Conductive Labs The NDLR (original) Rev1 to Rev2 Upgrade Kit
Are you the owner of an original The NDLR? That's the one with a blue/grey anodized enclosure. Not the new one with the red powder coated base and power button. We've got an offer for you that you may find desirable! Upgrade your original The NDLR to the Rev2 with a circuit board swap kit.
Original Rev1 The NDLR with blue/grey base
Enter, The NDLR Rev2 The hardware: The NDLR Upgrade Kit will include The NDLR Rev2 circuit board, minus the power switch (which does not fit in the original enclosure). This will make your Rev1 NDLR equivalent to a Rev2 NDLR less the power switch. The kit will include instructions for the circuit board swap, and the tools necessary to disassemble and reassemble The NDLR. The kit includes a 1-year warranty for the circuit board, see the kit instructions for details.
To help you judge the level of complexity of the board swap, here is a summary of the instructions: 1. Remove the knobs, and partially loosen the encoder nuts 2. Remove the 4 hex screws that hold the faceplate to the base, and lift it from the base 3. Remove the encoder nuts and washers, and drop the circuit board out of the faceplate 4. Hardest part: keep track of the acrylic screen protector if it comes out of the faceplate so it doesn't get dirty or scratched. 5. Put it back together with the new circuit board 6. Jam session with the new The NDLR!
Here are the features and enhancements you will get with your upgrade*
Features available now in a preview firmware release:
Motif Gate Control. A long desired feature that will give you control over the motif's MIDI note gate length. The setting can be made while playing, and independently for each motif.
20 Global Patch Save Slots. Increased from 8 on the original The NDLR rev1 platform.
Perlin Noise Pattern Generator. This is a cool new creative tool born out of customer requests for a random function for the motif pattern editor. Perlin Noise is not so random as, for instance, white noise. By assigning the NZ pattern to the motifs, the Perlin Noise editor can be played (or LFOed) to produce gradually changing patterns. It is especially good when both motif's are using the noise pattern, with the noise spacing adjusted to bring the patterns close together in the noise field, which provides a nice interplay between them.
Perlin Noise patch saving. Save up to 4 Perlin Noise patches. Think of these as custom INITs. The Perlin Noise settings are also saved with the Global patches for reproducibility.
Features in development (expected to be ready by the time the kit ships):
Motif Pattern Editor step targets for the Mod Matrix. Ever want to create variations in your base or lead line without having to modulate saved patterns? Now you can target steps in the pattern editor to change at the rate you select for the LFO. Funk up your base line with a square wave modulation to a motif step, or go crazy with a random LFO.
New Mod Matrix targets for new features, as well as the existing PAD Strum and Spread parameters.
Added MIDI CC controls for new parameters, chord sequencer arm/disarm, and the PAD Strum and Spead parameters.
*Subject to change. We are still evaluating some things that we'll announce later, plus additional scale choices, some bug fixes, and small interface enhancements.
We have engaged a firmware developer to re-factor The NDLR code base in order to enable these new features and enhancements. We plan to complete development in June 2025. Some of the features (see list above) are already available to NDLR Rev2 customers as a preview release.
Once the Backerkit pre-sale has concluded, we will order the circuit boards and upgrade kit contents. It will take about 3 months to make and assemble the circuit boards, complete assembly, programming and testing, then package the kits and prepare for shipping.
Once the pre-sale has concluded, you will receive a survey from Backerkit where you will provide your shipping address, and shipping fees will be collected.
Only owners of original The NDLR (rev1) are eligible for this offer. At the conclusion of the crowd funding, a survey will be sent which will require information that proves ownership of The NDLR.
We launched The NDLR in 2017 with successful crowd funding campaigns, introducing a paradigm that has since been copied many times, but nothing is quite like The NDLR. In 2021 we sold out of The NDLR due to the well know chip shortages, we could no longer source its micro-controller. We went 2 years without having The NDLR available (or income from its sale), and had to make a choice to discontinue it, or keep the party going. By popular demand, we made the investment to redesign the hardware and port the software to a new platform, the PJRC Teensy 4. The speed and storage offered by the MCU on the Teensy 4 opened up the possibility of making enhancements to the firmware, as the original was completely out of parameter storage space. We literally squeezed every last bit out of the original platform, offering free firmware updates and many new features and enhancements for 7 years, at no additional cost to our customers. We hope you will continue to enjoy The NDLR for years to come, whether you upgrade it or not, it has a lot to offer.
