Roland PR100 problem loading disks

[Rhodes73]

Hi. I'd bought a Roland PR100 sequencer around 1987 and used it with the MT32 sound bank. I recorded and saved several original songs onto 2.8 Quick Disks, the format used by the PR100. I recently got a Macbook Pro and am looking to record my songs, including those on the Quick Disks.

The problem I have is that the PR100 attempts to load the disk and seems to get stuck on that process. The loading light comes on, and the sound I then hear is that of disk loading, however it then just stays like that. There is no error message, it's just stuck in the loading process. It doesn't matter how long I leave it in that state, it just stays like that. The process cannot be cancelled without pulling the power. I have a lot of disks and none of them will load, and although that makes it look like the problem lies in the PR100, it might still be that all the disks are corrupted - however that would probably result in an error message. The manual has nothing to say about this.

Has anyone had experience of this? Is there a way to retrieve the files off the disks without using the PR100? I don't know of anything else which will take 2.8 QDs.

The songs are quite complex, loads of instruments, timing quirks, push / pulls etc, so I am not keen to recreate from scratch as all that work has already been done. I now have sequencers that are so much easier to use, so to buy (if that's even possible) another PR100 (which would probably have to be second-hand) with the sole purpose of getting these songs back seems a waste if there is another way. Although if that's the only way, so be it.

Thanks for your consideration.

[meatballfulton]

I'm pretty sure that whatever is in those files is in a proprietary format, so any QD device other than another PR100 is unlikely to be able to read them.

Good luck.

[Rhodes73]

Hi Meatballfulton - thanks for taking the time to reply. I suspect you're right, and if I want to record these songs, I'm going to have to start all over with them. C'est la guerre...

Thanks again

[BillyBoy]

Hope you can check this documentation here: http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/PR-100_OM.pdf

[Rhodes73]

Thanks BillyBoy - appreciate you taking the time. I still have my original manual, and I took very good care of the disks at all times. None of my disks will load, however no error message appears concerning faulty disk, which may indicate that the disks themselves are ok - the PR100 just keeps attempting to load forever. This may indicate the problem lies with the disk drive, although the disks are very old now, so may have been compromised. Lost cause I think...

[bionary]

Have you thought about finding another PR100?

[Rhodes73]

Hi Bionary

Yes, had a look about. There's a Canadian one for sale at around £400, many of the other ones listed have already been sold when you go to the page, and there's a few listed as untested (due to no disks to check them or no power adaptor) so you'd have to buy and hope they work. I'm pretty much resigned to recreating the songs...