[sdiy] Siel DK600....aka "Grey Magic"?? Anyway a way to xfer patches via midi

[Bob Weigel]

Hehe.  I finally gave up on xferring via audio.  I don't know what's 
gone wrong here.  I initially couldn't see anything working when I 
followed the machine to machine instructions.  However....did a few 
things different and discovered some very interesting things.

1) The DK600 according to my midi scope... when you hit 'record' with 
the source unit in 'ext' mode.... sends hex B0 (a controller status byte 
channel 1) followed by hex 57 and hex 7F.  So cc number 87, which isn't 
globally defined last I knew and certainly not back then.  This will 
cause the receiving unit, if also in 'ext' mode to flash it's led's.

2) Hitting 'enter' did nothing.  However putting the source unit back in 
'int' mode, hitting 'record' then going back to 'ext' mode and hitting 
'enter' would xmit some kind of sysex message.  Maybe 40 bytes or 
something.  I'll have to count 'em.  I saved some examples.  ANyway... 
the problem is...I could find no way to do anything with those messages 
except lock up the receiving machine when re-transmitting them, even 
inserting delays.  It would make it so notes got stuck on erratically 
and you had to shut the machine off to get it not doing that.  Patch 
changes didn't have any effect.

3) The easiest way to xfer a bank is to leave receiving unit in 'ext' 
mode.  Place sending source unit in ext and int at once.  Then begin the 
process of selecting a patch and hitting enter which of course alligns 
the two machines.  Then hit Record...and HERE is where the 'grey magic' 
nickname comes in. hehe.  In this mode, a second or two later, the sound 
can be triggered on the receiving unit and it's written in there. (OH 
you have to 95 Enter of course before any of this to turn off 
protects.)  Now you can just cycle through the modes back to int +ext 
and the sending unit stops flashing and you may repeat the process for 
the next patch.  Way quicker than any other way of doing it on that one. 

But when viewed on my midi scope (Sequencer plus gold) I only see the 
three byte message.  I'll have to scope capture a data stream from it 
and view it to see what it's really doing.    Anyway I can send the guy 
his unit finally with good sounds on it.  whew..   Dont' know what went 
wrong with my ability to load sounds via tape or computer here.  I tried 
all kinds of different levels and methods and even bypassed all mixers 
etc. and just direct wired to the ins and outs of my audio card.  
Absolutely bizarre.  It worked before.  I just dont' get it.  Two 
machines but I dont' recall actually loading with tape via either one.  
I wrote the sounds from scratch on the one and loaded them from it to my 
expander come to think of it.  Hmm. So who knows...  I've been through 
too many of these the past year or two to remember what I did to which 
one.  -Bob