Messages

1

General Discussion / Added problem with CD editor

« on: May 23, 2019, 07:43:47 PM »

Following on from my last post in which I mounted the Roland L-CD1.iso image with Daemon Tools Lite so that SMFW30 could see it. (Although interestingly, this procedure DOES NOT WORK on the W30 Collection #1 ISO - it just causes SMFW30 to crash!!!) However, all samples I extracted exhibited very bad clicking and distortion when I loaded them into the W30 via my Gotek FDE.

So I dug out my old internal CD-ROM drive (disconnected and unused for a long time) and decided to burn a physical CD-ROM of the Roland L-CD1. (Also burnt the ISO W30 Collection #1.) Both reported no issues after burning.

This time I instructed the CD editor to use drive E:\ (my CD-ROM drive), pressed Apply, then pressed Export. The screen says "Please wait - accessing CD-ROM", the disc spins up, but despite waiting for a LONG time, nothing else happens.

Any ideas anyone??

2

General Discussion / Bulk conversion in CD editor - SMFW30

« on: May 22, 2019, 07:58:53 PM »

Miro's help file for the CD editor in SMFW30 says this: "You can browse Instrument Groups to find a disk image you want to export. Once you have decided, select one disk image from Sound Areas by clicking the left mouse button and press the Export button. The "Save As..." request will appear. Here you can choose the export format. CD Editor will then create the appropriate disk image in your Disk images folder."


Is it only possible to do one disk image at a time?? (Fairly time consuming and a real slog if there's 140 patches on a CD-ROM!!!) Or is it possible to Select All and do a bulk conversion??

Also, when I converted some samples from the Roland L-CD1 and loaded them into the W30 via my Gotek, they ALL had some kind of clicking/digital distortion on them. What did I do wrong??

Edit: the way that I got SMFW30 to 'see' the Roland L-CD1 was to mount the iso image in a virtual CD-ROM using software called Daemon Tools Lite.

3

General Discussion / Flash firmware upgrade for Gotek emulator (OLED display/rotary encoder mod)

« on: May 17, 2019, 10:05:34 AM »

Now that I've installed my Gotek SFRM72-FU-DL emulator in my W30, I'm becoming more and more aware of its shortcomings, viz.:

Not much faster than loading from floppies (although this is mainly down to the W30 architecture rather than the emulator's fault. Having said that, a USB stick is much more reliable than magnetic DD floppies).

Only 100 disk images accessible from one USB stick (b00-b99), so having a large capacity stick is pointless.

The need to constantly plug/unplug the stick to choose a new file to load.

That last one can be slightly improved with a simple mod of installing an SPDT toggle switch (less than $1/EUR 1) on the front panel. Only 4 solders required (plus cutting a trace on the Gotek's PCB). Details at: http://llamamusic.com/s50s550/USB_Floppy_Emulator_Toggle_v2.pdf


(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fedLRCFZycY&lc=z22rh3cirkmstfengacdp434ktfpaujuk2qrlzzl3xhw03c010c.1558068922145414)

However, it has come to my attention that it is possible to mod the Gotek in an even better way, namely to add a 0.91-inch OLED alphanumeric screen (about 2 or 3 $/EUR, usually used for Arduino projects) together with a rotary encoder (also a few dollars/Euros).

The latter is a knob that you turn clockwise/anticlockwise to increase/decrease the image number to quickly access the specific disk image you require. It also has a push button function to do the same as the aforementioned SPDT toggle switch. But the drawback is you have to flash the firmware of the Gotek with "FlashFloppy" for either the screen/encoder to work. For this you either need a USB-TTL adapter or USB A-to-A cable. The flashing process is irreversible. The wiki (https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki) says on its Host Platforms page that Roland keyboards "typically work out of the box with no special configuration required".

Anyone out there have the skills, knowledge, time and money (me, none of those unfortunately) to try out this procedure and report back to us?

4

General Discussion / Swapping internal FDD for an emulator - How to (PDF document)

« on: May 15, 2019, 07:05:39 PM »

Likewise, if you have bought an FD emulator (such as Gotek or Rev F HxC), and wish to remove the original FDD and install the former, I did this myself recently and although it was VERY challenging, it's possible.

I have written a 'How to...' PDF document (see attachment) which I hope will be of use to someone out there in the "wonderful world of the W30".

Any comments, additions, deletions, changes, constructive criticism would be welcomed.

https://smfw30.svetlik.be/download/w30-How-to-install-emulator-instead-of-FDD-notes.pdf

5

General Discussion / How to...add a KW30 upgrade chip to your W30 (PDF document)

« on: May 15, 2019, 06:57:44 PM »

If anyone is contemplating upgrading their W30 with the KW30 upgrade chip (now available on eBay from a guy in Germany, amongst other sources), I already installed mine.

It's not easy, but if you have good basic skills, I have written a 'How To...' document which may or may not be of assistance to you. See attachment.

Tip: Use system disk v1.07 for booting, not v1.10.

6

General Discussion / [Solved} Convert Roland demo disks to images (for Gotek emulator)

« on: May 14, 2019, 07:52:09 PM »

How do I convert the Type 2 Sound&Song Roland demo disks (Leya's song, etc) to images that will work in my Gotek emulator?

For sample disks with extensions such as *.W30 or *.OUT, it's just a case of renaming them so the extension becomes *.IMG, but that doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong??


EDIT: It now works!! And it **is** as simple as changing the file extension (as I first thought), so that W30DISK1.W30 becomes 001.IMG (because the Gotek can only understand file names from 000-099).

I think the mistake I was making was this. When I first saw the Gotek for sale online, I assumed that because it had a 3-digit LED display, it could store 1,000 (000-999) floppy disk images.

Now I know that that isn't true. So it's possible that I was telling the emulator to load file 001 and not b01. The first digit always has to be a 'b'.

We live and learn.....