First of all, sorry! That's really annoying to deal with. Here are some things to consider:

We use MIDI type A (listen on the TIP, send on the RING)
- which is superior as it doesn't require a TRS cable unless you plan on sending PC messages out of the pedal.

Some other devices and brands have the opposite pinout so you'll need to check!

Most companies add jumpers or switches that allow you to change the pinout to be compatible with most devices.

If you're using a splitter like the Quadra-thru you may have issues as the Echosystem and Reverb do not have an optocoupler (the ZOIA does so it should be compatible with virtually anything out there)

If the device you're using isn't performing as desired and you've checked that your cables are good and the pinouts match, you may need to try swapping the splitter with an active one like the midibox2 - though you don't have to use ours, there are tons of them out there!

Here we'd like to explain how and why this can sometimes occur.

First off, in a perfect world we would be able to run two algorithms simultaneously and just cutoff the input signal to the preset you're leaving, so it would decay naturally and perfectly, and the new preset sound would load up. Unfortunately, we don't have the processing power to run two modes at once. If we did this we'd be sacrificing a lot of quality - which we don't want to do for obvious reasons.

So, how does the spillover work?

When you hit load on a new preset, the pedal takes the last chunk of wet audio coming out of the pedal and puts some fades on it and overlaps copies of that with itself and starts playing that out. It's overlapping 4 copies of that audio to try to get it relatively smooth, and then there's a slow fade-out applied to that signal. The length of that fade-out is calculated based on the decay settings. So if the preset you're leaving has a long decay, the fade-out will be long to mimic that setting. Similarly, the length of the chunk that gets overlapped depends on your decay setting. For longer decays, the wet signal is generally smoother sounding, and we use a longer chunk. With the longer chunks the overlaps it will sound less phasy when they overlap. As these things are happening we're also compensating for wet volume variations between the modes, and shutting down the last mode and initializing the new mode which is pretty computationally intensive.

So, what does all this mean for the player? In some situations this approach will work pretty well, in others, it will fall short. I think this explains why some people are finding it is working from them and others are noticing artifacts like stuttering.

Best case scenario:

You have a longer decay, you're playing a pretty legato part and you load the new preset right as you start playing the next section. The chunk of audio that gets overlapped would then be pretty smooth sounding, and since you're playing the new part right away any phasyness from overlaps gets masked a little by the new sound playing over top of it.

Worst case scenario:

You are playing staccato parts, with a shorter decay setting and you're going from a preset where the mix is really loud to a preset where it's really quiet, and you load the preset a little bit before you start playing the next section of the song. In this case, the chunk that gets grabbed might have some playing in it, but maybe even be silent in parts, so when it gets overlapped you distinctly hear the repeats (stuttering). We're intentionally grabbing shorter chunks of audio with shorter decay times to avoid this but it definitely can still happen. The shorter chunks, even if they contain somewhat smooth audio, will tend to sound pretty phasy when overlapped. One thing you can do to improve this situation is to switch presets right before you start to play your next part, so if you're tap dancing to get a bunch of pedals on and off, leave the reverb until last, if possible.

The SD Card requirements are a little bit confusing.

SD Requirements to Update the pedal firmware you need:

1 - SD Card has to be SDHC  type (the HC stands for high capacity, and almost every SD card made in the last 10 years is the HC type).

2 - The SD Card has to be formatted to FAT32. (With some newer SD Cards that are higher capacity (usually 64GB or bigger) windows wants to format them FATex which is sort of a pain, but there's utilities you can use to format them to FAT32).

If the conditions of above aren't met, you'll see the mode leds flash red when the pedal starts up. If you're not trying to update the pedal, but are using the looper that's ok.

Note: 

- For firmware updates we don't care about the V30 (V30 means it's video speed class and means that it can maintain certain data throughput rates without pauses).

- Doing the firmware update shouldn't corrupt other data on the card ( but we always recommend backing up anything else on there anyways).

SD Requirements to use the looper:

- SD Card has to be HC (like above), and has to be V30. ( The V30 is important because we have to maintain some higher data throughput of audio without dropping out. When we didn't enforce this people were experiencing dropouts because some cards couldn't keep up).

If the V30  requirement is not met, you'll see the preset leds flash red when you're holding down the middle and right stomps trying to enter the looper mode.

Note:

- The formatting (FAT32, FATex ) is un-important for running the looper. The looper writes the audio to the card as raw data, so in many cases it will corrupt the filesystem (and files) on the card.

Below are instructions on how to update the firmware on your Reverb. Attached are the firmware files and the changelog.

How to upgrade your Echosystem's firmware

1) Download the firmware file from below. It should have the format eervXXXX.bin where the XXXX is replaced by the version number.

2) copy the file to the root directory of a high-capacity SD card that's been formatted FAT32 (see Note 1 if you're having issues).

3) insert the SD card then power on the pedal.

4) the preset LEDs should flash yellow for a bit, then all turn green when the update is complete. This should take about 15 seconds. Wait till your pedal boots normally and is playable.

5) remove SD card, turn your pedal off and then on again and you're good! (this part is a little redundant, but it's good to cycle your power just to make sure everything is nice and working!)

Note 1: Quick format won't work, you need to do a full format. We recommend using a PC, since Apple products put proprietary files onto SD cards and sometimes make the reformats unreliable for use in our products. Here are picture instructions for that:

On Chrome:

1. Download the file below as usual.
2. Click “Show All” on the right of the download bar.
   1. Alternatively, go to your Chrome Downloads page (control+J on Windows, option+command+L on Mac).
3. Select “Keep dangerous file”.
4. Select “Keep Anyway”.

1. Download the file below as usual.
2. In the Download overlay that appears, click the “>” button to the right of the exclamation point.
3. Select “Allow download”.

• eerv0600.bin
• eerv0601.bin
• eerv0602.bin
• eerv0607.bin
• eerv0608.bin
• eerv0609.bin
• reverb changelog.txt

Updating the firmware will not affect your presets; however, we recommend keeping a log of all of your settings just in case something happens.

Issues experienced by our customers are often resolved by performing a factory reset which can clear out bugs... and deletes your presets.

Here's a nice little video on how to figure this out. Note that video features the Empress Reverb, but that the process for figuring out the firmware version on the Echosystem is exactly the same.

But if you don't want to go to Instagram or watch a video, I'll just tell you!

When you turn on your Echosystem, you will see some of the modes lights and presets lights turn on.

The preset light represents the whole number of the firmware version.

For example:

Preset 1 BLUE is 1.00
Preset 5 BLUE is 5.00
Preset 1 GREEN is 6.00

The modes light represents the decimal number of the firmware version.

For example:

Hall BLUE is 0.01
Sparkle BLUE is 0.05
Hall Green is 0.13

Echosystem

Digital BLUE is 0.01
Mod BLUE is 0.05
Digital GREEN is 0.13

So if your Echosystem turns on with Preset 2 BLUE and Digital GREEN, the firmware would be 2.13!

This click is a preventative maintenance feature to work out the relays when switching bypass states in the advanced config menu. Don't worry, there isn't a tiny mouse living in your pedal and eating all the wires!

We are not all made equal and normally size doesn't matter, but in this case... it does.

Some patch cables are slightly smaller spec than what the audio jacks expect.  

We've noticed this problem with plugs that aren't exactly 1/4" thick. If you're curious and have a micrometer, you could check the widths of the tip, ring, and sleeve of your plugs.

It's a very tiny discrepancy but it will cause some movement within the jack which results in unpleasant noises.

You can do a very easy mod that will eliminate this issue

Just add a jumper from the ring to the sleeve.

- we didn't think we would need this but it has now been updated on all new Echosystems.

This will not void your warranty.

*If you don't have a soldering iron / don't know anyone with one, contact us at support@empresseffects.com and we'll be happy to do this for you free of charge

There ya go!  Happy little Echosystem :)