wth the release of Erae Sound, there is a new strategy for Erae Lab and Firmware…
Erae Lab 2.0.8 will ‘automatically’ now fetch updates, including updating the Erae 2 firmware.
notablly, its been rename to just “Erae Lab” (rather than EraeLab for Erae2), I think along with this new update strategy, we can see the intention is to bring Erae Touck (mk1) into the fold, as one ‘app’ to rule them all 
there is now (apparently) a new permanent link to patch notes
https://storage.googleapis.com/embodme-firebase.firebasestorage.app/patch-notes/release/latest.md
these start from b.2.0.71 to 2.0.8, theres a lot there so Im not reposting,
notes:
- no mention of updates from 1.6.3 (last release) to (beta) 2.0.71,
- the change log is for everything, Erae Lab,Sound and firmware, unfortunately, you have to hunt thru it to find (e.g.) firmware updates, but they are there!
in fairness, as Erae Sound is new, its dominates in the change log, but Im sure this will settle down over time.
Observations
-
No manual firmware updates
also, now the updates are handled by Erae Lab automatically, it seems we can no longer see the firmware version of the hardware. (that Ive found so far)
EDIT: firmware / Erae Lab versions are now the same / in sync -
Firmware incompatible with older Erae Lab.
the firmware is NOT compatible with the older version or Erae Lab, it does NOT connect.
this means as far as I can tell, you can NOT downgrade it back to 1.6.3, as there doesn’t appear to be a manual firmware update option in Erae Lab 2.0.8
EDIT: appears from manual you can kind of do this by overwrite package firmware file. -
Erae Sound tab is active on launch (arghh)
I reported as a bug, annoying if you dont have Erae Sound, and even then often we want Erae Lab (editor)
EDIT: ok, there is a bug here, seems like you need to close the demo dialog, switch to lab tab, close app… then open again, and disable sound. took a few tries, but eventually, I ended in a state where, id be on Lab tab with Sound disabled. -
Right Click is your friend, menu bar simplified.
the projects and layouts all have (rather small) context menus, for things like duplication/save. -
Project browser holds the functionality
its under project where thinks like save, or fetch project are. also where you can sync to device -
looks like changes are live.
you don’t upload changes, they are immediate.
layouts/projects are save under Application Support/Embodme/EraeLab,
but you can import/export from other directories (useful if you have layouts not currently on you Erae?) -
Online connection?
updates are all done over the air, not sure if its using online connection at other times.
EDIT: from manual, appears the package is updates as one - so firmware is not separate from Erae Lab. -
Bugs?
I did also get an ‘sync error’ which disconnected from Erae 2, but I guess, new major updates, there are bound to be a few glitches -
Erae Sound 5 min trial.
not sure if this is just one off, or somehow time bound e.g. once per day.
but feels very short, I played a few presets, and was over… and I cannot try again.
Overall,
it feels like they have tried to streamline the experience, initially feels a bit odd, a like you are less in control - but I think, its just a matter of getting used to it.
I do think its a good direction, though really disliking the prominence of Erae Sound (feels like a hard sell, see other topic!)
bonus observation for Erae 1 !!!
Im not quite sure how they will do the project browser for the Erae 1, as its has a lot more layouts (32 - 16 norm + 16 alt)
interesting side note, Ive seen some (possible) evidence of Erae 1 firmware for erae_mk1_h7, in above folders.