Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    I got it last night & it works nicely. I took 21 Quick Disks (2.8 inch,
    60 Kbyte) and moved them over to 1 3.5 inch disk.

    I was surprized that Thoroughbred music would send me a used demo unit,
    with no warrentee card, or a demo unit with no serial number on it (the
    MIDI IN/OUT/THRU and POWER connectors were marked on the back with a
    stick on label that someone had typed on). I would have suspected that
    Brad would have mentioned that he would not be selling me a new unit.
    I do have a call into them to find out what is going on. The power
    supply 'bug' is about the size of my 7 week old Cocker Spaniel puppy,
    and I'm surprized by this. It does work, however.

    The instructions that I got are 'pre-release' and have a few typo's,
    but in general are pretty simple to understand. You have to remember to
    'CLEAR' the onboard memory before loading or unloading a disk file.
    This relates to the 128K byte internal buffer, and that you can load
    multiple files into the same buffer. This allows you to build a set
    of MIDI sysex files to be sent to random devices. You can set a delay
    between sysex messages being sent out.

    The MidiDISK has some ultility functions that allow you to do
    directories, format disks, clear the interal memory, tell you how much
    free space is left on the disk (all of the numbers are in HEX, but they
    provide a table in the manual to help you figure out what the numbers
    mean). You can also create a custom sysex request from the front panel.

    You can delete a file (based on the file number) and then write a new
    file out in it's place that is larger than the original (these files
    are saved as variable length files).

    I find that the disk loads to my MMT-8 sequencer or ESQ-1 sequencer
    are at most 10 seconds, and since I can pre-buffer a sysex dump for
    either or both in the internal buffer, I can load both in about 15
    seconds (the ESQ-1 has the 10,000 note expander in it), and after it
    sends the data down to the MIDI devices, I can pre-load the 128K buffer
    with the next set of sequences, allowing me to hit the SEND key & ship
    it off in 3 to 7 seconds.

    Let me explain, reading the disk takes from 3 to 8 seconds, sending the
    data down to the MIDI devices takes 3 to 7 seconds. The pre-load saves
    some time. I have usually 4 to 6 songs in the MMT-8 and 2 songs in the
    ESQ-1's sequencer.


    There is also a BOOT function that allows you to run an upgraded
    version of the software (if one ever becomes available).

    On the front panel, there are a bank of numeric buttons (0 to 9) that
    are used to select the file number and enter certain types of data.
    There is a 4 digit display (7 segment - Green) that returns the status
    messages & indicates the current functions. As usual, letters are made
    by these displays & are a combination of upper/lower case. There are 2
    buttons for the disk LOAD and STORE. These are used to LOAD the
    internal memory from DISK or STORE the internal memory to DISK. There
    are 2 MIDI related buttons, SEND and RECEIVE. SEND sends what ever is
    in the internal buffer to the MIDI OUT port, RECEIVE collects what ever
    MIDI sysex data arrives at the MIDI IN port. You have to remember to
    CLEAR the memory between operations, otherwise, it's real simple to
    use.

    Since I plan on adding more MIDI gear that I want to be able to send
    random sysex data as needed, this looks like a good solution to me.
    
							Jens

    

    
    Sounds like pre-production or seed units. New company, right?
    
    Id sure be peeved if that price is for the 'mature' units, and
    I was charged the same amount for an 'almost' unit.....even
    if it's bug free....
    
    rr
    

    I can't argue that. Brad's wife was in the process of having a baby
    yesterday (some women can be so inconsiderate of my needs, you know -
    just kidding), so he was not available to comment. I called IVM's
    support group & I think that it's a snafu on someones part. I'm still
    working to resolve it. I poped the box open to see if there was a
    serial number in there, but, it's only got a PC card, the disk, and
    some cables connecting the front board to everything.

    So far it works flawlessly. I was also wrong about the output being in
    HEX, in reality, it's just how it looked at first glance. The display
    shows a letter 'F' in the first digit when ever it's displaying File
    sizes (this ain't in the pre-release documentation, but that's what
    I figured out), so to see how much space is on the disk, you use the
    FREE function, and it comes back with F797 if the disk is empty (just
    freshly formatted), with means 797 K bytes available. You can also
    ask it how large the buffer in memory is (COrE function), that way
    you can see if what you want to write to the disk will fit anywhere on
    the available disk.

    If you want to swap out disks & check them, there is no problem in
    doing so, as the software always checks the current disk, and makes no
    assumptions about the last disk access (allows you to swap disks as
    needed). General disk operations don't affect the internal buffer,
    unless you specifically LOAD the internal buffer. For example, I've
    made 3 sets of disks, WORKING, BACKUP and MASTER. When I want to
    write the data, I do a SYSEX save to the IVM MidiDISK internal buffer,
    then do saves to the disks one at a time (If I need to delete a file
    before doing this, I can - In otherwords, I've been using it to load
    existing sequences, modify them, delete the old file, then write the
    new sequences back to the disk).

    I really like it. I just want to figure out how to square away some of
    these oddities that cropped up.

    As you noted, the company is fairly new to the consumer MIDI
    marketplace. I understand that they are into Aerospace electronics &
    decided to branch out (Sort of like Kaman did; Making Helecopter gear
    and Ovation guitars).
    
							    Jens

    More to the ongoing saga. Brad says that he took one out of stock,
    compeletly boxed & mailed it to me. As far as he is aware, it is
    'As Shipped From The Factory' and was not a demo unit. Based on other
    peoples positive statements about Thoroughbred Music, I suspect that
    this is what happened. So, I called IVM & they said that they may have
    shipped it this way, but doubt it (I would suspect this answer), but,
    they will follow up & find out what happened.

    Brad says that he can't keep them on the shelves & sell them as fast as
    they get them (this relates to a severe shortage of RAM chips that the
    IVM rep told me about & they can't keep ahead of orders). When I called
    around, Brad had recently gotten these & he was the only one that had
    any IVM stock on hand (only 2 units at the time, one was mine, the
    other has also been sold).

    I suspect that I'll get everything straightened out, but not without a
    few phone calls.

    The only other IVM product that is a MIDI device is a MIDI Thru Box
    (not too exciting).

								Jens    

    
    
       I dealt with Brad from Thorobred once and will never again.
    I ordered a Yamahaha merge box from him and after waiting 9 days,
    called him back. He said they were out of stock and he was waiting
    for a shipment. When I ordered it he said they had plenty of them.
    I called Brad's manager and had *him* cancel the shipment. Got one
    somewhere else in 2 days.
    
    						Rich
    

    I finally got my serial number & a 12 month warrentee card (I've mailed
    it in). In general, The unit runs quite well & seems to be able to
    handle my needs quite well (loading MMT-8 and ESQ-1 sequencers during
    live situations). The people at Indian Valley have been helpful &
    were interested in how I was using the gear.

								Jens