Korg M3: Upgrading to XPanded OS v2.04
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Scenario

Are you confused what steps you have to take to ensure the software on your M3 is up to date with the latest version? This guide was written to explain how to perform the M3 XPanded OS upgrade.

Prerequisites

  1. If your M3 keyboard is running a version of the OS prior to version 2.0 XPanded then you should perform the stage 1 upgrade procedure to get it to v2.0 XPanded first.
  2. Do not attempt to revert back to an older OS version afterwards, because downgrading is unsupported.
  3. If you created any User COMBIS or PROGRAMS, make sure you save your work beforehand to a USB drive (using MEDIA - SAVE).
  4. The USB drive that you use with your M3 must not contain any hidden partition such as a U3 partition for auto-play on a PC. For example, Sandisk Cruzer Titanium drives are supplied as standard with U3 partitions which must be removed using the Sandisk U3 partition removal tool.

Procedure (stage 1, OS v2.00)

  1. Download the V2 XPanded OS file onto your PC or MAC by clicking this link
  2. Using the MEDIA-FORMAT function on the M3, format a USB memory stick of at least 1 GByte capacity using "FAT32" and "full format" options. Then plug the USB memory stick into your PC or MAC.
  3. On your PC or MAC, open the M3XP_V200_E1.zip folder and multi-select the following two folders and three files:
    • M3SYS
    • M3XPSYS
    • EXPCM01.KEP
    • EXPCM02.KEP
    • EXPCM03.KEP
  4. Identify the drive icon for the USB memory stick, and "Drag and drop" the two folders and three files onto the USB memory stick icon, so the files are stored in the root folder of the USB memory stick.
  5. Double click the USB memory stick icon to view the contents of the USB stick to verify that all the above folders and files have successfully transferred to the USB stick.
  6. Download this file containing the V1 PCM04 piano samples
  7. On the PC, open the folder EXUSB_PCM04.zip and the sub-folder EXUSB_PCM04 and copy the files EXPCM04.KEP and EXPCM04.PCG onto the root level of your USB pen drive. It will now contain the following files:
    • M3SYS
    • M3XPSYS
    • EXPCM01.KEP
    • EXPCM02.KEP
    • EXPCM03.KEP
    • EXPCM04.KEP
    • EXPCM04.PCG
  8. Plug the USB stick into your M3, enter GLOBAL mode, select the Update system software option from the drop down menu. When the first part of the procedure has finished, turn power off, count to 5, then power on. BUT do not press any buttons or keys at this stage!! DO NOT try to use the M3 yet since the rest of the upgrade will fail.
  9. When the M3 is finished booting up, enter GLOBAL mode, and select the Update system software option once again. When the second part of the procedure has finished, turn power off, count to 5, then power on. When the M3 powers up the second time, it will display in red letters the word XPanded. This means the v2.0 upgrade is OK. It will also tell you that it is auto loading the EXPCM03.KEP file, it takes about 20 seconds.
  10. Remove the USB stick from the M3, insert it in the computer again, and move the two folders M3SYS and M3XPSYS to a dirfectory labelled "OS 2.00 system files". On the USB stick the only files remaining will be:
    • EXPCM01.KEP
    • EXPCM02.KEP
    • EXPCM03.KEP
    • EXPCM04.KEP
    • EXPCM04.PCG
  11. Don't forget that from V2.0.0 onwards, unless you have the internal SD card upgrade fitted (see link below), you must ALWAYS have the USB stick plugged into your M3 in future. This is because the EX-USB-PCM samples (the KEP files) must be loaded from external USB storage into RAM each time the M3 powers up. If it can't find the new samples, then some programs and combis will not play.
  12. You can configure your M3 to autoload all the EXPCM files at this stage, see this article.

Procedure (stage 2, OS v2.04)

Note: unlike all previous V2.0.0 through V2.0.3 updates, the V2.0.4 update is a single update patch. You do not have to apply it twice. You must have previously upgraded to any of OS v2.00 or OS v2.01 or OS v2.02 before applying the OS v2.04 update.

  1. Download the V2.04 OS upgrade file onto your PC or MAC by clicking this link, then unzip the file to create an M3XP_V204 folder. Move this folder to a safe place where you keep all your archived OS updates backed up on your computer.
  2. Turn off your M3.
  3. Plug your USB stick into your computer, view its contents, and ensure that no M3SYS or M3XPSYS folders are on the stick. (These might still be hanging around from the stage 1 procedure above; if they are, delete them now from the USB stick.)
  4. From the M3XP_V204 folder that you extracted in step 1, copy the M3XPSYS folder inside to the root folder of your USB stick. You will now have the following files on your USB stick:
    • M3XPSYS … copied from within the M3XP_V204 directory above.
    • EXPCM01.KEP
    • EXPCM02.KEP
    • EXPCM03.KEP
    • EXPCM04.KEP
    • EXPCM04.PCG
  5. Eject/unmount the USB stick from your computer.
  6. Plug the USB stick into your M3, and turn the M3 on.
  7. Enter GLOBAL mode, then from the page menu in the upper right, select Update System Software. When the procedure has completed the display will read "Completed. Please turn the power off, and then on again."
  8. Turn off the M3, wait a few seconds, then turn it on again.
  9. Ensure that you see Version: V2.0.4 in the startup screen.
  10. Don't forget to remove that M3XPSYS folder from your USB stick the next time it's plugged into your computer. These are the files that should remain on your USB stick:
    • EXPCM01.KEP
    • EXPCM02.KEP
    • EXPCM03.KEP
    • EXPCM04.KEP
    • EXPCM04.PCG
  11. Don't forget that from V2.0.0 onwards, unless you have the internal SD card upgrade fitted (see link below), you must ALWAYS have the USB stick plugged into your M3 in future. This is because the EX-USB-PCM samples (the KEP files) must be loaded from external USB storage into RAM each time the M3 powers up. If it can't find the new samples, then some programs and combis will not play.

What's next?

The following companion guides explain the subsequent steps of:

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