Problems with Midi Fighter Twister after Firmware Update

Hey everyone,

I am having the same problem as many after the firmware update with 2 Midifighter Twisters. At first if I switched an encoder to Switch Encoder Hold it would act like CC Hold and if I set it to Switch Encoder Toggle it would act like CC Toggle.

After trying everything including factory reset and reinstalling driver and software, if right after reset all I do is change the first encoder to Switch Encoder Hold for example and send to the Twister, then open Midi Monitor the following happens:

- if I just turn the encoder its sending CC messages on channel 1 just as expected
- if I press down it sends a CC of 127 on Channel 2 (as if it were in CC Hold)
- if I press and turn it sends CC messages between 0 and 127 on channel 5 (even though its set at the default channel 2).

(The same is true for Switch Encoder Toggle, and if in Midi Fighter Utility I change the Switch Midi channel it only changes the channel of the CC it sends like a button but the shift encoder CC's are still on channel 5).

This happens with the latest firmware from June 2016, with the original cable plugged in directly into 2 different iMacs and is the same with freshly installed software on Mac and PC. Its therefore 99% certain that the firmware is at fault, especially since before the update everything was working absolutely fine and correct - like so often "dont fix what ain't broke".. we never learn.. :/

Is there a way to revert to the old firmware?

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Originally Posted by seltzdesign

Hey everyone,

I am having the same problem as many after the firmware update with 2 Midifighter Twisters. At first if I switched an encoder to Switch Encoder Hold it would act like CC Hold and if I set it to Switch Encoder Toggle it would act like CC Toggle.

After trying everything including factory reset and reinstalling driver and software, if right after reset all I do is change the first encoder to Switch Encoder Hold for example and send to the Twister, then open Midi Monitor the following happens:

- if I just turn the encoder its sending CC messages on channel 1 just as expected
- if I press down it sends a CC of 127 on Channel 2 (as if it were in CC Hold)
- if I press and turn it sends CC messages between 0 and 127 on channel 5 (even though its set at the default channel 2).

(The same is true for Switch Encoder Toggle, and if in Midi Fighter Utility I change the Switch Midi channel it only changes the channel of the CC it sends like a button but the shift encoder CC's are still on channel 5).

This happens with the latest firmware from June 2016, with the original cable plugged in directly into 2 different iMacs and is the same with freshly installed software on Mac and PC. Its therefore 99% certain that the firmware is at fault, especially since before the update everything was working absolutely fine and correct - like so often "dont fix what ain't broke".. we never learn.. :/

Is there a way to revert to the old firmware?

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When pressed down encoders are transmitting messages on Ch.05 and that is normal behavior of both "Shift Toggle" and "Shift Hold" setting. In latest firmware your "Shift CC" will always be fixed to Ch.05.

Here is instruction on how to downgrade the firmware if you feel like the legacy firmware suits better in your work flow.

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Originally Posted by Stewe

When pressed down encoders are transmitting messages on Ch.05 and that is normal behavior of both "Shift Toggle" and "Shift Hold" setting. In latest firmware your "Shift CC" will always be fixed to Ch.05.

Here is instruction on how to downgrade the firmware if you feel like the legacy firmware suits better in your work flow.

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Hi Stewe,

Thanks for your reply. Were there some release notes for the firmware that I missed?

Also the user manual doesn't say anything about this. I think its pretty important information and if you drastically change the behaviour and capabilities of a tool, you should at least update the documentation that goes with it or have a highly visible changelog that highlights these important changes!

What other changes were made in the firmware? What bugs were fixed? I have reverted to the old firmware now, but would like to know the tradeoff's between changing our code to use the different channels or using the old firmware.

Another quick questions:

By default all encoders send on channel 1, but when you send back to the midifighter on channel 1 you dont set the encoder value, but change the color. So to set the values of the encoders (for example when loading different presets in the software and I want those to show on the midifighter), I need to have them all set on something other than channel 1 so I dont just set the colors. So why have the colors on channel 1 AND use channel 1 as default? Or did I understand something wrongly there?

Thanks, Armin.

So playing with this some more to finally regain my sanity using MidiOx I think I finally "get" some things that are not clear. In case in the future someone stumbles upon this, they might be helpful or you should use these to update the documentation for the Midi Fighter Twister.

First off in the documentation right at the beginning it says that for the documentation the 16 midi channels are shown as Channel 0 - 15. In the more recent documentation (1.03) this has been done in a few places, but in most cases its still shown as 1 - 16. The system channel for example is actual channel 4. This needs to be consistent. Why does it need to show as 0-15? Nobody does that and the fact that it needs an explanation at the beginning (which nobody will read until the pre-insanity state) shows that its a bad idea. Also Mfutility then confusingly uses channels 1 - 16 and not 0 - 15, making that convention even more stupid. Programmers use 0-15, but end users use channels 1-16!

Regarding Shift Encoders:

Using the old firmware (2014):

- Turning the knob normally sends (and receives) on channel 1
- pushing the knob down and turning uses the channel set in Mfutility (standard is channel 2)
- you can set the indicator by sending to the Midi Fighter on channel 1
- since the input Midi channels and CC numbers cant be changed, you cannot set the shift encoder value, since channel 2 sets the colors

Using the new firmware (2016):

- Turning the knob normally sends (and receives) on channel 1
- pushing the knob down and turning ALWAYS uses the channel 5
- pushing down also sends a button press on the CC and channel set in Mfutility
- you can set the indicator by sending to the Midi Fighter on channel 1
- you can set the shift indicator by sending to the Midi Fighter on channel 5


Regarding firmware update:

- if you update from the 2014 to the 2016 firmware, you do that through Mfutility. Once the firmware update is complete you have to do a factory reset. Otherwise the behaviour will remain sort of half way between the old and new style regarding shift encoders!