Install Molecular

This page installs Molecular on a Sonicake Pocket Master connected to this computer by USB. It works in a desktop Chrome, Edge or Opera (not Safari or Firefox). It talks to the pedal directly over USB MIDI: nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Read this first. Molecular is an unofficial firmware, not made, endorsed or supported by Sonicake. Installing it replaces the Pocket Master's main program and may void any warranty that applies to your device. The software comes with no warranty of any kind; you install it entirely at your own risk. Full disclaimer.

Loading the firmware…

I have read the warning and the disclaimer. I understand that installing Molecular may void my Pocket Master's warranty and that I install it at my own risk.

Before you start

Your Pocket Master should run Sonicake's firmware 1.3.3, or Molecular already. Molecular uses the effects processor's firmware that comes with 1.3.3. On an older version, update it with Sonicake's app first, or install the 1.3.3 file below.
Use a USB cable that carries data (some carry power only), plugged straight into the computer. Switch the pedal on.
Close any other program using MIDI: a DAW, or Sonicake's own app.
When the browser asks to let this page control MIDI devices, allow it: the update is sent as MIDI system-exclusive messages.

What happens

The page asks the pedal to restart into its update mode, a small loader of Sonicake's that an update never writes. The pedal leaves USB for a moment and comes back. Then Molecular is written, which takes under a minute, and the pedal restarts into Molecular, already sounding.

Only the pedal's main program is replaced. The effects processor's firmware, the factory presets and the loader stay exactly as Sonicake shipped them.

If something goes wrong

Stopped part-way? Reload this page and install again. The pedal waits in its update mode, its screen dark, and this page finds it there. Because the loader is never written, an interrupted install can always be run again.

The pedal can also be put in update mode by hand. From Molecular, hold both side buttons for 3 seconds: the screen goes dark and the pedal waits. Switching it off leaves update mode, and the firmware that was there starts again.

Back to Sonicake's firmware

Download the Pocket Master firmware file (for example Pocket_Master_Firmware_V1.3.3.bin) from Sonicake's website, choose it here and install it. The whole file is sent to the pedal as Sonicake's own app would send it; it is read on this computer only.

Sonicake firmware file:

Prefer the command line? Build and install from source.

The installer (js/pmota.js) is Molecular's own, written from its notes on the pedal's update protocol, GPL-3.0. The firmware it installs is GPL-3.0; its source is on GitHub.