Synth-DIY Yahoo! Groups Archives

hi all

2015-04-15 by Donal Finn

Hi there,

Thanks for letting me join,

'

Now I shall ask the same annoying question that probably brings most people here...

What to do when your (My) Polly Mk1 starts emitting white noise and other odd (but kinda cool) sounds no matter what program you type in.

I was able to redesign things to my taste (1 or 2 patches) but 1. There seemed to be some modulation I could never get rid of, like the DCO was stuck north on the joystick.

2. Why did this happen? I didn't mind some of the F'ed up sounds, but I want them to be there because I put them there, I don't want my synth to be spontaneously reprograming it's self at will.

Everything I've read points towards a battery problem (But I don't use batteries?) and the fix is to play the factory tape through the tape input and moving all switches to the "open position" Then it's a matter of gain staging it properly in order for the 800 to accept the data.

Is this correct?

I'm dyslexic and often have problems following directions, so if anyone could point by point the process for me that would be amazing, also, I really don't care about the factory sounds so if you have any great patches of your own feel free to send them, I mainly want to understand and be able to fix the problem should it occur in the future.

I am a signed artist (Metropolis records, Skinny Puppy, Bauhaus, Mindless self indulgence, Probably should;t mention my own act or it will seem like spamming) so if you help me out and send me a few patches, maybe I could give some programming credits out on the next record?

Anyway, we aren't big enough to have on-call techs, and are rehearsing for a tour, So we need to deal with this stuff on our own, I plan to use the polly in "Keytar" mode for stunt during the show (Includes fireless explosions, it's going to be awesome) and even if I wasn't I love this thing and want to let it shine!

I know "Google, Search button ect. is my friend" but I have already invested time in it and haven't found any point by point instructions, or WAV. files for that matter! So, I am requesting your help, talk me through it, and then maybe I can pass it along and help the next guy (Or gal)

Again, I have a first addition Polly so, as I understand it, there's no battery? doesn't make sense, as this unit has spent plenty of time with out batteries OR plugged into the wall without malfunctioning,

So lack of constant power is NOT the answer.

anyway, your help will be appreciated and I'll be sure to pay it forward,

Thanks.

Re: [korgpolyex] hi all

2015-04-15 by Gordonjcp

On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 07:18:06AM -0700, Donal Finn terrible.dee@... [korgpolyex] wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> Thanks for letting me join,
> '
> Now I shall ask the same annoying question that probably brings most people
> here...
>
> What to do when your (My) Polly Mk1 starts emitting white noise and other
> odd (but kinda cool) sounds no matter what program you type in.
>
> I was able to redesign things to my taste (1 or 2 patches) but 1. There
> seemed to be some modulation I could never get rid of, like the DCO was
> stuck north on the joystick.
>
> 2. Why did this happen? I didn't mind some of the F'ed up sounds, but I
> want them to be there because I put them there, I don't want my synth to be
> spontaneously reprograming it's self at will.
>

If it's an original Poly 800 then it's most likely getting upset because there's a bug in the firmware that makes MIDI messages overwrite the patch memory.

Swapping in an EX800 ROM cures this but you lose the keyboard.

There's got to be a proper fix for this somewhere :-)

--
Gordonjcp MM0YEQ

Re: [korgpolyex] hi all

2015-04-15 by terrible.dee@...

Hmm, so you're saying if I install the RAM you mentioned my 800 would be operational but I'd need to use a controller?

Well, I think I'll save that for a last ditch attempt, but thank you, if all else fails thats what I'll do :)

Re: [korgpolyex] hi all

2015-04-15 by terrible.dee@...

Well, I downloaded the Wav. and I'm about to go for it, if anyones up and has any final last words of advice now is definitely the time

Re: hi all

2015-04-15 by terrible.dee@...

Well, after repeating to process several times I know have nothing, not even white noise

Tried many different gain possibilities

Clearly this is not the answer,

Any ideas?

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-15 by Michael Hawkins

Start with the simple things.

Quite a few people have problems because the wall wart power supply they use is flaky. What is the condition and specs of your wall wart? Have you tried another? Have you checked for signs of battery leakage in the battery compartment? Do all of the buttons function and allow you to do everything even if it doesn't sound right?

I am the guy that sells the HAWK. I ship out four times a year and it's your lucky day because May is one of the months that I ship out orders. ;-)

But yes, first let's get your Poly working right.

/Mike

From: "terrible.dee@... [korgpolyex]" <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com>
To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 2:16 PM
Subject: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Well, after repeating to process several times I know have nothing, not even white noise

Tried many different gain possibilities

Clearly this is not the answer,

Any ideas?

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-16 by Donal Finn

Hi man! Wow! Your THE guy who makes the mod kits? I 'm very grateful to have made your acquaintance :)

My wall wart is 9v DC 600 Ma, I do have the original adapter but it was frayed out when I bought it. should I re-solder it?

Funny thing is, there have never been batteries in this thing since I bought it about 3 weeks ago, I read it won't hold memory without them, but up until today mine retained,

I had it appraised at guitar center (Not to sell, just curious, all the employees were giddy over it and pissed when I said I wouldn't sell for less than a grand haha!) I'm wondering if one of them did something that could have screwed it up?

I'm also thinking about using a real cassette player to do the load, as perhaps a WAV. file through a duet isn't what it wants to hear.

So the mod kit is about $100 right? Do I need to have the Moog slayer in first? When is the cut off date for payment? Want to make sure I get in on this batch of send outs, as I love this synth and know it has a ton more to offer.

Thanks again for hitting me up :)

On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 12:43 PM, Michael Hawkins korgpolyex800@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Start with the simple things.

Quite a few people have problems because the wall wart power supply they use is flaky. What is the condition and specs of your wall wart? Have you tried another? Have you checked for signs of battery leakage in the battery compartment? Do all of the buttons function and allow you to do everything even if it doesn't sound right?

I am the guy that sells the HAWK. I ship out four times a year and it's your lucky day because May is one of the months that I ship out orders. ;-)

But yes, first let's get your Poly working right.

/Mike

From: "terrible.dee@... [korgpolyex]" <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com>
To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 2:16 PM
Subject: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Well, after repeating to process several times I know have nothing, not even white noise

Tried many different gain possibilities

Clearly this is not the answer,

Any ideas?

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-16 by <backshall1@...>

Have you opened it up to see if there is an internal CR2032 coin cell to retain patches after power is turned off? There are several different versions of the Poly-800 Mk1 out there. Some have the battery, older ones don’t, and many have been modded to add a CR2032 so you don’t need to keep the 6 “C” cells in it. We might be able to tell from the serial number which version you have, but that won’t tell us if it has been modded. As for the wav file, you could try burning an audio CD with it, and playing the audio CD into the tape input. Sometimes that makes it easier to control the level. I converted the wav to mp3 and put it on an mp3 player. That works great for me at about three quarters volume. What do you see on the display when you try to load it? Does it just sit at “LoAd” and not change, or does it show “Err”? I assume you never see “Good” when it is done.

You don’t need the Moog Slayer knobs to install the Hawk kit. I don’t think Mike likes the knobs much and usually recommends against it. The Hawk kit gives incredible control over the Poly-800 via MIDI as well as new internal modulation routings and the knobs are just redundant and can cause unexpected results if you are automating filter changes from a DAW. However, if you just want to play your Poly-800 and twiddle knobs, not run it from a DAW, you will need the Moog Slayer mods. You just can’t expect your patches to sound the same every time it is turned on if the knobs are not in the same position.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 1:22 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Hi man! Wow! Your THE guy who makes the mod kits? I 'm very grateful to have made your acquaintance :)

My wall wart is 9v DC 600 Ma, I do have the original adapter but it was frayed out when I bought it. should I re-solder it?

Funny thing is, there have never been batteries in this thing since I bought it about 3 weeks ago, I read it won't hold memory without them, but up until today mine retained,

I had it appraised at guitar center (Not to sell, just curious, all the employees were giddy over it and pissed when I said I wouldn't sell for less than a grand haha!) I'm wondering if one of them did something that could have screwed it up?

I'm also thinking about using a real cassette player to do the load, as perhaps a WAV. file through a duet isn't what it wants to hear.

So the mod kit is about $100 right? Do I need to have the Moog slayer in first? When is the cut off date for payment? Want to make sure I get in on this batch of send outs, as I love this synth and know it has a ton more to offer.

Thanks again for hitting me up :)

On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 12:43 PM, Michael Hawkins korgpolyex800@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Start with the simple things.

Quite a few people have problems because the wall wart power supply they use is flaky. What is the condition and specs of your wall wart? Have you tried another? Have you checked for signs of battery leakage in the battery compartment? Do all of the buttons function and allow you to do everything even if it doesn't sound right?

I am the guy that sells the HAWK. I ship out four times a year and it's your lucky day because May is one of the months that I ship out orders. ;-)

But yes, first let's get your Poly working right.

/Mike

From: "terrible.dee@... [korgpolyex]" <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com>
To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 2:16 PM
Subject: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Well, after repeating to process several times I know have nothing, not even white noise

Tried many different gain possibilities

Clearly this is not the answer,

Any ideas?

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by terrible.dee@...

This might be a redundant message, just not sure whether my replies are being displayed in the right place,

Anyway, My P800 LIVES! Somewhere around 5 am last night got it right!

SO, I turn it off, no batteries in it, then turn it on and the factory default aches are still there, does that mean I have the ROM chip? If not is there some other way to tell?

Oh, and anyone who needs the factory default cassette in WAV. format, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by terrible.dee@...

Also, let me know what I have to do for the mod kits going out in may, definitely want in on that!

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by <backshall1@...>

If the patches are still there, it means you probably have an internal battery that is keeping the memory chip alive. Patches go in RAM, not ROM, so no ROM chip can do this. You would have to open up the Poly-800 to see if there is a CR2032 lithium coin cell in there. You should probably do this anyway so you can check the voltage on this battery if it is there. There’s no point in depending on an old battery that is about to die anyway. There is also a fairly large electrolytic capacitor on the power to the RAM chip, so you can usually turn it off for a couple of seconds without losing the patches. If it can keep patches overnight while turned off, then you definitely have a battery in there somewhere. You need to remove ALL screws and bolts on the bottom to open it up, so it can take a while. If you are going to install the Hawk kit, you are going to have to do some work in there anyway, so get used to opening it up.

I believe the idea of using the EX-800 ROM chip is so you can do MIDI SysEx Dumps/Loads instead of using wav files through the tape interface. The Poly-800II can do this but the old Poly-800 Mk1 cannot. The firmware bug was that if you sent MIDI data too fast, it could trash the patch data. Since you are only using the Tape interface, this is not causing your problem loading patches.

By the way, I see you uploaded the wav file to Files->Common. I guess you didn’t notice that this is the same file that is already in Files->Poly-800->Patches and patch dumps folder since March, 2006.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 5:24 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

This might be a redundant message, just not sure whether my replies are being displayed in the right place,

Anyway, My P800 LIVES! Somewhere around 5 am last night got it right!

SO, I turn it off, no batteries in it, then turn it on and the factory default aches are still there, does that mean I have the ROM chip? If not is there some other way to tell?

Oh, and anyone who needs the factory default cassette in WAV. format, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by Donal Finn

Oh, it's already up there?

Ok, I'll take it down, right now

So I guess trying a sysex dump/ load will tell me what I'm dealing with as well as opening it up?

Also, I'm dying to get velocity sensitivity out of the keyboard, I think this is part of the Hawk mod, No?

Would also love to split the signal at some point in the circuit with everything over 900Hrz going through pot controlled distortion, and everything below remaining untouched, then remix the signals later on in the circuit. Basically get some more nastiness without losing all the bottom end, I realize this might be a phase nightmare however, Phase pot maybe? That could produce some craziness, forgive me if what I suggest is impossible, I'm very new to electronics.

Any interesting little mods you can suggest? I've got my solder gun ready to go!

On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 5:33 AM, backshall1@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

If the patches are still there, it means you probably have an internal battery that is keeping the memory chip alive. Patches go in RAM, not ROM, so no ROM chip can do this. You would have to open up the Poly-800 to see if there is a CR2032 lithium coin cell in there. You should probably do this anyway so you can check the voltage on this battery if it is there. There’s no point in depending on an old battery that is about to die anyway. There is also a fairly large electrolytic capacitor on the power to the RAM chip, so you can usually turn it off for a couple of seconds without losing the patches. If it can keep patches overnight while turned off, then you definitely have a battery in there somewhere. You need to remove ALL screws and bolts on the bottom to open it up, so it can take a while. If you are going to install the Hawk kit, you are going to have to do some work in there anyway, so get used to opening it up.

I believe the idea of using the EX-800 ROM chip is so you can do MIDI SysEx Dumps/Loads instead of using wav files through the tape interface. The Poly-800II can do this but the old Poly-800 Mk1 cannot. The firmware bug was that if you sent MIDI data too fast, it could trash the patch data. Since you are only using the Tape interface, this is not causing your problem loading patches.

By the way, I see you uploaded the wav file to Files->Common. I guess you didn’t notice that this is the same file that is already in Files->Poly-800->Patches and patch dumps folder since March, 2006.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 5:24 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

This might be a redundant message, just not sure whether my replies are being displayed in the right place,

Anyway, My P800 LIVES! Somewhere around 5 am last night got it right!

SO, I turn it off, no batteries in it, then turn it on and the factory default aches are still there, does that mean I have the ROM chip? If not is there some other way to tell?

Oh, and anyone who needs the factory default cassette in WAV. format, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by terrible.dee@...

Hi, I took down my upload of the factory preset tape as requested,

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by Michael Hawkins

You have to order then by end of April.

/Mike

From: "terrible.dee@... [korgpolyex]" <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com>
To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 5:46 AM
Subject: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Also, let me know what I have to do for the mod kits going out in may, definitely want in on that!

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-17 by <backshall1@...>

My guess would be sysex is not going to work at all. If it had the EX-800 ROM in it, the keyboard keys would not work. Obviously yours work. Another thing to note is that the Hawk kit will replace the ROM and RAM and keep patches in flash RAM which requires no battery. No, velocity sensitivity will never be part of the factory keyboard. It is not physically capable. The Hawk kit can’t change the sensors under the keys, but it can make the Poly-800 respond via MIDI to velocity data from another keyboard that does sense velocity. I’m not aware of any high pass filter/splitter type mod for the Poly-800 but I suppose something like that could go before the stereo chorus. As far as I know, it’s just one mono signal until it gets to the chorus. I would suggest not modding anything until you get the Hawk kit in. Save your soldering iron for that. Also consider the AtomaHawk kit (sold separately, ask Mike about this). It essentially gives you software and MIDI control over the three most common hardware mods (MoogSlayer, FM-800, 12/24db filter switch). It doesn’t give you knobs and switches to control them, but I think you can modulate them with LFOs and Envelopes, save these settings in memory, and modify them over MIDI. It can still be used together with the knobs.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 10:02 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Oh, it's already up there?

Ok, I'll take it down, right now

So I guess trying a sysex dump/ load will tell me what I'm dealing with as well as opening it up?

Also, I'm dying to get velocity sensitivity out of the keyboard, I think this is part of the Hawk mod, No?

Would also love to split the signal at some point in the circuit with everything over 900Hrz going through pot controlled distortion, and everything below remaining untouched, then remix the signals later on in the circuit. Basically get some more nastiness without losing all the bottom end, I realize this might be a phase nightmare however, Phase pot maybe? That could produce some craziness, forgive me if what I suggest is impossible, I'm very new to electronics.

Any interesting little mods you can suggest? I've got my solder gun ready to go!

On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 5:33 AM, backshall1@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

If the patches are still there, it means you probably have an internal battery that is keeping the memory chip alive. Patches go in RAM, not ROM, so no ROM chip can do this. You would have to open up the Poly-800 to see if there is a CR2032 lithium coin cell in there. You should probably do this anyway so you can check the voltage on this battery if it is there. There’s no point in depending on an old battery that is about to die anyway. There is also a fairly large electrolytic capacitor on the power to the RAM chip, so you can usually turn it off for a couple of seconds without losing the patches. If it can keep patches overnight while turned off, then you definitely have a battery in there somewhere. You need to remove ALL screws and bolts on the bottom to open it up, so it can take a while. If you are going to install the Hawk kit, you are going to have to do some work in there anyway, so get used to opening it up.

I believe the idea of using the EX-800 ROM chip is so you can do MIDI SysEx Dumps/Loads instead of using wav files through the tape interface. The Poly-800II can do this but the old Poly-800 Mk1 cannot. The firmware bug was that if you sent MIDI data too fast, it could trash the patch data. Since you are only using the Tape interface, this is not causing your problem loading patches.

By the way, I see you uploaded the wav file to Files->Common. I guess you didn’t notice that this is the same file that is already in Files->Poly-800->Patches and patch dumps folder since March, 2006.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 5:24 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

This might be a redundant message, just not sure whether my replies are being displayed in the right place,

Anyway, My P800 LIVES! Somewhere around 5 am last night got it right!

SO, I turn it off, no batteries in it, then turn it on and the factory default aches are still there, does that mean I have the ROM chip? If not is there some other way to tell?

Oh, and anyone who needs the factory default cassette in WAV. format, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-18 by Michael Hawkins

Sysex bulk dump will not work in a Poly-800. Tape is all it has.

Sysex bulk dump will work in an EX-800 and a Poly-800 Mk2.

/Mike

From: "backshall1@... [korgpolyex]" <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com>
To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

My guess would be sysex is not going to work at all. If it had the EX-800 ROM in it, the keyboard keys would not work. Obviously yours work. Another thing to note is that the Hawk kit will replace the ROM and RAM and keep patches in flash RAM which requires no battery. No, velocity sensitivity will never be part of the factory keyboard. It is not physically capable. The Hawk kit can’t change the sensors under the keys, but it can make the Poly-800 respond via MIDI to velocity data from another keyboard that does sense velocity. I’m not aware of any high pass filter/splitter type mod for the Poly-800 but I suppose something like that could go before the stereo chorus. As far as I know, it’s just one mono signal until it gets to the chorus. I would suggest not modding anything until you get the Hawk kit in. Save your soldering iron for that. Also consider the AtomaHawk kit (sold separately, ask Mike about this). It essentially gives you software and MIDI control over the three most common hardware mods (MoogSlayer, FM-800, 12/24db filter switch). It doesn’t give you knobs and switches to control them, but I think you can modulate them with LFOs and Envelopes, save these settings in memory, and modify them over MIDI. It can still be used together with the knobs.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 10:02 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Oh, it's already up there?

Ok, I'll take it down, right now

So I guess trying a sysex dump/ load will tell me what I'm dealing with as well as opening it up?

Also, I'm dying to get velocity sensitivity out of the keyboard, I think this is part of the Hawk mod, No?

Would also love to split the signal at some point in the circuit with everything over 900Hrz going through pot controlled distortion, and everything below remaining untouched, then remix the signals later on in the circuit. Basically get some more nastiness without losing all the bottom end, I realize this might be a phase nightmare however, Phase pot maybe? That could produce some craziness, forgive me if what I suggest is impossible, I'm very new to electronics.

Any interesting little mods you can suggest? I've got my solder gun ready to go!

On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 5:33 AM, backshall1@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

If the patches are still there, it means you probably have an internal battery that is keeping the memory chip alive. Patches go in RAM, not ROM, so no ROM chip can do this. You would have to open up the Poly-800 to see if there is a CR2032 lithium coin cell in there. You should probably do this anyway so you can check the voltage on this battery if it is there. There’s no point in depending on an old battery that is about to die anyway. There is also a fairly large electrolytic capacitor on the power to the RAM chip, so you can usually turn it off for a couple of seconds without losing the patches. If it can keep patches overnight while turned off, then you definitely have a battery in there somewhere. You need to remove ALL screws and bolts on the bottom to open it up, so it can take a while. If you are going to install the Hawk kit, you are going to have to do some work in there anyway, so get used to opening it up.

I believe the idea of using the EX-800 ROM chip is so you can do MIDI SysEx Dumps/Loads instead of using wav files through the tape interface. The Poly-800II can do this but the old Poly-800 Mk1 cannot. The firmware bug was that if you sent MIDI data too fast, it could trash the patch data. Since you are only using the Tape interface, this is not causing your problem loading patches.

By the way, I see you uploaded the wav file to Files->Common. I guess you didn’t notice that this is the same file that is already in Files->Poly-800->Patches and patch dumps folder since March, 2006.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 5:24 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

This might be a redundant message, just not sure whether my replies are being displayed in the right place,

Anyway, My P800 LIVES! Somewhere around 5 am last night got it right!

SO, I turn it off, no batteries in it, then turn it on and the factory default aches are still there, does that mean I have the ROM chip? If not is there some other way to tell?

Oh, and anyone who needs the factory default cassette in WAV. format, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-18 by Donal Finn

Ah ok, good thing I didn't waste time trying to make it work.

So there is more out there then the hawk kit and the moot-slayer?

Damn, where to start?

That is a serious drag about the velocity, how about the DW or MK2? Did they respond to velocity?

I've seen a couple of "Broken" boards out there that could probably be brought back to life, and I might be more inclined to take the financial risk if they were potentially velocity sensitive.

For recording having the velocity through a controller is definitely good, but I'm a very visual person and I want to actually see and play the poly itself.

On a side note I'm on the road and someone is selling a roland Gaia at a stupid cheap price, LOVE the controls on the Gaia not so sure about the sound.

Any opinions on the Gaia? Did anyone think the 201 was better? worse?

Also, I could buy it and flip it for a couple of broken DW or MK2 boards?

Mike, I'm not sure what part of the world you live in but would you do surgery on a F'ed up DW or MK2 if I couldn't get it working? In additions to the mod kits of course. Oh, and just to be sure you you post a link to the correct place to order the kit? I've found a couple already, just want to make sure it's legit.

BTW just got a TR-626, I don't care what anyone says, this thing is FUN!

On Sat, Apr 18, 2015 at 7:02 AM, Michael Hawkins korgpolyex800@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Sysex bulk dump will not work in a Poly-800. Tape is all it has.

Sysex bulk dump will work in an EX-800 and a Poly-800 Mk2.

/Mike

From: "backshall1@... [korgpolyex]" <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com>
To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 10:43 AM

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

My guess would be sysex is not going to work at all. If it had the EX-800 ROM in it, the keyboard keys would not work. Obviously yours work. Another thing to note is that the Hawk kit will replace the ROM and RAM and keep patches in flash RAM which requires no battery. No, velocity sensitivity will never be part of the factory keyboard. It is not physically capable. The Hawk kit can’t change the sensors under the keys, but it can make the Poly-800 respond via MIDI to velocity data from another keyboard that does sense velocity. I’m not aware of any high pass filter/splitter type mod for the Poly-800 but I suppose something like that could go before the stereo chorus. As far as I know, it’s just one mono signal until it gets to the chorus. I would suggest not modding anything until you get the Hawk kit in. Save your soldering iron for that. Also consider the AtomaHawk kit (sold separately, ask Mike about this). It essentially gives you software and MIDI control over the three most common hardware mods (MoogSlayer, FM-800, 12/24db filter switch). It doesn’t give you knobs and switches to control them, but I think you can modulate them with LFOs and Envelopes, save these settings in memory, and modify them over MIDI. It can still be used together with the knobs.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 10:02 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

Oh, it's already up there?

Ok, I'll take it down, right now

So I guess trying a sysex dump/ load will tell me what I'm dealing with as well as opening it up?

Also, I'm dying to get velocity sensitivity out of the keyboard, I think this is part of the Hawk mod, No?

Would also love to split the signal at some point in the circuit with everything over 900Hrz going through pot controlled distortion, and everything below remaining untouched, then remix the signals later on in the circuit. Basically get some more nastiness without losing all the bottom end, I realize this might be a phase nightmare however, Phase pot maybe? That could produce some craziness, forgive me if what I suggest is impossible, I'm very new to electronics.

Any interesting little mods you can suggest? I've got my solder gun ready to go!

On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 5:33 AM, backshall1@... [korgpolyex] <korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

If the patches are still there, it means you probably have an internal battery that is keeping the memory chip alive. Patches go in RAM, not ROM, so no ROM chip can do this. You would have to open up the Poly-800 to see if there is a CR2032 lithium coin cell in there. You should probably do this anyway so you can check the voltage on this battery if it is there. There’s no point in depending on an old battery that is about to die anyway. There is also a fairly large electrolytic capacitor on the power to the RAM chip, so you can usually turn it off for a couple of seconds without losing the patches. If it can keep patches overnight while turned off, then you definitely have a battery in there somewhere. You need to remove ALL screws and bolts on the bottom to open it up, so it can take a while. If you are going to install the Hawk kit, you are going to have to do some work in there anyway, so get used to opening it up.

I believe the idea of using the EX-800 ROM chip is so you can do MIDI SysEx Dumps/Loads instead of using wav files through the tape interface. The Poly-800II can do this but the old Poly-800 Mk1 cannot. The firmware bug was that if you sent MIDI data too fast, it could trash the patch data. Since you are only using the Tape interface, this is not causing your problem loading patches.

By the way, I see you uploaded the wav file to Files->Common. I guess you didn’t notice that this is the same file that is already in Files->Poly-800->Patches and patch dumps folder since March, 2006.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 5:24 AM

To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

This might be a redundant message, just not sure whether my replies are being displayed in the right place,

Anyway, My P800 LIVES! Somewhere around 5 am last night got it right!

SO, I turn it off, no batteries in it, then turn it on and the factory default aches are still there, does that mean I have the ROM chip? If not is there some other way to tell?

Oh, and anyone who needs the factory default cassette in WAV. format, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

Re: [korgpolyex] Re: hi all

2015-04-18 by <backshall1@...>

The Poly-800II doesn’t send or respond to velocity either, sorry. The DW-8000 has velocity and aftertouch, and a five octave keyboard with a nice feel. One of my favorites. I’m not sure what the DW-6000 has.

Don B.

From: mailto:korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2015 10:24 AM