Hey everyone!
Someone around here says they did get into the firmware with a way to mod it, but out of respect for TE left it alone and won’t divulge how they did it. Iirc it involved a hex editor or binary converter or something
Someone around here says they did get into the firmware with a way to mod it, but out of respect for TE left it alone and won't divulge how they did it. Iirc it involved a hex editor or binary converter or something
I couldn’t find anything related to that after a quick search. Would really love to PM that guy if I can.
Isn’t the firmware a compiled code file? As in, unless you have the ability to convert from compiled code back to human-readable, it doesn’t seem likely. For example, you can get the source code to Linux, but you can’t just boot up Linux and pop into the kernel and start adding things. It is compiled (which removes comments and other formatting) so that the computer can read it efficiently. Computers don’t read the comment sections.
they bought a license from some fancy processor company blackwell? maybe or something. basically its a very powerful but very closed down system. I.e. some company actively works to stop exactly this and TE signed on. I wouldnt bother. doesnt mean its impossible.
We could petition TE to get plug-in support for user-written synth engines and the like. Maybe in the 2017 update I’d definitely be interested.
That guy is @husker, but he only broke into the firmware package (like a zip/tar file). He mentioned the actual code files are all encrypted, so hacking is a no no…
the firmware is just a tar file with the first 4 bytes inserted as a checksum
Blackfin processors support signed code security, meaning that even if the DSP code is not encrypted, any changes will cause it to be rejected.
Guys…I can tell you that you can get around code signing. In the context of the exercise we are talking about - it’s really just a layer that can be bypassed. And it’s actually not the trickiest layer to bypass.
Wow! Thanks for the feedback guys! Apparently I’m not the only one interested in modding!

There are open source Blackfin tool chains and whatnot. The Blackfin wiki talks about it. Now whether you could use that to write purely home brew code to run on the OP-1 hardware is completely beyond me.
I personally would not reverse engineer this codebase without TE’s blessing.
Up to you of course. The subject of reverse engineering could be debated from here to kingdom come. But at some point you need to pick a side of the fence. As an ex-developer I’ve picked my side and just want to make my position known.
Good luck with whatever approach you choose.
CB
I personally would not reverse engineer this codebase without TE's blessing.Up to you of course. The subject of reverse engineering could be debated from here to kingdom come. But at some point you need to pick a side of the fence. As an ex-developer I’ve picked my side and just want to make my position known.
Good luck with whatever approach you choose.
CB
Any particular reasoning you would give?
There are open source Blackfin tool chains and whatnot. The Blackfin wiki talks about it. Now whether you could use that to write purely home brew code to run on the OP-1 hardware is completely beyond me.
Yep I saw them online, but if the update block of the file is actually what I think it is, there should be a pre-built compilier on the OP-1 already. I would very much rather not touch blackfin-related stuff until the last resort.
aside from it possibly damaging your op1; it could damage TE reputation. how good is china at shitting out clones of things? might just hurt their market share. I grew up in a world were i can literally have anything digital i want instantly for free. so I know which side im on. But it doesnt change that some of these actions can have repercussions.
as a side note i think doing these things is perfectly fine. its how engineers stay up to date. they buy some one else’s product dissect it and learn from other peoples efforts. it happens all the time. its the publication of it thats dangerous. But that is the world we live in. I hate how hushhush reverse engineering is. and is why i LOVE the open source movement. I wish people were just more excited about tech. i think that would solve many of these problems. people dont want to have an opinion on tech. they dont want to understand it. they act like they are entitled to it. oh well one geek’s view.
morale of the story do it. dont expect TE’s blessing. and please have some common sense and dont sell it.
This isn’t going to damage TE any more than hacked versions of OS X running on PC laptops hurts Apple. If “China” wanted to crap out a clone of the OP-1 a dedicated hacker is not the thing that stands in their way.
That said, I would be way too paranoid to run anything unauthorized on my OP-1.