Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

Adam and all,

As someone else on this forum had recommended using MIDI-OX (http://www.midiox.com/), I went ahead and downloaded it. It's great for the EX800 and Poly 800 MK2.

Using MIDI-OX you can send the Korg Poly 800 MKII and EX800 SYSEX dump command (F0 42 21 01 20 F7) and this will make your Poly 800 MKII and your EX800 send you a full sysex dump.

However, there are no SYSEX functions in the Poly 800 MK1 so apart from using the tape functions (which is 1980's vintage technology) there is simply no way you can exchange patches from a MK1 Poly 800. You can do a mod that takes a copy of the EX800 ROM and tacks it on top of the existing ROM. That mod let's you switch from one ROM to the other. But that is not as elegant as I would like.

That is just one of the reasons that I am writing a new ROM that will allow us to run our patch editor and run our own sysex. We'll lose the tape functions but that's no big deal if we have a strong patch editor.

For patch editing, I am looking at http://www.jsynthlib.org/ since I am a fan of open source software.

So the only trick is going to be working out the exact parameter settings.

Also, while reworking the sysex functions in the EX800, I've discovered that Korg did not use a very good technique to handle the incoming sysex messages. I think that the processor is too busy handling sound generation to be able to keep up with a full sysex dump and run the sequencer and run the enevelopes etc. So what they did was to simple putting everything else on hold while the sysex download occurs. This makes sense when you do a entire patch dump but is a little annoying for a small sysex message. So when I send my new small sysex messages I get these annoying glitches in the sounds. A better way to do sysex would have been to simply buffer the entire sysex message in memory until the end of sysex message was received. Then the processor would slowly process the entire message with any spare time it might have. This would slow down the sysex message action but would not interfere with the sound generation of the instrument. But I understand Korg's reason for doing sysex the way they did because the Poly 800 only has 2K or RAM.

So as soon as I build the RAM expansion board I will be able to consider rewriting the entire sysex handling functions to operate in a buffered manner.

But one thing is for sure, for those of you patient enough to wait, there are going to be some great new functions and features available for the Poly 800.

Mike.


adam <spoolboyy@...> wrote:

Honestly, if someone could write something to simply dump the patches
we have now, that would be something. we could exchange banks via the
web by simply sending the files to one another. So much better than
punching in each parameter, one button at a time and hoping that the
internal battery has a few more months of life in it!

-adam

--- In korgpolyex@yahoogro ups.com, Mark Wynkoop <markwynkoop@ ...> wrote:
>
> It would be much easier to develop a simple Poly
> 800-specific dump utility, to send and receive patch
> banks with no editing capability. Then build on this
> framework to create an editor/librarian after you
> decide if you enjoy the process or not.
>
>
> --- Garth <gplinko@... > wrote:
>
> > I'm actually considering writing a patch editor for
> > college credit. But I am a beginner programmer and
> > am
> > starting from scratch so it will be a while.
> >
> > Anyone know where to start with what I'll need to
> > learn? Like I mean I'm starting from SCRATCH.
> >
> > Garth
> >
> > --- synthmdl76 <synthmdl76@ ...> wrote:
> >
> > > I took am looking for a way to save my patches on
> > a
> > > pc so I dont have
> > > to use the tape in/out.. But I dont know anything
> > > about programming pc's.
> > >
> > > --- In korgpolyex@yahoogro ups.com, "imperial_tee"
> > > <imperial_tee@ y...>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > So I guess the quest is over for a patch
> > editor..
> > > I can't seem to
> > > find anything on the net and
> > > > to be honest no one really cares... Thats ok
> > > guys,, keep programming
> > > your ex-800's with
> > > > those rediculous buttons...yes that will exploit
> > > the true sound
> > > capabilities, ,, Better yet use
> > > > the presets,,
> > > >
> > > > :(
> > > >
> > > > T
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ __
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
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>
>
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