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OpenElixir-02 v1.0

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@github-actions github-actions released this 26 Oct 21:47
· 2 commits to main since this release
v1.0
9aad509

First stable release of OpenElixir-02, custom firmware for the Erica Synths LXR-02 drum machine.

OpenElixir-02 extends what the LXR-02 already does while staying fully backwards compatible: kits,
patterns and projects from the stock firmware load and play as before, the MIDI implementation is
unchanged, and the update works with the stock bootloader. Every change to the core sound comes with
a switch in the config menu, so the stock sound is always one setting away.

Tested on hardware by the author. OpenElixir-02 is not official Erica Synths firmware and is not
affiliated with or approved by Erica Synths. Install it at your own risk.

Kit management

Load full kits and single voices from any project:

  • Single voices: hold LOAD and press step button 1-7 (Drum 1 ... OP HH). Choose the kit with the
    encoder, also from other projects, and press the encoder button to load just that voice into the
    current kit. The menu stays open, so you can try several kits.
  • Full kits: "Change Project" below kit 0 in the load and save kit menus loads kits from other
    projects and saves kits into them.

Freely assignable voice engines

Each of the 6 voice slots can run any engine: drum, snare, cymbal or hi-hat. Select a voice and press
SHIFT + KIT (or send NRPN 98). The engines are saved in the kit; kits from the stock firmware load
with the stock engines.

Details for kit management and engines:
docs/ENGINES.md.

Limiter

Voices and FX are summed in 32 bit, followed by a limiter on each output, so loud kits no longer
hard-clip. Levels that didn't clip before are unchanged. Config menu "lim" (2nd page) switches it off
for exactly the stock mix.

Under the hood

  • About 10 % less CPU load.
  • Many stock firmware bugs fixed (MIDI, sequencer, SD card, memory corruption), most of them found in
    the firmware review by jhw in
    erica-synths/lxr-desktop-app#3.
  • A project save that can't lose the saved project: it is written into a new folder and replaces the
    old one only when everything was written. The card needs free space for a second copy of the
    project (a few hundred KB).

Stock issues that are kept on purpose:
docs/KNOWN_ISSUES.md.

Installing

  1. Download LXR_OpenElixir-02_V1.0.img below.
  2. Copy it to the top folder of the SD card and delete any other LXR*.img files there.
  3. Switch the LXR-02 off, insert the card, hold the encoder button and switch it on. Keep holding
    until "LXR Updater" appears.
  4. Wait for "Update OK!". The device restarts with the new firmware.

To go back, install the official firmware update from Erica Synths the same way. Kits saved with
OpenElixir-02 keep working there; slots with a different engine play with their stock engine.

The .hex and .elf files are for programming and debugging with an ST-Link; you don't need them for
a normal update.

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