Hey Colin, Thanks for the info on your setup. Somehow I figured it wouldn't be such a stretch to get a floppy drive setup working on Yosemite, but it looks like I was a little too cavalier. Space is at a premium in my Brooklyn apartment, but maybe I could grab a G4 Mac Mini from eBay and do something similar to what you're doing. But I'm guessing a good next step before that is to: 1) get my hands on some sample disks 2) hook up the video output from the S-550 to make things a little more manageable. I'm talking to someone about the disks they have around, but in the meantime, does anyone have any ideas where I can grab disks with the samples used in the demo I posted earlier? Thanks for your help! On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 6:26 AM, Colin Shapiro <musos(a)icon.co.za> wrote: Back again... I noticed from a further post that you're running Yosemite. It's highly unlikely that you'll find a drive that has up to date drivers for any newer Mac OS than 10.6 I have an old Imation Superdrive which used to work under OS 10.6 but there are no longer drivers for it, and the Mac doesn't even see the drive anymore. I've kept a "legacy" G4 that runs OS 10.2 and even OS9, simply to be able to read and write (and convert) floppies and run old programs that could read Roland format disks. Do you perhaps have an old computer lying around gathering dust? That may be the answer....or a friend that still has an old Mac. Regards - Colin On 28Sep, 2015, at 12:11, Colin Shapiro <musos(a)mac.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Sent by the sgroup mailing list sgroup(a)sgroup.ca For subscribe/unsubscribe: http://lists.sgroup.ca/mailman/listinfo/sgroup See http://www.generalconcepts.com/sgroup/ for more information.

Excellent point about the superior power and flexibility of newer software-based samplers, but if you've invested in a huge collection of samples for your S-550 or your S-760 (I've got both) like I have with all the original Roland sample disks and 3rd party sounds from companies like Voice Crystals, it's not straightforward to get the Roland samples into the softsampler. Even if you don't need your old sounds how do you go about building a big library from scratch for a new softsampler? Wow, very nostalgic listening to 'Sunday Paper.' I was very familiar with all those samples. I used to do lots of writing and just goofing around with my S-550 and the Roland library sounds. They are SO familiar! :) Jesse -----Original Message----- From: sgroup-bounces+jsegovia=mindspring.com(a)sgroup.ca [mailto:sgroup-bounces+jsegovia=mindspring.com@sgroup.ca] On Behalf Of Colin Shapiro Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 5:41 PM To: sgroup(a)sgroup.ca Subject: Re: [sgroup] New S-550 user with Mac floppy disk questions Hi Duncan, Just use the monochrome output. It'll connect to any monitor or TV. The RGB output is a lot more hassle. Once you have a screen view, you'll be able to see and access stuff. The samples from the Sunday Paper demo song were on one of the original disks with the sequencer software for the S550. My memory on everything to do with the S550 is somewhat hazy...I haven't used mine for many years. Just curious: With all the power of current apps like Logic Pro, how come you bought an S550? Using a software sampler will give you so much more variety and scope than the S550 ever can. On 28Sep, 2015, at 20:04, Duncan Malashock <duncanmalashock(a)gmail.com> wrote: stretch to get a floppy drive setup working on Yosemite, but it looks like I was a little too cavalier. G4 Mac Mini from eBay and do something similar to what you're doing. But I'm guessing a good next step before that is to: manageable. meantime, does anyone have any ideas where I can grab disks with the samples used in the demo I posted earlier? there are no longer drivers for it, and the Mac doesn't even see the drive anymore. I've kept a "legacy" G4 that runs OS 10.2 and even OS9, simply to be able to read and write (and convert) floppies and run old programs that could read Roland format disks. be the answer....or a friend that still has an old Mac. formatted in MS-DOS format to work on the S550. alone the disks. wrote: me. seasoned experts among you may be able to help me make that a reality. read the DD disks. So right now I'm stuck. help. _______________________________________________ Sent by the sgroup mailing list sgroup(a)sgroup.ca For subscribe/unsubscribe: http://lists.sgroup.ca/mailman/listinfo/sgroup See http://www.generalconcepts.com/sgroup/ for more information.

At 05:30 PM 9/28/2015, you wrote: I read with interest on this thread, and I got Translator and Translator Free www.chickensys.com running where you can write S5x floppy images (usually .OUT files) to DS/DD floppies using a USB floppy drive on a Mac. Fortunately this works because the Roland is a 9-sector geometric format, just like a MS-DOS disk. (If it were a 10-sector one like Akai or Ensoniq or Emu, it'd be different.) But of course it's not a MS-DOS file system so that's where Translator comes in. It's not public yet, but it's done, so if the OP is interested, or anyone else, please email privately and I'll give details and link info. For a screen shot on what this sort of looks like, see: www.chickensys.com/_images/s5xfloppy.png Also, using the USB floppy of mine, which is nothing special, it works just fine in Yosemite. OSX formats a DS/DD floppy as well as a DS/HD - just go into Disk Utility and Erase to MS-DOS (FAT) format. AFAIK these things never need "drivers" or anything so I'm a little confused what you guys were talking about. use in Logic. (I also have many disks for both machines.) If I ever want to use CDXtract, I still have it available on my old G4 or on an alternative OS boot drive (10.6). The conversions are very good. There's also Translator for conversions. Just to note, CDx does NOT support S5x, only S7x. (Perhaps you were using the Convert Load S5x images that you converted into S7x images.) Translator has a very advanced S5x convertor to other formats, does the job very, very well. It also is a modern program that runs on Yosemite and even El Capitan, as well as Windows 10 down to XP. (And it runs as low was Tiger OSX 10.4 and PPC machines. We are also working on a ->S5x conversion routine, it's not done because - well, it's an old format, and people aren't threatening us with death on getting it (as opposed to other more modern needs). If you are all desperate for it, threaten us with death or torture and maybe we'll hurry it up. =) Garth Hjelte Sampler User _______________________________________________ Sent by the sgroup mailing list sgroup(a)sgroup.ca For subscribe/unsubscribe: http://lists.sgroup.ca/mailman/listinfo/sgroup See http://www.generalconcepts.com/sgroup/ for more information.