New ZynthianOS version: stable-2211

It’s been a long way, but finally, the new version of ZynthianOS is here and its called stable-2211. Many things have changed, so be prepared to enjoy with the new features.

Here is the link to download the SD image:

https://os.zynthian.org/zynthianos-last-stable.zip

We strongly recommend you to download and burn the new SD image. Trying to upgrade from previous stable versions is a long and error prone process so we have decided to block it to avoid people’s complains. Old stable versions can’t be upgraded!

Regarding changes, the biggest one is the new mixer screen that totally replaces the old layer list screen, but the list of improvements and fixes is huge. These are the more important ones:

• Mixer, including full MIDI learning
• Chain is the new word. No more layers anywhere.
• Main FXs (aka Master-FXs)
• New SooperLooper engine, including a nice custom GUI:

• New Audio Player engine
• Multitrack Audio Recorder
• Improved chain management
• User presets for many engines (save preset!): LV2, Audio Player, SooperLooper, etc.
• Improved MOD-UI integration
• Improved MIDI learn
• Improved ZS3s subsnapshots
• Improved MIDI Output
• Customized GUI Widgets: SooperLooper, Audio Player, Tuner, 1/3 Octave Spectrum Display, etc.
• Metronome
• Improved remote control: new CUIAs
• Improved “drag action” in all listboxes
• Improved on-screen buttons
• Touchscreen calibration now supports rotation
• Touch control has been improved in many other ways
• New OS-251 LV2 synth engine
• And a lot of core & GUI improvements & bug fixes

Wiki’s User Guide has been updated and most important changes are now documented there. Anyway, some of these changes deserve extra comments here:

1.) Layers are dead. Long live Chains
We decided to replace the word “layer” because it’s confusing and it doesn’t reflect the concept. “Chain” is the new word and we feel it reflects quite nicely the concept. We avoided the word “channel” because we will release the limitation/association with MIDI channels in the near future.
2.) Main FXs and more
By bold clicking the Main mixer strip you will access the “main-chain options” menu. From here you can manage the FX chain and also access other specific functionality like “start/stop audio recording”, etc.
3.) Audio Player Engine
Now you can play more than one audio track. And you can use it as a basic sampler, recording and using midi notes to play the recorder audio at different “speeds”. And you will see the wave. Yessss!

4.) User Presets
One of the long awaited features. You can now save presets on all LV2 engines, SooperLooper and Audio Player. For doing so you have to access chain options and click the engine in the chain tree. If the engine support user presets you will see the related options. From the preset list, you can bold click any preset for accessing the preset options. From here you can mark/unmark it as favorite and if it’s a user preset, you would be capable of renaming or deleting.
5.) Multitrack audio recording
Zynthian’s audio recorder records a stereo wave file from the mixer’s main output (post effects) by default. If you enable any chain to feed the multitrack recorder (within chain options, audio output submenu) then the audio recorder changes to a multitrack recorder with a stereo pair for each enabled chain. The main output can also be enabled to add it as another pair of tracks in the recording. This creates a multitrack wave file.
6.) Improved MOD-UI integration
MOD-UI engine now can be chained to FX’s from zynthian UI. It’s also fully integrated in the mixer, so you can control how MOD-UI’s audio output is mixed with the rest of chains.
7.) Improved ZS3 subsnapshots
Subsnapshots now include the full chain’s state: clone, capture, audio routing, MIDI learning. Also, on multitimbral mode, ZS3 subsnapshots are global and they include the state for ALL chains.
8.) Improved MIDI Output
MIDI output works much better. Stepseq and MIDI player output is always routed to the enabled outputs. By default, MIDI input from controller devices is not routed to output, so you can cleanly route through the MIDI chains. From the admin menu, you can enabled/disabled the “Bridge MIDI input to output” flag. Remember that enabling/disabling MIDI outputs must be done from webconf. We hope to improve this very soon.
9.) Customized GUI Widgets
Now we have a mechanism for creating customized GUI widgets for every engine. It’s not difficult if you have some programming skills, and it would be a good entry point to zynthian development. You could enjoy developing a nice GUI for your favorite LV2 FX or synth. It’s not documented yet, but the existing examples should be enough.

Finally, i would like to give ALL credit to Mr. @riban, who has been working so hard in this development cycle. He’s the main developer behind most of the new features, while i’ve been roaring most of the time because he changed too many things.

Big Thanks, @riban … and please, step out of my brain!!

Enjoy!