--- In
korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com, Gordon JC Pearce <gordon@...> wrote:
>
> Here's someone selling the service manual:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&&item=360298820082
>
> Maybe that's got some clues to how it can be adapted.
>
Well I know a lot of people have checked the service manual for an easy hack, and there isn't any. It would have to be a major firmware rewrite project like the Hawk. And if acheived, it would have to be marketed differently than the Hawk. People who buy the Hawk kits are already owners of Poly800s, whereas the people wanting to buy the clockable Akai Arp would mostly not already own the unit. And as far as I can tell the Hawk has not driven up costs of the Poly800, but if the clock-kit for the Akai arp were sold the same way the Hawk kit is, people would suddenly flock to ebay to buy the previously obscure Akai Arp, driving up the price, and that's profit that should be going to the kit maker. So the thing for the kit designer to do would be to buy up as many cheap Akai arps as he can and install the kit into them, selling it as an upgraded unit rather than a kit. Considering the price the Oberheim Cyclone goes for on ebay (and it apparently crashes frequently), there would be pretty high profit margin on the venture.