Wizard and Alchemist firmware release v20.2

OWL Firmware
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#1

A new firmware release is available for the Wizard and Alchemist:

The main improvements in this version are in relation to USB Host functionality on the Wizard.

To upgrade, follow these instructions:

Firmware Upgrade

  1. Download firmware
    Download the appropriate firmware SysEx file: either Wizard.syx or Alchemist.syx

  2. Activate bootloader
    Your device has a built in bootloader which lets you upgrade its firmware using USB MIDI. To activate the bootloader, connect the device to your computer using the USB cable while holding down the bottom right button. The LED will blink three times to indicate that it is entering bootloader mode. The bootloader will identify itself as a MIDI device called OWL-BOOT.

  3. use a MIDI program to send the firmware SysEx file to the device
    MIDI programs that will send SysEx files include SysEx Librarian on Mac and MIDI-OX on Windows, as well as some DAWs. On Linux you can use amidi, part of the ALSA distribution. Send the entire file to the MIDI device called OWL-BOOT.

  4. power cycle the device and it will start up with the new firmware

2 Likes
#2

Congrats on the new version!

1 Like
#3

Hi!

Got my Wizard and Alchemist just in time before Christmas and, it hurts me to say, they were a bit glitchy. So I saw these updates and installed them using amidi, as suggested. The Wizard works a bit better, no need to restart it between selecting patches now. Though the patch selecting knob only works once, then I need to send Program Change over midi. (am I using it wrong?)

The Alchemist however, had less luck. After the upgrade and restart it goes into this mode where it just outputs a pulsing sound and the LED flashes green in the same rate as the pulse pulses. I have tried to install 20.0 again but it just pulses with a lower frequency. Good news is it still goes into flash mode if restarted with the flashing button pressed.

Also, a bit off topic maybe, a pair of the default patches sounds like they’re dropping sound data (that pulsing sound on top). That went for both devices, before the Wizard went into pulse-only mode.

Is there a solution to this?

#4

Hiya!

Yes we’re working through a few glitches with the new firmware codebase.
With the Alchemist it sounds like it might be stuck in a reset loop, where it tries to load a patch on startup which then causes it to reset. Do you know what patch you’ve stored in slot 1?

Audio drops: does that happen when you have a USB Device, e.g. MIDI keyboard, plugged in? There is an issue with the library code that we use, which causes an extra CPU load when a device is plugged in. They’ve said they’ll fix this but we might have to dive into the source ourselves… This extra load can push some patches over the limit, leading to audio drop-outs.

We’re working on a device management page for the website which will provide some tools for fixing problems like this. Also a new firmware version is forthcoming which should eliminate reset loops (we store the current patch id in non-volatile RAM and check it on startup).

1 Like
#5

Hi!

Thanks for the reply. Regarding the Alchemist, I don’t remember which one it was, only that it must have been one from the website. I’ll wait for the next firnware I guess then :slight_smile:

Regarding the Wizard, the dropouts did indeed stop when I disconnected the USB MIDI keyboard, I think I can live with that for now.

Thanks,
Johan

#6

Hi

Just to say that I also have now experienced what appears to be a reset loop with my Wizard, similar to what eblade describes above with the Alchmist. I also updated the firmware to v20.2 via sysex, but after this started, so it’s still pulsating steadily at around 120BPM with a glitch sound corresponding to the LED.
This occurred after trying to load a patch from the site - it’s hard to be 100% sure which one, but the patch may have been “Eucidlean Harp” or “dronebox”.

Is there anyway to reflash the wizard, wiping the memory slots?

1 Like