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Magnetic RAM upgrade

The Electrongate MRAM upgrade is designed for all Oberheim Z-80 based products including the DMX, DX, OB-8, OB-Xa, OB-X and DSX.

This upgrade replaces the battery-backed RAM used to hold patches and sequences with a new magnetic RAM technology that requires no battery to hold data when the power is off.

Magnetic RAM circuit board
    Advantages:
  • No more battery replacements!
  • No more battery leakage!
  • No more memory loss due to dead batteries!
  • Indefinite storage of patches/sequences.
  • Optional bank select switch can double your storage capacity.
The MRAM board is a high quality four-layer printed circuit with all the buffering, address decoding and voltage regulation required for a reliable backup system.

For more information on the magnetic RAM technology used in this product, see this PDF file from Freescale.

    Easy Installation:
  1. Back up your data to tape before starting!
  2. Turn off the power, open your Oberheim machine and remove the Z-80 processor from its socket.
  3. Put the Z-80 into the socket on the MRAM board
  4. Remove the old RAM ICs from your Oberheim machine
  5. Remove the battery (be sure to recycle the old battery*)
  6. Plug the MRAM board into the Z-80 socket.
  7. Turn the power on and clear the memory. Reload your backed-up data.
  8. That's it! No soldering required.

Each different product requires a different "personality" to map the memory range correctly, so the Magnetic RAM upgrade is sold based on the machine in which it will be installed.
 


Ordering information:
Please contact Electrongate by email if you are interested in a Magnetic RAM upgrade for a product that is not listed below. With the appropriate personality installed, this board should work with any Z-80 based system.

Magnetic RAM board for the Oberheim DMX with MIDI
(Rev. 4 firmware) 		Lead time 1 week:
$129.00 each.

Magnetic RAM board for the Oberheim DMX with memory expansion board
(Rev. 3 firmware) 		Lead time 1 week:
$129.00 each.

Magnetic RAM board for the Oberheim DMX
(Rev. 1 or Rev. 2 firmware) 		Lead time 1 week:
$129.00 each.

* Recycling your old battery:
Be sure to take your old battery to a recycling center for proper disposal. Some places that will accept batteries for recycling are: Radio Shack, Home Depot, Batteries Plus and cell phone stores.

Copyright 2008 Electrongate -- Comments & questions to Paul J. White