Hi Jason, I wonder if I found a lead for you to follow up on on why the Pianophonics seem to misbehave so much for some people. I saw a video from someone in the UK who apparently does not have the issue with the unit freezing. However people that I have encountered in the United States seem to have it all the time and based on forums and website reviews, it seems like there is a difference in the modules performance in the US and UK in terms of the module freezing. What I am going to ask may sound strange because this doesn't seem to affect other modules (I have 79 other modules installed and those others do not seem to be affected), but is it possible that the difference is related to differences in the electric power between the US and UK? Specifically the differences in voltage (US: 120V, UK: 230V) and frequency (US: 60Hz, UK: 50Hz? You build and test the module in the UK and you have said before that you don't encounter the issue. At the same time, I have had multiple Pianophonic modules and they all behave the same way (and the same way that others have reported theirs acting in reviews of the product in the U.S.). I am fully aware that i sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist that might be connecting dots that shouldn't be connected, but is this possible? I really want to be able to use the module.

I have always gotten that error message when i have updated the module on my mac. However, Knobula has told me that this message is the message you are supposed to get when it ejects. They are probably right but there is really no way to check. The module seems to behave slightly differently for me when i change firmwares so I do think it updates when you get the error message. As for freezing with the high pitch sawtooth scream at the audio output. As far as I can tell, that is normal for that to happen with Pianophonic sometimes. It should go away after a power cycle though, but it will just continue to happen. It's just something that Pianophonic owners have to deal with as part of the module's quirks.

Hi Jason. The 1.1.3 firmware was not an improvement in my case. In fact it seemed to make it worse. it failed to load more often and froze more often. However, I spent hours testing every combination of SD card file with each firmware update. I was most concerned about whether or not the voices would load and whether or not the module would freeze. When I refer to reliability below, thats what I mean - "less likely to freeze or fail to load". I was less concerned with sound quality because that is more subjective and also it doesn't really matter what the sound quality is if you can't use the module. For all testing i used Lexar E-Series 32 GB microSDHC cards with a transfer speed of 100MB/s. Although all combinations of SD cards failed or froze occasionally, I found a couple things that seemed to be clear winners for me. First, the Piano_XL Sd card is considerably more reliable across the board than either PFON_SD1 or the PFON_SD1_smooth. Second, I found that the most reliable firmware for PIANO_XL was the 1.1.1 firmware with the .719 and 1.1.2 tied for second place and 1.1.3 in last place. For both of the 2 PFON sd cards, all of the firmwares were so equally frustrating and equally unreliable that they became impossible to rank. The PIANO_XL card combined with the 1.1.1 firmware failed load so rarely that i would consider it usable. I did have one freeze with it too. However, compared to everything else that is a clear gold medal. it's reliable enough that I could use it in a live set as long as I had a reliable backup plan. However, it is a bit disapointing that it will exclude me from a large number of the great sounds on the PFON SD cards. I would like to make a request though. Is it in anyway possible for you to give us a way to edit the settings.dat file? It occurs to me that that is highly likely to be something causing users like me problems. A major problem with the settings is that it's a complete black box - we have absolutely no idea what the settings are on that file when we use this product. I feel like if i was having this many problems on any other module, I would just go in and tinker with the settings until i found a combination that wasn't causing problems. Even if the settings.dat file is not the problem, I think your users would really benefit from being able to see and change their settings.

Is there any word on another update to fix the issues people are still having with the 1.12? i kept my second module in hopes that it will get a firmware fix one day. I hope this module doesn't get forgotten because it has a lot of promise.

@Jason Mayo I returned the previous one to Perfect Circuit and they sent me a new one. I am having the same problems - parts don't load consistently and some freezing. Is it possible that they got a bad batch? The only review at perfect circuit is from another user who had similar issues that I am having. Is there a way I can exchange this new one for one that is tested and confirmed working straight from Knobula? Or do i just have the wrong expectations about this product? I feel like I am doing all the right things and I have experience with other modules that use similar update systems (I have several QuBit modules for example that use the Daisy update system) without any issue. For the replacement one that I got, I didn't seem to be having any problems with the parts not loading when i tried it right out of the box but the sound quality was poor and distorted so I didn't try it very long - might have just been lucky. I then tried all 3 firmwares listed on your download page and the sound seemed better on the 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 firmwares but they both frequently had problems loading parts and occasionally freezing. For some reason, the part loading failures occurred most often on specific numbers (regardless of which card I was using) especially part #1 but also #4 - that is not a comprehensive list though. I cycled between the different SD card files to see if that mattered - all on Lexar 32 GB high speed cards - but the issues happened no matter what file i chose. At the end of the day, I am able to use this module to make great music as long as I don't change any parts. If I do, I am rolling the dice on whether or not it will load or freeze, which means I can't use this module in a live set or even a live recording that includes a part change. Thats a pretty big limitation for a musical instrument to have.

Perfect Circuit

Hi Jason, thanks for all your help. I deleted the settings.dat file on the card, but I continued to have the same issues. I have contacted the dealer and will get a fresh module.

Well, I tried installing the firmware again today and as you can see in the video (attached below) it did not go well at all As far as I know, it is installing corrrectly every time but I did it again just to be sure. This time I installed it on PC in case that made a difference. On PC, It didn't give me the message I screenshotted for you a few days ago saying that "the operation can't be completed because the device disappeared", but there still isn't any way that I know of to check the FW version. In the video, I am using the PFON_SD1_smooth SD card on a brand new Lexar 32GB 100MB/s microSDHC (see photo attached). It seems to be getting worse. I note 4 things that went wrong in the 2 minute video, with escalating severity to the issues: 1.) Part 1 never loads 2.) Part 2 plays a weird sound at first, (after playing the weird sound from part 2, i went back to part one, which still didn't work, but then the second time I went back to part 2 it played the expected sound) 3.) By the time i get to part 6, the device freezes and no longer responds to my input at all anymore (I didn't try miidi in this video, but i have had this happen enough times to know that it would not have mattered. I have had this happen with midi too) 4.) After I hit reset, it made a high pitch noise and was unresponsive After i shut off the video, i power cycled the unit and it "worked" again for a little bit in the sense that, when i could get a part to load, it would make the correct sound, however part one still didn't load at first but I got it to eventually work. Going around clockwise, just like in the video, I was able to make it all the way to part 14 before the device froze again (this was the silent freeze with no lights or sound, not the stuck high pitch freeze). What can I do? Is there a way to factory reset the device? is there a way to check the firmware number? Please help, I want to use this module so badly. Pianophonic Module brand new Firmware 1.1.2

I decided to redo the FW update since you said that you are not having any issues with the new firmware and I think I may have found the problem. After i drag the 1.1.2uf2 file onto the the external Pianophonic drive, the drive dissapears very quickly and I get the attached message saying that the operation failed because the device disappeared. Further, it doesn't appear to be installing any firmware on the device because when i open up the attached Pianophonic drive, there are only 2 files: info,htm and version.txt . the info file is just a link to your website and the version file says this: "UF2 Bootloader v1.0 Model: Knobula Ltd. / Daisy Seed Bootloader Board-ID: 1.0" Does this mean that I am not installing the FW update? Where would i see my current FW version? EDIT: I bought some Lexar 32 GB 100 MB/s microSDHC cards (So name brand, high capacity, and fast) I can't tell a difference in the results. Some of the loads may be fractions of a second faster but I still get failures to load parts at about the same rate - somewhere between 1-3x out of 10. I think it must be the firmware issue discussed above. Please let me know how I can check that firmware version installed on my device.

Thank you for the reply. I did also drag the FW to the device after doing the bootloader process. The unit freezing is uncommon (maybe only 2-3 times) and so I cannot really recall the exact situation that has produced it. The failing to load the Part happens very often (Maybe 10-30% of the time - some sessions are better and others are worse) and I can tell you exactly when it occurs. It happens when turning the knob that changes the part. It does not seem to follow any specific pattern - sometimes a part loads and sometimes it just does not. I have been using the Oxi One sequencer for midi input, but I also have the same issues when I simply press the Trigger button. I am using these SD cards: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2TKL8GJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 I am at work right now but I will upload a video showing exactly what happens later today after work. I really want to find a solution. When it works, its my favorite module.

I bought the Pianophonic Module after reading about this firmware update. I downloaded the bootloader and installed the 1.12 firmware. I have tried all of the new SD files on your downloads page and all on new SD cards. The module fails to load new parts fairly often. When it fails to load them, the Trigger light blinks for longer than usual and then after that, the light will blink when the module receives a midi signal but no sound will come out. Also, The module sometimes becomes completely unresponsive and requires either a power cycle or hitting the left button on the back of the module (by the usb port) to continue. Is there any other advice you have for preventing the module from freezing or increasing the success when loading a new part? Are there any more firmware updates planned? I really like the sound of this module when it works properly, but in its current state it is unuseable because I cannot rely on it staying on or belingable to play the part that I want it to play. I only have about a week to decide if I need to return it or not. Please respond. I really really want you guys to succeed. Did this module ever work properly? (is there a way to reset it back to the condition it launched in - if it worked at launch?)

Has anyone tried this firmware update? I would like to know if anyone is still experiencing issues before I purchase the module.