[sdiy] Those darned Casio chips!

[Rainer Buchty]

>They design stuff with an expected lifetime.  If what's out there
>sticks around for longer than they "support" then they don't get to
>sell as much new product.  Or at least that's the way they look at
>things...

And it's a wrong view. It works for TVs, toaster ovens, dish washers. 
These machines can be replaced by something else without trouble.

But if you buy a machine with a distinct sound, then there's no 
possibility to replace it with "the new thing"; for example, the SY77 
was in no way a proper replacement of the DX7-II and if it just was 
for the lack of a mono/stack mode.

Heck, it doesn't even work for certain stone-age samplers.

If you upgrade certain gear to successor machines, then it is real work 
to somewhat recreate the old sound.

>> i'm not asking them to put them on the net, or even to provide them
>> for free. hell, some of the folks here probably would be a lot better
>> qualified to fix these things than the official dealers, only they don't
>> have the official title. companies have a social responsibility too... 
>
>No they don't.  Or at least they don't see it that way.

Well, the instrument vendors don't see it that way.

If I need to get a datasheet for some vintage AMD chip I phone or email 
AMD Munich and they'll provide me with a copy.

If I need to get a datasheet for some vintage Hitachi VRAM, I email 
Hitachi Germay -- and get a scanned PDF back.

If I need to get a datasheet for some vintage Yamaha, Casio, Ensoniq, or 
whatever chip, I ask those companies and earn something between 
disbelief, respect, and crazy looks that someone is still working with 
that stuff what even the companies themselves don't have any documents 
left.

For example, Ensoniq dumped everything older during the Emu-Ensoniq 
merger.

Kudos to the Casio engineer who leaked descriptions for the FZ-1 ROM 
routines and data structures... That's what I like to see for other 
machines as well.

Rainer