...oops. Been there done that. I eventually got a replacement although it took several months.I'm being very cautious with this one. As we know, there's no complete "factory reset" on Orba 2 like there was on Orba 1.
I messed mine up by opening partitions that aren't supposed to be opened (thanks @Subskybox! ;-) ) and messing with the device directly. I wasn't sure if it was possible to bork it just by messing with the XML.
If you can't get it replaced and it's basically a doorstop anyway, I'll dig out some notes on the stuff I tried with mine before giving up. It's possible that yours isn't so far gone, though a bootlooping Orba 2 isn't good news.
Thanks @BLG145 - I certainly have been to places on the Orba no sane man should go. @Subskybox was right to be cagey about that, but then I think it was one of his videos that tipped the balance for me when I decided to buy one! I got through a couple of crashes previously and survived - this time I may have gone too far in my attempts to recover and done more damage to the system.
The lack of "factory reset" is an infuriating issue, it's not just a matter of keeping users happy but also making their own lives easier. It seems a theme with Kickstarter projects for creators not to give enough thought to how the products will be used in the wild.
The big shame for me personally is that I like the device, limited yes, but likeable. If I end up without one I will miss it! (But I'm not going to spend any more money on it now.)
I frequently looped Orba 1 but it was always recoverable. My theory about breaking Orba 2 was that I'd created an invalid preset, and each time it started up it tried and failed to load it, and reset. I couldn[t find a way out of it. Since Gear2Music's repair shop (UK) couldn't either, they eventually refunded it...and I stupidly bought another. :))
(I'd encourage you to contact Artiphon tech support, because they did offer to replace mine. I opted to go via the UK reseller instead, which was quite irritating as it took them 6 months to conclude they couldn't fix it.)
This is a video I made of what my loop looked like. If your looks the same, it's probably had it.
https://youtu.be/LOtRwo4UvXM
If it appears in Device Manager (Windows), it may be possible to work with it. The problem with mine was that it only appeared in Device Manager very briefly while looping, and not long enough to send any commands to it.
I think it stopped looping after something like 16 cycles. After this, I think one of the partitions was available in File Explorer on Windows. Manually resetting the contents of that partition didn't save it, but may be worth a try. I think Artiphon Tech Support provided a copy of the file(s) for it. I admitted I'd broken it by messing with it, but they still did their best and offered to replace it.
...I found what I was sent Dec 2022.
""When it's constantly trying to boot, that means it has corrupted firmware which can typically be remedied by reinstalling it. A full reinstall can be done via the app. I've attached the full firmware below that you can drag (still zipped) anywhere onto the settings page of the app. This of course will need to be after the app has first recovered Orba 2. The other method is the one you already tried, where you can just drop the partial firmware (.bin file) onto the bootloader drive.
If you can get the firmware stable, I can send you the correct partition contents. Otherwise, I can look into replacing the Orba 2 for you.""
(Attached)
I presume the app can't recover yours, but if you wait for it to stop looping you may see a partition containing this zip file, or its contents, which you could use to replace whatever's there.
Like I say, didn't work for me, but worth a go. Otherwise you can hopefully get a replacement.
@BJG145 - I can't recall when or where I found this file but I think it may hold some of the information you (and some others) may have been looking for.
I have noticed something strange with an experiment I was trying.
I made a preset which used two different sample sets - changing between them using velocity thresholds. (A crazy idea, I know, but it could be done so I thought I would try it.)
My first attempt showed that velocity threshold change registered in different areas of the keys - some near the edge (on the Y axis), others in the center. It was almost like the sensors were physically misaligned in the body of the Orba. So I tried removing seekers not needed and got the change happening only at the rim of the Orba - not quite what I expected, but at least it was consistent.
I don't know what to make of it, but I thought I would share, in case. The samples I used were Artiphon ones so no samples had to be loaded. If anyone wants the preset file to try it just ask, and I will post it.
Curious! Just noticed one UK retailer is offering the Chorda for pre-order for delivery roughly when the Kickstarter campaign should deliver. And another is offering a B-stock Orba 2 for a higher price than the brand new ones they also offer.
It's a strange world!
Ah - thanks for that. Since I don't have an Orba 1 that makes me even more mystified about how I got it! Shame it wasn't what I thought it might have been - may have been useful. Oh, well.
This is a log showing the reset procedure for Orba 1. Orba 2 works differently however. Tech support recently replied to confirm there is no way to access the data partition on a looping Orba 2.
...I can decode note data, understand that bit fairly well, but I haven't looked at expression data. I use a tailored preset on the Orba 1 to filter that out; swamps the note data otherwise. I haven't dared experiment with edited presets on Orba 2 though.
"Songs have an inherent problem if you want to mess with the voices - the crc or hash values are included the artisong file but the correct values may not be straightforward for people to access"
The way song data is represented in the XML is very similar to MIDI. The main difference is that instead of having a sequence of note-on/note-off messages, the Orba uses note duration. In terms of voices, the loopData entry simply plays the currently loaded voice; if you load a piano preset, the loopData for Lead will play as a piano. The above demo was based on the "Bedroom" preset where the MIDI note values for the eight pads (and corresponding sounds) are:
36 - Kick
38 - Snare
42 - Closed Hat
49 - Open Hat
43 - Perc1
45 - Perc2
51 - Perc3
70 - Perc4
I expect the eight drum pads always have the same MIDI number assignments, though I haven't checked.
So I did a quick test creating a song with drums - trying to play with the metronome a bit and then making sure I'd hit all the keys. Then I added a scale up and down on a lead preset. (Not at all musical!)
The event data is in base64(?) - much as we see on the Orba1 - which is not that much use to me, but if you want me to post the song to see what you can learn from it ask and I will post it for you.
I've just discovered a technique for sample based presets that may be of use to some.
I had noticed that hidden away on the orba 2 are very small samples of sine, saw and triangle(? I think). The ones I looked at are just 512 samples long. They don't seem to be used in any of the presets though. It occurred to me that, if the Orba can handle them, it would be possible to create very small sized sample sets using looping.
Making such small samples that loop well is much easier than it is with bigger samples - but you pay for it by losing some of the character of the sounds, eg: the tonguing of wind instrument notes and the vibrato typical of cello and violin sounds. The samples only need to be as long as the loop. The start value needs to be 1 (not 0), and the end, the total number of sample points in the sample. I used mostly lengths of about 1,700, but you can get away with less, or more. The size difference is substantial.
I would also mention that Audacity has some problems with such short samples. You have to get the pitch from a longer area of your source recording - Audacity gets it's wildly wrong otherwise.
I would guess it won't work well with some instruments, like plucked strings for example. But it might offer interesting sounds if anyone did try it.
Subskybox
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