Jim Atwood in Japan

Korg T2 EX

Today I stumbled upon a fantastic deal for a vintage Korg T2 EX Workstation for $100 bucks. This 76 key workstation is a real beauty and sounds absolutely wonderful. I bought it for a number of reasons one of which was the key bed that plays very nicely and very similar to my Roland Fantom X7. I love 76 keys and thought at the very least, the Korg T2 EX would be a great controller.

First, there were a few issues with the Korg T2 EX which allowed me to leave the used music shop with a pretty cheap professional keyboard. The floppy drive appears to not be working properly because I’m getting the infamous “data error” that I’ve been discovering a lot of info about all across the internet. There doesn’t seem to be any cure for the “data error” floppy drive message other than replacing the drive with a different one. I may attempt to use an extra HxC Floppy Emulator I have to see if that would work with the T2, but with regards to Programs, Combis, and Sequences, the computer would work just fine. For now I can do without a floppy drive but eventually I would like to either get it fixed or replaced.

The Second problem was that there were no presets loaded into the Korg T2 EX. All of the data was basically set to INIT. The sales clerk did not have any disks and with the floppy drive not working properly, he wasn’t able to get any sounds working on the synth. When I tested the T2 EX, I basically had to dive into the Program editing and select the multisamples in order to check the sound. This actually gave me lots of distorted output because the gain on the wavforms was turned up high if correct. At home I was able to reload the Korg T2 EX with the default factory presets and everything then sounded excellent. Thank goodness as I didn’t want to deal with any static output issues. I’m already dealing with that on another project with the Roland S-50.

Third, the LCD Screen looked to be a tiny bit faded which may be correct, but I actually found the contrast to be quite good and not all that bad. In fact I didn’t see a problem with it but the sales clerk I suppose didn’t like the look. The body of the Korg T2 EX also had some stains on the top which I was able to remove completely with some cleaner at home. The Korg T2 EX looks almost in mint shape now and there’s practically not a scratch on it. Just like my Korg M1, the Korg T2 EX is built very well and it simply is a sleek looking keyboard.

As a result, the sales clerk decided to sell me the Korg T2 EX for a hundred dollars and thus I couldn’t pass up that sort of price. I also was able to get the original Korg Hardshell Flight Case which was in excellent condition. Overall the Korg T2 EX works good as new with the exception of the floppy drive “data error” problem. There is a replacement drive on Ebay for $75 to Japan but I’ve heard stories that even with a replacement drive you can still get the “data error” so until I crack open the Korg T2 and investigate, I’m reluctant to buy another drive.

In addition to the 75 keys and great sounds out of the Korg T2 EX, I was excited to see that there was a 1MB PCM Sample Ram area on board. It was quite easy to transfer WAV samples using SDS and software on my Apple G4 to the Korg T4 EX. The 16 bit Wav samples were dumped into the Drum Kit area of the T2 EX and I was then able to use them to create programs and combis with. You need to have the Disk Drive working in order to load PCM samples into the Multi-Sample area and not just the Drum Kit area if correct. I’ll be checking this out once I get the floppy drive fixed, but for now using SDS is extremely fast and I don’t mind using a Drum Kit or two for samples. I am using Elecktron’s C6 utility software to transfer the Wav samples and it has a nifty progress bar to indicate the speed and progress. I was pleasantly surprise to see that transferring samples via SDS was quite fast between my G4 and the Korg T2 EX. In fact it only took seconds to transfer one file which was amazing. I have zero complaints about SDS!!

The only disappointment I have found with the Korg T2 EX other than the non working floppy drive is the fact that when powering off the unit, you lose all of your sequences, patterns, and PCM samples in Ram. My Korg M1, X3, and N364 all retain sequences and patterns in memory. This means that I have to reload sequences, patterns, and PCM samples using a floppy drive or the computer each time I power up the Korg T2 EX. This actually really sucks but that’s pretty much how all the newer keyboards handle such data. With a floppy drive or the HxC Floppy Emulator that may not be such a big issue down the road. Other than that everything else is superb on the Korg T2 EX.

The Korg T2 EX is a beautiful workstation. The 76 keys and sounds alone are worth what I paid for it most definitely. I find the 1MB PCM Sample area is golden for creating a custom 808, 909, SP1200, LinnDrum, etc drum kit or one shot sample loop set. The C6 software retains the loop info embedded in the Wav file beautifully so the samples loop great thus far. The Floppy drive will also allow me to get more out of the sequencer and load up some custom PCM multisamples hopefully in the near future. Also, there are four midi outputs on the back which are outstanding for controlling several sound modules at once. That’s always a good thing! The Korg T2 EX is a real solid keyboard and I’m so excited I found it.

Stay tuned for additional PCM sample and floppy drive repair updates as I venture further along with the Korg T2 EX.

UPDATE #1: The Korg T2 EX works with the HxC Floppy Drive Emulator. Awesome!! I installed the HxC Floppy drive emulator into the Korg T2 EX, made some configurations to the floppy drive cable and HXCSDFE.CFG of the emulator. Presto it worked flawlessly! I converted some DSM-1 .DSK images to .HFE files and the HxC Emulator loaded up the PCM samples perfectly. I now can dump all my .DSK PCM images to one SD Disk in the HxC. I have further testing to do with regards to saving data but that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll update with more info shortly. If your Floppy Disk Drive is broken on the Korg T2 EX, the HxC is a fantastic and powerful replacement solution.

UPDATE #2: I finally fixed the Korg ERROR: Data Error issue with my floppy disk drive. The problem I discovered was that the floppy drive would not take and format any HD disk I gave it. So on the Korg Forums I found an Omniflop .img patch disk which I copied to a floppy disk formatted with Omniflop. I then put this disk into the T2 EX and presto it loaded the program/combi sounds without issue. I then formatted that same disk using the Korg T2 EX and again it worked beautifully. I took the blank formatted floppy and made a copy of it using Omniflop saving the Korg_T2_Blank_IMG file to my computer. I then was able to take any old or new HD Floppy disk and create a new formatted disk using Omniflop and the blank image I created. Thus I found that the “Data Error” was a result of the Korg T2 EX Floppy Drive not being able to format any HD disk, but once I gave it a preformatted T2 EX floppy disk it work great. My T2 EX Floppy Disk Drive is now back in operation with a ton of pre-formatted T2 EX Blank disks to feed it. Awesome!

UPDATE #3: I found a bunch of DSM-1 formatted .dsk PCM disks on the internet and managed to use CopyQM to create Korg T2 EX compatible floppy disks. I ran CopyQM on Win98 using regular HD disks and had no problems copying all the .DSK files to disk. The PCM Sample disks all work and sound great on the Korg T2 EX.

Roland MVS1 MDC1

Wow! I found an incredible deal on a couple of outstanding fun synth modules over the weekend. I managed to snag a rare Roland M-DC1 Dance module and a Roland M-VS1 Vintage Synth Sound Module in near mint condition for $25 bucks each. I guy had them sitting on the bottom shelf collecting dust way in the back and it was just pure luck that I found them. Both sound modules contain sounds from the popular JV Expansion cards for the JV series sound modules, but it’s nice to have these in dedicated module form. Both sound fantastic, but it’s the Roland M-DC1 that is particularly fun to play with showcasing all the early 90′s House, Rave, and New Jack Swing sounds on it. If you hook up a controller like the Roland PCR-300 or 800, you can program in the NRPN values and tweak the sounds very easily. You can’t save them internally, but you can dump them for later use, but I find just tweaking them live to be quite easy to do. These two sound modules already sound great and should provide some useful layering. I’m particularly excited to land the Roland M-DC1 though as it was discontinued long ago and is difficult to find for a good price.

Update:
I have to say after playing quite a bit with the Roland M-DC1 Dance module, if you are into getting that vintage 90′s dance or new jack swing sound, this module IS IT! The M-DC1 is fantastic and it instantly transports you back to the 90′s for sure. What I really like about it are all the “stabs” you get int his box. The late 80′s and on through the 90′s had lots of orchestral stabs in grooves and the M-DC1 really nails them perfectly. I have quite a bit of gear now and honestly I’d say if I had to have one box for the 90′s, I’d say the Roland M-DC1 is the one to have. It’s really good and extremely easy to lay down 90′s house and new jack swings grooves with.

Korg N364 Workstation

I’ve had my eye on a Korg N364 Workstation for a while at a nearby used music shop here in Nagano-city, Japan. Ever since I started working with my older 1993 Korg X3 I’ve been really liking the functionality and sound of the Korg X and N series synths released during the 1990′s. The Korg N364 was released in 1996. What I also like about these two synths which are very similar, is how well the sequencer is put together and quite easy to use. The Korg N364 later introduced an arpeggiator and RPPR Pattern Play which made the sequencer more fun to use as well. The sound out of the Korg N364 is really really good and after giving the Korg N364 a trial run, I new I had to have it alongside the X3.

What’s interesting is how expensive the X3 and N364 are on Ebay. I bought my X3 back in the late 90′s for about $400 and the N364 I picked up for $350. On Ebay though, the Korg N364 is going for between $600 and $800 which is pretty steep. The X3 is a little less but close. The N364 that I bought has two common issues unfortunately. First, the LCD Backlight is no longer working. I’ll likely have to buy a new backlight and solder a new one inside so that I can see what I’m doing in the dark. I did this with the Roland W-30 recently and it worked great. The other problem is with the Floppy Drive. The belt inside is shot and I today I had to order a new one. I recently replaced the Floppy Drive Belt on my X3 and now it works great so I’m hoping to get the N364 Floppy back on it’s feet shortly. When I opened up the N364 I noticed the Floppy Drive had the same 26pin cable arrangement as the X3, however the X3 Floppy Drive is DD while the N364 is DD/HD.

Until I get the Floppy Drive fixed, I’ve been transferring files to and from the Korg N364 using a few programs. On the PC, I use the free XEdit v3.13 which allows me to load up X3 and N364 PCGs to transfer to the N364. I can also convert PCGs to Sysex as well. On the Mac, I use both Midi Quest and Sysex Librarian which both work great. Currently I have the N364 loaded with all the factory preset programs and combis. Unfortunately I don’t have the preset RPPR sets loaded but that’s no problem as I plan to create my own. Until I get the Floppy Drive fixed, there is actually no alternative method for importing the RPPR files. Pretty much everything else can be loaded via Sysex or Xedit using PCG files. Sequenced songs and patterns can be transferred via sysex so it’s easy to back those up. One of the great things about both the X3 and N364 is that the RAM saves the songs and patterns internally. You don’t have to save to disk to retain your work on power up. This is awesome and a big reason why I like these two synths.

I’ll update this article when I get the replacement LCD Backlight and Floppy Drive Belt for the Korg N364. It should be as good as new very soon although it plays great already. Both the Korg N364 and X3 are wonderful workstations. I recommend to check them out if you can find one at a decent price.

The sound though is really really good.

Roland S-50 Sampler

Had an amazing day at the used music shop today. I strolled in not expecting to find anything and walked out with a free Roland S-50 Sampler. The sales clerk in the store knew I liked and worked on old synths so he figured I would find a good home for it. The Roland S-50 had several issues which from his perspective seemed hopeless. First, the Roland S-50 had no operating system disk. He didn’t think you could get them and he certainly didn’t know how to get them from the internet and create a new one. The S-50 also was rather filthy cosmetic wise and seemed like it was in crappy storage for quite a while. It powered up beautifully though and I later found out the floppy disk drive works great. There were also lots of stickers all over it which had autographs on them but none were famous. When I brought the S-50 home I gave it a good cleaning and removed all the stickers. It looks good as new now. The sales clerk didn’t think the sampler would sell at all due to the OS and grime so he gave it to me for helping with some English translation stuff.

Later at home I managed to create a new Roland S-50 V2.0 OS disk and the sampler booted up perfectly. I also have a copy of the S-Director Sequencer software for the S-50 in addition to almost the entire collection of S-50 disks. I also found an old CRT monitor to hook up to the S-50 which is essential to further editing of the samples. It came with a cool Roland hard shell case which will fit my second Roland D-50 perfectly. I really like those stock Roland hard shell synth cases. I’ll probably have to later open up the Roland S-50 and give it a good internal cleaning but for now everything works great. In addition, I’ll probably attach the second HxC Floppy drive emulator that I have in order to use the S-50 without floppies. That should be great to rotate through a large number of sample images.

The sound of the Roland S-50 is really excellent. I am a HUGE fan of the Lo-Fi samplers of the later 80′s and early 90′s. I know the Roland S-50 is not the most popular of the bunch, but with my setup and multitude of samples, it suits me well. One thing I really like about the S-50 is that it’s super quite when powered on. My Roland W-30 is noisy with the power inverter that hums when running. It’s annoying to listen to that all day. The S-50 doesn’t have that noise which is utterly fantastic. My early Roland sample gear now consists of an S-50, S-330, S-760, and Roland W-30. All are fun and interesting in their own unique way.

Korg Wavestation SR Vector Synthesizer

Just found and picked up a Korg Wavestation SR off Ebay from a friend here in Japan. I have a Yamaha SY-22 and really like it very much. I heard the Korg Wavestation SR was even better and could be midi’d up and controlled by the SY-22. That should be pretty cool to run those two together.

I’m particularly fond of 80′s and early 90′s music. The Korg Wavestation covers that period well with a sound that often reminds me of Jan Hammer and Depeche Mode who both have used the Wavestation. In Japan the Korg Wavestation is particularly hard to find so I was excited needless to say when I found one on Ebay sitting right here in Japan. I know it’s suppose to be tedious to program and all, but I feel the presets are pretty darn good and the SR Rack version has pretty much most if not all of the sounds of the previous Wavestation releases. This should be good enough to get me that Wavestation 90′s sound.

I also know there is a Korg Wavestation Software version, but if you read my blog you’ll know I prefer hardware as I am rather old school. I do use software editors, librarians, and sequencers for my synths, but for sound I just like working with hardware I suppose. The Korg Wavestation SR Rack version was released in 1992 which was the year before I migrated to Japan in 1993. I’ll write more about the Korg Wavestation SR once it arrives early next week.

Here is a great taste of what the Korg Wavestation SR can do found on Youtube. Enjoy!

Yamaha DX-7 Synthesizer

As I mentioned in my previous article about the Yamaha CS1x, I managed to acquire a used Free Yamaha DX-7 over the weekend in prestine condition. The main reason besides being a frequent customer of this particular used music store in Nagano, the Yamaha DX-7 was not functioning properly. The sales clerk couldn’t fix it so he thought it best to just get rid of it. What I particularly liked about it was the fact that it was in near mint condition. When I got home I opened it up and there wasn’t one scratch or dust bunny inside. It was virtually brand new and perhaps a bit strange to be in such great shape. Cosmetically on the outside it was in spit shined mint condition as well.

Currently I already have a working Yamaha DX-7 with the Grey Matter expansion board that I installed in it. The only problem is that cosmetically the DX-7 is really in bad shape being all dinged up and having some rust in some places. I thought at the very least I could transfer the insides of the working DX-7 to one that looked brand new I got over the weekend. I could then strip it for parts and use them when needed or simply sell the rest. The Yamaha DX-7 also came with the original case as shown in the photo which was cool.

So what it wrong with the new Yamaha DX-7? I am not sure yet. The problem is that when you turn it on, it becomes stuck with the “YAMAHA DX7 SYNTHESIZER” message in the display. Sometimes it says to insert the cartridge or that the cartridge protect is on. There is also no sound and the buttons do not respond at all. The battery in the DX-7 was recently replaced and I replaced it again just to make sure it was new. Later this week when I start transferring over the boards from my other DX-7 I plan to try and isolate the problem. At this point I am not sure what it is, but I’m sure I’ll eventually find the problem. If not, I hope to put together a near mint working Yamaha DX-7 and will likely part out the other one. We’ll see. I’ll update this article as I progress and will certainly post the problem and solution once identified. Stay tuned!

Yamaha CS1x Synthesizer

Over the weekend I picked up a nice looking and in great shape Yamaha CS1x Performance Synthesizer. The used music shop was selling it for $75 so I thought that was a pretty good price. It came with the adapter and two manuals, but had no case. As a bonus, the sales clerk threw in a free Yamaha DX-7 synth with case which I’ll write about in my next article. That was a nice surprise.

The Yamaha CS1x was a relatively popular synth back in 1996 when it first came out here in Japan. At the time I was living in Yokohama and a store called Ishibashii had it on display for quite some time. They sold quite a few and thus it ended up in a lot of music here in Japan. The CS1x was a bit overshadowed though by the Yamaha AN1x which came out shortly thereafter and it was the AN1x that I eventually picked up back in 1998 used. The Yamaha AN1x is a better synth, BUT, the CS1x is great to have also if not for the fun factor and the fact that it was used professionally A LOT here in Japan.

When I played the Yamaha CS1x at the music store a couple of days ago, I was immediately drawn to it’s tweakable knobs, wheel controllers, and decent keys. The sounds were slightly more digital sounding than I initially expected, but that was easily rectified by tweaking the sounds on the fly. As a result I was able to get a better analog”ish” sound. All of the sounds a definitely geared more towards dance, but again that all depends on one’s creativity. Many of the sounds were definitely funky and suitable for hip-hop, fusion, and as I said any sort of electronic oriented music, not just dance or techno. Sonic wise the sounds are also a bit bright but you can fix that to get a deeper bass or warmer sound. The keys can be split or layered or stacked.

The arpeggiator is really where the CS1x shines. It’s a bundle of fun and it compliments any beat you put to it quite nicely. The Yamaha CS1x is pretty much a one shot synth meaning that you will need to either incorporate one sound into your setup or simply record it to audio tracks for multiple sounds. If you want multiple midi tracks you are stuck with primarily the XG sounds if correct. I have yet to experiment with that, but like the AN1x or even the JP-8000 synths of that era they are basically midi “one track” or “two track” ponies as I call them. That’s ok though as for what they do on that one particular track, they will do extremely well.

The Yamaha CS1x is going for real cheap these days and it has been used extensively by a lot of big name artists and bands. It’s a very “musical” synth that instantly can help you create inspirational grooves and melodies. The arp alone ( although it has no midi out ) is fantastic even though you can’t program it. For that old school flavor it’s perfect! If you ever see a used Yamaha CS1x, I highly recommend it. It’s a definite fun to jam with synthesizer.

Apple iMac G5 Screen Problem

Last week I was at a used music shop in Nagano-city Japan where I bought a Roland Juno 106S which I posted about in a previous article below. During that time I found a used Apple iMac G5 1.9 Ghz computer for sale. The main problem though was that the screen was messed up as you can see in the photo. The sales clerk was nice enough to actually give me the iMac G5 after I bought the Roland synth. Thus I basically went home with a free Apple iMac G5. I do have problems with it though and I’ll post some details here.

First the Apple iMac PowerPC G5 is a 1.9Ghz with a 160GB HD and 512MB Ram. The serial number is W85422xxxxx and it has Mac 10.5.8 OS loaded inside. I access the computer using an apple keyboard, mouse, and an external PC VGA monitor hooked up with an apple VGA connector cable. The computer basically works pretty good when using an external monitor.

The two main problems though are one, the computer screen is pretty much shot. You can see some vertical lines on the right hand side and the left is just totally black or Gray sometimes. Another big problem is that this computer runs pretty hot. In fact, I cannot get the internal (3) fans to work at all when running in normal mode. If I reboot into single user mode the fans will run at full speed of course. I just can’t get the fans to run at all during normal operation which is likely why the computer is running hot. The logic board or something is not controlling the fans properly.

I installed a software application called “Temperature Monitor” and here are some results after one hour of basic usage. Note that I have applied the setting “Reduced” in Energy Saver Preferences. All temperatures are in Celsius…I repeat in Celcius!!

Temperature Monitor = 84.8 degrees C
Graphics Processor Ambient Air 74.8 degrees C
Graphics Processor Temperature 84.6 degrees C
Hard Disk Temperature 53.0 degrees C
Incoming Air Temperature 35.0 degrees C
Memory Controller Ambient Air 63.8 degrees C
Memory Controller Temperature 85.5 degrees C
Optical Drive Temperature 45.4 degrees C
SMART Disk Maxtor 6L60M0 (L36XGYG) 55.0 degrees C

Those temperatures to me seem to indicate the computer is running VERY hot. Unfortunately there are no software solutions to control the fans like with G4 computers so I either have to get something fixed, replaced, or find an external cooling method.

The hottest point on the computer is the upper left hand side when facing the front of the screen. That area is where the Power Supply sits if correct. That area gets extremely hot but all other areas are actually not too bad. Yet when I look inside I can’t find any obvious problems in that area.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours taking the iMac G5 completely apart. Inside I found the Power Supply to be completely intact. The capacitors showed no signs leaking. There were no bulges at the ends of the capacitors which actually looked pretty good. In addition, I removed the logic board because I knew the G5 has been plagued with logic board failures. Again, the logic board capacitors all looked brand new with no signs of bulging or rounded ends. In fact, everything looked great inside so I’m really wondering what could be the problem. I put the computer back together a bit disappointed that I couldn’t any obvious problems.

Likely at this point the problem could be anything from the logic board, PSU, graphics boards, or screen etc. The computer runs very well for about an hour and then I feel I need to shut it down because I don’t want it to get too hot and cause a meltdown. I don’t think it’s worth it to dump any additional money into the computer as I really don’t know what’s wrong with it yet. I could refurbish the logic board and replace all the capacitors. Perhaps that might fix the fans and if lucky kick in the monitor again. I’m not sure yet.

I’m posting this article here because I’ve really done a lot of research on this over the past few days and found very few people with my symptoms. It seems most people with Apple iMac G5 have fans that are too loud, hundreds of vertical lines on the screen, or G5 computers that just shut down intermittently. I do know that the Logic Board is connected with fan usage and the screen. Whether the capacitors have something to do with this I don’t know. It’s puzzling. I WISH I had the loud, full speed fan problem that 99% of other iMac G5 users have. That would at least help my overheating problem…laugh.

For now the free iMac G5 that I got has not cost me any additional money yet. I can get a solid hours worth of special app work done if needed. I can rip the hard disk and possibly even the super drive. I also got an Apple keyboard and mouse so that’s worth something there of course. Parting it out might be the best bet, but I’ll likely just let it sit there and continue to investigate what might be the probable cause. There are a TON of people who have issues with the iMac G5 series computers. Looking at what I have here, I’m so glad I didn’t dump my money into one of these. I’d be pretty upset if these symptoms happened after shelling out lots of money. It just reminds me that despite all the glory of Apple lately, they do use crappy components in some of their products like most companies likely do as well. It’s a shame Apple customers have had to deal with all of these G5 problems. Hopefully the new Intels are much better which I have yet to purchase. I’m getting there, but these G5 issues are starting to make me wonder.

I’ll post updates as I find additional info. Stay tuned!

Apple iBook G4

Over the past month I’ve been picking up old Apple iBook and iMac computer gear for surprisingly very cheap prices. I found three computers that all work perfectly with my external synthesizers for sequencing and programming patches. The Apple G4 series seems to work the best but I also found an old Apple G3 to work well too. Below I have tested several sequencing and drum machine oriented software. I have listed the ones that I found worked the best on either the Apple G3 or G4 with external synthesizers. It’s important to note that I have no need for any audio recording or sampling. I also don’t have any need for soft synths that cannot control midi external hardware. So any cpu taxing soft synths and/or audio software I have no need for. This in turn allows me to use the older iBooks and iMacs perfectly with external synths such as the Roland D-50, Yamaha DX-7, and Korg M-1 synthesizers to name a few.

With all the software listed below, I am using G3 and G4 iBooks or iMacs with between 650MB ram and 1.5GB ram. They also run anywhere between 800 to 1.33 in speed and all are using OSX 10.4.11. For Midi interfaces, I use mainly the Edirol UM-3EX which works flawlessly. The key important features I look for when in music software to control my external synth are as follows:

1. Step or Modular sequencing is a must.
2. MIDI OUT of all note and controller data is crucial.
3. Save to Midi file is a HUGE bonus!
4. Being able to assign and match software keys to the external synth is vital for drums especially.
5. Must work on a G3 or a G4 computer with OSX 10.4.11 installed.

Synth Librarian and Editor
1. Midi Quest XL 10.5 (G3/G4)

For Librarians I have found that Midi Quest works for almost every hardware synth I throw at it. Midi Quest also works on Macs with OSX 10.4.11 perfectly. I know there are specific librarians and editors around for different synths and many also like SoundDiver 3.x for Mac but good luck finding that. So I use Midi Quest which is still available and supported.

DAW Software
1. Ableton Live 5.2 (G3/G4)
2. Digital Performer 5.13 (G3/G4)
3. Logic Pro 8.02 (G4)

Ableton works great for VSTs while Digital Performer works very well for MIDI sequencing. All three applications above work very well on a G4 if you primarily use MIDI while the G3 can only handle DP and Ableton 5. I couldn’t get any later versions to install on a G3 and G4 was difficult as well for testing purposes. These versions are pretty light weight though and seem to work well on the old computers.

Step Sequencers and Step Drum Machines

AudioRealism ( Right behind the Klee and M185, I’d say these two AudioRealism products are superb. They now have MIDI OUTPUT that also allows you to save to Midi files. These are very good for working with external synths. The ADM Drum Machine has one minor problem though. You are stuck with pre-determined midi notes for the drums so you will have to change the drum sounds on the external synth. The is a big minus for ADM and why I prefer Numerology, Guru, or MicroTonic which allows you to change the note values ).
1. ABL Bassline 2.1.2 (G3) No Midi Out / 2.5.2 (G4)
2. ADM Drum Machine 1.2.1 (G4)

Sonic Charge ( This is pretty good with external synths as you can control the MIDI note assignments for the drums and even save patterns to MIDI files. The swing value also works great.)
1. MicroTonic Drum Machine 2.0.1 (G3/G4)

Sugar Bytes ( The 1.0.2 version works ok on a G3 but occasionally you get latency. On a G4, 1.5 works very well without issue when testing. Version 1.5 will not work on a G3.)
1. Thesys Step Sequencer 1.0.2 (G3) / 1.5 (G4)

Defective Records ( These are HANDS DOWN, the best step sequencers for use with external synthesizers. I registered these instantly when I found out how cool they were when running on old iBook/iMac G3 and G4 processors. These are very impressive and really add great functionality to the Roland D-50 and other synths without a sequencer.)
1. Klee Step Sequencer 2.1 (G3/G4)
2. M185 Step Sequencer 1.5 (G3/G4)

D16 Group ( All of these drum machines worked very well when tested on a G4, but they don’t work at all on a G3. MIDI OUTPUT works very well when controlling external synths. )
1. Nithonat Drum Machine TR-606 1.4.4 (G4)
2. Nepheton Drum Machine TR-808 1.4.4 (G4)
3. Drumazon Drum Machine TR-909 1.4.4 (G4)
4. Phoscyon Bassline TB-303 1.8 (G4)

FXpansion ( Guru is really awesome. It’s probably my most favorite step drum machine software. The new Geist just doesn’t work well for me on these older iBook computers.)
1. Guru 1.5.1 (G3/G4)

Audio Damage ( I couldn’t get any MIDI OUTPUT to work with Tattoo on either the G3 or G4 platform in VST format. It just doesn’t work. I added it here because I know many people use it and will recommend it, but for the G3 and G4 VSTs on a Mac, it didn’t output MIDI at all with my testing.)
1. Tattoo 1.0.3 (G3/G4)

Five12 ( I tested Numerology 2.3 on both the G3/G4 and it works flawlessly. I’ve heard 3.x doesn’t work though. I’m not sure why.)
1. Numerology 2.3 (G3/G4)

Again I must mention that I primarily use hardware synths. I only added the iBooks and iMac because they were cheap, reliable, and easy to hook up without any issues. I don’t use these computers for any audio recording, sampling, mixing, or for any cpu intensive purposes. I only use MIDI. I hope this info will give users with old computers some direction on what to choose for MIDI Sequencing and programming their external hardware.

The three computers I recently purchased in Japan used are as follows including the Ram and OS install disks:

1. Apple Mac iBook G3 800mhz 650MB Ram running OSX 10.4.11 ($35)
2. Apple Mac iBook G4 1.33 with 1.5GB Ram running OSX 10.4.11 ($60)
3. Apple iMac G4 900mhz with 1GB Ram running OSX 10.4.11 ($75)

A final point to make is that it’s very tricky if not impossible to get MIDI OUTPUT to work with Apple AU plugins. I had to use VST versions in every case from within Ableton to get MIDI OUT to work any of the above VST Mac plugin sequencers. Make sure when testing on old iBooks and iMacs that you find a suitable VST host and get the Mac VST versions. For me an old version of Ableton was the best and most stable. The AU versions suck big time I’m sorry to say when working with external synthesizers. There are some workarounds I’ve heard, but honestly I’d rather spend more time playing the synth than fiddling with a computer and AU plugins. VSTs are the best so far when it comes to MIDI and controlling external hardware. AU Plugins and MIDI OUTPUT do not work well together at all.

MIDI software sure has come along way since I remember way back in the early 90s. You can sure do some great stuff nowadays.

Roland Juno 106s

Over the weekend I picked up a used Roland Juno 106S version for $50 bucks at a used music shop here in Nagano-city, Japan. The Roland Juno 106S is in excellent cosmetic shape with almost everything functional. Like the Roland Juno 106, the 106S is identical with the exception of two speakers built in and a sheet music stand bracket that is attached on the back. Inside you have the same black resin covered voice chips of which five are working perfectly with one likely to go shortly. The level of the sixth 80017A chip is lower and you can hear a slight crackle. Thus I’ll definitely be sending the voice chip board into the Synth Spa for refurbishing like my other Juno 106.

Also, I am experiencing a pulsating crackle noise with the Chorus when either Chorus 1 or 2 are selected. It’s likely the MN3009 chips need to be replaced which I’m currently consulting the Synth Spa about. Overall it should be pretty reasonable to get the Roland JUno 106S in perfect working order. My other Roland Juno 106 is sounding awesome and I love playing it. Having DUAL Juno 106 synths should be fun especially since they both have built in MIDI. It’s also nice to have a spare as well.

I don’t know much about the naming of the Roland Juno-106S other than I’ve heard the 106S was released in Japan while the Roland HS-60 was released overseas. I like how the Roland Juno 106S is painted just like the regular Juno 106. They both sound identical to me and they should because they both have the same voice chip board inside when I checked. The Juno 106S is slightly deeper because the voice chip board is located under the keys to make room for the speakers. The power supply area is moved more towards the middle. Everything else is identical.

The Roland Juno 106 and 106S synths are fantastic. I really love the simplicity of them and how great they sound. It was a welcome surprise to find this second board and at such a great price.

UPDATE: I have sent the voice chip board, panel board, jack board, and cpu board to The Synth Spa recently. I wanted to swap out the old chips for some “unwrapped” ones. In addition I am experiencing some crackle noise with the Chorus so that will be check on. Finally I plan to have a general cleaning and check-up with the other panel and cpu boards with the battery getting replaced as well. I’m confident the Roland Juno 106S will run sweet like my other one and last a long time as well. Allen does a great job at the Synth Spa. I’ll update my article with the progress made. Thanks!