Renamed private modules to unlisted modules and added a red alert text to the upload form.
This should make it clearer that modules are always accessible for everyone if the URL is known, even if they have the unlisted flag.

So "private" is what YouTube calls "unlisted", I see.
-- ApolaKipso

To make it clearer that there is no real module privacy on ModularGrid

• I have changed the Module private tag to unlisted
• I have put on a red alert text in the upload form
• I have changed the Fieldset name from Privacy to Module Listing

Thanks for your feedback! I always need user input to improve things.
Best Knut

BUG REPORT: "PRIVATE" MODULES

Modules tagged as "private" are visible to anyone. If the tag is not meant to mean "this is hidden from anyone but the module's creator", this should be made clear, otherwise that's a bug that should be fixed.

It is not a bug but an intended function. Private modules are just excluded from the module browser, but they are accessible if you know the URL. Same function exists on other sharing sites like YouTube too.
I see I failed miserable to make this clear and will improve the description text in the upload form.

The issue came up here: http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1747830#1747830

It's also not clear (at least to me) why "private" and "duplicate" are combined into one tag.

In the ModularGrid way the duplicate tag has the same purpose as the private tag.
They just should exclude modules from the module browser and search engine.
But you are still be able to add them to your racks if you like.
ModularGrid wasn't made on one day so a lot of inconsistencies from new features sneak into the system.
I try to iron them out over time, sorry for your inconvenience ...

Hi!

Well we should have something to inform us of how many HP we have free on our racks and when you hover your mouse over a free space it should input the amount of HP free on the space! That would rock and would make my life much easier!

This idea was requested some time ago. I think it would be cool, but it is not that easy to do.
I will look into this again ...

Btw payed today Unicorn account and I'm more than happy to maintain ModGrid alive 4ever :D
-- AThousandDetails

Thanks a lot!

Btw. that is not exactly what you want to see but as a workaround:
the Data Sheet sums up all your used HPs in your rack...
Data Sheet for your Rack

I see. I think there will be a problem with the image resizing.
I once had plans to merge TrueGrid (great blinking lights) and the planner in one application, but this was a little to ambitious.
Will see what time brings

Rack Data Sheets

At the power consumption stats under your Rack you find a link to the Data Sheet.
It's a spreadsheet like table with all modules in your Rack.

• You can see instantly which power specs are missing (a click on the questionmark leads to the edit form)
• You can sort the columns to find the widest, deepest and most power consuming module.
• You can see power consumption per row

You can not upload any images to the forum, but you can already embed gifs via markdown syntax.

Do this
![](http://www.changethethought.com/wp-content/tumblr_lad3eouzez1qzt4vjo1_500.gif)
to see this

Hey, this is a nice idea. This may come but not very soon.

Checking incomplete power consumption specs

This feature adds a warning in Rack view under the power consumption stats, if modules of a Rack have missing power specs.

Display missing values

All power related values are displayed in the Popover so it's easier to find what is missing.

New Module field "is passive"

To exclude passive modules like mults from the incomplete power consumption alert they can be flagged as a passive module.

Show/hide "other/unknown" manufacturers is now set to show by default to prevent the upload of duplicates recently because users "could not find the module".

Yes, flagged as private.

SSL/Https Encoding

I implemented https a while ago and wanted to test the site in deep before announcing it. But Google was faster and redirects directly to https if you coming from their search.
So, yeah, it should work in general.
Your browser will show the "broken lock" on some pages where content is included from the non-secure CDN server, though.
Regardless, you are save to login with your password from dubious Bangkok WLAN spots when in urge to check for latest modules on your holiday vacation.

The text input field of the module browser formerly only searched in the module name and description.
Now it also searches for manufacturer names.
This should help to prevent the upload of duplicates because several users reported "module didn't show up in the search".

ModularGrid has some new advanced module search features!

• Show/hide "other/unknown" manufacturers
• Filter by Build Type for DIY or assembled modules
• Find a module with two function properties like dual AND VCA

When searching it would be nice for more sorting criteria, results count

Overall I am glad modulargrid exists, but for a newbie like me it's a bit overwhelming to find my way through all this information
-- heartcore

There will be more search options soon, but I doubt that this will fix the overwhelming info problem.

My request would be to show a number that represents total usage, regardless of whether the rack that includes the module is public or private.

-- sempervirent

O.k. this was a simple fix, it's online.

My request would be to show a number that represents total usage, regardless of whether the rack that includes the module is public or private. Perhaps something like this, which would maintain the privacy of individual racks while providing a more accurate indication of a module's popularity:

-- sempervirent

I see, I will check this. (And fix this URL autolink function which seems broken)

Hey grieve, thanks for your input, it's very valuable for me to know what users want to see.
It's always hard to decide which features should be realized. I have to be very careful to not "feature creep" the ModularGrid, because every additional function makes the user interface more complicated and introduces potential new bugs.

I like the wishlist and grouping function idea.
Grouping would be cool, but it's harder to develop. I will put both to the to do feature list.

...Personally I signed up for a "Unicorn" account just to support the work the basic functionality requires.... and not so much for the additional features. I think a few more features like this and my other suggestion above would make the unicorn account a greater value from a practical stand point to those on the fence.
-- grieve

Thanks a lot for your contribution! If you are already visiting this site for a while you will recognize that a lot of the functions where done on user requests. I can not promise to implement everything instantly but I am constantly working on the site to make it better in progress.

Best Knut

Fixed some issues on the Rack and Patch browsers pagina which prevented to go back to page 1.

Unicorn Accounts and 500 series universe is online

I think what you are offering is more than fair. For the information and service you provide it is easily worth what you are charging. While I could probably get by with a free account, I'll pay the small fee just to support this excellent service.

Thanks!

I applaud you for not thinning out the screenshot database. I hate seeing broken links in forum posts.

Yes. Key strategy here is to slow down the growth of screenshot data through the limits in the standard account..

Please add the modules as "Other/unknown". I can reassign them later.
Category for compressor is Dynamics for now.

To address the above bullet points, won't you need to clean up some of the "Main (copy) (copy) (copy) (copy) (copy)" entries?
I would think something like deleting ">10, not accessed in 1yr" racks would be acceptable.
-- Sleipnir

That's always a little problematic. Many of the racks screenshots are embedded in forums. Deletion would result in a lot of broken images which does not look good.
I delete older empty racks and unused anonymous accounts though.

The ModularGrid Unicorn Account

Today I introduce the Unicorn Account which is a payable upgrade for registered ModularGrid users.

Before you unpack your torches and pitchforks please read on:
In the last three years I have understand that a complete free an unlimited webapp comes with some significant problems.
And that's not only me doing an unpaid fulltime job.
The main problem is the excessive accumulation of digital garbage which eventually spoils the fun and value in use for everybody. You have mods in forums to care about such but that does not work on a web-based modular planner.

The Unicorn Account should address these:

• Satisfy the calls for even bigger Racks for the Pros while preventing the polluting of the database by some Newbs
• Keep the amount of Racks at a healthy minimum, make browsing through the Racks interesting again.
• Prevent the webspace been eaten by zillion rack screenshots of final_system(copy)(copy)(copy)(copy)
• Better statistics, tame the need of users to build another Math-only Monsterrack
• Better server performance for everyone. Better protection from DOS.
• Bring in some cash, obviously.

Chances are you won't notice

The standard MG account will be always free and still lets you create 10 racks, each of the size of a massive Doepfer monster case! That should be more than enough for 95% of all MG users.

(Remember you can always copy modules in two opened browser windows with the c,p,x keyboard shortcuts.)

You won't lose what you already got

I thought a lot about to make this change happen without taking away what users already have.
The solution: If you already have a large or a lot of racks, you can still use them for free!
You just won't be able to resize your big rack and you can not create new ones if you are over the limit.

Read more about the Unicorn Account:
http://www.modulargrid.net/e/users/pro_index

... and tell me what you think

Fixed the "frozen module" bug in the planner on iOS8 devices.

No, sorry, there is no undo function available at the moment.

Flagged as private

Flagged as private

I want to refer to the thread title and give you a general explanation, why limits are necessary.
Many users asked me why there is such a limit at all.

The main reason for the limitation is to ensure an acceptable server performance and keep the system save.
Without limits the consecutive duplication of huge racks could easily bring the server down.
This can happen without a bad purpose in mind but it also can be used in an attack scenario (This is no fantasy, it happened already).

The main problems:

1. Heavy SQL processes slow down the server
2. Database grows non-linear over time and slows down every other query
3. Screenshot generation needs a lot of RAM
4. Screenshots will be huge. If people embed those 3MB+ shots in Forums, other users won't be happy to load the thread on their mobile plans.
5. Also server traffic increases. This will cost money at some point.
6. The general Planner, SketchAPatch and TrueGrid rely on client side JavaScript. The bigger the rack, the bigger memory consumption, the slower the drag'n'drop performance, etc. This can lead to Browser crashes in extreme cases or on low-end computers like phones and tablets.

I increased the limit for rows and columns many times and I think this is maxed out.
I know many of you guys will find this unacceptable so I am thinking about a solution.

PS. I would like to say that this is one of the coolest sites on the net, free too.
-- gwpt

The keyword here is free.

Will you guys freak out if I introduce some kind of paid account for "Pro" users, which will expand those limits?

This would solve some (but not all) problems and of course would give me some revenue.
What are your thoughts?
Best Knut

EDITED Aug 16th 2014, 11:19

Somehow the Core API Team of Chrome/Google decided to change the WebAudioAPI. This broke TrueGrid.
I am not angry , in fact they did some necessary refactoring of the code.
I tried to migrate all the changes and at least TrueGrid is working again.
And amazingly it also works in Firefox, now (well, kind off, but promising).
Btw, I played a bit with TrueGrid today and browsed through the patches and had a lot of fun.
Some of them are really nice!
Note to myself: I should definitely spend some time to improve this part of MG.
It had such a good start but stalled a bit ...

For those of you who experienced problems:
TrueGrid is working again.

Thanks for kind words!
My pleasure, best Knut

Thanks for reporting!

Yo, Knut!

The Update=>Screenshot function is no longer working.

I keep getting the message "Image not found," and the error:

Error: The requested address '/img/racks/modulargrid_??????.jpg' was not found on this server.

The Command Center => Update Screenshot Preview is also malfunctioning.

Something screwy with CakePHP?
-- Adminius

Screenshots are generated by a "headless XServer".
This Mofo likes to crash every once in a while, it's a bug since day one.
My professional solution so far is the IT Crowd approach: switch it off and on again.
There you go, works again :)

As much as I like this product, it is not a module and should not belong here. Flagged as private.
-- modulargrid

My bad. It is mountable as a module. Removed flag.
Someone can upload a better "2D" image of this?

As much as I like this product, it is not a module and should not belong here. Flagged as private.

It's basically the right-click menu. I activates on mobiles when you long-press a module ...
-- wiredearp

O.K., now I think I get what you mean. The menu which reads "Save image/Copy" ?
Strange thing: I can not reproduce it on my iPad (iOS 7.1). The contextual menu only shows up, when I am hovering about a module in a rack of an other user where I have no editing rights.
On my own racks I am not able to trigger the contextual menu (?).
Your code looks good, but I have to been able to reproduce the error. I will investigate further ...

I rated a module that I don't own, just to see how it feels to own a module. I now regret it. Can I remove my rating? I'm sure it's a good module though, so I gave it a fair rating.

That's not possible for users at the moment, sorry. I have deleted your rating with super admin powers.

Another thing: How can you see a modules rating on Modular Grid? You can see it in the Google search results, so it must be somewhere on the page. I can't find it.

It's on the module detail pages. The last entry in the Specs list. Ratings will only show up if there are any available, which is not the case on many modules.

Another thing, for the Modular Grid developers: I suggest we can event.preventDefault() the "contextmenu" event on mobile devices so that you can drag and drop modules on the iPad without triggering the contextmenu every second time. And thanks for doing this site.
-- wiredearp

Not sure what you mean with "contextmenu". If you mean this speech bubble thing with the specs:
You can click on the Popover on button above the rack to prevent the display of the popover.

O.k. that's an Android phone I guess. Sadly I don't have access to one and the simulators don't work with the touch stuff. I will try to borrow one and look into it.

So I frequently use modulargrid on my phone

What kind of phone are you using?

Oooh, idea: mobile app?

There will be no dedicated native mobile app. I try to make sure that MG runs in most mobile browsers, therefore your bug report is greatly appreciated.

Makes sense and actually already works this way.
If there is a thread to a module then you can find the link to the forum at the very bottom on the modules detail page (and also the latest comments).
If you add a comment to a module without a thread on the modules detail page you automatically add a new thread to the forum.
Hope that makes sense too

Sometimes "improvements" do the opposite thing and do not work for everyone.
In favor of the new streamlined comment function the private comment feature is gone, sorry.
It will only come back if I am forced by a wave of angry MG protesters.
Until this happens consider to flag your rack as public and maybe share the enjoyment of your planning with some other users.

• Switched Module Detail pages to Markdown
• Switched Manufacturer pages to Markdown
• fixed a Bug where comments on private racks leaked in the forum

The goal is to merge discussions into the forum in a way 90% of MG users won't even notice while given the other 10% who care better tools to use.
-- modulargrid

This happened today!
Since the comments from the individual module/patches/rack pages will be aggregated in the forum I had to change the forum structure to make this happen. That means:
No more format specific forums

As 1 or 2 other people have said, and I have mentioned privately, I really think that there should be a section where one can talk about more general music related topics - whether about more philosophical issues, or about compositional methods, etc, etc.
-- Nelson Baboon

I agree with nelson, a composition forum would be cool!
-- Wiktorion

Since the Forum is still very weak by now can we use the Modular Discussion Index for that? Perhaps I can just find a better name for it?

Merged Discussions into the Forum

Discussions are gone. Two commenting sections where overkill.
You can still comment on module/patches/racks but everything will be piped into the forum.
This keeps the code base slim.

And also every feature of the forum is now available in the former discussion pages like the search function, media embeds, emoticons and quotes.

I can see that you have unpacked some more bubble wrap!Wish you good fun with this machine!

No problem, but if someone watermarks an image, they do it for a reason.

By coincidence I bought a VCO-2RM lately. I will make a photo and upload a better image.

Also this image is clearly watermarked. Flagged this module as private.

Looks cool and I think you have showed me this already.Besides the UI the main problem is in the tracking of versions for multiple graphics.I did some wrong choices with database model design in the beginning and it's complicated to update this without breaking stuff. But it's still on my list.

I did not have figured out a simple and proper way to assign multiple panelgraphics to one module specification. That's the main problem. Now we have to deal with compromises. I understand both of your arguments. We have this problem with multicolored panels too.

Database capacity is no issue, but redundant search results are.Also, we have to keep severel database entries up to date, which never works in the real world.

The statistic features (Top Module/Popular Module) do not work with splitted module info anymore (see Math).So until I am able to implement a solution with the multiassign of panelgraphics I am taking sides to the "let's keep it unique and clean" fraction.I suggest to make use of the private flag function.

This site already has a fair level of integration with Muff Wiggler, and to be honest I think that Muff's has already established itself as the de facto website for modular synth discussion.

No doubt about that. And the MG forum is not meant to replace Muff, which would be a ridiculous and hopeless effort anyway.

MG already had a kind of basic forum functionality for a while with the discussion/comment section where you could comment on unique modules/racks/patches, so the idea behind the forum isn't exactly new.

The context sensitive discussion made absolutely sense but the implementation wasn't as good as I liked.

The new forum engine just tries to expand this functionality by adding a search function and a more common thread hierarchy and the possibility to add threads which are not bound to modules/racks/patches.
In my view this is evolution not revolution.

The goal is to merge discussions into the forum in a way 90% of MG users won't even notice while given the other 10% who care better tools to use.

Unfortunately I rushed the launch so the migration isn't ready yet (what bugs me).

I mean sure this new forum "doesn't look like an Excel® Spreadsheet" (personally I like the vBulletin look), but I really don't see anything here that Muff's doesn't already offer.

In short, making multiple general-purpose modular synth forums is kind of like making multiple modular databases; different distributions of people can yield different results. This can be a good thing, but I think the community around modulars is small enough as is.

When I started MG 3 years ago a lot people told me there is no reason to do it, because of the already established options available. If I had listen to them what would have happened?
Probably nothing!

People would still happily use their JAVA planners just because others told them that's the way to do it.
And most would accept that and wouldn't care about it at all.

I just try to improve things. This doesn't work in 80% of all times, and I never now if it will work or not.
I am sure that somewhere a kid is building the next Über-Planner, not because it makes sense, but because he wants to do it.