Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

Hi,
the DW8000 I own has HD63B03XP of Hitachi. And altough the beast 
(8000) seems to be one of the firsts ever made - ROM version 850709 
I do not think that those guys were using 80C8x ever. Anyway, I hope 
the info is helpful to you.
Regarding the work you do, as far as I am concerned (not following 
strictly the progress) I can imagine how huge work you are about to 
do. I am thinking of doing a modification which came into my mind 
right after I get my Poly into my hands for the first time - less 
buttons (switches) and more knobs (POTs) and LEDs for more 
comfortable programing and maybe for changing parameters in 
realtime. I do not know if it's possible at all - in fact everything 
is possible if you try hard enough. But is it worth the effort, 
that's another question.
Anyway, I wish you good luck in your project. The most important is 
there are people who care and waiting for the result.

All the best to you

gupidziadek


--- In korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com, Michael Hawkins 
<korgpolyex800@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Jose and Poly fans,
> 
> Well, let me just first say that I really, really appreciate these 
sorts of emails because this is really a project that is going to 
take a huge effort and has little chance of making a buck. So I need 
all the encouragement you can give me to keep this up. I don't 
really have much "free time" on my hands so I sneak time into this 
project only after having looked after everything else in my life 
and that is family, work etc.
> 
> This is truly a labor of love for me. Looking at ebay we could all 
just go and buy a Korg DW-8000 or EX-8000 for maybe $300 or so bucks 
and we would have more functions than the Poly 800 ever will. In 
particular, you cannot beat the eight VCF's that are used in the 
8000. I am hoping there will be a day in the future where we'll be 
able to replace the DCO's and the filter on the Poly entirely. If 
anyone has an 8000, I would like to know what processor is used in 
it. I find it difficult to believe that a 80C85 CPU could be in 
there but it would be really nice to know that it was using an 80C85.
> 
> Anyway it really is a lot of fun to be poking right inside the 
guts of a keyboard like I am able to. The Poly design itself is very 
clever and Korg really squeezed a great deal out of a bunch of 
multiplexors, digitally controlled switches and a single Digital to 
Analog convertor.
> 
> And now having spent some time working on rebuilding the entire 
keyboard functions myself, I have even more respect for the 
engineers who developed the software that fits into that little 
8Kbps ROM.
> 
> At this point in the project, I am still contemplating the 
situation where I have learned so much about the existing code that 
is in the keyboard, it seems a bit of a shame to have to rewrite so 
much of it. But the more time I spend learning how Korg wrote all of 
the functions, the more I think it could become completely 
impossible to patch new functions into the existing code.I already 
have a nice way to boot up the keyboard in two different modes. But 
using that method requires that I rewrite the entire code base from 
scratch and then add new functions into that base. At my rate of 
progress it could take a year or two just to do that alone. So I am 
thinking that the upgrade board will use EEPROM and we will provide 
a mechanism to upgrade the EEPROM with new firmware via SYSEX. Then, 
I could write some of the primitive functions and get us all up and 
running on them with the option to continue to upgrade the firmware 
when new functionality comes out of the works.
> 
> So my focus right now is on writing my own SYSEX functions that 
will allow me to dump the code into the new EEPROM and RAM.
> 
> Anyway, enough for now. I'll keep you all up to date as we 
progress.
> 
> Mike H.
> 
> 
> 
> Jose Curvo <homem_eletronico@...> 
wrote:                                  Hi Mike,
>  
>  I'm glad you took this route. Even loving my Poly800 as much as I 
do it was 
>  a bit unconfortable seeing someone who could actually understand 
what makes 
>  the beast tick to settle for it's twenty years old technology. 
Many of it's 
>  features were compromises to keep prices down. No syx on the 
original Poly, 
>  no velocity, no calibration of the joystick (mine sends cc with 
low values 
>  all the time), only on or off for each waveform, only one 
filter...
>  
>  I choose one instead of a Synclavier, Fairlight or PPG, guess 
why? ;-)
>  
>  Twenty years after I think you can do it better than it ever was. 
I would 
>  love a ROM OS on a piggyback card with a socket for the old one 
and a soft 
>  switch that allowed me to choose wich to enable. So a could have 
the stock 
>  I'm used to and the small things I wish it to do, like syx.
>  
>  I'm a dumb when it comes to programming. But you are right on the 
spot when 
>  you feel free to create *from* what was a good thing. I don't 
know what can 
>  be done, midi delays? arppegiators? harmonizers? Most hardware 
itens weren't 
>  good sellers but what would they cost today?
>  
>  Just think of sockets. So we don't ruin our belove printed 
circuits trying 
>  the new season's OS. If it's simple to be done and cheap, maybe 
we all get 
>  as hooked as guitarrists are to pedals (just this last one). May 
be not. But 
>  easy and cheap are allways good selling points.
>  
>  Maybe in the near future you could even get rid of hardware 
limitations, I 
>  mean there must be chips that can make better DCOs than those on 
the Poly. 
>  Why not? They were chosen with both eyes on the bottom line. Time 
has 
>  changed and the makers of those days' best ones  must be happy to 
sell a few 
>  more units before declaring them obsolete. Maybe a open plataform 
hardware - 
>  need more voices? add a card.
>  
>  I don't know what can be done. Or how much it would cost. Just 
wish it could 
>  be done.
>  
>  Just think that as much as we all loved the poly it doesn't need 
to be the 
>  stick any synthesizer should be measured with. It was just the 
best synth we 
>  could buy, and maybe that's what made them a great synth.
>  
>  You are doing great. There are at least 600 of us crossing our 
fingers and 
>  waiting for the 800III. Sometimes the only help we can give is 
spare you 
>  from long useless e-mails.
>  
>  Thank you,
>  
>  Jose Curvo
>  
>  >From: "korgpolyex800" <korgpolyex800@...>
>  >Reply-To: korgpolyex@...m
>  >To: korgpolyex@yahoogroups.com
>  >Subject: [korgpolyex] Code update
>  >Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 02:24:02 -0000
>  >
>  >A few weeks ago I decided to just rewrite the code from scratch. 
I
>  >mean, there might be some Korg lurker on this list just waiting 
to
>  >take a law suit out against me so I figured it better to just 
rewrite
>  >the code.
>  >
>  >OK, at this point, I've got a ROM ready that allows me to send a 
SYSEX
>  >to the EX800 that pokes a byte (or bytes) into any RAM 
location/s I
>  >want to.
>  >
>  >Very nice!
>  >
>  >So far, I've identified several performance parameters that can 
be
>  >adjusted through the sysex command that I've inserted into the 
code.
>  >Only drawback is that you no longer have the tape functions.
>  >
>  >If anyone would be interested in using such a ROM in their 
EX800's,
>  >just let me know. Depending on the response I will post my new 
ROM
>  >onto ebay at a price around 20 bucks or so.
>  >
>  >This is just the beginning!
>  >
>  >Mike.
>  >
>  >PS: Excuse my previous rant, I was feeling a Clash of
>  >Civilizsynthesizations!
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >Yahoo! Groups Links
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  
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>                        
> 
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