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Getting started

Flash the firmware onto an Electrosmith patch.Init, or load the plugin into VCV Rack. Both run the same DSP core, so a patch you find in one sounds the same in the other.

patch.Init: the prebuilt binary

  1. Download deaths-hand.bin from the latest release.
  2. Put the Patch SM into its bootloader: hold BOOT, tap RESET, release BOOT. Both buttons are on the Patch SM board on the back of the module.
  3. Open Electrosmith's Daisy Web Programmer in Chrome (it uses WebUSB), connect the module over USB, choose deaths-hand.bin and flash.

Every release asset is signed. To check yours before it touches the hardware, see Verifying releases.

patch.Init: from source

On macOS:

brew install --cask gcc-arm-embedded
brew install dfu-util
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/rossedman/deaths-hand
cd deaths-hand
make firmware                # libDaisy, then hw/build/deaths-hand.bin
make -C hw program-dfu       # after BOOT + RESET

On Linux, install the Arm GNU toolchain and dfu-util from your package manager instead.

make -C hw CPU_METER=1 builds a variant that prints DSP load once a second over USB serial (screen /dev/tty.usbmodem* 115200).

VCV Rack

Download the .vcvplugin file for your platform (lin-x64, win-x64, mac-x64 or mac-arm64) from the latest release and drop it into your Rack user folder's plugins directory, or build it:

scripts/fetch-rack-sdk.sh ../Rack-SDK lin-x64   # or win-x64, mac-x64, mac-arm64
make vcv RACK_DIR=../Rack-SDK
make -C vcv RACK_DIR=../../Rack-SDK install

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