The Eat at Joe's Kawai K5000 Message Board Digest
The Memory Expansion Unit
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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