What's New in 1.4.0

This guide covers firmware version 1.4.0. Presets saved on 1.3.0 load and migrate automatically.

Rebuilt pitch shifter Lower latency and natural formant control
Auto-tune pitch correction Key and scale selection, in soft or hard modes
Harmony chords Add a 3rd, 5th, triad, octave, or doubler to your voice
Three new effects Compressor/limiter, reverb, and a 4-band parametric EQ
Re-orderable effect chain Per-effect mix, routing control, and overdrive voice modes
Customizable buttons Assign 20 actions across four button gestures
Control lock Freeze the control surface against accidental changes
Layered WAV playback Background beds plus one-shot samples, played polyphonically
Live input meter Level metering in the header on every screen
Battery warnings Low and critical alerts with graceful power-down
Refined interface Smoother LED engine and automatic preset migration from 1.3.0

Getting Started

Powering On

The VMod Pro operates on its built-in rechargeable 4000mAh lithium polymer battery, designed for extended portable use. When the battery needs charging, connect a USB-C cable to any standard USB power source.

Charging Requirements

The device requires a power adapter that provides at least 2A of current. The included 5V 2A USB-C charger is recommended. If you use a charger with less than 2A output, the device may not fully charge.

Charging Status LED

The encoder knob features an LED indicator that shows charging status:

Red: Battery is charging
Green: Battery is fully charged

While charging, a lightning bolt replaces the battery percentage in the display header.

SD Card

The VMod Pro stores presets, settings, and WAV samples on a micro SD card. Insert a card before powering on. A new card can be formatted from Settings > SD Card, which also creates the required folder structure. The card icon in the display header shows whether a card is detected.

Connections

The VMod Pro has 1 input and 2 ⅛" TRS output connections.

Port Description
MIC Connect your microphone here
PHONE Headphone output. Use the "Vol" rotary wheel to control volume
LINE Connect to an external amplified speaker

Basic Controls

The VMod Pro uses an encoder wheel, two control knobs, and two physical buttons to navigate menus and adjust parameters.

Button Controls

Both buttons are customizable. Out of the box they work as follows:

Gesture Default Action
Button 1 press Mute or unmute the device (also moves the cursor up in the keyboard)
Button 1 hold Jump to Mix Settings. Always available, cannot be reassigned
Button 2 press Cycle through saved presets (also moves the cursor down in the keyboard)
Button 2 hold Save current settings to the active preset. Always available, cannot be reassigned
Both buttons press None by default. Assignable
Both buttons hold (1 second) Lock or unlock the controls

See Custom Button Assignments to change what the short press and both-button gestures do.

Encoder Wheel

Rotate to navigate menus and highlight items. Press to select or confirm.

The Header

The top of every screen carries the same status row: the page title on the left, and on the right the card icon, the padlock when the controls are locked, and the battery level.

Live Input Meter

Directly beneath the status row runs a live input meter that follows your microphone, so you can watch your level from any page without going back to Mix Settings. Set your mic sensitivity so the meter moves well across its width on your loudest phrases without pinning to the right.

Display Modes

Effects Overview (Home Screen)

This is your home screen showing all available effects and menu options. Rotate the encoder to highlight an item, then press to select it. When you exit any section, the highlight returns to that section's icon. Available items are: Pitch Shift, Overdrive, Bitcrush, Ring Modulator, Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Delay, Compressor, Reverb, EQ, Mixer, Presets, Settings, Visualizer, and WAV Player.

Editing Effect Parameters

When you select an effect, you enter parameter editing mode. Each effect has one or more pages of parameters controlled by the two knobs, with a page indicator in the footer. Rotate the encoder past the last footer button to move to the next page. The last page of every effect is its Mix (wet/dry) control. The EQ is the exception: it opens onto its own full-screen editor, and its mix is set from the Mixer instead.

Knob Pickup

When you first enter an effect or load a preset, the knobs are inactive. Turn each knob past its current parameter value to activate it. This prevents sudden jumps in your audio when switching between effects or presets.

The Bypass/Enable button appears in the footer of each effect's first page. Select BACK from the footer to return to the overview.

Visualizer

The visualizer displays real-time audio levels in a graphical format. Access it from the main screen. Turn the encoder to cycle through visualizer styles and press the encoder to exit.

Effects

The VMod Pro features 11 audio effects that can be combined and re-ordered for unique voice characters.

Pitch Shift

Shifts the pitch of your voice up or down without changing speed. The pitch engine was rebuilt in 1.4.0 for lower latency and a cleaner sound, and now carries the tune and harmony features. It has six pages.

Page 1

Pitch

Pitch Shifts your voice up or down by up to 10 semitones
Formant Offsets your vocal character independently of pitch
Formant On/Off Footer toggle. Off gives the classic chipmunk or monster shifter sound; on preserves your vocal character for natural-sounding changes
Page 2

Character

Bright Tilts the tone darker or brighter
Breath An exciter that adds presence, air, and sibilance generated from your own voice
Page 3

Movement

Flutter Adds pitch wobble (vibrato)
Jitter Adds slow vocal-character movement
LFO Sine/Rand Footer toggle between steady, musical movement and irregular, more human movement
Page 4

Tune

On/Off Footer master switch for pitch correction
Key / Scale Footer selection. Key C through B, scale Chromatic, Major, or Minor. Major and minor snap notes onto the scale for a much stronger effect
Soft / Hard Footer toggle. Soft pulls you toward the nearest note while still following your own singing. Hard locks absolutely onto the target note and turns Speed into the glide time between notes, for the fully synthetic sound
Tune Correction strength
Speed How fast notes snap. Low speed preserves vibrato; full speed is the hard, robotic sound
Page 5

Chords

On/Off + Type Footer controls. Engage harmony and pick the voicing: 3rd, 5th, Triad, Octave, or Dbl. Dbl is a doubler, two lightly detuned copies of your own note, for thickness rather than harmony
Chord Volume of the harmony voices
Scale following With a key and scale set, harmonies follow the scale so they stay musical on every note. Harmony fades out on breaths and consonants
Page 6

Mix

Mix Blends the pitch effect with your dry voice

Other Effects

Every effect below ends with a Mix page that blends that effect with your dry signal, independent of the global Effects Mix in Mix Settings.

Overdrive

Adds grit and distortion to your voice.

Drive Controls the amount of distortion
Tone Adjusts the brightness of the distorted sound
Voice Footer menu. Full is the plain drive, Phone band-limits the result to a telephone or two-way radio character, and Mega narrows it further into a bullhorn

Bitcrush

Creates a digital, lo-fi sound by reducing audio quality.

Cutoff Controls the filter cutoff frequency
Mod Controls the bit depth reduction amount
Resonance / Drive Page 2. Shape the filter character and intensity

Ring Modulator

Creates metallic, robotic tones.

Carrier Sets the carrier frequency
Mod Adjusts the modulation amount
Wave Type Footer menu. Sine, Saw, Square, or Tri (triangle)

Chorus

Adds thickness and width to your voice.

Rate Controls the speed of the chorus effect
Depth Controls how pronounced the effect is
Delay / Feedback Page 2. Fine-tune the effect's spacing and regeneration

Phaser

Creates a sweeping, whooshing sound.

Rate / Depth Control the speed and intensity of the sweep
Freq / Feedback Page 2. Set the sweep's center and resonance
Poles Page 3. Sets the strength of the phasing stages

Flanger

Produces a jet-like sweeping effect.

Rate Controls the speed of the flange
Depth Controls the intensity
Delay / Feedback Page 2. Fine-tune the sweep and regeneration

Delay

Creates echo effects.

Time Sets the delay time between repeats
Feedback Controls how many repeats occur
Freeze Assignable button action that holds the repeats as a sustained loop

Compressor

Evens out your level so quiet and loud words sit together. New in this firmware series.

Thresh / Ratio Where compression starts and how strongly it acts. Maximum ratio acts as a limiter
Attack / Release Page 2. How quickly compression engages and lets go
Makeup Page 3. Restores volume after compression

Reverb

Adds room and space around your voice. New in 1.4.0.

Decay How long the tail lasts, from a small room to a long hall
Damp How quickly the high frequencies fade out of the tail. Higher damping gives a darker, softer space
Pre-Delay Page 2. A gap of up to 150 ms between your voice and the start of the tail. A little pre-delay keeps your words clear while still giving them a large space
Low Cut Page 2. Removes low frequencies from the tail only, from 20 to 400 Hz. Raise it if the reverb is muddying the body of your voice

EQ

A four-band parametric equalizer for shaping your voice, with the response curve drawn live on screen. New in 1.4.0.

The EQ has its own full-screen editor rather than the usual parameter pages. The upper half shows the curve you are creating; the lower half shows the four bands, each with its frequency, gain, and Q.

  • Choose a band: rotate the encoder. The selected band's column is highlighted.
  • Move a band: press the encoder to arm it, and small arrows appear either side of its frequency. Rotate to sweep that band anywhere from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and press again to release it and go back to choosing bands. Turning faster sweeps faster.
  • Knob 1, Gain: boosts or cuts the selected band by up to 15 dB either way.
  • Knob 2, Q: sets how wide the band is, from 0.3 (broad and gentle) to 8 (narrow and surgical). Use a high Q to notch out a single problem frequency, a low Q for general tone shaping.
  • ON/OFF and BACK are in the footer, as on every effect page.

EQ Mix

The EQ's wet/dry mix is set from the Mixer rather than from this screen.

Mixer and Effect Routing

Select Mixer from the home screen to balance and organize your effects.

  • Each page shows two effects with their individual wet/dry mix level. Adjust levels with the two knobs.
  • Each effect row has an EDIT button that jumps straight into that effect's parameter pages. The EQ row's EDIT opens its mix page; to shape the bands, open EQ from the home screen.
  • The final page is Routing, the order your voice passes through the effects. Highlight an effect, press to grab it, rotate to move it through the chain, and press again to drop it.

The effect chain order is stored with each preset.

WAV Player

The WAV player plays sound files from the SD card alongside your voice. Place 16-bit WAV files, mono or stereo, in the /VMOD/samples/ folder on the card, then select WAV Player from the home screen to browse and preview them. Files in other bit depths, such as 24-bit or 32-bit float, are not supported and will fail to load.

Sample Settings

Press a file to open its settings. Use the encoder to scroll the fields and press to change values. The footer provides BACK and PREVIEW.

  • Enabled: Master switch for this sample's triggers
  • Volume: Playback level, adjustable live even while the sample plays
  • Looping: Restart automatically at the end
  • Trigger: How the sample starts
  • Delay / Timing: The delay or interval used by the trigger modes
  • Background: Makes this sample a layer

Trigger Modes

Manual

Play and stop the sample on demand using the PREVIEW button, or with a button gesture assigned to WAV PLAY or WAV NEXT.

Audio Head

Fires when you start speaking, using the Gate Threshold from Mix Settings. An optional delay offsets playback from the gate opening.

Audio Tail

Fires when you stop speaking. An optional delay lets the sample play after a pause following speech.

Timer

Triggers automatically at a fixed interval. Useful for periodic ambient sounds.

Random

Triggers at random intervals. The timing parameter sets the maximum delay between plays, creating organic, unpredictable patterns.

Layers and One-Shots

Playback is polyphonic, so multiple samples can sound at once.

  • Background ON makes a sample a layer. Starting it never interrupts anything, so you can stack looping beds such as rain plus crowd noise. Trigger a playing layer again to stop just that layer. Layers keep triggering even when you leave the WAV Player screen.
  • Background OFF makes a sample a one-shot. A new one-shot replaces the previous one so stingers never pile up, but layers keep playing underneath. Re-triggering the same one-shot restarts it.

Soundboard on a Button

The WAV PLAY button action plays your first manual sample and acts as a master stop when anything is playing. WAV NEXT steps through your manual samples, playing each one in turn.

Preset Integration

WAV Player sample configurations are saved and restored as part of your presets, including filename, volume, looping, enabled state, background mode, trigger mode, and timing. Loading a preset restores its WAV configuration and loads the samples into memory, with a progress screen shown while they are read from the SD card.

Presets

The VMod Pro can store up to 20 custom presets on the SD card containing all of your effect settings, the effect chain order, tune and chord setup, and your WAV sample configuration.

Quick Preset Access

  • Press Button 2 to cycle through your saved presets
  • Hold Button 2 to save your current settings to the active preset

Preset Browser

From the main screen, select Presets. Rotate the encoder to browse, then press to open the options for a preset: Load, Save, Rename, Del, and Back. On an empty slot the options are New and Back.

Renaming a Preset

Select a preset and choose "Rename". Use the encoder to navigate the keyboard:

  • Rotate the encoder to move between characters horizontally
  • Press the encoder to select a character
  • Use Button 1 and Button 2 to move the cursor up and down between rows
  • ABC toggles uppercase and lowercase
  • Del deletes the last character
  • Exit finishes and saves

Upgrading from 1.3.0

Presets created on firmware 1.3.0 load automatically and are upgraded in place the next time you save them. New 1.4.0 settings, including tune, chords, and LFO shape, start switched off in upgraded presets, so your saved sounds are unchanged.

Custom Button Assignments

Under Settings > System, the second page (SYSTEM - BTNS) lets you assign an action to each of four gestures. Select a row with the encoder and press to cycle through the actions.

Gesture Default
Button 1 (short press) Mute
Button 2 (short press) Next preset
1+2 Press (both buttons, quickly) None
1+2 Hold (both buttons, 1 second) Lock

Holding Button 1 for the Mix screen and holding Button 2 to save the preset are always available and cannot be reassigned.

Available Actions

Action What it does
MUTEMute or unmute the output
PRESET +Step to the next preset
PRESET -Step to the previous preset
SAVESave the current preset
REVERTReload the current preset, undoing every tweak since you loaded it
BYP ALLPanic switch. Bypasses every effect; press again to restore exactly the effects that were on
BYP PITCHToggle the pitch shifter for an instant natural or effected voice
FORMANTToggle formant preservation
TUNEToggle auto-tune on or off
HARD TUNEInstantly set correction to maximum; press again to restore your previous tune settings exactly
KEY +Step the auto-tune key up a semitone for live key changes
CHORDStep the harmony: Off, 3rd, 5th, Triad, Octave
OCT UPJump a full octave up; press again to return to your previous pitch
OCT DOWNJump a full octave down; press again to return to your previous pitch
DLY FREEZEHold the delay's repeats as a sustained loop until pressed again
MIC MUTEMute only the microphone. WAV samples keep playing
WAV PLAYPlay the first manual sample, or stop all samples
WAV NEXTStep through your manual samples, playing each one
VISUALIZERJump to or from the visualizer
LOCKEngage the control lock
NONEDisable this gesture

Control Lock

The control lock freezes the entire control surface, knobs, encoder, and buttons, so nothing can be changed by accident on stage or in a bag.

  • Engage the lock with the LOCK action, by default holding both buttons for one second. A closed-padlock screen confirms, and a padlock icon then stays in the header alongside the card and battery icons.
  • While locked, touching any control briefly wakes the screen so you can see the padlock. Nothing else happens.
  • To unlock, hold both buttons for one second. Unlocking always works this way no matter how your buttons are assigned. An open-padlock screen confirms.
  • Restarting the device always unlocks it.

Settings

Access the Settings menu from the main screen to adjust global parameters.

Display Settings

  • Display Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the OLED screen
  • LEDs Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the RGB LEDs
  • Auto Sleep: When enabled, the screen dims after 45 seconds of inactivity and turns off completely after 60 seconds
  • LED Color: Cycle through White, Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Amber
  • Voice React: Makes the LED pulse with your voice

Mix Settings

Quick Access

You can reach Mix Settings from anywhere in the interface by holding Button 1.

The Mix menu has three pages:

Page 1 - Output

  • Master Volume: Controls overall output level
  • Effects Mix: Blends between dry voice and processed effects

Page 2 - Input

  • Mic Gain: Adjusts input sensitivity
  • Gate Threshold: Reduces background noise by setting a volume threshold. Also helps prevent feedback with external speakers, and sets the trigger point for Audio Head and Audio Tail samples

Page 3 - Notch Filter

  • Frequency: Sets the notch filter frequency (20Hz to 8000Hz)
  • Q: Controls the width of the notch filter (0.5 to 10.0)
  • Enable/Bypass: Toggle the notch filter on or off

Using the Notch Filter

The notch filter eliminates feedback at specific frequencies. When you experience feedback, enable the filter and adjust the frequency to match the feedback tone, then fine-tune with the Q parameter.

System Settings

  • Auto Sleep: Turn the auto sleep feature on or off
  • Encoder: Reverse the encoder direction
  • SYSTEM - BTNS (page 2): The four button gesture assignments

SD Card

The SD Card page shows the current status of the card: not detected, detected but not mounted, or mounted. From here you can mount an inserted card or format it. Formatting erases all data on the card and creates the required directory structure for presets and samples.

Update Mode

Prepares the device for firmware updates. Connect via USB-C and visit vmod.tceffect.com to access the web-based updater.

Battery & Power

The VMod Pro is equipped with a 4000mAh lithium polymer battery for extended use. The device comes with a 5V 2A USB charger. For proper charging, use a power adapter that provides at least 2A. The battery level appears in the display header.

Low Battery Warnings

  • At 10% the display shows LOW BATTERY once and the device sounds a short chirp through the output. This is your cue to finish the song and connect the charger.
  • Below 5% the display shows BATTERY CRITICAL and a triple beep repeats every 30 seconds until you charge.
  • Both warnings are silenced while the device is charging.
  • When the battery is genuinely exhausted the device saves its state and powers down on its own rather than cutting out mid-word.

Tips for Best Results

Quick Mute

The Mute action silences the device instantly. By default it is on Button 1.

Quick Mix Access

Hold Button 1 from anywhere in the interface to jump directly to Mix Settings for fast access to volume, gain, and filter controls.

Combining Effects

Multiple effects can be active simultaneously. Use the Mixer to balance them and Routing to set their order.

Auto-Tune

Set the key and a major or minor scale for the strongest correction. Chromatic gives the subtlest touch-up.

Harmonies

Set the key and scale first. The chord voices follow them.

Live Safety

Assign BYP ALL or REVERT to a button gesture as an instant escape hatch, and lock the controls between songs.

Microphone Technique

Maintain consistent distance from the microphone. Use the Mic Gain setting to optimize input levels. If you hear background noise, increase the Gate Threshold.

Preventing Feedback

If you experience audio feedback with external speakers:

  • Increase the Gate Threshold to cut off low-level signals
  • Enable the Notch Filter and adjust frequency to match the feedback tone
  • Reduce Master Volume
  • Move the device farther from speakers
  • Lower Mic Gain if feedback persists

Troubleshooting

No sound output
  • Check Master Volume in Mix settings
  • If using headphone output, ensure the volume wheel is turned at least halfway up
  • Verify Mic Gain is not set too low
  • Ensure effects are not all bypassed and the device is not muted
  • Check that Gate Threshold is not set too high
Controls not responding
  • Check for the padlock icon in the header. Hold both buttons for one second to unlock
  • Knob pickup is active. Turn the knob past its current value to take control
  • Check that you are in parameter edit mode, not overview mode
Distorted or clipping audio
  • Reduce Mic Gain
  • Lower Master Volume
  • Decrease effect intensity parameters
Audio feedback or squealing
  • Increase Gate Threshold to cut off low-level signals
  • Enable and adjust the Notch Filter to target the feedback frequency
  • Reduce Master Volume
  • Move the device farther from speakers
  • Lower Mic Gain if feedback persists
Presets won't load
  • Verify the SD card is inserted and mounted (Settings > SD Card)
  • Presets from firmware 1.3.0 are supported and upgrade automatically
  • Presets saved on test firmware versions must be re-saved
WAV sample won't play
  • Files must be 16-bit PCM WAV in the /VMOD/samples/ folder
  • Check that the sample is Enabled and its Volume is up
  • For Audio Head and Audio Tail modes, check that Gate Threshold in Mix Settings is properly calibrated
  • Try reformatting the SD card from Settings and re-copying your files
Display won't turn on
  • Battery may be depleted. Connect the charger
  • Press the encoder or any control to wake from sleep mode

Firmware Updates

Chrome Browser Required

The web-based firmware updater uses WebUSB, which is only supported in Google Chrome (version 61 or newer) and other Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge. Safari and Firefox are not supported.

To update your VMod Pro firmware:

  1. Open Google Chrome on your computer
  2. From the Settings menu on your VMod Pro, select Update Mode
  3. Connect the device to your computer using a USB-C cable
  4. Navigate to vmod.tceffect.com
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to upload the latest firmware

Community

The TCFX Discord is where VMod Pro users trade presets and sample packs, ask questions, and get help directly from the person who builds it. It is also the fastest way to hear about firmware releases and to shape what goes into them.

Join the TCFX Discord

  • Share and download presets and WAV sample packs
  • Get setup help and troubleshooting from other users
  • Early word on firmware releases and beta builds
  • Request features and report bugs directly
  • Post clips of what you have made with your VMod Pro
Join the Discord

For order questions, warranty, or anything you would rather not post publicly, use the support contact at tceffect.com.

Care & Maintenance

  • Keep the device away from moisture
  • Store in a cool, dry place when not in use
  • Charge regularly to maintain battery health
  • Clean the display with a soft, dry cloth

Battery Information

See Battery & Power for charging requirements and the low battery warnings.