KiwiTechnics is located in Auckland, New Zealand
PC
Service
Ltd
was
established
in
1988
as
a
design
and
support
company
specialising
in
hardware
and
software.
We
then
grew
to
also manufacture microprocessor based versatile LED lighting systems for use in the film industry.
The
name
Painting
with
Sound
was
adopted
when
a
synth
repair
division
was
started
in
2006.
It
was
during
this
phase
that
the
concept
of
the
Patch
Editor
was
born.
Combining
the
microprocessor
and
film
lighting
experience
along
with
an
obvious
need
for
a
replacement
for
the
Roland
PG
series
of
controllers
that
are
rare,
expensive
and
in
some
cases
poorly
made,
development
of
the
PE
was
begun
in
2008.
The
name
Kiwitechnics
was
adopted
for
this
division
in
2009
as
it
has
grown
and
developed
a
life
of
it’s
own.
The
frustration
of
developing
the
PG-200
part
of
the
PE
and
the
obvious
shortcomings
of
the
JX-3P
led
to
the
development
of
the
3P
Upgrade.
This
began
as
a
patch
of
the
existing
code
but
this
quickly
showed
it’s
shortcomings
and
it
has
now
become
a
full
cpu
replacement
and
a
complete
rewrite.
All
PG-200
support
was
been
removed
from the PE & 3P as it has caused endless support issues and it has passed it’s use-by date. It’s time to get a proper midi controller.
The
Kiwisix
upgrade
was
developed
due
to
the
steady
stream
of
dead
and
dying
Korg
Polysix’s
coming
through
the
workshop.
This
was
mostly
due
to
the
battery
that
was used starting to leak and the acid damaging the cpu board. The Polysix is a popular and unique sounding synth and should be kept alive.
Following
the
success
and
the
ideas
developed
with
the
Kiwi-3P
Upgrade
a
comprehensive
upgrade
was
developed
for
the
Roland
Juno-106.
This
synth
is
another
example
of
good
hardware
but
with
a
limited
user
interface
with
poor
midi
implementation.
Psicraft
have
developed
a
comprehensive
editor
that
is
being
bundled
with
the upgrade.
The
Kiwi-8P
upgrade
has
proved
to
be
the
most
complex
and
challenging
yet
with
processing
split
between
2
cpus
and
70k+
lines
of
code
but
the
result
has
been
worth
the
effort
we
feel.
The
Roland
JX-8P
has
a
warm
full
sound
and
is
an
excellent
step
up
from
the
JX-3P.
We
have
given
it
more
(and
faster)
envelopes,
more
LFOs,
a
powerful
sequencer,
an
arpeggiator
and
a
powerful
matrix
system.
This
has
resulted
in
big
button
assignment
changes
so
a
full
quality
label
has
also
been
included
with
the upgrade.
The
Roland
MKS-30
upgrade
is
a
big
step
up
for
this
capable
synth
and
now
includes
a
wave
mixing
boards that also adds pulse width control.
2021
will
forever
be
remembered
for
all
the
wrong
reasons
but
we
have
used
the
time
wisely
and
revisited
the
Kiwi-3P.
We
have
added
a
full
matrix
system
and
developed
a
wave
processing
module
that allows wave combinations and pulse width editing of the pulse wave. We also added a small dedicated cpu just to read the PG-200 input so this is also supported.
