M3 EXPANDED - OR NOT?

McHale · Post by **McHale** » Thu May 28, 2009 3:50 am

I had a dead battery in my camera (and used the SD card FROM my camera to upgrade the m3 - sorry, no pictures.

BUT

Download this, page 2 is a picture of the inside:

http://neo-genesis.net/korgm3m/2StickyPadsKorgM3M.pdf

Right above the letters "KI" is the SD slot. You can probably replace it by opening the slot that holds the RADIAS card.

You can upgrade all the way up to 2GB as long as you leave it formatted FAT16. I used a 1GB as it's over 1/2 empty and I don't see Korg releasing any (or many) more expansions libraries.

From start to finish, took me about 10 minutes.

-Mc

jmexio · Post by **jmexio** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:42 am

Glad for you!!

This looks like the thing to day the minute the warranty expires...

And good confirmation from someone else that the M3 INDEED loads KEPs from internal memory. The only problem is most units as of today have a smaller 256 MB card. That problem is old news now.

See ya

Stefanus Wayanartha · Post by **Stefanus Wayanartha** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:17 am

Dear Mchale, after replacing the old M3's SD card, does the M3 loading speed inscrease?? is there another effect by replacing the SD? Thank you for your brave contribution

...awsome!!

McHale · Post by **McHale** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:24 am

I didn't use a high speed SD card, just a standard Sandisk 1GB. I may pick up a high speed and see how much of a speed increase it gets.

I honestly can't tell if it's loading faster or not with the standard Sandisk.

Is there an official time for bootup?

The main reason I did it was to have the expansions on there (and any future expansions). External thumb drives are VERY bad for frequent gigging.

Tomorrow night, I'll time it from ON to playing and give split times for OS, and each expansion.

-Mc

Stefanus Wayanartha · Post by **Stefanus Wayanartha** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:44 am

I've try to record my M3's loading speed. Here is the log:
OS 2.0.1 loading time: 47.5 seconds
EX-USB03 loading time: 16.3 seconds..

I dont know if Korg has their own official loading time record

I wonder how is the M3's loading speed if i put a hi-speed SD card inside...

did you make all of the Expansions autoload? how long is the loading time?

McHale · Post by **McHale** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:48 am

Yes, I have all four expansions autoloading.

I'm shut down for the night. It's nearly 1am and I have to get up at 6am for work. Tomorrow, I'll give the time splits. Should help...

A faster card may or may not help the M3 load faster. The M3 may be limited on it's own hardware and how fast it can process the information and not necessarily the SD card. BUT, I would think ANY little speed increase should help!

-Mc

jimmy1 · Post by **jimmy1** » Thu May 28, 2009 11:55 am

wow - this thread has grown!

I have one more question: Is there anyway (with model numbers maybe) that I can tell if Im buying a newly made model?

My local music store says they stock expanded and non-expanded and canot be sure which model they would be selling me?

Any clues on the box?

And reading about the button wording rubbing off issues Id like to buy a model build in the last 6 months.

jmexio · Post by **jmexio** » Thu May 28, 2009 11:25 pm

jimmy1 wrote:I have one more question: Is there anyway (with model numbers maybe) that I can tell if Im buying a newly made model?

Well, the serial obviously tells you when it has been manufactured. The problem is we dont know exactly when the revision for larger SD was made. I can tell you my serial (4395), but serials for different versions are different, so it will not help for 73 or 61 versions (I have 88), plus maybe a lower serial than mine is also updated, we cannot be sure...

My box says expanded like the others (I think), and has no visible differences from any other unit, other than the expanded logo that has been around for a while, as far as I know.

Cheers!

jmexio · Post by **jmexio** » Fri May 29, 2009 6:28 pm

Just a quick update on this. My unit came with the sticker that says XPANDED under the m3 logo on the lower right corner of the front panel already in place. It seems from what I read that if your unit is not xpanded from factory you will get the sticker separately, and you will need to put it yourself.

That might be a way to tell the units apart. You would need to open the box by cutting the tape, and look at the front panel under the protective plastic sheet. No need to unpack anything, just cut the tape, open the flaps of the box and stare at the M3 without disturbing anything inside, not even touching, as the protective sheet is transparent enough to see trough.

That is, unless the dealer itself performs the upgrade for your convinience, as Sweetwater does. In that case, I would guess you get the sticker on, but the old USB drive with small SD inside.

Hope that helps.

jimmy1 · Post by **jimmy1** » Fri May 29, 2009 7:11 pm

thanks for the input all - I hope to contribute to this website once I have a M3 all of my own

(gotta fix my sick car first though)