Intuitive multieffects with modep

Hi guy !

I am new to patchbox and modep. I am trying to build a multi effects using :

  • A Raspberry with Pisound, patchbox and modep.
  • An Arduino as a midi controller.

The idea is to build something intuitive (with knobs) like an analog unit and without menu diving.


To build the midi controller with 30 knobs I will need at least two multiplexors. I am pretty confident with the coding part of the project however I have never built a PCB. Are you guys interested in helping me on this project ?

Instead of using multiplexors why not try these i2c encoders.

This looks like a really interesting concept; I’ve gone down the route of making an fx unit, but with a screen. I actually find MODEP completely unusable on my RPi; not only is the UI basically completely unresponsive, but the audio does not stream perfectly and has glitches and latency.
Maybe if it wasn’t dealing with the UI and only running DSP with dedicated hardware control it might be a more feasible platform for me.

Guitarix Pedal | Doug’s Blog - shown here running Guitarix, but I’ve got a MODEP setup for it as well.
Louper | Doug’s Blog - I also implemented my own looper on this device.

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possibly … but can’t promise anything as I already have a long list of other unfinished projects :wink:
I do want to make my yellow box usable though, at the moment it isn’t and that is bugging me.

The very first step though would be to validate this design idea using a generic MIDI controller. Get MODEP up on a Pi and plug in a MIDI knob controller. Is it possible to configure a patch and map all the controls in the way that you want? If that works then, is that a reasonable final solution? Do you even need custom hardware?

Only if the above works and you are utterly convinced that existing controllers are not what you want would I suggest even considering starting to look at any custom hardware implementation.

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