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The issue with legacy technologies is that the manufacturers no longer support them. So where do we get the latest update from?
Now followers on my you tube channel know that I love my legacy technologies for making music and have many examples of vintage keyboards in the stable. Most are in their boxes and in a secure storage unit at the moment though. But they do get rotated in and out on a regular basis.
A long time ago...
A long time ago the sound your electronic instrument made was based on how the engineers wired the components together. Twist a knob, press a button or move a fader and the sound changed forever as there was no such thing as saved tones and patches.
Move forward a bit and the manufacturers started to add the facilities to remember and store the parameters required to create patches and tones. These instruments were driven by logic called firmware typically stored into EPROM chips. During the production run of the instrument it would not be uncommon for the manufacturer to issue a number of revisions to the firmware to fix bugs or add functions within the limitiation of the instruments electronic architecture.
As instruments evolved the scope of the firmware grew. As an owner of the electronic instrument you always wanted to be on the latest firmware. Initially this was swapping the EPROM chips by a service technician and then it was a system update either from an external audio or data source (tape drive, floppy disk, MIDI Dump etc).
Instruments became smarter and manufacturers started to move away from custom chips and logic boards to instruments based around more standard components. These could be common chips or in the case of a KORG OASYS sourcing a standard PC mother board and running a flavour of the Linux operating system.
Where do you get the update?
This long wander though history leads us to the conclusion that legacy instruments do from time to time need to be updated. And in a roundabout way we are back to the title of this Blog, 'Where do I get the update?'.
I'll give you some examples of my experience:
EPROM update for my D20. There are people that are selling these on the internet. You buy them in chip format, they arrive and you open up the machine remove the existing chips and insert the new chips. Or if you can find the firmware code you can burn your own EPROMs but that's for another blog.
Korg OASYS. Now I was impressed by Korg support, the registration website was still in place and I was able to re-register my OASYS and download the updates I needed which took me from the base operating system to the latest operating system prior to the unit being discontinued. Sadly I was recently informed by a YouTuber that the website has been depreciated and the registration pages and downloads have disappeared. (see footnote) But even so Korg maintained this for 10 years after the keyboard was discontinued. Certain other manufacturers have removed the updates and instrument materials 6 month after they discontinued them!
Dilema
So my latest dilema relates to the MUSE Receptor that arrived a few weeks back. This is a Receptor 1 Revision C, (circu 2006 although I think it is a 2008 build from the lable on the disk drive.) Thankfully this is on the last revision of the operating system for this model, but if it wasn't nowwhere can I find the latest version (1.7) or any of the prior versions.
And I know that some people out there are saying why bother? Mainstage can do this. And while yes, you are missing the point. Mainstage runs on a MAC that is doing other stuff at the same time. Muse Receptor and Seelake AudioStation are dedicated to this one task.
The MUSE website is a shell and the navigation does not get you to the correct pages, however with a bit of searching you can get to hidden pages on the site that actually direct you to the software update pages, which unfortunately display a 404 error. This is as a result of MUSE ceasing to trade in 2018 (I tihnk!).
So if I hadn't been on the latest version I would basically been up a creak without a paddle as I have spent two days off and on searching for MUSE related information and it is relatively hard to come accross. Version 1.7 of the operating system allows you to load Komplete 5 onto the platform, can I find a copy of Komplete 5. Nope! So I am looking for a second hand copy of that with a licence key! If anyone has a copy of this that they are not using please get in touch.
This hardware VST technology cost $4,000 when new. 20 years later you can pick these up depending on specifciation for $150 - $300. The OASYS was a similar story $8,000 when new for the 88-key version, $1,500 - $2,000 for a decend second hand one now. There is alot of synthesiser in the box for any musician to get creative with. But the lack of source material is limiting. Yes there is the internet and forums. But unless there is a good moderator, posts are not catalogued correctly, posts become dead and the answers are burried between posts about Britiany and someone's dog.
Right I am off to setup some E-bay and Reverb searches in the hope that I might find of the missing peices I am after. If you have MUSE related material consider donating to a good cause (Me).
#Receptor #Korg #KorgOASYS #OASYS #wheretogettheupdate #legacysynthsupport #receptorVSTplayer #musereceptorVSTplayer #vstplayer
About the Author
Jon describes himself as a frustrated musician with a passion for the electronic instruments that help him and other musicians be creative. He started playing keyboards in his late teens and re-ignited his passion and built a new studio following his seperation.
About the Blog
The Blog, Website and YouTube channel were started to share Jon's experiences and views on the industry at large and how these effect the small musician. Plus technical tips how to configure and maintain the equipment he owns.
FOOTNOTE
Korg OASYS Operating System disks. For those that need them I have made the Korg OASYS disks available on e-bay. Use: http://themusictechguyuk.me/3lyyfhk to find them.
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