Originally Posted By: Diki
That's a sound expansion upgrade (like sound packs for Yamaha's, sampled expansion sounds for Korg's etc., ALL of which cost money!) as well as an OS revision.

From a post by you a few years ago:
Quote:
The instrument is OAS 7 ready, and the current upgrade cost is approx £370 plus fitting (The upgrade has to be performed by a Wersi Engineer, and has the added advantage that a 12 month warrantee is automatically supplied)


Full post is here: http://leighwilbraham.forumchitchat.com/post/Wersi-Abacus-OAS-6-2036451 How much have you put into your Abacus over the years, Bill? LOL

There is considerable totally new stuff and a lot of older features not included in the original OS for the BK-9, all completely free. Roland do a great job of extending the lifespan of their arrangers (they brought out an OS3 for G70 two YEARS after it was introduced!) at no cost.

There is a feature not yet implemented for the BK-9 where you WILL be able to add additional sounds (new samples) to the internal ROM, and that (like the Atelier update) will be a paid for addition. But OS upgrades have always been free for the arrangers, AFAIK.


All the updates for the Pegasus Wing Arranger have also been free, with another expected later this year. (Which will be about 2 ½ years after launch)

OAS 7 was a large OS and sound update also. (Creamware’s Scope engine was replaced with Steinberg’s Hypersonic VST engine with 300 new sounds added)

The Hardware in my Abacus gets upgraded when I upgrade my computer (I just transfer the old computer parts to the Abacus) so no dedicated cost there.

Software wise including OAS 7 (Which also required a new SG card) about £750 over 10 years, (My Abacus now has exactly the same as a brand new instrument, even though it is 10 years old) and as there is no comparison between old and new I am sure you will agree is very good value, and much cheaper than most users who have changed their boards more than once in that time (The vast majority of arranger players) to get incremental upgrades.

The last update was May/June last year (Free) with another expected later this year. If you want to know what changed in the update then it contained a brand new and advanced drum editor. (If you wish to see the differences look at page 48 for the old drum editor and page 11 for the new drum editor in the OAS7 Programming manual V2 which can be downloaded here )


Bill
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