back to your laptop. A laptop + interface that is going to give you desirable latency and handle a full patch is going to set you back 2 to 3 times what the MOD Dwarf retails for at a minimum before you even add the controller. The laptop is a viable solution, but it's not really an apples and apples comparison.

[@yunamadsimackomen881]

Let’s face it: are you really going to switch between different amps and cabs during a song? No. It’s impractical, and the audience doesn’t care. Besides, the Dwarf Mod might run out of computing power, plus you need an iPad or a laptop to view the pedalboard. A laptop + an interface (there are interfaces out there for 100 bucks with virtually no latency, just have to look), a free plug-in to control your virtual pedal board, and a few pedals that you are ACTUALLY going to switch is, in my opinion, a much better solution.

[@Sakaton01]

@@yunamadsimackomen881 how are you going to run out of power? electricy went out? then i agree laptop is better but power dwarf with powerbank and is ok then

[@yunamadsimackomen881]

@@Sakaton01 No no, not power like battery power. I meant CPU.

[@maxipenna]

Oh I remember back in the days I had this conversation with the drummer of my band. He needed some pads and ended up bringing laptop, soundcard and...Cubase. So why not? Well first live, the laptop felt down since someone stumped in a cable. Maybe if you're a deejay or so it's feasible...but other than that... expecially small venues... impossible...if it's not falling down then someone else is pouring beer over it accidentally by the end of the soundcheck.

[@JoeDinsdale]

Great and fair review. Awesome little unit, very impressed with mine. It's capable of doing way more experimental stuff then the other units out there too. There are some beta options for massively reducing CPU like Portals which split the chain to enable parallel processing. It practically doubles CPU capacity at the cost of about 1ms I believe, way less than switching to 256 samples. I use mine in a few ways: 1) As a delay and reverb unit, it's capable of doing some incredible stereo convolution reverbs and the routing options mean you can go pretty crazy. Learning how to use the CV stuff really opens a lot of doors. 2) Amp modeller, the AIDA-X stuff is incredible and really easy to capture. Even without Portal for unlocking CPU with multi threading you can easily get amp, cab and reverb running. I run my analog effects into it. 3) All in one unit, with some finessing you can get some great tones and do lots of stuff that no other units are capable of. I would agree with the criticisms though, it's not for those who don't like to fiddle. If you want to plug in to an fx unit and have access to some solid well known fx emulations stick to the hx and gt1000. If you want to stray off the beaten track and do some really unique stuff with complex routing and blending of multiple fx etc then the Dwarf is pretty remarkable. I've found it incredibly reliable too, usually when something isn't working it's because I've knocked a cable out of my analog board that's plugged into it 😂 It's not without its quirks and flaws but it's refreshingly open and flexible compared to the Stomp and GT1000core I've used previously.

[@_DRMR_]

Being able to do parallel processing is so cool! (and makes better use of the multi-core setup) You can go really crazy on the sound design, but once you've crafted your own sound how many buttons and changes do you really want to be able to do? I have the big brother, the DuoX, which ultimately is much more capable. It just doesn't work as a compact setup as what the Dwarf brings. It would be nice to see third party hardware extensions though. These devices have a Control-Chain port that allows to connect a whole bunch of additional potential peripherals (that unfortunately are out of stock or don't exist yet).

[@JoeDinsdale]

@@_DRMR_ for home use none really unless I want to switch between some instruments perhaps. It’s at rehearsals and live where the ability to tweak settings becomes pretty important, adjusting for the room and band mates.

[@Tomus1775]

A desktop editor!?!? Gosh i wish my $2k quad cortex had that space age technology.

[@rosthariton7930]

Bruh, if a PC editor is a space age technology, then plugin importing is a singularity. Lol.

[@_DRMR_]

Not desktop -> browser. You don't have to install anything to launch it since it connects over usb network connection (bluetooth also works, but is not as responsive)

[@wheresallthezombies]

I like to think Nueral DSP is close to doing the plugin thing. Lol. I love Nueral. I just wish they would’ve finished the QC before releasing it. Or kept that part of the plan under wraps and release it as an update.

[@TaylorDanley]

You know there's a saying that applies here "Underpromise, overdeliver" I feel like NDSP could have taken that a little more to heart.

[@wheresallthezombies]

@@TaylorDanley I totally agree!

[@tusharjamwal]

Depends on what kind of response you want. Underpromise and overdeliver reduces hype and therefore a little less over eager early purchasers, but builds goodwill and reputation in the community. And you can kind of cash-in that Reputation and goodwill by overpromising on something so that more people will buy it initially for a drop in reputation and goodwill

[@wheresallthezombies]

@@tusharjamwal The QC is an expensive product. If I’m giving a company that much money then I want the thing to do what they said it was going to do. If I’m being honest, I’m surprised they haven’t been sued for false advertisement. There’s definitely a case to be made. I’m not saying it should happen but surprised it hasn’t.

[@Killadelphia_]

@@wheresallthezombies their most recent post did have them replying to comments about the plugins being added & they said it's in the works & will be released in batches... I'll believe it when I see it.

[@KPGuitarStudios]

The THE pedal sounded really scratchy for some reason, there was a very specific frequency that was crunchy and breaky. Maybe like 4-5k? Chances are you'd be able to cut it out with an eq or something else on the Mod Dwarf? Seems decent, probably happier with the Ampero II on my end

[@toneconsultant]

@TaylorDanley, thanks for all the recent reviews on modeler/profilers. I'm trying to pick one, but I'm having a hard time. I recently picked up a HeadRush Gigboard, but apparently the USB jack has issues that the manufacture is aware of. That sucks. I also have a Mooer GE300 Lite, but I'm on my 3rd because everytime I go to update the firmware, it malfunctions and to get a repair, you have to ship to China. Now I just want to find a unit that . . . works. If you can find that one, if I see you at NAMM again I'll buy you a beer.

[@TaylorDanley]

Holy cow dude, you have bad luck! I'm sorry to hear about the issues. A lot of times when I'm reviewing I don't really have the ability to put time in and stress test everything, and I'm always bummed to hear when something I've reviewed has some glaring issue that I missed. I'd say with Q4 coming up, just hold out if you are thinking of trying something new. It's likely there will be new releases through the end of this year... just a guess.

[@414deathmetalist]

I have the Duo X and I’ll admit in order to get an awesome sound out, it takes a lot of patience and tinkering. It’s not as simple as a Helix but not nearly as complex as a Fractal. As for the amp modeling the Aida X sounds great but since I’ve gotten a Laney Ironheart loud pedal, I’ve been using the Mod Duo as a multi effects unit/ IR loader instead of an amp modeler.

[@heliodorus7552]

I think thats great thing! I usually play with plugins and some daw effects, so this thing could be very handy, because it feels similar. It has more opportunities for bass because you can make parallel signals and splits. Considering that a lot of similar price units can only work with linear effects chain.

[@TaylorDanley]

This is true, the routing is pretty great.

[@simoncusack]

I have one of these too, it's an awesome pedal for experimentation, the routing is great and you didn't mention any of the synth engine stuff which is also cool. I haven't noticed any latency issues.

[@KillaFXZ]

I truly enjoy every video you do, keep up the great content!

[@TaylorDanley]

Thanks dude!

[@exhumus]

Seems like it has all the features but not nearly enough grunt. 5ms of latency is in entry level laptop + interface territory and topping out with only a basic drive + amp + cab sim set up is not good enough when any entry level modeller will handle so much more. Seems to me it needs a lot of performance tuning of the underlying platform along with a more powerful processor.

[@_DRMR_]

About latency: 1ms latency equals about 1 foot extra distance from your speaker. So consider the default latency you already get when you have your guitar amp on the other side of the room and how much this would add to it.

[@Sakaton01]

I have the unit, it's pretty cool, on par with the sounds with top plugins and other gear in the price point. I play on 256 samples and i can't feel the latency. For more of a geek type of guys that like to tinker with computers and stuff, it's perfect. Still some bugs, but as long as you have the pedalboard saved, it's rock ass stable, and you can keep it on for hours.

[@-jk-2580]

Really intresting pedal and great video. Why there's no more hype around this?

[@LievenDV]

I already had some much fun with this MOD Dwarf and the massive universe it's in. I modelled some of my pedals and amp; both real as virtual amps that were chains and blends of amps, Eq, comps etc.I use the models both live as in my DAW (Reaper) with the free plugin. MOD even started to offer a regular desktop version of the editor without needing to ocnnect ot the device. I sing and play guitar through this thing, I now play piano and tinkler with modular synths with this thing. I bought myself an active PA speaker and my setup gets smaller and lighter but most of all; more versatile as I can benefit from the IR cabs more this way! (it worked great with the cab switched off over my Laney cab too though :D) || ah btw to other MOD Dwarf users; if you haven't checked out the Portal plugin, please do as it frees up CPU capacity for even more routing goodness :D

[@ronnielobosmith4870]

At some point I'm starting to wonder if you could just both some pickups up to a two-by-four and Bolta neck that you like on to that or whether it even make a difference or not what guitar you're playing through it

[@MrNEWDY]

You can actually get a 1/4 inch audio hat for thr raspberry pi and a simple screen and build one of these with better specs to handle more dsp.

[@WarrenBey]

lol that depth of field is pretty wild on the camera bro. Can't even read anything on the screen 🤣🤣🤣

[@ronchabot3449]

Im a AXE FX III user and I want something more like this but I think I would rather go with the tone x instead of this

[@TaylorDanley]

If you just want amp cloning/capturing/whatever - then yeah, it's a much simpler path to that goal.

[@1tzelG_]

you can use a smart plug to turn on/off with Google Assistant on your phone or any other, because the product doesn't have on/off switch. imagine the possibilities.

[@everythingisopen]

informative, thanks, needed a guide for the first steps through this part of the jungle

[@dr.0995]

When will you review new BOSS ME90?

[@celestialode]

Cool device but don't think it will be the "thing" anytime soon. A simple tube amp blows it out of the water tonewise but mostly when it comes to ease of use, but then again who knows what the future will bring

[@amremorse]

I just want to run airwindows plugins in a pedal. This is a dream for people into sound design.

[@TaylorDanley]

Agree. You can do it on a tablet, but it's a little clunky.

[@BobbyCulpepper.srv3fender]

What's the power amp called

[@daxtell]

It’s from “This Heavy Earth Effects”

[@Ghaos]

0:27 The moment a modeller allows me to do this is the day I stop looking at modellers.

[@TaylorDanley]

😂 same

[@joaquin8637]

@@Ghaos PAINT AUDIO COMPUTER EFFECTS CE-1 Its literally a windows computer with an audio interface glued to a midi controller in a quad cortex box

[@theonegoose]

Nice highpower. I have the fleshrot 60watt version wirh it.

[@plaguesofwrath]

You gave the measurements in metric, and I’m going to need to know what that is in standard American alligators.

[@miked5487]

Oh yeh and it runs NAM

[@JohnnyOskam]

No effects loop?

[@TaylorDanley]

There are 2 inputs and two outputs, you can route them as an effects loop if you want. You can have them parallel also… it’s pretty wide open when it comes to routing.

[@matthewearl9824]

it is a cool idea but I wouldn't use it on stage. There are thousands of plugins and this is going to have compatibility issues while working with the developers of said plugin and the interface/hardware of the device itself. We all know the struggles of developers to just get plugins to work in different formats such as VSs, AU, AAS and also on different operating systems.

[@LievenDV]

It uses the LV2 format and I haven't run into any incompatibility issue yet. It's very reliable (never crashed on me) and I gladly take it on stage rather that having some akward laptop there, waiting to get stepped on.

[@MrCcfly]

Only that can run nam say it all how great it is

[@TheeDangle]

I've heard it pronounced AIDA or AIDA if that helps.

[@TaylorDanley]

Ahhh see, I was going AIDA with it

[@edneyhelenedossantos1875]

3 big deal breakers, the cable on the interface, paying for separated fx after you already bought the product and insane latency.... Passing this one, thanks for your review.

[@_DRMR_]

How is this insane? I guess when you are on stage you have your ears right next to your speaker cabinet? (remember: 1ms latency is about 1 foot additional distance from your speakers)

[@shahrelrafiqin6222]

Taylor's CPU Stress test

[@uncleKai_SWW]

So it probably needs more ram. If you don’t have enough ram, you can and will bottle neck the cpu.

[@_DRMR_]

That's not how DSP works.

[@lichen8855]

The MOD Dwarf started development quite a long while ago way before this neural modelling was becoming popular. So I guessing the kinds of CPU usage that requires was not taken into account originally. That being said, it's fortunate that it can run these neural models. Sounds really good!

[@LievenDV]

I have a testrig that runs 5 AIDA-X neural amp models in one pedal board+ some routing, IR cab etc. I use this unit live and the AIDA-X tech delivers with far less cpu power requirements than the NAM tech. I even run light and standard models and the "heavy" settings sound pretty similar.

[@TheoreticalLimit]

A great software idea in a underpowered hardware. Now, they just have to produce the mod dwarf 2 with the decent hardware power. I don't even understand why they released it as is. It looks like they just took the product from the development team (not even the pre-production version).

[@thestuffmikedoes2309]

It’s perfectly capable as it is. In no practical rig would you run out of DSP. If you stack an amp with 7 reverbs and 6 overdrives then sure, you’ll run out of DSP, but you’re just taxing it for the sake of taxing it and you’re missing out on a great tool because you’re looking at processor’s spec

[@Moremetal..]

TOO PRICEY..

[@MrCcfly]

I wish for next one to use something like snapdrsgon 2/3 with strong fast arm cores and ai

[@quinnl]

I am one of the first kickstarter backers for this product. I backed it years ago. I still haven’t received my unit. They are holding it hostage telling me I have to pay them an extra 150 euros to get it! Hard to trust a company that wouldn’t fulfill an order for the price agreed upon then turns around to make you pay more! Shady to say the least.

[@thestuffmikedoes2309]

Check your email. All backers are getting their units. Fill out the update form linked in the email to update your information.

[@russellzauner]

I would have been more impressed if they'd gone with RISC-V. I've been threatening to throw a 5 buck FPGA into a stomper and make it a ripper. Sample your own sound while you're playing and create models on the fly.

[@JInfinity7]

So the rammastan connects to the pozanostrus? Seems like you have some good ides. Could you explain them like I'm 5?

[@_DRMR_]

Yeah really impressive considering that years ago when they designed the Dwarf RISC-V wasn't even available as commodity SBCs.

[@B4its2L8guy]

Too much money. Poop performance. Very limited options.

[@_DRMR_]

If you think this is too much, then don't buy a guitar and an amp. You are only limited by your imagination, of which you apparently have very minimal supply.

[@themikepadua]

Counterpoint: you lack imagination and creativity and you think computing power makes up for that.

[@WholeLottaBulldog]

Agreed. Needs more CPU. Those buffer sizes are laughable

[@James-o1w5h]

Thx for the review. Not so much about this unit. But it sounded meh 👂🩸 just like the price. The only good thing is the form factor and the all in one thing.

[@_DRMR_]

Niche product by a small manufacturer, not sure why you are expecting Behringer prices.