sorry, I could solve the issue easily.
just change the driver from “OWL-MIDI” to “USB audio device”. it works just fine.
thank you for your support anyway !
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Hello and welcome back!
I’m not an expert in USB drivers on Windows, but I can explain how USB device names are used in OWL firmware:
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OWL-MIDI - this was used on older versions of firmware. Driver was MIDI only.
-
OWL-BOOT - this is what bootloader uses, device is configured as MIDI only. I think you should only see it when you’re in bootloader mode for updating firmware
-
OWL-Magus (or replace Magus with device specific name for other hardware) - this is the composite USB device that includes MIDI and audio endpoints. This is used when recent versions of firmware are running.
It looks like Windows was using old device name. I think this could happen because you’ve used OWL with older firmware before. So when you’ve plugged another device that has the same USB vendor/device ID, it reused the same driver. And that would cause it to use wrong driver type (MIDI instead of composite audio + MIDI).
Btw, are you still using the old OWL pedal/module? We’ve just recently added remaining missing pieces to it (patch switching), so I can upload a firmware image for testing.
Hello,
thank you for your advise !
after I changed the usb-midi driver, I could be able to update firmware of Magus to latest. then it appears as “OWL-Magus” in Device Manager. it seems i still have to use “USB audio device” since “OWL-MIDI (Interface 0)” doesn’t work here. but it’s just no problem to use !
and, yes, I still have OWL module, and probably i’ll keep it then. would be great to test new firmware.
thank you !!!
Hi, now OWL-module is running on OWL Modular v21.2-rc3. and it seems working without problem.
however patch selection (PUSH plus knob A & B) is still not working.
but it seems external PUSH input works which didn’t respond in previous firmware, which is great !!
just a quick report. thank you !!!
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I’m fairly sure that patch selection should work. But it was rewritten and may be slightly different from the old firmware. How to select patch:
- put knobs A/B to 0 position
- press pushbutton for 5-6 seconds until it starts blinking quickly and changes LED color
- move knob B, LED should change color when a different patch number is selected if it’s a valid patch
- move knob A, this would change patch bank number
- patch would be loaded when you release push button (if you’ve chosen different patch number)
Unlike the old firmware, you may have no patches in some slots, because of that some positions will do nothing. This is indicated by not changing LED color. So make sure that you have patches in slots that you’re trying to load.
Other than that, it uses the same patch arrangement into banks (A * 5 + B * 8).
sorry for late feedback !
in conclusion, patch selection doesn’t work well on owl module here.
- put knobs A/B to 0 position
- press pushbutton for 5-6 seconds until it starts blinking quickly and changes LED color
these process seems ok.
however, moving knob B makes LED color change between green and red. but when i release push button,
strangely it’s ok to patch from slot 1, but when trying to load other preset, LED just turns off and make beep sound about 4 or 5 seconds. then LED turns green again, but selected patch is not loaded.
also it’s no problem to change patch from online “device” page.
sorry for my poor explanation !
@hibarimusic, you’re correct that there was a problem loading patches
I think I’ve finally resolved it, please try the fixed version (link removed, posted again below)
hello, thank you !
but it seems owl modular is dead now after i’ve uploaded new version from WebUSB DFU
LED doesn’t turn on, at it disappeared from device manager, not recognized as USB device anymore. maybe i did something wrong…
i take this issue as a sign to focus on Magus for now.
Can you still enter DFU mode when you boot with pushbutton pressed? I’m not sure if webdfu would flash OWL correctly, could you try dfu-util instead if DFU mode works?
I’m not very familiar with how webdfu works, but you at least must specify correct flash address ( 0x8008000 ) to write firmware correctly. If you’ve written to invalid address, it’s possible that you’ve overwritten DFU bootloader on device, then you’ll have to use ST-link programmer in order to restore bootloader.
The OWL Pedal and Modular can be recovered without a programmer. DFU mode can be forced by either moving a jumper or, on older versions of the hardware, connecting two wires on the back of the digital board.
https://web.archive.org/web/20161005013308/https://hoxtonowl.com/mediawiki/index.php/Hardware_DFU
Once in DFU mode, a new bootloader can be flashed with either webdfu or dfu-util, or potentially with one of the DFU programs from ST Microelectronics.
Image above was for OWL modular despite its name. To avoid confusion, here’s firmware builds for both devices with distinct names:
OwlPedal-v21.2-rc4.bin (245.1 KB)
OwlModular-v21.2-rc4.bin (245.2 KB)
thank you for instructions !
I could enter in DFU mode by moving jumper (strangely jumper position is opposite from the picture shown (OWL rev06)).
webUSB DFU recognized OWL modular as STM32 BOOTLOADER now.
but uploading firmware (even older version) doesn’t help to make OWL live back. i was sureI’d uploaded on internal flash (0x8008000) last time , but probably something is damaged ??
If the problem was caused by overwriting bootloader, you will still need to flash something in place of it. You can try flashing the first file here:
Updated versions linked a few posts below
This is the same bootloader that is used on newer devices, so it supports updating with MIDI SysEx instead of DFU. Normally it gets written from firmware, but it’s ok to just flash image directly. If you can boot from it, you won’t need to use DFU at all. If it works and firmware is OK, you should get everything working. If firmware is not flashed correctly, it should return to bootloader mode (OWL-BOOT midi device name), then I’ll upload sysex image to flash firmware without DFU.
Note: you must use 0x8000000 address for bootloader, not 0x8008000 that is used for firmware.
thanks a lot, i understand i had stupidly overwritten bootloader. my OWL get its life back after following your instructions. and it seems like patch selection working correctly !!
Glad that it worked! I was getting worried that I’ve made some mistake building it, now I’m relieved.
I flashed the OwlPedal-v21.2-rc4.bin file to my owlpedal and it is recognized as a midi device, but It doesn’t survive a reboot so I can’t load a patch or change firmware using the webpage tool. could I have overwritten the bootloader too?
Where do I go from here?
Can you access DFU mode? It should always be available, see Martin’s post above for instructions that may be required for some hardware version.
I can enter DFU mode by opening the pedal and powering it up with jumper acrobatics yes, that’s how I’ve pushed in that .bin file from above. I don’t think I overwrote the bootloader, I used dfu-util and issued “dfu-util -d 0483:df11 -c 1 -i 0 -a 0 -s 0x8008000:leave -D OwlPedal-v21.2-rc4.bin” which works, loads that file, but the thing doesn’t survive a reboot.
the address 0x8008000 is correct for firmware, right?
I pushed that file in a few times, same result.
Yes, you’ve used correct address, so it most likely means that there’s no valid bootloader that could run this firmware.
Bootloader image posted here before had an issue in Pedal build, that’s why it got removed. Here’s updated builds for OWL1, including Modular version that enables staying in bootloader mode if pushbutton is pressed.
MidiBoot-Modular.bin (23.2 KB)
MidiBoot-Modular.syx (27.7 KB)
MidiBoot-Pedal.bin (23.2 KB)
MidiBoot-Pedal.syx (27.7 KB)
For bootloader flashing you should change command to use different file and address, so it becomes:
dfu-util -d 0483:df11 -c 1 -i 0 -a 0 -s 0x8000000:leave -D MidiBoot-Pedal.bin
If it goes well, you should be able to either boot last flashed firmware or it may reset to bootloader if firmware is invalid. You can tell that by USB device name (OWL-BOOT vs OWL-MIDI).