#1

Welcome new W/ owners! I started this thread to help consolidate questions about onboarding and operation about the module away from the general discussion and firmware update threads!

If you’re brand new and haven’t played Izzy (or don’t know what that means), try starting your synth while holding loop and record down, follow the lights and listen to the output of the module.

If nothing happens, or you’re still stuck, Mannequins has a great FAQ page with some troubleshooting tips. They’re also lovely people and can be reached by email at service@whimsicalraps.com.

In the mean time, or if you’d like other help, post away and we’ll do our best to muddle through together! :sunny:

10 Likes
Mannequins W/ (with)
Mannequins W/ (with)
#2

For overwrite recording, as @GoneCaving mentions, record+down toggles between overwrite and overdub (sound-on-sound). You can tell that you’re in overwrite recording mode in live and nav modes by looking at the lights above record, which will both be lit. (I believe the orange one will remain lit when recording is not engaged to indicate this as well)

@GoneCaving’s advice to think of the module as a tape recorder is spot on.

2 Likes
#3

Just got a used w/ and updated to the beta firmware, still unclear on a few issues,
the tutorial video by Sam Wolk is excellent, but moves so fast, hard to decipher all the finger movements.

(also posted on Muffs): would like to know:
how to delete an existing loop that is playing?
how to undo the loop, make it into its original longer loop? how to jump/move from one cue point to the next? how to remove all loops? Can you fast rewind somehow, or just FFwd?

A step by step list of ‘how to’ moves would be appreciated.

I have also had to reboot w/ several times, as it has been freezing and doesn’t do anything sometimes (this is with No CV plugged in, just in and out).

That said, I will NOT sell this thing, I can see big potential with it. I will look at this excellent thread on Lines often for updates and fixes. I’d very much like to get a 2nd or 3rd ‘w/’, when all the bugs are fixed, Thanks!

1 Like
W/ Firmware Update (v1.2.1)
#4

The manual really is your friend! I believe all of this is also covered in the excellent getting started video.

to stop looping, just press loop. to clear the section of tape occupied by the loop, press record+down to engage overwrite recording (both lights above record lit). recording nothing / silence will erase the tape.

Here I believe there is still a typo in the manual, but it’s correct on the reference card. if you enter cue mode (white light above the toggle) by pressing loop and record and navigate with the toggle or loop+up/down to the new cue point you added, the light above record will be orange. pressing record will delete the cue point, which you can confirm by noticing the light above record swaps to white.

loop+up/down

currently your best bet to remove all cue points without clearing the audio is to enter cue mode, and then press record a bunch of times—this will alternate between deleting the cue point you’re at and moving a cue point to where you are for deletion

holding down in nav mode (only orange light above the toggle) will rewind and progressively speed up, just like on a tape recorder. If you hold down and then press play, you’ll latch into live mode with reverse playback, at which point the usual play+up/down will double or halve playback speed, respectively.

As you can see above, this is a known issue where the SD card driver crashes. A fix is in the works

18 Likes
#5

Thanks Alanza!
will follow thru your instructs, much appreciated.
I also just noticed it was ‘beta 4’ I loaded when I got w/ a few days ago,
I see this is now beta 5, so will upgrade to that first and go from there.
thanks, Ken

3 Likes
#6

Is there a way to rewind all the way to the very beginning without holding rewind through all the recordings?

How do we know when we are on a “new” tape? Or is every individual recording a new tape?

#7

loop+down a bunch of times will jump you towards the first cue point. I’m not sure if there’s automatically a head-of-tape cue point?

Well, each tape is 90 minutes long and there are only ever six of them. You’re not likely to change tapes by accident: Holding record for one second will put you into global mode (both lights above the toggle flashing gently), which is where you can select a new tape to load. Tapping loop will light up one of the six LEDs above the buttons dimly. This is your current tape. Tap the buttons to select a new tape (a new light should go on and move with your button presses), then press down to load said tape and exit global mode.

This is covered in a sidebar on the first page of the manual.

(Probably this discussion belongs on the main W/ thread, since it has little to do with beta-testing)

11 Likes
#8

@alanza is the real MVP

15 Likes
#9

Still confused in Over-write Record mode. what are the steps? do you need to hit play, toggle down, then record, or what order? do you need to hit play at all? for some reason, nothing is playing back now when i rewind… Signals are going in and out for sure. Thanks

W/ Firmware Update (v1.2.1)
#10

It helps to think of it as a tape machine. So yes, you need to have the tape moving, so press play first. Then to over-write, record & down (together).

#11

thanks. i know its not possible, but a digital read out tape counter would really help this thin 1000%. I cant tell if there is sound being rewound at all, no scrubbing sound etc.

#12

OK, it was something else— my bad— using Tangle quartet Mix out wasn’t working with w/ input for some reason…sorry

#13

The lights above in will act as little meters for incoming/outgoing signal! Orange for incoming, white for outgoing.

#14

[mod stuff: per @alanza’s request, I imported the posts that seemed obviously ‘help’ oriented from W/ Firmware Update (v1.2.1) to here. feel free to flag any others and thank you for the attention to cleanliness!]

3 Likes
#15

OK, so recording in overwrite, why are my loop lights going back and forth also? and when I hit toggle down to rewind and play back, nothing is moving…

#16

Any idea when more W/ units will become available? I’ve been holding one 2hp space open!

#17

I’m missing the key ingredient here: which lights are you seeing above the toggle?

lights above loop going back and forth suggests you are looping? They’ll kind of give you a sense of motion as you travel from the start of the loop to the end.

About the toggle: assuming that you have hit play to stop the tape (so you should see only the orange light above the toggle), the toggle works like the fast-forward or rewind buttons on your tape recorder—you have to hold them down

1 Like
#18

No real idea, but I’d imagine Mannequins would like to be able to ship new W/'s w/ firmware 1.1?

#19

its ok, I think i hit toggle and it put it into loop (easy to do).
so next- how do i correctly set a loop step by step?

#20

to set a new loop in live mode (when playback is engaged), you press the toggle down to set a cue point for the start of the loop, and then up to set the loop end. doing it this way will automatically engage loop and disengage record, so take note. NB – you can always press down multiple times to set cue points, but up will only ever loop you back to the previous cue point, so it’s not like nested parentheses.

If you happen to already have your cue points set up, simply pressing loop during playback will start looping inside whatever pair you’re in.

6 Likes