[sdiy] Poly-800 Memory problems

[Steve Begin]

Fortunately (but frustratingly) I hadn't had it in my possession for very long before I started running into problems with the memory, and I wasn't too attached to any of my patches, after I replaced the battery I added new patches and they got mangled too.



> Steve Begin


-----Original Message-----
From: J. Larry Hendry [mailto:jlarryh at iquest.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 11:31 AM
To: Steve Begin
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Poly-800 Memory problems


Steve,  This does sound like a battery failure.  But., once you replace the
batteries, you still have to restore the data that was lost.  I do not have
either of these machines to know if they have some power up routine that
will restore internal memory.  In the case of most synths, you have to
reload the patch data memory via sysex file thru the MIDI IN port (or in
some cases tape jack on older synths).  Hopefully, you saved copies of your
sysex.  If not, your own personal patch data is lost forever.  Usually you
can find the factory preset values available in sysex form from other users
or on the net somewhere.  I back up ALL of my synth battery maintained
memories to floppy or harddrive.
Larry Hendry


----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Begin <Steve.Begin at pwgsc.gc.ca>
To: Synth (E-mail) <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 10:05 AM
Subject: [sdiy] Poly-800 Memory problems


I was just looking for something in my oh-so-messy basement when I saw my
old Poly-800 and realized maybe somebody here might be able to help me out.
The problem with it is that when I turn it off its stored patches get
corrupted.  Not every time, and not every patch, but some of the time some
of the patches just end up sounding like nothing at all, or like static.
Sometimes when I go over them and put in new values, I notice that the
values they had weren't even valid.
Are these symptoms generally related to any specific cause or is there a
broad range of problems that could cause something like that?
Actually, I have similar problems with my RX-11 drum machine, which is a
pain because when I turn it on, often even the settings get corrupted and a
button will be assigned to a non-existant drum sound.

The only thing I've really looked into is the batteries, I replaced them but
it didn't do the trick.

In the case of the poly 800 I'd be just as happy if I could just tear it
apart and throw in some pots instead of having to go through the digital
interface, is that even remotely plausible?

> Steve Begin
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