NEWS AM/FM Issue #9   
                                                   


Kawai K4 ROM upgrades

Due  to  a  minor  bug  in  the  Kawai  K4's  v1.2  ROM chips, users have been
complaining  about  some  annoying  clicking that appears on a certain type of
sounds  where  the  synth's  filters open rapidly.  The only way to avoid this
clicking  is to delay the opening of the sound's filters, thereby changing the
sound's  characteristics.  However, Kawai has recently launched a new batch of
K4's,  with  version 1.3 ROMs, and in this version, the "clicking" problem has
been overcome.

If  you're  planning  to buy a K4, it might be worth checking which version of
the  ROM's  the  synth  has.   Do this by holding down the SYSTEM button while
turning  on  the  synth.  The version number will be shown at the bottom right
hand side of the display.

Owners  of  v1.2  K4's  can go to their nearest Kawai dealer and have the ROMs
upgraded for a small amount.


EPS Plus Turbo Kit

U.S.   company  Martists  offer  good  news  to EPS Plus owners:  Low-cost RAM
expansion,  SCSI-interface  and  Flashbank!   These  products can be purchased
separately,  or together.  Wrapped together in an upgrade pack, they are known
as the "EPS Plus Turbo Kit".


New sound cards for Roland's U-series

Third  party  developer  "Musitronic" has come up with two new sound cards for
the  Roland  U-series  (U110,  U220  etc.).   The two cards are:  "Voices" and
"Analogue".


SY77-PCMEX and TG77-PCMEX

From  Musitronics:   The long awaited PCM expansion card for the Yamaha SY77 /
TG77  is  at  last  available!   (PCM  is  basically  just a term for "sampled
sounds")  The  total  of  8 MB of PCM waveform datas include real piano sounds
(now  that's  a  first  one  for  Yamaha [Ed]), Acoustic guitars, several bass
sounds,  brass,  strings,  choir and some very impressive drum- and percussion
samples.


E-MU Proteus MPS

A   new   synth/workstation   from  E-MU  is  the  Proteus  MPS.   It  has  61
touch-sensitive  keys,  a  collection  of the the best sounds from Proteus and
Proformance, and it is said to have superb digital effects.


Korg M1-EX

It's  upgrade-time for your M1.  The M1-Ex doubles the M1's sample memory from
4  to  an  impressive 8 Mb.  When Korg released their T-series some time after
the  M1,  then these 8 Mb of sample memory was a great improvement.  Now, with
the M1-Ex, you can turn your M1 into a T3 for only a fraction of the price.


Proteus on world tour (?)

Proteus/3  World  is a new, very special and very weird synth module.  ALL the
sounds  in  it  are  exotic  and  ethnic world instruments.  There are 4 Mb of
16-bit  samples, 16 channels multitimbral, 32 tones polyphony.  Here you won't
find  pianos,  brass,  strings, basses etc., but you WILL find heaps of exotic
instruments from Africa, Australia, Europe, Indonesia, Japan, the Middle-East,
South America, etc.  etc.  Something original at last?

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