Emax

I'll weight in here as well.

I'm proud to say that I just got my 2nd Emax Model 1000 and unlike my 2000 it so far works straight after purchase. 

The 2000 was... well it arrived "shot three times in the chest on arrival", not quiet dead but not exactly working right. To FedEx's credit they helped take care of it since there was some damage to the box. 

With a book on basic electronics and the help of some people here I have been able narrow the problem on the 2000 down to the PSU. I found nearly all the capacitors (one has a higher capacitance rating 3300 v 2200 and I still need to look into if that difference will cause any problems before I buy??) from my electronics supplier for about $4. My other option is $60-90 for a new one. I have probably spent a few days taking things apart, testing and researching. Money is tight, but I'm a solutionist I guess. If I have time, which I do, I rather figure it out and pay myself to learn something than just hand it over to a tech who may not appreciate that these units are rare. Am I saving money? In so far as the money that is coming in isn't going out I am. But as they say time is money so I'm not on that front. But then knowledge is power and power can get you both time and money... so if my math is right I'm just about even. = . )

In closing I have bought from Ted and Rob, and I have had nothing but help from this board. If you loose a few bucks in the process of keeping a machine working that by all rights should be forgotten technology at the rate things go, realize your lucky that some people still care to sell this stuff and that you can still hear well enough to even use an Emax! 



________________________________
From: Ted Summers <djtbs1@...>
To: emax@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:27:31 PM
Subject: Re: [emax] Re: WARNING: scsiforsamplers.com

  
Boy that is a long post for a self proclaimed "lurker" :-)

I am not quite sure how to respond to your post, or if I even should.

But----
DANGER WILL ROBINSON.... ...DANGER, DANGER

....here goes, these are my thoughts....

1) The original warning poster I have done business with- and had no 
issue. I am doing business again with him soon.
I dunno what happened here, but if the transaction was in good faith 
on the buyer's part the merchant should make it right.

I have had a transaction go awry with a (different) vendor. It took a 
little work, but that vendor made it right.
It is ALL about the customer service.
1 bad "sale" typically results in a minimum of 7 lost sales due to 
word of mouth.
This is statistically proven across many industries
As a vendor myself, it is always in my best interest to make the 
customer experience as smooth as possible and to help as much as 
possible with any customer issue related to my product.
I have always done this, and will continue to do this.
As far as I know, I don't have any upset customers. (If you are 
dissatisfied, send me a mail- I want to help if I can).

2) Some of your points are reasonable.
But not everyone has a local "dealer" (ie- electronics shop willing to 
work on something with no schematic- I know several shops in my area 
won't) and you can't call Emu.....
Keeping in mind that there is no way for someone on the internet to 
know another's technical capability.
--out of 32 SCSI kits sold, I have only had 3 persons that needed me 
to fix them after failed upgrade.
That means a 91% success rate.
So apparently we, as a group, aren't as unskilled as some might think.

3) As the seller of the SCSI kit upgrade, and the slim floppy 
converter board that allows one to have a PC Card or Zip drive 
installed in that same bay with a slim floppy-
I feel I am an innovator.
My efforts allow people to expand their equipment's capability and 
provide repair / replacement capability with reasonable expense.
If someone wants turnkey, they can send me their board and I will 
professionally upgrade it.

4) I wouldn't call myself a DIY'er.
I have worked as a technician with 16 years of repair experience in 
industry.
But maybe I should consider myself a DIY'er.
Would we consider Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and others like 
them DIY'ers of their time?

To finish up.....
People like to have and often need several available options.
I am helping to fill that need.
I do consider this a "labor of love".
I certainly haven't made buckets of money at it.

Anyway, that's my buck and a quarter.

Regards,
Ted

On Sep 11, 2009, at 9:34 PM, sequentialprophett8 wrote:

I've had this thread saved in my inbox and meant to post my thoughts 
for some time. I read all the posts, but I guess I'm more of a lurker. 
But I thought I would say some things after reading this thread.

I don't know what went on between the customer and SCSIForSamplers, 
and won't even attempt to comment on that transaction. I'm sorry to 
hear about the problem between a vendor I've done business with and a 
frequent respected poster on this board.

For what it is worth, I can say I've bought several expensive pieces 
of equipment from that vendor, and have received sterling products and 
support. In relevant part (for this Board), one item was a rack-mount 
dual SCSI card reader, and another item was a rackmount dual SCSI CD- 
ROM & hard drive.

That company provides a great service in supporting all of our vintage 
equipment, in my humble opinion. And no, I have no affiliation or 
financial interest in that company, am not friends or an acquaintence 
with anyone there. Strictly business, $$ spent, products received.

This thread got me thinking about the frequent theme I see in many of 
the posts on this Board, that of DIY work on our beloved Emaxes. I 
recognize the right of any owner to do DIY work, and this thread 
illustrates that there are always options to spending the $$ and 
buying a finished product (such as a plug in, turnkey, professional 
looking and operating card reader) - instead, for the DIY'er, just 
make it yerself. To each their own. I prefer to just pay the money and 
get the product, no hassles.

Now I recognize in reading the posts here that there is a very strong 
"DIY" contingent of readers/Emax owners here, and that's great, taking 
a technical interest in this gear. My perspective is somewhat 
different I guess - call me strange but I actually don't mind parting 
with my money to pay my local vintage gear technician to fix my studio 
equipment. I want to support them (well, maybe not pay too much money) 
so they will actually be around when my Emax power supply bites it, or 
another board starts missing notes, vintage Harmonizer starts buzzing, 
you name it.

They check for loose connections, clean the damn thing out, are 
incredibly resourceful in locating discontinued parts (mine found a 
custom IC chip and VCA for one of my boards) and generally care for 
it, looking for problems that could crop up (failing solder, etc). I 
find the care most techs put into the work (versus the depreciated 
value of the gear) is an amazing value and probably a labor of love 
for them.

Guys that smart could be doing a Bernie Madoff in the stock market, 
and yet there they are, working out the problem on your vintage gear. 
And no, I am not a tech, am not friends or family with a tech, etc. I 
just want that KNOWLEDGE to stick around, so they can fix it when it 
breaks. When that KNOWLEDGE is lost, it's gone for good. Nothing more 
depressing than the day that will come for all of us Emax owners where 
the number of people who even can work on these things is down to a 
very few, and then none. Know anyone who works on [insert name of 
1970s business computer] mainframe?

I assume all of you on the Board not only have the vintage piece of 
gear that brings us together (Emax I/Emax II), but probably other 
vintage gear as well. That means you, like I, have probably sat there 
in your studio in utter frustration as that dear piece of vintage gear 
(whatever it is) sits mute, or buzzing, or has a mysteriously 
attenuated right stereo out (current problem du jour for me), or 
otherwise malfunctioning in front of you. Now THAT experience probably 
brings us all together.

I guess my main thought is that, for the DIY'ers, if you can't bear to 
part with $$ to pay a tech, please don't F*** up that vintage piece of 
gear further with a half-baked DIY fix - at least if you ever plan to 
sell it. It is depressing to hear a tech say that whatever problem 
that gear is suffering that a new owner bought has been magnified by 
some prior DIY fix.

I bought my first Emax new in the summer of 1987, after saving to pay 
an astronomical amount of money at the time - it was worth it as it 
was such a superior product to the main competitors at the time, i.e. 
the Roland S50. Now does anyone remember that - with the wave pen 
gimmick, etc. The Emax by comparison, although depreciated now, was a 
major advance in gear at the time - again, 1987. I was there. You had 
the crummy Roland, Ensoniq, Korg and Akai, the eye-wateringly 
expensive Series III, the beyond-reach Waveterm, and, then, before the 
EIII - the Emax - an affordable EII. What magic it was playing around 
with the Emax at the dealer, that summer. The look was like no other 
sampler, the sound of the analog filters warmly swirling that digital 
source. Oh Yeah.

I still have that Emax, in like new condition, a time capsule of 
sorts. Like someone who bought their car new, I guess I take special 
care of it, and (to use the analogy) don't do burnouts in it. This in 
contrast to a 2nd, 3rd or 4th owner who paid greatly depreciated value 
for it and consequently just "wrenches on it in the backyard." Being 
an original owner, I still "take mine to the dealer." Yes I guess I'm 
talking about both cars and Emaxes.

Again, to each their own, just my opinion. Thanks again to everyone 
who posts here, good bad and ugly - it is such a valuable resource and 
I can't thank all of you enough. Keep posting! Long live EMAX.

--- In emax@yahoogroups. com, "jammie" <jammie.emma@ ...> wrote:
>
> i spoke to jd and he said that he did not want to do business with 
you that is why he refunded your money when you paid by paypal
>
> jd is very reasonable in costs as he is a business seller and has 
to make a living
>
> if you can get it cheaper then get it cheaper by all means but it 
is not nice slagging people off and saying that they are making a 
masive mark up is not correct
>
> he could make a massive mark but does not
>
> now the scsi to ide cards he could sell the same as other stockest 
which is $100-120 this is just for the cards with out the cfcard 
adapter he sells them for $89
>
> the mcdisk1 now i tried buying from the manufacturer they are £550 
per drive and you have to have a minimum order of 100 now 
scsiforsamplers was selling them for $250 thats very cheap compared to 
the manufacturer
>
> but its not nice to rubbish some one and there reputation as a 
company and jd always replaces damaged goods as long as they are 
damaged by manufactur basis and not by the person installing it he get 
you to send it back to him where he will send you another
>
> now if you can do better i would surgest that you do your own 
company to sell these drives
>
> the saying goes you can keep most people happy most of the time but 
some peolple happy only some of the time
>
> alll i say to you when you brought from scsiforsamplers for you 
spyrus drive did it work did you have problems from jd if not htne you 
should go by this
>
> and telling people to not to buy from him is illegal and he can sue 
you for deformation of character if you are not happy then air your 
views to him and the other person who has problems and not spreed 
rubbish about people
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Julian
> To: emax@yahoogroups. com
> Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [emax] WARNING: scsiforsamplers. com
>
>
>
> hey jammie - did you get in touch with JD?
>
> further weirdness has evolved in relation to scsiforsamplers. com
>
> http://www.gearslut z.com/board/ electronic- music-instrument s-electronic- music-production /415880-hardware -samplers- scsi-hard- drives.html
>
> seems that without paypal protection, someone in italy was sold an 
"as
> is" drive, after being redirected from a sale through
> scsiforsamplers. com, by scsiforsamplers. com to an "associate" of
> scsiforsamplers. com.... called JD... (you know - same name as the guy
> that everyone who deals with scsiforsamplers. com actually deals
> with......) and this drive arrived in a non-operational state.
>
> now I don't know about anyone else, but when I read something is 
being
> sold "as is" I assume it to mean "this works, but there's no 
warranty"
> if you know something is broken, then you would sell it "broken, as 
is"
> and I don't understand how, that at the markup scsiforsamplers. com 
sells
> things, the drives are not ALL checked, and their working status is
> confirmed or not, as soon as they arrive in store.... which leads 
to a
> very bad assumption on the character of whoever is doing this...
>
> anyway - like I already said.. massive uncharacteristic weirdness is
> going on here with scsiforsamplers. com - be extra careful of anything
> they (or an associate of them that you might normally believe is 
acting
> on their behalf) tries to offer you something to buy "as is" 
through an
> untraceable payment system - because it looks like the trick is to 
get
> people to buy something broken with no warranty, and then use the "no
> warranty" as an escape clause for selling broken gear in the first
> place..
>
> and THEN on top of everything else, when their victim talks about 
it on
> line, to go and email the victim, threatening a defamation suit!
>
> so - unless some massive explaining gets done, I'd recommend that 
nobody
> buy from scsiforsamplers. com without the protection of paypal. if
> they're interested in dealing with a company that can allow this 
sort of
> behaviour at all....
>
> julian
>
> --
> http://bleepin. com
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail .fm - Send your email first class
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
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