I understand Paradise Arcade is a small operation, but they have been horrible at communicating what is going on with this project. They gave an estimated ship date of February, the least they could have done was officially email all their customers who pre-ordered to notify them what is going on or changing with the current production of these sticks.
Hey guys. I just got done speaking with Bryan @ PAS. He hasnāt been getting replies since the forum update. He said he will be sending out an email re: magenta to everyone tonight. Thanks for being patient everyone.
You guys are correct, and it is my primarily not the shop in general that is responsible for this. I know Ben, Time and Susan are on me about timing. When we scaled production the washers were not holding the magnet as centered as we wanted so we modified the washers. I have new washers showing up in a week and expect to test and validate them within a few days. I apologize for any delays we will email everyone tonight. This system has been a large leap from SLA prototypes to production molds, more so than expected, and this falls on me. I can promise you guys the wait is worth it, we are making sure that EVERY i is dotted and t is crossed so you have the best stick ever to hit the market.
3 Likes
I still havent received any mail from what i can tell.
2 Likes
Coming soon, just like the Magenta.
Seems like the Magenta is slowly heading towards being considered Vaporware
2 Likes
The wait is agonizing to say the least.
So a history for those who care 
We are trying.
3d printed parts validated the design @butteroj tested last July
We revised the boards several times until December and then locked the design and announced the presale.
Paid for all the parts prior to the presaleā¦
January rolls around and the mold company basically saysā¦ oops we didnāt do anything and we wonāt have samples until March
We fired the mold company and hired Protomold in MN to finish the work (lost about 1/4 of our mold costs but Protomold assured us parts in 10 days)
Parts take 15 business days to come in we are Late Feb, testing and validation commences. We find that the molded parts do not perfect match the printed parts and there is a slight problem with engagement on the clips for the JLF, We mock of modifications, and validate the changes work, we are at the beginning of March
I submitted an update to the mold, for people who know molds, a metal safe change.
This should have been a simple 1 hour modification and they came back with a mold modification quote that would cost more than half full mold.
After 5 days of them dragging their feet, they finally got the modification order in place, and then we paid them double the cost of the modification to cut a week off the deliveryā¦ so theoretically we will have reworked bases this Monday, we will confirm function next week and start shipping asap after!!!
5 Likes
Thanks for the update - I can imagine how much the whole situation sucked from your end. Iām hoping things get better because I really canāt wait to have it in my hands.
This is just a UX matter but can I suggest using a ācalibrationā option instead of the Output Map.
With the Output Map youāll need to try a few settings before finding the correct map, and In worst case, youāll have to try all of the 24 combos to have everything correctly set.
A calibration option will just prompt you to flick the joystick up, down, left, right and itāll sort things out for you. Your programmer will be able to implement this fairly easy.
Otherwise good stuff.
2 Likes
What would be awesome is if they could open source the software part of it.
1 Like
Not going to happen. That allows for people to be able to do things unintended, such as SOCDs.
Thatās why they firmware lock the Magenta.
1 Like
What kind of software changes could be made regarding SOCD that would either break games or create an unfair advantage for someone using this stick? I feel like this is just a resistance to change and opportunity more than anything else, just like what troubles the SmashBox is facing trying to become legal in the professional Smash scene. At the end of the day itās just a tool and the better player will come out on top.
I too would support open-sourcing as much as possible: the firmware, and at very least the software for configuration.
Especially as Linux-preferring user, this would make my experience much better indeed if I am able to configure the Magenta from my OS of choice. If nothing else, an open a SDK/API for allowing others to allow other utilities to read and write/edit the Magenta for all its features. However, I do think going open source is the best possible element - the hardware itself is the item being sold and it is targeting a very specific niche of users who are interested in tinkering, so open sourcing the software/firmware would be a great benefit and take some of the development requirements off your hands too. Kind of how the Kaimana already benefits from its open source elements and being built on an open (Arduino if I recall) platform.
Regarding people using the openness to do ābad/unfairā things in competition, this is a relatively rare possibility, but unless there is something Iām not thinking of here, it could be mitigated through a couple of things. First, to set a MD5 or similar cryptographic hash for the firmware that is āstockā . Any edits to said firmware to allow it to do something outside the normal scope or try to cloak unfair behavior would lead to a different hash. Then require all players at tournaments to validate their Magenta is using a āstockā firmware, no different than any other rules at EVO for fair play. Perhaps things could even go one step further if the developers could essentially, besides the hash, engineer a ācheat testā in the Magenta config software to try and input certain commands or whatnot (ie Iāve heard that people are worried about blocking in two directions at once?) that a āstockā stick should not perform, with the software reporting that it passes or fails the test. Let us also remember that keeping things proprietary āsecurity through obscurityā is not a good way to prevent exploitation.
Maybe thereās something else Iām not considering, but I can see many benefits for offering as much open source development on the Magenta as possible and ways that possible risks could be mitigated. Iāll certainly be watching the development of the Magenta and considering adding it when selecting a lever for my next build.
2 Likes
Thatās one thing Iād love to have is a Linux and OSX version of the software.
MOST people have access to Windows, so thatās less of a problem. But for those who donātā¦
Indeed, as previously mentioned I prefer Linux, so Linux + OSX versions of the config software would certainly be appreciated.
WINE and/or virtualization may have a chance of allowing the Windows client to be used on platforms, but especially for something like this that requires passing data via USB in rather ārawā manner in order to edit Magenta settings, it may not work well if at all
This would be yet another reason to make the software at least open source as the community could build and test clients for other OSes themselves, as well as maintain and contribute to all platforms.
Yeah, Iāve even had issues with my stick on Fightcade on certain versions of Wine/Linux, USB can be hit or miss. If someone can just wrap the program in GTK containers for Linux, that takes care of that.
While weāre waiting for this, can someone thatās used it tell me if it feels closer to the JLF, LS-32, or any other levers that are out on the market atm?
You can basically change springs to make it feel like any of the above.
Thanks, I asked because Iām more of a Seimitsu guy and tried using a JLF with an LS32ās spring and it just wasnāt the same. Though with that said, Iāll adjust to the Magenta regardless of how it feels. I canāt wait.