MATRIXSYNTH

Update: it looks like there's one up for auction. Odd how that happens.

"The Korg Poly 800 and its EX 800 companion module were great synthesizers for their time. But their MIDI implementation is very short on features. Furthermore, there are several features that are just plain missing and on top of that, there are some excellent modifications that hackers and circuit benders have been doing that require drilling holes in your treasured keyboard. This we are changing by disassembling the original software and designing and manufacturing a retrofit kit whereby we increase the total memory (both RAM and ROM) and thus provide the additional features via the original 80C85 processor."

You can find the full feature list and how to order the mod here. The following is the list for the archives:

"All features that have been completed so far are listed here.

1) Flash EEPROM software upgrade capability (as we develop new software you will all be able to download it and continue upgrading your Poly and EX800's as long as we keep developing new features).
2) SYSEX single patch dump send and receive.
3) All notes off panic button (with MIDI TX too).
4) Selectable Omni On, Off or Auto on power up.
5) Keyboard MIDI TX channel selection (1-16 or no MIDI TX).
6) Joystick MIDI TX channel selection (1-16 or no MIDI TX).
7) Local keyboard control on/off.
8) Local joystick control on/off.
9) Extended playing range on/off (increases the playing range by two octaves while ignoring the parameters 11 and 21).
10) Cascade mode (for when you have two Poly's or a Poly and an EX800. One unit plays odd notes and the other plays evens).
11) Cascade sync mode (the master unit sends SYSEX patch dumps to the slave as well as setting the Poly mode and patch number. This ensures that your slave unit plays exactly the same sounds as the master).
12) Portamento mono mode with slide rate parameter stored per patch.
13) MIDI controllers for setting Poly, Hold, Chord and Portamento.
14) A second LFO is now used to control the VCF MG.
15) Both LFO1 and LFO2 now have triangle wave, reverse triangle and square wave parameters.
16) Both LFO1 and LFO2 now have free running modes (so that they don't reset on note down events. They just keep cycling).
17) LFO2 for VCF has random mode.
18) Poly mode is stored and recalled with patches.
19) MIDI controllers implemented for LFO1 rate, VCF cutoff and resonance depth.
20) Bend depth stored per patch.
21) MIDI soft thru. At the moment, the Poly does not soft thru sysex messages, but does soft thru all other MIDI messages.
22) Moved MIDI Receive Channel, Sequencer Clock and Program Change Enable into the global parameters.
23) Local sequencer control on/off.
24) Sequencer MIDI time code send on/off.
25) Tremolo - apply either LFO's to the volume of either of the DCO's volume. Provide Tremolo depth for each DCO.
26) Chord mode SYSEX synchronization - if cascade sync mode is selected then pressing the chord key will send a SYSEX message to set up the chord progression table. This allows a slave unit such as an EX-800 to operate in chord mode with the same chord structure as the master unit.
27) LFO delay type select - allows LFO1 MG and or LFO2 MG to be applied at note on and then stop MG when the delay timer expires. This reverses its original behavior where the LFO delay timer must expire before the MG is applied to the DCO's or VCF.
28) A global parameter now allows keyboard MIDI transmit velocity level to be set from anywhere between 1 and 127 in two step increments.
29) A global parameter now allows keyboard MIDI transmit octave shift up or down 3 octaves.
30) Note triggered sequencer transpose - You can now select a global parameter that will set up the keyboard to transpose the playing sequence. You can also set the mode to allow MIDI to transpose the seqeuncer too. This is particularly useful for transposing the sequencer that is playing on the EX800.
31) Joystick Local control and MIDI channel select and send.
32) You can send the global parameters from the Poly 800 to the EX800.
33) A global parameter is now available that allows setting the keyboard MIDI note velocity.
34) The firmware can display the current firmware version and software version.
35) LFO2 can be clocked by the on board sequencer or by MIDI timing clocks.
36) EG3 can be re-triggered by the on board sequencer or MIDI timing clocks.
37) You can press the Write key to escape from a patch Write.
38) MIDI Controllers are able to control all original and extended parameter values.

"This list of proposed features used to be twice as long as it is now. Out of these remaining features I think the arpeggiator would be top priority.

1) Triggered Sequencer Step - There is a jack on the back of the Poly that allows the Program (sound) to be incremented up. Nice for live performance. We'll add a parameter setting that allows selection of the purpose of the jack. So that the trigger will be rerouted to step the sequencer forward one quarter note. Now our little sequencer can be triggered by a drum machine, etc.
2) LFO direction invert - The LFO always begins at midpoint and cycles up. We want to be able invert that behavior.
3) Velocity Sensitive - Yes, we'll make the EX800 respond to MIDI velocity data in different ways. Some possibilities are: velocity input to maximum volume value per DCO, velocity input to EG attack, velocity to VCF cutoff, velocity to VCF resonance, velocity invert for all of the above, velocity slope selection.
4) Create an arpeggiator! This is a big one that will take some time but is absolutely doable.
5) Create sustain and legato modes for the foot pedal jack and add MIDI controllers for them too.
6) Apply either LFO to the chorus on/off.
7) Apply either LFO to the noise gate on/off.
8) Create two super LFO's that modulate the depth and or speed of both or either of the two existing LFO's.
9) Create a fourth EG (EG4) and then allow it to control other parameters that were only able to be controlled by EG3.
10) Create parameters that allow EG3 (or EG4) and LFO's to modulate resonance."

via synth.nl where you can find some images in a post on the mod.

GlitchDS to Roland TR-606 Sync Using Nintendo DS Trigger Mod from LifeInABox Productions on Vimeo.
"I had wanted to do this mod for a while and hadn't gotten around to it. GlitchDS has a "Strum" mode, and while I may not have the best touch screen strumming rhythm skills, you can just push the RIGHT ARROW key to do the same thing. So I wanted to make a way to electronically "Push" the right arrow button in rhythm. I have seen products like the midify system and what not but didn't really want to spend $40 on a kit I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the time on, and only needed 1/12 of its capabilities. This mod is SIMPLE it is just an 1/8 inch cable hooked up to the GROUND in the DS and the RIGHT ARROW button. Less than $5. I did have to use a ground loop interrupter, however. I am a tinkerer, not an engineer.

Sorry for the sound and video quality, couldn't find the power supply for the good camera.

PS: I am not liable for ANY damage you do to ANYTHING while attempting to do this mod. In fact, don't do this mod. At all. Really."

MATRIXSYNTH

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