OWL3 Witch/Magus

[davidpirro]

Hello!

I would have a few questions regarding the OWL, Witch and the Magus.

Does the current version of the Witch, the one that is sold on Rebel Technology’s page, tun with the OWL3? (I think the OWL3 is the OWL version running with the stm32h7, right?)

Further, if I am lucky and can find a Magus somewhere to buy, (if you know where I should look please tell me, it seems pretty difficult to find one), would it be possible to upgrade it to use the OWL3?

Thank you for your help!

Best wishes,

David

[antisvin]

Hello, @davidpirro

@davidpirro

I think the OWL3 is the OWL version running with the stm32h7, right?

Right you are, STM32H743. And there’s another board (Xibeca) that uses STM32H750 and a different audio codecs that has 6 input and 8 output channels.

OWL3 ports for them are not ready yet. Work on Magus was started some time ago, but when I tried to build it and run on mine it produced no audio. I couldn’t find out any obvious misconfiguration from just looking at its project code, unfortunately.

Also, I’m not sure how easy it would be to find a used Magus these days. But I know that there have been some updates in its hardware since initial Kickstarted run, i.e. to reduce amount of noise which can be a problem there due to having LEDs and display. I wouldn’t be surprised if there would be yet another update to hardware along with proper OWL3 support when it happens.

I don’t think there was any effort towards porting Witch yet, which is surprising as that device was launched with polyphonic patches that would benefit greatly from a faster MCU. Turns out that Martin started work on this less than a month ago. I’ve also noticed that they have it on sale in Befaco shop, I was told earlier that they’ve stopped sales due to running out of OWL2 boards and no support for OWL3. So it seems like firmware port is either ready or will be finished soon. Unfortunately I don’t have a Witch to test current state of firmware.

There is a totally new module in the works specifically for OWL3, I can only say that it has lots of physical controls compared to previous hardware.

[davidpirro]

Thank you for your reply @antisvin!

@antisvin

Hello, @davidpirro

@davidpirro

I think the OWL3 is the OWL version running with the stm32h7, right?

Right you are, STM32H743. And there’s another board (Xibeca) that uses STM32H750 and a different audio codecs that has 6 input and 8 output channels.

Thank you for confirming. Is the Xibeca Board an OWL successor of sorts? I can’t seem to find any information online…

@"antisvin

I don’t think there was any effort towards porting Witch yet, which is surprising as that device was launched with polyphonic patches that would benefit greatly from a faster MCU. Turns out that Martin started work on this less than a month ago. I’ve also noticed that they have it on sale in Befaco shop, I was told earlier that they’ve stopped sales due to running out of OWL2 boards and no support for OWL3. So it seems like firmware port is either ready or will be finished soon. Unfortunately I don’t have a Witch to test current state of firmware.

I see. The Witch is a really interesting device; which I would buy immediately. But, I’m somewhat reluctant now knowing that it will be upgraded soon to work with the newer boards. And I would really like to work with the newer stm32H7 MCUs

@"antisvin

There is a totally new module in the works specifically for OWL3, I can only say that it has lots of physical controls compared to previous hardware.

This is awesome news! I’m would be really interested! Part of the reason of my looking at the Magus was the multiple IO possibilities (with possibility to change between input and output modes) and the encoder controllers, the OLED screen and of course of the USB connectivity.

Are there any more details possible? I know, I know, its’ difficult etc… But is there any possibility of giving some temporal horizon? Some hint on the interface?

David

[antisvin]

@davidpirro

Is the Xibeca Board an OWL successor of sorts?

No, more like a stepsister with more audio channel and extra SDRAM. So far it’s only been used in AC/DC and there’s an upcoming dev kit

@davidpirro

But, I’m somewhat reluctant now knowing that it will be upgraded soon to work with the newer boards.

They’re out of OWL2 boards and won’t be making new ones, so all hardware that used and is still being sold has switched to OWL3. Currently they have only the DIY kit for Witch in shop’s stock and I was told it comes with OWL3 and a pre-release version of firmware, a stable release will be made soon enough.

[davidpirro]

@"antisvin

@davidpirro

Is the Xibeca Board an OWL successor of sorts?

No, more like a stepsister with more audio channel and extra SDRAM. So far it’s only been used in AC/DC and there’s an upcoming dev kit

That looks and sounds great! I would love to get my hands on that dev kit! Any idea when that would be available?

@"antisvin

@davidpirro

But, I’m somewhat reluctant now knowing that it will be upgraded soon to work with the newer boards.

They’re out of OWL2 boards and won’t be making new ones, so all hardware that used and is still being sold has switched to OWL3. Currently they have only the DIY kit for Witch in shop’s stock and I was told it comes with OWL3 and a pre-release version of firmware, a stable release will be made soon enough.

Thank you for checking that out! I ordered the Witch.

[antisvin]

@davidpirro

Any idea when that would be available?

I was told its hardware was finalized a while ago, but there are some firmware issues that have to be addressed before making it public. My guess is that next OpenWare release would get both Witch3 and XDK builds. I have no idea when that will happen, unfortunately.