Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family group photo

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Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

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Thread

Hello, I am new to the group....

Hello, I am new to the group....

2004-10-05 by Harry

Hello group.  I am a new member of this group, but not new to the VFX-
SD board.  I finally found one in a pawn shop in my area last 
Saturday and picked it right up.  This board has eluded me for well 
over 10 years and I am very pleased to finally have another one.
The one I got seems to work fine except that the floppy drive is 
bad.  I tested this with my existing VFX disk library, as well as 
trying to format a new disk and nothing worked.
I have searched online and found that the price of the drives is 
anywhere from $65-$125.  Are there any places where it is less 
expensive that I may get one at?  The sequencer is not loaded and the 
same 60 sounds are in both ROM and RAM.  The battery was good and the 
unit calibrates upon bootup without errors.  I am not sure if it had 
the keyboard mod or not, but know how to do it if it needs to be done.
My main focus at this point is the floppy drive.  Can anyone help me 
out?

I have been in love with the VFX ever since I had one in the early 
90's and missed it since (until Saturday when I bought it, for only 
$250 at that...).

I own many other synths as well:

Alesis QS6 (owned since new)
E-Mu PK-6 (owned since new)
Ensoniq SQ2 32 voice (owned since new)
Korg X5 (owned since new)
Roland JV880 (owned since new)
Roland XP-60 (owned since new)
Yamaha DJX (owned since new)
Yamaha TG-33 (bought used)

I love them all, but I have a special place in my heart for Ensoniq.  
It is too bad they kept too many things about the VFX, SD-1, TS 
proprietary, because they were truly ahead of their time.

Any info on the floppy thing or anything else is truly appreciated 
and welcome.

Thank you, 

Harry Ebbeson III
Ebbeson Management Group
www.geocities.com/ebbrecords

RE: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....

2004-10-05 by john brusseau

Welcome! I would say, if you don't want to plunk down the 69$ for a new one (which I did myself, on account of how much you use the disc drive in song-writing) then look for one on ebay. You will almost certainly find one, or you might just end up getting another VFXsd with a better disc drive in it. I have two: one for a back-up.

>From: "Harry"
>Reply-To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....
>Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:24:34 -0000
>
>
>Hello group.��I am a new member of this group, but not new to the VFX-
>SD board.��I finally found one in a pawn shop in my area last
>Saturday and picked it right up.��This board has eluded me for well
>over 10 years and I am very pleased to finally have another one.
>The one I got seems to work fine except that the floppy drive is
>bad.��I tested this with my existing VFX disk library, as well as
>trying to format a new disk and nothing worked.
>I have searched online and found that the price of the drives is
>anywhere from $65-$125.��Are there any places where it is less
>expensive that I may get one at?��The sequencer is not loaded and the
>same 60 sounds are in both ROM and RAM.��The battery was good and the
>unit calibrates upon bootup without errors.��I am not sure if it had
>the keyboard mod or not, but know how to do it if it needs to be done.
>My main focus at this point is the floppy drive.��Can anyone help me
>out?
>
>I have been in love with the VFX ever since I had one in the early
>90's and missed it since (until Saturday when I bought it, for only
>$250 at that...).
>
>I own many other synths as well:
>
>Alesis QS6 (owned since new)
>E-Mu PK-6 (owned since new)
>Ensoniq SQ2 32 voice (owned since new)
>Korg X5 (owned since new)
>Roland JV880 (owned since new)
>Roland XP-60 (owned since new)
>Yamaha DJX (owned since new)
>Yamaha TG-33 (bought used)
>
>I love them all, but I have a special place in my heart for Ensoniq.
>It is too bad they kept too many things about the VFX, SD-1, TS
>proprietary, because they were truly ahead of their time.
>
>Any info on the floppy thing or anything else is truly appreciated
>and welcome.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Harry Ebbeson III
>Ebbeson Management Group
>www.geocities.com/ebbrecords
>
>
>
>
>

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AW: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....

2004-10-05 by hans-artmann@t-online.de

I remember to have seen an article on fitting an ordinary cheap 1,44 floppy drive into the VFX: the change that has to be made is in the cabling, since some pins are used differently by the VFXs Shugart drive. The only trade off mentioned was that floppy changes wouldn't be recognized any more.
Just think about if 69$ are worth a night searching the net...
Hans
Show quoted textHide quoted text
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: john brusseau [mailto:jnbrusseau@...]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 5. Oktober 2004 17:40
An: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Betreff: RE: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....

Welcome! I would say, if you don't want to plunk down the 69$ for a new one (which I did myself, on account of how much you use the disc drive in song-writing) then look for one on ebay. You will almost certainly find one, or you might just end up getting another VFXsd with a better disc drive in it. I have two: one for a back-up.

>From: "Harry" <ebbrecords@...>
>Reply-To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....
>Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:24:34 -0000
>
>
>Hello group. I am a new member of this group, but not new to the VFX-
>SD board. I finally found one in a pawn shop in my area last
>Saturday and picked it right up. This board has eluded me for well
>over 10 years and I am very pleased to finally have another one.
>The one I got seems to work fine except that the floppy drive is
>bad. I tested this with my existing VFX disk library, as well as
>trying to format a new disk and nothing worked.
>I have searched online and found that the price of the drives is
>anywhere from $65-$125. Are there any places where it is less
>expensive that I may get one at? The sequencer is not loaded and the
>same 60 sounds are in both ROM and RAM. The battery was good and the
>unit calibrates upon bootup without errors. I am not sure if it had
>the keyboard mod or not, but know how to do it if it needs to be done.
>My main focus at this point is the floppy drive. Can anyone help me
>out?
>
>I have been in love with the VFX ever since I had one in the early
>90's and missed it since (until Saturday when I bought it, for only
>$250 at that...).
>
>I own many other synths as well:
>
>Alesis QS6 (owned since new)
>E-Mu PK-6 (owned since new)
>Ensoniq SQ2 32 voice (owned since new)
>Korg X5 (owned since new)
>Roland JV880 (owned since new)
>Roland XP-60 (owned since new)
>Yamaha DJX (owned since new)
>Yamaha TG-33 (bought used)
>
>I love them all, but I have a special place in my heart for Ensoniq.
>It is too bad they kept too many things about the VFX, SD-1, TS
>proprietary, because they were truly ahead of their time.
>
>Any info on the floppy thing or anything else is truly appreciated
>and welcome.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Harry Ebbeson III
>Ebbeson Management Group
>www.geocities.com/ebbrecords
>
>
>
>
>

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AW: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....

2004-10-06 by hans-artmann@t-online.de

Try the following link. It's dealing with a Casio synth but looks like the same thing...
Hans
Show quoted textHide quoted text
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: john brusseau [mailto:jnbrusseau@...]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 5. Oktober 2004 17:40
An: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Betreff: RE: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....

Welcome! I would say, if you don't want to plunk down the 69$ for a new one (which I did myself, on account of how much you use the disc drive in song-writing) then look for one on ebay. You will almost certainly find one, or you might just end up getting another VFXsd with a better disc drive in it. I have two: one for a back-up.

>From: "Harry"
>Reply-To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Hello, I am new to the group....
>Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:24:34 -0000
>
>
>Hello group. I am a new member of this group, but not new to the VFX-
>SD board. I finally found one in a pawn shop in my area last
>Saturday and picked it right up. This board has eluded me for well
>over 10 years and I am very pleased to finally have another one.
>The one I got seems to work fine except that the floppy drive is
>bad. I tested this with my existing VFX disk library, as well as
>trying to format a new disk and nothing worked.
>I have searched online and found that the price of the drives is
>anywhere from $65-$125. Are there any places where it is less
>expensive that I may get one at? The sequencer is not loaded and the
>same 60 sounds are in both ROM and RAM. The battery was good and the
>unit calibrates upon bootup without errors. I am not sure if it had
>the keyboard mod or not, but know how to do it if it needs to be done.
>My main focus at this point is the floppy drive. Can anyone help me
>out?
>
>I have been in love with the VFX ever since I had one in the early
>90's and missed it since (until Saturday when I bought it, for only
>$250 at that...).
>
>;I own many other synths as well:
>
>Alesis QS6 (owned since new)
>E-Mu PK-6 (owned since new)
>Ensoniq SQ2 32 voice (owned since new)
>Korg X5 (owned since new)
>Roland JV880 (owned since new)
>Roland XP-60 (owned since new)
>Yamaha DJX (owned since new)
>Yamaha TG-33 (bought used)
>
>I love them all, but I have a special place in my heart for Ensoniq.
>It is too bad they kept too many things about the VFX, SD-1, TS
>proprietary, because they were truly ahead of their time.
>
>Any info on the floppy thing or anything else is truly appreciated
>and welcome.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Harry Ebbeson III
>Ebbeson Management Group
>www.geocities.com/ebbrecords
>
>
>
>
>

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