Korg MEX-8000 Memory Expander | Why didn't they go for cartridges like everyone else?
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- The Korg MEX-8000 Memory Expander from 1986, Korg's way of adding memory to their synths at the time. Where Roland, Yamaha, Casio and many other brands chose to use cartridges, Korg chose the MEX-8000 box that through MIDI could be hooked up to several of their synths at the time.
4 memory banks of 64 patches each. A total of 256 program settings.
Was this the best way to expand on memory locations at the time? Is the smaller, more cheap (then) cartridges the better way? I don't know.
The MEX-8000 can actually be used with synths from other manufacturers as long as they can initiate the patch sysex dump themselves.
Big thanks to Anders Jensen for giving me this for Christmas some years ago. I finally did it man!
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The MEX-8000 can be powered by 6 AA batteries or external power, when in use, as in loading and saving patches. The patches are retained by a lithium battery inside.
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Growing up I listened to so much synth-pop and it's only natural that my own music takes inspiration from many of the acts I loved back then. I still love them and listen to them!
Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Erasure, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears, The Human League, Propaganda. FGTH, Ultravox, OMD, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Giorgio Moroder, Jean Michel Jarre, Jan Hammer, Alphaville, A-ha as well as loads of artists doing what is now called Italo Disco. And many more great acts like Nik Kershaw, Spandau Ballet, Wham, Dire Straits ++
Glad to be of help! The MEX lives better in your studio, than mine. :D
Very happy owner! :)
I think it’s worth noting that Korg has historically been the most budget-friendly of the big three Japanese synth manufacturers. Most Korg synths of this era utilized a cassette interface for saving digital data to tape. This was considered to be a more affordable form of storage, since most people owned cassette recorders. Comparatively, RAM/EEPROM cartridges and floppy disks were quite expensive.
Love the Waldorf MW II XT module in the background!
Nice color. ;-)
As a mexican, I like this synth just because of the MEX
There have been many strange choices in synth industri during the years, zip, strange disc formats and bloody use of RAM like Roland Fantom with a RAM that was for 386 PCs.. hard to get and expensive. Great video!
Thanks!
What made Korg cool was they did things there way, which was always a unique perspective compared to what others were doing. For example, I have their original drum module DRM-1, which requires a remote control to operate it. Very smart idea, as I could control the unit from behind my kit... Except LCD display was very tiny. So, my bad eyes still needed me to be in arms reach to read what the remote was doing. Still love 80s Korg.
Today there are nice replacement displays, the form factor is still used so it is easy to swap for modern VA LCD or OLED.
Hey bro, i would say marketing strategy would be like "if you have an exclusively korg studio, you have storage for everything". The fonts and art of 80's gear is just devine. Way to make a black block look sweet.👍
A typical strategic mysterion to me!
I think Roland/Boss had something similar?: the Boss BL1 Bulk Librarian. It could be used to transfer, transport sysex files/ patches between midi devices. It had internal memory and also took external ram cards. The manual which can be found online ,says it was from 1984
In this time, the storage and loading of sound data where done by cassette interface because this was the cheapest medium. Everyone had a cassette player and compact cassettes :)
The MEX8000...patches? What ain't got no Patches? We don't need no steenking patches!
Interesting, I never had had any of these earlier Korg synths so never knew this existed. In the late 80’s I got a Yamaha MDF1 to store my various synth patches and sequences, this used 2.8 inch quick disks which was the same as the x7000 sampler I had. I had to later upgrade to the MDF3 which used standard 3.5 inch floppies, as the Korg Wavestation A/D patch dumps were too big for the 2.8 quick disks. Happy times and these were far more reliable than the cassette dump of the time.
I had those Yamaha Midi filers as well. Always worked.
Interesting. Maybe it was because they knew that the standard for saving like today with sd, cf, microsd, memory stick and so on was changing quick, so it was cheaper to use via midi cable. But midi adapter size wasnt good for small cartridge boxes so they decided to use a box … and because of its size more storagebanks. But thats just my thoughts:-)
Your guess is as good as anyone else's. ;-) Cheers
oh yeah that must be it 🙄
@@jessihawkins9116 just my thoughts :-)…
I have the MEX-8000 for my EX8000 rack mount and an upgraded Angel City Turbo DW8000 with 8 built in banks. I am a very lucky guy.
I know the MIDI baud rate is slower than the USB connection of the keyboard I'm typing on right now, and each one of those entries was probably just a byte or two of memory. Even still, the rapidly-changing values on seven segment LED displays still look "high tech" to me. 👍️
i don’t know why people keep this useless hardware. I had my whole studio full of synths I took to the recycle center once protools came out. took up a ton less space. they scrapped it all.
Someone lost out on a lot of money then. Things aren't useless if they give you joy and sparks of creativity.
Yamaha had their MIDI data filer which used floppy disks. My friend who was tape loading his RX5 and later his RY30 was very keen to get one but never did in the end.
Quite clever from Korg, a single device that could support previous models that had suitable SysEx support as well as their current range. I recall an Alesis rack mount unit that did something similar, and had a floppy disk drive for storage. Plus there were many hardware sequencers that could also store SysEx dumps, and Ensoniq's Mirage that could store both patch and sequence data from their ESQ-1 synth.
It can save from other manufacturers as well since it stores sysex data. That's the best part, or WAS. ;-)
Given this can be used with some non-Korg synths, perhaps Korg believed that the savvy multi-brand keyboard player would use their MEX-8000 memory expander INSTEAD of all of those proprietary cartridges. Possible, Yes?
I had this exact KORG prospect (catalogue) and was dreaming about DW-8000... and I still am! :-)
Btw, I was expecting you to dramatically reveal... cassette tape. :-)
I save the cassette reveal for my new album. ;-)
I think it's a simple MIDI SysEx-Data Recorder/Player with fixed Device-Numbers for the different KORG-Instruments of the time, isn't it?
Yeah, that has to be it.
No, it actually WILL work with other sysex compatible synths, also from other brands, as long as they can initiate a patch dump themselves.
As the proud overn of an MEX8000, I'm not unhappy with it. It cost me about what the memory cartridges cost for the SQ80 or VZ1, and I kind of enjoy the utterly unnecessary piece of it.
Oh, and I have your DW8000 patches in bank A on mine. :-)
Thanks for the support! :)
Only 4 banks is pretty tight. 16 banks should have been the minimum.
That would have cost thousands of dollars in 1986.
Many people say many i would say so...but maybe one i dont read here is maybe because they want to reduce the plastic junk too...i know its not 1 exactly things because but,many things changed after years...it would be great if they bring out more cards...but i think what many people thinks here too...the future and and and...all digital,Mods etc...
This got me thinking of some of my little problem solving boxes. I got a Yamaha YMC10 MIDI FSK Sync Converter for £12.50 in October 2016 from Ebay. Out of curiosity I checked the going prices now and.......... 😳😲😱 Three listings for £75 , £91 and £190 !!! Also two sold listings at £50 and £67 (best offer). Ebay continues to fleece and price gouge buyers in recent years. Most of the things I have bought pre-2017 were for normal cheap prices, but they all have sky rocketed since.
Very cool. I have never seen one of those. I see the microwave Xt there in the background... New edition? I had one of those in the late 90's. Loved the sound of it but couldn't get past the velocity sensitive encoders. Are you planning a video of that one?
I no longer reveal what I'm going to do in future videos, but your eyes don't fool you. ;-)
I think you may have hit the nail on the head. Your comment regarding everyone else using cartridges was a conscious decision for many synth companies. Tape was also a cheap alternative, but not very fast or reliable either. A cartridge could be loaded quickly on-stage whereas tape was hideous to use and too unreliable on-stage. I've read articles about Korg, more specifically when the Poly 6 was being developed where the designers and Engineers could not come together to determine a feature set. The designers had to maintain a specific price point, but there was too much arguing going on. The president himself came into that meeting and drew a line in the middle of the proposed feature set written on the board and said these you get and these you don't. This tells me the decision to not use cartridges came down to a matter of money. Plus since most Korg synths at that time never had a cartridge system it was a no-brainer to not use one.
However, I believe customer pressure was also a major factor to develop an expanded memory system because musicians wanted a why to store and retrieve patches and sequences fast. The MEX filled that need and it worked with almost all of the synths Korg manufactured during that period!! It was a great tool because of it's versatility to be used with multiple Korg synths. It also added a nice income stream for Korg too ;) Four banks at that time period was about the standard, but that quickly increased when the E! series upgrades for Yamaha appeared on the market. I'm lucky to own a DX7 with the E! series board and it still works great too!! I think that most manufacturers were implementing patch storage upgrades at that time too.
Well, that's my 2 cents worth....
Lots of plausible reasons here. Cheers :)
Why? I think because a cartridge-port costs money to make, and you already have MIDI-ports. Thus, only users who needs it, pays for it.
Hi Espen you may, or may not know, it also stores patches etc for some of the midied Korg effects units from the time..eg I believe the A1, A2 & SSD33000, maybe some others. My opinion is I can see at the time as may have been seen as cost effective, multi device solution- but well.....I hate it 😔 number of times I wish my DW had just straight simple plug in expansion as simple cartridge like the same era- Roland (or even Kawai & Casio! ) did etc..
I have more info in the video description. It can even store sysex from other manufacturers, but those must have the ability to start the dump sequence themselves as the MEX-8000 only request the dump with a Korg ID request of course. ;-)
It's very similar to the Korg DF1.
I thought you would be giving the answer to the question in the topic..
This seems like a sensible choice actually. I'm sure there were 3rd parties offering such devices at the times that could work on multiple machines. Roland had the M16,64 cartridges but I don't think you can use the same cartridge for your 707 and JX8P for example.
alesis datadisk
So... the memory is retained in the MEX when it is powered off? Or only when there is power attached (seems very unlikely to me, but there is no mention of this in the video)? How does it retain the data in the unit - by battery? And is that battery changeable by the user or does it require a technician (aka a soldering iron)?
Additional info in the video description as I always say, and leave for you. ;-) I've actually not opened up this unit to check if the lithium battery is soldered or in a holder. The latter is unlikely from the factory, but possible if a previous owner has done it.
I have an EX-800 that is unable to hold presets (took it to a tech and he said he wasn’t sure why-battery seemed fine…) and now I’m wondering if I can sysex dump a bank of EX-800 presets into my MEX-8000 and just quickly load them each time I turn the EX-800 on… hmmm…
If you have a MEX-8000 just try it and check. Or you can use a computer to send the sysex to the EX. It requires some knowledge of sysex though.
The aftertouch on my DW8000 is quite difficult to use. You have to press down like a gorilla to make it engage. Anybody know if there is a way to revitalize it?
I don't own a DW-8000 (I have the sampler brother DSS-1) but there are two resistors on the aftertouch circuit board in the DW-8000, KLM-759, one for gain and the other for offset. At the very end of the service manual there is a fairly complex procedure for adjusting these, but I would simply adjust them until it suits your playing.
1st time i see this gear.imho this storage method is way better than cartriges.
cartriges could easily be damaged ,stolen and the early ones have a few souds only!!
the strangest cartriges i ever seen are from hohner 3 rthyms and dynacord digital cartr. with only 1!!! drum sound
I just save to cassette tape with my Polly 800 (it doesn't save the sequences though).
I think its money so people can buy multiple Memory and expander for korg items cause it looks like u can only store ABCD and buying multiple memory expander for other korg devices 🤔
Unfortunately it is quite rare and thus expensive... 😢
Not necessary either, but cool to have if you have it. ;-)
When you say "voila!" You mean...what?
Uh..., it's French.
@@EspenKraft oh you speak French I didnt know.
I thought you were just saying voila.
complicated as hell!!
This is easy peasy.
@@EspenKraft thank you Espen. I love your channel. Greetings from Chile.
i wonder if anyone made an ipad app that can do this yet? LoL