What exactly is the KW30 ?
If you order one at you local Roland dealer or your own Roland
coörperation near you, you get only 1 chip, a manual and a new systemdisk
with harddisk/SCSI options.
What can you do with the KW30?
At Roland Benulux they asked $ 175,- USD for the
device without HD or CD-romplayer
The deal with the Fujitsu chip costed this person
15 English Pounds
Its the the FujitsuMB89352AP.
More precise 'name' to the chip that can be used to replace Rolands KW-30
chip is
'Sharp genuine MB89352 SCSI host adaptor'.
The fellow who tested this didn't get it to work with the W30HDCD for
PC, so I put a new version online, but it did work with the W30HDCD for the
Apple MAC, but try it yourself
Hard Disks/CD-ROMS that can be used with the W30
*Apple hard disks are not supplied with a connecting cable, so you will
need to purchase the respective cable (25 pin to 50 pin; Apple part #
M0206)
There is also another way to connect a harddisk
to your W30. Its explained in an email which was send to me:
I use a Quantum 80Meg hard disk. I had some trouble
getting it going - it wouldn't format properly. But then I got it going by
firstly plugging it into an Apple Mac and formatting using the Apple, and
then formatting with the W30. I hope this information is of some
use.
Areas on the Hard disk
On a hard disk that has been formatted for use with the W-30, sound data
and song data is together saved in terms of certain units, which have their
specific place for storage. Each of these units is termed of as an
Area.
Data capable of storage in one
Area:
<sound data>
Wave data : Banks A & B (512 K words)
16 Patches/Patch parameters
FUNC parameters
<Song data>
No. of Songs: Max. 64
Number of areas provided:
20 MB hard disk - 16 areas
CD-Rom players
After serveral weeks I have come to the conclusion that the only CD-ROM
that works with the W30 is those based on the SONY CDU-800x.
You will found them in the Apple CDSC and Apple CDSC+ I think the CD-5
from Roland also have the CDU-800x
Among those CD-ROM drives I have tried that don't
work is:
Apple 2x, 3x, 4x
A little thing I notice was that I was not able to use the Apple CDSC
with my PC.
Ehm yep, a difficult item.
The chip has a little hole at the side looks like this :
This hole should be at the same place as the Hole at the motherboard.
Well inserting is your own problem. It isn't easy because you could easely
break one of the pins, so be very carfully with it.
Sad but true,
There was company in Germany called PA-Decoder which made memory expansions.
The expansion excisted outof an internal 40 MB harddisk.
Price in 1990 $ 3500,- USD
Well as I said, this company isn't there anymore so I think the possibilities
for a memory upgrade are now at zero :(
I did got hold of the inside schematics of the Roland W30. If you think
you can do something with them, maybe trying to make a memory expansion,
then wait till I put them online. I hope this will be done ASAP.
Other expansions
!!! NEW !!!
I'm not sure if you can buy this chip easely, but ask for it at your local
electronical store or contact Fujitsu UK where this deal was closed.
Apple Computer, Inc.
CMS Entercements, Inc.
Other
M-2620 (20 megabytes (MB) capacity)
SD-20 (20 MB capacity)
Syquest
M-2644 (40 MB capacity)
SD-60 (60 MB capacity)
M-2688 (80 MB capacity)
SD-80 (80 MB capacity)
(SCSI disks for the Apple Macintosh)
Areas are organized in numerical order and indicated by '#(number).'
32 Tones/Tone parameters [1] - [32]
64 Tones/Tone parameters [33] - [96] (for the W-30's ROM Waves)
MIDI parameters
No. of steps: Max. of approx. 17,000 steps (total for 64 songs)
40 MB hard disk - 32 areas
60 MB hard disk - 48 areas
80 MB hard disk - 64 areas
NEC 1x, 2x, 3x, 4z, 6x
Toshiba 2x, 3x, 4x
Sanyo 2x
Sony 2x, 3x, 4x
At least not under Windows NT.
The SCSI card found it, but not the OS.
So something special is it with that CD-ROM.
How to install the KW30 kit
The KW30 SCSI kit is being delivered with a manual. Don't try to look up
how you can install the chip. It isn't in it.
Another problem is that if you insert the chip the wrong way, it might not
work anymore.
I've got mine and I inserted it right so I will tell
you how to do it, but I'm not responsable for any faults or errors.
First of all you have to open the W30 with a screwdriver.
The bottom of the W30 can be shifted so you can look inside your own W30.
There are 2 boards in it. One is just behind all the buttons and the
LCD display at the front of the W30 the other one is the motherboard of the
W30.
Look at the motherboard. There should be a place to put the chip in, otherwise
you have to unscrew it and look at the other side.
When you have found this look at the chip. There should be white or black
dot on the chip. This is pin 1.
On the motherboard there should also be a dot, so dot and dot should be in
1 place.
another way could be :
+--------------------------------------------+
| KW30 SCSI
chip
( <---- The hole !!!!
+--------------------------------------------+
When its inserted insert the new disk and start up the W30 .
It should detect the SCSI device.
Now connect the right Harddisk to it and it should work fine
Have phun or do just like me. Forget to buy a SCSI cable for 3 months :)
This company isn't there anymore, maybe they went bankrupt.
2 new ROMS
4 Places to put new RAMS, plain simms
a New systemdisk with a rewritten OS
Roland Benelux have told me that there aren't any companies who make them.
