How to use the magnetic sensor - ring?

[vandb]

Hi just wondering. I read that with a magnetic ring you can activate the magnetic sensor.
Two questions:
- is it possible to activate it with any magnet or should you be careful in how strong the magnet is?
- does anyone have a link for buying a magnetic ring which can be used without a problem?

Thanks, Jan

[wholeflaffer]

I don't know about limits to how much magnetism is safe to apply to the sensor, but I can tell you that I bought two rings from eBay the day I ordered my loopsynth.  From two different vendors I ordered one thicker ring and one thinner one.  Both work just fine.  I don't recall spending much more than USD $1.50 for either one, shipped by slow boat from China.

At this time, it appears that only a select few channels support the magnetic sensor, though. It's probably still considered experimental.  I haven't tried all the published channels with the magnet yet, but most do not respond to it.

[mario]

The sensor is safe to use with strong magnets, it would need to be a really strong one (or rather an AC field) to damage something - and it would probably damage rest of the electronics as well

Stronger magnet will make it possible to control from larger distance, and therefore more precisely.

But the rings work well enough - I tried this one with inscriptions and this one with darker band, they are good, this hematite one is a lot weaker and almost unusable. Haven't tried this one, looks the same as the darker but might be made from different alloy.

UPDATE: The silver and gold ring arrived and work well - they're much stronger than dark one.

Yes from the channels in current beta firmware, only one or two respond to it. The programming channels are broken (sorry, it happened while last-minute refactoring and optimizing other parts of the code, and I've noticed it only after flashing over a hundred boards).

[vandb]

Hi Mario, wholeflaffer, thanks for the response. Will have a look on ebay (or the Dutch equivalent Marktplaats) for those rings.
@Maria, hope you will get some time in the near future to restore the channels. Keep up the good work ; -)

[mario]

Sure, will get back to that part once all is shipped - would not be fair to delay it, mainly because some backers got it weeks ago while others are still waiting (could go forever, you know, that's how the software is...    )