The Eat at Joe's Kawai K5000 Message Board Digest The Memory Expansion Unit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Couple of questions Friday, 28-Nov-97 02:01:03 131.169.150.49 writes: In every bank u can make up to 128 Sounds...BUT only when the Sounds use only a little power. This means: If u use Sounds with 6 ADDs/Sound u will not get more than a few Sounds/Bank. If using for all Sounds only 2 PCM it is possible to reach a "full Bank" (128 Sounds). The Memory Expansinsion gives only 2 new Banks ! Normally one Bank has 60-70 Sounds. U can store one patch at a time OR full banks. Version 3 has Bugfixes, new Sounds and a little cosmetics..... Please xcuse my bad english.....im from germany trancemeister ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Couple of questions Saturday, 29-Nov-97 04:51:54 152.163.207.37 writes: It doesn't matter how many patches there are in either bank, the memory is shared between the two banks and different patches take up different amounts of memory. Starting out there are 60 patches in Bank A, and 40 in Bank D. This is about all the memory there is, you can usually only add 4 complex additive patches or about 8 patches using only PCM wave sources. The memory upgrade is pretty cheap though, and it triples the memory of the K5000. Overall I think the K5000 is a great synth. The K5000S lacks drum sounds, but I use a DR5 anyways. The K5000 doesn't make the greatest bass sounds, but it makes some really awesome sounds overall. euporia420@aol.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Memory Expansion Questions Monday, 02-Mar-98 22:17:15 199.86.33.91 writes: 1) If I erase a patch on one bank, it won't make room that I can use on another bank, will it? 2) Where do you put the sticker that says "Enhanced Memory"? I like it, but I can't find any good place on the face of a K5kR. Many of the patches in the new disk (that comes with the ME) were already loaded in the A and D banks when I bought the unit; they're good ones, too. I was surprised to see the A and D banks in the old reload disk were not what was originally in the unit. Now I have the A and D reload in A and D, the new disk patches in E and my patches in F--I'm almost back to erasing factory patches to fit in more of mine already! leiter@skypoint.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Memory Expansion Questions Tuesday, 03-Mar-98 07:27:42 195.86.13.5 writes: At first I was also surprised to see that the memory expansion works per bank. But now i kinda like it. I'm using it the same way you do. The only exception i made was to use the E and F bank for my own patches. I've reorganised the A and D banks with my favourite original patches from Kawai. Quiffy The Chronicles of Heaven tcoh@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Memory Expansion Questions Sunday, 08-Mar-98 00:13:28 194.134.10.12 writes: I'm using the library function of sounddiver to organise my patches on the PC. Works well! Ideal to organise the patches combined to your compositions. One (or two ;-) clickes and the patches you need are downloaded. No need for long-term storage within the K5K. CyBart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: memory? Wednesday, 14-Oct-98 21:21:14 209.154.67.164 writes: How much was the memory enhancement? Did yo buy this from a dealer, and if so, was it a special order item? drums ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: Re: memory? Friday, 16-Oct-98 02:35:01 195.33.8.133 writes: It was about dfl.380 (dutch guilders), which is about $180 (US) at current rates. However, prices are not directly comparable, as we also have 17.5% sales tax in the Netherlands, the US price will be less. For comparison, the K5000S is about dfl.3200, although I paid a bit less for mine. I guess the recent drop in K5000 prices has not yet crossed the Atlantic yet... Too bad. The dealer had no ME-1's in stock so he had one shipped from Kawai Germany, which took about two weeks. I still have an expression pedal on order as well. Kees ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How much memory is that anyway? Thursday, 05-Nov-98 18:12:55 152.206.94.58 writes: How much memory is on that card/module, and what type is it, is there a possiblity for aftermarket? or is it totally proprietary? While we're on the subject, how much memory comes stock in the K5k s/r/w? thanx :) Wes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amount of memory in a bank Thursday, 05-Nov-98 20:08:42 192.86.155.92 writes: Well a KAA file is always 134,660 bytes, and since that's a full bank dump and the size never changes no matter the number of patches I would guess it's an exact duplicate of memory. Figuring you hold about 65 patches that's an average of around 2000 bytes per patch. According to the list of possible patch file sizes (it's in the digest at ka1 format if you haven't seen it already) and from experience this seems to be a reasonable average for patch sizes. If someone really wants to verify that the K5K uses memory in a predictable way they could try load a 6 ADD patch over and over and see how far they get. It should be only a little over twenty patches. Twenty four using straight division, but the K5K probably needs to use some memory to store a table in memory of where patches begin and end or something like that, no? This would mean less than 24 patches with six ADD sources. This means that each bank is only around 128 K of memory! That is not so good considering how cheap memory is (and was even when the K5K first came out). It would have been nice if there was a bit more per bank....couldn't they have doubled the memory on the R/S for a very piddly amount of money? How much does 256K of RAM go for these days anyway????? Now that I have, I wish I hadn't thought about this so much.....:( Kenji ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To cheer you up Thursday, 05-Nov-98 21:03:20 152.173.55.233 writes: thanx for your response kenji! to cheer you up I beleeive it is using Sram, rather than normal ram. which is alot more expensive, but still should have been cheap enough to implement say 512k. Sometimes the penny pinchers win a few in R&D I suppose. wes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: To cheer you up Thursday, 05-Nov-98 22:07:57 199.199.157.31 writes: >I beleeive it is using Sram, rather than normal ram Can you tell by looking at the memory expansion board? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: To cheer you up Friday, 06-Nov-98 04:40:03 194.172.230.108 writes: >>I beleeive it is using Sram, rather than normal ram I'd believe it is using flash memory, because SRAM needs battery back-up. >Can you tell by looking at the memory expansion board? If you have a memory expansion board and the chips are visible, tell me what's written on them. Perhaps I can find it out. Jens Groh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Does the Mem Expander come w/ preloaded sounds? Friday, 06-Nov-98 01:24:29 207.75.177.164 writes: The subject says it all. If so, I definitely want to buy one because I've yet to create a decent patch. HM Kim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Does the Mem Expander come w/ preloaded sounds? Friday, 06-Nov-98 02:31:27 195.33.8.131 writes: No, but you also get a disk with a collection of about 60 patches. Unfortunately, some of these are duplicates of those you get with the machine, but there are also quite a few new decent ones. By the way, it might be that if you're just after some new patches, you're better of with just buying a patch disk, or downloading some from the web. Kees ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: me-1 memory uprade Tuesday, 22-Dec-98 21:29:49 209.150.34.52 writes: $129.99 plus tax at Sam Ash. The instructions come with the unit and are very easy to understand. You just install the battery onto the PC board, plug the PC board into the receptacle under the screwed down access panel underneath the keyboard, install the foam cusion on top of the PC board, and screw the cover back on. When you turn on the synth, it should say something like, "Expanded - battery OK", on the splash screen in the LCD window. HolShot ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: Re: me-1 memory uprade Tuesday, 22-Dec-98 21:38:53 209.150.34.52 writes: I almost forget, be --->very<--- careful about static electricity when touching and installing the memory module. Though the instructions don't mention it, memory chips tend to be very prone to failure due to static discharge from the person handling them. Best to touch something like a water pipe to discahrge yourself prior to handling the PC board. And do be careful, at this time of year especially, if you're on a rug or carpet that you don't re-charge yourself. Best to take the whole shebang into a room without carpets or rugs, discharge yourself, then proceed to do the deed. Good luck. HolShot ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------