Some questions

OWL
#1

The owl is very neat and I’m excited to get going with it. I’ve just got some basic newb questions:

Compilation / banks:

I’ve successfully compiled via the web app and I download a sysex file, then when I choose “load patch from file” in the owlcontrol app, I choose either to store it into a user slot, or I choose to run the patch. Not sure I actually understand the difference there, as I have no idea how to scroll through patches while the owl is in standalone. Is there a way?

LED:
Is the owl supposed to make sound when the led light is green, and the patch reads the correct name in the drop-down menu?

Drop down:
Could you explain the drop-down menu? Maybe it’s a sort of bank of patches that you can store into the memory of the owl that is independent of a user library on disk? If so, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to switch these on the fly with the owl in standalone mode? Or maybe this is already implemented?

Clearing:

Is there a way to clear the contents of the pedal so that I can just fill it up with user presets?

Standalone / default behavior:

Is the owl “stateless” in the sense that when I power up it’s exactly where I left it? Or maybe exactly where I left it in the owlcontrol app?
If so, could someone please explain the process to me step by step regarding expectations of what should be happening? I read in another thread that the default patch can be saved by saving to a user slot, but that doesn’t totally click for me w/r/t what I should be doing to save the singular default preset that loads.

Push:

What is the “push” parameter? When I use it I find that it “kinda” works and kinda doesn’t… Many times I’ll push the push button LED and it turns red, and then all of the sudden I’m in another patch. Super weird.

Thank you!

#2

I should mention that I think I also have a patch that seems to either crash the owl, or that the owl doesn’t like. Somehow, it always ends up rejecting the patch from loading, and either refuses to load it, or loads it for a while, then it seems to crash and default to another patch. Let me know if you need more info on this; I could submit it as a bug report or maybe there’s something silly I’m doing. Thanks!

#3

Hi pepper, welcome to the OWL community!

Many of your questions will be answered in the Getting Started document: https://hoxtonowl.com/mediawiki/index.php/Getting_Started_With_OWL_Pedal

“The pedal comes with 40 installed patches. The last four are user programmable patch slots. To change patch, press and hold down the LED pushbutton for 3 seconds until the LED flashes. Turn the A knob to select from 5 banks of patches. Turn the B knob to select from 8 patches in each bank. As you turn either knob, each step toggles the LED between green and red.”

See this page for a list of pre-installed patches: https://hoxtonowl.com/mediawiki/index.php/Firmware/v12

You can make any patch the default patch, just select it in OwlControl then click Save to OWL. See https://hoxtonowl.com/forums/topic/saving-user-patch-during-power-cycle/

If you have a patch that doesn’t work the way you’d expect then pls put it up in the patch library (doesn’t have to be Published) and post a link!

have fun,

Martin

#4

Thanks Martin. Very helpful, and I have in fact read most of that.

default:
I did in fact see that post, but I suppose there’s a feature request in there: It would be nice to get some sort of visual feedback that this is in fact the default patch that is going to load when you turn the pedal on without any UI. Is this possible?

push:
From what I’m reading (or maybe not reading), the push button is not intended to be held in terms of using a loaded “owl patch” (which is less of a patch and more of a compiled executable DSP program). I feel like this is a bit of a design quagmire, since it’s simply a button. Is there a way to override the default behavior of the 3-second measurement that allows you to scan through patches? Buttons are useful and could be really interesting for the user of the code running on the owl! I wish there was more than one! :slight_smile:

#5

pepper, you could connect a switch to the expression pedal input and use that instead of the push button for further functionality. I also belong to the “want more buttons and switches and faders” group, unfortunately the OWL lacks at least one (momentary) footswitch and yet the ability to use the push button led to signal tap tempos, menu levels and such. hopefully we’ll get there.
Aside that, some hacking seems possible.

#6

@Martin Klang - I uploaded a file that exemplifies the issue and linked to it in a separate thread. Thanks for any help!