Analogue-sequencer

Folks,

You may notice that the current P3 firmware displays '#????' on 
startup, where ???? are odd characters.
The new CPUs are all written with their serial numbers in the flash, 
and display it on boot as #1234 or whatever.
I was thinking of releasing a utility that could be loaded as a main 
program to allow older P3 owners to configure a serial number.
This would involve a check code, so we don't end up with dozens of P3 
#1's.
Since I'm so busy at the moment, I thought I'd just check if anyone
is 
actually bothered about this first... ?

Cheers,
Colin f

colinfraser_com (07:47 AM 5/16/2005) wrote:

 >Folks,
 >
 >You may notice that the current P3 firmware displays '#????' on
 >startup, where ???? are odd characters.
 >...
 >Since I'm so busy at the moment, I thought I'd just check if anyone
 >is actually bothered about this first... ?

It doesn't bother me at all - in fact I think it's a nice distinction from 
what will be your assembled offerings (which I assume will have S/N's?)!


Mark

>  >You may notice that the current P3 firmware displays '#????' on
>  >startup, where ???? are odd characters.

> It doesn't bother me at all - in fact I think it's a nice 
> distinction from 
> what will be your assembled offerings (which I assume will 
> have S/N's?)!

All CPUs are now numbered.
Ready-built units have serial numbers starting with an odd digit, i.e. #1001
up.
Kit CPUs have an even digit, i.e. #2001 up.
Older units would probably be distinguished somehow too - maybe #A006 for a
ready-built, #K007 for a kit.

Cheers,
Colin f

Hi Colin,

On 16 May 2005 at 14:47, colinfraser_com wrote:

> Folks,
> 
> You may notice that the current P3 firmware displays '#????' on 
> startup, where ???? are odd characters.

Yeah, I did wonder.. Mine briefly displays #0000, and AFAIR there is 
an 18 in there somewhere. Wasn't paying much attention.

> I was thinking of releasing a utility that could be loaded as a 
main 
> program to allow older P3 owners to configure a serial number.

Might be nice to have.

> Since I'm so busy at the moment, I thought I'd just check if anyone
> is 
> actually bothered about this first... ?

If it's simple enough to do, then yes, but it's a minor thing really. 

Cheers

Andy
---

Andy Wilson
http://www.techman.synth.net
andy@techman.synth.net

On 16 May 2005 at 16:12, Colin f wrote:

> ready-built, #K007 for a kit.

Oohh that's my serial number :->)


Andy
---

Andy Wilson
http://www.techman.synth.net
andy@techman.synth.net

> Yeah, I did wonder.. Mine briefly displays #0000, and AFAIR there is 
> an 18 in there somewhere. Wasn't paying much attention.

The 18 refers to the processor speed.
This value is used to calculate timer values for tempo generation.
Newer CPUs have a 24 MHZ crystal, and are coded to display 24 on boot.
Actually the older CPUs seem to run OK over-clocked to 24MHz (they are rated
for 20MHz maximum).
But I wouldn't want to encourage that by releasing a patch to change the
stored value, unless someone wanted to be a guinea-pig...
 
Cheers,
Colin f

I'd like it to say 'Hello Tony' when I powered it up...

Tony :-)

On 16 May 2005 at 16:47, Oakley Sound wrote:

> I'd like it to say 'Hello Tony' when I powered it up...

I think I'd find it vaguely annoying if mine said 'Hello Tony' when I 
powered it up ;->)

Andy
---

Andy Wilson
http://www.techman.synth.net
andy@techman.synth.net

On Mon, 16 May 2005 17:05:41 +0100, "Andy Wilson"
<andy@techman.synth.net> wrote:

>On 16 May 2005 at 16:47, Oakley Sound wrote:
>
>> I'd like it to say 'Hello Tony' when I powered it up...
>
>I think I'd find it vaguely annoying if mine said 'Hello Tony' when I 
>powered it up ;->)

I'd find it reassuring as it would probably mean one of my synths was
going to get fixed.... <g>

Paul
---
Paul Nagle / Soft Room Music
 www.softroom.co.uk
 www.BogusFocus.com

** Binar's Project Poltergeist and Headshock's MFPE available direct from the Bogus site NOW. **

> I think I'd find it vaguely annoying if mine said 'Hello Tony' when I
powered it up ;->)

No, no... your P3 would say 'Buy more modules... buy more modules...' 
repeatedly.

Tony :-)

> I'd find it reassuring as it would probably mean one of my synths was 
> going to get fixed.... <g>

But also implying that one of them was about to break down.

Tony :-)

> No, no... your P3 would say 'Buy more modules... buy more modules...' 
> repeatedly.

If you remember Tony, I already put in the 'Buy Oakley Modules' subliminal
message in pattern edit mode, in return for the mention on your web site.

Cheers,
Colin f

>You may notice that the current P3 firmware displays '#????' on
startup, where ???? are odd characters.<

ah. "A073" won't even be doing that unless I update it, right? it's in
a flightcase in a cupboard in a rehearsal studio in stockport.....
would I ever, d'y'suppose, be able to use a yamaha datafiler to update
it? I tried this once (it renders the sysex as a *.mid file which the
p3 just ignores).... would save me carting the laptop there....

d.

> ah. "A073" won't even be doing that unless I update it, right? it's in
> a flightcase in a cupboard in a rehearsal studio in stockport.....
> would I ever, d'y'suppose, be able to use a yamaha datafiler to update
> it? I tried this once (it renders the sysex as a *.mid file which the
> p3 just ignores).... would save me carting the laptop there....

It's possible to convert a syx file to a mid file with suitable gaps between
the blocks. P3 shouldn't ignore that.
I don't see why a data filer wouldn't support it, if it plays mid files OK,
but maybe the Yamaha device ignores sysex, or doesn't support gaps between
blocks ?

Cheers,
Colin f

>>It's possible to convert a syx file to a mid file with suitable gaps
between the blocks. P3 shouldn't ignore that. I don't see why a data
filer wouldn't support it, if it plays mid files OK, but maybe the
Yamaha device ignores sysex, or doesn't support gaps between blocks ?<<

I think I'm going to have to look for a standard way to convert sysex
files to *.mid files.... an upgrade I just downloaded for summat else
(a mk1 supernova, since you ask, which has for years had "special"
buttons that don't do anything....) came as a midi song instead of
sysex. as it turned out, the file was damaged so I wasn't able to
upload it from either midi-ox or the yamaha.
things wouldn't be so bad if the damn datafiler would /record/ sysex
in the first place. then I could just run files into it from midi-ox
with some pre-determined buffer setup & keep a software library/backup
with the live rig. but it doesn't support sysex at all, which is a bit
rubbish. wish I'd bought the alesis one instead now.

btw- colin, I am the other fan of ms6's. I've got two now. my original
one arrived in 1994 & I immediately fitted it with separate outputs.
thank heavens kris maad is there to support them. does he have a p3 yet?

d.

> I think I'm going to have to look for a standard way to convert sysex
> files to *.mid files....

I have a nice little DOS utility call syx2mid.exe
You just tell it the syx file source, the desired midi filename, and the gap
between blocks in ms.
Works perfectly for P3 firmware dumps.

> btw- colin, I am the other fan of ms6's. I've got two now. my original
> one arrived in 1994 & I immediately fitted it with separate outputs.

I haven't quie got round to finishing my output mod yet... the Drehbank has
been on load for ages, so I haven't been using the MS.
Even with the Drehbank, it's still a bit clumsy compared to the JP8, so I'll
either have to find the time to do a custom desktop programmer with patch
management, or maybe get shot of the Cheetahs...

> thank heavens kris maad is there to support them. does he 
> have a p3 yet?

Not that I know of.
He should though.

Cheers,
Colin f