MegaDRUM common working tasks when upgrading firmware

Suggested steps that I always do before/after updating the firmware on MegaDRUM when it is already configured.

MD= MegaDRUM Device

MDM=MegaDRUM Manager Software for PC/MAC – Always load the latest version online from the Megadrum.info – Requires Java!

Backup the MD Data

1. Backup the current MD settings using MegaDRUM Manager.
2. Goto “Option” in MDM: Open midiport “MegaDrum 1” and enable the check the box “same in and out”. (Note: Use the MegaDRUM 2 Midiport for the sound software’s like VST Hosts to receive midi trigger input – Port 1 and 2 are equal and sends the same information. The two ports are great if you want to tweak your MD using MDM and also would like to hear the sound at the same time without using midi pass thru…) Note: If you don’t see two MegaDRUM ports…you have probably too old USB firmware.
3. Press the “Open MIDI” button on the main screen in MDM
4. Press “Get All” button – All values in MD will now be read int to MDM.
5. Press “Save All” button to save the data to a *.MDS file on the computer.

Updating the firmware

1. Go to the MDM menu and select the “Firmware Upgrade” – follow the instructions in the dialog. You need to know which speed your Atmega chip operates at and also which model you are using. ATmega 1284 or 644 etc. It could be tricky to guess this… Download and unpack the firmware to an known directory. To select the right speed for the CPU you will press the “UP” button until your CPU speed will show up. When ready press the “down” button…MD will now be ready for receiving the firmware. Click on the “Upgrade” button in the MDM dialog.
   Note: If using an external powered USB hub between the computer and the MD…you will probably get “modem error” when trying to update. Connect the MD directly to your computers USB port instead. (This could be for Windows PCs with poor USB implementations – I don’t know how this works for MAC.)
2. After successfully updating the firmware…MD will go back to default state and show the new current firmware version.

Steps after updating the firmware

1. On the MD device set the following settings (They are not updated/restored through the MDM backup): Midi Speed(I am using “Midi + USB” because switching to faster speeds will cause my VST Host to occasionally crash), AutoLoad Conf=Yes(will load config from slot 1 every time you start your MD), AltEncoders=Yes (Rotary buttons to work), MaxInputs=32 or 56(Important that you select a value and stays with this…your MDS files are depentent on this how many inputs you have), If you have been using positional sensing settings these figures needs to be set also.
2. Then at last press “Save Config” on the MD and select the first slot 1 (using the rotary encoder) and finally press the right key encoder…after a couple of seconds you will see a message saying “done”. Now the settings are saved.
3. Switch off and disconnect the MD USB port. If you normally use an external powered USB hub – Switch back to this one before powering up the MD again. I need to use an external hub against the MD otherwise some of the hi hat settings is not readable when reading from MD to MDM. (It always fial to read hi-hat settings. Could be that my HP notebooks does not deliver the right USB power. On external USB power – No problem at all!! Seems to work better on my sons iBook over USB.

Restore the MD after updating the firmware

1. In MDM: Go to the “Option” menu and select the select the right MegaDRUM port 1 and enable the checkbox “same in and out”.
2. Press “Open MIDI” button on the main screen.
3. Press “Load All” button and select your previous save MDM file.
4. Press the “Send All” button to save all configuration to MD.
5. Go back to the MD device: Go to the “Save config” menu and select the first slot 1 and finally press the right key encoder…after a couple of seconds you will see a message saying “done”
6. Ready!

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