Vyzex MPD26 Firmware Upgrade PDF

Vyzex MPD26 Firmware Upgrade PDF 1

FIRMWARE UPGRADE PDF Welcome to the Vyzex MPD26 Firmware Upgrade PDF. This is the very first release of the software, so please remember to check back at the Akai Professional website (www.akaipro.com) for updates to the program and to this document.

What are the minimum requirements? PC Windows XP and up. P4 equivalent Processor and up, 32-bit color graphics and 1024x768 or

larger display.

MAC OSX 10.4 and up, Power PC G4, G5 and all Intel Processors. 1024x768 or larger display.

Why do I need to upgrade my MPD26 firmware? Periodically, Akai Professional’s engineers come across ways to improve their products: This can be in response to feature requests, it could be in performance enhancements or it could also be to apply bug fixes. When this occurs, the updated firmware is released from the Akai Professional website in the form of a downloadable archive that users unpack and download to their instrument according to the instructions supplied with the firmware file. When you update your product’s firmware to the latest version you get the best possible feature-set coupled with the most stable and reliable operation, so it’s almost always a good idea to upgrade your product’s firmware when a new release becomes available. You can find out your current MPD26 firmware by pressing the ‘GLOBAL’ button on MPD26’s front panel and then the ‘>’ key 11 times until you see ‘Ver X.XX’ in the LCD display. As of the writing of this document, the current MPD26 version is 1.00, and this is the version that Vyzex MPD26 is certified to work with. If you do not find any greater revision of the MPD26 firmware available from the Akai Professional website, don’t worry: This simply means you don’t need to upgrade your firmware and can forget about this PDF document until such time as a new MPD26 firmware version is released.

How do I upgrade my MPD26 firmware? Firstly, you should ensure that Vyzex MPD26 is correctly installed and working without issues to edit your MPD26. Although you can use third party programs to upgrade MPD26’s firmware, the Vyzex MPD26 program has the best facilities to download firmware upgrades to your MPD26: This is the procedure covered in this document. You should quit any MIDI port using music software you have running before you launch Vyzex MPD26 to begin the upgrade process – This will avoid any possible conflicts between Vyzex and your other MIDI software.


1: ENTER THE EXTRA MODE

Within the EXTRA mode of the editor is a button marked FIRMWARE UPGRADE. This button should not be pressed unless you have downloaded a MPD26 firmware SYX file from the Akai Professional website that is a higher version than your current firmware. If you press this button accidentally, do not worry – you can cancel the upgrade procedure in the first two steps and not cause undue trouble to your MPD26. In the event you accidentally clear your MPD26’s firmware, don’t panic. The latest firmware .SYX file is always available from the Akai Professional website: Simply download this file before you run the FIRMWARE UPGRADE procedure.

2: MOVE THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE FILE TO THE CORRECT FOLDER

Although you can run the FIRMWARE UPGRADE procedure with the SYX file located anywhere on your computer, it makes good organizational sense to put the SYX file in the exact folder that the program expects it to be. This will also allow you to find the file easily in the future should you need to run the FIRMWARE UPGRADE procedure again. On both Windows and Mac operating systems, the firmware folder is located in your user account’s documents tree. On Windows, this folder is:

Documents\Psicraft\Vyzex MPD26\Akai Pro MPD26\Firmware

On Mac, this folder is: Documents : Psicraft : Vyzex MPD26 : Akai Pro MPD26 : Firmware NOTE: You will need to create the Firmware sub-folder.

Once the firmware upgrade SYX file has been moved to the Firmware folder in your Vyzex MPD26 documents tree, always read the accompanying doc or text file for special information regarding the new firmware, and if everything is in order you can proceed with the update by pressing the FIRMWARE UPGRADE button in the Vyzex editor GUI.


3: RUN THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE WIZARD

When you press the FIRMWARE UPGRADE button in the Vyzex MPD26 editor GUI, the firmware upgrade wizard will begin:

Clicking Continue will take you to STEP 1 of the firmware upgrade procedure:

As explained in the dialog box, the front panel buttons to hold down when re-connecting the USB cable are <<, STOP, & REC as shown here:

MPD26 will now power-up displaying the following on its front panel LCD display: Upgrade ERASE OK? PRESS ENTER This is your last chance to change your mind about upgrading the firmware: Once you press MPD26’s front panel rotary encoder ENTER button, your MPD26 won’t have any firmware at all until you load the new version, so be sure you are ready before proceeding.


When you press ENTER, MPD26 will display ‘ERASING OS’ momentarily and then will inform you it is ready to proceed with the update by displaying the following on its front panel display: Upgrade 00 SEND SYSEX

You may now proceed by clicking on the ‘Continue to select the MPD26 MIDI output port’ button.

This will open up the Midi Out Ports dialog, where you will select your MPK’s MIDI Output Port.

When MPD26 is in firmware upgrade mode, it will present one MIDI Output to the Vyzex editor: Choose this port from the list as shown and click the ‘OK’ button. 1.


You can now proceed to STEP 2 of the firmware upgrade procedure:

This is where you select the firmware upgrade SYX file that you moved to the Firmware folder on page 2 of this guide. Vyzex MPD26 will now present a file selection dialog that opens up with the Firmware folder as the starting point. You should see the firmware file right away. If the firmware file is located elsewhere on your computer, you’ll need to navigate to its location and click on the file before pressing the Open button. When you select the file and click on the Open button, the SYX transfer will begin. The Vyzex MPD26 GUI will now indicate the firmware upgrade is underway by flashing the FIRMWARE UPGRADE button and displaying an arrow shaped progress bar:

Now check out to MPD26’s LCD display: It should be actively spinning along, reporting the current status of the upgrade. When the upgrade succeeds you will see the following message on MPD26’s front panel display: Upgrade XX DONE PRESS ENTER


Where XX could be any number depending on your firmware upgrade level. Note that at this point the Vyzex MPD26 program will have shut down automatically.

If you get any error messages and the firmware upgrade fails, do not worry. You can always try again from the RUN THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE WIZARD step on page 3 of this guide. Mac Users: If your MPD26 reports a problem like ERROR 0010 and then refuses to power up normally, don’t panic - The upgrade boot up key combination (see page 3) will wake up any MPD26 in this condition. It may take a few tries, but your MPD26 will upgrade successfully. If you still can’t get the firmware upgrade to take, please contact Akai Tech Support for additional help (http://www.akaipro.com) or visit http://support.vyzor.com for editor help.

4: RESTART MPD26 AND RE-LAUNCH THE VYZEX MPD26 EDITOR

Once you press the ENTER button, your MPD26 will reboot itself with the new firmware. You can now re-launch the Vyzex MPD26 software and get back to editing presets! In certain cases, the Vyzex MPD26 editor will not be able to shut down until you press the ENTER button on your MPD26. This should not be cause for alarm. This concludes the Vyzex MPD26 Firmware Upgrade PDF Manual. As mentioned earlier on, it’s a good idea for you to also read the companion PDF manuals like the Vyzex MPD26 Quick-Start, Vyzex MPD26 User’s Guide and Preset Management with Vyzex MPD26 for a more complete view of how the editor operates. Just as with this document, these PDFs are also accessible from the program’s Manuals pull down menu.