Yamaha DX7 E! Grey Matter & Corrupted Memory

[pflosi]

The E! expansion is the same for both the MK1 and MK2 DX7, AFAIK...

[commodorejohn]

No, it's completely different. Though I don't know if there was more than one revision of the Mk.1 DX7 E! firmware...

[Sonus]

E! for the DX7, Rev. 1.1, Date of Publication: December 4, 1985.

[pflosi]

Woah, really? You learn something new every day. I thought there was only one and that it would work on both the MK1 and MK2 DX7. I have the MK1, FWIW.

So, here's the MK1 manual, then: http://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/mth192/page ... rd-man.pdf

[gwolff]

Following the E! Grey Matter manual's procedure was my first intention. They suggest: Turning off internal memory protect, enabling SYSEX filters, and ensuring midi channels are set to 01. After I set these settings, I send the SYSEX files and watch blocks of hexadecimal patch text fly by and then observe no change on the DX7. Sometimes MIDIOX will show the patch names like in my screenshot, other times it will display the default INIT VOICE hexadecimal patch setting.

My E! card is version 2.02. MK1. Not sure if that makes any difference in the procedure or if there's some lost updated manual for my card.

[madtheory]

Where is the "filters" coming from? I don't see that in the E! manual. What about removing the E! board? Or has it had a new battery and a reset?

[pflosi]

The OP states that the battery was changed...

Alright, maybe you didn't do a full reset... Here's what to do:

First, press Function to enter the menu. Press Operator Select twice for the memory page, button 31 twice for Internal Memory Protection. That must be off.

Then, you need to do three resets basically: Button 19 (also in the memory page) once for erase patch map; twice for physical presets; and three times for the bank. Confirm all three.

Now, when your memory is corrupted, funny things might happen. So, you need to do this on every bank of presets of the expansion (0-9). Remember: You must select a (corrupted) preset when you change the bank numbers in order to actually enter that bank of presets! Otherwise, you'll always do it on bank 0.

That should do a full reset. Unfortunately, I cannot test sending patches there without a massive recabling effort... But you definitely need to do that if the patches were corrupted.

Cheers and good luck!

[gwolff]

...

I've done that reset twice, and still have no effect when I try and transfer patches. I've cleared all the banks, and they are all INIT VOICE and uncorrupted (default sine waves).

I'm getting a new MIDI-USB cable tomorrow, a YAMAHA UX16, which hopefully fixes the problem. The cable I was using before had one review on Amazon saying it didn't work with certain yamaha products, but had no mention of the DX7.

Besides this, I'm not sure what else could be the problem? At this point if the new cable doesn't work it's probably an internal CPU error, right? If the DX7 is sending SYSEX information to MIDIOX, but not receiving SYSEX information.. I can't really understand what's wrong. Is there a certain specific screen you have to be at on the DX7 with the E! expansion? Or do you just send the SYSEX at any time, and boom it's in the synth?

[madtheory]

If the DX7 is sending SYSEX information to MIDIOX

There's no evidence of this? I thought we'd established that you had mistaken GM patch names for SysEx?

[mmp]

Just in case anyone needs the E! MIDI spec, here is a link:
E! MIDI Spec

[kdzy]

I am having a very similar issue. I can send sysex to my mk1 E! GM dx7 and the LED turns to a red dot like its receiving. When the dump is done the patches remain unchanged as the corrupted patches.

I can even initialize a patch but I can't store it. When I try the patch reverts back to the corrupted patch.

What could I be doing wrong?

[neanalog]

I had a DX7 with E! installed. I struggled to keep the E! card from getting corrupted for a long time until I finally just reverted back to a regular DX7. I did figure out a good procedure for restoring the E! memory after it gets wiped:

1) go to memory menu and turn memory protect off for both internal and cartridge.

2)go to midi menu and reset all channels to 1, even if 1 is displayed, toggle it anyway.

3) go to memory menu and hit 19 to get the dialog to erase patch maps, erase the current bank, and erase all scales. Do this for all 9 banks.

4) set RAM format to VOICE, not scale.

5) Go to scale menu and reset scales.

6) Go to the sysex filters and turn them ON.

Now you can send in a bank via sysex.

After each bank transfer, be sure to recheck the SYSEX filters and make sure they are On. The E! firmware is buggy, and it will occasionally rest the filters to OFF for no reason. (E! is flaky)

There is a fairly good chance that you have a bad solder joint somewhere on the E! card. I reflowed mine and got it to behave better, but if I moved the synth, it would occasionally reset the memory. The mechanical mounting scheme of the E! card is one of the worst I have ever seen, and it is nearly impossible to see if the legs are actually making good contact. The best move I made for my DX7 was to toss the E! card into the trash and revert to stock DX7. It's a good idea, but the firmware and the physical mechanical scheme are poorly laid out, causing more issues than it is worth.