Aeros Firmware 4.0.x

Aeros Loop Studio Docs and Downloads
1

Hi there fellow Aerosnauts!

Edit (November 9, 2021): A newer version is available here.

Edit (September 28, 2021): Aeros Firmware 4.0.2 is now an official version and has been released for download over the WIFI. (Changelog below)

We have updated the Aeros Manual and the Aeros Manual - Printer Friendly Version (no background colors to use up your ink).

We’ve been working on a major upgrade to the Aeros memory system for the past few months and it’s finally ready! We’re calling it the Dynamic Read Memory System – in short, instead of loading the entire track into the RAM, it only loads the upcoming section. This allows the Aeros to increase the recording time from 20 minutes per song up to 10 HOURS per song! See the more detailed explanation of how this works below.

Since this is a major upgrade and change in the way the Aeros works on a technical level, there may be some bugs that we didn’t catch after extensive testing. To help find the source of any hard to replicate bugs we built an Active Logging System which records much more detail when activated. See the explanation of how that works below.

We decided to release this update before the MIDI Capability Expansion because it was faster overall to do it in this order. However, we managed to get a few MIDI commands into this release, and we have been building the new MIDI system in parallel to this release. We are in the final testing phase of the next update 4.1.0 which will include a lot more MIDI capabilities – this should be released pretty soon. See this post to see what will be included in 4.1.0.

Make sure your Aeros is close to your WIFI router for a strong connection (using your phone’s hotspot feature as a wifi network and placing your phone near the Aeros works well). If you have trouble updating with the WIFI, update with the SD card (note: the SD card must be between 4-32 GB in capacity): Download this file , rename the downloaded file (currently named aeros-4.0.2.bin) to aeros.bin and then place it on an SD card and into your Aeros before turning it on.

IMPORTANT: Turn off your Aeros BEFORE putting in the SD card. Putting in the SD card while Aeros is on and then immediately turning it off can corrupt the firmware file.

To go back to the previous official firmware, use the same SD card update method to install the last official version 3.5.1

Aeros Firmware Version 4.0.2 Changelog

Bug Fixes:

  • Added logic to discard the extra MIDI pulse from BeatBuddy at start clock event from the bpm filtering

Aeros Firmware Version 4.0.1 Changelog

  • Added a help info pop-up to the Recording Time counter in the Loop Studio

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed potential issues for songs that have locked tracks
  • Fixed a crash when song_1 cannot be created on the SD card at startup
  • Fixed slower loading of song (now is the same speed as 3.5.1)

Aeros Firmware Version 4.0.0 Changelog

  • Dynamic Read Memory System: Maximum song recording time has been extended from 20 Minutes (mono) to up to 10 Hours! See below for full details.
  • You can only record up to 20 minutes before Saving is required. Recording time is regained after saving song
  • Display ‘Recording Time’ remaining in the Loop Studio screen (while stopped) instead of ‘Memory Used’
  • MIDI command CC41 value 20 triggers ‘Play current track’ , this commits any current recording or overdub and goes into playback mode
  • MIDI command CC42 value 0 clears the song (deletes all tracks) with no confirmation when the looper is stopped and in the Loop Studio screen. Note: You CANNOT undo this action.
  • Updated system font for clearer text
  • Added active log system to diagnostics page. This will record details of the state of the Aeros in a file saved to the SD card to help with investigation of bugs. If you are experiencing any bugs turn this feature on and insert an SD card. After experiencing the bug, send the log file to support@singularsound.com along with a description of the bug.

Bug Fixes:

  • Cancel recording is now working if ‘Play/Stop All Button’ is set to release
  • MIDI Clock Jitter improvements with tempos higher than 190BPM
  • Mute/Unmute logic now has the same logic as Change Song Part and Stop Song with ‘end of measure’ setting
  • Set up mutes will now be enacted if the song transitions to another song part or stops while the mutes are pending
  • Polished the redo animation when redoing both layers in the forgiveness zone
  • Waveform not displaying R input channel when Aeros set to stereo

More details on Dynamic Read Memory System:

Dynamic Read is a new audio loading mechanism that has freed up a substantial amount of memory in the RAM. By only loading upcoming sections of audio files into the RAM rather than the entire audio file in advance, the Aeros is able to dramatically increase how much audio can be recorded in a song.

With this new system a user can max out a specific track at 20 minutes (mono), and still have memory to record more after saving the song. This works because when the song is saved, the recording is transferred from the RAM to the internal memory or SD card and only the upcoming sections of the tracks are kept loaded in the RAM. Essentially, the amount of time left to record on the next track is calculated dynamically based on how many tracks have been recorded.

Optimized maximum total song recording time: 10 hours mono (4 hours stereo) in 6x6, and approximately 97 minutes mono (approximately 47 minutes stereo) in 2x2

Please Note: The internal memory of the Aeros can store up to 3 hours of Mono (1.5 hours stereo). Songs with more recording time than that must be stored on a 32 GB Class 10 SD card.

Technicalities:

How Aeros worked before:

Aeros would load a song to the RAM (internal memory). The memory used in RAM was composed of all the tracks in the open song along with all synchronization point data as well as live waveform rendering data. This system limited the total recording time to a maximum of about 20 minutes of mono audio per song.

How Aeros works now:

Audio Memory Usage

In the RAM, the Looper has space for 1200 seconds (20 minutes) of mono audio. However, there is non-audio data that must also be saved to RAM.

There are two ways that space is used: Playback Memory and Recording Memory.

Recording Memory

This includes recordings, overdubs and unsaved recording/overdub layers.

  • After a song is loaded, Recording Memory is 0 seconds.
  • Every time a song is saved, Recording Memory resets to 0 seconds.

Playback Memory

Start of Tracks Memory

Contains the first 10 seconds of all the tracks in the song.

The start of a track is set where the loop seam is in the song part. When the loop seam position changes, this buffer has to reload. The reload occurs when the user changes song parts.

It allows users to quickly change song parts without loading the full tracks.

Memory Usage Calculation :

Memory used (s) = [Number of saved tracks in song] x 10s

Memory Usage can only change after saving a song.

Live Playback Tracks Memory

Contains the currently playing sections of each track of the current song part.

The sections have a duration of 9 seconds and are dynamically loaded during playback.

The sections are reused between song parts and are used only for saved tracks and not for recorded tracks that are not yet saved.

Memory Usage Calculation :

Memory used (s) = [Maximum number of saved tracks per part in song] x 9s

You can find a Memory Calculator here.

Memory Usage can only change after saving a song.

More Details on the Active Logging System:

This is a new logging system that is available starting with version 4.0.0. This logger records all events that the looper undergoes and is intended to help us diagnose issues that are hard to replicate. This system can only be used if there is an SD card inserted into the Aeros. To turn on the Active Logger go to the Updates Page, then to the Diagnostics Page. On the Diagnostics Page there is a toggle button at the top right of the page, turn this on to start the Active Logger.

If this feature is off, the Aeros’ logging system will work as it did previously: When an SD card is inserted, boot-up data as well as any data from a crash will be saved in a log file on the SD card. These events will also be logged when the Active Logger is on.

Note: This Logger does use some memory when active, due to this reason you may experience less than perfect audio quality when it is on. (You may hear some audio pops). This Active Logger is by default off, only turn it on when trying to catch a bug that is hard to reproduce.

Important: Logs are not saved forever, a log will be saved from the previous power on, but if you turn the Aeros off and on again, that log will be lost. Only the current power cycle and previous power cycle logs are kept. Please send logs to support@singularsound.com along with a video and/or a description of the bug.

If you’d like to learn more about useful information you could give us to better help you, please read this post on bug reports.

15 Likes
2

Thank you for finally posting. I look forward to updating my firmware.

3

Hello
I just update my firmware, and I love you just for the “Play current track” CC
It works like a charm, That’s what I wanted ! (setting on my Maestro)

But I don’t understand the 10 hours recording ? Or 4 hours Stereo

I see on my screen in 2x2 or 6x6 ,10 minutes recording time (I record in stereo)

Tx for the updates and the efforts you make to bring us the maximum pleasure

4

To explain a bit, the song time will not increase if you are not used to saving songs. If you don’t save songs the memory won’t seem much different to you. The difference now is that when users save, they will free memory dynamically, allowing you to always be able to record more after saving!

The 10hrs max is a number referring to the maximum possible recording time in a mono song recorded to SD that has been saved many, many times. There has not been an increase to the 3hr (mono) max on the Aeros internal memory.

Let me know if this (sort of) makes sense!

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5

hmmm !
I gonna try to save somes songs and see what’s happend !

6

Where can I find the exhaustive list of midi messages that the aeros understand ?

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7

Looks like some worthy stuff there, I’m especially interested in the new Mute behavior that will persist the cued up mute action beyond a part change or stop. I wanted that so many times already.

Will you guys be updating the Google Spreadsheet to reflect what MIDI is supported on the Aeros with this release? Thanks.

8

Would it be less confusing to change the above to say “internal storage”? It’s some form of Flash, not RAM. Memory really implies RAM

1 Like
9

Thanks a lot.
Great awaited update.

10

SO , now we can with midi cc:

  • Navigate into the songs
  • Select the song
  • Save the song
  • Clear the song (delete the tracks)
    But missing one now !
    “Delete the song” (trash function on the screen)
    Can you add this one too ? Could be fine to put that on my maestro, so I don’t need to go down

Cheers

11

This is wrong on so many levels… :wink:

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12

And how do you delete a song when the looper is on the floor without go down (stooped)?

13

Surely the delete button?

14

If it’s the current song loaded, you can clear it and reuse it. It’s not exactly the same as a delete, but close.

  • While stopped
  • Press and hold the stop button
  • Press the right button to confirm

By the way, my prior comment was a (bad) joke.

15

Dynamic memory seems awesome. I haven’t hit the loop limits yet, but it’s great to know that I probably won’t in the foreseeable future.

Looking forward to trying out the update. Also looking forward to the MIDI implementation so that this will be easier to use in a live setting.

Thanks, Singular Sound team!

2 Likes
16

yeah I know that !
This is to delete the tracks and the whole song
What I mean is a CC command (for the maestro)
To delete the song from the Aeros Song list !

On the maestro we have the cc commands to:

  • Navigate into the Aeros song list
  • Scrolling into the song list up and down
  • Select a song to load
  • Save a song
    But not the command to delete a song from the list
17

Hi

I just found the present thread after being redirected from here: MIDI Implementation Proposal - #27 by RockDebris … having searched for some advanced midi control commands.

I will try the new firmware ASAP, but just wanted to point out that the midi proposal as written down in the other thread is something I also really would appreciate to see in a next firmware version because it will hugely extend the loop studio’s use cases.

1 Like
18

Hi , I just got the loop studio yesterday so I don’t know that much about it just yet.

From what I have tried and read about there is no midi clock out. I was hoping the 4.1 new midi implementation included this capability but is not mention anywhere.

Are there any plans to add the option to send midi clock OUT from the loop studio

1 Like
19

David;

Thank you for all the amazing work you and your team has done on the Aeros and Beat Buddy. I have both and they integrate very well with my synths. Thanks for the firmware upgrades.

3 Likes
20

@DavidPackouz @BrennanSingularSound
The new firmware must no longer be beta as my wifi detected an update was available. I went ahead and selected ok. I havn’t had much time to play with it however song load times have painfully lengthened which will require more “fill time” in between songs. I don’t know if you are aware of this so there you go.