Joe Muscara Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 From http://www.crumar.it VB3 Crumar Edition II first official update for Mojo and Hamichord! And MOJO firmware v.1.3! This is the first OFFICIAL RELEASE of VB3 Crumar Edition II for MOJO and HAMICHORD. This update not only brings new and important features to the sound and the functionality of Crumar instruments, it also is the first step to the transition from the name Hamichord to the name Crumar. From the practical side, this update is meant to make future updates way easier as well as saving the user settings on the instrument won't require the user to interact with the write protection any more. The MOJO new firmware version 1.3 adds some more features that will make this small keyboard more functional and pleasant to use. Please note: this update is recommended for all MOJO and Hamichord MK II users! I downloaded the MOJO firmware update to see if they documented what's changed. I think you guys are gonna dig this. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // REVISION HISTORY // // Version 1.3: // - ADDED: Velocity can now be activated on both manuals indipendently // - ADDED: Press the Manual buttons for 1 second to activate the Cancel state // - ADDED: Hold both Manual buttons for 1 second for a Factory Reset of hidden parameters // - ADDED: Split output has now 3 states (sends values 0, 64 and 127) // - ADDED: Automatically exit EDIT mode if idle for 30 seconds // - ADDED: Sends CC#64 on Channel 3 if Pedal To Lower is active // - FIXED: CC#1 was sent with wrong values in snapshots // - FIXED: Rotary LEDs were not restored properly when leaving the Edit mode // // Version 1.2: // - MIDI CC messages were not passed from MIDI IN through MIDI OUT, fixed // // Version 1.1: first official release ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (Bolding emphasis mine) Nice work, ZioGuido! "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I remember contacting Nord about adding the independent velocity functionality to the C2 and they said it wasn't possible for them. Crumar just scored some more points! Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammondDave Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Yeah... Took Crumar a whole week to respond to its users' request. Anyone want to bet how long it will take Hammond/Susuki to do the same? H/S? Are you awake? '55 and '59 B3's; Leslies 147, 122, 21H; MODX 7+; NUMA Piano X 88; Motif XS7; Mellotrons M300 and M400; Wurlitzer 200; Gibson G101; Vox Continental; Mojo 61; Launchkey 88 Mk III; Korg Module Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Yeah... Took Crumar a whole week to respond to its users' request. Seriously? You actually think they went from request to development to testing to release in a week*? Let's not all rush to drink the Kool-Aid, now. Yes, it's good, but let's not read too much into it. * - for what it's worth, if it WAS a 1-week cycle, then I would be afraid... very afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 * - for what it's worth, if it WAS a 1-week cycle, then I would be afraid... very afraid. OTOH, sometimes changes can be very simple. Depending on how it was coded in the first place, separating the velocity parameter from shared to independent for the two manuals could have been trivial. Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 * - for what it's worth, if it WAS a 1-week cycle, then I would be afraid... very afraid. OTOH, sometimes changes can be very simple. Depending on how it was coded in the first place, separating the velocity parameter from shared to independent for the two manuals could have been trivial. Or maybe it was part of their original plans and just implemented coincidentally with user requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I don't know...I certainly think that Guido and the Crumar folks know their product and its programming inside and out. If someone suggested something and Guido could easily implement it and knew that it wouldn't crash the system, then why not crank it out? At this point, I would trust an update from Crumar more than buying a weighted action Korg Kronos or a Hammond SK1 that may or may not have the cypher bug. Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Or maybe it was part of their original plans and just implemented coincidentally with user requests. This, more than likely. I don't know...I certainly think that Guido and the Crumar folks know their product and its programming inside and out. If someone suggested something and Guido could easily implement it and knew that it wouldn't crash the system, then why not crank it out? You're not involved with software development, are you? (Actually, you sound an awful lot like the marketing and sales department folks I had to deal with when doing software development... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Ha! Good point! No, I am not in marketing. I was just trying to imagine the perspective of the small software company that is able to turn on a dime compared to a larger, more ocean-liner like company. Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Ha! Good point! No, I am not in marketing. I was just trying to imagine the perspective of the small software company that is able to turn on a dime compared to a larger, more ocean-liner like company. Agreed, development cycles may be shorter and easier to manage, but it's still a complex system that needs to be properly debugged and tested to ensure all situations are bug-free. My point is that I'm sure it wasn't something that got turned around in a week; it was, as Eric suggests, something that was already in the queue and so it appears to have been done in such a short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Oh, and to suggest that a company like Hammond-Suzuki, with their varied product lines, should be able to do what a single-product 3-man operation does in the same amount of time is... well, it's just a tad naive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZioGuido Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Or maybe it was part of their original plans and just implemented coincidentally with user requests. This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammondDave Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Or maybe not... We don't know, do we... I have a question for the Crumar people... Are you confident enough in your product to lend a demo to a reputable Hammond artist so that they could showcase it? I have yet to see that bravery from the competitors.. '55 and '59 B3's; Leslies 147, 122, 21H; MODX 7+; NUMA Piano X 88; Motif XS7; Mellotrons M300 and M400; Wurlitzer 200; Gibson G101; Vox Continental; Mojo 61; Launchkey 88 Mk III; Korg Module Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffLearman Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Ha! Good point! No, I am not in marketing. I was just trying to imagine the perspective of the small software company that is able to turn on a dime compared to a larger, more ocean-liner like company. My point is that I'm sure it wasn't something that got turned around in a week; it was, as Eric suggests, something that was already in the queue and so it appears to have been done in such a short time. You may be sure, but you could easily be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Damn marketing and sales folk. "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Speaking as a coder - It is entirely possible that a change like that could have been made in a week. It is presumably a tight code base, under the control of a single developer who wrote every part of it. IF the code was already structured in a way that lent itself to this change, he could have made the change and tested it in a week, easily. Of course nobody will know unless Guido tells us. Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZioGuido Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Many of the new additions to the Firmware 1.3 were already planned before, and the code is structured so that those additions were quite easy to do. Plus, I'm the only person who writes the code, so it's up to me how fast or slow I do the job. This last week I worked on this update 4 or 5 hours a day, including saturday and sunday, so we could prepare and release it in a week. That's all. Hey, we're talking about the firmware of an instrument with a few LEDs and buttons, while it's not that easy to do, it's not that hard either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammondDave Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Thanks for the clarification, Guido... '55 and '59 B3's; Leslies 147, 122, 21H; MODX 7+; NUMA Piano X 88; Motif XS7; Mellotrons M300 and M400; Wurlitzer 200; Gibson G101; Vox Continental; Mojo 61; Launchkey 88 Mk III; Korg Module Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX88 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Excuse my ignorance, but how does velocity sensitivity affect an organ? Does this relate to how the 2 keyboards are affected as midi controllers? Anyway perhaps this is one advantage to dealing with a small company. You might think that listening to customer feedback(sometimes via this forum) would be top priority, but that is not always the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Link Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I remember contacting Nord about adding the independent velocity functionality to the C2 and they said it wasn't possible for them. Crumar just scored some more points! Weren't we just talking about this the other night? Pretty amazing they are that responsive. And BTW, the Mojo sounded great. aka âmisterdregsâ Nord Electro 5D 73 Yamaha P105 Kurzweil PC3LE7 Motion Sound KP200S Schimmel 6-10LE QSC CP-12 Westone AM Pro 30 IEMs Rolls PM55P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 Excuse my ignorance, but how does velocity sensitivity affect an organ? Does this relate to how the 2 keyboards are affected as midi controllers? I can't recall which thread this was discussed in, perhaps Mitch's review. All keys have two contacts that trigger sequentially. When you're just using it as an organ, it triggers on the first sensor or contact, and ignores the second. But when you need velocity for something like a piano patch, you turn on velocity and it uses both sensors to determine the velocity. But, by doing so, the organ is no longer triggered on the first sensor, so you don't get that Hammond-like touch where you don't need much key dip. Initially, the Mojo would either be organ-style or velocity sensitive on both manuals. This update allows you to switch either manual to organ-style or velocity so that you can play organ parts on one manual with Hammond-style triggering, and velocity sensitivity on the other manual to control something over MIDI. I hope that explanation clarified things and didn't make it worse. "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 That sums it up perfectly, Joe! I downloaded the firmware and updates the Mojo. It works just as I expected it to. It takes a little bit to get used to sitting in front of a two manual organ and having Rhodes come out of the bottom manual. As I said in the other thread, the Fatar waterfall action does a pretty old job with velocity sensitive sounds. I wouldn't want to use it on a jazz gig where piano or Rhodes were the main thing, but it would be great for gigs where you have a small space to set up or are doing a set with other bands and you need a quick setup and tear down. Hook up the Mac via USB MIDI and you are on your way. Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Do you think it's not as good as playing those sounds with/on the Electro keyboard Mitch? Otherwise, that's great. I've been wondering if the "way easier future updates" might just involve a USB stick or something. How was doing the updates on a Mac? "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Other than having a bad MIDI cable, the update went fine. One of the things I never liked about the Electro was the stiff action of the keyboard and the difficulty I had with controlling the velocity when it came to playing piano and ep sounds expressively. It is easier to do that on the Mojo's keyboard. Obviously, a weighted action board is preferred, but it is good to have the option for instances like the ones I mentioned above. Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheelHead Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 From http://www.crumar.it VB3 Crumar Edition II first official update for Mojo and Hamichord! And MOJO firmware v.1.3! This is the first OFFICIAL RELEASE of VB3 Crumar Edition II for MOJO and HAMICHORD. This update not only brings new and important features to the sound and the functionality of Crumar instruments, it also is the first step to the transition from the name Hamichord to the name Crumar. From the practical side, this update is meant to make future updates way easier as well as saving the user settings on the instrument won't require the user to interact with the write protection any more. The MOJO new firmware version 1.3 adds some more features that will make this small keyboard more functional and pleasant to use. Please note: this update is recommended for all MOJO and Hamichord MK II users! Just downloaded. THANK YOU GUIDO!!!! So far working flawlessly on the Hamichord MK I. These recent tweaks on the final release of rotor sim are 'out there'. I have been over an hour going back and forth from the Ventilator to the VB3-2 and now I am confused will continue. I still seem to be favoring the Ventilator but the native sim seems to projecting better lower manual bass and the tone is cleaner (quality-headphone-like for lack of better description) with the native sim. This is like cooking, so to speak, and all subjective with the 'recipes'. I need to work this out though tonight to see what I am going to use: Ventilator or native Crumar VB3-2 sim. Right now - not sure. The Crumar VB3-2 is that good. W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Yeah...I just sold my Ventilator so I have put all my chips on the Mojo's sim! It's that good. Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheelHead Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Yeah...I just sold my Ventilator so I have put all my chips on the Mojo's sim! It's that good. Going back and forth. Now I am like you. Favoring the VB3-2 sim. Seems to be matched with the model better. I need to look at my board settings. I can't understand why the lower manual tapped bass sounds so much better with the VB3-2 sim. Hard to get a bad tone from spin to stop. I wonder if Guido stopped them out front for spin to stop. Easier to get a slightly blanketed tone from chorale to stop. ?????? Man I can't get off this tonight really screwing up my schedule today. Sim is WAY OUT THERE. W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 But I wanna play too! Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Towne Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I am pretty sure the horn doesn't stop facing the front. You can adjust the Distance parameter which will effect how the Leslie sounds when stopped as well as how it sounds when it ramps up. Endorsing Artist/Ambassador for MAG Organs and Motion Sound Amplifiers, Organ player for SRT - www.srtgroove.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheelHead Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I am pretty sure the horn doesn't stop facing the front. You can adjust the Distance parameter which will effect how the Leslie sounds when stopped as well as how it sounds when it ramps up. One thing with the HC I did notice with the left vibrato attenuator (strength) on-screen it does not real-time change. No big deal. I have to change the setting but everything sounds the same until I turn the vibrato knob (on my unit) off- setting (like C3 to another setting) and back on. That attenuator does not refresh the settings automatically just by moving attenuator. My stop sounds like it is stopping front or close to front. I do not hear that typical notch of the back of the virtual cabinet. I also do not know how Guido did this and if it is indeed stopping randomly that is amazing that the sound is acceptable to go back to single tone cut. Like I said before, I can get a more blanketed sound by switching from chorale to stop repeatedly with some different tone. Amazing instrument. This is the official release of the VB3-2 I am told. The others were builds (many many) up to the final. (final meaning official). I will be spending more time with Ventilator comparisons. Right now my 'go to' is the VB3-2 native sim. I need to experiment with my board on the rotor split too and speaker placement. Applause to Guido as this is not a development team instrument. The instrument (VB3-2) is HIM!!! Shows once again that ONE individual CAN make a big, big, major difference. W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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