crow v4

Version 4! This new firmware update for crow brings a bunch of new libraries and features…

timeline presents a new method for sequencing events in time. it builds on top of the clock module for timing, and thoroughly incorporates sequins for dynamic rhythms, events & data.

sequins has been updated to version 2. There’s new sequins-strings for character patterns (think "+ ^ - ^"), as well as transformers for pattern synthesis which can be resampled on the fly.

There’s more features like hotswap for live-coding, and math.srandom for pseudo-randomness. Plus a big list of bug-fixes, and extended ii support for Disting EX.

See the updated reference for a full-list of syntax & usage.

Here’s a short improvisation from @dan_derks who shared their script on gist:

Updating

You can now update crow directly from norns using @tehn’s fledge script. Instructions in the docs. Highly recommended.

For those without a norns, you can still update using the druid utility, as outlined in the docs here.

Max & M4L

There’s a lot of updates for crow in the Max realm too! Two new M4L devices (^^osc and ^^jf_geode) plus big stability improvements (especially when using the ^^jf_* devices). @dan_derks has overhauled the whole API so patching for crow is much smoother.

Release Notes & Changelog

For more info, and a detailed list of changes, see the release notes on github.

Thank Yous

To all our contributors! We really appreciate the efforts, both small and large! Thanks to: ryland, @jroo, @3-foot-1, @tyleretters and of course @tehn and @dan_derks :black_heart::black_heart::black_heart:

Norns update

Finally, timeline and sequins2 are coming to norns in the next release. Everything is already tested & merged, just waiting for the other parts of that release to come together!

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i can’t believe i’m awake in time to catch this

historic
:cowboy_hat_face:

plenty to read and play with
thanks yall

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Wowowow! Update crow direct from norns huge

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I grabbed a v4 prerelease and started playing around with timeline, hotswap, and some of the new sequins features yesterday and was blown away. So many great ways to develop interesting sequences and change them on the fly.

Congratulations on and thanks for the release! Really amazing and well thought out stuff.

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Thanks Devs for all your efforts on this. It looks like an amazing update.

Where is the documentation for the extended Disting interface?

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amazing! thanks for your work with this great update.

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Was successfully able to manually update the module using dfu-util after having some pydfu can’t find crow errors on both Windows and Mac using druid firmware.

Still having trouble connecting to Just Friends though. Any ii.jf command just freezes the JF, requiring me to power down my case to reset. Anyone having any success with JF after the update?

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congrats on crow v4! so many wonderful additions to crow town :partying_face: :partying_face: :partying_face:

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any ETA on the availability of the module?

according to the monome website:

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I was using the ii.jf commands from
crow after I updated to the v4.0.1 prerelease without any trouble. My JF is a v2 model (gold clouds) running the v4.1.2 firmware.

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I too have a V2 but I’m running newest JF firmware 4.5.2

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@sammm I’m in the same boat. JF freezing on the first command using JF4.5.2 and Crow 4.1.0.

Out of curiosity I downgraded crow to 3.0.1 and had some success sending commands to JF. Initially it was a bit flakey but I was able to get comms going pretty well. You might want to give that a go. I tried going up through the versions from there but as soon as I got to the 4.0 release candidates JF would freeze.

@sammm @David_Panseri i’m running exactly the same hardware you describe right now and everything seems to be working fine.

  • Could you provide any additional context on your setup?
  • What other devices are connected?
  • Do you have a powered bus-board or anything else?
  • How long are the cables you’re using?
  • Does the behaviour remain after performing a ^^c on crow to clear any existing startup script?

Ah! This is the only i2c device connected to crow via ~6 inch DuPont cables. Ran ^^clear, but no change.

However…

I went to reinstall fw for JF and it appeared I still had 4.5.1 on the module. Once I updated to 4.5.2 everything was good :call_me_hand::sweat_smile:

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I’ve used both a 6 pin ribbon cable and a 3 pin dupont cable connected directly between the modules with the same results. I don’t currently have any kind of powered bus board. I’m able to talk to JF w/ crows 3.x but get a freeze w/ 4.x

can we have maps w/ trent season 3 for this new features please? :grin:

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I hope work leaves me time to dig into this.

Thanks to you for continuing to supporting my murder of modules.

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I forgot to mention that the dupont cable im using is 16cm and the ribbon cable is 14cm

Thanks for this @Galapagoose no issues updating my Crow, ran the update straight from Druid, instant success (ok, maybe not instant given it had to flash the new firmware, close enough!).

@dan_derks I have downloaded and installed the updated M4L pack, sadly it crashes quite often (probably something my end!) and was wondering what your set-up is?

I’m running an M1 MacBook Air running Ableton Suite 11.2, it’s running native due to a few older plugins so running in Rosetta. Due to only having USB C ports I’m going through a USB 3 USB C hub.

It runs fine for 10-15 mins then invariably hangs Crow, just stops and I need to power down my case, reboot and then use Command Centre to refresh devices and select Crow again. Works fine again, then hangs after a while.

I have tried it using both output pairs as duals and tried the new oscillator as well, seems to hang both at varying measures of time.

Anything I should be looking for/at?

For comparison I hooked the updated Crow to my Norns, and ran @jaseknighter Flora with Crow outs to my Eurorack set up for over an hour without any hiccups or glitches to see if the Crow was the issue.

The only other bit I need to try resolve is getting a USB C to Mini USB cable to see if the hub is affecting things.

Thanks again to you both and to all the contributors in this release.

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