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Warning for Kronos owners w/ a Prophet Rev2


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Beware using a DSI Rev2 when connected to your Kronos!

 

If you press both the SPLIT and STACK buttons at the same time on the Rev2, it will send out a string of random commands that will instantly scramble and write over several of your Kronos combis!

 

In other words, one simple 2-button combo on the REV2 affected over a half dozen of my combis by changing some random timbres to EXi INITs.

 

Worse, it hard saved all those changes instantly. :evil:

 

Reboots didn't fix anything, and I tested it again. There go hours of changes!

I'm pretty upset. I haven't backed up my Kronos in a couple months, so I've got to put in lots of hours to fix this. ](*,)

 

At least this didn't happen right before a gig, I've got about a week to sort it all.

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You should notify DSI about this. It must be a bug. As far as I know, these kinds of commands should by System Exclusive, which means ignored by all other kinds of gear.

Life is subtractive.
Genres: Jazz, funk, pop, Christian worship, BebHop
Wishlist: 80s-ish (synth)pop, symph pop, prog rock, fusion, musical theatre
Gear: NS2 + JUNO-G. KingKORG. SP6 at church.

 

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I usually try to back up at the beginning of every month, but I missed Apr and May. Luckily Mar backup had most everything.

 

I tried this morning to capture in MIDI-Ox what the Rev2 is sending during a SPLIT|STACK write command, but I got no data. I don't want to spend much time trying to chase down a bug, when I need get those combis up to snuff before next gig.

 

You can bet I will backup more now, esp after any changes. Kronos has no shortage of storage space.

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You should notify DSI about this. It must be a bug. As far as I know, these kinds of commands should by System Exclusive, which means ignored by all other kinds of gear.

 

Pretty certain thry're NRPNs; NR being Non Registered.

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I hate to ask this, but is it repeatable? After you back up your Kronos, you may want to try it again so you can provide Sequential with a clear sequence of events. If it's something specific to your machine and not all Rev2s, they won't be able to see it.

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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I don't think the Kronos would actually overwrite things in memory in response to standard MIDI messages, including NRPN's.

 

SysEx on the other hand is designed to be able to do data dumps. There are lots of safeguards in place to prevent things like this - namely unique Manufacturer ID, Device ID, and Checksum.

 

That said, I looked at the MIDI Association list of Manufacturer ID's (CLONK). I could not find Dave Smith Instruments or DSI in that list, so I would be curious what they are using for their Manufacturer ID. Korg is 42H. If DSI is the same, that would be a problem. Even in that case, if you can go in and change your Device ID to something different, that should prevent the problem in the future.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I would not question that something happened to your sounds, but this makes no sense to me. Any messages sent from the Rev2 would only affect the current sound on the Kronos. And it would not write changes into the memory. The technology doesnt/cant work that way...

 

Sys Ex wouldnt affect a different brand product. NRPNs (which DSI uses a lot), could change parameters, as could CCs. Looking at some DSI products they certainly use different CC assignments than Korg, so changes made to, or sent by a Rev2 will not affect the same parameters on your Kronos. So they will do some very different things, seemingly random things to the Korg.

 

But those changes would not be written into memory. And would not change multiple Combis all at once.

 

Something else is afoot, or happened...

 

Jerry

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It doesn't make any sense to me either, from what I know of how MIDI is supposed to work.

 

All I know is that I was in Set List mode on the Kronos, and my Rev2 was in Split mode over channels 2 and 3, as it always is. I have my most recent corrections saved, so I felt comfortable enough to pull up the screwed up PCG. Here's a quick catalog of what happened to the various combis in the Set List slot:

 

48 3 am - no change

49 Gig Piano and Organ - no change

50 Eagle Space Intro

- 4 timbres converted to INIT EXi User AA 54, 61, 54, 73

- timbres 1, 5, 6, 10 all on channel 01G

51 Fly Like an Eagle

- 3 timbres changed to INIT EXi User AA 54, 66, 62

- all three timbres on 01G

52 Just What I Needed

- 5 timbres changed to INIT EXi User AA 51, 51, 19, 19, 42

- changed timbres on channels 3, 1, 1, 2, 2

53 Time

- one change to INIT EXi User AA 77

- timbre is on channel 1

54 Spirit of Radio

- timbre 1 changed to INIT EXi USer AA 72, on ch1

55 Rebel Yell - no change

56 Sweet Emotion - no change

57 Footloose - no change

58 1984 - no change

59 Jump

- 2 timbres changed to INIT EXi User AA 9 and 34, both on ch1

60 Sex on Fire - no change

61 Power of Love - fixed now, but I think this had 2 changes to INIT Exi

62 Motorcop - no changes

63 Subdivisions - fixed now, but I think also had 2 changes to INIT Exi

 

So it wasn't completely random. All the affected timbres were changed to INIT EXi User AA programs, mostly on channel 1 but a couple on ch2 and/or ch3.

 

The bizarre thing is that SYSEX send/receive is not enabled on the Kronos. I only have Program Change, After Touch, and Control Change enabled.

 

On the Rev2, I'm pretty sure I had MIDI Parameter Send disabled as well. But I captured no data in MIDI OX pressing the SPLIT|STACK write button combo. After enabling Parameter Send, a host of data was captured, sending out on channels 1, 2, and 3. I posted the data in the Rev2 forums.

 

Anyhow, whatever technical glitch caused this, the damage is done. It's been at times a frustrating experience getting my Kronos, Rev2, and Integra to play well together. Everything is going through a Mio4, so that may have also thrown a wrench into the works.

 

Lesson learned: backup often.

 

 

 

 

 

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