...at first glance it starts with the "delorean" .bin and carries on from there. (Delorean is one of the files in the firmware zip.)
That Flash.bin file appears to be communication/wifi code.
I'll go back to plan A, start by working through the flash log and see which one resets quantise.
I've been taking another look at the change log, and some of the comments are quite interesting.
0.12.3
Fix major issue sysex messages would not be transmitted by ESP32 to STM32 in many cases
Default pitch bend range set to 2 from 48
0.13.1
Fixed issue where Orba could crash if the play surface was extensively palmed
0.13.7
Added root notes and scale to pattern data
Added song root note and scale to Orba metadata
0.13.16
Changed default looper mode to allow up to 1 bar of silence at start of loop, first notes played back as recorded on time grid rather than snapped to start of loop.
0.14.0
Added feature where loops are 'intelligently' ended and notes at the end of the first bar can move to the end of the loop. Loop now ends when last note is played, not when A button is pressed.
0.14.13
Added ability to change Orba's key by sliding on the OCT pad
0.14.17
Removes ability for looper semitone shift
Add FW field to comms to allow app to turn metronome on / off
0.14.18
Quantization is turned on by default (constant length, snap to 1/16 notes)
0.15.0
This version has quantize on by default
Added 'groove' quantize option
0.15.1
Disables quantization by default to allow releasing of volume per part
...missed out...
0.14.15
This build is based on 0.14.14 and has no key changing support
The feature of changing key via the Oct pad seemed to briefly exist in 0.14.13 only. Reviewing those googleapis XMLs, I'm slightly hazy on whether the change log is referring to the app or the firmware or both. Eg you can access 0.14.13 of the App, but only 0.14.11 or 0.14.15 of the firmware.
>"What I'm most interested in at the moment is beatLengthTicks and quantStartSnapTicks. In the DPC example, these are 480 and 120. So I'm thinking this 1/16 note quantization."
0.14.18
Quantization is turned on by default (constant length, snap to 1/16 notes)
...another one I noted was:
0.13.18
Limit max loop length to 8 bars
It sounds like it might be possible to change that if it was useful...? Earlier versions are available for testing from googleapis, eg the app/firmware for 0.13.0.
Its interesting that Quantization can be turned on/off with an App version? Maybe the defaults are in the App and get pushed to the Orba when it connects?
The versions might be a combination of app/firmware maybe.
>"Here is one with all the 480s changed to 481s"
Good idea, no result yet but one way to approach it if I can narrow down the file.
I've attempted to carry out all the file flashing from the log, but none of it toggled quantise.
Here are some notes on the procedure for reference. (I've attached a copy of the application's flash log, and my manual version.)
* * * * *
The Orba begins in DFU mode. The transfers start by using dfu-util to do something with the small system file option_bytes.bin that seems to involve grabbing it and then sending it back with different parameters. Then dfu-util sends the larger 0x00002000.bin and 0x00008000.bin files.
Next a custom program called orba_capsense_bootloader resets the touch sensor via 21_X0_CY8C_Touch_A0_2988ebe.cyacd.
The Orba restarts so it's no longer in DFU mode, and is set to programming mode. Another
custom program called artiphon_esp32_programmer transfers the three files from the firmware zip; delorian.bin, bootloader.bin and partitions_singleapp.bin.
The commands for dfu-util can be copied and pasted from the application's log. The parameters for esptool.py are a bit more obscure, and you have to have to switch in and out of various modes at different points to carry out the steps and check the state of quantise, using console "B" to put it in programming mode before guessing at the esptool.py parameters.
You need to turn the Orba on and off at various points to work on it via the different programs; eg if you run the App you need to quit it and switch off and on before using Putty. You need to quit Putty before you can use esptool.py.
I just tried running the artiphon_esp32_programmer command that handles the esptool.py transfers, and that didnt toggle quantise either, so I'm coming to the conclusion that it might be something that's done by the Orba App itself outside the events in the log.
I noticed something else a bit strange about quantise and the App. It goes like this:
1) Play a song with quantise enabled, all fine.
2) Run the App and load a song containing eventData with quantisationMode set to 1 (so that the icon appears), but playback is non-quantised.
3) Quit the App, turn the Orba off and on again, and play the song. It's the one you loaded from the App, playing quantised.
...so it seems that quantisation is enabled throughout, but playback in the App when you initially load the new song is without it.
I also wondered if quantisation enabled/disabled is separate from quantisationMode=0/1/2, and console "q" changes both.
...been hunting high and lowe for quantStartSnapTicks, but no luck yet.
I found this text in the App in the kind of area I was looking through while trying to understand the Modifiers and the Seekers.
Note
Event
SnapToGrid
AsPlayed
Major Chords
64358c1f-2ef5-4fd0-b3fd-ad8c4f93b839
Pressure
Metric
It made me wonder whether some of the quantisation settings might be hidden somewhere like the ModifierData for the Tap event.
(Re: that 4MB flash RAM I mentioned, you can erase it entirely, confirm that it contains nothing but FFs, and it makes no noticeable difference to anything.)
Looking again at the ModifierData list in "Ian repo", the Tap, Bump and Shake Note events have different (and busier) data than the others. These are the three events that generate notes. Bump and Shake Note are the same, while Tap is unique. I'm not sure if we ever found out what those entries did...?
The changed section is:
Tap
AQgAAAAE
Bump/Shake
CgEAAAAE
Other
AAAAAAAE
Might be worth fiddling the values and checking the loop info. Would be interesting to find out what this did in any case.
Andrea Mannocci
This thread is intended to gather the feedback of Orba tinkerers.
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