Procyon PRw File Structure

[~Brainwave~]

I'd like to know the exact details of the factory (and user) sessions. I want more information than that provided in either the handbook, or Marisa's two sheets. The Proteus session editor software has a feature to allow you to "print" the session, which is a way getting all the information about it, but there is no equivalent for the Procyon. Going through each segment and manually recording the details would be very labourious, so I'd like to avoid it.

I've started looking at PRw files with a hex editor and have been able to decipher some of the more obvious parts. But I cannot understand, for example, how the start/finish frequencies can be decoded. Is there any chance that MindPlace could make public the structure of the PRw files? Or is there anyone who has already done this work and could let me know?

Thanks,

Mike

[Andy]

Hi Mike;

I'll see if that information is available.

-Andy.

[~Brainwave~]

Hi Mike;

I'll see if that information is available.

-Andy.

Hi Andy,

That would be great - fingers crossed

Thanks,

Mike

[Andy]

Here is the "official" spec. Most of what we had here is correct, but there's a bit more detail on some of the values...

Hope it helps!

-Andy.

[~Brainwave~]

I guess you may suspect like me that all the white values were to control white LED's that MindPlace never implemented. The manual shows an early version editor window with a white option. The glasses wiring has an extra unused wire. If the Proteus has the corresponding low side driver fitted on the PCB, and the firmware still reads these values, then it should be possible to modify the glasses and get an extra colour. But that's a lot of if's.

I hope to create some automated way of interpreting the PRw file to get the details out. My plan is to export the PRw file from a hex editor to a ASCII text file, import that into a spreadsheet, then convert it within the spreadsheet.

Anyway, thanks a lot for that, Andy, very helpful indeed

[~Brainwave~]

I'm not familiar with the evolution of the Procyon, but it seems earlier versions of the PRw files, and possibly those converted with the official Proteus to Procyon tool, had 0x6D bytes length segments, with the looping bytes 6D and 6E, and apparently unused bytes 6F and 70, being added later. Opening one of these early versions in the latest editor (v2.2.05) automatically adds 4 bytes of 00 to the end of each segment, and then saves the 0x6D byte length segment version with"_old" appended to it's filename. However, I've found the editor crashes with some of these early PRw files. For example, download "Procyon _Factory_Sessions.zip" from MindPlace, and try opening any of the following:

Attention Booster 25
Creative Enhancement
Learning with Tapes
Mind/Body Awareness
MindLab Relax 15
MindLab Relax 25
MindLab Relax 35
MindLab Relax 45
MindLab Relax 60
Quick Refresher
Release the Day

They are all 0x6D PRw files, but they cause the editor to lock and 10 versions of the appended "_old" files to be created. Since their names are the same as sessions used on the Proteus, I assume they have been converted using the MindPlace conversion tool. Other 0x6D files, for example, those in "ProcyonSessions79.zip" from MindModulations, don't seem to have this problem (although I've not checked every single one of them). These sessions seem not to use blue lights, so I suspect they have been converted from the Proteus format too.

For anyone who want's to restore their Procyon factory sessions to default, and is concerned by this, don't worry. The "Procyon rev 1.PRb" contained within the "Procyon _Factory_Sessions.zip" archive will correctly load only the valid sessions and restore your Procyon to the "as shipped" session state. Just choose "Session Tools", "Upload Album of sessions to Procyon", then choose the "Procyon rev 1.PRb" file.

Regards,

Mike

[Andy]

Nice work, Mike.

Gonna do anything with all this data?

-Andy.

[~Brainwave~]

Thanks, Andy.

I think I've achieved what I wanted - to be able to take a PRw file and work out the frequencies it is trying to entrain in detail. It's not particularly user friendly, but the data is there if you want to look. Funny thing is, I got more enjoyment out of decoding than actually reviewing the data I was after in the first place

Mike

[electronguy]

Great work on the file structure I'm hoping to be able to create a converter that will help make SynchroMuse files from MIDI envelopes created in SONAR (or other digital audio workstations). Plus, maybe the spreadsheet conversion tool will help make the session creation process a bit easier (I have yet to create a Procyon session as it's too frustrating ).

Thanks again for this work; I'm confident that this data will help the community enjoy their Procyon units more.

--Scott

[nomisx]

Hi Andy,

I want to make software for the Procyon that works on a Mac. I have a question on the frequency. There are 4 bytes reserved for the frequency. What is the key. How does the editor transform the values to HEX?

Kind regards,
Simon