My apologies, I'm not in favor of commercial spams but I hope you'll make an exception. I never do this but I thought it'd be appropriate this one time since it's Roland-based and very beneficial.
Also I'm never exactly sure how many people know about our products and what they do for Roland samplers. Also, we posted a similar thing on some other lists today.
I assume you are using a S7x-type sampler, although I know there are other Roland-type users here.
We are doing one of our "holiday 50% off software sales" and Translator and Constructor are part of this.
Translator is an instrument convertor and can convert any professional instrument format (Kontakt, EXS24, Giga, SoundFont, etc.) into Roland S7x format. You convert create new S7x Patches and write them directly to Roland disk. This expands your sample library by a huge amount - get ANYTHING into your S7x, flawlessly and easily.
Constructor differs from Translator in that Translator converts already-created instruments, while Constructor "gets in the middle" and handles the individual sample references in process, THEN you save into any format including Roland. Constructor can load formed-Instruments but you can add and delete from them at your leisure, plus edit the key/vel ranges, loop points, and any other parameter.
These programs now have an AutoSampler at no extra charge. There are a lot of software/hardware sample libraries that are encrypted or just unavailable for conversion. The AutoSampler makes it easy to fire up that plugin or hardware piece do some setup, and hit RECORD. Let it sample and AutoSampler composes a fully-mapped S7x Patch for you.
You can also audition ANY sampled instrument (S7x or not) directly from disk; hit LOAD and you can play it from your MIDI keyboard without loading it into the S7x itself.
Translator also allows you to rename any Roland S7x object on disk, and delete objects as well - while updating the other objects on disk.
Both Translator and Constructor are Mac and Windows - cross-platform - and work with the latest operating systems (Win 8 down to WinXP, OSX Mavericks down to 10.4 Tiger - even PPC works). They are still being fully supported via email, phone, chat, and forum.
This Labor Day weekend we are again putting [most] of our software up for 50% sale. This is a great time to indulge yourself and improve your Roland experience. Translator or Constructor - the Pro versions - are MSRP $150, but on sale they are just $75 each. Or even better, you can get the Translator Roland Edition (deals with only Roland), which is normally $80 - get it for just $40.
This sale starts on Friday August 29 and ends after Labor Day Sept 1. Go to www.samplerzone.com/catalog for the sale, and www.chickensys.com for more information.
Again, I apologize for the commercial spam, but I'm guessing that perhaps there's people here that don't know this is available and I just wanted to take the time to bring it out, especially now that there's a sale coming.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
Last thing, stupid thing... I'm on vacation right now, driving, and the two highways we took yesterday were US 50 and US 550. Take out the U and you get S50 and S550. Cool.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
At 02:21 PM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>AH, that makes sense, so my optimism is draining away :) The USB
>floppy I have is older, not a mac model, but I could see it still not
>being able to do that.
Oh, okay, this is why it won't work. dd works with Unix/Linux, sure. But all things only work with an internal floppy drive, for the reasons stated in www.samplerzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3251 The problem with Mac's is not that it won't run dd, it's because no Mac's that run OSX have a internal floppy drive (that is, a controller on the mobo or on a card slot).
Again, if you are into old gear, having an old computer around is the best way to provide a gateway to them. Using your newer computers is putting a square peg in a round hole. For me, I have a Pent 4 running XP SP3 with an internal floppy drive. Nice because I can use several Windows floppy accesses, but if I have to get really down and dirty I just run DOS 7.0 and go to town.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
At 01:38 PM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>> I was talking abut proprietary floppies, not regular ones.
>
>There are two things here:
>
>1) software: proprietary format on disk (i.e. not FAT32, NTFS, etc)
>2) hardware: proprietary disk format (i.e. quickdisk instead of "standard")
>
>#1 is just a stream of bits, which is what dd excels at. #2 wouldn't
>be any easier on a Windows box, I'm not aware of windows attached
>QuickDisk drives for example.
See this for a fuller explanation: www.samplerzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3251
>If it works on Linux, I would be shocked if it didn't work on Mac,
>because underneath macOS on the command line, you have a full Unix
>system, very much like Linux other than the kernel, which isn't really
>relevant to a floppy drive device.
I'd hope so... but I believe what Apple puts forward lines up to what they want, and my feeling is that "dd" is not working or not included. Otherwise that would be a solution to many problems that have lasted years. Since it hasn't been solved, I assume dd has been tried and found wanting. But I'm optimistic, but real at the same time. Let get it tested first.
I think Gordon here (Linux only man) knows the right parameters. I think with all the Akai, Roland, Emu, Ensoniq, it's all 10 sector stuff instead of 9 sector.
>I look forward to hearing the results. I could write the data (I have
>a mac and a USB floppy) but I have no way to verify that it's
>right....
Why don't you take a S5x floppy, read it using dd, then write it using dd, and see if your S5x reads it still? That's essentially what I will do when I get back.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
At 09:46 AM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>USB floppies exist and can be used on Macs...
I was talking abut proprietary floppies, not regular ones.
>I would second the recommendation for dd as the tool of choice, but of course you have to
>have the device first.
I'd like to know if "dd" works. I'll test Monday, if no one else does, but I don't think it works on Mac/Unix. It does on Linux though, so I've heard.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
At 06:27 AM 8/13/2014, you wrote:
>If anyone can suggest recent software (other than SMAC which is OS9) that will help, please jump in here.
Macs and floppies don't mix; EPSm is an exception but really proves the rule.
www.samplerzone.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3251
Use a Windows computer or DOS with an internal floppy drive. This doesn't mean you have to own one, just borrow one for the use.
Translator www.chickensys.com supports extracting and importing floppy disk image files onto SCSI-sized images (though I know SCSI S5x is rare), and supports converting them out to other formats. Colin, this has been greatly enhanced as of late. Soon we will support converting into S5x. Way too late, but hey.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
Apologies if this question has been asked before but where can I find S550 sound disks L503-L509? Have the contents of these disk sets been uploaded onto the sagroup website? If so, how do I download and get those sounds onto my S750?
Thanks & regards,
Rob.
E: rob.mayo(a)luxsci.net
P: +64 22 041 8498 , +81 80 4086 1321
S: odaikorob
F: rob.mayo(a)luxsci.net
