MKS-30 midi upgrade
The MKS-30 midi upgrade is made, and sold, by Johannes Hausensteiner.
We only provide him with this web space, all requests must be sent directly to Jonannes, see ordering page.
Latest firmware is 3.6 (april 2003)
The MKS-30 is a rack mounted 6-voice, dual oscillator analog synthesizer module.
Many regard this as one of the best sounding analog rack modules Roland has made. It's their only dual oscillator analog synth with self oscillating filters...
But although the midi implementation is a big improvement from the keyboard version JX3P, it still leaves a lot to be desired.
Control is very limited, basically note on/off (incl. velocity) and program change. No sysex and no cassette interface, the only way to save your patches is by using MC-16 memory cartridges.
But this has all changed now.
A friend of mine in Austria, Johannes Hausensteiner, has written new software for the MKS-30 which adds several important features.
- Full sysex dump and load functionality, including transfer between two MKS's.
- Continuos Control of all MKS parameters
- Key window function
- Enhanced PG-200 integration:
- display PG-200 movements on MKS display
- sending PG-200 movements as MIDI CC
Included in the upgrade package:
- Eprom with the new firmware
- DOS and Windows program to edit and store MKS patches on a PC. Windows program includes a patch manager for moving / rearranging patches
- DOS/Windows standalone sysex dump/loader
- Virtual PG-200 for Cakewalk users
- Instruction and parts to modify the MKS so that HPF parameter controls the Chorus speed instead. (This mod is optional)
The upgrade includes a midi out which is not present on the original module.
All this can be added without any permanent physical modification to the hardware. No need to drill any holes in your beloved module...:)
The actual installation of the kit is also very easy.
The kit can be ordered directly from Johannes, see the ordering page for details.