Priming PCMCIA SRAM Cards for the Korg Wavestation SR & 01/W Series Synths

The following, in via Neil Hetrick, is a more detailed update to this earlier post. via Neil: "I wanted to post this information regarding use of PCMCIA SRAM cards with the Korg Wavestation SR (and presumably also with the Korg 01/W series) in case it proves helpful for others trying to use custom waveform data with their synth.

It turns out that the synth requires that the PC Card be dual-mode, auto-switching 8-bit/16-bit. Currently-available (in 2023) PCMCIA SRAM cards are all single-mode, 16-bit only or 8-bit only, due to a specific chip no longer being available. After having trouble with a modern, 16-bit-only SRAM card, I received a tip-off from a kind fellow at Voice Crystal (they used to make custom soundware for many vintage Korg synths of that era) suggesting that the auto-switching functionality may be an important factor in getting a card to work with the synth. I subsequently found some forum info online relating a similar issue with PCMCIA cards in the Alesis Andromeda: About the 8-bit/16-bit dual-mode PCMCIA SRAM cards


post #5 in this thread describes the need for dual-mode PCMCIA SRAM cards in the Alesis Andromeda

So with the correct cards in-hand, I can report that the PCM Card Workshop software works great to format the audio waveform data for the Wavestation SR, opening up a lot of cool custom sound design possibilities. (Back when that software was created, all PCMCIA SRAM cards were dual-mode, so there was never a consideration that someone might try to use a single-mode PC Card with the Korg synths.)

Below is a technical description of the process that I've used to get custom-designed wave data into my synth:

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TECHNICAL DETAILS:

- I've prepared 16-bit, mono, 31.25kHz raw PCM files (single-cycle waves) using AudioTerm and Audacity software running on Windows XP. (NOTE that 44.1kHz files created in AudioTerm are tuned to F. These files will play back at 31.25kHz in the synth, which re-tunes them to B due to the slower playback rate.)

- I've successfully created the binary disk image for these files using the PCM Card Workshop software (compiler output file confirms successful creation of disk image, example file attached). I followed the one-sample per octave approach recommended in the manual for the 3rd-party WaveReX card created for the original Wavestation series (DWGS multi-sample format on page 26 of their manual).

- I've used Elan Memory Card Explorer software to successfully write that binary file to a dual-mode 2MB PCMCIA SRAM card w/ no attribute memory (PRETEC SN5002-W) installed in the CardBus slot of my IBM ThinkPad PC running Win XP. Checksum shows the data written on the card matches the data in the binary project file.

- When a single-mode 16-bit SRAM PCMCIA card is inserted into the Wavestation SR and I navigate to waves located in the Card bank, I get an on-screen message " *NO CARD* " However, as I mentioned above, using a dual-mode auto-switching 8-bit/16-bit card works fine.

AudioTerm software by Mathias Gurk (can be used to generate & export related single-cycle waves)

PCM Card Workshop software by Mike Werning (makes binary image files compatible with 01/W / Wavestation SR) - See here for more background: https://www.danphillips.com/wavestation/ws_faq.htm#making_sr_cards (FAQ site made by Korg R&D head Dan Phillips)

MCE software (enables reading/writing to nearly all types of PCMCIA PC cards)

WaveReX English manual (DWGS multi-sample format on p.26)

about the PCM Workshop program and the Wavestation SR

I've included a .txt file [download here] as an example of how how to set up the data input for the compiler program (PCM Card Workshop) that will make a disk image that the Korg synths can read."