If you’ve not seen the Pacemaker Device (pmd) had a official firmware update over the last few months. This is great news because this shows pacemaker device isn’t dead, and there might still be a lot more life in this ground breaking device.
The firmware is beta but to be honest it feels very stable to me just like the leak pacemaker firmware from over 3 years ago. One of the major additions is the ability to scratch which I’ve not played with yet, but theres plenty more stuff…
- Scratching (Vinyl Mode) – Enable it under (Settings, Mix Control, Vinyl Mode). Simply touch the edges of the navigation pad on the Pacemaker to scratch your music.
- Beat Lock/Sync Mode – Enable beat lock by holding the P-Button down and pressing Play on the second deck. The second deck will be synced to the same tempo as the first and held there until this process is repeated.
- Sync Tempo – Hold the P-Button down and press Cue on the second deck. The second decks tempo will now match the tempo of the first deck.
- Beat Jump – Enable beat jump by holding the P-Button down and pressing ‘REW’ on a deck. ‘Beat Jump Enabled’ will be displayed. Repeat this process to jump backward in time in the track or hold the P-Button down and press ‘FWD’ to jump forward in the track. You can change the length of the jump by holding the P-Button down and pressing the ‘REW’ and ‘FWD’ buttons simultaneously. Great for creating a ‘stutter effect’.
- Fixed Loop Length – Set Fixed Loop Lengths in (Settings, Mix Control, Fixed Loop Length) and all loops you create will default to that length.
- Snap Loops – Set this on under (Settings, Mix Control, Snap Loops) and all loops that are created will be snapped to the nearest beat.
- Digital Output (Play mode only) – Requires an A/V cable (Digital out where video should be) and this mode only works on the line-out channel (Hardware limitation)
Its quite easy to upgrade and on Linux, you just need to follow the Mac instructions.
Ensure your Pacemaker has at least 20% charge before starting this process. Download the firmware by clicking here
- Connect your Pacemaker Device to your PC via a mini USB cable.
- View the Pacemaker drive so you can see the folders on the device (like you would with a memory stick)
- Find the .Pacemaker folder (it might be a hidden folder so you might have to enable viewing of hidden folders).
- Copy the firmware you downloaded into this folder.
- Safely Eject the Pacemaker Device
- Your Pacemaker should now reboot and install the firmware – this might take several minutes. Do not unplug your device during this process.
- Once completed the device may either need to be ejected again from the computer, or it may display a screen as if it has just been turned on and is ready to mix.
- You’re done – Let’s Mix.
- Be sure to post your comments over in the official forum thread here, to show your support to the team.
Here’s my pacemaker with the latest Firmware updated…
