KORG i30 Manual File Editing

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i30 File Editor derives from a DOS program designed to help the author customize 32 Styles disk files for his "turbokit upgraded" KORG i3, i.e:

• Pick up Styles, scattered among many standard 4 Styles (1 Block) files, then
• Group them into one big 32 Styles (8 Blocks) file, which can be loaded with a single "load all data" command into the upgraded i3.

The same need is amplified by the i30, which hosts 48 User Styles.

This operation can be achieved on the i30 itself, indeed, but please look below at the required sequence:

• Insert the source floppy disk. Press DISK button.
• Select a Set directory. Touch Open.
• Select a Style file. Touch Open.
• Select the Block. Touch Open.
• Select the Style. Touch File. Touch Load.
• Select internal Style. Touch OK.
• Repeat above steps for the Arrangement(s) that call the Style.
• Repeat above steps for all Styles and Arrangements you want to copy from the source disk.
• Save all Styles and Arrangements into the destination disk.
• Repeat the whole process with other source disks.

And that’s only a small part of the game…

The big problem concerns all i-series models, including those with only 4 User Styles memory.

Each time you change, delete or move an Item, particularly a Program, you can affect its behavior as well as the behavior of Items that are linked to it. Actually, in an i30 Set

• each Arrangement calls 1 Style and 9 Programs,
• each Style calls 6 Programs,
• each Backing Sequence calls 1 Arrangement, 1 Style and up to 8 Programs (not to mention internal changes!),
• each Song calls up to 16 Programs (not to mention internal changes!),
• each KBD Set calls 5 Programs.

As a matter of fact, they don't call them by Names, such as Color Pad or SoulRock 3, but by Reference to their location in memory, such as D57 or U42, without any knowledge of what Programs, Styles etc. have actually been loaded into these locations.

Checking and fixing all existing links turns to a dreadful task entirely left to the User, as we can infer from the simple example below.

Suppose we want to replace, in MYNEWSET, Style C42 Latin Pop 3 by Style C13 Acid Funk extracted from MYOLDSET.

• Naturally, using Load a Style command on our i30, we load Style Acid Funk into C42 location, then we Save Style Block 4 into MYNEWSET.STY.
• Likewise, we copy Arrangement C16 Funkacid (which uses Style C13 Acid Funk in MYOLDSET.STY) into D85 location, then we Save Arrangements into MYNEWSET.

Correct? No, because

• In MYOLDSET.SET, Style Acid Funk, as well as Arrangement Funkacid, call Drum Kit R57 Acid Drum. But in MYNEWSET.PRG, they will find R57 Street Drum instead.
• They also expect to find Program Acid Slap for Bass track in G77, instead of present MYNEWSET.PRG Program Tuba 4.
• In MYNEWSET.SET, Arrangement D85 Funkacid still calls Style at C13, whereas it should call Style Acid Funk at location C42.

Of course, we can copy Acid Drum into R57 and Acid Slap into G77, but that will overwrite Street Drum and Tuba 4, which may be used elsewhere in MYNEWSET Arrangements, Styles, Backing Sequences, Songs and KBD Sets.

To solve the problem, we must check out all Programs called by all MYNEWSET Arrangements, Styles, Backing Sequences etc. before attempting to overwrite any of them. The same holds for Styles etc.

In our example, browsing MYNEWSET.SET shows that:

• Overwritten Style Latin Pop 03 at C42 was nowhere called in the original Set MYNEWSET.
• Street Drum is nowhere called.
• Tuba 4 is only called by Arrangement D61 FlonFlon (track ACC2).

So, we "just" have to

• choose a replacement for Program Tuba 4 in Arrangement D61,
• fix the reference to Style C42 Acid Jazz 2 in Arrangement D85,
• take Aspirin,
• repeat the whole sequence to change or move other Styles.

If undertaken on the i30, the task soon becomes a nightmare, with dozens of disk inserts and ejects, pressing buttons hundred times etc., and, as a probable result, severe errors.

Compare now with the same task undertaken with i30 File Editor editing process...

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