Saber Forum

Requesting this thread to be stickied!

1 ) Download the latest launcher (Mac version (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=23236.0) or Windows version (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=23237.0)) and install it with Administrator rights (IMPORTANT).
2 ) Download a sound font set of your choice (https://www.ultrasabers.com/Sound-Font-p/soundfont-manual.htm for the Default Ultrasabers fonts or custom-made ones from the forum)
3 ) Unzip the downloaded sound font packages to a folder of your choice.
4 ) Turn your saber on.
5 ) Plug it into your PC (use only USB 2.0 ports!).
6 ) Wait until the driver is installed (only important when you connect it the very first time).
7 ) Run the launcher with Administrator rights (right-click -> Run as Administrator) (IMPORTANT).
8 ) Switch to the Obsidian sound board tab in the launcher.
9) Open the Sound Wizard.
10 ) Choose a bank.
11 ) Look for the folder you saved the unzipped sound fonts to.
12 ) Insert the appropiate files in the different sections, i.e. tag/boot sounds in the Tag/Boot Sounds section, lockup sounds in the Lockup Sounds section etc.
12 ) Click on "Write Sounds" on the left.
13 ) Save the different fonts on your HDD as a backup so that you don't have to do the whole procedure again. If you ever need to upload them again, you just load your compilations to the banks, not every single file.
14 ) Click "Write Sounds" at the bottom.
15 ) Wait for the files to be written to the board.
16 ) Close the Sound Wizard.
17 ) Go back to the Main tab in the launcher and click "Disconnect".
18 ) Unplug your saber.

That would be the right and approved order for uploading and/or changing the sound font on the Obsidian v3 and v4 sound boards. Be extra careful with steps 4 ), 5 ) and 6 ) - follow exactly that order, otherwise you may have severe connection and board issues! The same goes for 17 ) and 18 ) - don't unplug before you disconnected the saber for the same reasons!

I agree that this should be stickied. If there is one thing I feel US doesn't have a good video of, it is this. I know there is a video, but it goes too fast, assumes you have done some of these steps already, and you can't see what Emory is really doing in the video.

a great step-by-step guide. I agree that this thread should be stickied as a helpful guide for those new to sabers with sound.

i haven't ordered my saber yet, but i will hopefully be placing that order at the end of the week. it will be with a v4 soundboard. my question is, can you load mp3 files onto the soundboard? i am planning on making a couple of custom fonts using my DJ software and was hoping that mp3 files are compatible.

No, mp3 are not supported. However, you can also use .wav files on the v4 now.

excellent. thanks racona

I want to install Lord Vanes "Vader" fonts (total = 2626KB for fonts I want to use.) and I was going to overwrite the "Ancient Saber" being the largest bank (2496KB) except it's smaller in size than the one I want to overwrite, does this mean I need to format my V4 Obsidian sound board and if so does anyone know what the default size US uses for each bank in KBs? While I'm at it does anyone know if it would be alright to say format my V4 board for 6 sound banks and make the one bank for the "Silent" font small in size than the other 5 banks? I pretty knowledgeable when it comes to computers which is why my gut instinct is telling me there's a good reason why US made by default all sound banks equal in size, the Silent sound font is only using 5% of its own bank with 95% unused.

Much appreciated and thank you!

Systemlord.  ;D

Never mind, I figured it out.

As a new owner of an Ultra Saber I scoured the interwebs in search of something like this post. I DEMAND THE STICKIES!!!! For it was vastly helpful.

Y'all ever heard of sticky topics

Woot woot!

Thanks, Drachir.  It was due, and good job, Racona Nova.

Thanks, Drahcir! And I'm pleased to see that my how-to guide helps so many people :D

Just got my saber, wanted to mess with the sound font.

I agree with the 2nd poster above, in the video, they go way to fast, and assume you know what you are doing, when this is the very 1st time touching this.
Suggestion, next time use some one in the video who has never used this before, and then when they are lost, you can show them how to do everything they don't understand!

I figured it out, but had to keep putting the video on pause or starting it over again.

i should have asked this before ordering

There's no way to use a tablet. The software is only available for Mac and Windows at the moment. Maybe we get an Android/iPhone app in the future, but for now it's a PC-only software.

How do I do this step? I don't see it.

When I connect my saber and go to Sounds Wizard I see the Banks Selection and it shows how much of each bank is used by the sound fonts.
(http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af156/tvanderbeek/Screenshot%202016-06-21%2013.27.21.png)

But when I click Next it shows empty/no file so I have to select all of the files every time.
(http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af156/tvanderbeek/Screenshot%202016-06-21%2013.27.29.png)

Same on all screens
(http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af156/tvanderbeek/Screenshot%202016-06-21%2013.27.35.png)

Is this what it's supposed to look like? If I want to change even one sound or volume I have to select all of the files again.

It's in the "Write Sounds" section. Configure all your sounds, then go to "Write Sounds". There you can rename your font, mark one of them as "Active" and also save the font on your HDD/SSD.

As for the sounds not showing up in the sections, I have no idea why that happens. It seems that your saber has the v4 sound board which I'm not that familiar with. I only have the v3, and the different sounds show up there...Did you try to double-click on the bank you want to edit instead of using the "Next" button? Or did you simply click on the different sections on the left? If you did the latter, then it can be that your files don't show up because the program doesn't know which bank you selected. I think that you have to either double-click or use the "Next" button in the "Bank Selection" so that the program knows which font you want to look at.

OK, I found this and saved the font set. That worked fine.


But this doesn't seem to be working. Double click does nothing.

Here's my starting screen after I click Sounds Wizard. You can see I have Bank #5 selected with a single click and it shows 97% used.
(http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af156/tvanderbeek/Screenshot%202016-06-23%2009.53.00.png)

Then I click next. You can see the file shows empty and the memory bank shows 0 kB used.
(http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af156/tvanderbeek/Screenshot%202016-06-23%2009.55.55.png)

All of the sounds files are empty. Write Sounds would write nothing to the saber. Also it tries to overwrite the name as ObsidianFont. It didn't copy the name "Episode1" from the Banks Selection page.
(http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af156/tvanderbeek/Screenshot%202016-06-23%2009.56.15.png)

Maybe this is all normal operation. It just doesn't seem right. The program doesn't seem to know what's on the saber but there's no "read from board" button like there is for the main screen of the launcher when tweaking the motion settings.

Okay, that's really odd. Normally they should show up. Have you tried to contact Ultrasabers directly and see what they can tell you about this? AFAIK this isn't normal behaviour, as I can confirm for the Obsidian v3.

I will contact Ultrasabers by email.

Looking forward to the result!

Just bought my V4 at Dragon*Con and when I went in to fiddle with the sounds, all the sounds show as empty.  I fiddled with the Steel Sword package from Nova Star and saved the entire setup as an .lscfgx file, wrote it to the card, restarted the saber and tested.  The Steel Sword sounds took the place of Obsidian in slot one as intended.  Here's where things get weird.  When I went back in and looked at the list of sounds for each category (Tag, Power on, etc.), they all showed as empty...  Near as I can tell, the board is working as designed.

Are you just looking at the launcher without the saber on and hooked up to your computer? If so, they'll show up as empty.

I use that mode to drag and drop sounds to hear them in order to create the list I want. I then jot them down in a document or scratch piece of paper. Then I hook everything up and get to work. Doing those things beforehand ensure I don't accidentally deleted something I didn't mean to.

No.  It is very much powered on and connected.  I've just started playing with the sounds, so to be safe I saved the default files despite them already being an .lscfgx file and every configuration I've made so far have been saved as their own .lscfgx files.  If anyone else is so inclined to perform a similar test, with different results, I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong, but everything seems to be working ok.

The Ultra Sabers Obsidian demo youtube video shows the same issue where the file slots for each action appear empty. He even clicks on the sound expecting it to show and then he pauses. Clearly this is not the same as the older board. I would guess that if you want to change a bank or a single sound, you have to load up all the sounds, or it will load up blanks. Would be simpler if you could edit one file at a time instead of seeming to flash the whole sound bank. I might be wrong. I havent done any editing until this gets resolved, or i am confident i can reload all the banks if i accidentally wipe them all.

Sorry it's taken so long, but I've been away from home lately, and I haven't been able to look at this.

If you click on the sounds wizard button, you'll have your list of banks pop up. On the left column you'll see tag sound, power on sound, etc. If you click on those, yes those come up as empty. That's for you to upload new files to then overwrite onto your board. However, you say the sounds are still there when you turn everything off and disconnect it? It's working fine? That's what I'd focus on.

Hey guys, sorry if this question has been answered before, but my launcher won't even find the downloaded soundfonts. Does anybody know why or how to fix it?

Thanks.

Did you unzip them after downloading or are you trying to access the zipped files? In the second case, you need to unzip the sound fonts into separate folders first. The Launcher needs the actual files, not the zipped package.

That's what it was. I thought I had unzipped them already, but I guess not. Thanks.

Hello All

I'm looking for somebody who has experience in uploading US Saber Fonts using a Mac. Just about every reference that I have found on the subject involves the use of a PC. Is there such a user?

Rho-Shynn

I am glad this got posted. I'm wrapped up in the construction phase and almost missed this juicy part.

Hello all -

This thread has indeed been helpful, thank you. We have a number of Ultrasabers in our house, but I just purchased my first Obsidian v4 with Emerald secondhand. I have downloaded and unzipped the default V4 soundfonts (all 7) and I notice silent is not included. I assume that silent has no soundfonts except for the beep for the tag/boot? The previous owner appears to have replaced most of the default soundfonts so I would like to restore them. Is my best option to format the memory and then load up each of the 7 default fonts, saving them to my HDD for future loading? Is there a better way? How do I get the 8th (silent) back? Is there a way to save sound fonts from the board if you do not have the original files? Lastly, I see there is a Default Obsidian Soundfont and a Default Obsidian V4 Soundfont Package which contains a Default Obsidian Soundfont... are these two soundfonts the same?

Thanks

I don't have a V4, but I think that the Silent font has nothing else than a tag sound. Formatting the memory is always a good option if you get a saber secondhand.

Yes, you should have the option to save the sound font before you copy it onto the board.

No, the Default Obsidian Soundfont is for the V3 board only as it only contains the files for one font. The V4 package contains all 7 fonts that a V4 comes pre-loaded with when you buy it from UltraSabers.

Thanks Racona Nova! I apologize for bombarding the thread with so many questions.


I assume that silent has no soundfonts except for the beep for the tag/boot?

• confirmed by Racona Nova

Is my best option to format the memory and then load up each of the 7 default soundfonts, saving them to my HDD for future loading?

• So the default package I downloaded from Ultrasabers does not contain the upload file, I need to load each to each bank and save to my HDD and then writ to the board?
• Is there a better way?

How do I get the 8th (silent) back?

• It looks like I have an option while formatting to "protect" the 8th bank which is currently the silent soundfont, I assume this is how I retain it?

Is there a way to save soundfonts from the board if you do not have the original files?

• To clarify, the soundfonts that came with my secondhand saber, can I pull those off of the soundboard and save them to my HDD before I format the memory or will I just lose those soundfonts?

I see there is a Default Obsidian Soundfont and a Default Obsidian V4 Soundfont Package which contains a Default Obsidian Soundfont... are these two soundfonts the same?

• I see the difference in zip files, but is the Default Obsidian Soundfont contained in each the same or are they different (do they sound different? Said another way, is there any reason to download the V3 version with a V4 board?

No problem, that's why we're here :)

So, your second question: Yes, you have to fill all banks first before you can save them on the HDD. There's no other way. Once you have that font saved, you don't have to go through that if you want that font on a different saber.

Third: I think so. The 8th is normally the Silent font, so if you can protect it, I'd really try that!

Fourth: That should be possible. Go to the "Write sounds" section in the Sound Wizard, choose "Save" below the Bank overview and give it a name. That should save the font.

Fifth: I don't know as I don't have a V4 for reference. I can't imagine that they're different, but someone with both the V3 and V4 should have more info. But if you have a V4, then I would stick to those fonts in the V4 package. The V3 wouldn't make sense.

Can someone please help me? I've been waiting a month to get my saber in the mail after returning it due to receiving broken. It fired up fine with sound. I followed the instructions here step by step - loading different fonts, and none have worked. I now have no sound on my saber.

Have you checked the wires? Maybe one of them came loose while removing or inserting the battery pack...if you followed the instructions step by step, then we can almost rule out a software or usage error.

Did you disconnect the saber in the Launcher before unplugging the USB cable? If not, then it may result in malfunction of the sound board. Reset it by removing the batteries for several seconds, then re-insert them. Also, make sure you make changes only with fully charged batteries!

The wires seem to be in tact but it's hard to tell since it's pretty well taped up.
I don't I had disconnected the saber while still connected to the app.

Batteries were removed overnight to charge and same issue when I try today.

Here's a vid I took of how it's behaving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFgS2aqCZ90&feature=youtu.be

Okay, that's weird...the launcher normally reads the settings from the board, that's okay, but after loading the defaults and writing them to the board, the launcher should show the defaults after clicking "Read from board". Does the launcher show the default settings after loading and with the saber disconnected? That's the normal behaviour of it, if the launcher doesn't do that, try re-installing it! Could be a software issue then...

I don't remember if the launcher reads and shows the fonts after connecting to the saber or not, though...haven't looked at it for quite a while. The last time I had it hooked up was after I upgraded to Win 10 Pro and re-installed everything. That was about a month ago. I noticed that everything worked - driver loading, connecting etc. But I didn't looked at it in detail :-\

The Launcher does show the default settings until I have the saber plugged in and turned on. Then it instantly jumps to those funny slider settings.
I've uninstalled/reinstalled and updated multiple times, used different usb ports and cables. It's gota be the sound board.

Yeah, that really sounds like a sound board issue...

My PC had a similar issue...I got it back from my vendor after he upgraded it, and just three or four days later my HDD crashed. Data and backup lost. Yes, I know, never save a backup on the same disc. I thought about copying the backup just before I handed the PC over to my vendor, but I thought "Do it after the upgrade and when everything works again, there you have much more time for it"...well, one more day and I would still have it.

However, I recovered much of my previous data from an older backup...made somewhere back in last October :D 90% of the data wasn't updated since then, so I didn't even lose that much.

Quick question: Will the Obsidian boards ever support USB 3.0?   I'm asking since the instructions are saying to use USB 2.0 ports only.

I can't tell for sure as I don't really know why USB 3.0 behaves weird with Ultrasabers. Best option would be asking the developer, RSX Engineering. They might be able to tell you the reason and if there will be a possibility to include USB 3.0 support as well.

Good to know, thanks!

OK, late to the party, I admit. I'm not sure what version Obsidian I have, but when I try to connect it to the Launcher (Mac, v2.45), I get a constantly repeating message window saying "Please wait, reading device info". It'll pop up, close, then pop up again. Over and over.
Is my Obsidian just too old to work with this launcher? If I need an older version, where would I obtain it? I assume it won't be Mac compatible, so I'll need to haul out a PC...
I'm just anxious to upload a sound font or two to try, and I can't even see the board in the launcher.

Anyone have any leads or assistance they could offer?
Thanks in advance!

First, make sure your batteries are full. Most issues can be solved by using a charged set of batteries.

Then, to identify the Obsidian board, look at the first three digits of the serial #. 121 is Obs v2, 131 is Obs v3 and 141 is Obs v4. v3 and v4 use the launcher you currently have (UltraSabers Launcher 2.45), v2 needs another version (2.2.2). However, I don't know if that version is still available for download. I'll check that and post an Edit to this post.

Edit: This (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=3693.0) is the thread for older (pre-v3) Obsidian boards.

I did it, after 3 years of Ultra Sabering, I was able upload new soundfonts finally. I got a USB 3.0 hub and finally was able to access all of my V3 and V4 soundboards. Always was able to access emerald/diamond driver. Thank you for this thread as it really helped.

It’s due to the fact that USB 2.0 is 22 year old tech while USB 3.0 is 10 years old. Unfortunately, the drivers are of course different between the two and given that USB 3.0 has a newer tech and architect behind it, it makes it incompatible with USB 2.0.  Drivers for USB 3.0 typically works for newer hardware and laptops while the 2.0. can work with newer versions of Windows until Windows 10. Given that USB 2.0 is now a legacy tech with 3.0 being closely behind it, USB 2.0 isn’t typically supported nowadays especially since USB 3.2 which is known as USB-C is now the architect of choice since the current gen version  2.2 is capable of transferring 2.5 GB/s which is twice the speed of USB 3.0 and ten times faster than USB 2.0

Thanks for that info, Inf01! Point for giving an insight into the deeper technical things :P

You're welcome, Racona.  Maybe one day, I'll be able to give out info and assistance with Obsidian questions like yourself but not to take away your job by any means but to add helpful info.   ;D  I just gave you a point in another post but will wait to give you back another!

That would be great! You know, even I don't know everything about Obsidian :P I know much now, but there's still much to learn.

I’m a long ways away from that

I was able to change color but had such a hard time with forum fonts. I have mac but I know nothing about zip or un zip files smh

Try izip, Jaymes. You can download it here: http://www.izip.com/ (http://www.izip.com/)

 Your awesome bro, I'll get on tomorrow my wife has mac I only have a s9 no computer. Dying for samuel l Jackson font 😂🤣

I try my best. Let me know how it goes, I look forward to hearing a Samuel L. Jackson font! Pulp Fiction? Mace Windu? A plethora of Samuel? 

Lol wanted pulp fiction but not sure where I can post it lmao I hate to be that guy parents want to kill cause their 9 year old knows the f bomb now🤣

Lol, I understand.  You can always do a Incredibles SLJ "where's my super suit?!" Lol.  A Mace one would be cool though, I've been considering that for one of my premium boards or may do so with my Diamond controller.

Hi, sorry for the newbie question.  I just got my first ever saber with obsidian V4 premium sound.  I got it second hand, and it has a bunch of weird fonts on it, so I wanted to restore it to default by following the instructions in this thread.  I'm able to connect fine, download the default font package fine, and unzip it fine.  I'm going through the wizard to build each of the fonts as described in this thread.  But here's where I'm getting stuck and would welcome your advice:

The 7 font's file sizes are much larger than I seem to have space for on the card.  The file sizes seem larger than even what I see in the pictures in this thread that show all 7 fonts fitting on the board just fine.  For example, the picture in this thread shows Obsidian font is 2.6ish mb when loaded on the saber.  My unzipped files are 3.33mb.  In total, the 7 font file sizes are 19.1mb, but the card only shows me ~16mb space.  What am I doing wrong to fit all the default sound fonts back onto the card?

Thanks for any help!

You did nothing wrong. I'm quite sure the files get compressed during the upload. For example, the "Ancient Saber" font is 3,221 kB in size when you look at it in a file manager. But it clearly fits on a memory bank of roughly 2,500 kB in size. Same for Obsidian and all other fonts.

I would just try loading them in the launcher (but not writing them to the saber yet) and see what happens.

Thanks!  Not sure what I was doing wrong before, but came back a couple hours later and got it working just fine.  Thanks for the fast reply!

Great :D

Not sure if this has been answered or not.

Recently got my Emerald saber with the V4 obsidian soundboard and im using the latest launcher.
I've created a couple of new fonts (An old school medieval sword duel and one featuring quotes from the infamous monty python black knight sketch).

I've got these ready to go but when i go upload them to the soundboard I see that i need to create more space. For the most part I like the default fonts but a few
I can happily be rid of. Is there a way to download the default fonts directly from the soundboard to my computer or do i have to download them from ultrasabers and
reupload the fonts I want to keep plus my created ones?

Thanks for any help.

In the editing program, select the font you want to save. Once the font is selected, go to the "write font" section.  On the right hand side of that page, there is a small space with the fonts name listed, under that is the save button. Use that, to save fonts from your board to your computer.

 You can also load the default fonts,  from ultrasabers, back on to your computer, then to your saber.
If you delete the default fonts, you can always get them back later. So don't worry to much about them.

 Black Knight from Monty Python?!? As in,  "tis but a scratch"?  Awesome!!! I want to hear it sometime! That font sounds like a lot of fun to play with.

 Oh, and welcome to the forum!

The default fonts on the webpage aren't the same ones I had on my saber when I got it at Dragoncon last year.  Specifically, the tags with the soundfont names for Episode I, II, IV, Sith originally said Episode I, etc and now have the electronic "Processing", "Searching", and the Sith one says "Obsidian."

Also, what's the boot font for the Silent mode?

Can anyone explain how to edit a soundfont using the UltraSabers launcher as i seem to keep erasing the ones i put on before.

You don't "edit" the file, you replace the one you don't want with one you do. So "editing" what fonts are on the saber is a matter of replacing the ones that are there with different ones, not adding new ones to the ones that are already there.

This thread also goes into this subject a bit: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=45654.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=45654.0)