Proud owner of new WaveBlade. Need help with SY.factory not working.

[fifcic]

Hello Brian and Derek.
I am the proud owner of a WaveBlade. As usual the Kit is top notch. I have ordered Memory for SY85 and SY99 before and Brian always delivered excellent quality kits. This brings me to my Waveblade troubles.

I downloaded the software from sector101 site. I installed the Blade on the programmer and connected the programmer via USB to the PC. First thing, I am running windows 10 PRO 64bit creator edition (version 1703) and windows installed a virtual serial port driver automatically. I was not sure if it would work so I updated to the arduino 2560 driver provided in the software kit. I setup tera term as indicated in the documentation and immediately got good communication with the terminal interface of the programmer. I did test all the command of the programmer, uploaded bin files from the card, initialize, download bin file to the card... no problem the kit is working perfectly. One thing I noticed is that the firmware in the programmer is at version 3.70a this is higher than in the documentation and might an impact on what will follow.


So now that I have the hardware working I proceeded to install and test SYFactory to generate a test image from single cycle one shot samples and other samples I had been using with my SY85 and SY99. This way I would now the source material would be compatible with the waveblade.

My experience with SYFactory has not been fun at all to put it mildly. I first installed the latest JRE from sun (JRE 8u144). The automated installer decided to install the 32bit version. I was not sure if this would work (Derek you mention using the 64 bits version of JAVA) so I uninstalled and manually installed the 64 bits JRE. I purchased a license from Derek's site. and downloaded SYManager from the product page. I installed the software and started it and.... nothing happens. It would not start. I start it from the command line and get a log out that SY the program cannot find the config file and license file and just stops. I got the previous version (3,7)from the archive directory on the site, installed it and that one started but does not support the waveblade. Then I go to the support section on the site and Derek seems to be aware of the problem and recommend to install the debug version of 3.11. I installed it and this one started up. I was finally able to register it and enable all the functions.

Next step was to test connection with the waveblade programmer. I enable the waveblade in the settings, set it to the default 115200 bauds, go to tools/ waveblade and get an error "Waveblade is not installed in the programmer" Well actually it is.. and can talk to it via teraterm.... might be an incompatibility with firmware 3.70a

So one thing broken. next I proceed to try to build a bin file I setup a new wavecard file, add a wave in the tree, init the wave and proceed to import a wave, now I get a different error depending on the type of input file format. If it is a Wxx type, I get unsupported file type. If it is a WAV file, I get unsupported file format. If it is a midi SDS MID file, I get unsupported file format. cannot import a wave at this point in the waveblade workbench.

The funny thing is that if I open those same files with file open, the software will read them without problem and allow me to add them to the library.....

One last thing. When I try to generate the bin file in the waveblade workbench after trying to import the wave files, I get an error "runtime error: NULL" and nothing gets created.


SO I am a little bit frustrated right now And I wonder if any other owner of a waveblade could shine in some idea to get this working. It is crazy to have a nice piece of kit but now be able to use it because the software is not working.

[Derek]

I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble. There have been some issues with sy.factory on some systems (not all) recently and I have been working through them during a time when I am working 60 hour weeks that have taken me away a lot (which Is why I am a bit slow at responding). The issue logging I have put into sy.factory has helped me fix The problems that people have been having, but I think it has subtly changed startup timing which has led to some other random problems on some systems. The debug build you refer to has hopefully squashed those problems.

Not sure what is happening with Waveblade connectivity in sy.factory. I will check this out tomorrow to ensure it is still working on my systems.

Regarding file import and those issues. The key thing is do you have Tritonus installed? (Refer to the manual) If not then this is the root cause of isssues with reading WAV files. The default Java sound engine is not good at sample rate conversion and all samples need to be converted to the fixed SY/TG sample format. If Tritonus is not installed, this is going to cause problems.

Rest assured I am committed to ensuring this works and will fix whatever problems I can, we will need to work through this, which you can do via the support contact email address. There are a few things I do not understand above, like what you mean by "WaveBlade work bench" or what you are referring to when you say you can "open files with the files open and add them to the library"

Please provide clear, concise replicable steps (along with log files). Posting the equivalent of "it doesn't work and I am very disappointed" is not terribly helpful to me as it does not give me the information to find the issue.

Anyhow, please start by installing Tritonus in your JRE (note on a PC it needs to be installed in the /lib/ext folder of EVERY version of Java you have on your system), and let me know if that allows you to start building BIN files with WAV files.

I am pretty sure (but it has been a long time) that WNN files are not supported in the Waveblade import. I could consider adding that if a requirement. Bit let us get it working with WAV files for you first.

[Derek]

PS: It is sy.factory, not SY Manager, so you may wish to edit the title of the post

[fifcic]

Hello Derek.
I apologize if my post might have upset you. That was not my intent.
I wrote this post because As you indicated on your site, you are having some busy time and I was trying to get some help from other users of wave blade on this forum without having to bother you. My frustration might have seeped through my statements and I am sorry for it.

Thank you for responding so quickly.
As soon as I get back home I try installing Tritonus in the JRE. I will report back if it resolve my issue. I guess you think you have done everything right but there is always something you did not see in the manual. We are used to that with our synths....

What I meant with file open is that when you open a file (see capture1) it will load without problem (see capture 2)

What I mean with workbench is the window that open when you create a new waveblade file where you can setup the tree to setup your wave image.

PS: I have corrected the title for post (must be a Freudian slip).

[fifcic]

As promised Here is an update on my issue.
As I got home and downloaded the 2 Tritonus JAR files AS INDICATED IN THE USER MANUAL .... You kind of feel dumb sometimes. I did not see it.
I then ran SY.factory again, created a new wave file and imported wav files and ..... IT WORKS! I built 2 512K bin images. One with 1 sample, the other with about 20 single cycle samples. Bin files generated without a hitch and I used teraterm to send them to the wave blade. pluged the wave blade in my TG500 for test and using sounddiver I built some voices using the samples. It sounded amazing. I am now a happy camper.

Derek Thank you for pointing me in the right direction so quickly. Another Happy customer of the wave blade / sy.factory combo.

[shadowmask]

Good to hear you got this cleared up

The programmer firmware version shouldn't be an issue with sy.factory as nothing has changed regarding the connection. It's mostly code clean-ups and trivial stuff.
All I can suggest is that to make sure the correct COM port is selected and use the 480600 rate. I tried the 115200 rate this morning and got the same "Waveblade is not installed in the programmer" error as you got. When I used 480600 it connected right away.

Brian

[Derek]

Hi.

I am glad that installing Tritonus has cleared the sample import problem up. It is essential for any serious sample work in Java. I never understood why it has never been folded into the main Java bundle to replace the basic Java Sound implementation.

I tried the WaveBlade on both my MAC OS X and WIN10 systems today, and sy.factory is communicating fine with the WaveBlade programmer on both. As Brian suggests do double check the Baud rate and also that you are on the right COM port.

If it is still not working then please provide as much info as possible including the program logs.

[fifcic]

Hello.

Just a quick update about the tools/ waveblade issue I had previously. I followed Brian suggestion regarding switching the baud rate to 480600 on the wave blade. After restarding the wave blade in 480600 baud and starting sy.factory I was able to access the programmer using the tools / waveblade option in the menu. The issue seems to be related to baud rate.

I hope this can help.

[Derek]

Hi,

Yes the baud rates need to match what you have set, and sy.facotory cannot second guess that.

One possible improvement for sy.facotry would be to, in the absence of any set band rate to assume the default one of the WaveBlade. I will double check that.

Glad it all appears to be working for you now.