New René Firmware 133 Released

The René music synthesizer module is a powerful three-dimensional prism of composition. It is the world’s only 3D Cartesian Music Sequencer. Named for the French philosopher & mathematician René Descartes, it uses the Cartesian coordinate system to unlock the analog step sequencer from the shackles of linearity. The original René was a one-channel, two-dimensional Cartesian sequencer with limited memory, this new René is a three-channel, three-dimensional Cartesian sequencer with memory for up to 64 complete STATEs. Considering the multiple channels and FUN programming options across multiple axes, René has become an n-dimensional matrix or tesseract of synthesizer sequencing.

New Features in René 133 Firmware

New functionality: gate ties!  A “gate tie” behavior is added to FUN.OP.TRIG. When FUN.OP.TRIG is turned on, non-Glide-enabled locations still output triggers as before. When a location is reached with Gate and Glide both enabled, the channel’s Gate output will go and stay high until a non-Glide-enabled location is reached, at which point the Gate output will go low. This allows multiple gates to be tied together for the creation of variable-length note events. In classical music terms, a gate tie between locations with the same note value is a “tie,” and a gate tie between locations with different note values is a “slur.” 

Because the length of a gate tie is determined by the number of Glide-enabled locations that the sequence passes through in a row, differing Cartesian and Snake patterns will result in differing rhythms even on the same State.   

Note: When FUN.OP.SLEEP is turned on and Access-disabled States are being “skipped,” gate tying will only happen if the location that is being “held” is Glide-enabled. In this case gate tying will begin when a Gate-enabled location is reached or skipped, and will not end until an Access-enabled and Glide-disabled location is reached. In other words, René acts as if all skipped locations have the same Glide setting as the held location. 

Gate-tying, like all Program Page operations, is per channel and per State. 

Advertisement

René 133 Installation Instructions

Check always for the latest instructions from the vendor. The instructions released on Dec, 30th 2020 are:

• On a computer or smartphone, open the audio file: renev133.wav
• DO NOT change the file format. 
• Make sure that other sounds (email/IM alerts, notifications, music, video, etc.) are turned OFF and silenced during playback of the renev118.wav audio file. 
• If the process is interrupted by other sounds the René will go dark and you will have to start over. 
• If this happens the René will not have any firmware on it except that which allows this process, so it can only be booted into this special mode until the firmware writing procedure is completed successfully.
• Make sure the system in which the René resides is NOT powered on.
• Patch a cable from the output of an audio playback device (such as a smartphone or computer) to the ZMOD input of the René. 
• Turn the volume all the way up on the playback device. If the device has any sort of “auto-volume” or “auto-volume limiter”, turn the feature OFF.
• Patch a cable from the René X-Gate Out to the René XMOD input. No other patch cables should be in use.
• Power up the René and you should see the all LEDs on the right half of René turn on and then one by one start turning off.
• Before all LEDs turn off, remove the patch cable from XMOD and patch to YMOD so X-Gate is now patched to YMOD. Lights will flash indicating old firmware has been erased. Any saved information in STATES will be preserved. 
• Remove the cable from YMOD and X-Gate.
• Initiate playback of the audio file into the René. Do not monitor the sound yourself, as it is quite unpleasant.
• The René will alternate lighted CHannel BUTTONs indicate it is receiving firmware update. 
• Once the process is finished (4-5 minutes), the René will boot up as normal. 
• Go to the GBL page and press C/ Amber button a second time to view firmware version if desired. It should read (A=Amber, G=Green, X=Off):
• O O O O
• X X X X
• G X X X
• X G X G
• If you have any trouble with this process, please contact technical@makenoisemusic.com

New firmware version R133 adds new functionality. Download it today!