Installing FRIZZ

FRIZZ installs from the SD card, the same way as any CHOMPI firmware update. You don’t need any tools or drivers, and the CHOMPI’s bootloader is never touched.

What you need

A CHOMPI. It doesn’t matter which firmware it runs now (TAPE, TEMPO or WAVE).
Its microSD card, or any FAT32-formatted microSD card.
A computer with a card reader.
FRIZZ.bin. Download it from the Releases page, or build it yourself as described in firmware/README.md.

Install

Back up the card. Copy everything on it to your computer: your samples, presets.json and options.json. FRIZZ doesn’t touch them, but you’ll want them if you go back.
Remove the old firmware. Delete every .bin file in the top folder of the card, for example CHOMPI_TAPEv2_0.bin. There must be exactly one .bin on the card. Everything else can stay.
Copy FRIZZ.bin to the top folder of the card, not into a subfolder.
Eject the card properly, put it in the CHOMPI and switch it on.
Wait. A slow rainbow LED pattern means the CHOMPI is writing FRIZZ into its memory. Don’t switch it off while that runs. FRIZZ starts by itself when it’s done: a light-blue ripple spreads from the CHOMPI key, then the FX keys glow in their colours.

Leave the card in: FRIZZ keeps your scenes and settings on it, in a folder FRIZZ, and plays your loops from there (Card and files). Without a card FRIZZ runs, but nothing you save lasts past power-off.

Check that it works

Make sure the mode switch is down (the play page). Plug a stereo source into the AUX input, and headphones or a mixer into the outputs. (Without a cable in AUX, FRIZZ listens to the built-in microphone, but doesn’t put it on the outputs at first, so a speaker can’t feed it back: see Input: AUX, the mic or USB.)
Turn the VOLUME knob. You should hear your source, and the VOLUME LED moves with the level.

If you hear nothing, press VOLUME once and turn it to raise the input gain. Press it twice more to get back to output volume. The Quick start takes it from here.

Updating FRIZZ

Same as installing: replace FRIZZ.bin on the card with the new one and switch on. Your scenes and settings stay, as long as the FRIZZ folder stays on the card.

With the multi-firmware launcher

The multi-firmware launcher (a community project by hiwatts, chomplex music theory and lnetzel) keeps several firmwares on one card: at power-on each white key with a firmware breathes in that firmware’s colour, and pressing one starts it. FRIZZ works as one of them, next to TAPE, TEMPO and WAVE.

Set up the card with the launcher, as its v1.6 release describes: copy the contents of chompi-multi-firmware-card/ to an empty FAT32 card and switch on (a rainbow once, then the picker). A card with an older launcher (v1.1 or later) needn’t start over: the setup page below updates the launcher (from v1.5 on), or copy the release’s CHOMPI.bin to the top folder of the card and switch on. If the keys seem stuck on one colour right after the update, switch the CHOMPI off and on once.
Put FRIZZ on a key with the setup page. With the picker showing, connect the CHOMPI to a computer over USB and open the page in Chrome or Edge. Pick FRIZZ for a free key; the page fetches the latest release and writes it to the card.

Or by hand: copy FRIZZ.bin into the card’s FIRMWARE folder, named after the key you want it on, for example FIRMWARE/04_FRIZZ.bin for white key 4.

The setup page gives FRIZZ’s key FRIZZ’s colour. A firmware the page doesn’t know, or one copied by hand until the page next connects, gets a colour made from its file’s name, the same on every card. The colours are kept in FIRMWARE/key_colors.txt, one line per key (04 8A4DFF 04_FRIZZ.bin: the key, the colour as on a screen, the file it’s for), which you can edit by hand.
Copy your FRIZZ folder over too, if you have scenes or loops from another card. Otherwise FRIZZ creates it on its first start and keeps its scenes there, apart from the other firmwares’ files.

With the launcher, the CHOMPI goes back to its picker every time you switch it on. To update FRIZZ, pick it again on the setup page, or copy the new FRIZZ.bin over the old FIRMWARE/04_FRIZZ.bin; no rainbow pattern, since the launcher stays installed. The setup page offers releases only: a test build (a pre-release on the Releases page) goes on by hand.

USB storage mode

The launcher’s white key 15 is a USB storage mode: connect the CHOMPI to a computer over USB and the card shows up there as a drive named CHOMPI-SD, so you can copy files (loops, bug reports, scenes) without taking the card out. FRIZZ can also lend the card to the computer while it plays: see The card as a USB drive. To leave, eject the drive on the computer first. With USB storage v1.6, the CHOMPI then restarts into the launcher’s picker by itself. With an older one (a card set up from the launcher’s v1.5 or v1.6 release has v1.5), press the LOOP key, which glows red: it blinks and the CHOMPI key turns red; tap the CHOMPI key to confirm, and the CHOMPI restarts into the picker. Pressing the blinking LOOP again cancels.

Going back to stock firmware

Delete FRIZZ.bin from the card.
Copy back your backup, or a factory card from reference/firmware/card-profiles/ (also in CHOMPI Club’s repo): tape-2.0/, tempo-1.0/ or wave-1.0/. Copy the folder’s contents to the top folder of the card. Each one includes its firmware .bin.
Switch on and wait for the rainbow pattern to finish.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
No rainbow, the old firmware starts	Check that `FRIZZ.bin` is in the top folder, that it’s the only `.bin` there, and that the card is FAT32
Rainbow, but then nothing works	Copy `FRIZZ.bin` to the card again (the copy may be damaged) and switch on again
The keys don’t play	The mode switch is up, on the settings page: flip it down
Silence	Check the input gain (press VOLUME, then turn) and the input/loop mix (SHIFT + turn VOLUME, turn towards green). Is the cable in AUX all the way? Without one, the input is the mic, which isn’t monitored at first. On the settings page (mode switch up), the upper G# switches monitoring on for the input you hear (lit), and the upper F# shows which it is: blue is USB, a computer’s sound, silent unless it plays to FRIZZ
It restarts by itself while you play (FRIZZ starts again, or the launcher’s picker shows)	FRIZZ crashed or its sound stopped, and it restarted rather than stay frozen. A loop in RAM is gone. If it happens again, note what you were doing and open an issue
A computer has trouble with FRIZZ on USB (it won’t take it, MIDI comes and goes, sound glitches), or you don’t want FrizZ as a sound card	Switch USB audio off: on the settings page (mode switch up), pick USB with the upper F# (blue), then SHIFT + upper F#, until it’s dim while you hold SHIFT. FRIZZ is then MIDI and the card drive on USB. It’s saved
A recording from FRIZZ over USB sounds slightly dull or late	Set the computer or the DAW to 48 kHz, FRIZZ’s own rate: at another rate the computer converts
The CHOMPI doesn’t respond at all	The bootloader may be damaged. Reinstall CHOMPI’s own bootloader (`firmware/bin/CHOMPI_Bootloader_V6_2_0.bin`) as described in `firmware/README.md`, then install FRIZZ again. Don’t install the generic Daisy bootloader instead