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There were three official firmware releases by Sequential. r1.0 and r1.2 seem to be the most common, with users selecting one or the other based on if they care about the resetting LFOs or not. Click on the image(s) to the right to get the MS/LS *.bin files for a particular version.
While I haven't come across any evidence to support or deny it, there is a possibility that r1.3 was being developed by Sequential Circuits and never finished. Quoted here from Retrosynth Prophet VS Info:
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"Apparently there was a ROM ver 1.3 in the works before SCI folded. The previous bay area owner of my VS had 1.3 replaced by 1.2 due to instability. Several new features were implemented in 1.3, but needed debugging."
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If there did happen to be an official r1.3 it would be great to track down and work out the kinks.
I'll update this as more are discovered.
- r1.0:
- In MIDI Mode 3, split programs with different channel numbers incorrectly steal voices across the split point.
-- [Fixed in firmware ≥ 1.1]
- r1.0, r1.1:
- Single waves cannot be stored correctly to a cartridge.
-- [Fixed in firmware ≥ 1.2]
- r1.0, r1.1, r1.2:
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Not technically a bug. Byte order of NRPN MSB and LSB are swapped from modern standards. This makes MIDI controllers like the BeatStep Pro, BCR2000, etc, not function correctly.
-- [Fixed in modified firmware ≥ 1.4]
- Loop count of "Get Basic Waveform (Enter + "Edit Waveform")" off by 1. Modwheel destination is ignored.
-- [Fixed in modified firmware ≥ 1.4]
- Loop count writing custom characters to the LCD (for the Voice Panning screen) too long by 24!
Character table is 40 bytes long but loop iterates 64 times, writing values from a section of code describing Mod. Matrix pointers. Looks like it was just a hex vs dec typo (0x40 is 64).
-- [Fixed in modified firmware ≥ 1.4]
- NRPN control of ARP RATE nonfunctional. Code doesn't exist.
-- [Fixed in modified firmware ≥ 1.45]
- NRPN control of SPLIT POINT nonfunctional. Code doesn't exist.
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-- (r1.0) Initial Release, 1986.
- - 148 bytes free ROM space.
- - Has freerunning LFOs and arpeggiator.
- - Full original diagnostics.
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-- (r1.1) Minor changes, 1986?
- - 32 bytes free ROM space.
- - Has freerunning LFOs and arpeggiator.
- - Fixes MIDI Mode 3 voice stealing across split point. (Or at least begins the process... there is related additional code in 1.2). Will investigate...
- - Full original diagnostics.
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-- (r1.2) Major Release, 1987.
- - 2 bytes free ROM space.
- - LFO Resets after new key presses. Sequentials reasoning:
"This prevents the case where you might play a key and hear nothing because a negative LFO phase is holding down the VCF or VCA."
- - Arpeggiator is also synced with key presses. Internal clock is reset when the first note is played.
- - Last used program is now remembered after power cycle (or program crash :)).
- - Data increment/decrement function has been added for fine adjustment.
- - Master Transpose +/- 12 semitones. Can cause octave wraparound at pitch extremes.
- - Local Keyboard On/Off: Under the MIDI options menu an option has been added to provide local keyboard enable and disable.
- - MIDI now has separate Transmit and Receive channels.
- - "Output" diagnostics missing (though some dead code remains!)
-- (r1.3) WIP, incomplete, 1987?.
- - Discovered in boxes at Wine Country Sequential.
- - Looks to be very early development. 68k vectors are set up for a ICE or trace monitor, connected through the NVRAM sockets (I think!).
- - All diagnostics are stripped out.
- - The address of where the diagnostics used to be is 256 bytes higher, meaning there IS additional code.
- - Investigation ongoing....
- - UPDATE: The only new thing in this code is more robust MIDI SDS (Sample-Dump-Standard) transfer. It seems that this version checks for ACK, NACK, and WAIT while dumping waves. It also displays any stored error codes automatically, instead of needing to press [Enter + 9].
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