SCSIforSamplers SCSI Flash Card Reader Review

Triton Classic 61 SCSI Drive

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/.

Roland Juno 106 Voice Chips in Reverse? Huh?

Jim Atwood in Japan's Roland Juno 106

Recently I Pm’d an individual on a forum who had success with the Analogue Renaissance Voice Chips. I thought I might be able to find out some additional info about installation or the chips themselves.

Here was my question:

Hello!

I just recently purchased a full set of Juno 106 Voice Chips from Analogue Renaissance. I live in Japan and had an Ex-Roland tech solder two chips into the board. We have discovered that the chips “possibly” don’t work. It’s unlikely the tech soldered them incorrectly but that’s equally a possibility.

I was wondering since you had success, whether you might have done anything special with the chips before inserting and soldering them into the board. I have the newest version and there apparently is a black plastic sleeve over the pins. We just kept them on and inserted the chip as that seemed the most logical and the tech said no problem.

Did you just get your chips and solder them on as is? I would greatly appreciate any info about anything unusual you might have done to install the chips. The Roland Tech feels certain I got bad chips. I’m trying to be diplomatic but it’s tough for me to argue with BOTH a Roland Pro and what seems to be a very Professional and Successful Chip Designer at Analogue Renaissance. Thus I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place so to speak.

If I can’t get the two existing chips to work, then I’ll likely sell or give away the remaining chips and junk the Roland 106. It’s like an old 73 Volkswagon Bug I used to have in College that did nothing but rip money out of my pocket every month…laugh.

In any event, thanks in advance for any tips. Much appreciated.

The response I got was this ….

They should work out of the box unless –

1. You placed them in reverse
2. The problem is not the chips themselves
3. You have bad chips, which is not likely as AFAIK the guy tests them prior to sending them. Contact and ask him about this.

I greatly appreciated the response. The #2 and #3 response is likely although with #2 I haven’t found anything at all wrong with the main board or wiring. Still looking into that though and doing some meter testing.

With regards to the #3 response, that is quite a stretch. If you look at the pins and the main board one will find that it’s near impossible to get these reversed. You simply wouldn’t be able to solder them into the board UNLESS you inserted them upside down which would become obvious when inserting the board back into the Juno 106. Could this mean then “Reverse Order”? If so there should be numbers on the chips that correspond to the numbers on the main board for each slot. I don’t see any numbers and I also don’t hear anyone else discussing such an issue on the Net. Thus I find #1 to be out of the question.

So far EVERYTHING works on the main board except those Analogue Renaissance Voice Chips and my one Dead Lower Octave ( E ) Key which I mentioned in a previous post.

I appreciate the response from the gentleman above. It only confirms I am dealing with a “mystery” problem other than chips or simply speaking newly acquired bad chips. The mystery continues.

Note there is absolutely NO DEFENSE against “the guy tests them prior to sending them”. Nobody knows! That’s why I have to accept the loss. They could have been damaged in transit, myself, the technician, or anything else for that matter. It’s “word” against “word” on that subject which is the reason why I’ve accepted the loss. I don’t doubt they were tested, but I also don’t have proof that they were. There’s nothing I can do but look for alternatives and continue to research the possible problems.

Stay tuned and have a great weekend.