Firmware v2.0

Dear musicians, wave surfers, sound manglers and machinery operators, a few months have passed since the last update, so it’s time to share some progress with you!

While shipping the 4th batch by now, lots of work went into improving the workflow, streamlining, polishing, adding much requested new features and fixing bugs. We think you’ll find that the Tempera now packs so much zap and immediacy it’s hard to believe it can all fit in such a small box.

In this newsletter we’ll first talk about the most important news which is the fresh v2.0 firmware, Gallery the canvas sharing space, a production and shipping update, and a small compilation of what the amazing community has been up to.

So, grab a fruit salad — it’s good for you — and let’s get right to it.

What’s new in v2.0 firmware

Per-emitter FX send level

Decide which emitters get drenched in reverb, and which stay dry as sand. Pads, drums, noises — your choice.

Relative X and Y scrubbing

A close up of Tempera showing Relative XY scrubbing

It’s now possible to scrub in two dimensions across the grid surface, with Relative X and Y exposed directly on the knobs. Find the perfect sound spot, or glide across for a full sound gamut of your samples.

Adjustable LED and emitter colors

The four primary colors are now freely adjustable in hue and intensity. You can make your palette personal, and if you have, like me, a different perception of colors :), this will make it much easier to distinguish between emitters.

Well spotted, the illustration is of course watercolor and not tempera paint

Improved chromatic keyboard

In addition to the established major and minor scale layouts, a new and better chromatic keyboard overlay makes it very straightforward to play Tempera on its own. The new layout also works well with the established way of portioning the grid, so you can have a multi-octave stacks both vertically and horizontally.

Quantized grain detune

Random grain detune can now be quantized to both fifths and octaves for extra thickness and harmony sauce. The range is made intentionally slightly asymmetrical to balance between lower and upper interval.

Kind of like shimmer but not really.

Also,

Double the modulators

The amount of per-voice modulators is increased from 5 to 10. More is more.

Stable and reliable MIDI clock sync

MIDI clock sync reception is made more robust and stable. Even with sequencers that are a bit jittery, Tempera will do its best to go in a straight line. This applies to all emitter sync, LFO sync and percussive track playback.

Reverb upgrade

Tempera’s revamped reverb algorithm is intentionally not realistic, but it is huge and long. It will go forever if you let it.

SD Card via USB bridge

When activated, the SD card inserted into Tempera is available as a mass storage device in a computer.

Modulator visualization

Each modulator will now indicate its exact position so you know exactly what it does.

New global MIDI channel parameter

It’s now easier to integrate Tempera into a big MIDI setup with the new global MIDI channel setting, while individual emitters can still listen to their own channels.

Canvas quick save shortcut

As requested, a quick combo Round+Save will quick save your canvas so you can iterate your work faster.

Emitter cycling shortcut

If you want to quickly adjust the same parameter on different emitters, the Round+Emitter combo will do just that.

Delay dot

Dotted eights, dotted sevenths, dot dot dot. Simple but effective.

Free-running LFOs

Exactly what is says. A little bit of unpredictability goes a long way :)

Bug fixes

This list is so long it wouldn’t fit. If you were experiencing a bug or quirk, chances are high it’s fixed in v2.0.

Grab the v2.0 firmware and manual here

The Gallery goes out of beta

The community sharing space — The Gallery — is now out of beta, and is already filled with beautiful submissions both for Vector and Tempera. Big thanks to all early birds who helped us take it off the ground. 🚀

Everyone is welcome to share their creations, show others how you use the Tempera, and get inspired for your next thing. To kick off:

How To Make Ambient by Substan

We partnered with the amazing ambient navigator Substan to show you how to take a canvas in several directions, from thick haze to steady hailstorm. The canvas is freely available at the Gallery, download it and try for yourself!

Visit the Gallery

What’s next and production update

Over the course of the next two months we’ll be taking turns in taking vacations and small breaks, while production, support, assembly and shipping keeps going. We’ve been building and shipping Temperas for more than 6 months now, so things are steady, smooth, and organized. A new batch of Vectors is in the works too which will start shipping in July as planned.

For those of you waiting for your Tempera, be sure to watch the order tracker and await the shipping notification, and if you haven’t placed your order yet — now is a good time as any :)

We hope you’ll have a joyful summer filled with music, creativity and friends. Be sure to hydrate well if you’re in the northern hemisphere, and stay warm if in the southern!

Community digest

The Beetlecrab discord server has been busy as ever and some of the stuff is pretty bonkers. Percussives, ambients, remixes, recordings, audio pixel art, tonal and atonal experiments. Here’s a few picks in no particular order, you’re welcome at the discord to find more, or to ask the respective authors how these were achieved.

A special thank you once again for the firmware improvements and polishing goes to all of you who reported bugs and suggested workflow streamlining. It’s only in your hands that Tempera finds its own unique way forward!

💙 ❤️ 💛 💚