Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

the hawk-800 is definitely the cadillac of hardware/firmware synth  
upgrades, but it is hardly comparable to the synthesizer embodied by  
the cheetah ms6, considering that has six discrete voices. replacing  
the CPU was a great approach to improving the relative power of the  
poly-800, but it's not quite as simple to install as swapping EEPROMs...

i'm all about realizing a rack mounted version of the poly... speaking  
of commodities, i'd love to see something that takes the analog board  
from a poly-61 (or two). -pc



On Dec 28, 2009, at 8:52 PM, Atom Smasher wrote:

> it's a been _l_o_n_g_ time since i checked out maad's update for the  
> ms6 -
> http://www.maad.net/ms6/
>
> for starters, try to find an ms6... his kit is $72(US) just for an  
> EPROM!
> if you buy a memory backup battery from him that would bring your  
> total to
> $90, but you'd still have to rely on a battery.
>
> i have to say, that puts the value of the hawk-800/atomohawk kits into
> perspective. start with "commodity" synths that can sometimes be  
> found at
> garage sales. then add not just custom firmware, but also custom  
> hardware.
> that takes time _and_ money (not to mention more than a little  
> lovin') to
> develop.
>
> but then look at the feature list for the ms6 upgrade -
> http://www.maad.net/ms6/files/Firmware_Readme.html
>
> compare that to mike's upgrade -
> http://patrioticduo.tripod.com/hawk800/FeaturesCompleted.html
>
> mike wins!
>
> mike: lemme know how the rack-kit is coming along. if needed, i'll
> consider buying two rack kits if it will help with funding and/or
> motivation.
>
> -- 
> ...atom
>