Sequential circuits samplers

Hello,

i am new to this list, but find it to be quite informative - great 
job. I just picked up a P2K in Germany from eBay. I always wanted 
one, but never did get round to picking one up :-) [had Mirage, FZ-1, 
DSS-1, E-MU II+, etc.]

Anyway, despite assurances that everything was OK with the unit, I 
have encountered a couple of problems. The most burning issue at 
present is the message "Lf" in the LED. I have seen reference to 
an "Lh" message (locked head) and was just wondering if my error 
message also demands a new floppy drive. I have found an Epson that 
should work but wanted to confirm before trying this. Also, my unit 
has a Serial Number 0823 (there are more digits, but these are the 
ones that are printed onto the sticker and not part of 
the "template") so I assume is is a single sided drive. Can I simply 
update to an Epson double-sided drive or do I need to change 
something on one of the boards to get my P2K to accept double sided 
disks?

Thanx in advance for any help - I look forward to loading and saving,

James

oops! The message was "Lh" - not "Lf." Sorry :-(

Still the question remains as to whether I can swap a double sided into my single-
sided P2K???

Thanx,
James

<< Anyway, despite assurances that everything was OK with the unit, I 

have encountered a couple of problems. The most burning issue at 

present is the message "Lf" in the LED. >>

I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest that you might be seeing "If" 
rather than "Lf"... is this possible? this would just mean it doesn't want to 
write to the disc because it's not formatted for the p2k. 
it won't read or write IBM discs. 
there is a considerable chunk of the manual in the files section of this list 
if you haven't seen one. 
or you could be seeing "LA" with some of the display missing. I've never seen 
"LF" before on either my 2k or 2k2.

I've just lifted the following from my own archive, though it'll all be 
lurking in the main list archived mail somewhere too, along with other useful bits- 
there's an account by one owner who had to modify a teac drive to work. I 
don't recall anything ever having had to be done to the sampler itself to make a 
drive work, except filling the gap left by the original fat drive :-) I used a 
compact cassette box- it fits perfectly.

  Toshiba FDD4216G0K 
  Sony MP-F53W-00D 
  Canon MD-350 
  Sony 63W 
  TEAC FD-235HF (thanks to nick bittakis) 
  SONY MT-2 1-623-457-14 (new! thanks to david borman) >>

I added these: 
sony mpf520-1 (jumper needs to be in inner position)
epson smd-400 (jumpers across DC, MC and C0; you'll know what that means if 
you ever see one).
I have some doubts as to the availability of these models but you never know 
when/where one will turn up. a citizen drive lifted from my long-dead sx16 
would not work whatever I did with jumpers and switches.

good luck. it's an excellent machine when it's working.

duncan/r.m.i.

James wrote:

>(I) was just wondering if my error
>message also demands a new floppy drive.

Could be. The P2K is notorious for bad floppies. Your new one may work, as 
long as it's jumpered for DS0, or the cable is modified so that a drive 
jumped for DS1 (most PC drives are hard-jumpered that way these days) will 
be recognized as DS0. I removed a little surface mount resistor and 
re-soldered it at another location to re-jumper my replacement drive.
-- Pat

> I've just lifted the following from my own archive.... filling the 
gap left by the original fat drive :-) I used a 
> compact cassette box- it fits perfectly.
> 
>   Toshiba FDD4216G0K 
>   Sony MP-F53W-00D 
>   Canon MD-350 
>   Sony 63W 
>   TEAC FD-235HF (thanks to nick bittakis) 
>   SONY MT-2 1-623-457-14 (new! thanks to david borman) >>
> 
> I added these: 
> sony mpf520-1 (jumper needs to be in inner position)
> epson smd-400 (jumpers across DC, MC and C0; you'll know what that 
means if 
> you ever see one).

further to this, I just saw the following on a site for older 
emu/emax samplers- it's the same teac drive mentioned above but w/ a 
bit more detail:

>>The solution is to buy a new TEAC FD235HF-A529 drive. This is a 
black half height 3.5" floppy drive manufactured for industrial 
applications, and suitable for use in E-mu gear. The drive has 
jumpers that can be set for use in a sampler or drum machine. The 
drive can also be bought with a TEAC full height bezel, for use in 
the Emax, Emax II and EIII.<<

duncan/r.m.i.