Can An E-MU Ultra Sampler Be Used With Any Current Macs?

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Can An E-MU Ultra Sampler Be Used With Any Current Macs?

Postby teknosmoker » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:35 pm

I have an Adaptec 39160 SCSI PCI card that worked very well for SMIDI transfers between my old G5 and my E-MU E6400 Ultra. Due to multiple repairs, the G5 had to be replaced recently and I am now working with a Mac Pro 2.66 Quad-Core. The new Mac Pro only uses PCIe cards, so I can no longer use my trusty Adaptec card. I also own a MacBook Pro 2.16 Core 2 Duo.

I looked at the SCSI cards that ATTO makes, but they are ridiculously expensive (about the same going price as a E6400 Ultra!).

I love the sound, flexibility, and interface of E-MU's hardware samplers too much to give them up and go the software-sampler route.

Other than MIDI sample dumps, what sample transfer options do I have between an E6400 Ultra and my computers? Can I save samples to some sort of media (Zip, Compact Flash, etc.) that can be accessed by both my Mac and the E-mu?


P.S. - I'd like to keep EOS 4.61 on my E-MU. I've heard too many horror stories about the bugs in the unfinished beta of EOS 4.7.



-T
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Postby ehasting » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:46 pm

I have just gotten two zip drivers.. one usb, and one scsi.. that together with chickensys makes it easy to transfare samples between.. (i am just waiting for 50pin to db25 scsi cable now :P

I also know that you can get memorycard reader to work..

But without 4.7 os, you need a way to work in eos fs format.. thats what chickensys does.
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Postby Concept_HF » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:05 pm

I use to have a MAC G5 desktop and I had an E6400 Ultra that I had a hell of a time getting to work with SCSI / SMDI. I actually went through 3 cards before I found the right one. The one that ended up working was an Adaptec Model: PowerDomain 29160N. You can find these on Ebay for approx. $25-30 USD.

During that process I also tried an ATTO UL3S card that never worked, and to be honest, their tech support wasn't very helpful. They (1 guy) ended up ignoring me after weeks of not being able to get the card to work.

After all that, my studio burned down in a house fire....so, it was back to square one for me!

Currently, I'm in the same boat as you. I have a new Power MAC quad core, and I just re-purchased the Adaptec Power Domain 29160N card. Hopefully it works (crossing fingers)!

I will let you know how it goes upon install as far as the MAC goes.

However, I am still waiting on the SCSI cables I had to order via the web. So, SCSI / SMDI transfer feedback will have to wait a bit....

I'll keep you posted! :grin:

Ez,
George
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Postby Concept_HF » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:33 am

Ok......the Adaptec APD-29160N does NOT fit into the newer Power Mac Quad Core. For some reason, I assumed that it would. =)

For now, I can live with sampling into the machine; it's nice to run stuff through my board and outboard gear before it goes into the E-MU anyways. It's just nice to have tha ability to use SMDI when you have lots of drum hits/splices to transfer over.

If you happen to find the right card; please post a response in this thread for everyone. :grin:

George
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Postby Concept_HF » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:53 am

One more note....

The ATTO UL5D seems like the only available option at this time for the Power Mac w/PCIe expansion slots.

Does anyone know if it comes in a single (UL5S)?

About my previous experience with ATTO.....

The UL3S card installed with ease and it was recognized by my old G5; however, it was unable to recognize my legacy devices: ZIP 100 and E-MU. ATTO advertised the card to be compatable with legacy devices, but, for some reason the guy in tech support wasn't able to help. It could work now though.....that was 1 & 1/2 years ago.
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Postby bounce » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:00 pm

I looks like apple wants to leave the SCSI erra behind for good and they are trying their best to shake SCSI off.

Still... if there are machines around like Emu e-series samplers that in some area's arn't matched by any other new technololgy and they only communicate through SCSI... the demand for SCSI will keep existing

same goes for older models AKAI samplers and MPC's.

new technology can't take away the technolgy that allready exist.

It would be the same as if somebody would invent a new kind of wind-instrument and would say... from now on you can't use trumpets and saxophones anymore.
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Postby lordtoranaga » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:58 pm

here is a scsi card, but it is expensive


you are better off buying a g4 and using it as a dedicated sample server

that is what i did

g4+ marathon rack + @200$
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Postby Concept_HF » Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:54 pm

lordtoranaga,

The link for the SCSI card you're mentioning isn't showing up. Would you repost this info please?

Yeah, I've thought about making a dedicated sample server out of a cheap PC, that way I can still use .wav editors like Sound Forge or Wavelab, and I'll have the ability to do the SMDI business! ;)

Ez,
George
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Postby lordtoranaga » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:07 pm

Peace & Love, Lord Toranaga
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Postby lordtoranaga » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:12 pm

I have a g4 running
os 9
recycle
dsp quattro
and the free prosoniq suite

with 3 scsi cards, running to
an emu e64
emu esi4000 turbo
yamaha a3000

this is a lot of fun


I have the g4racked up underneath the samplers
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Postby ehasting » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:42 pm

hey.. tell me.. what makes the yamaha worth owning?? i
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Postby lordtoranaga » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:10 pm

I can't I hate it.

I have 6 of them laying around, only one with scsi

mostly I use it as an effects processor
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Postby teknosmoker » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:46 am

ehasting wrote:I have just gotten two zip drivers.. one usb, and one scsi.. that together with chickensys makes it easy to transfare samples between.. (i am just waiting for 50pin to db25 scsi cable now :P

I also know that you can get memorycard reader to work..

But without 4.7 os, you need a way to work in eos fs format.. thats what chickensys does.


Yes. I have a SCSI Zip drive for the E6400 Ultra and could pick up up a USB Zip drive for my Mac Pro.

The problem is that the OS X version of Chickensys Translator Pro does not allow you save in EOS format! As a workaround I assume I can install XP on the Mac Pro via Bootcamp and do the following:

-Save EOS libraries/samples?from my E6400 to the SCSI Zip drive (onto an EOS formatted Zip disc).?
-Plug the USB Zip drive into my Mac Pro (running XP / Bootcamp) to transfer the EOS files via Translator to my computer as .WAV/.AIFF files.??
-Edit the samples in my Mac Pro.
-Use Translator again to save the edited samples to back to the USB Zip drive in EOS format.
-Use the SCSI Zip drive to transfer the edited EOS formatted samples back into my E6400.??

I have emailed Chickensys to confirm that this is all possible and am waiting on their reply.

Update:

Chickensys replied to my query confirming that the above 5 steps for using Zip drives is indeed possible.

They also confirmed a few other things that may be of interest to others on this forum:

--Chickensys Translator will run under Bootcamp/XP on an Intel based Mac.

--While it is not yet Universal Binary, Translator runs very well under Rosetta (a UB version is in the works)

--When you purchase Translator, you get both the Mac and Windows version of the application. So you can use all the Windows translations until they (until the Mac translations are updated to include 2-way EOS conversion, this will all be moot)


BTW - The support staff at Chicken Systems has been very honest, friendly and helpful regarding my inquiries.
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Postby mocheez » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:43 am

All this is very interesting since I'll soon be buying an E-6400 Ultra and I also own a Mac. I remember, back in the day, connecting my Esi-32 with zip drive in-between used to be fun and easy with my PowerMac 5400 with buit-in SCSI running Alchemy, back in '96-97. Ever since my B&W G3 and optional SCSI cards, plus outdated Esi OS Rom version, things got to the point were it was a total nightmare. A few years ago, I transfered all my Esi banks from the zip drive to Reason NN-XT banks using CDXtract but I miss the hardware and the E-mu sound and feel so that's why I ended up buying that E6400 Ultra. My SCSI cards are from the OS9 era and late OS X versions don't support them. So any serious hint about working SCSI options in order to hook a E6400 Ultra to a G4 MDD running Tiger and/or Leopard is more than welcome!

I've seen cheap ads for Adaptec SCSI 39160 and Adaptec PowerDomain 29160N. which one in your opinion would be best suited for my G4 and E6400? Also, what Mac OSX transfer software would you recommend?
(I've seen a lot of people talk about Recycle 2 but I've never been able to find any SMDI transfer option anywhere in the damn software?)
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