SCSI Card Readers (SCSICardReaders) – http://www.scsicardreaders.com/
It’s been a little while since I received and installed the SCSIforSamplers SCSI Flash Card Reader for my Triton Classic 61 Keyboard and I wanted to write a review of my experience. At the time I purchased the drive, pictured in this post, I actually had a very bad experience with SCSIforSamplers. I felt it necessary to give it some time in order to digest everything and calm down so to speak..LOL.
The product I purchased was the CF-CARD SCSI Flash Card Reader and installation kit for the Triton Classic 61 keyboard. The price is expensive many will think, but I feel if you use the keyboard you are installing the unit to, then it’s overall worth the money for sure. I use the Triton Classic quite a bit and the CF-Card reader has been a very nice and worthwhile addition.
After ordering from SCSIforSamplers, I received very good communication with regards to delivery time, manual documents, plus a nice friendly thank you for my order. All was well. It took about a week to get the drive to Japan which I thought was pretty fast. The drive and installation kit was well packaged and documented.
Now I have built several computers and have cracked open many different synthesizers and musical oriented gear in the past. So, coming off my successful Roland Juno 106 project, I felt pretty confident that with reading the instructions I should be able to install the CF-Card reader with few if any problems. However, it didn’t turn out that way. The major problem I had with the drive installation concerned the parts pertaining to the SCSI area in the back. The instructions were clear, but not clear enough considering the parts sent to me were slightly different. I felt it was like a puzzle where you had to figure out how to assemble several pieces so that they would all “mesh” nicely together. Instead, it was like a Rubix Cube with me trying different ways to get things to connect well. As I progressed it became increasingly obvious that the parts, instructions, and experiences by others were not all in sync.
I also met a nice gentleman from the Korg Forums who had success installing a SCSIforSamplers CF-Card reader for his Triton and he kindly had photos posted on his gallery website. To my surprise, I noticed some small differences in the parts. Clearly, the instructions and the parts were in the ball park, but were not precisely the same. This explained why the SCSI section was not going together well. As a result I notified the SCSIforSamplers developer, who basically did two things that set me off. First, he told me there was nothing wrong or different about the parts. Second, he wanted me to ship everything back. That didn’t sit well with me. SCSIforSamplers could care less I thought and so I decided to continue trying to make it work on my own…somehow.
So, I elected to try everything in the book and finally one evening found the “secret” way to get all the parts together. It was and still is an “extremely” tight fit and I’m not all that sure I’ll be able to squeeze the EXB-MOSS board in there should I ever elect to do so. Nonetheless, the parts were close as depicted in the instructions. I just didn’t feel I was sent the exact same parts as evident when comparing to the previous gentleman’s photos. In the case of my installation, these small differences in part dimensions created a problem for the installation.
Overall, the SCSIforSamplers CF-Card reader works as advertised for the Korg Triton Classic. I would definitely recommend this drive to other Triton users and feel you will not be disappointed in the product. I also feel that in the beginning communication is top notch and packaging very well done. The only complaint I have is make sure things don’t go wrong. I am not confident that the developer of SCSIforSamplers understands that when changes are made to a product, however small, it can effect customers. Perhaps I am the only one who has ever experienced a problem with the installation.
So do checkout SCSIforSamplers if you are in need of an upgrade to your floppy drive. The device works and you’ll have great fun with the addition to your synth or keyboard. Most likely you will also not have any installation issues as most people seem to have positive reviews about SCSIforSamplers. I think they all got the same parts….LOL.
UPDATE: SCSIforSamplers has changed to SCSI Card Readers (SCSICardReaders) – http://www.scsicardreaders.com/.
Jim Atwood in Japan 
It would be great if SCSIforSamplers had a CF-Card reader for either the Roland S-330 or W-30. I know they have one for the Roland S-760 which is cool, but I think the floppy drive systems for both the W-30 and S-330 are quite different. It’s probably not possible.
The same goes for the Roland SP-808. I have two with zip drives, but CF-Card readers would be most excellent.
If anyone ever hears about Flash Card readers for the Roland W-30, S-330, or SP-808, please let me know. Much appreciated.
Jim: JD here from http://www.scsicardreaders.com/. Again, I want to apologize for any problems that you had doing the installation of our CF-CARD drive into your Triton. I also want to say that I am sorry you felt that we did not take your issues seriously enough. I am glad that you were able to install the drive without any real issues and I want to thank you for a very fair and honest review and assessment of our product. After your problem, I went back and did a rewrite of the installation documents for both the Triton keyboard and Triton rack install kits. Hopefully these changes would have made your experience a better and less confusing one. We are extremely concerned about the customer’s installation experience with our products and we are always doing everything we can to make it as smooth as possible. Your less-than-perfect experience did prompt us to rethink our Triton products and for that, I thank you. I do hope that we can do business again in the future and that you’ll give us another chance to positively impress you with our kit and instructions. Please feel free to contact me directly any time if I can ever help you with any other SCSI needs. Thank you, JD Wilson.
Hello JD,
Thank you very much for visiting my blog and the comments. I wrote my review and comments well after I purchased the Triton CF-CARD drive because I knew I didn’t really handle the situation well and absolutely didn’t want to create more problems. I think I wrote some comments on the Korg Forums and honestly never visited the thread again trying to move on, but I know that’s not always the best way to deal with things. My apologies for any problems I may have caused.
I definitely have recommended several people to your website. As I mentioned, I actually thought your service was incredible and the product absolutely works as advertised. Once I got it installed it worked perfectly and has made the Triton a much more rewarding experience. It’s amazing how you were able get all those pieces developed to make the drive work. Again I recommend your products to everyone I meet with a Triton. I actually I’ve had my eye on a few things from your sight but thought, well JD probably doesn’t want to deal with that guy in Japan again…laugh. I really have nothing but great things to say about your product. I did have a troubling experience there for a moment when getting it installed and upon later reflection, I mostly certainly could ( and should ) have been more diplomatic about it. Live and learn.
Thanks again for the comments and I respect and appreciate the initiative you took to say hello. Have a great Holiday and I hope to do business again in the near future.
Best Regards,
Jim Atwood
Since the posting of my article above for the SCSIforSamplers SCSI Flash Card Reader, I’ve received a few emails from other people with similar problems. Here is a link to some photos from a gentleman named “McHale”. These photos helped greatly to get me pointed in the right direction. They are from an older version so they didn’t entirely match my product, but they did help. http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/ab49/mjlarsen/triton/
You basically need to just keep moving the parts around until they fit as you like. The instructions are correct, but the parts ( I had ) didn’t entirely line up correctly which was very deceiving at first. It took me quite a while of thinking and even taking a break once so as to not get too frustrated. If I get a chance, I’ll crack open my Triton again and take a couple of shots of how I installed mine if that would help people.
Thanks!
Jim
It appears that SCSI4samplers has gone out of business. This is a huge blow for those synth owners who are in need of a Flash Card drive upgrade. I’m lucky I was able to get mine, but would have definitely bought a couple more if I had known about SCSI4sampler’s departure.
If anyone knows of any alternative replacement Flash Card drives for the Korg, Roland, and Yamaha Synth gear, please post a common below. I have quite a few readers who have been emailing me about it and at this point, other than Ebay, I don’t have an answer or solution.
Thanks!
Jim
Hi Jim,
Its a pity they have gone under- I was just looking up the site to check on prices for my Akai s3000xl. Should have ordered last year! Guess I will have to dig out that Iomega Jaz drive from storage! 🙂
Nick: I have a new website called SCSICardReaders.com and I sell a compatible SCSI Card Reader drive for the Akai S3200XL. It is the CF-CARD drive mentioned in Jim’s review and you can see it at the website. Please email me if you have any questions about the drive or any other products I sell. Thank you!
I have a Korg Triton Classic and I am interested in your scsi csrd reader, email me price and how to pay for it please.
lisandro: This is JD Wilson, owner of the website SCSICardReaders.com (formerly SCSIforSamplers.com) and creator of the CF-CARD drive in this review. I’d be happy to sell you a SCSI Card Reader drive for your sampler. Please check my website and then email me if you have any questions.
Hello everyone!
There seems to be some confusion that I sell or know how you can buy SCSI4samplers card readers. This is false. I indeed have one for my Korg Triton, but I do not sell them or know of anyone who does. SCSI4samplers has gone out of business and unfortunately it looks like no other vendor has made them available.
Please check out this forum for the latest info about SCSI4samplers:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2728618-SCSIforSAMPLERS-is-no-more.-(&highlight=scsi4samplers
Thanks!
Jim
JD has opened up a new website where you can now buy Card Flash readers again.
Here is the new link.
http://www.scsicardreaders.com/
SCSICardReaders.com and SCSIforSamplers are both closed. The only place I know of other than Ebay for such devices is the following site which may or may not have what you are looking for.
http://a4000t.com/store/