micromike Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Hi I've often wondered.........how much Rom do you reckon Casio uses in it's XW P range? 64MB? I am hazarding a guess here. How comes Casio don't print this info? I am interested in what the manufacturers use......Yamaha and Roland tell you most of the time ( come to think of it Korg do as well) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Because each manufacturer uses their own compression techniques, the size of their sample ROMs isn't an accurate indication of the sound quality you will hear. "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillNeverPost Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 64MB? Someone at the Casio Music Forums posted a picture of the XW-P1's main processor board from a disassembled unit (here). It reveals two 128Mbit Flash chips (MX29GL128ELT2I-90G to be specific), which gives you 32MB in total. It's amazing what Casio manages to do with that, although some of the samples are clearly too short and loop too early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 I think the only time manufacturers publicize this spec is when they think it will help them sell more keyboards. ;-) They use the figure to differentiate some of their models from others, and/or to differentiate their boards from the competition. If publicizing the number doesn't benefit them, they probably won't be trumpeting it. Though really, it's somewhat academic. What really matters is what the boards sound like. The Korg M50 had 256 mb, and at least for my purposes, boards from Kurzweil and Yamaha with less wave ROM sounded better. One issue is, what sounds do you need? Samples for instruments you don't care about won't be of value to you, though they still increase the number in that spec. Then there are variables like what other facilities exist within the board to make the most flexible use of the samples that are there, the sonic characteristics of the instruments being sampled, the mic and recording techniques used, the talent of the programmers... This figure really tells you very little about which will sound better to you. Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micromike Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 That's interesting you said that AnotherScott........about the M50. Emu's always sounded really good with just 32MB so you are right - it's the skill of the designers.......but I recall the Perfect Piano sounded lots better than any onboard Emu piano - mainly as it had 16gb of dedicated rom. I went for an XW p1 over an MX61 but didn't have the chance to test them. So that's why sometimes knowing how much Rom is inside a keyboard is useful.........if you can't test it out first. I do remember my Emu E4 sampler having some good piano patches that only took up 12MB ( I recall) .......'Dynamic Piano' was one patch that was very good. Perhaps Casio squish their samples and depack them on the fly to get more on the Rom..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Perhaps Casio squish their samples and depack them on the fly to get more on the Rom..... I think pretty much everyone does that. Korg M50 is 256 mb "when calculated as 16-bit linear data" -- i.e. the ROM isn't actually that big, but the data would decompress to that. Yamaha MX, similarly "166 MB (when converted to 16-bit linear format)" So you are comparing like numbers, i.e. post-decompression raw wave data, rather than the size of the ROM itself which includes compression, as long as you are comparing figures that use that disclaimer. Since Casio doesn't publicize that spec, and all we have to go on is 32 mb of hardware, I think it's likely that they use compression as well, and the actual amount of wave data is something greater than 32 mb. At least that's my understanding. Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoken6 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Ensoniq FTW IMHO. The SQ1+/KS32 piano was 1MB - I heard a live recording my brother made on my old KS32 and it's astonishingly good. Cheers, Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xphanoo Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 It's two 128Mbit (32Mbyte) chips, so the total rom size is 64 Mb not 32. Not bad for the price ! + there is chances the samples are compressed, it may be 128Mb linear PCM equivalent You can make very good samples with few memory, but it depends on the instrument you want to recreate. It's possible for the piano with good filters, but nearly impossible for complex ensemble sounds (strings, brass ensemble... both needs long samples to sound okay) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xphanoo Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 That's interesting... i downloaded the XW-G1 firmware update file and i can listen to sample data if i open "g1-update.bin" in a sound editor ! Which means that the samples aren't compressed in ROM ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSB Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I guess you are right xphanoo, it's probably stored uncompressed as I doubt the synth's bootloader compresses it before storing it on the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DulceLabs.com Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 That's interesting... i downloaded the XW-G1 firmware update file and i can listen to sample data if i open "g1-update.bin" in a sound editor ! Which means that the samples aren't compressed in ROM ?? Well that's cool! What program did you use? I just tried and got NADA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSB Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 For that type of "exploration" I personally use Audacity... You open a new project and import RAW... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillNeverPost Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 It's two 128Mbit (32Mbyte) chips, so the total rom size is 64 Mb not 32. Is that an example of the "new math"? 128 megabits is 16 megabytes, not 32. Let's try it another way. 128 x 2 = 256. 256 divided by 8 (since there are 8 bits in a byte) = 32. If you're still not convinced read the frikkin' data sheet. Sheesh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xphanoo Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 sorry you're right. was drunk probably Well that's cool! What program did you use? I just tried and got NADA. I use goldwave but any program that can import as raw will works. Choose 16-bit signed little endian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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