Korg DDD-1 sampling board

Cumulus · July 31, 2009, 05:11:20 PM

You can sample without the RAM card.

I don't have the RAM card and I have sampled a few times.

I think the samples disappear when you turn it off but if you have the RAM card you can store them there.

LoFi-Ninja · July 31, 2009, 08:39:32 PM

Yeah I found out I could sample. If your sample dissapears then the sampler batteries are dead.

Cumulus · September 09, 2009, 03:10:02 PM

What about that battery question? One of my DDD-1's has finally lost its memory. I remember reading something about changing the battery in the manual but I don;t have easy access to it right now.

Does anyone know off-hand which batteries I should feed these things?

Circuitbenders · September 09, 2009, 03:24:47 PM

CR2032 for the pattern memory backup i would imagine.

If the sampler board has its own battery i don't know what that one would be.

LoFi-Ninja · September 09, 2009, 10:29:43 PM

There's ofcause the CR2032 but there's also some other batteries in there.. Looks very much like re-chargeable batts. but I think they're not.. I'll take a pic when I find my cam..

Cumulus · September 10, 2009, 09:44:54 PM

Actually you CAN sample without the RAM card. I thnk the samples are stored in the internal memory.

Speking of internal memory, I have been under the impression that the internal memroy was the old-fashioned kind where you had to give it a constant supply of voltage from a battery. Last night I opened up one of my DDD-1's to change said battery since it has been losing its memory upon shut-down. Imagine my surprise when I fould no battery in the compartment!

Now, I have had this particular machine for about 20 years and never had a problem with memory until a few months ago. There were patterns, settings, and songs stored in the thing from 1990 or so up until recenlty. I always thought it was strange because I had heard that the battery only lasts a few years but I figured it wasn't broke so I didn't try to fix it (some circuit-bender I am, huh?).

Anyway, my question is how did it keep its memory for so long with no battery? Did someone sneak in my house in the middle of hte night and steal my battery out of the thing? (I'll answer that one - nope.. They would have taken the whole machiine or perhaps the MiniMoog or something really worth stealing...)

I am baffled.

Cumulus · September 10, 2009, 09:52:37 PM

OK, so maybe that explains my situation. Where is the CR2032? I found the rechargeable-looking battery pack one one of my machiens but not in the other.

Is the CR2032 (or whatever it is) easily accesible? I can't figure out where it is.

Cumulus · September 10, 2009, 09:54:05 PM

And, LoFi-Ninja , I won;t try to get the location of that super secret dumpster from you but if ever wanted to share I am not above dumpster diving.....

LoFi-Ninja · September 11, 2009, 02:48:56 PM

Cumulus the CR2032 is on the motherboard itself.. It's one of those "Not accessible by user" kind of deals.. I'll see if can find my camera and snap some pics for you today.. Your storage problem should just be that the battery is dead. If not maybe you did a factory reset on the DDD-1 by accident.. It only requires 2 buttons to be pressed so it's a possibility.

It's not about you sharing with others, it's if I share with you. Then there's less stuff for me.

But seriously go "dumpster diving" You will find so much treasure.

Cumulus · September 11, 2009, 04:57:29 PM

Thanks. I guess I'll have to take it apart to access it.

Dumpster diving can be pretty lucrative. I have not found much in the way of electronics and certainly never any drum machines but I have found many other useful items.

Circuitbenders · October 02, 2009, 01:44:55 PM

I just got a DDD1 with the the sampling board through the post to modify, and it seems to have the standard CR2032 on the board for the pattern and setup memory, and in that mysterious compartment you can open up on the bottom of the thing theres a battery pack connected to the empty connection block you can see in there.

It appears to be two AA batteries of some sort and is labelled 4.8V. The one in this machine is completely dead but i can only assume that this battery is for the sample memory backup as you don't see it in DDD1's without the sampling board.

EDIT: Well heres a weird thing. This DDD1 appears to sample fine but either the D/A convertor is doing something not quite right or i'm doing something wrong. I've followed the sampling procedure in the manual and it appears to work, but all i hear when i play back the sound is the kind of high pitched digital noise you used to get loading games from cassette on a ZX spectrum. Its like its playing back the digital data straight from the RAM rather than converting it back to audio. All the other sounds work fine so i'm thinking theres probably a problem with the sample DAC, unless i'm doing something completely wrong. Anyone got any ideas whats going on here?

While i'm here, does anyone know what the TEST switch on the sampling board does?

noiseybeast · February 21, 2010, 11:03:00 PM

Ghost post resurrection!

The battery is just 4x1.2 v nicad. Old enough that it was still called cadnica.

Gordonjcp · February 21, 2010, 11:38:34 PM

"Cadnica" was the name of a particular manufacturer's range of NiCad batteries. They will be pretty old, by now.

plasticanimal · February 21, 2012, 07:54:57 AM

I have the sampling option on mine. It works perfectly if you replace the NiCad battery pack. I tried it with the original battery and I got the same digital noise you described. I replaced the battery with four AAA NiCads in a battery holder. Now it works great and the batteries can be replaced if needed. Haven't bent it yet though. Anyone know where to find info on the ROM pin outs? Or does it not really hurt to pock around on the two ROM chips?

Circuitbenders · February 21, 2012, 12:00:38 PM

so it actually needs battery power to sample properly, instead of it being just for backing up the sample memory?

Wouldn't that indicate that something essential like the RAM is isolated from the power rails of the machine itself and is permanently battery powered? That seems like a very odd way of doing things. $:-\$

If you avoid the positive power pins on the ROM's you should be alright. If you don't have a pinout then i'd imagine you can find them pretty easily with a meter.