FloppyEmulator.com Return of the Ensoniq ASR-10

[Yekuku]

Interesting review, many thanks.
I am about to order cheap ($20) floppy/usb emulators from ebay :
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid= ... &_from=R40
They are advertised as floppy replacement for musical instruments, does anybody know if they work right ?

[Jabberwalky]

Did you buy one? Did it work?

[Yekuku]

Sorry for the late reply, I have not tried one yet but here is an interesting review

[gmeredith]

They are advertised as floppy replacement for musical instruments, does anybody know if they work right ?

I don't think so. Note where it says further down:

"Note:This is universal type!! it only can replace the floppy drive that is compatible with PC, We assume our customer could be expert with jump wires"

Most older musical instrument samplers use Schugart configuration floppy disk drives (which are NOT standard PC drives) - their cable wiring is different to a PC floppy drive. If you put a normal PC floppy drive in as a replacement it won't work in most cases. It could even kill your sampler. That product linked there would be a PC drive replacement. Unless the ad actually says that it has been tried and tested successfully on your actual sampler, you have to assume that it may not work.

That's why these emulators are being developed. Otherwise, since day 1 people would have been simply replacing their floppy drives when they wear out with a PC drive, and you wouldn't hear about such emulators (except for storage capacity convenience). You CAN adapt a normal drive to work in some cases but it's a lot of fiddling around (you may need to change the spin speed also) etc. And even then, only certain brands or types of drives will work. I've looked into this with my Casio FZ-1 sampler, which are notorious for having dead floppy drives.

I think in all of these responses people are forgetting that some people really really really like their ASR10's. It's not about "well, for that much money, I could buy a ".......". Maybe. But to the person wanting their ASR10 because they really like it, it's not going to cut. They are looking for ways to keep their ASR10 in use - cost isn't so important as having a working machine that the'yve spent all their years on developing their own sample libraries, banks etc. These are what's valuable. As well as the way the machine sounds, goes about it's tasks, familiarity etc. I completely understand, and feel the same way about my Casio FZ-1; sure it's a c**p sampler compared to anything that's available now, or even not available any more; but I like it, I like the way it sounds, I know it and know how to work with it, and I have a large library of my own samples and banks stored on perishable media.

I think Hideaway was messing about trying to get an FZ-1 working with a HXC a while back; I would consider spending money on one of these flexidrives if they worked on my FZ-1, especially if they were more streamlined in use than the HXC.

Just my 2 cent's worth as a fond crappy sampler user

Cheers, Graham

[adekoyote]

Well, here is the thing. The $80 Gotek model has been confirmed to work with the Yamaha A3000 and the Su700 on different forums...and the Floppy Emulator costs $400(also confirmed to work with the SU700 and other devices). We need to see the full palette of available options as buyers before deciding which is the most optimal decision to take.

So that tells me that someone is basically price gouging...in my opinion...versus properly explaining why their emulator is better than another emulator that does the same thing.

I appreciate what you are saying though...but imagine if you were fond of more than using just one crappy sampler...I Love my SU700 so much that I went ahead to get another....just because it is that good...so the idea of spending $800 to add USB capability is essentially $600 that I could be using to expand and evolve my studios capabilities.

So the question becomes : what other models of floppy emulator can work with this device...versus is this a device you would recommend to another buyer...because functionality is just an aspect of the design/marketing of a product(albeit an important one)

[gmeredith]

Hey look for $20 as stated in the ebay ad...or $80 for the Gotek one (stated as working in some Yamaha samplers), it's worth the risk. There's not much loss if it doesn't work. Be mindful though that just because it may not work doesn't mean it can't be made to work, by using a rewired cable etc as is the common conversion process for a PC floppy drive to a Shugart configuration. It would be great if you could get it going!

Cheers, Graham

[Jeff_HxC2001]

[...]
I think Hideaway was messing about trying to get an FZ-1 working with a HXC a while back; I would consider spending money on one of these flexidrives if they worked on my FZ-1, especially if they were more streamlined in use than the HXC.

[...]

Sorry, but the HxC is working perfectly with the FZ1...
If you have any problem just contact me on the forum or by email.

http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopi ... 6885#p6885

http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopi ... 8&start=30

And here some examples of the HxC usages :
http://hxc2001.com/showroom/index.html#MusicRetroFit

[gmeredith]

I've been reading up on those cheaper floppy/usb emulators. It seems that they will work in some samplers. Unfortunately not in the FZ sampler though - the FZ floppy is a bit different to most, it runs at 360RPM instead of the standard 300rpm, so the floppy emulator has to emulate that as well. These cheap ones don't. But the HxC does.

[vcs3]

Here is another maker of floopy drives emulator:
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/
not so industrial but I think will do the job.

[gmeredith]

That's Lotharek's emulator, that's the guy who just posted here a few replies ago

[vcs3]

That's Lotharek's emulator, that's the guy who just posted here a few replies ago

[Jeff_HxC2001]

That's Lotharek's emulator, that's the guy who just posted here a few replies ago

More precisely : Lotharek is the manufacturer , i am the developer & "tech guy"

[synthroom]

And thanks, Jeff, to developing the HxC!

It is fantastic - I've a Rev. F in my Emulator II and one of JB Emond's kits in my Fairlight. They are bringing new life to these old instruments!

Kirk