Oasys replacements - cheap insurance?

Discussion relating to the Korg Oasys Workstation.

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Carbon111
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Oasys replacements - cheap insurance?

Post by Carbon111 »

Hardware technology turnover in the computer industry is about 4 months or so these days.
While they are still available, I would like to get an extra motherboard, CPU and fan for my Oasys. I figure that's basic insurance for the future of my $8000 investment.

I'm I.T. guy at a medium-sized manufacturing company and I can't tell you how many CPUs and Motherboards I've had to replace over the years...not because they were outdated, but because they eventually failed.

Are the specific models of these items available somewhere?

The Oasys, for me, is a "once in a lifetime" purchase..I'd like to protect it ;)
Best Regards, James
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Carbon111
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Post by Carbon111 »

...Or if someone could just PM me the specs. I'm not planning anything nefarious like making my own Oasys from scratch :shock: , I just want some spares for down the road.

Since all these are over-the-counter items, I was hoping someone had this knowledge readily available. I don't want to have to open up the Oasys.

I have component spares for a lot of my other gear...which has come in handy a time or two! :D
Best Regards, James
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steve m
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Post by steve m »

I'm with you on this one, Korg must have a list of PC motherboards which are compatable with Oasys or at least have the specifications of the chipset/processors that work OK with the O/S. At some point one of us will need to replace a motherboard, will Korg let us know what we need or will we have to find out for ourselves ?

Maybe Korg are going to keep a huge stock of new motherboards as spares for the future ? I doubt it - as the Oasys O/S was designed around a PC motherboard I would hope that their R&D people would be doing ongoing research as to what boards they can use now and in the future. If not, how can they guarantee that these instruments will be usable in years to come? PC users expect to have to upgrade at 3-4 year intervals, but when I purchased Oasys I expected to be using it for a lot longer than that.

I assume Korg are still maufacturing Oasys, and I suspect that they are not using the same motherboard in todays production runs that were used in s/n0001. If this is true, and I don't know whether it is or not, then there must be 'up-to-date' PC motherboards that we can purchase for use in Oasys.

I think your idea of purchasing a motherboard now as insurance for the future may be good way to go, If Korg could tell us which motherboards are OK I might purchase one myself. However, I won't be paying hundreds of dollars for a motherboard that can possibly be purchased at a PC warehouse for $100.
Steve M

Kurzweil K2000, Yamaha CS1X, Minimoog, Oasys76, GEM Promega 3, Korg PA3X, Kurzweil PC3K8
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Carbon111
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Post by Carbon111 »

AFAIK everything in the Linux implementation is finly tuned to that particular motherboard and that particular CPU. I know its an Aopen mobo but I'm not sure which one.

Very soon they will be very hard to get. :cry:
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MarkF786
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Post by MarkF786 »

Carbon111 wrote:Very soon they will be very hard to get. :cry:
They've been discontinued for years now.
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Post by Carbon111 »

I've got a line on some NOS I think. Are they the Aopen MX4GVR?

Which CPU is installed?

Thanks!
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Post by Daz »

It's an AOpen MX4GVR.

{edit ... woops we posted at the same time :-) }
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Post by MarkF786 »

Carbon111 wrote:I've got a line on some NOS I think. Are they the Aopen MX4GVR?
Yup, that's the board.

Do you really know what to get some NOS? I've looked to no avail.
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Post by Carbon111 »

Nevermind. It was an old listing they neglected to remove from the web. :x

I had to replace two motherboards in computers here at work in the last two weeks - thats what got me thinking about all this. :shock:
Best Regards, James
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Post by Kevin Nolan »

Daz -

Sorry - but I'm going to plunder your knowledge base here - so here's a load of questions (please reserve the right to tell me to take a hike):


Are you 100% - utterly and totally sure - that that's the mother board used in the OASYS?

Are the details you have given here sufficient to buy a spare (I'm not into PCs and have never bought such parts).

Do you have one - I'm asking to see if you feel confident enough that that'll ultimately be enough.

Are there other parts related to this and needed as well?

Can you list them?

Do you own them?

Can you provide a pointer as to where these can be purchased (again I have no experience on how to do this properly)?


Thanks,
Kevin.

PS - While we're at it - what's your credit card number :roll:
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Post by elvisjohndowson »

I think that if you do want to stockup on the AOpen MX4GVR motherboard, it's best to order one through a Korg authorized dealer. The only other component that you might want to stock up on is a spare CPU. You can also stock up on a spare set of hard drives. I would recommend that you get two 2.5" 160GB 5400RPM or 100GB 7200RPM IDE hard drives. I've upgraded my hard drive to a 60GB 7200RPM hard drive and it really loads up the sample very quickly. However, keep in mind that the original RPM specs for the drive is 4200RPM, so I think that you have to be careful not to subject the OASYS to too much movement if your using a faster hard drive.
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Post by Carbon111 »

Whats the CPU spec? I know the mobo only takes DDR266 RAM...
Best Regards, James
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Post by MartinHines »

Carbon111 wrote:Whats the CPU spec? I know the mobo only takes DDR266 RAM...
A long time ago I did some research on the motherboard and CPU.

Motherboard: AOpen MX4GVR
$ 81 -- AOpen MX4GVR (allstarshop.com -- No longer available)

Here is the AOpen MX4GVR Owner's Manual:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/cn7vb0


CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 Northwood Socket 478
The Intel CPU part number (Model number) is RK80532PE072512

$ 72 -- Intel Pentium 4 2.8 Northwood (NewEgg.com -- these appear to still be available)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116215


RAM: 1GB sticks
-- 184-pin DIMM DDR SDRAM, unbuffered, non-ECC
-- EITHER PC2700 (DDR333 CL2.5) or PC3200 (DDR400 CL3)

Some representative options

CRUCIAL.com

Crucial Part Number = CT431640
$ 66.99 each -- PC2700
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs ... n=ct431640

Crucial Part Number = CT407785
$ 66.99 each -- PC3200
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs ... n=ct407785


Internal Hard Drive: Fujitsu MHT2040AT (40 GB)
The drive is part of the Fujitsu "MHT20 AT Series" (Discontinued)
-- Rotational Speed: 4,200 RPM
-- Capacity: 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB (i.e. MHT20xxAT where xx=size)
-- Height: 9.5mm (Laptop)
-- ATA/100
-- Mean Time between Failure: 300,000 hours
-- Service Life: 5 years or 20,000 power on hours

Doing a search on "Fujitsu MHT2040AT" (40 GB) or "Fujitsu MHT2060AT" (60 GB) or "Fujitsu MHT2080AT (80 GB) shows that there are still stores that carry these.

I assume the slower rotational speed (4200 RPM vs. 5400 or 7200) minimizes noise, heat, and wear.
Last edited by MartinHines on Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:03 am, edited 5 times in total.
Kevin Nolan
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Post by Kevin Nolan »

Hi Martin -

Thanks a million for sharing that information - very useful indeed.

Daz and Sharp - would that info be worth adding to the Resource List - or could there be a new sticky post where details accumulated by users over time on various spare parts could be added, building up a useful resource for aging OASES (plural of OASYS??).

Cheers,
Kevin.
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Post by erikv »

I find it rather strange that Korg used a Motherboard from Aopen. Although Aopen boards usually are good value for money. I don't think they have the reputation of using the most endurable components. There are other manufacturers that do better in this respect imho.

I am still deciding whether to buy an Oasys, and was hoping it would run for at least 10 years without any trouble. As PC components usually do not have such a long lifecycle, I would imagine Korg would have used the best parts that are out there. IMHO a motherboard from Aopen somehow does not really seem to fit that. I am just not looking forward to spending another 1-2k on repairs in the 5-10 years to come when I buy such an expensive instrument...
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