Saber Forum

Run installer As Administrator to overwrite the previously installed v4 app.  It is imperative that you have your diamond controller turned on and plugged in while the installer is running to properly install the drivers.


Updated 01-11-2018 v2.45 The main changes are:
SOFTWARE:
- extended Express Font Wizard Features
- faster reconnect after writing fonts
- usability improvements in Font Wizard
- other fixes


Updated 11-20-2017 v2.40 The main changes are:
SOFTWARE:
- express and advanced font wizard. Advanced is the old one, express is new and creates automatically a font based on a sound template, blade, pulse and FOC colors
- quick reconnect (now it takes less than 3 seconds, except for the first connection when it has to read the memory content)
- 16 fonts instead of 10
- a built-in resources page with links to documents and videos
FIRMWARE:
- real time volume adjustment (there's no need for a mute font anymore!)
- quick menus requiring significant fewer voice messages. Now we have a quick menu for font selection and another one for learning gestures.
- reduced the power off and menu exit time from 3 to 2 seconds




Updated 04-18-2017 v2.19 The main changes are:
1. The driver and the software itself is now signed with Windows. This means:
- no more workaround on Windows8
- no more "unsigned driver" warning
- no need to have the Diamond connected when installing
2. The font editor now has an "Apply to font" button, which is active only if the editor was open on an already existing effect (with the "Edit Effect" button from the wizard). This button saves the changes made in the effect directly on the current font, so there's no more need to write one effect at a time or to save each effect in a file if you want to make multiple changes. Reduces the time required for editing multiple effects in a font (The need for this was brought to our attention by forum users).
3. Minor bug fixes.

(http://www.saberforum.com/Obsidian/download_button.jpg) (https://1a32fe05fffb6725aab1-5c5b03604a40d0d2efae65b6edf685a4.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/UltraSabersLauncher_OfflineInstallerV245.zip)

Download Standalone Signed Diamond Controller Driver for Windows 7 and Windows 8 HERE (https://1a32fe05fffb6725aab1-5c5b03604a40d0d2efae65b6edf685a4.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/diamond_driver_signed.zip)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4WsIGJrcOo&feature=youtu.be

- Visual C++ Redistributable might need to be installed on some machines: this is specified in the readme.txt file that is open automatically after installation, and also the visual c++ installation link is provided there.
- **Windows 8 users only** Installing the unsigned driver on Windows 8 requires a special procedure: until we get the driver signed, the workaround can be found here: http://www.craftedge.com/tutorials/driver_install_windows8/driver_install_win8.html (http://www.craftedge.com/tutorials/driver_install_windows8/driver_install_win8.html)

MAC VERSION

If you already have a previous version of the Launcher installed you should uninstall the older pre-v2.64 Launcher and install the new 2.64 version.  Do NOT run the MaintenanceTool.  Please completely uninstall the older version and install the new 2.64 version.

If the OS won't allow installation then the you must have the "Allow apps downloaded from:" set to "App Store and identified developers". This is found in System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General tab.


(http://www.saberforum.com/Obsidian/download_button.jpg) (https://1a32fe05fffb6725aab1-5c5b03604a40d0d2efae65b6edf685a4.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/UltraSabersLauncher_OfflineInstallerV264.app.zip)

Hey Emory, do we have to uninstall the previous emerald and Obsidian launcher? If so, does that mean this launcher powers the Emerald driver and Obsidian soundboard along with the Diamond driver? If not, then just to clarify, we keep the previous Ultrasabers Launcher to control the Obsidian and Emerald drivers correct?

It would seem that in the video, the launcher has tabs for Obsidian and emerald. I want to get the new launcher, but it seems I'll have to wait until I have a Diamond board to install it properly.

Sooooo, tons of problems trying to install the new launcher. Bugs galore. The drivers wont install, apparently Im supposed to somehow enable unsigned drivers, but it doesn't tell me how to do that or where they are. It says I can enable the drivers after I install but when I do they always fail. On top of that its all in computer speak, which I don't understand. I should have controlled myself and stuck with Emerald/V4 instead of being a guinea pig for this.
I had no problem installing the previous Emerald/Obsidian US launcher. But theres so many different errors here Il never get it sorted out.
And yes I did have my saber plugged in during the installation. Didn't make a difference.

Im running windows 8 if that makes a difference.

Ok so from googling around I believe the problem is that your drivers are unsigned. Unfortunately the process for making unsigned drivers installable on windows 8 looks extremely complicated(which makes it likely Il mess it up) and windows doesn't even recommend doing it in the first place. So yea. I guess let us know when your drivers are complete and signed and maybe Il try again.
The saber isn't of much use to me without US launcher so I guess Il just toss it in a drawer for now until you guys get your drivers sorted out.

Well I figured out how to install the drivers and finish the installation. Quite a process. However the program still does not work. When I attempt to open it I get a system error stating "The program cant start because api-ms-win-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem"
Reinstalling the program of course doesn't fix it.
I cant believe the program was released in this condition. Its clearly got some things to be worked out.

OK. Finally got it working. Im gonna try and save you guys some trouble here. IF you get the message "The-program-can-t-start-because-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-is-missing" you need to download something called Visual C++ Redistributable. I really cant believe this stuff wasn't explained in the tutorial videos.  To make things easier here is a link to the Visual C++ download. Scroll down for either the 64 bit or 32 bit versions.

https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/206881749-The-program-can-t-start-because-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-is-missing (https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/206881749-The-program-can-t-start-because-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-is-missing)


Protip to Ultrasabers: Your average websurfer is not going to understand about unsigned drivers or missing Visual C programs from their computer. The program never should have been released this way, or it should have been thoroughly explained in the tutorial videos. Keep it simple and never assume all your users have the same level of computer savy as you do.

Also for any Windows 8 or 8.1 users out there. Here is a link describing the process I used to make unsigned drivers install on windows.
https://revryl.com/2013/08/06/install-unsigned-drivers/ (https://revryl.com/2013/08/06/install-unsigned-drivers/)

My god is this thing difficult to program. Do you really have to program every single point of light intensity for a pulse effect? Theres not just a simple pulse mode like on the emerald driver. Holy moses. My head hurts. I gotta stop now.

Well this makes me glad that I've held off on buying one lol. They said in the video they were working on getting the drivers signed, but your problem still occurred so that's all that really mattered.

The manual pulse effect method sounds really tedious. I would personally do it, but I know others wouldn't, and that the classic emerald way of setting was probably easier. Hopefully the old interface will be added to this so pulse can be easy added and adjusted on a saber.

Its not as tedious as I first thought, though still more tedious than the Emerald way. You can use the points to set up a couple of flickers and then set it to loop over and over. Im starting to get the hang of it the more I mess with it. I tend to get frustrated when things don't just drop into my lap.
This thing by no means sucks, in fact its awesome, but there is a learning curve. It doesn't come as easily as Obsidian or Emerald.

PS> Most of my frustration stemmed from trying to get all the drivers and programs I was missing working. It put me in a bad frame of mind and I never should have started messing with the Diamond until I was over that. The Diamond is for sure capable of some amazing stuff and I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that its trash, cuz believe me its not.

PSS> I finally got my Sidious no mercy font working. The increased memory let me put the entire font on unaltered save for the usual 16bit/48KHZ conversion. That makes converting fonts a whole lot easier. I set it up with my custom crimson red with green FOC(cuz Yoda fight) The only thing I couldn't figure out was how to add more than 12 swings and clashes. When I tried to up it to 16 the US Launcher would crash.

PSSS> LED ramp up on powerup and ramp down on powerdown looks amazing. You really feel like the blade is coming out of the hilt.

Let us know if you finally feel confident everything is working properly. I hope it works right. Now I'm hesitant to get one myself.

The board appears to be working as intended. Its the user interface on the US launcher that takes some learning. Ive pretty much figured out how the lighting works. You can cheat a lot on things like pulsing and lockups by just creating a couple of flickers and then setting it to play back multiple times. The trick is timing the amount of light playblacks to be the same as however long the hum/lockup sound is. There is a limit to how many times you can playback a light effect(100 times) so for really long hums(Sidious no mercy for instance has a hum in excess of 20 seconds) you may have to create more than a couple of pulses to be able to get it to last as long as the sound.
I still cant figure out how to have more than 12 swings/clashes.
Also I know projectno253 was wondering about multiple powerups. I can add multiple sounds in the powerup tab when Im editing,but when I try to write to board it appears to only take the first sound file. So I don't think you can have multiple powerup sounds.

Also the new sensitivity settings are awesome. Way more range than on the obsidianV4(which was also very good) You can set it so the slightest movement will trigger a motion sound or the slightest tap can trigger a clash. It can be super sensitive, but in all honesty the default settings are pretty damn spot on. I upped the motion sensitivity a bit just cuz I like my sabers noisy, but that's about it.

Oh man, that's a lot of good information. I'll try and reply to all I can think of lol.

The new sensitivity sounds like a really good addition in terms of just having a quality board. I heard of boards from the other guys having really good sensors in general, so I would assume this is bumped right up there now.

Drats I say about the lack of multiple power ons (especially after I pestered Marlena at US CS so much about it  ;D ) maybe they will add that function in eventually.

On a related note, I wonder what the extent of "fully configurable firmware" is. It was said on the data sheet.

I bet that No Mercy font is great now that you can use the spin and stab sounds. Maybe one day I'll give in and buy it. In conjunction with a Diamond Controller.

The gradient power on and off is a small touch but a big plus for me. As close with an LED to a staggered ignition as we can get. That and abnormal ignitions are great, I was wondering if that would ever be possible when I was making my steampunk font for Jediseth and the forum - to have the blade flicker to life. Having abnormal blade flickering and sputtering will be cool for broken/old fonts. Like a very old sith saber, or even just Kylo Ren's

I think that'll be all  ::)

The Sidious No Mercy font I feel is the best most evil sith soundfont out right now. Its just terrifying. How it must sound through one of those 2 watt bass speakers I can only imagine. Though the US speaker handles it just fine and the deep rumbling bass comes across well.

You can definitely do any kind of abnormal blade flickering with the diamond. You can make it change colors or alter the hue of the color. You could set it so it comes on bright at first then dies out and sputters back on. It would just take a lot of work and testing with the points to get it to do what you want. But it can do anything lighting wise. Basically the more detailed or crazy you want to make it, the more work it will take on your part. As you get more experienced using the points it will become easier. Ive only been on it for about two hours and Ive learned enough to get the lighting to do whatever I wanted. Now if I could just figure out how to get my 16 swings and clashes lol

Oh one other important thing I forgot to mention. Editing existing fonts you have on your saber is much easier now, because you can change any one thing, big or little without having to rewrite the entire soundfont to your board again like on the obsidian.

Like suppose I wanted to edit my Sidious font to have a blue FOC instead of the green FOC it has now. I can just go into sounds wizard, click over to impact, click edit effect, change the FOC from green to blue, write to board, and Im done. Saves instantly and the rest of the soundfont stays the same.

Also we're back to the old 5 second button hold for saber deactivation. This was no doubt done because you have to hold the button to also access the on board menu so this way you don't deactivate your saber before you can complete the wrist movement.

Anyway. I think Ive done enough work with it for now. Ive got Sidious no mercy and all my blade flickers, pulses,FOC and spin and stab stuff going. I think I just want to actually play with the saber now.
Tommorow Il do Shatterpoint with a purple blade.

Oh yes, I've obsessed over the new board and have watched all the videos posted. That's a great feature as I often don't feel like making changes to a saber just because of how long it would take to reupload the font.

Are you familiar with the 2w bass speaker? I had always assumed US used that. Is the bass speaker the one with the silver middle concave dish? The only one I had was from the other guys, but I think the poor quality soundboard they use was the only issue -_-

Also, I'm pretty good with picking up programs and stuff, so I'm sure with time and enough fiddling, the new launcher will become natural to use. As it would with anyone who has the desire to learn. After messing with Audacity for a while now, assembling fonts has become such a quick and easy process.

If there is are no major problems like the recalls on my car. I think I'm getting one.

Yep that's the bass speaker. Its a great speaker actually, but if your talking about the soundboard I think you are, yea its pretty terrible lol

Yea if you love to tweak then you're gonna love the Diamond. It seems like a lot at first but in just two hours Ive really learned a lot. I got good with Audacity out of necessity but Im glad the Diamond has so much more memory. To give you an idea, the entire Sidious No mercy soundfont(minus 4 swings and 4 clashes cuz I still haven't figured out how to go past 12) takes up only 20% of one soundbank. And there are 10 soundbanks. More memory than we'll ever need.

 ;D oh that's good. I wouldn't think there are any major issues, especially as Gorobulus has shown with his hands on work of only a few hours.

No major problems. Just a little learning curve that's all. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to add more than 12 swings/clashes, but Im sure its something dumb I just haven't figured out yet.

I think my jaw dropped when I watched the video and Emory said "...increased processing power...and 256mb of memory compared to the 16mb of the v4..." The increased processing power bit seemed like the usual selling the new item phrase, but I never realized that the v4 was 16mb. It just never registered with me. I hope that we can eventually have more font banks, imagine having 20-30 slots with ample room in each. That'd be just about all the fonts I have, and I'm a nut for sound.

Maybe if it's limited to 12 swings now...and it's supposed to be 16...then that must mean multiple swings are coming!!  :o I can dream lol. I have 5 power ons from Luke's ROTJ saber in Battlefront that're all explosively loud and want to be used  ;D

Well, I think its more likely that it can already do 16 and I just haven't figured it out yet. As far as the powerons, Sidous no mercy has like 8 powerons. I loaded about 5 of them into the poweron tab and it did let me add them, but when I wrote to board it only took the first poweron. Now that doesn't positively mean you cant have multiple poweron sounds. It may just mean I haven't figured it out yet, much like having 16 swings and clashes. Im hoping Emory sees our little convo here at some point and chimes in on some of this stuff.

One can hope. I'm sure the board will be heavily bolstered with updates in its launch.

That's true. Im probably one of the first customers to get my hands on the diamond and immediately start tinkering with it so we are still very early on in the new diamond era. I wish I could make a video and actually show you guys what Ive done already, but, well, like a dummy I was just spinning my new saber around and smacking stuff with it and I accidentally smashed my phone to tiny bits. I felt very stupid needless to say lol

 :o Oh man...that's a one in a million shot (I would hope that doesn't happen with too many people)

I have a Diamond saber on order that I placed 3 days ago and am excited for it to arrive. Reading these posts has been very interesting. I wonder if that driver loading error is something unique to Windows 8/8.1 or if it will present itself on Windows 10 which I am running. I guess I'll find out soon. Either way thanks for posting your experiences and solutions so far. I will post also when I receive mine and start playing around with it. I am also very much hoping there is a way to get the 16 swings and clashes to load to the saber along with the multiple power-ons. It would be great if Emory or one of the mods could post here in regards to these questions/issues.

Thanks for sharing your experience and progress. I think you're definitely one of the early adopters on the Diamond. It sure seems to have a ton of potential. I'll have my first Diamond ordered here soon - just trying to decide myself which saber I want it on. This is a whole new level compared to Emerald, with all the options and potential it has, so I'm pouring a lot of careful consideration into which saber I want to get this on. This thread will be a valuable resource to me should I run into any trouble. Point to you, good sir.


Hey, congrats to you on your order. Another trailblazer! Good for you.  Which one did you order?

I'm on Windows 10 as well and feel confident it will all work out. Looking forward to deciding on one myself. With Spring and Summer ahead of us, I'm looking forward to going out in my backyard and trying out all the new movement and sensitivity options, not to mention the color gamut available. I have two Emerald sabers now, and they work fine with Windows 10, so I'm confident we'll be ok.

After another day of playing with it, I have to say its truly awesome and everyone should get one if they can. Yes getting the new US launcher to install is a bit tricky, but Ive detailed how to get around what I think will be the two most common issues. I think with windows 10 the only thing you will have to worry about is getting the unsigned drivers to install, as I believe windows 10 will already have Visual C++ installed.
There is a bit of a learning curve with the new US launcher, but it isn't that bad and you will start getting the hang of it fast. You learn more with every new thing you try to do. It really is limitless.

I ordered the Archon V2.1 with Diamond. I hope it arrives by the weekend. I also have a Chosen One CE with Emerald/Obsidian v4 and it works fine on Windows 10 so I hope Diamond will also. I had an Archon V2.1 with Emerald/Obsidian v4 that I just sold to a friend a few days ago. It's a versatile hilt that I had a few different Obi Wan and Luke sound fonts installed on it. I'm looking forward to getting these fonts with the stabs and spins installed on the Diamond when it arrives.

- Visual C++ Redistributable might need to be installed on some machines: this is specified in the readme.txt file that is open automatically after installation, and also the visual c++ installation link is provided there.
- **Windows 8 users only** Installing the unsigned driver on Windows 8 requires a special procedure: until we get the driver signed, the workaround can be found here: http://www.craftedge.com/tutorials/driver_install_windows8/driver_install_win8.html (http://www.craftedge.com/tutorials/driver_install_windows8/driver_install_win8.html)
- Up to 15 sounds allowed for Swing, Stab, Spin, and Clash instead of 16: again up to 15, not 16.

Agreed . . .

Gorobulus, I've been reading all your experience so far, and, I also want to thank you for sharing this with us all . . . points  :)

Counting down the days till I make my Diamond order  ;D

Oh 15. That explains it lol. I kept trying for 16 and it crashed the board. It also crashes the board if I try to add more than one poweron sound so Im assuming only one poweron sound per font? Can you confirm this? Thanks.

PS. Also for anyone wondering, since Im doing all the stupid, crazy stuff to see what the board can do, crashing the board is not the end of the world. Theres a diagnose function on the US Launcher that lets you restore all factory presets the saber comes pre loaded with. Yea you start from scratch, but hey Im doing all this so hopefully you guys wont have to.

Man can you do some crazy S**T with this thing. So I had a 10 second long lockup sound to work with, Red as the main blade color. I set up a whizzing fast lockup effect cycling in each of the other LED's at 2 second intervals. And I would start bringing in one LED as I was fading the other one out and I ended up with all these amazing passing colors as the LED power levels cycled across each other and flickering at warp speed. Truly amazing. I used something like 75 points to make it all happen lol. Its just crazy what this board can do. There is nothing else like it.

Actually, the data sheet says "Fully configurable and firmware upgradable through Ultrasabers Launcher". I think "fully configurable" is self explanatory. The firmware is the software that runs on the board itself, so "firmware upgradable" means that you can use the Launcher to upgrade to the latest version. This way you won't get a static product: as long as the firmware is up-to-date, your board will have all the latest bugfixes and improvements. Just keep an eye on the "Main" tab in the Launcher when you connect the Diamond, whenever there's a new firmware available there will be a notification there. Then you press "Firmware update", wait a little bit and... your board will be upgraded!

Marius.

It can do 15 but only on Swing, Clash, Spin and Stab (an older version of the datasheet said "16", but that was a mistake we corrected). On this version, you can only have one sound for PowerOn, PowerOff, Idle hum, Force and Lockup. If you assign an effect with several sounds to an action that only supports one (like the PowerOn), it will just ignore everything but the first sound.

Marius.

It's only for Windows 8. This is a temporary issue, until we get the driver signed, and Emory posted a workaround.
For Windows 10 you don't need to install a driver at all, it's built into Windows. Only W7 and W8 need an external driver.

Marius.

Sorry for the trouble you went through, we should have provided more info to begin with. Thank you for sharing your experience here and let me at least explain to you what's with those two most common issues.

1. The driver, which is only needed for Windows 7 and 8, is yet unsigned. We started the signing process but it's not entirely in our hands and apparently it takes quite a time to complete, so, since we had the board ready for shipping, we figured we won't let you guys wait, even if it's gonna be a little tricky at first. Let me assure you that, apart from having to unlock unsigned driver installation on Win8 and getting some scary warnings, there's nothing harmful to your computer in that driver. It's a general purpose VCP (Virtual COM Port) driver that's actually included in Windows 10 - unfortunately it took Microsoft quite a while to realize that driver is needed by default (MAC did this many years ago).
2. Visual C++ Redistributable is needed in order to run the latest version of the Launcher. On most systems it is already installed, with Windows or some other applications, but, as you found out, it might not be. For that situation, at the end of the Launcher installation, we open a readme file which gives you the link to the Visual C++ installation package.

You had the misfortune to run into both of these issues. Again, sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your efforts. I'm glad you didn't stop at the first trouble and came to enjoy the new Diamond Controller. As you keep playing with it, you'll find out it has more potential than first meets the eye, a potential that a guy like you will probably appreciate. Enjoy!

Marius.

Hint: The Idle hum and Lockup effects are played in a continuous loop anyway, so you don't even have to set the number of repetitions to more than 1. The sound and light loop independently (meaning the light effect restarts as soon as it ends, regardless whether the sound ended or not), so even if the sound takes 20 seconds and the light takes 0.1 seconds, they will play repeatedly regardless on the number of repetitions. Again, this is only for Idle hum and Lockup, which play in loop. On all other effects are one-time-events, as soon as the number of repetition ends, the lights will resume to the Idle hum effect.

Marius.

Excellent information Marius . . . and welcome to the forum :)


Any ideas when a Mac version could be ready for us ?

Oh I see, I misread the data sheet. Can't find it either but I'll keep searching. Edit: I found it, http://www.ultrasabers-uploads.com/Diamond/Diamond-Datasheet.pdf for anyone looking for it.

 

It's too early to ask, but will multiple sound slots be put in for those other effects with a future update? Also strange to see only one lockup. While that makes sense, Obsidian had multiple slots. Is it even possible for those effects to have multiple slots? Or even is it possible to get into the board's programming to change those parameters...I can't imagine it would be that easy

It's good to find you here!
We're working on the Mac version right now. I can't give an exact term yet, but MAC is our next target.

Everything is possible! 
We'll take into account all your suggestions for future upgrades.

soooo how do i fix this...  well i cant seem to attach an image, but the launch is tiny, like so small nto all the options fit in the window. running windows 10 in ultra hd but even adjusting to lower resolution doesnt fix it.

Hi guys!

I read someone speaking about "ramp up" effect when you power your saber on and "ramp down" when you stop it.
Has anyone a video to show the result? Or the effect file to test myself?
I have an ARCHON V2.1 Diamond.

I also had another question: Can we use a gesture to turn the saber on?

Thx for your replies.

SoulF1nder

No, you cannot use a gesture to turn the saber on. That might be an interesting feature, but it would greatly increase the standby current, so it would drain the batteries more quickly when not used.

Marius.

Is it possible to have an option like "easy config" instead of Mad Scientist jewelry precision??
I'm struggling, not of difficulty, but repeatitivity of going through all effects just to edit the major light color...

You should leave the possibility to people to upload a complete soundfont (poweron, swing, ...) like previous Launcher.

I spent 1 hour to adapt color for power on, then had to write down the values, go to next effect (after Writing to saber, disconnect + reconnect), re-adapt the values and go to next... At the 3rd effect I gave up and reset the memory back to factory settings...
I'll never have enough time to set up the color and the effect like I'd like to.
No easy flickering effect (out of list for instance), no option to consider color and sound as 2 separate items like my previous obsidian.

Don't get me wrong, the tailormade power of this think is unbelievable but... I miss the plug, upload a soundfont in minute, unplug and play. It's more plug, set up, write, reset up, tweak, adjust, correct, cancel, retry, give up, stay with factory tune, play (lost 15 minutes for no result)...

I have 20 soundfonts now useless as I can't fix myself on this more than an hour...

So upset... I tought there would be some legacy setting panel for those who just want to change their font in minute and go outside...

I felt overwhelmed by the diamond board when I first got mine to. It has so many new features and that translates into something of a learning curve. All I can tell you is that if you keep at it, you WILL get better and faster at it. Im very fast at it now and I could create a brand new soundfont package with sounds, lights, pulses, stabs, FOC etc etc in under a half hour. You just have to spend some time with it. Also try not to let yourself get frustrated. I know that's hard, and all you have to do is read the first few pages of this thread to see how frustrated I got with it lol. But you have plenty of time. The saber is yours, its not going anywhere, and you don't have to learn it all in one night(in fact I advise not trying to, you'll just feel overwhelmed.) Breath, relax, take your time, use the force.  And in time it will come together and youll soon be whipping up complete fonts in no time. Good luck.

Actually there's no need to go into mad scientist mode if you don't want to. You can upload an entire font at once in less than a minute - just go to Font Wizard - Load Font - Write Effects. An entire font is now packaged in a single .PEFF file and Emory provided some predefined fonts here: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=34478.0. As fonts are now easy to share as a single file, I'm assuming that in time this community will generate even more fonts to choose from.

If you wanna create your own fonts and effects then yes, there's a learning curve, but you don't need to go there if you don't want to. We couldn't make it simple and complex at the same time, and in order to give you full control of the light and sound, we had to provide many options. My advice is to take it one step at a time. As Gorobulus said, the saber is not going anywhere, and you have all the features available without ever editing an effect.

Thx for your replies guys.
I guess I wrote my first thoughts pretty frustrated indeed ;)

Maybe I should more go out for help than tweaking handlers myself to get nowhere...
Can someone show me how a good flinkering effect's curves should look like in the effect wizard?
I'm struggling too much... I just wanna be able to teach on Thursday with my favourite purple color with flikker effect and blue Foc.

Thanks.

Beside that I must mention it again, the new Launcher looks amazing and the flexibility it delivers is unprecedented.
Some users just wanna be able to chose from easy lists and easy preconfigs.

Here's how a flickering effect looks like:
- Go to Font Wizard
- Select the Obsidian font
- Go to Lockup Effect
- Click on Edit Effect
- Enlarge the Power effect with the "+" button
- Zoom in and scroll to the left

You'll see a single short pulse on White channel, while all the other colors are kept as a straight line. This pulse is repeated 79 times - you can find the number of repetitions on the upper-left corner of the effect editor, just under the "Clear" button. This is a flicker. You can change it, rename it (upper-right corner), save it and use it on any other font.

Marius.

My Saber board seems to be broken after I connected it one more time to my pc... The speaker just vibrates and cracks non stop after the launcher disconnected it without notice, just telling afterwards there could be problem with batteries or cable. My recharge port and fast charger don't work, light stays green on the charger... I'll have to go through replacement I assume... I'll take the chance to go for an Emerald instead.

It has been 3 days since I received it so... Too bad for early adopters...

Have you tried taking the batteries out and recharging them while out of the saber? Can you still connect to the US launcher? If so, theres a diagnose function. If some of the data on the board has been corrupted you can try reformatting the board to factory spec and starting over.

Batteries stayed overnight in my former charger I got with my first order so I'm sure it's compatible. The Launcher recognize my Saber but diagnose don't see any errors. I did 2 factory reset without success and I even notice the board got burning hot.  And Saber always does a vibrating sound as I turn it on, even when connected to USB.

Hey guys, wondering if anyone else has had the problem with their Diamond Controller that I'm having...

Initialization Error.  Made a post about it over in Technical - here's the link...

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=34773.msg558627#new

Hey guys. I tried installing the new diamond launcher on my windows 10 PC, but it won't install. At all. When I try to start it, it will initiate like for a tenth o a second and then it's all over. Nothing installed.  Please help me. I don't know what to do.

ok, I got the software installed, but it won't recognise my diamond sabre. ... Nothing happens, no matter how often I unplug / replug the USB cable.
When I restart the sabre, the voice will say "initialisation error - connect to the launcher and run the diagnose tool.

Ok, I have everything running. Maybe you should warn people that the USB cable that comes with the recharger doesn't work as a data cable. I used another USB cable and it worked.

Sooooo here is my first major complaint concerning the Effects editor.
I think it is a great tool, but 20 Points for the graph just ain't enough. I tried to create a flicker-effect for the idle humming, which is supposed to emphasise the frequency of light emission that forms the blade, but with only 20 points on that graph, it will not even last two seconds out of the five that the idle sound lasts.
There is PLENTY of space on the board, so those graphs could easily be saved, no matter how many points are utilised on that graph. Maybe you want to extend the number of maximum points to 99. that should be enough for every kind of effect.  

I believe something was said that the effect could loop within the time frame of the idle. Like you could make the light effect shorter than the sound effect and it would loop inside. I could very easily be wrong though.

All of this has me confused as to how a consistent flicker is maintained with different lengths of swings and clashes. I don't know if lighting effects continue even with a swing (unless that swing has its own light effect), or what. I can't complain since I don't have a Diamond board yet 

I'm confused by some of it as well. US needs to put a step by step instruction book for this new board.

You can use the repeat feature (the number of repetitions is controlled by the arrows next to "Play X times", on the upper-left corner of the effect editor).

We'll take into consideration increasing the number of points for future upgrades. It's not just about the storage memory but also about the internal RAM, which needs to store all the effects of an entire font. 99 points might be too much, but we can probably go to more than 20.

Marius.

Hi Marius, thanks for the reply
So you mean the "play X times" function? I saw it in the menu, but when testing, the effect never worked. Is it just a faulty preview?
Aside from the 20 points limit I find this tool easy to use. But on the other hand, I also do After effects stuff and so on, which is way more complicated, so I cannot speak for everyone.

I will fiddle around with it some more and might add a few tips and tricks in my video review.

The "play X times" function should work, both in test mode and in normal usage. Just checked it and seems ok. Are you sure it doesn't work on your system?

Marius

Well, yesterday it definitely did not work. My graph was just executed once, although I selected several setting of repetition. I will try again later and report my results.

Okay, the repetition tool does work now, but yesterday it didn't. Don't ask me why...

I recommend
1) raising the number of possible graph points to 30.  I know it is probably overkilling, but wouldn't it be great if you could setup Bezier curves from point to point in order to describe exponential growth (or decreasing)? well, I guess that's just my preference since that might make the setup even more complicated, although it would make curves more precise while saving RAM, even when creating more complicated curves. you could simply exchange a simple coordinate with a math function f=(x) in order to do that. I know, It's not THAT easy, but worth thinking about. 

2) Please add an undo / redo function. Not even Ctrl+Z works, and that is kind of annoying.


I had the idea of making a more sophisticated video tutorial which helps newcomers get along with the tool. In that video I will not only take a closer look at the setup, but I will also use direct feed so that everyone can see a step-by-step progression for the effects editor, which isn't very hard to use in my opinion.

The only thing I still have to find out is how to make permanent effects - eg. make a certain gesture and have it change the color of the blade permanently. I also had the idea of creating an effects library for everyone to use.

First of all, thanks for your feedback! This is really important for us, as the best way to make the Diamond better is to listen to what users have to say about it.

Increasing the number of points and the undo function are already in our consideration, so, sometime in the future, you'll see them in the Launcher. As for Bezier and analytical curves... yes, that would be overkill. They make sense from an engineering point of view, but we're not making an engineering tool, so ease of use is paramount. Until there's a really large user base that actually reached the limit of what the current editor has to offer, we don't plan to add more sophisticated editing tools.

As for making a permanent effect... right now you can't. What you can do is make a really long effect and repeat it the maximum number of times - with 99 repetitions it could last up to 1h 47m, but it won't be permanent and you'll loose all the other effects: as long as this gesture effect is playing, no other swings/clashes will be registered.
To change the color of the blade with a gesture you would need to change the font with gestures, a feature that Diamond currently does not have, mostly for the same reason it doesn't have Bezier curves: ease of configuration. Whether or not, at some moment in time, we will consider doing more stuff with gestures, depends primary on the feedback we'll receive over the following months. If most people will want more advanced control options, we will add them. If, as it is now, most people will complain that the configuration is too complicated, we'll try to make it easier. Or we could go towards a "basic" and an "advanced" Launcher, if that would seem feasible - the way Diamond will evolve depends primary on the kind of feedback we'll get.

Marius.

Thanks for clearing that up

I'd support the second approach. But I wouldn't make separate launchers since that would cause unnecessary confusion. Instead, I'd make two Effect editors. One simple with basic options, and one sophisticated with enhanced editing. This way, people could always see what options they have and wouldn't need to fiddle with two launchers.  One launcher seems to cause enough trouble.

Just for your interest:  I, for instance, have trouble installing the launcher on my C: partition. It won't work if I try that. So I always install it on another partition. On top of that, the old launcher had lots of problems when I tried to update under a normal profile - even when granted admin rights. It would always say that 7 zip ran out of memory (which shouldn't happen with 32 gigs of Ram and over 50 GB of hard drive space). So for the update, I always had to switch to my admin account...

I really hope that you offer new clients for new features with the diamond launcher so that I can simply deinstall and reinstall a new client. that makes things a lot easier.  

Lots of good information here, thank you, everyone, for sharing. And thank you, Marius, for taking the time to talk to us about it.

I have been told by US customer service that I can send in my sabers for the Diamond upgrade, but it has been five days since I heard from them. I really hope they get back to me soon, I'm very excited to get to work on this! This thread has been helpful in at least planning what I will do when I get my sabers back.

I didn't realize there was a 20-point limit for effects. I absolutely must have a flicker effect, and I know that would eat up a lot of them. A greater number of points would open so many options for complex changes over time. But at least I know I won't be compelled to spend a week setting up a super-lengthy 80-point cross-fading flicker sequence, haha!

It sounds like the current editor could use a lot more editing tools (I'm thinking of mass-selection functions, changing values of multiple points at once, etc.), but it is new and I imagine you are already planning such things for future versions.

I'm glad people raised the subject of the menu voice. I haven't used it yet, but while watching the videos, I could see myself getting annoyed by long audio clips after I've learned how to use it. In particular, I wouldn't want a long spiel to go off if all I'm trying to do is switch it to a silent mode because I'm up late and people are sleeping. I agree that the voice should be the default, but an alternative option would be quite welcome.

I'm really looking forward to playing with the Diamond controller. I've spent a lot of time tinkering with the Emerald settings, and I have experience with music software that uses a point-based graph to automate effects over time, so I'm hoping I'll have a leg-up on the learning curve. In fact, I'd love to create a sound font with my synthesizers and have lighting effects that directly correspond to changes in the synth parameters. So many possibilities! Please contact me soon, customer service!

This may sound thick, but what versions of Windows would the Diamond Controller require? (Would it work on Windows XP Professional SP3? If not, what would be the minimum version of Windows it would require?)

I am actually a Mac user and contemplating using an emulator (VMware Fusion) to run the installer. Allegedly, this emulator can handle USB 2 connections through the virtual machine. Do you think it is safe to try this?

For now, I am happy with the fonts in my Diamond Graflex CE and very happy with the saber itself. I look forward to adding a flicker to the blade.

Thanks!

For swings, I just turn all of the LED's off. What happens when you do this is you hear the swing sounds, but since you turned all the LED's off for the swing effect it just continues to play the light effect from your idle hum( i.e. your flicker) during the swing. Pretty simple actually.

For clashes, I usually look for the shortest sounding clash and design my FOC around that. Its much more unnatural looking to have a flash be longer than the clash sound, than it is for the clash sound to be longer than the flash. We are used to living in a world where light travels much faster than sound, so it makes sense for our brains to see a quick flash, even if the clash sound lasts a little longer.

The Diamond controller US Launcher requires Windows 7 and above.

I absolutely love my lightsaber but I am of the Apple world and therefore unable to make use of the software. Any updates on the availability of the Mac version of the software? I need to make a few slots silent so I don't have to find where my dogs have gone hiding when I light it up.

If you have a Diamond controller there is a silent font. I'm not understanding why you need more than one (slot).

Hi there,

The installer doesn't work on windows 10 64bit. It still shows " Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permission to access the item".

I have plugged on the USB and switched on the saber. And i have run the installer with administrator. And it still doesn't work.

How can i fix this?

Regards:
Ben.

I think you should try running the installer first without the saber plugged in and then try plugging in the saber after the software is installed. I just installed the Diamond software last night on my Windows 10 64 bit machine this way and it worked fine. Good luck. I hope you get it working.

Regards,
 Obi Wan

Also in addition I'm not sure if this is your problem, but I read somewhere you need to check and make sure you have all your updates on your computer done. Someone was complaining a few weeks back about their computer having errors with the software because of a lack of updates. May not be the problem, but worth a try.

Hihi,

I thank you for your reply. i have tried installing without the saber plugged in as mention. still didnt work.

Hi thereJediseth,

Just chcked, my system are up to date nothing more to update as of today.

Regards:
Ben.

I have news for Mac users who may be impatient waiting for the controller software. The diamond controller software can be run within a Windows 7 virtual machine within VMware Fusion. The latter does have a $80 price tag, but it is useful for many things (Windows and Linux) and has seamless integration with USB. I have already used it to load alternative font packages (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=34478.0) and have even made my own edits (including a Bane's Heart shimmer with an arctic blue FOC).

I hope some find this helpful.

Brand new to Ulta Sabers and have a new Diamond.  Not rushing but just curious where we are with getting a Mac version out?  If it's going to be a while I will get a Windows machine set up. Also, I'm an experienced developer and happy to beta or to help in any way.

Thanks!

I read this as: "we don't have to have the diamond controller attached any more in order to install as of v2.19."  If that's correct, maybe the top portion of the post should be amended.

As an aside... another vote for "can't wait for Mac version!"  Thanks for your work on it!

Have had my Lost Gray upgraded to Diamond, and whilst I'm mostly happy with it, I'm getting pretty frustrated with some of the effects not working after saving them.
For example, I click on Edit Effect, add sound(s) and LED effects, test them, they work fine, so I save the effect. Then I go back to Font Selection, click on Load Effect, click on the effect I just saved, and when I go to test it, nothing happens. So I click on Edit Effect again, then get a message "Cannot read file xxxx.wav: Does not exist or cannot be opened"
I've used Goldwave to save the sound files as Mono 48000 Hertz Uncompressed wav files, but still no joy - getting a little peed off with it now, to be frank

I feel the same my fellow Jedi. Here is a copy below of a post I made in another thread. I'm trying to be patient because the software is so new and they need some time to work out the bugs. Hopefully it will only get better.

       I was wondering if anyone has experimented with creating and saving Diamond fonts without the saber plugged in so that these fonts could be loaded quickly and easily into the saber at a later time. Here is what I did.
 1) I opened the Ultrasabers Launcher as administrator and then click the Diamond Tab.
 2) I click on the font editor tab and then click the load font tab
 3) I load one of the Default fonts such as the standard Obsidian font.
 4) I then choose an effect from the column list on the left (Tag effect, Power on effect, etc..) and click the Edit Effect button.
 5) I then make some edits to the lighting effect and I also delete the existing Sound effect and upload a new Sound Effect.
 6) I then rename the effect and click the Apply to Font tab
 7) I then exit the Effect Editor and go back to the Effects Wizard and choose the next effect and repeat steps 1-7.
  Lastly, I select the Write Font tab on the left side and then click the Save Font button on the lower right.
 9) I name the font I just created and then I save the .pfnt file to a folder of my choice.

The problem I am having is when I later go to load the font and write it to the saber, some of the sound files that I attached to the effects don't show up.
The sound files for the Tag, Power on, Power off, Idle, Force, and Gesture are just not showing up. When I click on the Edit Effect button, an error message saying "Cannot read file- Does not exist or cannot be opened" pops up. The sound files for all the other Effects, however, do show up fine.

Has anyone else tried this and experienced the same issue? It would be nice to be able to edit/create fonts and then save them for later use without the saber plugged or having to write them to the saber straight away.

Did the same thing to try and get around the problem Obi Wan, created a font without the sabre plugged in, and still no joy. Weird thing is, I've used the same wav files for my Obsidian V3/4 sabres, with no problems at all!

I've found that the Diamond Controller doesn't like spaces in file names. Any time I get this error it's usually because my .wav file has a space in the filename.

It also only uses the first ~5 characters of the .wav. So, if you name your files like:
sound-font1-swing1.wav
sound-font1-swing2.wav
etc.
It won't work.

You need to use very short file names like:
sfsw1.wav
sfsw2.wav
etc.

I was running into this problem for a while.

How have you guys figured out that these are the solutions?

Looking carefully at the error messages? Just trial & error? dealing with lots of buggy boutique software in my day job?...

Actually, I have a fairly long list of observations, bugs, ideas, etc. about the Diamond board/software. I'm not sure where to post that, but I suppose will just post it all here in one or more threads. I think there's a lot more potential with this board than people are realizing... I've had it a few weeks, and thinking of all kinds of stuff, modifying/making fonts, etc etc etc... 

Hey all , was going to be purchasing a diamond board saber but all these niggles are making me think twice and i might just go with emerald board . quick question, can you cycle through different colours just by changing font like on the diamond? or can you only have one colour at a time on the saber . thanks

No, you have one color across all fonts with the Emerald board. You have to reconnect it to your computer to change the color.

Owning both Emerald and Diamond drivers, I can tell you that the Diamond is better in every way.   Don't hesitate.  The Emerald was a PITA to change blade colors.  You had to be near a computer.

Well, if you're not rushing then don't get a Windows machine yet. It's a matter of weeks until we'll release the Mac version.

Marius.

I think he meant "virtual machine."  As in, Parallels Desktop or VMWare.  And If he did, I don't recommend either because of the iffy USB support through either of those.  However, if you do a dual boot, i.e. install Windows 10 via BootCamp, it all works perfectly.  That's what I currently have, a Mac Pro with dual boot into Windows 10.  Been using the Diamond software for a while.

However, back when it was the Emerald software only, I'll say that the Mac version was a tad better than the windows counterpart (mostly from the device discovery aspect).  So perhaps it's best to wait for that as Marcus says.

Cool thanks , after thinking about it I'm actually going to be happy out for a long time with all the standard colours and fonts so i just ordered a prophecy v3 with the diamond controller . having to plug it in to change colour on the emerald board would annoy me :D

I am sure my terminology is the issue here. I need to associate the silent font with a few of the different blade colors. The ability to change colors without hooking the saber up to a computer was a major factor in my choosing the diamond controller. My inquiry was simply to find out if the Mac version of the software is on the horizon. I found a post later in this thread suggesting it is a couple of weeks out.

Getting closer to releasing the Mac version yet?

Close enough, we're running some final tests, so it should be a matter of days.

Cheers,
Adrian

Excellent news! Thanks for the quick response, can't wait to try it out.

 I have a Macbook 10.10.5 Yosemite and paid for the Diamond controller already ...is my system capatible?

I think you should be good, once the MacBook version is released.

Had a nice Live Chat with Alexa today regarding the Launcher - it's not required to install older versions, but it's recommended! See the Chat protocol here:

Alexa: Hello! How can Ultrasabers help you with your saber needs today?
Me: Hi Alexa, I've got a question regarding the Diamond board and the Ultrasabers Launcher program: Is it still necessary to uninstall all older versions of the Launcher before installing the latest version? There was a question on the forum, but I haven't come across an answer so far :(
Alexa: One moment
It isnt required but it is recommended
Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Me: No, that's it for the moment.
Alexa: Thanks for choosing Ultrasabers. Feel free to email us at info@ultrasabers.com or catch us on Live Chat here if you have any questions. 
Thank you for contacting us.
Chat session disconnected.

Hope that clarifies the situation ;)

Hi there - any update on when the Mac launcher will be released?

The wait is driving me crazy haha

WOOT WOOT http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=35320.0

Does anyone have any suggestions on pulse/flicker settings for the diamond controller when idling?

Do i have to say it? can somebody upload some premade Diamond controller Fonts with pulse theirs no damn premade pulse fonts anywhere i can't find them all i can find is the default ones

Does this work on Windows 10? Also does this work if my Saber doesn't have diamond or emerald?

You can still use it (and will need it) to upload new sound fonts and change sound fonts if you have Premium Sound on your saber (single bank on Obsidian V3 or 7 banks on V4) even if you don't have an Emerald or Diamond board. You'll still have a mini USB port on the Obsidian sound board to connect your computer to for this software.

Below is a screenshot of the software with the Obsidian sound board tab selected:

(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f332/computingguy/UltraSabers_Launcher_zpsjaxgv3n7.png)

"Visual C++ Redistributable might need to be installed on some machines: this is specified in the readme.txt file that is open automatically after installation, and also the visual c++ installation link is provided there."

The link in readme: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145)
We're sorry, this download is no longer available.

the correct link is without ")"

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145

I'm trying to get the launcher up and the only things in the folder are drivers...

I'm having an issue where the new update version of the launcher refuses to run on my computer; however, for some reason, older versions will work. Please help!
more details: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=36575.0

You need to upload V2.41 here. Using the maintenance tool has a really slow download speed also it stops working after a while so it won't download. Thanks.

2 hours to download the 2.4.1 update on a 100mbps down connection???  Already having issues connecting obsidian sound boards more than once per computer, some minor bugs with the emerald driver, not to mention some minor issues regarding a recent order and an unanswered email... getting frustrated with all these issues.

I wish the software support/quality was even half as good as the sabers themselves.  Why is there no driver for the obsidian sound boards?  I remember encountering issues with this as far back as 2014 when I purchased my first Ultrasaber.

EDIT: Cool, wonderful connection error and now the speed of the download projects a 7 hour ETA... why oh why did I think it was a good idea to reinstall this program?

Looks like the thread title was changed to incorporate a 12-12-2017 update. Was this the Diamond volume bugfix, and were there any other changes?

I need help


hello so I'm having problems with the download part lol after I down load it I get this

this file does not have program associated with it for performing this action. please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in default programmes controlee panel.

but I don't even know what program it's looking for to down load or anything lol

i just got my second saber and sprung for the diamond and i cant down load the programe

Guys, it is Dec 30, and I tried using Diamond Controller but failed. Installation is fine, and driver was installed. I did not connect to Lightsaber during installation, as per Apr 18, 2017 update, 1 sub 3 [no need to have the Diamond connected when installing].
both of my light sabers (got end of Nov and end of Dec) will not connect to the Controller program.

Can someone help please? I really want to get access to the controls. Thanks. :)

Hi all. So I received my first ever US today! (yeah!!!! Well there were 2 sabers actually as I received a free Dark Initiate LE V4 stunt together with my Graflex CE Diamond)

I got scared when I found a paper rolled around my sabers telling me my saber is equipped with Obsidian V4 soundboard... I ordered Diamond right? But turns out the paper shouldn't have been here, my saber really is Diamond. Happy 😀

Then plugging it into the computer (2.42 already installed to be ready on the day my saber comes), program running as admin on windows 10. But didn't recognize my saber. Tried on my MAC, same did not recognize it. Tried on my older USB2 MAC, did not recognize it...

Finally I ran around the house looking for every single USB to Micro USB I could find, tried them all on my PC running Windows 10, saber was fully recharged by then. And I found a winner. One of all 10 cables I tried actually worked! (It's the one I got with my Xbox One Elite Controller, which I bought last year, so it's not even an old cable...)

So to all of you out there looking for an answer, maybe try this, gather cables and make a plug and plug and plug party. Hope it helps!

I'll be posting some pictures asap in the appropriate section soon 😉

Hi I feel like A  moron 1st i cant find the update
2 im not getting at all what i am suppose to do to insall the update if anyone could help that would be great

Thank you

In your Windows Start Menu, you should find the UltraSabers folder with three shortcuts. Right-click on "Maintenance Tool", choose "Run as administrator" and then follow the on-screen prompts. That should update your Launcher to the latest version.

So are people still having trouble with obsidian v4 and Windows 10?

yes I am... Im running the launcher under windows compatibility 8.1. I'm running the maintenance tool under windows administrator.  I get the follow message "Could not download archive: https://ultrasabers.rsx.ro/software/windows/packages/com.ultrasabers.launcher/2.45Application.7z: Connection closed"

Usually, this happens due to a Internet connection time-out. In case you can't update the Launcher using the Maintenanece tool, you can uninstall the current version from your computer, go to the top of this thread and download the 2.45 offline installer.

I've been messing around with the software now for a few days, love how custom I can make the blade and sounds work together. I do have a few things I would like to give feedback on.

1. I would like to see a copy and paste feature for the blade colors and AV switch. (Make a color string and duplicate it with ease.)
2. It seems after so many endpoints added it will curupt my save and I would have to redo my whole font. (Is their a limit? If so maybe a limit counter would be nice to now when you are about to reach max.)

Other then those two options being added, the software is awesome. Thanks for such a great product.

I'm running Windows7. I have the old launcher for Obsidian4. Should I connect the saber and run the installer? Update the existing launcher? Install first before connecting the saber or with the saber plugged in? Will this work with Win7? Did the April 2017 update fix the sign problem?

Yes, it runs under Win 7 and yes, the signature problem has been solved. I'm running it under Win 10 without problems.

Update procedure:
Uninstall the current launcher. Download the latest installer, run it as admin, then run the Maintenance Tool (also as admin). If there's something to update, do it. If not, power your saber, connect it to the PC (preferably to a USB 2.0 port) and let the driver install. It's a simple Windows HID driver. Then run the software. Again, do it as admin and only after the driver has been installed.

Hi,
I'm certain you guys are fully across this, but just in case...
Speaking as a long time Mac user myself, it seems you guys are the only saber smiths whose products can be controlled from the Mac platform. The UltraSabers_Launcher software works great on my iMac and I love it. But I notice that it's only 32 bit.
Apparently Apple have announced that the recently released MacOS Mojave is the last OS that will support 32 bit apps. The next OS, expected autumn 2019, will be 64 bit only.
So really I just wanted to say - in case you were thinking of dropping Mac compatibility from future versions of Launcher - please please please keep it 64 bit Mac compatible and keep us Mac users able to enjoy your great software!
Hope you don't mind my mentioning it.
 :)

Good information! I think US will inform RSX of this change so that they can take care of that and release an update or a separate 64-bit version of the Launcher - if RSX doesn't already know as this is a drastic change for the Mac users which they have to take into account.

You can have up to 20 points on each light sequence.  We are glad you enjoy our product.

As for the 64-bit version of the Launcher for Mac, we'll provide an update in a timely manner.

The RSX Engineering team

Hello everyone.

I'm running with a windows 10 computer. When i try to connect my obsidian v3 board, the launcher don't detect it. I installed it with the board plugged and powered and i had no error message. Did i do something wrong?

First, make sure the saber is running before you plug it in. Plug it into a USB 2.0 port, not a 3.0 port. And, if it still doesn't detect it, open the device manager and see if there's anything listed with an icon that's a triangle with an exclamation point inside it. That means the saber isn't correctly detected by the computer.

Per this thread (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=41885.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=41885.0)), the Launcher will no longer be compatible with the latest MacOS software in less than two months (based on Apple's normal software release schedule).  Do you have an ETA on when the Launcher will be updated to address this issue?  It seems that this is a 32-bit app, and MacOS is pushing all apps to be 64-bit apps.  (See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208436 (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208436) for the official word from Apple.)

EDIT:  Cross-posting to the Mac thread

Good news!

I have spoken with the folks at RSX Engineering (the team who brought us the Launcher software), and they say that an update is coming in mid-September to address this compatibility issue, and it is expected to have some fixes and updates, too.  Also, note that there is an update to the Windows version coming in mid-September, too.

Great! Seems like my suggestion to contact them was a good idea...;)

Not to put too fine a point on it, your suggestion to contact them was THE good idea!  Point incoming.

Hi everyone,

indeed, the current ETA for the 64 bit version for Mac with a few updates is in the middle of September or sooner. We'll also release a corresponding updated version for Windows around the same time (with a few fixes and updates). The current version of the Launcher software is 2.45 the next version will be 2.64 which coincidentally will match with the 64bit release for MAC.

Your RSX Engineering team.

That's great news!  I just recently bought a new 27" iMac (top tier, all the upgrades, upgraded to 128GB RAM).  I'd hate to have to use my POS Dell.

How do I install the newest launcher after unzipping it 250 version does not show install.exe or anything like that just random files and some that say install but are dat files?

The v2.50 isn't released for Windows systems yet. What you have there is probably the Mac version, which has already been released.

Can anyone help please, i just got my first saber and no  matter what i try i cant manage to connect it to the software..  :-[ :-[ :-[
I tried all combinations  people suggested here, ran it in compatibility modes, as admin ofcourse, started with saber on and unplugged, on and plugged in, off and plugged, off and unplugged, with and without program running.......... all kinds of combinations you can think of and none work. Ive got a mild headache from all this and its still driving me nuts that i cant seem to make it work, and im by no means a tech noob lol.

The program opens and works fine, is up to date but it just doesnt detect the saber.
My usb cable is fine and working and the ports are fine also, device management also shows no "yellow triangles"

I have windows 10 if that matters..

On a side note, is there a video somewhere how to remove the rechargable li-ion batteries from the speaker assembly without ruining the thing to charge with the xtar vc2 plus charger?

My question is, have you plugged a different device into the usb cable that is plugged into the same usb port that you've been trying to connect thru? Something like an android phone, tablet, fan, external hard drive, etc, to make sure you're getting connection thru that port and cable? Also, is it a usb 2.0 port? Newer usb ports (usb 3.0 and above), may not like to connect the lightsaber.

I'm trying to knock out the likely suspects here, seems like you have been trying the different suggestions in other threads.

Also, what sound card lightsaber are you trying to connect? An Obsidian v3/v4, Emerald LED driver, or Diamond controller?

Look, i said that the port and cable work. The ports ive been trying have all been connected to ext. hdd''s and have worked and still work 100%. And i have the diamond board lightsaber.

My laptop has 2 usb 3 and a single usb 2 port and none of them work with the lightsaber.

Did you also run the installer as admin? That's the only thing I can think of right now...and low batteries. They can cause connection problems as well...

Best way I know of to remove the batteries is to use a tool (screwdriver, guitar pic, something similar) and push from 1/2 way down the battery, levering towards the button top of the battery. This for me puts the least amount of strain on the battery and holder.

Only thing I can think of as the reason that the Diamond controller in the lightsaber to not connect, from all you have provided, is that the usb port is not working. There may be a crack in one of the solder joints, maybe one of the pins is bent, but only going by the info given, you MAY have to put a ticket in and request the lightsaber be sent to UltraSabers for repair. I have almost 2 dozen Diamond controller US lightsabers and all work and connect, but there have been a couple people who have had the usb connector fail. One even reported (with pictures) the usb port fell off. Production standards are pretty tight, but things do break.

Note: At this busy time of the year and the pending Star Wars movie release, they are swamped and may not be able to get your lightsaber sent and checked over in a timely manner.

yeah to the above, i always ran it as admin ofcourse and the usb ports on my laptop are definitely not broken. Perhaps the mini connector on the light saber is broken, but i cant see that. Im not a n electrician.

Does the lightsaber do anything when you try to connect to the PC? First time connection should try and install the usb device (the lightsaber), just like any other usb peripheral. If it doesn't, then it most probably is the lightsaber being the problem.

Silly question. The lightsaber, in regular use, works? You can change to the different fonts (Obsidian, Ancient Saber, Black Star, etc)?

Yes the saber works normally as far as i can tell, i can change fonts, volume up and down works and it charges.

And no, nothing happened when i plugged it in.  To be honest i havent seen that message pop up in a loooong time (installing drivers or detecting new things) and i frequently plug in new things into my ports that work normally without that message.

IF it failed to install or didnt recognize it, it would show up with a yellow triangle with the exclamation mark in the device manager im guessing.... so thats not it either..

What kind of USB cord do you use? Keep in mind that there are different types - some can only transport power, other transport power and data. You definitely need a cord that can transport power and data.

I've been thinking about your problem for quite some time now, and what I find odd is that you don't get any message. Not even an error message in the Device Manager. Which can only mean that there's something that either blocks data transfer (for example a damaged cord or USB port (which doesn't seem to be the case from what you said)) or the cord is an "only power" type. The problem is, you can't distinguish between the types by looking at them. Cords that normally work are for example HDD cords or game controller charging cords because those are designed for power and data transfer.

If you've tried different cables and different ports (on the computer) and not getting any indication from the lightsaber at all that it's acknowledging the connection (making sure of course the lightsaber is powered on, the launcher is active under admin start up, then plugging the lightsaber in and it did not chime and turn off the led module), then there's likely a problem with the usb connector on the lightsabers Diamond controller card.

My newest lightsaber, The Fallen LE with Diamond controller gives me fits sometimes when I try to connect to the US Launcher. It'll chime every time I plug it in, but fails to connect, unless I try it a few(MANY), times. I'm uploading a video to uTube to show what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-DWDgqT-Ps&feature=youtu.be# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-DWDgqT-Ps&feature=youtu.be#)

My thinking here is that my usb cable is going bad. I've used it for my phone and for the most part it's fine, but every so often, I can't connect or I lose data transfer access. This may be why my lightsaber is having problems connecting, but i'm not sure it applies to your problem.

Good day.  I upgraded to Mac OS Catalina.  Previous version worked fine.  Downloaded the October version of the MAC launcher.  Uninstalled previous and tried to reinstall the Launcher and get "Can't be Opened".  Anybody else had issues with the launcher in OS Catalina have some pointers?

Update - Figured it out. 

I just made my purchase and thought I'd play with the Launcher on my Win10 box while I wait [patiently]… the download seems to have installed v2.45, but the bottom says "Diamond Users! Major Upgrade is Waiting for you"... however, clicking on that box doesn't seem to update me from v2.45 to v2.64.  Also, it seems to have installed the 32bit version instead of the 64bit one.   
Thanks in advance for all help

Send a PM to RSX_Engineering here on the forum, if nobody else can help.  I’ve got a Mac, so I’m useless to you here.  Sorry.

thanks, will do.

Hello Friends,

I am a first time UltraSabers buyer, and am attempting to use the diamond launcher software. However, I'm a Mac user and currently when I try to launch the software it tells me that the software can't be opened because it "may not be compatible with this version of OS", but when I check the update status on my computer I'm up to date on the OS software. Is there something I'm missing/doing wrong when downloading the launcher software? It also appears that when I attach the USB to my diamond controller the cable doesn't go all the way in and gets stuck. Any advice or insight on that front would also be greatly appreciated.

I'm a new owner/user as well and after finally getting the diamond controller out of the saber, I can't seem to get it to connect with the software.

I downloaded the latest windows version (2.45 I believe) and I use Windows 10.  do I need another download version?

As far as I know I downloaded everything correctly, even did it twice, but no reaction even though the same USB cable works fine with the charger for the batteries.

Anyone else have Windows 10, 64-bit that can provide some guidance/help?

Was this not helpful?
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=45691.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=45691.0)

Hi
I installed the SW on my Mac and all seemed to be in order, however when I connect my sabres to the computer, nothing happens and it does not connect to the sabre… can you please tell me what am I doing wrong??? is there anything missing?
I downloaded the SW jus a couple of days ago

It sounds like my issue after repair - here is my post:
After the Diamond Controller was replaced, I was unable to connect to the controller from the Launcher software.
Nothing had changed on my local setup except the new card and neither the launcher nor the computer presented an error message after connecting and powering on the saber.
With the saber on and connected to the computer, I checked "Device Manager" and looked under "Ports" to notice a "Diamond Controller" entry with a warning icon.  It indicated the registry entry was invalid and it seemed the driver did not want to work.
I removed the driver using Device Manager, uninstalled all parts of the launcher software (i had to restart then remove the root folder where the software was previously installed) and reinstalled once again.  I was then able to successfully connect to the saber.

As for the cable, use it between your phone/tablet and computer. If you can upload/download files then it should suffice for the saber.

may the force be with you

Okay, so i could not scroll to see the windows installer in the first post on this thread - finally realized what i was doing wrong :(
https://1a32fe05fffb6725aab1-5c5b03604a40d0d2efae65b6edf685a4.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/UltraSabersLauncher_OfflineInstallerV245.zip

I just saw a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xssyi7PFGRU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xssyi7PFGRU)) from Emory about the UtraPixel String Blade & NEW Obsidian Soundboards. But I only see the 2.45 software.

I'm curious if my sound board can use the new software and some of it's features. Also where is the software?

Thank you,

The software for the new Obsidian boards and UltraPixel is in this thread:

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=23237.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=23237.0)

So, if you have one of those boards, get that one.