Tools for SP-808's

[CnlTaf]

Hello SP friends

Since ive bought my mint SP-808ex some weeks ago ive have been searched for a good solution to replace the ZIP 250Mb drive. My SP came with only one disk so ive was forced to order new ZIp disks from a dealer in Sweden. When searching ive only saw about three shops that had them and that is a bit sad as i feels that my beloved SP-808ex dying if i can't provide new disk for it in da future

Ive seen and talked to people here on the SP-Forums that have made the harddisk conversion onto their SP-808/ex and there is a constant chase for the right media and even if the soulutions with harddisks and some cardreaders seem to work for a few....i am not quite satisfied.

First thing is that there is harder to find IDE drives and ina near future they are out of the market..the same with the IDE cardreaders they are practically gone...and if they are there wich one vill work?? ive seen at least three models that supose to work..but it feels a bit blury wich card it could handle in terms of size in Mb...it is hard to get hold of smaller cards than 4Gb now....ok there are still dealers that have anything from 256-512Mb but soon they vill be gone too...wich is sad

Ive got an idea some days ago that is interesting..Ive saw a company through my computerdealer in Sweden http://www.compliq.se that had a huge array of gadgets and converters for various applications the company is found at http://www.delock.de

Ive found a whole bunch of IDE>SSD, IDE>Sata and lot of more futureprof converters on Delock's website...and maybe there is lurking a more sustainable storage solution for the SP-808 with the gadgets found there than we seen before...

Ive had a thought of that we all could do a massive effort here on the great SP-Forums..that we should do a namelist and enquery to Roland to make upgradekits for the SP-808 and SP-606..or such, to take bigger cards or in the SP-808 case make a OS that supports newer drives such a USB cardreader...or SATA, or SSD drives....

I don't expect Roland to do it for free...but they could take a resonable amount for doing the new OS and upgradekit....but they should take som responability for making us enjoying our expensive equipment for a longer time than just a few years:)

For example how many people are not still using their Junos, TR-808's, TR-909´s, Jupiters, D-50's..and so on!!...shouldn't we samplinggeeks have the right to enjoy our samplers as we love them so much?? It is like the Pianist, or the people that play the violins...they become one with their instrument and that is why i love my SP-606, and SP-808....i know them inside and out...and like the people that still use the Emu SP-12/1200's and the oldschool MPC 60/3000/2000...Ok so we should demand Roland to make some upgradekits alvaiable to us Roland freakz...

What do u think?
Merry Xmaas and a happy new year
Cnl TAF

[ColeRockLee]

You can bitch at Roland all you want. They ain't interested in supporting legacy gear only selling new shit. Good luck.

[CnlTaf]

Ok EsromCole:)

Bitch this and bitch that;)...I am fully aware of Rolands policy against us users, and they are not interesting to listen to one little person like me or you ..BUT i think that it should impact them a lot if they got a massive criticism from a shitload of users e.g SP-Forum users as one unit

The problem with gear that is almost outdated when just leaving the musicstore is not just about their samplers..it is found in almost every segment of gear that uses some sort of media to record to or store data...If we users should quit buying Roland gear and for example buy a MPC or a Beatthang sampler instead i think Roland would not be so happy in the long run...loosing ground and market...I am shure that if we unite and make statements as a group we are powerful together

Unity is all we people need to succed in the most cases:)
Peace to ya' EsromCole

[55cancri]

All you need is a ide hard drive 2.5"inch for laptop. 5volts
You should try before no?

With a 40 g only i think its Good for long Time ?

what do you think about ?

[CnlTaf]

Hi folks;)

Ok i am fully aware of that the SP-808 works with harddrive with the A6 OS but this thread was more a more open discussion about how to extend the life of the SP-808..

The Ide harddrive is soon a memory and also the Ide cardreaders...so as i am courios if there is a solution to use SSD drives or SATA disks as i saw a lot of nice converters on the www.delock.de website wich has a huge array of computer releated devices:)

ok if i found new ways or have a clue i vill get back on this subject:)

Peace
Cnl TAF

[ColeRockLee]

There was a Roland rep on here for a while who witnessed all our criticisms, suggestions, and whatnot. Then they fired him.

[cartesia]

why would they bother updating something they dont make any money off anymore?

sorry!

[CnlTaf]

There was a Roland rep on here for a while who witnessed all our criticisms, suggestions, and whatnot. Then they fired him.

Sounds both interesting and shocking at the same time...i had not suspect Roland to listen, but i am truly sad that they fired the guy from Roland..

Happy new year to you

[55cancri]

Thinking of That,
you're right

its definitly a Problem In a short or long Time futur
i saw a ide ata 2,5 today in a shop, they told me that
its in very end course
160 g 48 euros
Last models


maby if we had a programer who Tweek the os For a sata
adjustement ....

But lets be happy with the dd first

[CnlTaf]

Hello fellow SP friends:)

Yes 55cancri, we should had our own programer to tweak the OS in some of the SP-XXX's. It's a matter of fact that ive read somewear on this forum that someone has the intent to try to hack the OS in the SP-808ex to overcome the A6 conversion need and get the latest OS in the SP-808ex to understand a wider range of media.

At http://www.delock.de ive seen all sorts of converters so to get a IDE>Sata would be possible or some other constelation too. I feel that we can dream on but also hope to came across a skilled programer to get help with tweaking the OS. I think it is bearly a peace of cake for a programer to reprogram the OS if they can read the code it is written in..

The last thing that abandon man is the hope..we are heading into darker times before we enter the brighter times, but i am possitive that there vill be better solutions in near future;)...ohh i got a bit philosophical..

Be well n Peace to ya'all
Cnl TAF

[cartesia]

if they can read the code it is written in..

This is the problem.. good luck getting roland to release any of their code..

and working in ASM/hex is just toooooo much for most people, so theres not really much option other than getting roland to give us the code

[55cancri]

Do u think its just code ajustement or maybe piece of hardware too, to get a IDE>Sata ?

[CnlTaf]

if they can read the code it is written in..

This is the problem.. good luck getting roland to release any of their code..

and working in ASM/hex is just toooooo much for most people, so theres not really much option other than getting roland to give us the code

Yes "cartesia" you have a point in what you state, that this Asembler/machinecode and Hex programing takes years of practice, but it is not upossible to do it my friend

We know by now that Roland is not "and isn't alone to hold things unreachable" a company that are very helpful. Ok some think that it is harsh critisism but it is true as far i am concerned.

The problem is not to crack or understand and modify the code, the problem is to find someone that can understand the code and even that can be solved according to some of my programing friends...BUT here we go again it is all about a bit of someones time AND a very big bit of money to get it done...as always about the money at the end of everything even more these days:)

It is hard to find people that in it for other reasons than money...i am not that old but, say ten years ago there was ten times easier to get such things done...and as the world gettin' more into to commercialize refinement in everything, it is gettin' even harder to get things done...The situation in where we are wanting to do mods done to say our SP-xxx's is a fairly little operation and would be done in a few days of a programer/technician at Roland's Lab

Knowledge is gettin' more and more unreachable for the common citizen..but we can still get together on forums and Youtube and talk and share things that is good i think. I vill contact some programers to see if they are able to at least answer on some Q: about the OS and code in these machines one of my friends work with the Swedish company "Elektron" that made and developed the SID-station based on the late Commodore C64 soundchip, and the also Machinedrum and lot more http://elektron.se Maybe he can answer on some Q: I am not havin' much to promise as i know he as others have tight scheduels on their jobs as programer and that why it is hard to get help to

The future vill tell how we manage to keep our beloved instruments alive regarding media and so on.... Maybe the the society reach a state where all good knowledge is available to all persons on this globe in the next 5 years or so, so i belive though

Peace

[CnlTaf]

Do u think its just code ajustement or maybe piece of hardware too, to get a IDE>Sata ?

Yes 55cancri it could sertenly be done but it is not a easy task..the IDE>Sata converter can be found at delock.de as i metioned before, and then it is the damn mods to the OS that is the biggest issue If one could get the overview of what the hardware/software has it's limitations..then it would possible to get it modified or at least know what it is capable of.

I am havin' a dream to talk to Roland's RnD headquaters in Japan to get a straight answer on their policy thowards customers feedback and their view. I think it could benefit both Roland and the customers to have a more open mind and friendship in the end. I also think that Roland has more to gain in this aproach.

Ok 55cancri we vill see what happens..it is fun that we can ventilate the thoughts here though

Peace

Ps."We Design The Future" is there statement that Roland claim,.. so Roland without your legacy of gear and your customers support there vill be harder to design new gear....cos in the future there vill be crucial to not listen to your fellow customers...and if you design the future, you dear people at Roland most know where future are and the future is to help and respect eachothers needs:) Ds.

[cartesia]

note that their policy is NOT

"we redesign the past"