New Firmware v3.1 for Slim Phatty, LP Stage and Tribute

[bgm]

I am so sorry - that should be a huge warning at the top of the instructions (right next to the warning about the Digi-002).
At this time the PhattyLoader exists for Windows and for OSX on intel macs, apparently -- I was not aware of its incompatibility with PowerPC until now.

Okay. Man, that sucks.
I have an Intel iMac upstairs but I have no idea if my Alesis interface is compatible with it, and I need the interface because I have no USB on my Phatty.
In the meantime, can I shut the Little Phatty down if it's still saying "Please Send Firmware?" Can I re-load the old firmware with Sysex Librarian somehow?
Damn.

[Amos]

sure, now that the bootloader is on there it's safe to shut down. You can load firmware any time.
I'm really sorry for the inconvenience.

If you have any USB MIDI controller with DIN sockets on it, you might be able to use that as an impromptu USB MIDI interface.
I've loaded firmware using a little Oxygen controller keyboard before; it's class compliant so no worries about drivers or compatiblity.
Hoping maybe you have something similar. Barring that, all good luck with your MIDI interface and the other computer. And again. sorry.
I've also written to the PhattyLoader programmer to find out what our options are for a PowerMac port.

[bgm]

I'm really sorry for the inconvenience.

It's okay, I got it to work!
After eating my dinner in front of the computer, being grouchy-dad to my kids and running up and down the stairs for quite a while, trying to hook up a crazy wireless MIDI network from Intel Mac to basement PowerPC to interface to Moog (they could talk to each but I guess it was a crappy connection as the update always failed), I gave up on new Mac talking to old Mac and managed to find some new Intel Mac drivers online for my Alesis interface.
So I hauled the Phatty upstairs and hooked it up to the Intel Mac and after messing around with that for a while I managed to get things talking to each other and was rewarded with the upload and those pretty, pretty light patterns around the knobs that signify a successful reboot. Then I uploaded the newer hex file.
So...done!
Thanks a lot for all your hard work. I'm too tired to play with it right now, I just tried the Legato Glide and loved it. (So the default for the Legato Glide is OFF on each pre-set?)

[Amos]

(So the default for the Legato Glide is OFF on each pre-set?)

I think so - it's a new parameter using a section of patch memory that was previously unused/undefined... so probably the default is "off" but you may find a few where this parameter is set to ON already. There's no telling really

[Sir Nose]

Triplets would be great on the arp and LFO. To do this smoothly in time as it is now and external midi knob-job or sequencer is pretty much needed. The menu knob is great when exploring but not usable live. So I say go for the triplets.

Also, longer clock divisions for the arp would be welcome. I don't think there's a Whole+Whole. (I not in front of my LP). But I remember wanting a longer division.

[Nick S]

Hi, I've just bought a slim phatty... and only just seen that there seems to be quite a few issues with midi syncing, arp etc.. not what i was hoping for .. and i'm a bit confused ha!

I'm yet to hook it up as i wanted to find out whether I should update with this new firmware??? I'm a mac user and noticed on one of the posts from amos a mac version is yet to be developed successfully; without the flaws that everyone is talking about.

should i wait for this before i get going..? I sequence all my gear with an mpc 60, so midi syncing is essential! .. plus one of the big points of buying this synth for me is the arp... i really want that to work with no issues !

In all honesty, i'm wondering whether I 'really' want this synth now.. which is a shame 'cos it sounds awesome!

@ Amos- do you have an idea when the mac vers. will be?

thanks..nick

[Assar]

also (for those of you not in the above predicament) I have a small update:

OS 3.1 build 655 fixes the bugs with Tuning Scale; can now properly save a custom tuning scale (or GL = use global scale) per preset... and the Tuning Scale menu display makes more sense. Now it shows an asterisk on that page if the currently-active tuning is NOT the global tuning, but was set by the current preset... no asterisk if the Global tuning scale is active/currently displayed. Changing tunings on the master menu page always sets the global tuning scale and makes it active... if you then switch to a preset which has a specific tuning scale selected per preset, the preset scale becomes active and overrides the global scale. If you then switch to a preset which has "GL" i.e. the global scale set (this is my recommended setting for most presets), then the global scale is loaded again. It should all work somewhat intuitively now.

OS 3.1 build 655 for TRIBUTE EDITION
OS 3.1 build 655 for STAGE/STAGE II EDITION
OS 3.1 build 655 for SLIM PHATTY.

These are just hex files; load them into PhattyLoader to send to your synth.

Kind regards,

Amos

Hi Amos!

Have just been testing ...

What you write makes sense. But I don't know if I misunderstand the LP menus or not. It doesn't behave as I expect.

I assume that the menu "Tuning scale" sets the global value.
I assume that the menu "Advanced preset/Tuning scale" sets the preset value. (that's where you can set value GL)

If I set preset 64 this way:
Tuning scale: 8*
Advanced preset/Tuning scale: 8
... I get an asterisk after the global value (as shown above)

If I then change to "Tuning scale: 0" my LP plays "Tuning scale: 0".
When I switch to another preset and back again, it is still "Tuning scale: 8*" but my LP still plays "Tuning scale: 0".
The only way to get my LP to play tuning scale 8 is to set "Tuning scale: 8". I doesn't help to change "Advanced preset/Tuning scale".

My LP doesn't indicate a changed patch (purple light) when I go from Master to Preset mode even if I changed both parameters.

I can't seem to find the logic in this.
Have I missed something fundamental (could actually be the case) or doesn't it work as it should?

/ Assar

[Amos]

my first assumption is that it doesn't work as it should. Thanks for the feedback, I will check it.

[Amos]

Hi, I've just bought a slim phatty... and only just seen that there seems to be quite a few issues with midi syncing, arp etc.. not what i was hoping for .. and i'm a bit confused ha!

Nick, don't worry! The forum can be confusing sometimes. If you read carefully, all the people who posted about sync problems were also new users who didn't know what they were doing yet. Sync works fine. Get your clock source sending MIDI clock to the Slim, and set the LFO Mode and Arp Clock Source to MIDI Clock, and it will sync up just fine.

The only things that are "not ready" for Mac are the following:

1) An update utility for the USB firmware, which if your Slim serial number is 1424 or above, you don't need because you already have the latest version (v31, displayed on Master Menu/System Utilities page).

2) A VST/AU editor for the Phatty.

Everything else is all good... just dive in and try things and have fun, don't worry so much! If you run into any trouble just ask questions, I or your fellow users can help you out.

[Sore_Knee]

I'm starting to get confused with the menu structure,noticably with the arp since i upgraded to OS3 in my LPII.

there is settings in ADVANCED: ARPEG setting for the arp that seem the same as some of the settings in the ARP SETUP ie. the clock division and source.

how are each of the settings in the menu supposed to behave?

[EMwhite]

I'm starting to get confused with the menu structure,noticably with the arp since i upgraded to OS3 in my LPII.

there is settings in ADVANCED: ARPEG setting for the arp that seem the same as some of the settings in the ARP SETUP ie. the clock division and source.

how are each of the settings in the menu supposed to behave?

The short answer is that the options which are located under the "ADVANCED" options are specific to a particular Preset/Patch. You can have different ARP settings for each patch if you like.

OR... you can have any patch setup to adopt the 'Global' setting which is what you see at the 'top level' menu under ARP SETUP.

It contains Mode (which uses Internal Clock or Midi Clock) and other options which pertain to the clock and whether or not Midi is transmitted by the ARP.

ALL of the other options for the Arpeggiator are stored within the Patch Advanced options despite the setting of Global. Such settings include the playing order, the # of octaves, etc.

I'm sure a PDF doc will be released just after the code is finalized, until then post your questions here and one of us will respond. Options and behaviors are still being tweaked to some extent. This is (in my opinion) the mother of all releases so is worth the wait!

Hope this helps.

[Sore_Knee]

I'm starting to get confused with the menu structure,noticably with the arp since i upgraded to OS3 in my LPII.

there is settings in ADVANCED: ARPEG setting for the arp that seem the same as some of the settings in the ARP SETUP ie. the clock division and source.

how are each of the settings in the menu supposed to behave?

The short answer is that the options which are located under the "ADVANCED" options are specific to a particular Preset/Patch. You can have different ARP settings for each patch if you like.

OR... you can have any patch setup to adopt the 'Global' setting which is what you see at the 'top level' menu under ARP SETUP.

It contains Mode (which uses Internal Clock or Midi Clock) and other options which pertain to the clock and whether or not Midi is transmitted by the ARP.

ALL of the other options for the Arpeggiator are stored within the Patch Advanced options despite the setting of Global. Such settings include the playing order, the # of octaves, etc.

I'm sure a PDF doc will be released just after the code is finalized, until then post your questions here and one of us will respond. Options and behaviors are still being tweaked to some extent. This is (in my opinion) the mother of all releases so is worth the wait!

Hope this helps.

it helps alot. i thought it was something to do with preset and global settings, i just wasn't sure how it worked.

so, under the ADVANCED PRESET, for the clock source it lets you select INT, MIDI, or GLOBAL, select GLOBAL and it uses whatever the GLOBAL SETTING is in the ARP SETUP. ok got it.

Now the CLK DIV setting is also available in both the ADVANCED PRESET & ARP SETUP. how do you program the preset to use the global setting in ARP SETUP for the clock divider? it seems global setting in the ARP SETUP is just whatever the ADVANCED PRESET setting is. change either one, and they are the same in both locations. switch presets and the ARP SETUP setting changes to whatever is in the ADVANCED PRESET of the newly selected preset. like there is actually no global setting for clock div.

[Amos]

You are correct, there IS no global setting for clock div!

After discussing this with a few people, I may change it to be more like the clock source (a global which you can override per preset if you like).
As it is, clock div used to reside only on the Advanced Preset->Arpeggiator menu, but I added the ability to adjust this same (per preset) parameter from the global menu purely for convenience. If there was an actual global value, though, it might be still more convenient.

For now though, you have it right - the clock div setting is purely per preset, you just have the ability to modify it from the global menu because it's slightly quicker to access from there.

[mesa]

updated the Slim Phatty with OS 3.1 build 655 and every think seems good but just noticed this:

was just making a patch using the CA CALIBRATION made the sound was happy with it, so was just tweekin some bits in ADVANCE PRESET an noticed PW would only go up starting from 0 ,+2,+3,+4,+5,+7,+12 so its missing +1 +6 +8,+9,+10,+11 and its the same go down

[Amos]

updated the Slim Phatty with OS 3.1 build 655 and every think seems good but just noticed this:

was just making a patch using the CA CALIBRATION made the sound was happy with it, so was just tweekin some bits in ADVANCE PRESET an noticed PW would only go up starting from 0 ,+2,+3,+4,+5,+7,+12 so its missing +1 +6 +8,+9,+10,+11 and its the same go down

That's normal; those have always been the available pitch bend amounts.

I may make some changes to Pitch Bend in a future update... main reason would be to add +/- 2 octaves for guitar-synth players. I'm afraid that can't make it into the current release but it's on my list.