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With Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter you can get full bidirectional audio and MIDI over USB between an iOS device and M8!

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Oh very cool. I tried USB before and couldn’t get it to work, but I think with a different dongle (so many dongles). I’ll give this a go.

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You boys and your dongles! wags finger on left hand whilst resting right hand on hip and wearing a faux exasperated expression

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There is a new Beta 3.0 firmware on the discord. Just for testing at the moment but I’m exited by the new possibilities. Especially the new modulations slots.

2023-02-14 - Version 3.0.0

  • Note!!!: Output/Speaker volume has moved to the top of the mixer view (previously in project view)
  • Note!!!: Songs that have previously had Volume assigned to an LFO will need to be adjusted manually due to a bug in volume calculation
  • New: Hypersynth instrument (stereo chord synth)
  • New: External instrument (send MIDI and receive audio for processing)
  • New: Envelopes and LFOs have been replaced with 4 configurable modulation slots
  • New: Bipolar ADSR envelope - The release stage can be triggered via KILL command, new note-off note, or external MIDI input
  • New: Drum Envelope - High initial peak value for transient shaping with a hold/body stage that slowly swells
  • New: Follow envelope - Simple ADH (Attack, hold, decay) envelope that can be trigger by another instrument or track in the song
  • New: Key or velocity modulation source for mapping note/velocity
  • New: Note Offs can be entered in the note column by deleting/clearing a empty note “—” via OPT+EDIT
  • New: DJF Now has modes (LP:HP, LP:BP, or BP:HP)
  • New: Default groove (was groove 0) can be defined in the project view
  • New: Default scale and Key signature (was scale 0) can be set on the project view
  • New: Song preview has been added to the file browser when loading a song via START key (if the song is not currently playing)
  • New: RMX FX Command - (Remix) Set the playhead to a specified position on all tracks to the right of command’s track
  • New: RNL FX Command - (Random left) Randomize the command to the left of RNL a specified amount
  • New: TBX FX Command - (Aux table) Plays a second table in the given phrase that is played in conjunction (but not in sync) with the instrument’s table
  • New/Improved: REP FX Command (Repeat last effect) now has wider range for slower control
  • Improved: Audible oscillator click/reset when retriggering the same instrument has been removed
  • Improved: Phrase and table share last edited value for command fx
  • Improved: To automatically select a command fx, press edit on a parameter in the Instrument and mod views to copy it’s fx command
  • Improved: Phrase/Table: When pasting 16 rows starting on the top row, the cursor will stay on the top row instead of scrolling to the bottom
  • Improved: Added colors to the mute/solo “M” and “S” text in the right-side info area for visibility
  • Improved: Scope has been improved when high pitch notes occur
  • Fix: Midimap view visual scrolling issue on destinations
  • Fix: Midiout Program change and bank not sending on occasion
  • Fix: Sample OSC loop mode on tiny region could result in wrong waveform offset and pitch changes
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Really awesome stuff, can’t wait for the final release!

But holy heck is it frustrating that Discord is the official source of everything.

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What do you mean? Discord is definitely where most of the M8 information lives, but there’s also Patreon as well as the Dirtywave website. Patreon / Discord is mostly just for advance notice, beta firmware info, etc.

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This update is insane and almost overwhelming in what it can do. I sold a lot of hardware recently but kept the M8 and this is one reason why.

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With no method of asynchronous communication (ie using Discord in lieu of a forum), it’s a nightmare to search for topics, continue conversations outside of a real-time chat, and generally find information. For example, there could be a single thread about silent keys and key cap upgrades, but instead that info is spread out on other forums or buried within the Discord.

edit: Further, there’s no way to view the information from Dirtywave M8 discussions without making an account with Yet Another Social Media Giant. I can view all sorts of other forums without having to create an account (and I very rarely would want to), but now all of these companies defaulting to Discord doesn’t leave one with much of a choice.

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I second the discord gripe… As someone who still uses irc daily, i am saddened that many communities now default to discord for chat. I did breakdown and install it on a computer of mine for a brief time. That experience only strengthened my resolve. Closed / centralized network services aside, I find the heavy UI and ‘pay to upgrade’ anti-features unpalatable. It was also heavy on system resources. It is a big bummer when free/libre software or hardware projects use it :confused:

Speaking of libre licensing, does anyone have info on the M8 source code being released? If I remember correctly that was a goal promised during the initial Kickstarter campaign.

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If I recall correctly - there is no current plan to open source the software. I believe there were some early thoughts of eventually open sourcing the software, but nothing promised.

Was M8 even a kickstarter project? Can’t find any reference to it on KS.

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Yeah, no Kickstarter, just an early release on Patreon. Early on Tim mentioned thinking about it, but I don’t think it’s happening.

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I’m quite sure it was intended to be an open source project after the first run. I think the succes om the device is now a bit in the way of it. But with the M8 I think it’s for the better since the development still seems to be going strong

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as much as I would love for it to be OS so I can dabble in writing my own synth engines for M8 from the “business” perspective I think it is a reasonable choice to keep it closed source for now. As otherwise I predict the same hour they would OS it clones for a fraction of the price would start to show up on reverb and maybe I am wrong but it looks like it is the sole project for now for dirtywave so their existence as a company depends just on it.

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i would much rather have it be closed sourced in the hands of Trash80. the work he’s done with this project device never ceases to amaze me. he’s simply a brilliant artist and maker making something up to their standards and not some company trying to milk people of their money or taking shortcuts with releasing half assed firmware and leaving it in the hands of users to finish their work.

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Firmware version 3 is out!

There a lot of new features.
Most important I think are then new Hypersynth instrument (stereo chord synth) which is is amazing.
And the instrument modulation page has changed a lot and now you have 4 configurable modulation slots. So you can have 4 LFO’s of any combination of LFO’s and Envelops. And there are new modulation options like Tracking or getting a trigger from an other track.

And you can use an aux table now… I don’t know how it works yet but I think you can modulate a track from 2 tables at the same time.

And lots of other changes.

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For me the new drum envelope was the biggest game changer. Previously the envelopes were sluggish for any kind of percussive or fast sounds, but now I can make lightning fast modulated leads.

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OOOOO WEEEE!!!
:stuck_out_tongue:
going to go update now!

thanks for the notice!

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Quick question – watching a lot of videos, but haven’t seen this come up yet. Is there an equivalent to “nudging” sounds in the m8? I know it’s possible in a 'takt or a Polyend Play, but can’t wrap my head around whether the m8 would do it too.

Thanks!

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Haven’t tried this but according to the manual the sequencer DEL XX command delays the entire row by the number of ticks specified.

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Not sure the exact nudging behavior your thinking, but for shifting note execution time the DEL command may be useful, and for moving steps one step up/down there are shortcuts for rotating/moving selected row data. I think it’s edit+up/down but don’t have mine handy.

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