Kit Behaviour Guide

Introduction

A Freedrum Kit comes with 4 devices - 2 sticks, a left pedal and a right pedal. Each device plays a different role in the kit and behaves differently depending on the mode of operation. This guide will help explain the different scenarios you may encounter while using your Freedrum Kit.

The 4 devices in the kit communicate with each other wirelessly and can also connect to your smartphone or computer via Bluetooth.

The kit includes 3 different types of devices, each with their own role:

  • The sticks are always "slave devices" both in normal operation and when buddying with other devices in the kit.

  • The left pedal is the "communication master" within the kit's wireless connection and acts as a "buddy slave" when buddying with other devices in the kit.

  • The right pedal is the "buddy master” when buddying with other devices in the kit and a "slave device" for the kit's wireless connection. It also serves as the Bluetooth device for connecting the kit to your smartphone or computer.

Operation modes

Factory

When you first get your Freedrum Kit devices, they will be in "factory mode". To turn them on and off, just click the button once. In this mode, the devices will show different color patterns:

  • The sticks and left pedal will cycle through blue, green, and red every second.

  • The right pedal will cycle through blue, yellow, and magenta every second.

If you don't touch the device for 5 seconds, it will turn off on its own. If you shake the device, it will blink cyan rapidly. The sticks will also have a haptic rumble. This mode is for testing the button, sensors, and haptic feedback.

To exit "test mode", press and hold the button while it’s doing the cyclic pattern until the device blinks rapidly.

Once you exit test mode, the devices won't go back to it unless you perform a factory reset. You can find instructions on how to do this in the Factory reset section of the guide.

Motion sensor calibration

When you power down the device and plug it in for charging after exiting factory mode, it will blink magenta. This means it's doing a sensor calibration. To do the calibration, just leave the device on a flat surface until the magenta blink stops. It will take a few seconds for the device to finish calibrating. Once it's done, it will start charging.

If the device is not calibrated during this phase, it will be calibrated automatically when the device is still enough.

Charging state

When you're charging your Freedrum Kit devices, the light on the device will turn red to let you know it's charging. Once the device is fully charged, the light will turn off. If you plug in the device and the red light doesn't turn on but turns blue instead, do a single press and later a long press, if light is red it’s charging if not the device is fully charged.

Buddying

When you turn on your Freedrum Kit devices for the first time, they will enter "Buddying mode", which means they will look for other devices in the kit. The right pedal is the "buddy master" and it needs to be buddied with the left pedal first, since the left pedal is the "communication master". Once the right pedal is buddied with the left pedal, it will look for the sticks. The sticks and left pedal will stop looking for a buddy once they find the right pedal, aka, “buddy master”.

A device looking for buddies will blink in magenta.

During buddying the right pedal will blink magenta and blue until all buddies are found and the rest of devices, if already buddied, will show yellow.

If there was a problem during buddying, there are 3 possible scenarios:

  • A stick is not buddied: The unbuddied stick will show magenta and the rest will show yellow.

  • The right pedal is not buddied: As in the previous case, the right pedal will show magenta and the rest will show yellow.

  • The left pedal is not buddied: In this case the left pedal will still show magenta but the rest of the devices will show blue.

In any of those scenarios, the action to take is a Buddy reset.

A device will stay in "buddy state" for 30 seconds. If it doesn't find a buddy in that time, it will shut down.

If you're trying to buddy several kits at the same time, the devices may end up buddied with the wrong kit.

Normal state

Once all 4 devices in your Freedrum Kit are buddied, the kit will will be in "normal state". You can tell the status wireless kit connection by the color of the lights:

  • Steady blue: This means the device is not connected to any other device or the left pedal is turned off.

  • Steady yellow: The device is connected to the left pedal but one or more devices in the kit are missing.

  • Steady green: All the devices are connected and communicating with each other.

If the left pedal is only connected to one or two other devices, it will show a steady yellow light. The other devices that are connected will also display steady yellow.

If a device is showing a blue light for 50 seconds, it will turn off automatically.

There is no indication for the status of the Bluetooth connection. This feature will be added in the future.

If a device detects an error, it will blink magenta and red every second. The only errors that will be reported this way are:

  • Motion sensor error

  • Kit communication error

The device will try to fix the problem and reboot itself. If the problem persists, please contact Freedrum.

Each time the kit is turned on, it will search for the best radio channel to use. If the devices have trouble communicating (as indicated by the lights alternating between blue, yellow, and green), try turning off and on the devices to select a new radio channel.

User Calibration

Before you start playing music with your Freedrum Kit, you'll need to do a "calibration" to set everything up. To do this, you'll need to:

  • Hold the sticks forward, so they're parallel to each other.

  • Make sure the pedals can see the sticks.

  • All devices are displaying green colour, meaning that they are connected between each other.

  • Click the button on both sticks at the same time to start the calibration.

If the calibration is successful, the left stick will turn red for a second, and the right stick will turn blue for a second.

Calibrating the devices is important to reset their sensors and record the resting position, so the devices know how to respond to your movements correctly.

Turning off/reset

Normal shutdown

To turn off your Freedrum Kit device, press and hold the button for a few seconds. After 2 seconds, the device will blink blue rapidly. Release the button to turn off the device.

Forced HW reset

If the device is frozen or not responding, press and hold the button for more than 7 seconds. This will do a "forced HW reset" which can be useful if the device becomes unresponsive. If the device does not recover after a forced HW reset it should be examined at Freedrum.

Buddy reset

To erase the buddy information of the device, press the button 4 times quickly, then press and hold the button. If you do this correctly, the device will blink magenta instead of blue when turning off. Repeat this for all devices. To complete the buddy reset, turn the devices back on in this order: right pedal, left pedal, then sticks. Wait for each one to turn yellow. Once the right pedal stops blinking magenta, the devices are all connected and should turn green.

Factory reset

To erase any user calibration and configuration, press the button 9 times quickly, then press and hold the button. If you do this correctly, the device will blink red instead of blue when turning off. Keep in mind that if you perform a factory reset, you will need to calibrate the device and buddy it again with the other devices of the kit.

FW Upgrade

During a firmware update, all the devices in your Freedrum Kit will blink magenta and dull pink every second. At first, only the right pedal will blink this way, but eventually all the devices will.

When the devices blink each second, it means they're in "FW Upgrade mode" but waiting for actual update. Only the devices that are blinking irregularly are actively updating.

The firmware update is first sent over Bluetooth to the right pedal. That's why only the right pedal is blinking irregularly at first. The right pedal then broadcasts the update to the other devices in the kit.

It is not possible to "brick" the device by turning it off during a firmware update. However, a firmware update can fail for various reasons so it is recommended to be performed after a full charge and leave the kit untouched while its doing the update. If the update fails it will go back to the previous version.

After the firmware update is finished, all devices will reboot. This is when the update will take effect.

If a firmware update doesn’t take effect, it's a good idea to reboot all the devices and try again. If the device becomes unresponsive and cannot be recovered with a Forced HW reset please contact Freedrum.