DESCRIPTION:
These files are designed to make a K2600 General MIDI compatible.
REQUIREMENTS:
* NOTE: There are separate versions of these compatibility files for K2600's with the no additional ROM blocks added, and for K2600's with both Orchestral and Contemporary ROM blocks added. There are also completely different versions to be used for K2600's with VERSION 3 software or less. If you have downloaded the wrong compatibility set (i.e. your unit does not match requirements* above), please re-visit the Kurzweil's website where you will find all the various GM Compatibility file sets available for download.
USE:
To use these files, you will need 2 floppy disks. The first disk must be a high density disk (1.4 meg). The second disk may be high density or double density (720k). The two disks should be formatted in DOS. (Mac users may need software which allows you to work with DOS formatted floppies on the Mac.)The two GMV4ORCH.K26 files contained in this package are actually two parts of one multi-disk file. In order for the K2600 to properly load both parts, they have to have the same name. So the two parts have been stored in two separate folders (directories) called DISK1 and DISK2
Follow these steps to properly recreate the files on floppies:
1. Open the DISK1 folder and copy the GMV4ORCH.K26 file to the first (high density) disk.
2. Open the DISK2 folder and Copy GMV4ORCH.K26 to the second disk.
IMPORTANT - Be sure that you copy the files by themselves onto the two floppies. DO NOT copy the folders onto the disks, or the second part of the file will not load correctly.
3. Be sure to label the first disk "1 of 2" and the second disk "2 of 2".
TO LOAD THE GM COMPATIBILITY FILES:
NOTE: Since the GM file contains RAM samples, you will have to reload the file each time you turn the K2600 on.
1. Make sure that there is nothing in the 400s and 500s bank. To do this, press MASTER, then the Delete soft button. At this point you can choose to either delete everything in RAM (By scrolling down to Everything) or you can delete just the 400s and 500s bank by selecting those banks, one at a time.2. Put disk 1 in the drive and press DISK. Make sure Floppy is selected and press Load.
3. Select the GMV4ORCH.K26 file and press OK. The display will read "Load this file as"... select the 400-499 bank. Press OK again. (Even though GM program changes go from 0-128, the file is designed so that the programs will be called up properly when loaded into the 400s and 500s bank.
4. You will now be given a choice of the loading method - either Append or Fill. For this particular file, you may press either button - both methods will end up loading the file in the exact same manner.
5. The display will inform you that this is disk 1 of a multi-disk file and begin loading. After disk 1 has been loaded, the display will prompt "Insert disk #2 for loading". Remove disk 1; insert disk 2, and press OK.
NOTE: The General MIDI file contains more than 100 programs. Therefore, even though you are loading into the 400s bank, the programs are actually loaded into the 400s and 500s bank.
It is not always necessary to delete the objects from the 400s and 500s bank before loading the GM file. If any objects already exist in the 400s bank, you will be given a choice of Overwrite. If you select one of these options, the K2600 will delete the objects in the 400s bank, then start loading into it.
However, this method only initially deletes the objects in the 400s bank. If there are currently objects in the 500s, the loading process will slow down. Once the K2600 fills up the 400s bank and moves to the 500s bank, the K2600 will delete only one program at a time before loading a program into the need slot. (For example, it will delete program 500, then load in the new program 500, then delete 501 and load in the new 501, etc.) This method slow down the loading process considerably.
So it is always best to first delete the existing programs in the 500s bank before loading.
PLEASE READ THE K2600 V4 GM USER'S MANUAL FOR MORE INFORMATION ON USING GENERAL MIDI.
LOADING SEQUENCES :
Since the K2600 can read Standard MIDI Files (SMFs), you may have GM sequences saved from another sequencer that you want to load.If you load the sequence into the 400s or 500s bank, make sure you choose Append or Fill for the loading method so you don't erase the programs in those banks. Of course, you can load the sequence into any bank and it will correctly call up the right programs.