Celebrating a Decade (+ pyraOS 4.03)

[squarpadmin]

From the very beginning, our mission has been to craft musical electronic instruments that inspire creativity. We embarked on this journey 10 years ago with our first product, the Pyramid sequencer, and its success far exceeded our initial expectations.

Your trust allowed us to expand and reach new horizons. We’ve been able to bring on board some new exceptional talent. Our team has grown and stayed unwaveringly united, maybe because we are driven by the same values: designing modern instruments we really want to use to make music, crafting professional yet fun interfaces, providing a close customer support, delivering high-quality machines, and of course organizing the most pleasant working environment possible.

During this journey, we’ve always striven to handle every aspect of the job by ourselves to reinforce our team’s skills and knowledge. This is why we’ve kept a variety of tasks in-house, such as software engineering, industrial design, electronics design, production management, final assembly, quality control, orders and shipping, web development, graphic design, user guides writing, customer support, company administration … and now, we are even doing realistic 3D renders of our products images and videos!

Over the past few years, Pyramid has grown more and more difficult to manufacture in an economically viable way, mostly due to the ongoing global chip shortage and other supply-chain issues. After careful consideration, we have decided to discontinue Pyramid, and shift focus to the rest of our product-line.

We understand that many of you still cherish and use this instrument as a part of your musical expression. While we will no longer be able to provide official support or updates for this product, we want you to know that your trust, your feedback, your musical creativity will remain forever in our hearts. With this experience, our company is more mature than ever. Thanks to you, we can continue to seek out the most enjoyable, inspiring, and musical machines possible.

In the spirit of celebration, we are offering a special discount of 15% on Pyramid’s little brother, the Hapax sequencer. The code is PYRAMID10YEARS and will be valid until December 1, 2023 (only on our official shop store.squarp.net).

Last but not least: we’re happy to announce the release of the ultimate version of Pyramid’s firmware, pyraOS 4.03! This version fixes some issues recently reported, and will ensure an even brighter future to your beloved machine.

• download pyraOS 4.03
• a Pyramid timeline

[Loz]

So… why did you call it the Pyramid?

Great little sequencer, though, so above and beyond anything else around at the time (apart from maybe Cirklon, but who has 3 years to wait) first hardware sequencer I absolutely loved from the get go. Fitted so well into my workflow.

Even been thinking of getting one again if I could find a cheap second hand one, kinda miss it sometimes.

[repomaa]

Make the Pyramid a true legend and release the firmware code! You don’t have to provide any support anyway!

[rgarner]

Thanks for all your work. What a tremendous little machine.

[repomaa]

I still love my pyramid so much. It’s one of the greatest pieces of hardware I’ve ever owned.

[stalker]

I will try immediately that COPY / PASTE option. It was a very embarassing bug, especially for users who deploy long lenghts patterns with breaks at the end.

an other bug was the impossibility to import MIDI files correctly, or multiple Midi files, and to assign them freely.

[vt100]

well, it was a good ride. now its like, do i get one in case mine dies or time to think about a new workflow. ah well, i had always hoped there’d be that final hardware rev that just took it the rest of the way. thanks again for all the bug fixes.

feeling old now. :: hands up his patch cables ::

[vt100]

ohoh please open source the firmware <3

[Jason]

Feeling a little sad, even a little fearful if mine now breaks.

[Bambrose]

Superb product well supported throughout,
It’s a classic in my eyes

[radar]

Thank you for a great sequencer I’ll continue to use mine.

[heckseven]

heck of a machine - a true legend. thanks for all the updates! can’t wait to see what you get up to next!

[alemaas]

Still love my pyramid as the main brain of my studio and live set-up.I want you to ask if you provide assistance in case of a repair.
Thanks
Alessandro

[osmanu]

Open source firmware please!

[alemaas]

Yes they will care of our pyramids.Just these days I asked them for assistance and they provided all what I needed.
Thanks Squarp and Tom!

[th555]

I just checked, and I’m sad to report that this bug has not been fixed in what I now learn is the final firmware update, despite being assured by Squarp via e-mail that it would be fixed at some point.

Incorrect note offsets after save/load
To reproduce:

    Create a new project
    Set the track properties as follows: time signature: 9/8, zoom: x1, length: 12 bars
    In step mode, go to the last page and put a note on every step there with the pads
    Save the project
    Load the project
    Observe: the notes that were placed previously now have a variety of random timing offsets, such as 9% or 13%.

I guess this means I’ll never really get to use my Pyramid. Long sequences in odd time signatures were one of the main intended usecases for me, it was advertised as being capable of that, and it would be if this bug were solved. I can only repeat my (and others’) request to open-source the code; I’d be perfectly willing to get in there and have a go at it myself.

[unfolding]

Wow, this was surprising when it shouldn’t have been. 10 years is a long time for any company to support a product like this, thanks @squarpadmin!

My old unit, 340, will get the new OS soon & hopefully see many more years of off-kilter grooves.

Adding to what Loz said, back in 2013 hardware sequencers felt like a weird old niche that was gaining traction. From memory:

• The Cirklon & Soma’s Komplex were always pure unobtainium.
• The Social Entropy Engine was once a thing, it seemed really promising.
• Kirkpatrick was attempting to build pre-release hype for the Carbon.
• The Octatrack was too future for most humans (still is?).
• The Beatstep series was too limited for a decent collection of synths.
• Analogue Solution’s Europa sank without a trace.

Of all these competitors it looks like the Pyramid was the one that pushed both developers and the market for sequencers in more interesting & original ways. Consider:

• The frictionless studio control offered by storing instrument definitions.
• How we now take macro knobs for granted.
• Euclidean rhythms became commonplace in step sequencers.
• Setting different bar lengths for polyrhythms/polymeters without a ridiculous amount of planning.
• Combining MIDI & Eurorack compatible CV became an expected bit of functionality.
• The touch pad was proof that non-standard performance interfaces have a place outside of Kaoss Pads and were the icing on the cake (draw-your-own modulations!).

The Pyramid was visionary, it tought me a lot about music. Seeing it grow from Os 0.82 has been remarkable. Thanks again, Squarp!

[Wise-Beats]

Wow I’m late to going away party.
The Pyramid helped me feel like I was finally using a sequencer designed by electronic musicians instead of electronic engineers. I got this to replace my the sequencer in the RS7k as a modern alternative, then got the Akai Force which is now my right brain & the Pyramid can be used to as left brain of my studio.

Thanks for designing the future!

[industrialist]

I was late to this announcement though I did notice a week or so ago that I had to change my manual bookmark for the pyramid.

@th555 's bug is absolutely one that I was really hoping for, I hope you DO consider open-sourcing the firmware as I would be willing to take a crack at that one too!

[roger]

Hey all, how’ve you been? Happy New Years Eve. I’m back on the Pyramid.

I want to say thanks to Squarp for fixing bugs on this final update. Even though I’m not a Hapax customer, Squarp is a great company.