Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

On Sun, 28 Dec 2008, Michael Hawkins wrote:

> I knew I couldn't escape the critical eye of atom!
==============

hehe.... no one can escape the critical eye of atom! it could be worse... 
you could be married to me >;)


> 1) I don't think the kit is quite as hard as atom is making it out to be 
> but, I am a littled biased. Yes, a professional desoldering station is 
> probably the most important tool that I would recommend to do the job.
===============

i used a cheap soldering iron (made for electronics, not stained-glass), 
and an old (halfway decent) solder-sucker that needs a new tip.


> 2) the supplied IC29 is a 40H138 or 74HC138. they are one and the same 
> just different part number from different manufacturers.
=================

the 74** is probably more resilient to static, and possibly more resilient 
to other forms of manhandling.


> 3) the jumper on the back will not be required on board rev 1.4
=================

cool.


> 4) if you don't pull the jumper wires taught so that they are flat then 
> yes, the IC sockets can sit up slightly. But if you solder one end of 
> each jumper and then feed the other end through the second hole and then 
> use a pair of long nose pliers to strain the jumper wire, you can end up 
> with a very flat jumper. Those sockets are high quality but they do 
> require a firm push to ensure that the chips are fully seated.
==================

the sockets i've got are made in a way that half of the bottom, along one 
side of pins, won't lay flat on the board if there's anything under them. 
being that they're only "bumped up" by the diameter of the jumpers, it's 
more of an ideological than practical concern.


> 8) now if you had done a proper inventory of your parts you would have 
> found the missing cap sooner. Perhaps I'll drop those two caps onto into 
> a little baggie just to keep them from getting lost.
============

bah!! that's almost like reading through the instructions before starting!

btw, i first assembled the board, then prepped the 800. then, after 
destructively removing the **138 from the 800 read about re-seating that 
and the EPROM for testing... i did look through (a small part of) my chip 
collection, but i didn't find a **138... oh-well... full steam ahead for 
the smasher! doh! the **138 is socketed in the hawk board!


> 9) I guess I figured anyone alive today that owns a Poly ought to know 
> how to get a syexe file into it. :-) But I didn't think that there would 
> be ppl out there that don't have a computer of any kind or brand to use 
> to do it.
===============

oh, i've got plenty of computers here... mine run freeBSD, and i've never 
even tried hooking up a midi converter. my wife runs ubuntu, our 3 year 
old just got an XO-1 (fedora based). i guess the usb-midi things are cheap 
enough now that i should experiment. my plan is to either a) load the 
sysex onto a floppy and use my MC-50mk2 to talk to the 800 or b) invite a 
geeky friend over with a laptop and a midi adapter. in all fairness, i was 
planning for this inconvenience, it's no surprise.


> 10) Eventually I will start selling fully modified Poly's on ebay. But 
> for now, I am still trying to finish the software. It's a long, lonely 
> road.
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i do hope that turns out to be profitable for you. the kit is just too 
amazing to rely on crusty and cynical DIYers (such as myself) as your 
market.


> Do let us know what you think of it all once you get past "FLASH" mode.
==============

man, after this review, you actually *want* another review from me, 
anytime soon ;)


-- 
         ...atom

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 	"Now about Lankhmar. She's been invaded, her walls
 	 breached everywhere and desperate fighting is going
 	 on in the streets, by a fierce host which out-numbers
 	 Lankhmar's inhabitants by fifty to one -- and equipped
 	 with all modern weapons. Yet you can save the city."

 	"How?" demanded Fafhrd.

 	 Ningauble shrugged. "You're a hero. You should know."
 		-- Fritz Leiber, "The Swords of Lankhmar"