Permanent beta?

Could we get an update on when the firmware is going to be considered “release ready?” We’ve been inching along now for years, and it’s really starting to feel like this instrument will not be “complete” ever.

When can we expect an update, and when should we be thinking 1.0 will be out?

The synth sounds great, but I still hit snags, and for as expensive as it is, it really ought to be rock solid. I am getting to the point of wondering whether it’s worth holding onto it.

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Sounds like you are getting confused by arbitrary numbers.

We could be 1.5 by now easily if it was another manufacturer and you wouldn’t flinch.

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I hear where you’re coming from, but that’s not true for me.

I am on the latest firmware, and I experience bugs during play. There’s not even a simple FW update script or system to load patches from the Mac, and I have to go through positively convoluted processes to load patches, waveforms, etc., to the comically small amount of storage on the Super 6.

Additionally, the number isn’t arbitrary. It’s a direct statement of how finished the team behind the instrument believes it to be. I don’t know which companies you’re referencing, but Roland is very guilty of releasing unfinished products (and saying they’re done), and I only own one piece of Roland gear these days as a result.

A small amount of communication would go a tremendously long way here, too. The synth is not grievously unfinished or anything. It is a great synth, and my concern is around whether the team behind it is going to feel like it’s finished, what’s the progress on that effort, etc.

The file management issue is a bad issue, though, to be honest. It’s such an issue that it ought to be considered a bug. Given the number of Mac users in music, it’s a meaningful oversight that there’s not a way to load content to the Super 6 on a Mac without the user going through a song and dance to clear off Mac files. I get this is a Mac issue, but it wouldn’t be if there were either even a little more storage or a very simple script.

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Sounds like a rant.

Check out the sunnysynths editor if patch management is such an issue.

I would be more concerned if it was a “finished” FW number like 1.2, I guess they get points deducted for being honest. We also know that a new FW is actively being worked on. Be patient it’s not abandoned.

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It doesn’t sound like a rant anymore than you sound like you’re defending your expensive purchase. The synth is marvelous but definitely has big gaps in completeness and reliability that are very appropriate to point out and ask about.

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Not a rant, genuine request for information. The issues with the firmware and the hardware (storage space) are real and deserve a response from the UDO team. I’m not mad at anyone, but “they’re working on it” is a pretty lax standard.

Finished at 1.2 with pervasive bugs is a problem, but being in beta with a $3K piece of hardware for multiple years also is.

Fully agreed - it’s a wonderful synth. Feels great, sounds fantastic. And that doesn’t paint over the challenges people have. I bought the synth “for what it does,” not “for what it might do,” but the problem is that it often doesn’t appropriately do what it says it does. Many of these issues take a while to find.

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What bugs have you found that are a problem. Are they known issues? I don’t seem to have any problems here. Maybe I do and I don’t notice them just the way I use it.

Did you try the editor for the patch storage issues? You should have known it was only capable of holding 128 patches when you bought it I assume. I use a PC and don’t have any problems, yes the process isn’t as straight forward as Cobalt 8 with the app but it is lightyears ahead of Prophet 6 / OB-6 / Trigon 6 with the midi ox method - that is genuinely awful, in many ways. Super 6 is a joy next to that and importantly it won’t ever expire since it is like a HDD mounted, not an app.

I am on the latest firmware, and still, sometimes my machine fails to play a sound on boot. I have the (documented) LFO random bug (where LFO steps through multiple voltages despite being on “play once” mode), I get weird intermittent MIDI gremlins.

I haven’t tried the editor yet. If you’re on a PC, you do not have the issues Mac users have. The storage is minuscule on the Super 6. Macs write tiny system files to directories they alter. This cannot be disabled through the Mac finder. If you have all 128 patches, plus a full cohort of waveshapes and sequences, you literally cannot use the computer to transfer everything at once. Frequently, I have to reboot the Super 6 or run OnyX on the Super 6 drive three times to fully refresh everything.

The issue is not that the patch transfer is problematic, it’s that there is literally so little storage space on the Super 6 that transferring data to it from a Mac is a comically annoying process.

I have lots of synths, this is literally the only one with this issue. I don’t mind using Sysex Librarian (which is akin to MIDI Ox) for those that want sysex dumps. I mind that the synth literally lacks the storage space to be used in an expected manner with an extremely common operating system that is extra-prevalent among musicians.

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If a PC is fine and only Mac throws up problems hopefully it can be fixed. I think you may need to delete then F5 refresh to make the space? I’m sure I read somewhere Mac hoards trash files that uses up the precious space. Seems like synth/computer needs to communicate better, the synth has enough memory for 128 patches.

The Super 6 has only memory for the patches, waves, sequences, and firmware, with no room to spare. This is likely not fixable without the creation of a small loader script that scrubs the files the Mac creates as they’re written.

This would easily be solved by 1) having just a tiny bit more storage on the Super 6 or 2) having a dead simple loader script that scrubs Mac files as they’re written to avoid clutter.

Deleting as you’re saying does not work. There are three ways to solve the problem as it stands. 1) Write some data, restart the Super 6, rinse and repeat until complete. 2) Write some data, use OnyX to scrub the files. 3) Write some data, input via command line to clear out the junk.

It is just silly that in 202X there is so little storage on this device.

I’m a new user. I received the Super 6 Desktop last Wednesday, and I’m starting to be discouraged by what I see when it comes to bugs and how they aren’t addressed (not even as announcement that they’re being worked on). As it stands right now, I’m probably going to return the synth before my 30 day trial period is up.

For example, there’s problems (acknowledged by the developers) with modulating the VCA gain, and this hasn’t been fixed in over half a year. Furthermore, the expected MPE behavior, as stated in the manual, does not work, again something that hasn’t been addressed in over half a year. (I know that it might be a bit more complicated, with the manual simply stating future behavior that hasn’t been implemented yet, but if something is in the manual and it doesn’t work, I’m going to count it as a bug. You can’t expect the end user to browse online forums to find out via second hand information what in the manual just are wishes rather than actual implemented behavior.)

On a side note, I really think that patches need to change instantly. Granted, this is not a bug, just something that I would expect to be the case for a synth to work in my setup.

Since the firmware isn’t open sourced, there’s nothing I can do about this rather than wait, and since I don’t see any strong, comforting statements by the developer team anywhere (remember, I’m a new buyer so I don’t know the history), I don’t feel confident that they ever will be fixed. Again, the team might be the greatest, most competent guys ever who works on these things constantly, but to me, they’re more like Schrödinger’s developers.

In my opinion, it doesn’t look very good/professional, and I share OP’s concerns. At the same time, I would love for my concerns to be unfounded and for the synth to turn into the absolute dream synth that it has the potential to be :heart:

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Best to email support if you have questions.

If the synth doesn’t work like you need it to return it.

Hi all,

Developing the Super 6 and helping our customers is my full time occupation. If I do not respond directly here, it is not because I am not busy behind the scenes.

The nature of such a complex instrument is that there are very many use cases. We want the instrument to perform for everyone, in all cases, and this takes experience and feedback from the community of skilled users like yourselves.

Just copying our internal meeting minutes from time ago showing what I am currently working on for 0,9 for reference. The release number is simply a number.

Firmware v0.90 Agenda and subsequent minutes.

Main Objectives

  • What bug fixes should be implemented?
  • What features should be implemented?

Bug Fixes and Solutions for Pain Points

LFO 1

  • Fix LFO 1 destination buttons bug (Desktop Only)

Fix LFO 1 HF/HF TRK level balance. DDS 1 is significantly louder.

Arp/Sequencer

  • Enable additional subtle swing settings
  • Arp sequencer MIDI note out global setting should be non-volatile
  • Improve velocity response (widen range, esp. at the lower end: when a key is pressed as softly as possible, the output level should be next to nothing; currently it seems as if it’s still at 25%)
  • Allow for full mod impact on VCA LEVEL Task Mike with adding to UbugTrack fleshing out some functionality examples for this and present findings. Examples of use cases - using an expression pedal for full volume manipulation; a Sax player would like to route via midi through their wind controller the VCA level. Allowing them more expression with oscillator textures and to be more expressive than just controlling the filter cut off.
  • Enable desktop delay LED. Will be implemented into delay Freeze
  • Enable MANUAL CC# button send.
  • Reduce patch file size without structure change for more disk free space for Mac users with a full disk. Secondary benefit faster loading.

Frequent and Popular Feature Requests

  • Round robin voice assignment
  • Add MIX to mod destinations
  • SHIFT + keytrack toggle switch = ENV 2 keytrack
  • Sharpen the edges of LFO 1 waveforms, esp. square and random
  • Make transpose toggle switch work with local off (essential for Super 6 as a MIDI controller)
  • Allow for MPE Y CC# 74 not to be hardwired to filter cutoff
  • Add a ‘deadzone’ to DDS2 Tune Potentiometer to ensure the center marking is always in-tune with DDS1. Warp range around 0 detune for easier programming of subtle detune settings
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I’d like to think you’re also considering shift and tune to give DDS2 a proper fine tune option. I realise the options mentioned will help a little but my single biggest issue for the last year has been lack of fine tune - due to the combination of coarse and fine tune in a single control. Pretty please?

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Thank you so much for posting this update - this is really helpful. Obviously, I have no way of knowing how UDO’s internal workings function, but I’d suggest that sharing this kind of update regularly (once a month or something, but again, no way for me to know how often makes sense on your internal schedule) would go a long way toward turning the community of Super 6 owners into your most valuable marketing asset.

It’s a brilliant sounding instrument, and my willingness to recommend it to others unreservedly rises with improvements made to the firmware, but also with communication about it.

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Thanks for the update!

Please also don’t forget about the:

Random / S&H Waveform LFO not functioning at maximum value

…we should consider to increase noise amplitude for LFO…

Again thanks for the update!

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Thank you for the update :slight_smile: When do you plan to release this new firmware ?

Regards.

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Being able to move the knob from where the preset is saved seems important to me, otherwise we cannot know where we are,thanks!
Cheers!

This is no bug. Please make sure that LR PHASE is set to zero in this case. (Note: LR PHASE is not set to zero when you load the init patch.)

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There are a number of schemes of approaching this, and I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. Managing expectations it’s unlikely to make it into the next release but some intelligent way of warping control scales from where the pot was left might improve ability for patch deconstruction/editing. There a limit with fixed pots to what we can do of course! The best implementation of control warping I’ve ever seen is on old Tektronix analog oscilloscopes (model TDS2464 I think). These last generation analog test instruments had fixed pots but had setup recall and somehow managed to make them feel like endless encoders that would incrementally adjust despite their setting point… I still have one and will get it back out to play with …

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