The Ekdahl FAR - Configuration utility - Concept and Installation
The concept of the Configuration Utility
The configuration utility is a software that will connect to the Ekdahl FAR and reconfigure its internal parameters. It's important to realize that the configuration utility itself does not have any features that aren't already built in to the Ekdahl FAR, but rather it is just an interface for easily controlling its built-in parameters and commands. The reason that this needs to be pointed out is because everything that can be done with the configuration utility can be done either by manually sending the Ekdahl FAR various commands or invoking them through MIDI or CV mapping. For instance, in order to change the fundamental tuning of the Ekdahl FAR you don't have to use the configuration utility, but you could map a slider on a MIDI Controller to send the appropriate commands. This means that a custom interface for the Ekdahl FAR, whether hardware or software, can be made and configured very quickly and easily. When settings are saved in the configuration utility, these are saved into the instrument itself, thus the next time the Ekdahl FAR is powered on the same settings will be recalled whether it is connected to a computer or not.
Software design choices
The configuration utility is not considered a primary part of the Ekdahl FAR since it isn't strictly needed, but being able to easily change parameters in the instrument is clearly beneficial. The software is open source and has been written with portability in mind, having a single software that can run on multiple different systems (Linux, MacOS, Windows etc.) is key both in terms of user access and due to the fact that Knas has no possibility of maintaining several different software variations for different systems. Since even maintaining a single software can be challenging for a single individual, and because capitalism is the greatest of evils, the choice was made to make the software open source so anyone with the skills required can help make it better. For these reasons the software is written in Python using QT as the graphical interface, this means that any system wanting to run the software has to be able to install these frameworks of the appropriate versions.
Installation
The configuration utility is currently considered to be in beta development stage (2025-01-20) and will be so until Knas has gotten enough satisfiable user feedback. For this reason no binary releases of the software has yet to be made and the user will have to invoke the install scripts appropriate for their system manually.
The first step in the installation process is to download the software from its GitHub page
https://github.com/Knaster/EkdahlFarConfig
On the page there's a green button with the caption "code", pressing this will reveal a drop-down menu with the option "Download ZIP" at the bottom. Download and extract the .ZIP file into any directory.
Dependencies
All systems will need to have Python v3.10 or later and Qt6 / PySide6 installed, some of the below scripts will try to attempt to find out if these are installed and may launch an installer if not. It is recommended that these be installed before attempting to install the Configuration utility however.
https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer-oss
Furthermore the following python packages are required
pyside6, pyserial, mido, sympy, pyqt6-charts
Installing on Linux
Open a Terminal in the folder where you extracted the .zip file to and install Python
sudo apt update
apt install pythonMake sure that apt is installing Python version 3.10 or later.
It is suggested that the dependencies are installed in a specific python environment
python3 -m venv ./venv
./venv/bin/pip3 install pyside6 pyserial mido sympy pyqt6-chartsTo run
./run_linux.shInstalling on Windows
 | Windows 11 will by default block the running of the setup file, in order to unblock it left-click on 'setup_win.bat' in the directory where the files have been extracted, then right-click on it and choose 'properties'. On the bottom right check the 'unblock' box and press OK. |
Right-click on 'setup_win.bat' and choose 'run as administrator' and click 'yes'.
If Python is not installed, this will launch the Python installer and exit and you have to run it again
The batch script will first install all python depencies and then it will copy the program files to 'C:\Program Files\Ekdahl FAR Configuration Utility' and create an icon in the start menu.
Installing on MacOS
| As of this writing (2025-01-20) the software has only been successfully installed on MacOS Ventura (13) and Sequoia (15) |
| MacOS 12 requires XCode to be installed, the latest version that works on MacOS 12 is XCode 14.2 which can be downloaded from https://archive.org/details/xcode-14.2. By downloading this, extracting it and dragging it into the Applications folder, the Configuration utility has been successfully installed. If the installer still complains you may have to start a terminal, go to the folder where the Configuration utility has been downloaded and run
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
./setup_mac.command |
| MacOS Sequoia (15) will give you the warning "'setup_mac.command' was not opened" and some crap about malware. This is due to apples forever gatekeeping against independent and not-for-profit software development. To circumvent this, if you have tried to run the file once you can go to the apple menu at the top left and choose "system settings", here scroll down to "privacy & security" and it will say "'setup_mac.command' was blocked to protect your mac' - press "Open Anyway" to continue the installation |
run 'setup_mac.command' from finder
The script will install Handbrake (if not present) which in turn will install Python 3.10 or later and the required python dependencies. It will also copy the program files to '/Applications/Ekdahl FAR Configuration Utility' and create a launcher icon