A friend sold it to me along with the programmer (PG-200) and it was love

at first bassline! Programming this simple beast can be a bite unless you

have the PG-200. It only has a small 4-character LED display that barely

has the room to give you the bank/patch number. However, the PG-200 gives you all the knobs that you need to tweak this unit

to your heart's content. Nothing comes close to it's ease of use. Unfortunately, you have to keep in mind when this unit hit the scene. It was

one of Roland's first MIDI rack units. Therefore, it doesn't have a MIDI out.

They figured, "Why would anyone need a MIDI out on a rack?" Needless to say,

because of the absence of a MIDI out, you cannot use an editor/librarian

with the MKS-30. Another missing element is the unit's inability to respond

to MIDI continuous controller #7 - Volume. If you are one who enjoys the

power of utilizing MIDI volume to automate a mix in your sequencer, the

MKS-30 will not respond. It's limitations aside, I still love it dearly. It's not multi-timbral - it

only has 6 voices - but what wonderful voices they are! Excellent basses!

I love programming the filter to velocity to allow me to really accent

certain notes. It's also capable of some wonderfully lush strings and pads. If you yearn for some knobs and some of the power of an analog synth

without the hefty/trendy price tag that has been popping up lately, this

could be your instrument. Enjoy!

most of the familiar analog sounds we all love...in answer to your question about

resetting, my manual says this... "Preset patches 1-1 to 4-8 (32 patches) can be restored even if lost, but those

of 5-1 to 8-8 can never be retrieved. To restore the lost patches, set the Protect

Switch to OFF, then press the Bank Button while holding the Write/Copy Button down.

This naturally erases the existing first 32 patches, so watch out!. Then set the

Protect Switch back on."

is an easy quick access to some basic analogue sounds, it definitely suffers

from the fact that it does not receive/process CC 7. ie volume changes.

Because I also still possess an old PG 300 programmer *(used for the JX3P

synths) programming is a lot easier(I come from the old moog school of

thought, lots of knobs and buttons preferred to parameter form of

programming)

I bought the unit second hand without a manual, so if any body knows the

combination of buttons required to reset the unit back to it's original

settings it would be much appreciated. Please email me at mark@eisa.net.au