EXB-M256 or simple laptop RAM

[YamahaForums]

I tried this ages ago and thought I had posted somewhere about it. It definitely doesn't work so please everyone stop wondering about laptop memory for your M3. Not happening!

Now, the subject of price is a different matter entirely. In the UK and Europe we are being asked to pay upwards of £129, that's roughly $202! Now I'm sure you will agree that's a massive difference to the $99 you get it for in the USA? Perhaps you will understand why many of us are angry with Korg about this? and yes, it is their fault. They set the recommended retail price and if they set that at $99 for Europe that is what it would sell for. Obviously in the UK we have crap like VAT and import duty but that would not bump the price up too much. So, WHY!, are we shelling out stupid money for the same part your getting state side for peanuts? Also why can we not order direct from Korg UK? What is this situation with forcing their European customers to pay twice the price for the same product? Doesn't exactly instill a sense of brand loyalty when you feel your being ripped off does it?

So, simple solution. Let us order from Korg UK and at a sensible price. Job done and happy customers

[vEddY]

Yes. And I'm verry happy for all you in the USA who can sit at home and order the ram online and wait 2-3 days until it arrives.
Now, outside of the USA there is something called "rest of the world" and - believe it or not - some of those people use a M3. In the bigger european countries you can order the ram from your national korg dealer. Did I mention somewhere, that we pay 200 dollars for the same golden egg as you?
Now, if you are from a smaller country somewhere in Europe and there is only a local small korg dealer, you have to order the so-special-korg-for-m3-ram for 200 dollars and wait 2 to 3 months until it arrives.

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but... I did take care of this for you, right? As for other people here in our little country..... you're absolutely right. It wasn't easy to get them.

[Gargamel314]

this thread feels like a broken phonograph record...

[Rob Sherratt]

Wasn't it Groundhog Day recently? Will tomorrow never come?

[YamahaForums]

Hey, it's a forum, for discussions, if you don't want to read it don't come into this section as you already know what it's about.

[FabCam]

Hello,
I know a lot has been said on that topic but I saw so many wrong information that I registered to give you my view.

- There is absolutely no technical reason for other ram modules with the exact tech requirements to be incompatible. The only reason is that Korg locked the M3 to be only compatible with the Korg modules. So let's be clear: the reason is COMMERCIAL.

- But nothing new here, this is a common behaviour in a lot of industries and even if that's illegal, companies continue to do it because nobody gets this to court.....except Microsoft.

- I know we won't change the world here but what is really annoying is the PRICE. I work in the PC industy and I can guarantee that Korg is buying that module no more than 15$. So do your math! even with th US price it's 85% margin where the Hardware PC industry is at 15% overall.

This has gone too far to me. I have been a Korg exclusive user and sponsor for many years but this is over. Goodbye Korg!

[maxipf]

In my opinion the problem is not the ram that it's too "little" but the 4 exbs loaded on it letting free 89Mb of user samples only. If we could have all the 320Mb free probably will be another story.....and we've not this sensation of "spent too much money for nothing".....
Why it's not possible that korg release bigger file containing all the exbs to be charged on the internal card and what is load on startup is optimized to eliminate "double wavs" that are now presents on rom and ram, (I mean the brass, woodwinds and so on)? Many people have already changed the internal sd card....
Hope to be clear, and sorry for my english..

[YamahaForums]

I moved on and bought a Roland Fantom G. Maxed out the memory to 1Gb and cost nothing because I already had the dimms sitting around from a previous PC upgrade. That's the way it should be done and why Korg don't get it is a complete mystery.

[Rob Sherratt]

You really do have to look back in time at what was available to Korg engineers when the M3 was being developed, and you have also to understand the design constraints caused by the cost/value decision to use a single chip ARM processor.

To look at things today and say it can all be designed differently is of course true today, but it was not true then.

The DRAM modules used in the M3 and related Korg keyboards are in effect a DDR version of an earlier SDR SODIMM module. It was an innovative design by Korg at the time. It is also a proprietary design for that reason, no one else in the world uses that design, the modules are incompatible with PC DRAM modules and will cause damage if you fit the wrong ones. As far as I know, it was NOT a hard-nosed commercial decision to lock people into buying DRAM only from Korg.

Of course there is no commodity market for the SODIMM modules any more, the PC world has moved on, and so memory for the M3 is expensive to produce today.

Although I have not taken one apart to check it, I am sure that more recent designs such as the Kronos will use standard DDR DRAM.

[McHale]

That's the way it should be done and why Korg don't get it is a complete mystery.

Korg did it that way with the Triton and there were issues with users just throwing any type of ram in there that would fit, regardless if the specs matched or not. This way, there's no issue of right or wrong ram and nobody to blame because either you bought it or you didn't (not "works" or "doesn't work".

[Bald Eagle]

There is no secret plot to make a fortune on memory modules. This is how it works ...

Korg doesn't include the memory or other add-ons with a product to cut the cost of the base machine to stay competitive.

But customers want more memory so Korg has a choice, let people buy standard PC memory or provide it themselves.

Korgs problem here is that some memory modules cause problems and others do not work at all. So now Korg has to get custom modules made to ensure that there are no problems.

Custom modules plus low volume increases the cost. I dont have any numbers but I would bet that they don't sell many of them. They also bump the cost a bit to recover other administrative costs.

Be thankful that your not buying flash memory for the Motif XF.

[Muji]

If one already does have the EXB-M256 Card, a soldering iron, and 1GB of RAM chips...

...sigh.

Either that or we could lobby Korg for a bigger EXB Ram card.

[Bald Eagle]

If one already does have the EXB-M256 Card, a soldering iron, and 1GB of RAM chips...

...sigh.

Either that or we could lobby Korg for a bigger EXB Ram card.

There won't be any more hardware upgrades for the M3 now that Kronos is right around the corner.

But even if you installed a 1GB memory module it would not be recognized. The M3 uses a 32 bit ARM processor but I believe that it uses a version of the processor that only has a 20 bit address bus. That limits the total addressable memory to 1GB. All addressable space is already used by the OS.

I could be wrong about the processor model in use but regardless, there wont be any more M3 hardware upgrades.

[FabCam]

It would be endless to discuss the tecnical design done by korg and the reason why we can only buy the korg memory module, I'm sure it's a coincidence ).

What I'm questionning is the selling price. It's really abusive.

[fugmann]

Hi folks,

If Korg USA sells the EXB-M256 for USD 99, how come this guy asks almost twice the price on Ebay USA?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Korg-EXB-M256-Memor ... 256416119e

Can you post a link to a US dealer, who sells the memory upgrade for $99?

Thanks...