Hey all, I've barely been here in this forum, but I am a long time SP 808 user. I bought one when it was released, and I currently own 3 of them (1 of them was partially damaged at a gig when rain was pouring through the ceiling onto the unit)
I have relied on my SP808 for years for my band's live show to trigger samples and manipulate them with the D-beam controlling effects.
I have recently had all of my live show disks malfunction, and even though I had backups (backed up from external zip to the 808 with expansion card scsi) none of my disks currently work. I had a feeling that I would eventually hit a wall with the zip disks' functionality.
What do I do???? I love my SP808's but the risk of losing data with zip disks and inability to backup easily to a computer and to move around samples has been a real bummer.
I LOVE the D-beam for effects, but I don't think I can use this live anymore. Any ideas? I've searched for a comparable Roland device (tried the SP505 but d-beam didn't work the same). I've asked folks at Roland but nobody has an answer for me.
Can I salvage my info and continue to use the SP808 live with some modifications, or is there a comparable unit out there (Roland or not) that I can trigger samples and manipulate with effects?
I look forward to hearing from some real SP808 users. Thanks!

There are USB Zip drives out there...

Maybe the internal Zip drive cause problems, i can't say for sure.

The 808 is the only SP that i used, but if i'll get chance i will certainly take the 555, dope for lives and more compact than the 808.

I picked up my 808 new in 1999 and the original drive and disks worked fine until mid-late last year. Using old disks, as I understand it, contributed to the demise of the zip drive, which in turn physically damaged even new disks. These disks are fragile and wear out. If you're using the same discs for live shows for years it's to be expected they'll deteriorate over a decade or 15 years.

I sourced a second-hand drive late last year... it was very easy to replace. Actualy I bought three, all very cheap but only one was in good enough condition as a secondhand piece of shite to keep the machine working. If I could source a new, unused drive i would jump at it, but this one works okay. An example: the original drive was happy to play two pads from separate banks. This replacement can't switch banks while a pad is playing without major glitching.

When it comes to disks and backup: if a disk begins actiing strangely in any way I'll switch pads to drum mode and record samples in realtime to external device if theyre something i want to save. Pretty easy to sample them back to the machine.. or even do some further treatment/sculpting in a DAW before recording back to the SP.

I've gotten into the habit of regularly reformatting the disks, and when i do, reformatting them 2 or 3 times in a row before recording to them. I'm actually not sure if this makes any difference, but it feels better

Also, my old disc habit was to focus on banks 1-16, but recently I've been recording chops to banks 1, 10, 20, 30...60 and resampling or reworking samples in the one or two banks up from those - my theory being that it's spreading the work over the full surface of the disc rather than just a small part. Again, I don't know the actual physics of the data-storage/retreival, but before i adopted these habits I was suffering from premature disc-death (like, totally randomly but sometimes after just a few days) and since adopting them have had the same disc in the machine since february.

I can't speak for any other sampler; I never use the d-beam or for that matter any functions in the recorder/mixer (essentially the entire left half of the machine) - for me it's pad-play and effects (all the number have worn off my pads)... for my hands the 16 pads are perfectly sized and spaced for playing though I'd love to try other sp's pad size and layouts to compare even if I'm convinced I'll always feel most at home behind an 808.

offside - I used to love playing with a live band... I'd have a mic on stage and shift it around depending on who in the band I wanted to fxck with (oftenmost the drummer or guitarist...sometimes I could get the whole band with miking the monitor amps) and would live effex-process, live sample and manipulate feedback - the sp-output going into both a 100 watt bass-amp and an 80 watt guitar amp with twin 12 inch 100 watt speakers. We were pretty loud, funnily enough.

This post should be placed in the 808 section tho.
Good tips Lif!