egeberg@solan.unit.no (Christian Egeberg) (11/23/90)
Today I visited my regular supplier of syntesizer accessories. I was looking for
a drum machine, but on the way out, I asked my friend behind the counter: "By the
way, what do you charge for a 128k Korg RAM Card?" He answered: "I think I have a
couple lying around. Their list price is close to 100$, but I'll let you have one
for 50$, or say... 30$. Boy are these musicians crazy, I thought to myself, but
maybe it's my lucky day :-). A 128k HP card is minimum 415$ in Norway. Of course
my friend isn't crazy. He's a good musician, but far from crazy. He, and Korg and
Roland name their RAM Cards by the number of bits. He was offering me a 16k byte
RAM Card for 30$. The only Korg and Roland memory card sizes that exist in Norway
are 128 and 256 k bit. That is 16 or 32 k byte.
Korg cards have the same number of pins as the 48, but miss the protection cover
that slides up to reveal the connectors of the HP cards. On both sides of the
HP cards there is a recess. An inch long, an inch / 100 deep ( or something).
These recesses are not present on the Korg cards I looked at. This means you will
have to physically abuse the card to make it fit. Sorry :-(
Roland cards however... These have the protection cover. They exist in 128 and
256k bit :-(. Their price is 3/5 of HP ( in Norway). That is 115$ versus 200$.
The ( Norwegian) Roland part number is M-256E. They are actually cheaper than
the similar Korg variants. I haven't had the chance to test one, because they
had only ROM cards in the shop. Besides I believe my nerves are too fringy, and
my wallet too sloppy if something goes wrong. All in all, I wouldn't consider
neither buying nor trying one.
Do these cards really exist in 128k byte versions elsewhere? Just wondering...
Perhaps Trondheim, Norway is too next to nowhere, but then again...
Christian Egeberg