Messages

16

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 10, 2012, 01:21:48 AM »

By the way, how's your Roland W30 working Miro?  Is it fixed yet?

Currently I am working with a trio .... A Roland W30, S330, and a Roland S-50 with Director-S.  I really think these S Samplers sound sweet.  I also picked up a second S-330 the other day for $10 bucks so I can run dual S-330s which is nice for added memory.  Ever since I got the MU-1 mouse and monitor for the S-50 and S-330, it's been a blast working with them. 

Hope you can get your W30 back on it's feet shortly.

Jim

17

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 10, 2012, 01:15:12 AM »

Here's a screenshot of the contents.  It's those floppy disk images I'm trying to access and write to floppies.  They contain all of the patch parameters and loop information along with the sounds.  If I could export the floppy images and then write to a floppy without any static, that would be awesome!!

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/976/screen1tt.gif

18

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 10, 2012, 01:12:21 AM »

Hello Miro,

I found these on the Internet.  I have others, but these two have really great sounds on them for the S Series Samplers.  Indeed it would be great if SMFW30 could eventually access the sounds on these two CDs.

19

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 09, 2012, 10:31:22 AM »

Hi Miro,

I found a work around to my problem.  It's more work but it gets me a 100% working disk file.  Here are the steps using a Roland S-330 Sampler.  ( This will work on an S-50 or W-30 also as I have tried this on all my samplers. )

1.  I first use SMFW30 to export the floppy image from the CD-Rom using the CD Editor in SMFW30.

2.  I then use Kontakt 5 to view the CD-Rom and export the WAV files found in the floppy image.  I like Kontakt 5 because it saves the WAV files with the Original Key in the filename.  Anything earlier doesn't work as well.

3.  I then use SMFW30 again to load up the exported floppy image and using the Tone editor I make note of the WAV files loop points.

4.  Using SMFW30 I then copy the floppy image to a floppy disk and then load it up into my sampler.  It is at this point that when playing back the files they will all have static in them.

So ... I do the following:

5.  I take the WAV files I exported with Kontakt 5 and transfer them one by one to the Roland Sampler using PCtoS550 software.  I then take the loop point notes and enter them manually into the Sampler.  They get overwritten during the transfer.  All of the Performance and Keymaps stay intact which is cool.  Basically this overwrites the static samples with the clean samples exported from Kontakt 5. 

6.  I then save the newly loaded data along with the performance data onto the floppy disk using the Roland Sampler.

I now can playback the CD-Rom copied image perfectly on any Roland S-50, S-330, or W-30 Sampler!!!  I tried this with the Liquid Stack Floppy Image and it sounds BEAUTIFUL!!  All of the 6 patches for Liquid Stack work perfectly as well.

Yes, it's a round about way to do things, but I can at least get the floppy image files off the CD-Rom using SMFW30 CD Editor and then transfer the WAVs using PCtoS500.  SMFW30 adds static to the original WAV files so I unfortunately can't use SMFW30 for the entire process.

Another important note is that Kontakt will allow you to audition the samples but NOT the patches.  A particular floppy image on the CD-Rom may have 5-6 patches and the only way you can get those to work is to get the data into the Roland Sampler.  You can use Chicken Translator or Awave Studio also to extract WAVs and audition them, but not the patches.  You need the S-330 for example to audition the patches.

If you ever get that CD Editor and Tone Editor to eliminate the static then that will open up the door for hundreds of files I have for export.  Right now I plan to export only the ones I really like.  At least now I can get the samples onto the S-330 in their original form and boy do they sound wondeful!!!

Thanks Miro,

Jim

20

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 09, 2012, 08:25:42 AM »

Hi again Miro,

I did some testing and here's what I found.

I first exported a floppy image from the CD-Rom using the CD Editor Export feature from within the latest SMFW30 version 2.  I then closed SMFW30 and used a program called SDisk in DOS using my Win98 computer.  I found that I still got the static when playing back on the Sampler.  I also tried D-Sound Pro on the Mac and the same static happened.  It seems no matter what program I used to create the floppy I still get the static.  If I use Translator or Awave Studio to extract the Wav files from the CD-Rom I get perfect WAV file results.  However, it's the keymap and other data that I want with the files, so using SMFW30 would be best.  If my CD-Rom is fine and the CD Editor Export software is fine, then I'm not sure what would be causing the issue.  I'm not using the Tone editor so that eliminates that part.  Hmmm.  Oh well, one of these days I'll get it...laugh.  Thanks Miro and have a great weekend.

Jim

21

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 09, 2012, 01:28:22 AM »

Hi Miro,

Great info.  Thank you!! Perhaps if I use another method of writing the exported image to floppy that static sound would disappear, thus bypassing the SMFW30 tone editor?  I noticed that when I use SMFW30 to write the exported image to a floppy, the static shows up in my W30, S50, and S330 samplers.  If the exported image from the CD is clean, then it would make sense that another program "should" write to floppy without the static.  I'll try this using my Mac as I have a program that will write using that format.  I'll update you again shortly. 

Thanks again.  - Jim

22

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: June 08, 2012, 07:27:22 AM »

Hello Miro,

I finally got the CD Export function working on SMFW30 and was pretty excited.  However, I now have a new problem and that is I get large amounts of static when writing the image from CD to a floppy.  I know the WAV files are clean because I've ripped them from Kontakt and they work great as WAVs.  I think "possibly" SMFW30 is affecting the image when I export it from the CD and then write it to the floppy.  It's almost as if the volume of the sample is set too high during export if that is all possible.  Not sure.  I'm almost there, but I can't seem to get a clean, static free file when exporting and writing using the CD Export function.

Thanks,

Jim

Update:  Here is a WAV file I exported using SMFW30 from a CD I exported from the CD Disc Editor.  You can hear quite a bit of static in the sound.  Again note that I've export this exact same WAV file using other conversion programs and the WAV file is very clean and nice sounding.  My thinking is that the CD Disc Editor export is messing with the file somehow.  Again, not sure.  http://jimatwood.net/LIQUIDC3.wav

Also note that I've tried editing the PRM and TONE parameters and although I can reduce the volume it doesn't eliminate the static.  Plus I tried exporting into S50 and S330 formats and I still get the static on all files.  Hmmm.  Thanks Miro!

23

How To / Re: CD Editor Export

« on: February 25, 2012, 01:15:54 AM »

I actually found the solution.  I just copied the raw images from the CD-Roms to MO disks.  I then could connect an MO drive to the W-30 and read the sounds in that manner.  It worked.  I forgot you can backup images from CD onto an MO or Zip disk which is nice for these old samplers.

24

How To / CD Editor Export

« on: February 23, 2012, 02:22:26 PM »

Hello Miro!

Hope all is well.  I've been caught up lately with a ton of other things, but managed to break out the W-30 over the weekend.  I've actually been working heavily with the S-50 but now would like to test some things out with the W-30.  I have a working Roland Sound Library L-CD1 CD-Rom Disk and just recently found the following CD-Rom disks.

Universe of Sounds Vol1
Universe of Sounds Vol2

I noticed with the latest SMFW30 version that you had a CD Editor in there that could "possibly" extract the individual disk images if correct.  That doesn't seem to be working on my computer with the L-CD1 Disk although I see in your help file screenshot it's working on your end.  I'm curious what OS environment you are using to achieve this.

On my Windows 7 computer, I get a "Please wait, Accessing CD-Rom" dial box and it just hangs without any further action.  SMFW30 is registered on my Win7 computer.  If I use a trial version on my Win98, I get a "Can't access CD-Rom" message.  I have yet to try on my WinXP, but I'm guessing that might not work either.  I'll try that later tonight.

Is this CD Editor actually functional yet, or is there something that might be hindering the access of my CD-Rom drive?  

Boy it would be awesome if I could access the diskimages on these CD-Roms.  I can actually do this easily using Translator and simply extract the WAV files.  I can then resample the files back into the S-50, so there is a solution if all else fails.  It would be slightly easier of course if I could somehow extract those .OUT files residing on the CD-Rom though.  

Resampling is actually quite fast on the S-50 as I'm getting pretty good at importing sounds on that.  I've been using SMFW30 quite a a bit too, but primarily with the W30.  It's been working quite well now.

Thanks for any thoughts Miro!  Much appreciated.

Best regards,

Jim Atwood

25

General Discussion / Re: How to Set Up Roland W30 Without Floppy Drive?

« on: August 06, 2011, 01:50:33 AM »

Hi Drew,

Like Miro mentioned, the HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is the only way I know of to boot the Roland W30 without a properly working floppy drive.  Unfortunately if you bought the W30 for cheap, it's an added investment getting the HxC.  On the bright side it's about the same price as a replacement floppy drive anyway if you find one.  If I had a choice I'd get the HxC over the original floppy given that I can boot and store many floppy disks on one SD card.  It's likely that if you end up getting the replacement floppy drive, you'll eventually want the HxC for the much added convenience provided you use the W30 a lot.

Jim

26

Bugs / SMFW30 2.1.0.0 Technical Difficulties

« on: May 25, 2011, 01:52:39 PM »

Hello Miro,

First thanks very much for all the hard work with the update.  So far so good, but I discovered a few things that I'm not sure if they are enabled yet or if it's something I'm missing.

1.  In the Tone Editor under the Loop Mode Pull Down Menu there is a spelling error.  Fordward should be "Forward".

2.  Everything in the Tone Editor appears to work with the exception of playing sounds.  The play button is grayed out.  The Tone Editor is fantastic but it might be difficult without a method for "auditioning" the sound especially when checking the loop points and envelopes.

3.  The Patch Editor appears to be view only with no editing ability or way to create new patches.  Other than having a glimpse of the patch parameters I'm not sure how useful this will be.  I'm guessing this is under development still.

Tomorrow when I get a chance I'll load some wavs into my W-30 and see that works now.  Thanks!!

Jim

27

News / Re: SMFW30 2.1.0.0 is out

« on: May 25, 2011, 08:34:41 AM »

Hello Miro!

Great job!  I'll give this a test run this week now that I have my Roland W-30 out and running with one of those HxC Floppy Drive Emulators.  I'll post some info about how the SMFW30 update works for me shortly.  I'm really looking forward to checking it out.

Thanks very much!!

Best regards,

Jim Atwood

28

News / Re: FINAL BETATEST!!!

« on: March 18, 2011, 02:00:01 AM »

Hi Miro,

Currently I am unable to provide samples for a couple of reasons.

First I am in Japan and near the problems that are happening.  At the moment I've been a bit preoccupied with all the commotion here.

Second I currently have my Roland W30 packed away waiting for the updated software version to be released.  I had some issues previously and wanted to take another crack when the new software came out.  For now I use my Fantom XR rack and Korg Electribe MKII for sample drums and instruments.  I am looking forward to getting the W30 back out and it's likely when I start working on it again I'll be able to contribute more samples for you. 

Take it easy!  Thanks!

Jim

29

General Discussion / Re: sounds grand piano

« on: February 27, 2011, 12:25:32 AM »

Personally, I don't think the Roland W30 can ever match a very good Piano sound from the latest keyboards like the Yamaha XF or other brands.  Nor can it really match some of the best software out there.  I think using the W30 as a midi controller in that respect is a wise move, although I would probably get one of the newer controllers that have more features.  My Roland A33 works well for an older controller simply because it has 73+ keys on it. 

Furthermore, I have yet to really find a low enough latency solution that allows me to play the piano as expressively as I need to.  No matter what I do, I always get lag in some way or another with computer software.  I am a heavy piano player and I just can't seem to get past latency issues on Windows computers.  I have yet to try an Apple Mac, so maybe that is better.  Latency is the real killer for me with regards to software.  If I did dance music, perhaps I would think different.

What interests me about the W30 is the Lo-Fi unique sound and filters it employs.  I tend to play samples and sounds that cater to the strengths of the W30.  Pianos and Real instruments are not the Roland W30's forte.  It's great for some unique synthetic piano stuff, but I much prefer using the W30 to create sounds and play samples that are more synthpop, dance, RnB, HipHop, SFX, or Vocal oriented. 

To me, the greatest thing about the Roland W30 is how easy it is to map different sounds across the keyboard.  It's also very easy to load pitched samples across the keyboard.  The Roland W30 is a "single layer" ( two is tricky ) piece of electronic mastery.  It's pretty sweet and very powerful.

I may be old school, but physically jamming on a Keyboard Workstation is still the way to go.  Indeed Software is the future perhaps.

Great topic.

Jim

30

General Discussion / Re: HxC Floppy Drive Emulator

« on: February 27, 2011, 12:11:41 AM »

This is great news.  This is the second of my "major" issues with the Roland W30.  The first was the importing of WAV files which your SMFW30 fixes.  Having a reliable boot/storage hardware replacement for the Roland W30 is something that I think is really keeping the both the value and interest in these samplers low.  It would be great to finally have some sort of workaround or solution for this.  Thanks and please keep us updated.