KATANA- Condor's Katana AMP GUI Control (MIDI over USB) with Android

Started by condor, February 24, 2017, 12:23:06 PM

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condor

temp address is always related to the panel patch (setting)? I still dont know why for example a gain sysex msg or every other tone settings related msg causes an overall volume drop. I also have this behaviour in BTS with the K50 if a value is altered.

Beanow

Quote from: condor on April 08, 2017, 06:08:53 AM
temp address is always related to the panel patch (setting)? I still dont know why for example a gain sysex msg or every other tone settings related msg causes an overall volume drop. I also have this behaviour in BTS with the K50 if a value is altered.

It depends on which gain address you're using as they are mapped to different gain values.
Have a look at this thread https://github.com/snhirsch/katana-midi-bridge/issues/6#issuecomment-292131268

BTW, if you are using the K50, can I confirm these documents are accurate for the K50 as well? https://github.com/katana-dev/docs

condor

I did not try each of the 28 but I think they also match on the K50.
I will implement Sneaky Amps asap in my editor and give you feedback.

condor

I added support for selection of the Sneaky Amps.  ;D
Long press on the main "Amp" button activates a drop down list to choose from.
They are not stored in the patch and you can`t edit Custom amp yet. Coming soon.

After trying them on my K50: I cant believe how great the RFire Vintage sounds. I like it much more than the stock Brown type.

Beanow

Quote from: condor on April 08, 2017, 12:28:35 PM
I added support for selection of the Sneaky Amps.  ;D
Long press on the main "Amp" button activates a drop down list to choose from.

Beautiful work man!
Nice and easy to do. Requires just a single screenshot.



I've updated the How To guide for the new addition.

--

Stay tuned for more Sneaky stuff! I can confirm Sneaky Effects are inbound. (Yes, including Tera Echo).
And for a peek at what I've been up to, several amps also have a functional BRIGHT setting. See the Amp Type table.

vtgearhead

QuoteBut as I understand snhirsch has looked at how BTS does this and implemented the same approach in the bridge's code.
The method you're looking for is PanelPreset.read_from_amp(...) https://github.com/snhirsch/katana-midi-bridge/blob/master/panel_preset.py#L56
This uses some constant addresses, which are defined in https://github.com/snhirsch/katana-midi-bridge/blob/master/globals.py

The code is sort of in transition currently.  There are a set of JSON files in a subdirectory that define all the key locations.  Amp panel read is still guided by globals, but everything else is driven from the parameter files.  Eventually globals will go away.  If I could master Codesmart's ability to go without sleep I'd have had it done by now :-).

I'm not doing anything special other than carefully bounding the amount of data I restore to minimize latency.  At rehearsal this afternoon I realized that I'm restoring things in the wrong order.  I've setting up deep parameters for effects first, then the front panel state.  Unfortunately, when the three effects knobs are setup last you don't necessarily get back what you expect in terms of the effects parms. 

You can see the problem in BTS: Setup deep parms for some effect (e.g. compressor) in BTS, then twiddle the mod or fx knob at the top that's associated with the effect.  You'll see several knobs at once jump away from where you had carefully set them - sometimes by a large amount.  Roland "links" a bunch of settings together (different for every class of effect) and chains them to the panel knob.  As soon as you move it, you get the relative settings Roland feels should be there rather than what you carefully setup.  Tomorrow I'll reverse the sequence to restore panel first, then the deep settings.  That should do the trick.

condor

Version 10 enables Bright setting. For those who want to test it right now.
You guys all are pretty awesome. I can't implement new stuff as quick as you discover new things  :D

vtgearhead

So, it's beginning to be clear that the Katana is essentially a GT100/001 strapped to a class AB power amp.  Since we now have a very large sysex address space to consider, my scheme to save/restore only a few bytes is a non-starter. Has anyone hacking on the amp done benchmarking to find the fastest scheme for sending bulk data?  I've heard mention of "240 byte" blocks.  In the digital world, this number is a bit unintuitive.  Would appreciate some insight from those who have been at this for a while.

Beanow

Quote from: snhirsch on April 09, 2017, 06:00:53 AMI've heard mention of "240 byte" blocks.

I think when you add the overhead of the sysex start/stop bytes, model ID, address, command, checksum, etc. that amounts to 255 bytes long sysex messages. Perhaps a limitation of one of the microchips used in the Katana. Or done for maximum compatibility should other devices have a restriction? Doing queries for larger blocks, say 512 bytes, gets truncated for me as well.

vtgearhead

You may be getting tripped up by the same thing I ran into when dumping large ranges.  The "size" portion of the read request is not a byte count.  Rather, the starting address plus "size" gives the upper bound for the actual address range returned.  The sysex address space has holes in it so if you specify something a bit over 512 bytes and the maximum offset doesn't reach the next existing block it will appear truncated.  One of my Perl utility scripts takes the bulk dump from the amp and reformats it into annotated 128 byte pages.  That lets you clearly see where the discontinuities are. 

I sent you a PM several days back requesting your personal e-mail.  If you reply back I'll forward all the utilities I used along with the other information on USB monitoring.

gumtown

Some operating systems/midi devices only have a midi FIFO buffer reserve of 256 bytes, which is why Roland do the 255 sysx byte data blocks (F0~F7).

For data request the 4 address bytes are the start address, and the 4 data size bytes, when added to the start address will give you the finish address.
The Katana has a patch address range up to xx 00 12 ?? (?? is about 23), but if you make the size 00 00 13 00 then the Katana will deliver every the up to and including the 00 00 12 xx range (it will give you everything it can find).

With the FxFloorBoard editors, the patch data is read in with the Roland 255 byte block format, then converted to 128 byte addressed blocks (not including header/footer bytes), for internal organisation into addressed ranges.

When the patch data is sent back (speaking from the GT-100 experience), it is ent in the 128 byte + heard/footer format, which the GT is quite happy to receive.

Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

CodeSmart

Quote from: gumtown on April 09, 2017, 12:24:30 PM
Some operating systems/midi devices only have a midi FIFO buffer reserve of 256 bytes, which is why Roland do the 255 sysx byte data blocks (F0~F7).
My MIDX engine has abt. 13 buffers with real-time MIDI parsing enabling SysEx merge etc.
I can't afford my circular buffers occupying more than 310 bytes each.
But I got more gear than I need...and I like it!

vtgearhead

I'm looking for a recommendation on a decent quality Android tablet + interface to use with Condor's code.  I've owned iPads for years, but have no experience with Android.  What is a reasonable screen size for this app?

Elantric

Nvidia shield K1

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=16967.0

Or just use your current windows 7 computer and the new AMIDuOS application which allows you to run android apps on your windows PC laptop

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=20634.0

condor

Quote from: snhirsch on April 09, 2017, 05:16:01 PM
I'm looking for a recommendation on a decent quality Android tablet + interface to use with Condor's code.  I've owned iPads for years, but have no experience with Android.  What is a reasonable screen size for this app?

The screen size is not really important and you should take into account that the current version supports only portrait mode. I use it with a Moto G4 phone which is perfect from handling aspect.
You should also look for a device with, of course, USB OTG and a stable and resistant USB connector. I´m saying this because my ultra thin Sony tablet has a very fragile connector so I like to break out in a sweat every time I connect my tablet.

condor

New version 11 of the KatanaEditor is available.
- capital bug in connection procedure is fixed. The app should now connect to Katana reliable and fast (would be happy about feedback).
- added AutoWah and PedalWah devices
- SneakyAmps and Bright settings will be stored in patch (old patches wont work! sorry)

gustavz

hey Condor, you've made my day! Everything works fine now. Really great! Thank you.
I love it, it's the BTS in my pocket.

fificap

Thanks Condor, V11 works fine and i like the main amp page with panel knobs representation, very easy to use!

philippe

condor

Version 12 allows you to play around with the Custom amp parameter.
Long Press on "Amp" button to go to Sneaky Amps and have fun (don`t forget to select Custom from the list).
In the menu bar you can request the recent PreAmp settings from the amp (at the moment it does not retrieve values automatically) -> "Retrieve SneakyAmp from Katana"

https://github.com/katana-dev/docs/blob/master/how-to/use-28-amp-types.md#katana-editor-for-android

The GUI does not update the number values of the sliders, i will fix it soon.
Custom amp values are not stored in the patch. Coming soon too.
But I was able to get some really good sounds experimenting with custom amp settings. Killer amp.
Many thanks to gumtown, snhirsch, beanow, elantric for their work and all the guys who are testing and providing me feedback.

Beanow

\o/ good stuff!

The link reminds me, I made the https://github.com/katana-dev organization.
You can have a repository for the editor there if you want. Good place to keep a Readme / FAQ and share the APK versions. Even better place if you have any plans to open source.

Beanow

Something like this is what I mean.

I've created this as a placeholder:
https://github.com/katana-dev/android-katana-editor

With a list of all the releases:
https://github.com/katana-dev/android-katana-editor/releases

(Note, source code isn't the source code. It's just the readme I made in a zip.)

condor

Thanks Beanow for organizing the development stuff. ;D
I attached version 13:

- added custom amp and preamp to patch structure for save/load (old patches are not compatible)
- fixed the missing values on preamp and custom amp layout
- query the preamp & custom amp settings from amp at startup
- preamp tone control reacts on panel knob turns


Beanow

I wasn't quite as active for a few days. Mirrored the new version https://github.com/katana-dev/android-katana-editor/releases

Send me a PM to tell me your Github username so I can give you access to the repository.
If you want to discuss how to use/organize the repository, we could use issues https://github.com/katana-dev/android-katana-editor/issues

Beanow

Also, I'm making some progress working on a shared library for common Katana related tasks.
Hopefully you are able to benefit from this as well using https://developer.android.com/ndk/index.html

So I would like to ask your opinion on requirements https://github.com/katana-dev/lib-katana/issues/1

Glattbart

Hey condor,
You did a good job with the app. On a Honor 7 with Android 6.0 it runs without problems and crashes.