LT 4.0 beta firmware release

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rjmmusic

rjmmusic

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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:

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 special settings panels in the Globals and Presets tab of the editor. This allows you to set a default state, on/off overrides for each preset, and can lock a switch to be on or off at all times. Additionally, a function switch can be set to independent, which means it can only be changed by IA button presses and will not change when you change presets.
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
  • 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 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
  • When editing presets on the LT itself, the Bank Up button will now set a PC to None. This was mentioned in the manual, but didn't actually work previously.
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 LT 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 LY 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 LT. 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!
 
"There's a setting that enables or disables sending MIDI clock to the secondary output pins of the MIDI in port"

I'm unable to get this working, I've enabled bidirectional midi, midi clock is at master, and send clock to midi in port is on.
 
Stored expression pedal names are not saved on the unit itself.

Settings are stored, but if you open the editor and then read from device the names of the stored expressions will default to 0: - 1: etc
 
Rob Leishman said:
"There's a setting that enables or disables sending MIDI clock to the secondary output pins of the MIDI in port"

I'm unable to get this working, I've enabled bidirectional midi, midi clock is at master, and send clock to midi in port is on.
Click to expand...

Is this port working as an output for other types of messages?
 
Rob Leishman said:
Stored expression pedal names are not saved on the unit itself.

Settings are stored, but if you open the editor and then read from device the names of the stored expressions will default to 0: - 1: etc
Click to expand...

Ok, will look into it
 
Yes, you need a cable that flips the pins to different locations. The MIDI input is still an input, but in bidirectional mode two normally unused pins are used for MIDI output.

Pin 1 -> pin 4
pin 2 -> pin 2
pin 3 -> pin 5
pin 4 -> pin 1
pin 5 -> pin 3

If you're not into cable building, companies like Best-tronics can do that for you.
 
rjmmusic said:
Yes, you need a cable that flips the pins to different locations. The MIDI input is still an input, but in bidirectional mode two normally unused pins are used for MIDI output.

Pin 1 -> pin 4
pin 2 -> pin 2
pin 3 -> pin 5
pin 4 -> pin 1
pin 5 -> pin 3

If you're not into cable building, companies like Best-tronics can do that for you.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, I'll build a cable soon and retest.
 
Hi, I just upgraded to this OS specifically for the compatibility with Strymon's Nixie software, but I am still having issues getting the device to communicate. Nixie is recognizing the MIDI in/outputs on the Mastermind just fine, but even with MIDI Forward turned on I always encounter one of two issues.

1. The pedal shows up in Nixie but when I try to connect to it an error occurs saying Nixie "can't communicate with the pedal, check that your MIDI cables are connected correctly."

2. The pedal does not show up in Nixie and I get the same "no devices found" issue as you would before the 4.0 update to the Mastermind.

One thing I did notice, which may be completely unrelated (pardon me for still being rather new on the MIDI control scene), is that when I connect the Strymon pedal (a timeline) to the Mastermind and put it in test mode, the MIDI test fails when MIDI Forward is turned on, but passes when MIDI Forward is turned off and MIDI Merge is turned on. As I said, this could in fact be the way it's supposed to be and I just don't completely understand the signal flow, but thought it was worth bringing up.

Are there other settings I have to have enabled besides MIDI Forward in order for Nixie to connect to my Strymon pedals?

Current signal chain is

MMLT MIDI Out -> Timeline MIDI In
Timeline MIDI Out -> MMLT MIDI In
MMLT connected to 2017 MacBook Pro by USB

No other pedals connected or in the chain during this process

ALSO, I have verified that the Timeline and MIDI cables I'm using are NOT the issue, as I was able to run Nixie and access the pedal's functions just fine by connecting the same cables to the MIDI ports on old M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB interface. I was hoping that the Mastermind could take the place of that piece of junk, but so far have still been unsuccessful. Any advice/updates to resolve would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Kyle P


UPDATE!! I found a solution. Leaving the original post so that if anyone else shares my problem symptoms they will see this.

I was just able to connect Nixie and update my Timeline for the first time after 3 days of battling and immediately after finally "throwing in the towel" and posting on this thread (how typical). The issue is not with the devices, but rather with the fact that the Mastermind must be set on a VERY specific page for Nixie to recognize the connected device.

On the Mastermind, I have to access the settings page on the pedal (changing in the RJM Editor and updating the settings will not work) and go through the manual menus to MIDI settings, MIDI forward, then switch MIDI forward off, back on again, and then (Most Importantly) leave the pedal there and not touch a single switch. Nixie will now recognize the Timeline and update/backup my patches without a hitch, but if I press any switch on the Mastermind or navigate away from that menu at all (MIDI settings with MIDI forward selected), the pedal disappears and I go back to "no devices found."

This entire time I have been enabling MIDI forward using the Mac editor and getting no response, this was the first time I actually used the hard switches on the pedal to access it and it was pure luck that I happened to leave it selected, because as far as I can tell this is the only way Nixie will recognize the pedal. I don't know what exactly would cause this fragile scenario, but in the next update it would be great if Nixie could communicate through the MMLT regardless of whether MIDI forward is enabled via the stomp switches or the editor.

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
The final 4.0 is now available, I think I squashed the reported bugs. This thread is closed, please use the main 4.0 thread from now on.
 
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