zip drives and drum machines

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crosstudio

crosstudio

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i just bought an iomega 100mb scsi zip drive on ebay for $25.

i'm going to connect it to my Ensoniq/EMU ASR-X sampler.

anyone else doing this with the ASR or MPC?

how is the drive speed? i got tired of swapping floppy disks into the ASR and the zip was cheap.
 
good purchase cuz...

My man you just saved yourself a gang of time and fustration.

Shit is fast loading and having a gang of beats in one spot is just dope. Plus you can save huge ass samples with no problems. That ONLY SUN track was done on the X and that one was huge. Never would've tried to save that on floppy.

PS in case you didn't know (even though you mentioned to me)... Just save a song as AUTOLOAD and leave it in the fd drive. It'll load automatcially... I saved my setup on a disk so the ASR is just how I want it when I power up. Good for loading that favorite bass or drum kit without even thinking on it.

Peace...
 
Definitely a solid purchase, well worth $25.

BTW, Are either of you using (or going to be using in Cross's case) a SCSI chain with a PC so you can import samples directly from the PC? If not, how do you get the sounds in the sampler?

Stray
 
^

I actually have a few zip drives including a USB... I rarely do any computer to sampler swapping though.

I'm 95% analog audio inputs... I don't really process sounds and all that just sample what I like and run with.

As far as the scsi chain... I have my 250 ZIP between my MPC and ASR-X since both are dos based. I have one 250mb ASR/MPC disk and a bunch of 100mb MPC disks that I used. Sequence on the MPC save to zip... Since the ASR saves everthing in it's on set of folders the MPC ASR files don't get mix up. Only thing that bugs me is that the MPC doesn't read AIF files and that's what the ASR saves as. I'd sample with the ASR and send to the MPC... No time for that conversion drama...

But yes a scsi chain could be created with a scsi equipped computer. Just don't have to masters (computer, asr, etc.) trying to use the drive at the same time.

Peace...
 
I tried going the analog route a while ago, but all the sounds I got were either clipped out or too thin. Maybe my mixing techniques just sucked back then.

Do you basically just take the output of whatever you're sampling and go right into the inputs of the sampler?

Stray
 
Do you basically just take the output of whatever you're sampling and go right into the inputs of the sampler?

About half maybe comes through a mixer (for eqing) the rest is me just patched in output to inputs. Thing I do is sample stuff again and again until I get what I want. If it takes 50 times gotta do it. And just like tracking run it in loud as I can...

Ohh and the last few months it's all been going through the ASR cuz it's got a auto normalize feature. I just like the slight color the ASR convertors give stuff. So I may sample stuff into ASR and resample in the MPC or whatevers clever. I'll do damn near anything so maybe you shouldn't be listening to me to tuff.:D
 
^^^^^

I use a cool little drive 2" long called a Zio! This unit for $25 with a Flash card is the best invention since Zip.. I can use the card with my computer USB, Motif 6, Digital camers all with the same card..... The card is faster than a zip and can hold up to 256 for around $80 to $100 Reusable up to 1,000,000, times
 
Lazi: yup. i got the autoload thing going already. thanks for the advice about two masters going into the zip at the same time. btw, how much RAM do you have in your ASR?

stray411: chaining is a good idea. i've got a SCSI PCI card laying around here somewhere.
 
I think it's at 58MB (32 and a 16 that oddly reads as 8MB when installed alone :confused: )... I had the whole 66 but the ASR is more sensitive about memory with the 2 X 32mb chips than with a lesser amount. If the memory is no perfect some of the samples will playback static and cracks.

I don't think i've ever used more than 8MB maybe 10MB...

Also... Since I can't get my hands on a damn turbo card (yet) I wanna figure out how to autoload some select sounds from a zip drive to the ASR. The ASR checks for previously used files so they probably wouldn't be reloaded everytime I save. Just the new files... That'll give me a few customized drum kits and whatever.

Peace....
 
zips

Nice move on the $25.00 zip. You'll be glad you did. I got four of them. Now the hunt is on for cheap zip disks. Check www.dealmac.com from time to time. Zip disks can go pretty cheap sometimes. That $19.00 price is a pure myth.

Peace.

homershines
for phat drum sounds & samples email me at:
homershines@yahoo.com
 
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