Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Can I be your bestest friend? You know, the kind you loan Kurzweils
    to?
    
    Or even just a good "S-50" type friend....
    
    Anyhow, welcome to COMMUSIC!!!
    
    Edd

    Whats a nice, aural guy like you doing in a nasty digital-domain-only
    place like DEC????
    
    Steph
    

    I also have an MKS20.
    
    we can post our custom patches here.
    
    karl, sws tucson az

Don't know about trading patches and info, but how about trading studios...

Welcome.  As you can see, many of us computer music types have sick
senselessnesses of humor.  Enjoy.

Have you got any recording gear?

Todd.

RE < Note 929.0 by SUBSYS::ORIN >

	I can't think of any cute things to say, as my predecessors have,
so I'll simply offer my welcome.  I also own a JX-8P, but have not done any 
extensive patch programming in the month that I've owned it.

	You should be able to find others who have similar equipment to your
D-50, MKS-20, JX, and possibly even the S-50.  But as far as finding someone
to share patches on the Kurzweil, well, you'll just have to talk about that 
stuff on your own, while the rest of us pant, slobber, and drool on the 
sidelines.

	BTW, are you a friend of the Wanners (Bob and Sherry) of the 
Hudson/Marlboro area?  If so, I have heard them mention you.

	Dan Eaton

    Me gottem JX-10, two JX-8ps in one box.  I have extensively programmed
    mine (my two best "real instrument" patches are a harpsichord and a
    harp, but I have a bunch of wierdos too), it would be nice to get
    a JX-8/10 patch exchange going.
    
    len.
    

    Hi, and one more "Welcome" to COMMUSIC.
    
    Great, another D50 owner!  I got mine a couple of months ago, and
    have done fairly extensive programming with it -- as extensive as
    one can get without the PG1000 programmer.  I do plan on getting
    the programmer very soon, as I feel quite confident that it will
    make programming even easier.  Do you have the programmer, and if
    so, is the above correct?
    
    I'm constantly finding out more little things about the machine
    that I would like to share -- you might have some also.
    
    FYI, I've also got a DX7 (with E! upgrade), various roland modules
    (MKS30/50), an ancient Juno-60, an Mc500, etc.
    
    Someone mentioned multi-track recording;  Are you into sequencing?
    
    Talk to you later,
    
    Ron

	
	 I bought myself a D-50 about a month ago. This is my one-and-only
	keyboard, having been strictly a guitarist in the past, so I'm 
	still trying to figure out the difference between a patch and a
	pitch bender. From a novice's point of view, the D-50 is truely
	a mind-boggling machine, but great fun. 

	 I'm afraid I'll be a read-only member of this topic for some time,
	but I'm eager to read what some synth wizards can do with this box...

	Paul

    Thanks for your welcomes and replies.
    
    .1 Thanks for the welcome Edd
    
    .2 Steph - Kurzweil laid most of the engineering and manufacturing
    staff off. I chose to become an independent consultant and still
    do so as a sideline with Kurzweil. I am a former DEC employee of
    8 yrs and decided to convert my consulting relationship here into
    a more permanent relationship. Pension plan vesting is one reason;
    DEC is one of the best companies; it's close to home; I bought a
    new house and need more job security; etc. I also worked at Parker
    Bros. Toys during the video game craze as the "Entertainment Software
    Systems Manager". What a blast that was until it all collapsed.
    
    .3 Karl - I like the Bank 8 Patch 8 E. Piano best, how about you? I usually
    vary the tremolo and chorus to get that nice "flanged" Rhodes sound.
    
    .4 Todd - I have an Apple Macintosh computer with the Mark of the
    Unicorn "Performer" and "Composer" software packages. The Mac connects
    to a MIDI Interface thru the printer port. This provides 50,000
    notes capacity, 200+ tracks, 480 parts-per-quarter note beat
    resolution, real-time and step recording of *ALL* MIDI events. For
    more info contact:
    
    (617) 576-2760 Mark of the Unicorn, Inc., 222 Third St. Cambridge,
    Ma. 02142
    
    I also have the new FOSTEX-80 8 track recorder with LED VU's and
    built in DOLBY-C, a TASCAM 234 Syncassette 4 track cassette deck
    with DBX, and a DENON mix down deck.
    
    .5 Dan - I don't recognize the names Bob and Sherry Wanner,
    but my band has gigged in the Marlboro area at the Country Club
    and Fish Jack's restaurant. Maybe we met their. Ask if they know
    John Serrano?
    
    .6 Len - What features does the JX-10 have beyond the JX-8P other
    than 16 voices instead of 8?
    
    .7 Ron - refer to .4 reply. Sequencing is great! The D50 is phenomenal.
    
    .8 Paul - You certainly made the perfect choice for your first and
    only keyboard. I don't have the programmer yet, but am seriously
    considering it. How do you like the "AQUA" patch? Do you have the
    optional patch ROM cards?
    and a DENON mix down DEC

    re .9, my part - that's all, except it's only 12 voices (2 6 voice
    synths).  Well, I assume that's all, as I don't have a JX-8P to
    compare it with.  I believe the tone architectures are identical.
    There may be some minor differences in the patch architecture.
    
    len.
    

    
    Whats going on with Kurzwiel that it has laid off so many?
    
    Why an S50 if you got a K250!!!???
    
    Know Bruce Chicolas?
    
    Ron_who_got_an_offer_from_Ray_as_a_founder_but_declined_(!)

re: -.9    

>    .8 Paul - You certainly made the perfect choice for your first and
>    only keyboard. I don't have the programmer yet, but am seriously
>    considering it. How do you like the "AQUA" patch? Do you have the
>    optional patch ROM cards?


	 I thought my memory was failing me.. but I don't have an AQUA
	patch on my D-50. I happened to be in Portland, Me. over the 
	weekend and stopped by the local Daddy's to ask about optional
	ROM cards. The salesman there didn't know anything about them, but
	I noticed the D-50 they had on the floor had eight different 
	internal patches, one of which was SITAR. All the rest were the
	same as my copy. According to the salesman, it must have come that
	way from the factory, as there was no one there who knew how to
	program that well.

	 Anybody know what is available for optional ROM's? Do they
	overlap one another as my above experience suggests?

                                             Regards,

                                                  Paul

RE: .0

Welcome!  Has anybody warned you about the LEDS-BIM yet?  :-)


RE: < Note 929.12 by HYDRA::MCEACHERN "Illigitimi non carborundum" >
                       -< optional ROM cards for D-50? >-

>	The salesman there didn't know anything about them, but
>	I noticed the D-50 they had on the floor had eight different 
>	internal patches, one of which was SITAR. All the rest were the
>	same as my copy.
The same as your copy?  

>	According to the salesman, it must have come that
>	way from the factory, as there was no one there who knew how to
>	program that well.
>
>	 Anybody know what is available for optional ROM's? Do they
>	overlap one another as my above experience suggests?

A couple of months ago, before I purchased my D-50, in Wurly's in Framingham
I hit the start button on a MC500 that was hooked up with a D-50.  The demo
disk in the MC500 sent some patches to the D-50.  The two I remember are
'Whistling Soldiers' and 'Clarinet'.  I just called Shane at Profound who
just got back from vacation and will have to check with Roland.  He said
that Roland should be shipping some, and if I call him later today he'll
know 'for sure'.  I'll post what I find out.

Dan

>RE: < Note 929.12 by HYDRA::MCEACHERN "Illigitimi non carborundum" >
>                       -< optional ROM cards for D-50? >-
>
>A couple of months ago, before I purchased my D-50, in Wurly's in Framingham
>I hit the start button on a MC500 that was hooked up with a D-50.  The demo
>disk in the MC500 sent some patches to the D-50.  The two I remember are
>'Whistling Soldiers' and 'Clarinet'.
BTW, this was on a demo disk from Roland to demo the D-50.

>  I just called Shane at Profound who
>just got back from vacation and will have to check with Roland.  He said
>that Roland should be shipping some, and if I call him later today he'll
>know 'for sure'.  I'll post what I find out.
Here's what I found out...He had trouble contacting Roland, they are busy, etc,
so when I called he did a conference call to Roland and asked for the info.
The part number for the ROM card shipped with the D-50 is PN-D50-00.  Roland has
announced 2 more ROM cards, numbered PN-D50-01 and PN-D50-02.  These are
'wicked' backordered.  It sounded like they were announced before any were in
the States.  So Roland is waiting for the first shipment from Japan.  The
retail price is $99.50, which is cheaper than the RAM cards.

Dan_who_put_his_name_in_for_one_of_each

    Reply to 929.11 JON::ROSS
    
    Kurzweil is virtually out of business, and is trying to arrange
    a deal to be absorbed by a Japanese company such as Kawai, but retain
    the Kurzweil name. They had very poor management and shot for the highest
    end of the keyboard market. They should have gone for the home keyboard
    market first, to get some operating revenue. They spent over $20
    million in venture capital, and never made a profit. Only a few
    thousand units were sold. I don't have the sampling option, dealerships
    are near impossible to find, and the name Bruce Chicolas is familiar.
    I think I met him several times, but we did not work together. Did'nt
    he quit and become a consultant to Kurzweil?
    
    Reply to 929.12 - 929.14
    
    I have obtained the ROM patch cards at E.U. Wurlitzer in Worcester.
    That is a nice store and Eddie Fritz is a good guy. He even loaned
    me their master set of sample disks for the S50 to copy. There is some
    overlap of patches among the ROM cards, but in my opinion, it is worth
    getting all of them. Since I have spent so much at that store, I was sold
    the ROM cards for $85.00 each and the RAM card for $110.00. I prefer
    the Worcester store to the Framingham store. It's much larger and
    Eddie Fritz is more friendly. Crazz at the Framingham store is ok,
    but I find Jack (the keyboard guy) to be very arrogant and moody,
    and his attention span is short. I believe the ROM cards are also
    available at Daddy's in Nashua. No sales tax! Not sure of price
    there. I also bought the PG1000 programmer at Daddy's in Nashua.
    It was $325.00 (demo model) no sales tax. The same unit at Wurlitzers
    was about $450 plus tax.
                       

	.14 & .15: Thanx...

	 I went to Wurlitzer in Boston last weekend and listened to both
	the -01 and -02 ROM packs. They only had one copy of each, but 
	they will copy either onto a RAM pack which they sell for $119,
	(empty or full, same price). This has the advantage of allowing you
	to save a patch or two of your own by overwriting the ones that you
	either don't like or that are somewhat redundant. 
	 I chose to buy myself a copy of the group which includes AQUA,
	AIR RAID, etc. It has a lot of "noise" patches, like gun shots, jets,
	etc. I especially like ORCHESTRA HIT, which lumps together a bunch
	of string and horn samples for a BIG sound.
	 I was surprized to discover that the RAM packs are battery-backed-up
	256K static rams, (lithium battery included). They note that the 
	battery life is about 5 years. Presumably you can dump the pack to
	internal D-50 memory at the 4.5 year mark and replace the battery.
	Of course the battery may already be a year old....

	Paul

    Yeah, I know the feeling.  I have tons of JX-10 and MKS-80 data
    stored in M64C cartridges, that have those batteries in them.
    I need to figure out some way to store all of this stuff on MC500
    disks for the eventual death of the cartridges' batteries.
    
    len.
    

    Len,
    
    	Can't you just use the sysex dump facilities, then edit your
    resulting file to allow for reloading the dump into the synths?
    
    	- Rick (who is planning to do this for his Matrix-6 into the
    Texture sequencer until he writes his own voice editor)
    

    So get an ESQ.  Ensoniq RAM packs are really E�ROMs, there is no
    battery in the casing whatsoever (I took one of mine apart and checked
    it.  One 24-pin DIP, that's it)
    
    However, MIDI dumping to some computer-flavored device is probably
    more sensible.
    

    re .18 - yes, but there's some kind of magic handshake required
    to tell the synths to unload their entire contents.  Otherwise I
    have to do it manually patch by patch.  As it turns out, Roland
    just announced Patch Librarian software for the MC500!  Just another
    disk - I wonder what they'll charge for it.
              
    len.