Akai S1000 / S1100 samplers

hi there!

i own a S1000 (latest OS) and have a hard disk connected via scsi, which
works fine. now i'd like to add an external cd rom drive to the setup to
be able to load ready made programs to the system. i have no clue what
works here. so i have some questions:

-are there any recommendations about which drive to use?

- i assume i can hook it up to the hard disk via scsi (daisy chained)
and give it just another id device number?

- could someone please also recommend any changeable hard disk or maybe
point me to where i can read more about it. i'd like to get one of these
too and just know vaguely that they're from syquest (seem to be good,
no?) but i actually don't know anything regarding recommended size,
medium or whatever.

maybe some of you have some experience with these? thanks for reading!

best,

roger

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Hi PeWe!

>If you use any faster drive, it would not increase read speed at all, the S-1xxx series samplers are very slow anyway.

This is right. They are very slow. Another disadvantage of the faster drive is that the faster they are the louder they are.
But sometimes it is easier to get quite fast drives for cheap than the older slower drives. And I had some problems with those older drives.
Not because of compatibility but due tu dust on the lenses. And with cleaning CDs you can only clean one lense side..
Normally this helps a lot but on some drives it is not enough - also the other side of the lense needs to be cleaned.

>I have several CD-ROM drives and CD/RWs around here which work w/ Roland, EMU and Kurzweil but not w/ Akai S-1xxx 
>and it would be too much trial ´n error to find out why,- especially for any user who needs to buy used @ebay and before 
>the purchase.

Same here. Too many drives here and not enough time to check them out.

>If you read 44s and 88s, these seem to be not different types of media compared to the 44 and 88, just only the plural 
>off 44 and 88 cardridge,- shortform, you know.

You are 100% right. Sorry, I read the article not exactly and so I didn't catch the plural :-O

>Indeed,- 88c means combined drive which is able to read, write and initialize 44 and 88 media, but only format 88.
>Same with the larger ones,- if it comes to formatting,- only the matching media can be formatted (200/270 p.ex.).

But now I have to ask if it is necessary to format these medias, or if an initialisation is enough.
If you read the Akai FAQ they say that you "never ever" should format exchangeable drives.
http://akaiscsifaq.digidude.net/akaifaq_removable_media.htm

I am no SCSI expert so I don't know what is initialize. Is it just the function to make the drive known to the connected SCAI master
or is it like partitioning an already low level formatted media.

Ciao
Peter

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Hi PeWe!

According to the Akai SCSI FAQ the Plextor drives work with the Akai S1000 series:
http://akaiscsifaq.digidude.net/akaifaq_cdrom_drives.htm

- Plextor 12x, 20x,32x, 40x... (they all work but remember to set the *BLOCK* jumper on the CDR/RW units!)

So maybe I also had to set this jumper when I tested my drives a few years ago.

For me the Plextor drives are always first choice because of high compatibility and long life.

My Plextor DVD Burner cost about twice aqs much as other drives that time but is still working. Two other cheap 
DVD burners I have quit working after about 20 to 30 DVDs in 2 years lifetime... :-O

And no - I don't work for Plextor - I am just fond of their products! :-)

Ciao
Peter


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Hi PeWe!

>>But now I have to ask if it is necessary to format these medias, or if an initialisation is enough.
>>If you read the Akai FAQ they say that you "never ever" should format exchangeable drives.
>>http://akaiscsifaq.digidude.net/akaifaq_removable_media.htm

>Well,- if you get any used media from somewhere ever, and it had been used w/ whatever PC and now you wanna use it w/ a Akai or any other sampler,- >you should erase the data on this formerly used media, right ?
>So,- formatting is the easiest way to do this.

For PC drives this is 100% clear.
But maybe for Akai sampler initialiszing and arranging means somehting different.

>I am no SCSI expert so I don't know what is initialize. Is it just the function to make the drive known to the connected SCAI master
>or is it like partitioning an already low level formatted media.

On the PC you need a format after partitioning to generate the filesystem. Does the Akai make this step in arranging?
 
>I don´t know this exactly too. The only I know is "initilizing" is not formatting and I assume the "arrange" function of the 
>AKAIs isn´t formatting but initializing and partitioning. Maybe initializing is similar to mounting a harddrive.

The only experience I had with formatting a syquest 88M media was with a Roland S550 sampler. It tooks hours!

Ciao
Peter

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Hi!

>But maybe for Akai sampler initialiszing and arranging means somehting different.
>
>Maybe, who knows and who cares ?
>If it works, it works.

Right :-)

>Does the Akai make this step in arranging?
>
>one step of the "arrange" process is, the user defines the size of the partition(s),- 30-60MB, AKAI looks for the max. size of the drive (510MB or less) and >creates as many of these partitions as possible. In addition and for a harddrive incl. the Syquests, the partions will be created as 512 bytes per sector and I >think this is the initializing.

OK, interesting. Seems that I should start working with the S100 after storing if for years ;-)
I mostly worked with ready made cdrom libraries. Sampling has been done on the Roland samplers only as the user interface ist more friendly (mouse and monitor).

>The only experience I had with formatting a syquest 88M media was with a Roland S550 sampler. It tooks hours!
>
>That´s why I fomat ext. drives w/ a lod Mac PPC OS 8.6

Interesting. Maybe I could use an old imac for that thats stored in the cellar. Or a PC with SCSI card...

Ciao
Peter


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wow thank you guys for all that info! i also didn't know that it is not recommended to AKAI-format external HD's, i did it with mine, a very old 60MB seagate (from an old Atari ST) and it worked without problems.
thanks again, great community!
best,
roger



--- In akaiS1000S1100Samplers@yahoogroups.com, PeWe <ha-pewe@...> wrote:

>
>  >>>
> 
> Am 23.04.2010 21:29, schrieb Ullrich Peter:
> >
> >
> >
> > OK, interesting. Seems that I should start working with the S100 after 
> > storing if for years ;-)
> >
> 
> You mean S-1000,- no ? :-)
> 
> > I mostly worked with ready made cdrom libraries. Sampling has been 
> > done on the Roland samplers only as the user interface ist more 
> > friendly (mouse and monitor).
> >
> 
> Well, me too,- tons of CD-ROMs here, not sure if all are in good 
> condition,- but also audio sampling CDs.
> It´s there, so the easiest usage is to use the AKAIs,- I have 3 working 
> and one damaged.
> 
> I tried converting all the ROMs for Halion 2,- worked in 95% of all 
> intakt CDs (some samples weren´t readable anymore),- but needed a year 
> for about 300 CDs.
> It´s boring work, so you won´t do it every day, you know.
> In addition, it´s not exactly the same sounding and you´ve to make too 
> much editing then.
> 
> >
> >
> >
> > >That´s why I format ext. drives w/ a old Mac PPC OS 8.6
> >
> > Interesting. Maybe I could use an old imac for that thats stored in 
> > the cellar. Or a PC with SCSI card...
> >
> 
> I would be careful w/ a PC and SCSI card,- you´d need a old Adaptec PCI 
> card doing only SCSI 1 and w/ a 50-pin Centronics connector.
> The computers used for music apps in the past were Atari and Mac, so I 
> rely on Mac in regards of SCSI.
> 
> Eventually, a iMac is too young, don´t know. Does it run Mac OS 8.6-9.22 ?
> 
> I wouldn´t recommend any OS higher than these because I´m not familiar 
> w/ OSX or universal binary Mac OS.
> If you find any old PPC,- 6100 is o.k. too, but I threw it in the bin 
> last year,- you´d be fine.
> I´m sure it will cost nothing because everyone who has it in his cellar 
> is happy if someone picks it up.
> 
> I used a program to format the external harddrives and Syquest media, 
> but I forgot the name and trashed it together w/ the 6100,- it was on 
> it´s harddrive.
> Have to ask my friend who is on tour for some days now,- next week.
> I´ll get it back and let you know.
> >
> >
> > Ciao
> > Peter
> >
> ditto
> 
> PeWe
>