USB Floppy Emulators with AKAI MPC60 & S950

USB Floppy Emulators - SFRM72-FU and SFRM72-FU-DL

You get the Emulator from Ebay around 40 Euros.




Installation:


There is no need to change any jumper settings for the MPC60, it just works.

Formatting USB-drive:

 On the CD, navigate to "CD/english/SOFTWARE for XXX-U100" version and extract "usb-floppy-format-tool_v123_sfd" and start the application "V123_SFD.exe".

 Just select 720 kB as Floppy Type, and click "Begin Formatting...".

 The floppy supports 99 directories and a root directory. Each directory is numbered from 00 to 99 and represents the contents of a 720 kB disk. The files are saved directly in the file system of the USB drive, i.e. no virtual disk images or the like that you need special software for reading/writing.



Using the emulator:

The floppy emulator has two buttons on the front. These buttons have different functions depending on if a USB drive is inserted or not.

If no USB drive is inserted in the floppy emulator, the buttons are used to select the directory. The left button increases the directory/disk number by 10, and the right by 1.

When a USB drive is inserted the buttons change function to "out" and "in". The floppy emulator has a built in flash memory buffer and these buttons are now for exporting the contents of this memory to and from the USB drive.

To write to the USB drive, press the left button. The display on the floppy emulator should now read "d1". Save your files on the MPC. Now press the left button again. This exports the files from the internal memory of the floppy emulator to the USB drive. Now press the right button, which puts the contents of the selected folder on the USB drive into the floppy emulators internal memory. Done!

Now you can remove the USB memory, plug it into your computer to backup the files or edit the files with Awave Studio for example.




There are two 720kb models confirmed to be working in the MPC60 / S950.

 1. SFRM72-FU (Emulates up to 99 floppy disks on a USB drive)
 2. SFRM72-FU-DL (Emulates up to 999 floppy disks on a USB drive)


1,44MB emulator is not tested yet! Feel free to try and send us the information.






Infos taken from: www.mpc-forums.com

AKAI S900/950 Mods

Some usefull modifications for tha AKAI S900/950 samplers.

1. Display

The original display is an ELD, which stands for electroluminescent display. Years ago these old displays losing luminance and need to be replaced.
The normal way is to replace the EL foil, but you will have the same problems maybe in a few years. Better build in a cheap 40x2 character LED LCD with great contrast and luminance.

2. Floppy

We all know the problems with floppy disks and data transfers. The other modification is to build in a floppy drive emulator. its an own unit with a software programm. The S950 thinks he got a build in floppy drive but you can store your samples on a 2GB sd card or usb stick. You need to create partitions in the size of the floppy disk 1,44 MB for HD and 740KB DD.
The most famous emulator is the hxc, you can google it. Its tested and working fine for the AKAI s950 with a price around 110 Euros. There is another emulator for usb devices, but it's only tested for the MPC60 in the 740KB Version. The price is around 40 Euros.

3. Memory

Memory for the S900/950 is really hard to find and if you found someone selling it he want hundred of dollars for a few "used" kilobyte.
The Mutec Memorys are in same quality than AKAI and workin fine. Years ago I bought Mutec memmory  for my S1100 and I never got any problems with em.
Price for the 750 KB Memory Expansion Card is 90 Euros.
http://www.masterbits.de/exp_d.htm

Last but not least I want tell you some reasons for using the old AKAI sampler. It sounds musically and has its own type of crispy and warm 12bit sound.
The S950 got a true analoge switched capacitor filter with 36dB transition steepness per octave. No ressonance or realtime modulation but an own envelope and dynamically controlled by the keyboard velocity.
For every 8 voice there is an own converter chip with serveral clock and VCA amplifier, which is the reason for great pressure like the old Roland synthesizers. If u want change the pitch of the sample, the clockrate and rate of the memory will be changed. It's like an turntable, when changing the speed of a vynil. Only a few samplers of the early 80's runing this enormous effort. It's just a great piece of engineering art and a great instrument which still has it's place in a modern studio.


Watch out for my next post, I will describe my modifications for the AKAI MPC 2000XL.