K2600 Version 4 (Orchestral & Contemporary ROM) GENERAL MIDI DISK SET


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 just the Orchestral ROM added, and for K2600's no 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 (1) 1.4Mb HD floppy disk. The disk must be formatted in DOS. (Mac users may need software which allows you to work with DOS formatted floppies on the Mac.)

Copy GMV4OC.K26 to a floppy disk. Because the GM file is almost the size of a 1.4 meg floppy disk, you may get a message that there is not enough room to copy the files onto the disk, even if there are no other files on the disk. If this occurs, format a floppy on the Kurzweil, then put that floppy into your computer - you should be able to copy both files onto the disk.

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 the floppy in the drive and press DISK. Make sure Floppy is selected and press Load.

3. Select the GMV4OC.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.

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.