Alesis Photon X25 firmware?

[psycmos]

Hi guys!
I happen to have a dead Photon25 (not the X version) on my desk that I want to use with W7.
I understand the procedure for updating the firmware is to be done in XP but prior to that, I can't erase the actual firmware which is 1.3 either by the two octave buttons nor by global+octave down.. v1.3 remains lit whatever combination I press. Can someone please help me with this? I don't want to throw it to trash, yet.

I forget the USB 1.04 FIX for alesis Photon25
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... 3t8ga9mfOI

[Neo-Classical Guitar Man]

If you can afford it, it is worth going for something better that can expand with you a little e.g. this
https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-an ... Stock/3EZR
.

Just popping back here to add a note of caution. I just got around to testing this SubZero 4x4 and it is all over the place. MIDI is being corrupted when in standalone mode. I have not looked at a HEX message readout , but my trusty old Studiomaster MIDI Analyser is showing some very strange results, and simple note data is not passing through intact. I’ll take it up with Gear4Music .
Also the G4M website now points out that the B-Stock units have a design error - it means a labelling error. The MIDI Ins are marked as Outs and vice-versa. Don’t recall seeing that notice when I ordered... Not a major problem as long as you don’t take it at face value like I did, until I compared it to my older MIDIBOX unit, then realised the labelling error.

Altogether not a great start. I’ll confirm if a replacement fixes the MIDI issues.

I was looking at this earlier and thought it looked the same, so I checked and sure enough this one on Amazon is a rebranded model, but with the ports correctly labelled.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CAMOLA-Interface-Keyboard-Controller-Computers/dp/B08T676P1F/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&keywords=usb+midi+host&qid=1624628943&sr=8-12

[BillB]

Yes, that looks fine. And don’t forget that I reported back to say it was working fine, it was just my USB cable that was dodgy.

[xenoncodex]

Thanks Bill!

That worked and my X25 is fully functional again. I've uploaded all the X25 files to Google Drive :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CKgR2 ... YOd_2Dsucy

The pdf describing controller recalibration has a warning about certain button presses that wipe the firmware.

For anyone who has an X25 -- if it's working there is no need to update the firmware. The fix is only to be used if your X25 isn't working, or appears dead.

On Linux flashing the firmware was straightforward using dfu-util.

On Windows the procedure described in the readme requires XP. In other words something to be avoided unless you absolutely have to.

THANKS SO MUCH , as far as i know , the photon is the only XY-"Z" AXIS , MIDI ,controller , (ie;- AIR Controlled ) keyboard , and is also extremely well built , full rotary , heavy rubberised vol/mod , and incremental backlit wheels , for dim-light / LIVE environment , I've owned my device , since virtual release date , and , actually was reluctant to go to Win 10 , from 7 , solely because of the photon's UNIQUE xy-z axis , however , it still shows up in Live 10/11 , and Win 10 , so "100 percent IS still, supported " ... which is all great news for all us Photon Users ... but , I lost my support CD , with the ASIO and USB Firmware fix/solution , lest to say I was distraught , as for all the above reasons , it is vital to have the software/firmware back-up.
So , thanks again , AND , to S-O-S , THE BEST ABSOLUTE BEST , source of audio-tech , in the world , great to have found it in the absolute most appropriate place too.

[merlyn]

You're welcome.

It was @BillB who saved the day and shared the X25 firmware with me. Thanks again Bill!

[BillB]

No problem - I don’t recall exactly where I got it from. Possibly the Alesis site many years ago, maybe a support forum... shame it is not on the Alesis website right now.

My view is that manufacturers have a moral obligation (and reputational incentive) to support all of their old gear with manuals, firmwares etc. I don’t expect to be able to call their support desk to know why a decade-old bit of kit isn’t working. But they should, at the very least, be able to host all previously-produced digital information and support files for their legacy products.



Rant over!

[Drew Stephenson]

My view is that manufacturers have a moral obligation (and reputational incentive) to support all of their old gear with manuals, firmwares etc. I don’t expect to be able to call their support desk to know why a decade-old bit of kit isn’t working. But they should, at the very least, be able to host all previously-produced digital information and support files for their legacy products.



Rant over!

Rant may be over but it's very much supported!

[omitho]

I'm sure I speak for many here. My Px25 seems to be bricked. From reading all these posts, perhaps not. Using dfu-util might be straight-forward for you but I'm completely lost. I've tried loading XP to a usb drive but it crashes on install saying it could be shadowing / vid drivers etc. I don't want to study about legacy crap to get things working and I don't want to buy anything to replace the x25. I'd like to use it to use softsynths as well as my microKORG. The only thing it does is the lights flash on, on power up using a DC PS. In usb mode it does nothing. I've gone through the procedures as explained but cannot get it to do anything.
When using ubuntu the dfu doesn't see the device at all. From what I read this means the firmware is erased already. How would i know where to send the new firmware if I cannot see the device? I tried dfu-util -l but it returns nothing.
In windows 10 I can switch between PS and USB and hear a noise but nothing pops up nor does the device LCD display show anything at all, like its dead completely. I have checked device manager and cannot see anything there either. I am using an Alesis multimix8 which i have unplugged trying to get this to work.
A lot of legacy devices are awesome this was one of them - i bought new and would love to use again. If anyone could help that would be great.
My studio:
Fantom x8
NI Maschine
Yamaha TX81Z
Roland JV1010
Roland SH32
Roland SP808EX
Alesis Multimix8
Midiman Radium
MicroKORG

Thanks in advance !
O

[merlyn]

When using ubuntu the dfu doesn't see the device at all. From what I read this means the firmware is erased already.

No, if the firmware is erased dfu-util should see it. If

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$ dfu-util -l

returns nothing, check the basics. There is a push switch on the back of the PhotonX25 that chooses between USB power and an external PSU. Make sure that is on USB. Then, is the USB cable good?

What does

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$ lsusb

show? If I remember correctly when the X25 has its firmware erased it shows up as 'unknown device' or 'dfu device', something like that.

[omitho]

In windows 10 it is showing up as unknown, with a second device under it as unknown device this is in device manager. But the dfu program they use / in the package doesn't see it at all in win 10. Ubuntu doesn't appear to have a device manager and makes no sound at all when switching the x25 on. In Win 10 it does make a sound. There is absolutely no sign of life on the x25 the entire time.

Thanks for the help,
O

[merlyn]

When I looked into this some of the solutions I saw for Windows 10 were to use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) so if you have an Ubuntu system available you may as well use that.

On Ubuntu there are programs that are similar to device manager on Windows, but I would just use the command line. The lsusb command lists all USB devices connected. Open a terminal, type lsusb then press 'enter'. On my system this is the output (the dollar sign is the command prompt for a normal user) :

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$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 13b2:000a Alesis PhotonX25
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1462:7c56 Micro Star International MYSTIC LIGHT 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 047d:1020 Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046a:00ab Cherry GmbH Mechanical Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[omitho]

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 003 Device 006: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 0bda:0184 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5182 Card Reader
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 08bb:2900 Texas Instruments PCM2900 Audio Codec
Bus 003 Device 010: ID ffff:fffe Unknown Unknown **
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0763:1015 M-Audio M-Audio Keystation
Bus 003 Device 007: ID 0cf3:e004 Qualcomm Atheros Communications Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 040a:0001 Kodak Co. DVC-323
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
I added the **
the filename to add to dfu-util is QP0 1_04 20070724 DFU ONLY - No Presets
dfu-util is a little confusing as is a lot of linux command lines based on what you see, can you give me a cut n paste cmd line?

thanks again!
O

[merlyn]

That looks good. The 'Unknown' device will be the X25.

First I would check you have dfu-util installed and it's working with

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$ dfu-util -l

That should show something.

The firmware ends in .bin, so you need a path to that. Is QP0 1_04 20070724 DFU ONLY - No Presets the folder the firmware is in?

[omitho]

I have all this. I can find the folder (i think LOL) Ive been looking around at different things but the way it's identified through ubuntu is puzzling compared to other things I have seen .
I'm not well versed in Linux, but I'm not completely lost. Thinking back to when there wasn't a single www page there was UNIX.... and I could get around so, I get it a little but if you don't use it , you lose it. Here's what I got today:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 003 Device 010: ID 1acc:1534 Midiplus Co, Ltd.
Bus 003 Device 006: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 0bda:0184 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5182 Card Reader
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 08bb:2900 Texas Instruments PCM2900 Audio Codec
Bus 003 Device 011: ID ffff:fffe Unknown Unknown
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0582:006d Roland Corp. FANTOM-X
Bus 003 Device 007: ID 0cf3:e004 Qualcomm Atheros Communications Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 040a:0001 Kodak Co. DVC-323
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
I've looked at sample dfu-util command lines and based on those it's hard to tell what I need at this point, And I appreciate all your help. Next I'm going to dig into Fantom X8 midi...but thats something else....LOL

Thanks
OmithO

[omitho]

also, sudo dfu-util - l returns this:
Deducing device DFU version from functional descriptor length
Found Runtime: [ffff:fffe] ver=0100, devnum=11, cfg=1, intf=0, path="3-5", alt=0, name="EEPROM", serial="UNKNOWN"

This is where I am puzzled the name and serial doesn't look like the dfu-util is going to work.

O

[merlyn]

That output looks fine. Flashing the firmware is as simple as

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$ dfu-util -D /path/to/firmware

-D for download. dfu-util is intelligent enough to select the correct dfu device if there is only one connected.

Replace /path/to/firmware with the path to where the firmware is. If the firmware is on your Windows machine and you're booting from a USB stick the path will be something like /media/<bunch of numbers>/ followed by the path on the Windows machine.

Use a file manager to find the firmware, then copy the path.

[omitho]

dfu-util -D /home/omitho/Downloads/PhX QP1 1_04 20070725 DFU ONLY - No Presets.bin
dfu-util 0.9

Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2016 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to http://sourceforge.net/p/dfu-util/tickets/

dfu-util: File size is too big: Success

Not sure what is going on the file size is 5973 bytes ..........any ideas?
O

[merlyn]

You need sudo in front of it and spaces need special treatment in a file name. What I would do is use 'Tab'. Type in the start of the filename then hit 'Tab' and the terminal completes what you're typing. if there are multiple possibilities 'Tab' doesn't do anything. Hit 'Tab' again and you get a list of possibilities. Type another letter and repeat the process until you get the full path. Doing it that way means you can't make a typo.

5973 is the right size, so it should work.

[omitho]

Tab did nothing at all, I read somewhere it was due to the spaces. I actually went to file manager, copied the path first and pasted it in and then the filename as if I were going to rename it but left as is, so I wouldn't make a mistake. Would it make a difference if I just named it to a one word.bin filename. I mean it says parent folder: /home/omitho/Downloads/PhX do I need a / after PhX?
I tried using quotes sudo dfu-util -D /home/omitho/Downloads/PhX "QP1 1_04 20070725 DFU ONLY - No Presets.bin"
fu-util: File size is too big: Success
My prompt looks like this, is there something there I need to include?
omitho@omitho-XPS-8700:~$
On another note the photon has been showing up in Ableton as Legacy MIDI keyboard but still no lights....
O

[omitho]

and I have tried it with / after PhX/ same results I believe