emusonacid! legacy

Hi Everyone,

I suspect this will be of interest, and this is a phase 1 post to get thoughts.

Just had a thought. With all the mess of having

a) losing SCSI support on new Macs
b) having to maintain an old XP box just to transfer samples
c) having a mess of a time and expense of using SCSI CF Readers/IDE Converters (I have done it all!)

What I would really like to be able to do is either have a nice network (like SCSI originally provided) or a simple way to share complete drives from Mac to PC and Sampler.

i.e. to bring the vision Emu originally had with the sampler becoming the centerpiece of the studio, but with really simple movement of samples from contemporary DAWs. They never did get a chance to launch the Emu USB card before creative F%^&&**ed it all up.

Anyhow, its struck me recently that one way to do this is a SATA Drive conversion for the IDE interface in the Emu - hardware translation that is transparent to the EMU IDE mechanism.

As it turns out, there are TONS of such bi-directional adaptors out there - most are for converting old IDE drives to SATA which is no use to us - but many convert old IDE motherboards to accept SATA Drives, such as this (expensive) one so you can see the specs.

http://cooldrives.stores.yahoo.net/saidecomisat.html

So, what comes out of your EMU Motherboard with these adapters is a SATA cable.

Scanning ebay reveals there are tons of these for $2-$5 a piece too - the bi directional ones to adapt old motherboards. So, in theory this could be a cheap, cheap upgrade. Of course, this will only work with the Master mode of the IDE drive, but no big deal there.

to see , search ebay on "IDE to SATA bi directional" keywords (without the quotes).

Now, whilst this extends the life of our beasts to accept newer, lower power, and cheaper 2.5" storage which is now predominant, it also opens up the possibility of having an external SATA interface that powers the drive and provides the data feed to an external connectors.

Think this: Replace your EMU IDE adapters with a SATA connector. Extend the SATA connector to either a new slot in the rear, or better yet, on the front e.g. where the floppy drive is - inclding some nice swappable bays that then convert to an External USB 2.0 Drive - so plug and play into your Mac and PC for file transfer (FAT32- direct on EOS 4.7) or via Translator on the Mac.

Check this out:

http://www.aneotech.com/main/main3-2.as ... od2idno=54

Seems like this may also do it directly off the IDE port, but there are more choices for SATA options.

[Note: there are some IDE 2.5" caddys that do this today - ICY DOCK make them - however, there is no adapter that easily allows the drive to be swapped in and out from internal IDE caddy to external USB 2.0 as they all have a proprietary bus connector for the caddy-IDE mapping.

This could even be done with the SCSI-IDE-SATA (2 adapters) for old Non Ultras in theory.

Having this ease of data transfer would make translator more appealing too.

Thoughts ? Interest in investigation ?

M

Update.

I've been in touch with the supplier of the Aluminium/Aluminum 3.5" drive cases with one of their US distributors. They are about $US 30 a piece and that includes the caddy and the drive bay that fits in a floppy drive insert.

If they can get some stock soon I'm going to order some and experiment with using these in the Ultra.

This means we could plug and play 2.5" IDE drives into the Ultra.

When finished, pop them out, connect a USB 2.0 cable to the caddy, and then read the drives directly, no SCSI need on Macbook Pro/Mac/PC/Linux etc.

This would allow for backsups, editing, wave file sharing etc etc. and could be super sweet.

Plus, when gigging, take the drive out, keep it safe, plug it back in when on stage.

Will update further when I get this squared away.

M

Update.

I'm ordering 5 units from A-Neo.

This is the IDE version, so no need for a SATA bridge!

If anyone is interested in this, please reply here. I will try and make this a "product" for the users on this board with complete instructions as to how to install/use it etc.

Think - simply pop your 2. 5" drive out of your Emu, all in a nice Black cool Alu case, connect it direct to your Mac or PC via USB 2 and swap samples in and out via FAT32 compatibility and full speed. No need for CF cards, messing around with SCSI etc.


M

Cool! Keep us posted Kalide. I would be interested in trying this myself if you are successful.

What if you needed to reinstall your OS?

Since I'm already at 4.7, I can't see too much of a compelling need to re-install/upgrade unless it was corrupted - hopefully a rare event.

there would be two options

1. extend the cable to the rear for a temporary floppy connection (a bit of hacking, but feasible).

2. Leave the floppy mounted, but internally, so you open the case, pop the floppy in, and work from that.

M

Just waiting for the drive caddy's to arrive from the Taiwan supplier.

Will be a couple of weeks before I get them and put them into the unit.

M

Drive caddys on their way !

Drive caddies arrived - look good and appear to be exactly as expected.

So, plan is if I have time this weekend I'll see how they mount up and report back.

I intend to photo and document the process.

Anyhow know of a way for EOS 4.7 to be set to ignore a floppy on boot ? EOS will hang without a floppy so I was going to mount it inside.

M

Kalide - thanks for keeping us posted!

Hope you have a chance to give it a shot this weekend. Let us know how it goes

best,

T

folks - been working too much so no time on this project at moment but it is still on my next "to do" list. Not forgotten.

So far, the units looks like they will do the trick - very simple design and should meet the intended purpose.

M

I just modded my E4XT Ultra last night:

http://altus.glassmelter.com/drive11.jpg

Popped in an 80GB drive, works like a charm. Thank you kalide for this great idea!

sweet work!

I've yet to document the process (but its pretty obvious) - have been offline for a while, back now...

Also, if anyone is looking for similar caddy and drive holders, google scythe IDE drive caddy, and or icydock. They all seem quite similar.

M

Hi folks, great idea ! I just purchased this item : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0063121571
Seems cheap and compliant ... I'll tell you if it runs

By the way I think the ADVANCE mobile rack really fits the E-MU in my opinion (paid 29? for it in a shop here in Paris) :




Here is the original box :



I then changed my e6400 fan (don't tell me about the christmas trees ) :



... and put a simple pot inside to regulate the fan speed (to find the minimum position where it has enough voltage to run when you switch on the E-MU) and close the box Silence ...

This way it looks like a 2008 hardware, is it ? (I mean SATA + silence, forget about the blue light huh huh)




Cheerz guys