Good news for owners of the COBALT8 line, which includes the COBALT8, COBALT8M, and COBALT8X, as Modal Electronics recently pushed out a free update for these units. The v1.1 firmware update is aimed at providing users with even more power in their creative arsenal thanks to six all-new algorithms along with a raft of workflow enhancements.

The firmware release notes for the update reveals the inclusion of the following new algorithms:

1.  FM Saw:Square: Frequency Modulation using a Sawtooth as the carrier and a Square as the modulator with full control over FM Depth (A) and Modulator Frequency Ratio (B)
2.  FM Square:Square: Frequency Modulation using a Square as both the carrier and modulator with full control over FM Depth (A) and Modulator Frequency Ratio (B)
3.  FM Tri:Square: Frequency Modulation using a Triangle as the carrier and a Square as the modulator with full control over FM Depth (A) and Modulator Frequency Ratio (B)
4.  Noise AM Saw: Sawtooth Wave amplitude modulated by a filtered noise source with full control over AM Depth (A) and Noise filter cutoff (B)
5.  Noise AM Square: Square Wave amplitude modulated by a filtered noise source with full control over AM Depth (A) and Noise filter cutoff (B)
6.  Noise AM Tri: Triangle Wave amplitude modulated by a filtered noise source with full control over AM Depth (A) and Noise filter cutoff (B)

These are not the only new additions with the update either, as it also includes a Master Clock Mode designed to continually send MIDI clock information to compatible studio peripherals. Among the improvements is the arpeggiator sync when working with external sequencers, the expression pedal behavior, and the LFO1 sync when clocked from external MIDI. Modal also fixed several issues such as removing modulation assignment options that don't make sense, solving re-trigger issues with the S+H shape on LFO1fixing Tri Noise screen display glitches, and much more.

In addition to the firmware update for the COBALT8 line, Modal has also released MODALapp v2.7. This free sound editor for Modal Electronics hardware gained a number of stability enhancements and performance improvements from the update. Along with changing the aspect ratio to 16:9, Modal has also opted for a new look and feel for the editor. Improvements range from making updating and reflashing more reliable to the ability to resize and move popups and rearrange tabs by clicking and dragging. In addition, the DIN/USB Thru filter sync issue is now fixed with this update, and the editor will now also correctly remember the last folder you imported from for the next use.

For the complete list of new features and fixes, visit the Modal Electronics website where the multi-platform MODALapp v2.7 can also be downloaded.