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Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Broken EX800?

From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Daniel_Forr=F3?= <danforcz@...>
Date: 2015-10-15

If there's a backup battery in your EX800, just change it for new one, and transmit to the instrument SysEx or MIDI file with factory or other programs to get instrument back into proper service.

Concerning sawtooth wave, there's nothing like this in 800 series. It's only its approximation simulated by stepped waveform created by balanced mix of four  square waves. To get it you have to switch on all four stops - 16', 8', 4' and 2'. See manual page 13. Sometimes it's good to read manuals :-)

Daniel Forro


On Oct 15, 2015, at 3:02 PM, slushprodukt@... [korgpolyex] wrote:

I bought an EX800 on eBay a month ago. After it arrived, I wrote a computer program to control it over USB MIDI. I was able to trigger notes, both on and off, although I never managed to modulate the VCF (the manual says this is option 3). Anyway, a few days later I was experimenting with my software and suddenly, for no apparent reason, the EX800 seemed to crash. It made a crazy sound which I could only stop by switching the synth off.

When I switched it back on, I realised that all the "programs" had been scrambled. Going through the parameters, many of them are now nonsensical (eg. a value of 4 when it should be either 0 or 1). Most of the patches now sound exactly the same: noise, no DCO, with some fast MG filtering.

Much more importantly... The synth is no longer capable of producing a sawtooth wave. It just sounds exactly the same as the square wave.

It's strange, but I guess an accident like this is to be expected with a 31 year-old synth.

This is my first time using an EX800. I have no experience with it or the Poly800. Has anyone seen problems like this before?

I was going to buy the Hawk800 and Atomahawk kits anyway, but now I'm wondering two things. Does this EX800 have a permanent malfunction? If not, will the Hawk800/Atomahawk upgrades solve whatever problem it does have?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.