Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

So my OS disk is bad. How can I send the Seq-OS to the keyboard
via Sys-Ex. I know how to send new sounds, but not the OS.

Thanks

On Jan 25, 2009, at 8:19 PM, themothershiprocks wrote:

>  So my OS disk is bad. How can I send the Seq-OS to the keyboard
> via Sys-Ex. I know how to send new sounds, but not the OS.

Unfortunately the OS can only be loaded from floppy. You can use the  
Giebler utility if you have access to a PC with a floppy drive to  
create a new one from the images in this group's file section.

  --- Joe M.

Anyone in Nashville care to let me borrow a 3.0 OS disk long enough to 
load the Seq OS?

I don't like the idea of paying $15 for a 720k floppy.
If I was going to do that I might as well buy the 4.1 EPROM and 4.1 OS 
disk. That's what I'll do when I have a little extra money around.



--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Joe McMahon <mcmahon@...> wrote:

>
> 
> On Jan 25, 2009, at 8:19 PM, themothershiprocks wrote:
> 
> >  So my OS disk is bad. How can I send the Seq-OS to the keyboard
> > via Sys-Ex. I know how to send new sounds, but not the OS.
> 
> Unfortunately the OS can only be loaded from floppy. You can use the  
> Giebler utility if you have access to a PC with a floppy drive to  
> create a new one from the images in this group's file section.
> 
>   --- Joe M.
>

On Jan 25, 2009, at 10:05 PM, themothershiprocks wrote:

> Anyone in Nashville care to let me borrow a 3.0 OS disk long enough to
> load the Seq OS?
>
> I don't like the idea of paying $15 for a 720k floppy.
> If I was going to do that I might as well buy the 4.1 EPROM and 4.1 OS
> disk. That's what I'll do when I have a little extra money around.
Sorry - I may not have said that clearly enough.

If you log in to groups.yahoo.com, and enter the VFXsd group, you'll  
see a link in the left toolbar that points to "Files".
Follow that, and it will show you a list of folders, one of which is  
"Tools and service". In there is a file named "EDE109 incl  
Images.zip" which has the 3.0 disk image and a program to format and  
write the disk on a PC. You don't need to buy anything at all.

  --- Joe M.

I don't have a floppy drive. My PC doesn't have a slot for one.
I'd have to go buy an external floppy and a blank disk.

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Joe McMahon <mcmahon@...> 
wrote:
>
> 
> On Jan 25, 2009, at 10:05 PM, themothershiprocks wrote:
> 
> > Anyone in Nashville care to let me borrow a 3.0 OS disk long 
enough to
> > load the Seq OS?
> >
> > I don't like the idea of paying $15 for a 720k floppy.
> > If I was going to do that I might as well buy the 4.1 EPROM and 
4.1 OS
> > disk. That's what I'll do when I have a little extra money around.
> Sorry - I may not have said that clearly enough.
> 
> If you log in to groups.yahoo.com, and enter the VFXsd group, 
you'll  
> see a link in the left toolbar that points to "Files".
> Follow that, and it will show you a list of folders, one of which 
is  
> "Tools and service". In there is a file named "EDE109 incl  
> Images.zip" which has the 3.0 disk image and a program to format 
and  

> write the disk on a PC. You don't need to buy anything at all.
> 
>   --- Joe M.
>

On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 07:39 +0000, themothershiprocks wrote:
> I don't have a floppy drive. My PC doesn't have a slot for one.
> I'd have to go buy an external floppy and a blank disk.
> 

I don't think an external drive would work.  You need raw access to the
floppy controller, and all the USB floppies I've seen are usb-storage
devices.

If you use any old synths or samplers with floppy drives, you basically
need to keep a PC with a *real* floppy drive around.

Gordon

So, I guess I could burn the Gibeler program and the disk image to a 
CDR....then I could take the CDR to my local PC store and get them to 
make the floppy, but that will cost more than buying a new floppy 
online. :)

I need to find a friend that has a PC with an internal floppy drive, 
huh?


--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ 
<gordon@...> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 07:39 +0000, themothershiprocks wrote:
> > I don't have a floppy drive. My PC doesn't have a slot for one.
> > I'd have to go buy an external floppy and a blank disk.
> > 
> 
> I don't think an external drive would work.  You need raw access to 
the
> floppy controller, and all the USB floppies I've seen are usb-
storage
> devices.
> 
> If you use any old synths or samplers with floppy drives, you 
basically

> need to keep a PC with a *real* floppy drive around.
> 
> Gordon
>

With a bit of editing:

On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 19:29 +0000, themothershiprocks wrote:
\ufeff> So, I guess I could burn the Gibeler program and the disk image to a
> CDR....then I could take the CDR to my local PC store and get them to 
> make the floppy, but that will cost more than buying a new floppy 
> online. :)

That's one way to do it.

> I need to find a friend that has a PC with an internal floppy drive, 
> huh? 

When do the bins get picked up round where you are?  Take a quick drive
round any even vaguely affluent area on bin night and I guarantee you'll
find at least one suitable PC sitting on the kerb.

On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 14:43 -0500, Rich Horton wrote:
> Doesnt the Giebler program require Windows 98 or earlier to run? Isnt
> it a DOS program?

Yes, it does.  That's easy, though.  It works perfectly well under
FreeDOS, or the Windows 98 boot disk.  You can get both of these off the
'net, although the latter has slightly questionable legal status ;-)


Gordon

You mentioned FreeDOS, which got my attention.  I've toyed with 
FreeDOS but that's not why I posted.

Since mid 2007 I began phasing out (all) Microsoft products with the 
operating system Ubuntu Linux 32-bit Desktop Edition.

Is there is a (specialized) Ensoniq/Ubuntu users group?

If not, would like to correspond with other Ensoniq/Ubuntu users 
regarding software/hardware issues -and- interoperability between 
MIDI synthesizers used for recording, sound editing and other audio 
production projects in Ubuntu.

Thank you,
David

> Yes, it does.  That's easy, though.  It works perfectly well under
> FreeDOS, or the Windows 98 boot disk.  You can get both of these 
off the

> 'net, although the latter has slightly questionable legal status ;-)
> 
> 
> Gordon
>

Yes, the Gibeler software seems to run fine on my machine. I just 
don't have an internal 3.5" floppy drive, nor do I have a slot for 
one.

I'll just buy a blank floppy, burn the Gibeler program and teh disk 
image to a CDR and carry it with me where ever I go. When I find a PC 
with floppy, I'll do it then. 

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ 
<gordon@...> wrote:
>
> With a bit of editing:
> 
> On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 19:29 +0000, themothershiprocks wrote:
> > So, I guess I could burn the Gibeler program and the disk 
image to a
> > CDR....then I could take the CDR to my local PC store and get 
them to 
> > make the floppy, but that will cost more than buying a new floppy 
> > online. :)
> 
> That's one way to do it.
> 
> > I need to find a friend that has a PC with an internal floppy 
drive, 
> > huh? 
> 
> When do the bins get picked up round where you are?  Take a quick 
drive
> round any even vaguely affluent area on bin night and I guarantee 
you'll
> find at least one suitable PC sitting on the kerb.
> 
> On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 14:43 -0500, Rich Horton wrote:
> > Doesnt the Giebler program require Windows 98 or earlier to run? 
Isnt
> > it a DOS program?
> 
> Yes, it does.  That's easy, though.  It works perfectly well under
> FreeDOS, or the Windows 98 boot disk.  You can get both of these 
off the

> 'net, although the latter has slightly questionable legal status ;-)
> 
> 
> Gordon
>

On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 00:07 +0000, david.rodgers wrote:
> You mentioned FreeDOS, which got my attention.  I've toyed with 
> FreeDOS but that's not why I posted.
> 
> Since mid 2007 I began phasing out (all) Microsoft products with the 
> operating system Ubuntu Linux 32-bit Desktop Edition.
> 
> Is there is a (specialized) Ensoniq/Ubuntu users group?

No, but I do use Ubuntu (among other Linux distros, and indeed other
non-Microsoft OSes).

> If not, would like to correspond with other Ensoniq/Ubuntu users 
> regarding software/hardware issues -and- interoperability between 
> MIDI synthesizers used for recording, sound editing and other audio 
> production projects in Ubuntu.

There's so many to choose from...  I'm pretty heavily involved in the
Linux Audio scene.  In fact, a lot of my spare time is taken up with
trying to get a bunch of audio plugins ready for their next release.

There's a bit of software called "EpsLin" which is surprisingly hard to
find, which will read and write EPS disk images so you can use .ede
and .efe files in Linux.  I found it years ago on the 'net, but any site
that ever had it is long gone and the original author has proved
elusive.  Since it's GPLed, we can redistribute it freely, so:
http://www.gjcp.net/~gordonjcp/EpsLin_v1.31.c

Go and redistribute it ;-)  I made a couple of tweaks so it compiles
cleanly on newish versions of GCC, although previously it only choked on
a couple of odd line endings.  Let this be a lesson to the closed-source
coders out there - if you disappear, your work very quickly becomes
useless and forgotten!

Rainer Buchty's Ensoniq pages have a lot of goodies:
http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/

The SQ80 toolkit has proved useful for reading and writing Mirage
floppies.  All you do is modify it so that it only reads side 0 of the
disk - not exactly hard to do.  The real trick will be getting it to
*format* the disks.  I haven't cracked that one yet.

I wrote some MIDI sample transfer utilities for the Mirage and EPS, but
they're nowhere near release quality yet - they're not even in public
SVN.  I doubt I'll have time to get back to them before the end of
March, but I'll keep you all posted.  For dumping patches on the VFX I
just use amidi.  I'm sure there used to be a nice GUI-based generic
sysex manager, but I find command-line tools easier to work with anyway.

Finally, I'm working on a set of CC-licenced samples for the Mirage and
EPS.  Again, other pressing commitments (like finding a job) are going
to keep these off the bench for a month or two, but you'll get to see
them when they're nearer to ready.

Gordon

On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 00:28 +0000, themothershiprocks wrote:
> Yes, the Gibeler software seems to run fine on my machine. I just 
> don't have an internal 3.5" floppy drive, nor do I have a slot for 
> one.

Is Gary Geibler still about?  I seem to recall he was on the various
Ensoniq lists.  I'd like to pick his brains about how the SQ-80/Mirage
formatting bits in EDE work.

Gordon

Gordon,

 

Check out this link re. your SQ80.  http://www.buchty.net/

 

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Gordon JC Pearce
MM3YEQ
Sent: 27 January 2009 09:31
To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Re: Sysex OS for SD-1

 

On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 00:28 +0000, themothershiprocks wrote:
> Yes, the Gibeler software seems to run fine on my machine. I just 
> don't have an internal 3.5" floppy drive, nor do I have a slot for 
> one.

Is Gary Geibler still about? I seem to recall he was on the various
Ensoniq lists. I'd like to pick his brains about how the SQ-80/Mirage
formatting bits in EDE work.

Gordon

Sorry Gordon, I just read this and see you already know all about
Rainer's site.

 

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Gordon JC Pearce
MM3YEQ
Sent: 27 January 2009 09:28
To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Re: Sysex OS for SD-1

 

On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 00:07 +0000, david.rodgers wrote:
> You mentioned FreeDOS, which got my attention. I've toyed with 
> FreeDOS but that's not why I posted.
> 
> Since mid 2007 I began phasing out (all) Microsoft products with the 
> operating system Ubuntu Linux 32-bit Desktop Edition.
> 
> Is there is a (specialized) Ensoniq/Ubuntu users group?

No, but I do use Ubuntu (among other Linux distros, and indeed other
non-Microsoft OSes).

> If not, would like to correspond with other Ensoniq/Ubuntu users 
> regarding software/hardware issues -and- interoperability between 
> MIDI synthesizers used for recording, sound editing and other audio 
> production projects in Ubuntu.

There's so many to choose from... I'm pretty heavily involved in the
Linux Audio scene. In fact, a lot of my spare time is taken up with
trying to get a bunch of audio plugins ready for their next release.

There's a bit of software called "EpsLin" which is surprisingly hard to
find, which will read and write EPS disk images so you can use .ede
and .efe files in Linux. I found it years ago on the 'net, but any site
that ever had it is long gone and the original author has proved
elusive. Since it's GPLed, we can redistribute it freely, so:
http://www.gjcp. <http://www.gjcp.net/~gordonjcp/EpsLin_v1.31.c>
net/~gordonjcp/EpsLin_v1.31.c

Go and redistribute it ;-) I made a couple of tweaks so it compiles
cleanly on newish versions of GCC, although previously it only choked on
a couple of odd line endings. Let this be a lesson to the closed-source
coders out there - if you disappear, your work very quickly becomes
useless and forgotten!

Rainer Buchty's Ensoniq pages have a lot of goodies:
http://www.buchty. <http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/> net/ensoniq/

The SQ80 toolkit has proved useful for reading and writing Mirage
floppies. All you do is modify it so that it only reads side 0 of the
disk - not exactly hard to do. The real trick will be getting it to
*format* the disks. I haven't cracked that one yet.

I wrote some MIDI sample transfer utilities for the Mirage and EPS, but
they're nowhere near release quality yet - they're not even in public
SVN. I doubt I'll have time to get back to them before the end of
March, but I'll keep you all posted. For dumping patches on the VFX I
just use amidi. I'm sure there used to be a nice GUI-based generic
sysex manager, but I find command-line tools easier to work with anyway.

Finally, I'm working on a set of CC-licenced samples for the Mirage and
EPS. Again, other pressing commitments (like finding a job) are going
to keep these off the bench for a month or two, but you'll get to see
them when they're nearer to ready.

Gordon

Anyone in Nashville with SD-1 3.0 OS disk?


--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, "John" <john.boyle03@...> 
wrote:
>
> Sorry Gordon, I just read this and see you already know all about
> Rainer's site.
> 
>  
> 
> John
> 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Gordon JC 
Pearce
> MM3YEQ
> Sent: 27 January 2009 09:28
> To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Re: Sysex OS for SD-1
> 
>  
> 
> On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 00:07 +0000, david.rodgers wrote:
> > You mentioned FreeDOS, which got my attention. I've toyed with 
> > FreeDOS but that's not why I posted.
> > 
> > Since mid 2007 I began phasing out (all) Microsoft products with 
the 
> > operating system Ubuntu Linux 32-bit Desktop Edition.
> > 
> > Is there is a (specialized) Ensoniq/Ubuntu users group?
> 
> No, but I do use Ubuntu (among other Linux distros, and indeed other
> non-Microsoft OSes).
> 
> > If not, would like to correspond with other Ensoniq/Ubuntu users 
> > regarding software/hardware issues -and- interoperability between 
> > MIDI synthesizers used for recording, sound editing and other 
audio 
> > production projects in Ubuntu.
> 
> There's so many to choose from... I'm pretty heavily involved in the
> Linux Audio scene. In fact, a lot of my spare time is taken up with
> trying to get a bunch of audio plugins ready for their next release.
> 
> There's a bit of software called "EpsLin" which is surprisingly 
hard to
> find, which will read and write EPS disk images so you can use .ede
> and .efe files in Linux. I found it years ago on the 'net, but any 
site
> that ever had it is long gone and the original author has proved
> elusive. Since it's GPLed, we can redistribute it freely, so:
> http://www.gjcp. <http://www.gjcp.net/~gordonjcp/EpsLin_v1.31.c>
> net/~gordonjcp/EpsLin_v1.31.c
> 
> Go and redistribute it ;-) I made a couple of tweaks so it compiles
> cleanly on newish versions of GCC, although previously it only 
choked on
> a couple of odd line endings. Let this be a lesson to the closed-
source
> coders out there - if you disappear, your work very quickly becomes
> useless and forgotten!
> 
> Rainer Buchty's Ensoniq pages have a lot of goodies:
> http://www.buchty. <http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/> net/ensoniq/
> 
> The SQ80 toolkit has proved useful for reading and writing Mirage
> floppies. All you do is modify it so that it only reads side 0 of 
the
> disk - not exactly hard to do. The real trick will be getting it to
> *format* the disks. I haven't cracked that one yet.
> 
> I wrote some MIDI sample transfer utilities for the Mirage and EPS, 
but
> they're nowhere near release quality yet - they're not even in 
public
> SVN. I doubt I'll have time to get back to them before the end of
> March, but I'll keep you all posted. For dumping patches on the VFX 
I
> just use amidi. I'm sure there used to be a nice GUI-based generic
> sysex manager, but I find command-line tools easier to work with 
anyway.
> 
> Finally, I'm working on a set of CC-licenced samples for the Mirage 
and
> EPS. Again, other pressing commitments (like finding a job) are 
going
> to keep these off the bench for a month or two, but you'll get to 
see

> them when they're nearer to ready.
> 
> Gordon
>

Gordon

First, LOL to "...Let this be a lesson to the closed-source
coders out there - if you disappear, your work very quickly becomes
useless and forgotten!"  Hilarious. 

Thank you for reply and posting URL.  Greatly appreciated.

Spending most of my online time in a virtual world viewer program at 
Second Life - www.secondlife.com.

Am keeping constant eye out for new groups to appear in SL related to 
Ensoniq synths and Ubuntu users.  Recently met some wonderful people 
and very talented musicians.

As this virtual world program continues to grow, its nice to 
correspond with people of similar interest around the globe 24/7. 

As I continue to learn, have also learned its important to share 
information -and- help others.

Thanks.  Appreciate it,
David