Topic: KORG MR-1 pt.II

[filbig]

Has anyone tried sticking a solid state drive in one of these yet?  That should improve the run time on the stock battery and reduce heat quite a bit.  I remember some talk of doing that last year.

Later,
   pjdavep

i´m interested still in this too.;-)

[guysonic]

It may be the current batch of SSD devices are too slow for recording DSD data streams.

[tedyun]

I tried putting a CF card into the MR-1 last night.

Didn't work. I turned it on, and it locked up at the start up screen. I couldn't turn it off, so I had to disassemble it and hot plug back in the hard drive. From there, it booted up normally.

The details:

The hard drive in the MR-1 is a Hitachi ZIF drive in a plastic case for shock protection. There is a small hole for the ZIF connector, so you can easily detach it.

I ordered a ZIF > CF card adapter from eBay, and used a cheap pqi 2 GB card. I copied over the files from the MR-1 onto the CF card.

Taking apart the MR-1 is pretty easy. It is held together by 4 screws. The sides come off and then the back panel comes off easily. If you are going to attempt this, I suggest to tape the switches on the top to the back panel. These are not secured in, and will fall on the floor. They are easy to place back, but taping it is simpler.

The battery on mine isn't bolted in, unless the connector is soldered. The connector is plugged into one of the logic boards and a gentle tug didn't unplug it. I would have to unscrew the logic boards to see if the connector is permanently soldered on.

I'm open to suggestions! If someone knows of an easy way to shut down the MR-1, let me know.

Ted

update: 1. Found the reset switch! It is a small hole on the side, and powers down when you insert a push-pin.

2. I cloned the MR-1 hard drive using Acronis True-Image. The CF card now looks and acts like an HD when you mount it on a PC or Mac, but still no luck when I install it in the MR-1. Will keep trying!

Has anyone tried sticking a solid state drive in one of these yet?  That should improve the run time on the stock battery and reduce heat quite a bit.  I remember some talk of doing that last year.

Later,
   pjdavep

[Nick's Picks]

+T for effort.

I've been wanting to do the same to mine, and have all the equipment.  looks as though the deck "knows" the drive, and wont work w/o.
hmmm.....
I wonder if we could get a friendly tech from Korg to give us some inside info.

[filbig]

cool, thanks for the effort guys. Would try it too, but mine is still on waranty
Keep it goin

[manamana]

I can think of no reason this shouldn't be doable. I was interested in it for a while, but I think it won't be too long before there's a CF or SD MR-2 announced, so I'm just holding on everything.

In the past I've had issues with cheap adapters of this sort. can't really find out without spending some $$ on a pricey one. same goes for the CF card.

is there more than one zif connector standard? I seem to remember something like this...the connector is physically the same but communication happens a little differently. I may be completely off.

[tedyun]

There were originally problems with CF modding a Rockboxed iRiver H120, and it was dependent on the brand of CF card you used. Rockbox has been updated to fix this problem I believe, and is supposed to be compatible with more brands of CF cards. Apparently some do not adhere to the IDE standard.

I'm supposed to be getting a Lexar 16 GB CF card ($70 - $70 rebate = $0 from Beach Camera deal), so I will try that if it ever comes -- my order has been "In Process" for the last week or so.

If someone can loan me another name brand, like SanDisk or Ridata, I'll be happy to try it out.

With the adapter, there are Toshiba and Hitachi ZIF connectors. I'm not sure if they are incompatible. The adapter shipped with two types of cables. One was flexible, had pins on one side. The other was stiff, and had pins on both sides. The connector in the MR-1 matched the first, so I went with that. I'll try to look up more info on that...

I can think of no reason this shouldn't be doable. I was interested in it for a while, but I think it won't be too long before there's a CF or SD MR-2 announced, so I'm just holding on everything.

In the past I've had issues with cheap adapters of this sort. can't really find out without spending some $$ on a pricey one. same goes for the CF card.

is there more than one zif connector standard? I seem to remember something like this...the connector is physically the same but communication happens a little differently. I may be completely off.

[H₂O]

I used the a-data speedy 16GB card when I had a 702 at 24/96 w/o issues and they are pretty cheap at about $30. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211170  - 16GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211244  - 32GB

I know it's a stretch but these cards work well and are cheap.  Unfortunately do not have one any more.

[tedyun]

I actually went a bought a 16 GB Adata from Fry's because it was reported to be one of the few that worked with the H120 in the beginning, but after the 4 GB Lexar deal, I returned it, unopened. At Fry's, the card is $70 and that seemed like a lot for an experiment (I could have returned it opened, but I hate doing that).

The Lexar is "Shipped" so it should be here next week. I will let you guys know.

If anyone can dig up info on the differences between the Toshiba and Hitachi ZIF connectors, that may help too.

I used the a-data speedy 16GB card when I had a 702 at 24/96 w/o issues and they are pretty cheap at about $30. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211170  - 16GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211244  - 32GB

I know it's a stretch but these cards work well and are cheap.  Unfortunately do not have one any more.

[manamana]

what was the make/model # of the HD you took out? googling that should get you info on the connector interface.

[tedyun]

It was definitely a Hitachi. I don't recall the model off hand, but I googled it at the time to get install info.

what was the make/model # of the HD you took out? googling that should get you info on the connector interface.

[filbig]

I can think of no reason this shouldn't be doable. I was interested in it for a while, but I think it won't be too long before there's a CF or SD MR-2 announced, so I'm just holding on everything.

could be true soon
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MR1/

[ironbut]

Yeah, I hope it is soon that a some manner of solid state HD or removable media is introduced. I'd really like to buy one of these and all my objections to the design would be solved by doing this. If it's introduced for this Xmas season I will,.. but if not, I'll probably go for a D-50 or R09hd.

[stchenhua]

Any updates on the CF mod? I'm very curious.

[tedyun]

No luck so far. I tried the "name-brand" CF (Lexar Professional UDMA 4 GB), but still could get past the splash screen.

Probably have to wait for the 1.8" SSD drives to become cheap before I make my next attempt....

Any updates on the CF mod? I'm very curious.