PBC 4.0 beta firmware release

Status
Not open for further replies.
rjmmusic

rjmmusic

Administrator
Staff member
At long last, here's the 4.0 beta. I've been working on this one since June, and am very happy to get it out to all of you before the end of the year. If any of you could do some testing and let me know if you run into any problems, it would very helpful!

There are quite a few features and fixes, here are most of them:

Audio Features
  • Audio loops can now be set as "independent". This is a global-level setting that is a new option to the locked/unlocked setting. An independent loop does not change when you change presets - it stays in whatever state you last set (by IA button presses).
  • There is now an Audio / Input action that controls the input mute.
  • It's now possible to disable the internal tuner
  • There is a new Guitar mode for the tuner that allows you to set a capo (in semitones) and per-string offsets (in cents). You can also use the Chromatic mode to get the old tuner behavior.
Device Support
  • Added the Tap Button CC to Strymon pedals
  • Added missing Bypass CC for the Strymon Mobius
  • Added support for MD-500 and RV-500
  • Added support for Empress Echosystem, Reverb, Tremolo and Phaser
Expression Pedals
  • You can now define up to 128 expression pedal settings blocks. There's a System / ExpPedal action that allows you to switch expression pedal settings on the fly. This replaces expression pedal grouping
External Switches
  • External switches can now have different functions on different button pages (in addition to the per-preset settings they already have)
  • External switches now pay attention to color settings: setting a color to black means "LED off" and any other color means "LED on"
Function Switches
  • Function switches now have global and preset settings with lock, independent and override settings, just like audio loops do.
Presets
  • Each preset can now have a button color assigned to it. When a preset button calls up a preset, its button color will be displayed on that preset button (if any color is assigned)
  • Each preset can be assigned an alternate preset number. There's a new "Alternate" setting for the "Preset 2nd Press" global setting - when this setting is active, pressing a preset button a second time will recall the preset's alternate preset.
Song / Setlist:
  • It's now possible to select a preset that's not part of the current song, and also possible to select a song that's not part of the current setlist.
  • There is now a System / Song action that allows you to select songs from an IA button, macro, etc. Special values are "None", "Previous" and "Next"
  • The System / Setlist action now has special values "None", "Same", "Previous" and "Next"
  • When switching setlists, will always reset to the first song and preset in the setlist
Tempo
  • Each preset can set a tempo division for the MIDI clock output and the Auto Tap feature
  • Presets can specify a tempo value, or special values "Off", "Same", "Song"
  • Songs can specify a tempo value, or special values "Off", "Same", "Preset"
  • There is now a System / BPM action that allows you to set tempos on the fly. Special values are "Off", "Same", "Song", "Preset", "Plus 1", "Plus 0.1", "Minus 1", "Minus 0.1"
  • There's a setting that enables or disables sending of MIDI start and stop messages when the clock starts and stop
  • There's a setting that enables or disables sending MIDI clock to the secondary output pins of the MIDI in port.
  • "Ignore Preset Tempos" setting forces the system to ignore all tempos in presets and act as if the tempo was set to "Song"
  • There is now an "Auto" setting for the "MIDI Clock" parameter. This one makes the system a clock master unless a clock is received from the USB port or MIDI In port, in which case it becomes a clock slave
Other Features
  • You can now format flash drives from the setup menu
  • MIDI Forwarding setting allows you to use the Mastermind as a USB MIDI interface for other MIDI devices. Works well with Strymon pedals and the Nixie software on a PC or Mac.
  • PC actions now have "Same" and "Prev" values. The former sends the most recently sent PC again. The latter sends the 2nd to last PC again
  • Added a System / IA Store action
  • The amount of time button names are displayed is now user configurable
  • There are now "Copy to Preset" and "Copy from Preset" options accessible by right-clicking on presets in the Presets tab of the editor.
Bug Fixes
  • IA Link now works correctly with buttons that recall presets
  • Click Stopper no longer is triggered when changing function switches
  • You can now select Dry Mix in an Audio / Signal action
  • Fixed issues with tempo and global preset
  • Bank Up / Down on a page with no preset buttons no longer causes a problem
  • You can now select any of the 64 setlists from the setup menu
  • Fixed the ability to set trails on loops 9 & 10 in the setup menu
  • Fixed a bug involving changing pages and momentary buttons
  • Edit Presets menu now correctly handles comments in preset names (text after a "|" character)
  • Fixed a bug that occurred when a preset index was set to 255
TO UPDATE FIRMWARE:

PLEASE DON'T UPDATE TO THIS RELEASE RIGHT BEFORE YOUR BIG GIG! THIS IS A BETA RELEASE AND MAY STILL BE BUGGY!

- First, back up your settings to a flash drive or computer! If you go back to 3.0 or earlier, your PBC will factory reset.
- Download and unzip the firmware file.
- Copy the file to a USB flash drive, and remove any other .rjf files from the flash drive.
- Eject the drive from your computer.
- Power on the Mastermind PBC while holding the 1 and 3 buttons.
- Keep holding until you see "Mastermind Bootloader" appear on the screen.
- Now plug the flash drive into your Mastermind PBC. The update should begin and will take a few minutes to complete.

Firmware: http://www.rjmmusic.com/downloads/MM40B1.zip

Mac Editor: http://www.rjmmusic.com/software/MastermindEditor-4.0b1.dmg
PC Editor: http://www.rjmmusic.com/software/MastermindEditor-4.0b1.zip

Manual: coming soon!
 
Amazing! Can’t wait til I can get this installed and play with it! Leaving for Disney World tomorrow morning, I’ll try it out as soon as I get back! Ron, thanks for all your hard work on this! Your customer service and care for your customers is second to none!

Hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas!
 
Ron, question about the MIDI to USB feature...

I have 4 midi pedals, and my chain is as follows: PBC>BigSky>Timeline>Mobius>Source Audio Programmable EQ. My last pedal has only a MIDI in port, no “through”. So it’s a dead end in the chain. With this setup, can I take advantage of this new feature? Do we still have to use a MIDI to USB interface somehow, or should it all happen through the existing MIDI cables. I’m wondering if Nixie will work for me as I described above?
 
@shoelesscraig , were you able to get the MIDI to USB to work at all? I can't get Nixie to detect my Timeline or Big Sky. I checked the "MIDI Forward" box on the Midi Tab in Editor v 4.0beta1 (no other boxes checked) and pushed changes to PBC running firmware v 4.0beta1. Is there something else I need to check in Midi section on editor? Or am I missing something else entirely?
 
Greg said:
@shoelesscraig , were you able to get the MIDI to USB to work at all? I can't get Nixie to detect my Timeline or Big Sky. I checked the "MIDI Forward" box on the Midi Tab in Editor v 4.0beta1 (no other boxes checked) and pushed changes to PBC running firmware v 4.0beta1. Is there something else I need to check in Midi section on editor? Or am I missing something else entirely?
Click to expand...

Hey man, not sure yet. I haven’t even put the new firmware on my board yet. I was just asking so that when I got there I wouldn’t know where to start.
 
I’ll wait for Ron to chime in, but if I understand the function correctly, the PBC would be a midi interface to your computer to talk to Nixie. In order for Nixie to operate, you need bi-directional midi with your midi pedals. So, I would assume you would have to complete the homerun after your last midi pedal back to the PBC midi input. That way the USB would be truly a bi-directional communication path with Nixie for Read-Write functionality.
 
sread said:
I’ll wait for Ron to chime in, but if I understand the function correctly, the PBC would be a midi interface to your computer to talk to Nixie. In order for Nixie to operate, you need bi-directional midi with your midi pedals. So, I would assume you would have to complete the homerun after your last midi pedal back to the PBC midi input. That way the USB would be truly a bi-directional communication path with Nixie for Read-Write functionality.
Click to expand...

I wondered that myself. I ran PBC-Timeline-Big Sky-PBC but I still didn't get Nixie to recognize it. It's weird because in the Nixie preferences it recognizes PBC as an input and output. I'm running Nixie 1.0.0.3 and updated the firmware on both Strymon pedals.
 
Greg said:
I wondered that myself. I ran PBC-Timeline-Big Sky-PBC but I still didn't get Nixie to recognize it. It's weird because in the Nixie preferences it recognizes PBC as an input and output. I'm running Nixie 1.0.0.3 and updated the firmware on both Strymon pedals.
Click to expand...

Nixie always recognized the PBC as both input and output for me prior to this release...it just wouldn’t find the pedals. I know before people talked about checking MIDI Merge. Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not.
 
Downloaded and transferred update to the PBC just fine. It's now on 4.0. When I tried to install the Mastermind Editor update I keep getting an error message when the PC Installer tries to read the file. I've tried it 3 times with same results. Each time I deleted the download and started fresh. Anyone else having the issue or is it something only here with me?

EDIT:...got it...error on my end extracting files.....as usual
 
Last edited:
I have downloaded and installed the firmware update to the PBC, and the new editor without problems. - But I cannot get it work either, with the Nixie software, Nixie cannot find the hardware. - My midi path is as follows: Pbc->G Lab M3S MIDIsplitter->Big sky->Timeline->Mobius->Pbc. - Midi forwarding has been ticket on in the editor. - Any help appreciated.
 
My PBC is now updated. Independent Loop option is great!
The only problem I found is: button page names have disappeared when file were converted.
 
I've been testing for my upcoming pedalboard today and was also having issues with Nixie. I was running PBC > Timeline > PBC. I played around with pretty much all the settings in the MIDI page with no luck.

Another issue I saw - selecting anything other than "none" for the startup macro totally disabled autotap for all presets and my tap tempo button became totally non-responsive.
 
First of all - I'm a relatively new user for the PBC Mastermind (Oct 2017), and I think this is an amazing product. - My life as semi-prof guitarist, becomes never the same, after I got this product. - Thanks to you Ron and Rjm music.

I think I found a few more candidates for "bugs" in the new firmware:
1. The Auto Tap function for my Boss DD7 did not work anymore
2. The function button, which I have set up for manual tapping, did not flash anymore with the current tempo.
 
Lars Bøgh said:
First of all - I'm a relatively new user for the PBC Mastermind (Oct 2017), and I think this is an amazing product. - My life as semi-prof guitarist, becomes never the same, after I got this product. - Thanks to you Ron and Rjm music.

I think I found a few more candidates for "bugs" in the new firmware:
1. The Auto Tap function for my Boss DD7 did not work anymore
2. The function button, which I have set up for manual tapping, did not flash anymore with the current tempo.
Click to expand...

Came to my mind the problem maybe is connected to Midi Clock? - I have set this to "Master" in the Midi page.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top