Windows doesn't see OWL

OWL OWL Pedal
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#1

Dug out my old OWL pedal to try a patch, but windows doesn’t seem to recognize it. Clues so far:

  • Windows 10 does detect magus & lich just fine, and calls them “OWL-MIDI” in device manager
  • No such entry in device manager for OWL pedal
  • green light is on, and patch selection works fine
  • opened up to check solder joints and didn’t see anything obviously wrong in the digital board.
  • Tried multiple cables, ports, computers.
  • Have used pedal before with same 2 computers, but it’s been a while.

Any guesses?

#2

Nevermind. Boards out of the housing work just fine. Might have an iffy connection somewhere, but I’m comfortable tracking that down.

#3

Success! - it was just a bad connection between cable and USB jack. Contact cleaner didn’t solve it, so I opened up the hole in the case so the plug could go further in. Seem good now.

#4

Hey @npauly,

Good to know that you’ve managed to figure it out on your own!

Btw, it looks like we’re close to the point where we can officially consider the old OWL firmware deprecated and make a guide for upgrading to the new firmware (same one that newer devices run). This won’t require using MCU programmer and would give you things like USB audio support, making all patch slots writable, access to flash storage resources and anything that would be added later. So stay tuned!

2 Likes
#5

Glad to hear it’s working again!

Some USB micro cables have a shorter metal bit and don’t enter the OWL Pedal case all the way. Sometimes it might be worth trying a different cable.