FloppyEmulator.com Return of the Ensoniq ASR-10

by **griffin avid** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:25 am

Wrote an article about replacing the floppy drive on the Ensoniq ASR-10

http://producersedge.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/asr-10-flexidrive-installation-and-notes/

by **Ashe37** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:39 am

Great, griffin

by **adekoyote** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 6:02 am

385 dollars is just too expensive to be a viable solution if you have multiple pieces of kit. Its a great concept...but its not cost effective for a multiple platform rig.

by **griffin avid** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:24 am

What do you mean by multiple platforms?
Are you saying many different samplers or just different pieces of gear that have floppy drives on them?

If I had several samplers, I'd probably convert their libraries to my favorite format and only use a Flexidrive for the main piece. If I had very few floppies in use, I'd get the less expensive single floppy reader or just use software to back up my floppies and use them until they failed.

For the ASR-10, without SCSI, 1 track can span several floppies.

by **adekoyote** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:51 am

If you have a central workhorse then this is viable...but when you have five sampler/sequencers/synths with floppies as datasave schemes then you have a problem of price propogation. You spend ~400 bucks on each machine that needs it.

The circuits do not warrant the price set.

Yes i can dig you need large sample space, but when your data solution costs as much as the rest of the device....then that is an issue. Sure, buy one and be happy...and if you have cash to apply that to all your gear, no problem.

The thing is that emulator costs as much as an evolver desktop or a mopho from dsi.

For 400 you could get an asr-x with scsi.

Dont get me wrong. I am happy that it works for you.

My dissent is strictly focused on how ridiculous the asking price is.

by **Ashe37** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:02 am

get and ASR-x with SCSI and...
and...

need something to store samples anyway because there are no scsi drives small enough to be used in the ASR made anymore...

by **adekoyote** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:08 am

It would be nice to see the hxc emulator showcased along side the floppy emulator. Basic functionality contrasted against optimal functionality.

The goal isnt just to have a floppy on a smart media card or usb stick, but for both to be able to load multiple volumes with relative ease.

It is great to have a solution though.

by **griffin avid** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:44 am

The thing is that emulator costs as much as an evolver desktop or a mopho from dsi

Neither of which are samplers or have floppy drives....so I take it to mean 'you could buy something else instead'
But certainly not as an alternative to an ASR-10.

For 400 you could get an asr-x with scsi.

Even that is not an ASR-10.
The goal isnt just to have a floppy on a smart media card or usb stick, but for both to be able to load multiple volumes with relative ease.

Well, yes. Quite a few people look at that price tag and then they want it to cost $40. They think it's just a cheap SD Card reader. How hard can it be to make one of those? I got one off Amazon for $24.95

I also think it's relatively expensive and wish it cost less, but it does have it's own LED screen and a browser. The original ASR floppy drive was nothing more than a slot. This is more than an SD Slot to slide a disk in.

I have NO PROBLEM with thinking of it as a costly solution but seeing what it is, I don't see how the pricing as ridiculous.

And if we want to be silly about maths and money.....

A pack of Floppies in 2013 costs costs $50 for a pack of 40.
http://www.amazon.com/Memorex-3-5-PC-Formatted-High-Density-40-Pack/dp/B00000J4GP

FlexiDrive holds 2,500 floppies on 1 SD card.
Divide 2,500 into packs of 40 and that's 62.5 packages of floppies.
62.5 X $50 per pack = $3,125 USD

The absolute cheapest floppies I could find only cuts that total in half.
I have 500+ floppies here. Memorex and Fujifilm.
I bought quality then and I'm glad because it's 20 years later and they still work.

by **adekoyote** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 9:41 am

~400 alternative to an asr?

Rs7000 , mc909 , mpc series....and those have smart media options readily available...i know that we are all particular about our taste in droids but that is that. My point is that your data solution for a synth/sampler should never actually cost a synth or sampler.

Plus this solution does not address bus issues...so while you now have 500 floppies on an sd, your soundset will still take about the same time to load up into the hardware. Its slow....but on he upside its now as reliable as the new media you are using.

Plus in the case of theft you are left double down the hole.

And i think the fair price to pay is 100 dollars. 400 for a data storage solution that emulates an antiquated floppy is highly opportunistic to me....especially when the cost of manufacture is around 5-25 dollars.

But hey...its the holidays and its your resources.

I am glad you took time to update your vintage sampler and i wish you the best in your endeavours.

The point i am making is that from my perspective 385-400 bucks is too steep for the functionality provided.

It seems like a price bloat on purpose.

Thank you for your review and happy holidays. It is good to see you take the time to show people the installation steps and prove that it does work. I definitely salute you for that...but it would have been the s**t if you did it with both the HXC emulator and the Flexidrive...like a side by side comparison of functionality and price point.

griffin avid wrote:The thing is that emulator costs as much as an evolver desktop or a mopho from dsi

Neither of which are samplers or have floppy drives....so I take it to mean 'you could buy something else instead'
But certainly not as an alternative to an ASR-10.

For 400 you could get an asr-x with scsi.

Even that is not an ASR-10.
The goal isnt just to have a floppy on a smart media card or usb stick, but for both to be able to load multiple volumes with relative ease.

Well, yes. Quite a few people look at that price tag and then they want it to cost $40. They think it's just a cheap SD Card reader. How hard can it be to make one of those? I got one off Amazon for $24.95

I also think it's relatively expensive and wish it cost less, but it does have it's own LED screen and a browser. The original ASR floppy drive was nothing more than a slot. This is more than an SD Slot to slide a disk in.

I have NO PROBLEM with thinking of it as a costly solution but seeing what it is, I don't see how the pricing as ridiculous.

And if we want to be silly about maths and money.....

A pack of Floppies in 2013 costs costs $50 for a pack of 40.
http://www.amazon.com/Memorex-3-5-PC-Formatted-High-Density-40-Pack/dp/B00000J4GP

FlexiDrive holds 2,500 floppies on 1 SD card.
Divide 2,500 into packs of 40 and that's 62.5 packages of floppies.
62.5 X $50 per pack = $3,125 USD

The absolute cheapest floppies I could find only cuts that total in half.
I have 500+ floppies here. Memorex and Fujifilm.
I bought quality then and I'm glad because it's 20 years later and they still work.

by **griffin avid** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 4:21 pm

Yes, yes, Happy Holidays- to all!!!!
I actually think this thread is an x-mas present since it's been sooo long since I have been inspired to go back and forth in a thread on VSE. My most nerdy-sense is delighted to be debating the merits of gear-y-stuffs.

~400 alternative to an asr?
Rs7000 , mc909 , mpc series....and those have smart media options readily available...i know that we are all particular about our taste in droids but that is that.
RS7000 is a BEAST!!! And I have heard someone on this forum make some great stuff with the MC 909, but the MPC series...c'mon you're reaching. $400 gets you an MPC500. You can't possible be saying an alternative to an ASR-10 is an MPC500. MPC 1000, also with SD costs $1,000. And worse all of those are groove boxes, not keyboard workstations.

My point is that your data solution for a synth/sampler should never actually cost a synth or sampler.
My ASR-10 cost over $2,000 new; used it's $400, twenty years later so I don't know if that scale really works.

Plus this solution does not address bus issues...so while you now have 500 floppies on an sd, your soundset will still take about the same time to load up into the hardware. Its slow....but on he upside its now as reliable as the new media you are using.
True, indeed. BUT much quicker to scroll my customer folder system on the ASR-10 than to dig through bins of flippies, looking for a sound or song.

Plus in the case of theft you are left double down the hole.
Theft of what? The ASR-10? The floppies are already backed up on my PC. That's the archive and it's dead easy to make a 100 copies of that main folder. Now what I had hooked up to the ASR-10 or had sitting next to it, including the MC909 and Rs7000- they could all be taken-- AND the ASR-10 has the best survivability since it is heavy as-all-hell. A thief would probably take everything but the ASR-10. Lolz.

And i think the fair price to pay is 100 dollars. 400 for a data storage solution that emulates an antiquated floppy is highly opportunistic to me....especially when the cost of manufacture is around 5-25 dollars.
I'm not in that line of work, so I don't know about that.

But hey...its the holidays and its your resources.
I am glad you took time to update your vintage sampler and i wish you the best in your endeavors.
The point i am making is that from my perspective 385-400 bucks is too steep for the functionality provided.
It seems like a price bloat on purpose.
Well, it would then go into the realm of What is it Worth to You. But the idea of being taken blows...

Thank you for your review and happy holidays. It is good to see you take the time to show people the installation steps and prove that it does work. I definitely salute you for that...but it would have been the s**t if you did it with both the HXC emulator and the Flexidrive...like a side by side comparison of functionality and price point.

Maybe I will in the new year. Might be an interesting thing to explore.
Or find someone that has one to provide some info.
Thanks for sharing your opinions. I hope to hear more of them.

by **Hugo76** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 9:11 pm

Here's a video showing the FlexiDrive installed in a Yamaha SU700 sampler:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ycIk0SJNEi4

Looks very handy!

by **adekoyote** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 9:14 pm

No problem at all! Nerd candy is awesome. Please continue to write reviews and articles regarding hardware.

I would love to read more about the asr-x unit. I heard that it has amazing bass response as well as its warmth when work with samples... Not to mention the quality of the effects. It is hard to find a substantive perspective on it.

Peace

by **griffin avid** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 11:12 pm

That's a good video. I also made another one and added to the Blog Post.

Watch on youtube.com

It is hard to find a substantive perspective on it.

When I Google the ASR-X, I found a bunch of posts about it on gearslutz and there's an ASR-10 forum.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/165665/