emusonacid!

I want to connect my EMU 6400 Ultra sampler to my Mac G4 with the use of a Adaptec 2609 card.

Now i bought the following SCSI cable (Centronics 50 male to DB25 male) : http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0304445132

Is the description already pointing me in the direction ?
These are made using double shielded, twisted pair cable and are fully UL approved. They are used to connect card to device or device to device and come in many connector combinations to suit all needs

But after trying the cable i get the idea that i bought a wrong version of this cable...even tough my computer is not yet powered on and the cable is connected to my Mac, as soon as i connect the cable to the sampler the HD cannot be found anymore (you see the slow search for all SCSI id's and then the HD is not found). When i disconnect the cable from the sampler the problem is gone.

Internal HD of the sampler is set to SCSI id 4 / terminator on.
EMU 6400 Ultra SCSI id is set to id 6 / termination on / avoid host on 0

If its this SCSI card:

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/sc ... /AVA-2906/

Image:

http://www.adaptec.com/AdaptecCom/Templ ... eWidth=600

then you have the right cable - if its a proper SCSI cable and not a Printer/Centronics cable

Termination is not correct however, or your SCSI Adapter has a clashing ID (it should be 7 or 0 from memory by default - check it).

You have this:

Internal HD of the sampler is set to SCSI id 4 / terminator on.
EMU 6400 Ultra SCSI id is set to id 6 / termination on / avoid host on 0

Mac (default terminated).....Internal Drive..........Emu
*-----------------------------------*---------------------* (SCSI)
T...........................................T.......................... T

NOte: "..." - ignore - I can't "post" spaces to this board.

Termination has to be the last physical ends of the physical SCSI chain. YOu are terminating in the middle of the chain by having termination on both the internal drive AND the sampler AND the Mac. there can only be two terminators at the very end of the chain.

You should:

Mac (default terminated).....Internal Drive..........Emu
*-----------------------------------*---------------------* (SCSI)
T....................................................................... T

1. the first physical termination point is your Adaptec Adapter (assuming its not used for any internal drives in your Mac

you need to either enable termination in the Adaptec adapter (if it can be controlled) or install an internal termination adapter in the internal 50 pin socket. Most likely you can enable it - check docs:

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/sc ... /AVA-2906/

2. The last item in your scsi chain should be your sampler (it could be your internal drive if its on a long cable, but most times its your sample). Enable termination in your sampler. If that doesn't work, disable termination in the sampler settings and enable it on your internal drive.

Ensure no SCSI ID's clash including your adapter, and set the Emu to ignore the Adapters ID.

Report success here :)

Beware - If your discs are EOS 4.7 - you will LOSE DATA ON YOUR SAMPLER DRIVE IF THE MAC IS CONNECTED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE EMU!!!!!

M

Thank you Kalide for your quick and expansive reply...

I didn't find the problem yet...but i could narrow it down at least.

Checked my HD...it was (in fact) terminated...i just misread the sticker on it...
Just to be sure i put the SCSI id on 3 to be safe.

Checked again my settings on the EMU and to be sure i put the SCSI id on 5....host was on 0...and termination was already on.

Checked also the Adaptec SCSI card in my Mac...and it looks exactly like the card in the second link you gave me (image link).

Powered off the EMU...no power on my Mac...and i connect the SCSI cable to the EMU.

Now...check this...If i power on the EMU the HD cannot be found...so it seems more and more to me that the cable is not correct...even though the ebay link and the packing of the cable says its a SCSI device cable.

Possible - you may also want to try this:

* disable HD SCSI termination on internal drive
* enable Emu termination

or

* disable emu termination
* enable HD termination

I can't remember if the Emu or the internal HD is the last in the chain - I had to try every combination to get mine to work - I would either see: no drives (like yours) or drives on every ID "clones" - neither worked until I got the termination exactly right....very painful trial and error.

Also - is the adaptec card new? It has a "software" setting for "Auto termination" - when there is no connection internally, term is on, if both internal and external is connected, term is Off, if only external, term is on - but it can be disabled in software - refer to docs as its no clear how you do this change on the Mac.

M

One other good test for the cable:

Remove the HD drive from the Chain - disconnect it, and just have the adapter and the Emu terminated and connected.

See if the Mac can see the Emu (if you have a tool that can see the SCSI chain).

M

Had a weekendtrip with my wife....will have enough time tonight to experiment with your tips Kalide....

Will update you after that.

Well...i tried all of the above but to no avail....as soon as i connect my cable the SCSI search will go slow and the EMU won't see the HD anymore...whatever setting i make on the EMU or the HD or my Mac.

Guess that the only thing i can think of to blame is my cable....

I can borrow another SCSI cable from a collegue of mine....will try that tomorrow and see if that will solve the problem.

He uses this cable to hook his CD-burner to his comp. so it should be ok....

And yes....we have a winner...

After borrowing the SCSI cable from a collegue of mine i had the chance to test everything again.

Left the settings i had made as they were (HD not terminated, EMU terminated, SCSI card auto terminated)....connected the borrowed cable and voila...there was a connection and i could turn my Mac on and use Peak to send and read samples from my EMU.

Only difference i saw between the SCSI cables is the thickness...so i suspect the Ebay cable of being a printer version (thin cable) and the borrowed cable for a full wired version (thick).

Now i have to try to get a refund or try to swap the cable for the right one.