Vector 2.0 Release Firmware

[jim]

NOTE: 2.0 has been superseded by version 2.2:

https://forum.five12.net/forum/euror...lease-firmware

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HI Everyone!

I've promoted firmware build 1.9.54 to 2.0.0, link below. Many thanks to everyone for their
help and patience.

This is a pretty big release. If this is your first time to use it, be sure to read through
all the new features, which appear in the following post. If this is not your first go, just check
the RELEASE NOTES.

For Firmware Install instructions, scroll to the bottom of the second post.

BUG REPORTS: Send via email to jim (at) five12 (dot) com. I am MUCH better at bug tacking and fixing via email than on the forum.

If you are using CHROME, you may need to use a different browser to access the download.

Firmware download:

https://files.five12.com/VS-2.0.0/VECTOR.BIN.zip

User Guide:
https://files.five12.com/VectorUserGuideV2.0a.pdf

RELEASE NOTES:

2.0.0:
- updated firmware version number, no other changes from 1.9.54

1.9.43-1.9.54

- Sync: Fixed an issue when using USB A jack (including the launchpad) that would
affect sync timing.
- Lpad: Much better tracking of sequence ‘pages’ when editing a part both both the Vector
and the Launchpad.
- Updated how EXT MOD of Chance Probability is handled to make more sense.
NOTE: this may affect behavior of existing projects that use EXT MOD on Chance probability.
- Updated the Groove algorithm to be smarter and have a slightly wider range.
NOTE: this may affect the timing of existing groove settings.
- Dashboard: values now update on preset changes.
- Fixed an issue where Part names were not rest on NEW PROJ
- Fixed a couple issues that kept MIDI MTS files from working properly.
- Changed the ’Scene Reset on Stop’ pref to ‘ON STOP’ with three options:
‘AS IS’ (do nothing), ’SCENE1’ (go to scene 1), ’SCN+PST1’ : go to Scene 1
and set all Parts to Preset 1.
- Fixed some weirdness in the GENerator algorithms
- Updated the Encoder read routine to avoid ‘ghost moves’ with high system load.
- Fixed a conflict between Glide and Encoder reads
- Fixed a problem with Preset Copy/Paste
- updated the STATS page for improved sync stats.

1.9.41-42:
- Added a Scene Reset (SCN RS) pref: Off by default, controls whether scenes reset to the 1st scene on stop.
- Fixed an issue that could causing doubled or missing notes when changing presets.
- Fixed an issue where a TEST page might appear on startup.

1.9.40:
- Lpad Session Mode: fixed a grid update issue for scene changes if Vector UI not on scene page.
- Lpad: Velocity is now recored in RT-G (realtime grid) mode.
- Ext Mod: Fixed an issue related to Start Step modulation.
- Launchpad: Fixed an issue with entering accidentals
- Playlist: fixed a counting issue when changing presets
- Fixed a problem with the beat counter when Part1 is muted.

1.9.38-39:

- Fixed a bug with SubSeqs and StartStep modulation.
- REC MODES: Octave shift via Prev/Next buttons now only affect the VKBD, not other sources.
- Fixed an issue with Preset Quantize (PQNT) not defaulting to BAR for newly-created projects.

1.9.37:

- SCENES: now properly resets to Scene1 when the transport is stopped (w/o overwriting Scene 1 settings)
- CHANCE OP: Fixed an issue w/ the “CHANCE PTN” setting and the last step of a sequence.
- CHORD & DRUM PARTS: Rec Thru modes now respect voice assignments (drum note map) when outputting CVs.
- STEP REC : Fixed an issue where long notes that span multiple sequence steps would not play thru correctly.
- Launchpad: Muting Parts now updates the Part name display on the Vector properly (gray for muted, white for un-muted)
- Drum Parts: Fixed an issue w/ Chance Op Swap3-4

1.9.33-36

SYNC: Reduced both Jitter and Latency when sync’d via RC24, DIN & MIDI.

MOD SEQ 2 : Fixed some min/max issues when editing sequence values.

RT REC: Is now supported with VKBD entry. Keep in mind, the VKDB is only active on the REC page...

GENERATE: The Euclidean generators now work for sequences > 16 steps.

Launchpad:
- Session Page: Col 8, Row 1 Btn starts & stops the transport.
- Session Page: Col 8, Row 2 Btn enables/disables master record.
- Session Page: Row 2 now controls REC enable for all 8 parts. The other rows all shift
down by 1, so mutes are on row 3, Dashboard access on row 8.
- Fixed issue with Launchpad Pro Mk3 and buttons to the right of the main grid.
- PRESET Page: Restored the ability to jump to a blank preset

1.9.25-32

REC STEP + THRU (ST+T)
- this new recording mode enables both STEP recording behavior, with THRU behavior
(you can hear the notes as you program them)

REC RT-G (Realtime Grid)
- This new recording mode is a simple realtime option. When playing a sequence, any notes
played will overwrite what is in the sequence. All events are quantized to the current sequence grid.

CHORD PARTS:
- Launchpad: Added editing of chords
- Fixed an issue w/ EDIT + ENC BTN to put chord in Custom mode.
- Fixed a problem with Smart Gate mode and Chords.
- Fixed a problem with gate values not being erased when clearing a Chord Part Preset.
- The Spread MIDI Channels option in SEQ CTL now works for Chords Parts too.

LAUNCHPAD:
- you can now use the up & down buttons to transpose the keyboard.

GEN ALGOs
- All of them updated to generate across all steps in the sequence, and to NOT make any
changes to the SEQ CTL params.

USB MIDI HOST (USB-A) Jack: Fixed a couple situations that could cause MIDI OVERFLOW errors.

CC GEN: Updated to ensure CCs are only generated with Notes. Also updated to send CCs before
Note On messages.


PREFS: Fixed an issue where Autoload would sometimes not remember the last file loaded.

DISPLAY SLEEP: Fixed some issues that could cause the display to not wake up from sleep properly.

1.9.23, 1.9.24

SUB SEQS: Fixed some scaling issues when routing Sub-Seqs to Velocity outputs.
Restored min/max display, added VAL (param value) and OFS (sequence offset) labels to sequence pages.

CHANCE OPS: Skips : fixed an issue where sometimes steps that should be skipped
were instead muted.

- Fixed an issue with Melodic Minor scale quantization.
- Fixed a lockup related to chance ops and external sync.

1.9.14-22

PRESETS/SCENES: Copy, Paste, Insert
- The Copy and Paste key combination for Presets has changed from SHIFT+SEL, SHIFT+SKIP
to EDIT+SEL and EDIT+SKIP. The prompts on the Preset page have been updated to match.

- You can now insert presets using EDIT+MUTE. All presets from the current one to the next empty
preset are shifted over by one. The current preset is left alone, so you could also think of this
as a ‘duplicate in place’ operation.

- You can now use EDIT+SEL and EDIT+SKIP to copy and paste Scenes. The ’selected’ (aka
outlined) scene, is used for the copy/paste location, not the currently playing scene.

- You can now also insert scenes using EDIT+MUTE on the Scene page.


LAUNCHPAD:
There are several updates to the Session Page:
- Rows 3 & 4 can be used for Voice/Lane mutes for Chord and Drum Parts
- Rows 5 & 6 can now be used to select Scenes.
- Row 7 can be used to navigate to the first 8 Dashboard pages.

STEP LENGTH
- On the Step Length, Step Repeat and Seq Ctl pages, the top right of the 1st OLED now displays
the calculated length of the sequence in beats. It accounts for sequence length, rate, step length,
step repeat and skips. It doesn’t try to account for random changes such as Chance ops or external
modulation.

TUNINGS:
- Added 10 more built-in tunings, including 19 and 31 TET tunings, and all 8 tunings from the previous
tuning folder. In addition, where appropriate, the tunings now automatically adjust to the key you are in.
For example, JIA7T is a just-intonated tuning in A, but if your Part is in G, the tuning will be shifted to that key.
IMPORTANT: If you were using alternate tunings before, you may need to adjust settings to get the same results.
In particular: if you were using ET24, you will need to update the selected tuning itself. If you are having trouble
getting a previous project back to the correct semitone offset, email me and I can help.

- EXT MOD : Fixed an issue where the two mod busses would not work properly when both were
set to the same Ext Mod Input.

- SHIFT+PREV to RESET all: If you hold SHIFT and PREV, all Parts will reset on the downbeat of the next bar.

- STEP REC CHORDS: You can now step record chords for Chord Parts: Set REC mode to STEP, with the
MIDI input of your choice. You can enter notes on the REC page or Pitch page, but you will only see
the full chords on the Pitch page, so go there to enter your chords. The Record Cursor will show up as a
line under the current step to be modified. Play a chord on your MIDI keyboard. Once you release all
notes, the cursor will move to the next step. To manually move the cursor, hold SHIFT and turn Encoder 9.

- SEQ CTL: If you hold the PREV or NEXT buttons while ‘playing’ buttons on the mini keyboard,
you can now shift the transposition down (PREV) or up (NEXT) an octave.

- USB A ’To Device’ : improved MIDI output buffering to avoid issues with MIDI output.

- Fixed a stuck note issue when using the VKBD for MIDI THRU.
- Fixed an issue with REC THRU and chord parts.
- Fixed an issue where EDIT+EncBtn wasn’t working for Chord Parts.
- STEP REC now properly accounts for key when programming steps.
- Fixed a ‘programming too many notes’ issue in STEP REC.

1.9.12
- Fixes a playlist bug introduced in 1.9.11

1.9.9 - 1.9.11
- Playlist: Fixes an issue when using ‘play for beats’ options.
- Launchpad: Fixes ‘cursor flickering’ on the Rack Edit page.

1.9.8:
- Gates/Trigs : fixed a bug that could cause spurious gates.

[jim]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vector FW 1.9.X/2.0 NEW FEATURES

NEW PREFS:

The "MISC" preference page is now the 3rd page of GLOBALS / GENERL. Some
new prefs have been added:

- ENC SW: Sets the behavior when pushing the main 8 encoders (aka E1-8 SW). Options include:
NORM: How they worked previously, by following the Skip/Mute/Select sub-modes
GATE: A new smart-gate mode: add a 50% gate for steps with none, or mutes/un-mutes
steps that already have a gate value.
SKIP: Skips steps
MUTE: Mutes steps
SEL: Selects steps
PART: Direct selects Parts1-8 using Encoder 1-8 Switches.

- FOLLOW: Sets whether the UI for sequence edit pages follows the current step.
You can turn this on and off on the fly via CUE + E9 SW (encoder 9 switch)

- SLEEP: Sets the sleep time for the displays in minutes, or off. There is also
a setting "5-NR" for "sleep after 5 minutes, but not while running.

EXT CV MODULATION

There are some new modulation targets for external CV

PIT2 : Pitch, up to +/- 2 octave range
PIT5 : Pitch, up to +/- 5 octave range (aka 1V/octave)
POCT : Pitch, up to +/- 2 octave transposition, octaves only
P712 : Pitch, up to +/- 2 octave transposition, octaves and fifths
VELN : Velocity, narrow range, max +/- 25% change
VELW : Velocity, wide range, max +/- 100% change


VELOCITY:
- Velocity can now go as low as 0 volts.

- In SEQ CTL, 3rd page, "VELO" pref allows you to pick numeric readout for Velocity.

- EDIT+Twist to edit Velocity in smaller increments.

OTHER UI CHANGES:

- NEXT/PREV: Now wraps around sequences.

MIDI OUT:
- There is a new setting on the SEQ CTL - MIDI page, "SPR CH" for "Spread MIDI Channels".
When this is on, MIDI from this part will be spread across 4 adjacent channels, starting with
the channel assigned on the ROUTING page for the MIDI output.

PRESETS FOR SKIP, MUTE & SELECT
For each Part, you can now store a preset for skipped, muted, and selected steps. This preset
can be saved and recalled at any time. Use SHIFT + CUE + (SKIP/MUTE/SELECT) to save the
preset, and CUE + (SKIP/MUTE/SELECT) to recall it.

OTHER SKIP, MUTE & SELECT TRICKS:
You can now use EDIT + (SKIP/MUTE/SELECT) to invert the skiped/muted/selected steps.

RECORD MODE CHANGES:

- All Recording modes are now 'latched', meaning they are active even when you are on a different editing page.

- There is now a single, global on/off for recording -- no REC stuff happens anywhere unless RECord is on.
REC on/off is now the first param on the REC page. You can also turn REC on and off by pressing REC when
on the REC page, or with SHIFT+REC from anywhere.

- The REC LED will be red if you are in a part w/ a recording mode enabled, MAGENTA if some other part

- The STEP REC screen has been moved to the right-side OLED.
- The REC THRU status screen is now a 4 item MIDI Monitor!
- The REC TRANS screen shows the transpose amount.

- REC THRU now overrides the sequence for that part.

ALTERNATE TUNINGS & NOTATION

You can now specify a custom tuning for each Part, from a set of several that are built-in
and from 2 external tunings loaded from MIDI Tuning Specification (MTS) files. Most of the
built-in tunings use custom notations. The Built-In tunings include:

NORM: Normal tuning: 12 tones per octave, equal temperament, displayed as note names.
ITVL: Normal tuning, but displayed as roman numerals instead of note names.
NUMS: Normal tuning, but displayed as MIDI note numbers.
-3+7: Normal tuning, but displayed as voltage values from -3 to +7 volts.

-3+3: Voltage outputs from -3 to +3 volts, 20 divisions per octave. Handy for generating
bi-polar values for modulation. Remember that you can use pitch glide to smooth out transitions.
0-5: Voltage output from 0 to 5 volts, 24 divisions per octave. Handy for unipolar modulation.

ET13: Equal temperament, 13 tones per octave, displayed as semitones from 0 to 12, with octave readout below.
ET14: As above, 14 tones per octave.
ET15: As above, 15 tones per octave.
ET16: As above, 16 tones per octave.
ET24: As above, 24 tones per octave, e.g. a quarter tone tuning.

To set the tuning used by a Part, look at the 2nd page of settings in SEQ CTL, parameter
name "TUN".

To set which two external tunigns are loaded from MTS files, look at the 2nd page of
GLOBALS : GENERL. On startup, the Vector will look for a TUNING folder in the F12_VS
folder of the SD card. Any valid .MID files will be read and available to load into
either of the two available slots. Either of them may then be selected in the SEQ
CTL section for each part. The two external tunings are project-level prefs, so they
can change per-project.

Preparing MTS files for the Vector:

You can add your own tunings in the MIDI Tuning Standard (MTS) format to the TUNING directory.
Each file must be a MIDI .MID file containing one tuning in the MTS format and the total file
size must be less than 768 bytes. The files must be named with only upper-case characters, and
the main part of the filename (before the ".MID" part), must be 5 characters or less. The filename
will be used as the name of the tuning on the Vector.

Generating MTS Files from Scala

Load the desired tuning in Scala, then use the command "set synth 107" to select MTS as the
output format, then export the scale. Be sure to rename the file to use only upper-case characters,
with 5 or fewer characters in the main part of the filename.

Add MTS Tunings to the SD Card:

To install the default set of additional tunings:
- Copy TUNING.ZIP to the F12-VS folder on your vector.
- Double-click to unzip


LAUNCHPAD SUPPORT

[ provisional doc ]

Launchpad control is supported for the Launchpad Mk2, Launchpad Mini Mk3, Launchpad X and
Launchpad Pro Mk3.

Session page: [All Launchpads: Session button]
- Row 1 (top row) : select Part to edit
- Row 2 : mute/un-mute Part
- Rows 3 & 4 : voice mutes for Chord and Drum Parts
- Rows 5 & 6 : Scene selection
- Row 7 : Direct navigation to Dashboard pages.

Preset page (mkII : User1 Button, Mini mk3 : Drums Button)
- Presets for all Parts, one part per Column

Keys page (mkII : User2 Button, Mini mk3 : Keys Button)
- Global Keyboard. Pick 'USBA' on REC page to set this keyboard as an input.
- Scene buttons to right set velocity.

RackNav & RackEdit pages (mkII : Mixer Button, Mini mk3 : User Button)
- RackNav: Pick a Part to Edit
- RackEdit: Once a Part is selected, you can edit it on the grid.
Mono Parts: Top row is octave, other 7 rows pick one scale degree.
Drum Parts: 4 voices, two rows and 16 steps each.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Vector Sequencer Firmware Update Instructions

• Download and un-zip the Vector firmware file (VECTOR.BIN.zip).
• Press and hold the Shift button while powering up the Vector to enter USB Disk mode.
• Use a USB ‘A to B’ cable to connect the Vector to your computer. After a few seconds,
the SD Card for the Vector will show up as a new disk.
• Unzip VECTOR.BIN.zip. On a Mac, the Finder may do that for you. Do not double-click on VECTOR.BIN,
which the Finder will try to de-compress into something not useful.
• Make sure the filename is exactly VECTOR.BIN, and copy it to the root directory of Vector’s SD Card – Delete
or move any previous VECTOR.BIN firmware files.
• Now is also a good time to backup your Vector's PROJECT directory.
• Unmount/Eject the Vector’s SD Card from your computer, and power off your eurorack system.
• Hold down the Rec button on the Vector while powering up your system.
• Press Next to load the new Firmware, which takes about 20 seconds.
• Verify the Firmware is the correct version in Globals -- first page, 2nd OLED, top-left corner.

[Virzile]

First of all thanks for everything I'm loving the new functions

I've noticed an option called mask in the SEQ CTL second page but I can't find anything about it in the manual, forums and this post.
Could you describe what it does please?

[jim]

Mask doesn't do anything yet. I will be removing it from the 2.0 builds and re-adding it later it. The idea is to allow you to select any combination of steps, then save that selection as a 'mask' for several different types of operations, such as external transposition, generate, evolve, etc. If that operation has a mask on it, then only the selected steps will be operated on. I also plan to allow saving of one mask for each operation type, so it grew from a single param to what will have to be a full page of settings. It's a pretty tweaky feature, but crazy useful.

Cheers,
Jim

[Virzile]

Awesome !
Vector is getting better and better I so glad i bought it

[Simontl]

Completely awesome Jim!! Kudos to you, what an update!! Amazing!!

Not to complain or anything but why not using 0-127 midi resolution for velocity instead of the 0-100 version you've implemented? Would personally love the extra 28 resolution steps and it is sending midi out after all right?

[jim]

Well, MIDI or CV. I'll add a note to offer a MIDI resolution output as well as the voltage resolution output.

Cheers,
Jim

[Simontl]

BTW for some reason velocity at 0 is still not going 100% to zero :/

[autopoiesis]

very exciting update! thank you for your hard work and great ideas, Jim!

I'm just curious if the Vector passes along received MIDI CC messages in either the REC THRU or REC TRANS modes. I think this would make sense particularly in a latched REC THRU, but it might be that everything but note events is filtered out.

I'd also like to know more about the "REC THRU now overrides the sequence for that part" -- does this entail that with REC THRU enabled, the part's sequence is entirely silenced to make room for any external MIDI notes? or does it mean that a received Note On event causes the Vector's sequence for that part to be muted until a Note Off event is received?

[jim]

very exciting update! thank you for your hard work and great ideas, Jim!

I'm just curious if the Vector passes along received MIDI CC messages in either the REC THRU or REC TRANS modes. I think this would make sense particularly in a latched REC THRU, but it might be that everything but note events is filtered out.

I think it does, but I'll double-check...

I'd also like to know more about the "REC THRU now overrides the sequence for that part" -- does this entail that with REC THRU enabled, the part's sequence is entirely silenced to make room for any external MIDI notes? or does it mean that a received Note On event causes the Vector's sequence for that part to be muted until a Note Off event is received?

Each received REC THRU Note On mutes new notes coming from the sequence, until the 'REC THRU' note(s) are released. There's a 'chord tracker' to keep track
of multiple held notes.

Jim

[jim]

BTW for some reason velocity at 0 is still not going 100% to zero :/

Is that on the Vector or Expander.

Tks,
Jim

[dblondin]

Using the 1.9.32 beta firmware, there are some strange things going on with channels when recording and passing through MIDI notes.

I have a part set to channel 5 and I'm recording in step plus thru mode
I’m sending notes to the Vector on channel 5 via USB A,
MIDI notes coming out the MIDI output on the vector are on channel 9

Additionally, the channel that's displayed on the Vector is offset by 1. So, for example, channel 1 is displayed as 0.

[jim]

Using the 1.9.32 beta firmware, there are some strange things going on with channels when recording and passing through MIDI notes.

I have a part set to channel 5 and I'm recording in step plus thru mode
I’m sending notes to the Vector on channel 5 via USB A,
MIDI notes coming out the MIDI output on the vector are on channel 9

Check the Routing page for that MIDI Output. The Vector will channelize all MIDI Thru, so check the MIDI channel settings for that MIDI output.

Additionally, the channel that's displayed on the Vector is offset by 1. So, for example, channel 1 is displayed as 0.

That bug will be fixed in the next build.

Cheers,
Jim

[dblondin]

Check the Routing page for that MIDI Output. The Vector will channelize all MIDI Thru, so check the MIDI channel settings for that MIDI output.



That bug will be fixed in the next build.

Cheers,
Jim

Send notes on channel 1 to Vector, have the routing set to channel 1 = notes are output on channel 1. As expected.

Send notes on channel 1 to Vector, have the routing set to channel 5 = notes are output on channel 5. As expected.

Send notes on channel 5 to Vector, have the routing set to channel 5 = notes are output on channel 9. That's the strange part, shouldn't it still be on channel 5?

To me THRU means unaffected. If there was an option of turning the channelization off and it just recorded and played back what channel the recorded MIDI was on that makes sense to me. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how to use this as the first device in a typical MIDI chain so I'm still picking the MIDI send channel on the controller. In this case, an Arturia Keystep Pro through the Vector and then to the synths.

Controller MIDI OUT -> Vector USB MIDI in -> Vector DIN MIDI OUT -> Synth MIDI IN channel 1 -> Synth MIDI THRU -> -> Synth MIDI IN channel 2 -> Synth MIDI THRU -> etc

I've been using this as a CV sequencer but hopeful to take advantage of the MIDI capabilities once I understand it

[phoenixloop]

Oh my good god I just got a Vector and Expander last week, along with a Launchpad, and locked myself into a room over the last two days learning it. This thing is awesome and the workflow is so refreshing compared to the modular sequencers I've been working with. Thank you, Jim!