Scsi and the Ensoniq EPS

[KevWest]

Does anyone here know if its possible to use a scsi hard drive with the EPS classic and if so where can I find one? If not how about a compact flash reader? I am looking for a better storage option for my EPS.

[JaeOne3345]

Originally Posted by xabiton

Does anyone here know if its possible to use a scsi hard drive with the EPS classic and if so where can I find one? If not how about a compact flash reader? I am looking for a better storage option for my EPS.

You can find info on all this on the yahoo eps/asr group.

Also try the chicken system website.

It is definitely possible to use a scsi HDD with an eps. Just depends on the drive. Zip is a no go.

Not sure about compact flash.

I use an MCDISK2 with my eps16 but it handles scsi differently.

[KevWest]

Cool thanks.

[RemBrandt]

The EPS SCSI card is the 4x Memory expansion card with SCSI. There are two 4x cards, one with SCSI and one without SCSI. The Hard drives compatible to the Original EPS are: Syquest Removable drives, Zip Drive and The Quantum Fireball Series up to 1080MB.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by RemBrandt

The EPS SCSI card is the 4x Memory expansion card with SCSI. There are two 4x cards, one with SCSI and one without SCSI. The Hard drives compatible to the Original EPS are: Syquest Removable drives, Zip Drive and The Quantum Fireball Series up to 1080MB.

cool thank you how about internal zip drives? that would be cool too

[fengland]

I'm trying to get scsi working with my eps classic as well - I have the 4x scsi expander but I'm not having any luck getting it to recognize zip drives - it just says 'scsi device unconnected' when I try to format it. Has anyone had luck using a zip drive with their eps classic? The guy I bought it from said he was using it with a jazz drive so I assumed a zip would work but maybe he meant a syquest. Any eps scsi success stories?

[fengland]

thanks - I made a 2.49 os disk but I'll check the firmware version.

[Ace_TX]

Ensoniq Sampler SCSI Drive Compatibility List

[fengland]

thanks a lot. Maybe I'll look for a syquest drive to try.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Azriel_7

People are trying to be helpful but giving info that is missing the important factor.
To get the classic EPS/EPSm SCSI to work you have to have the last OS and last firmware chips.
That's what allows it to work with the listed hard drives or removeable drives.
Contact Route66 they the firmware Eproms and the floppy OS, you can also create the floppy OS from a free download at the yahoogroup.
The EPS16 SCSI is different and improved so it doesn't relate to the problems with the classic EPS.

do you have a link or anything to route 66 ive never heard of them and would like to try to get a scsi drive into my EPS if possible

[viewingstuff]

jd from scsiforsamplers is clearing out a last batch of emax/other cf drives. there is a recent thread about it in the electronic forum and he says if anyone's interested to pm him.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Azriel_7

Synth Parts - Route 66 Studios


you could have googled route66 EPS and found them.

I did and I got shit about the high way. Its not like everyone has heard of this studio. I actually thought it was some sort of repair company

[Studio507]

As a former EPS16 user...those earlier Ensoniq boards are a nightmare with SCSI...good luck. Termination is the key if I recall tho, I had to have 2 drives connected to ever get it to work, and even then it was unreliable

[fengland]

well I just tried this old 80 meg quantum hard drive without luck. I tried with and without a termination block and with other stuff in the chain without luck, EPS just says 'scsi device unconnected' every time.

I'm looking in the EPS service manual and it says 'Units with serial numbers of 10075 or lower contain version 2.11 O.S. ROM' - I guess they switched to 2.40 after that - mine has a higher number so I'm assuming it should work. I bought a syquest ez flash drive and an active terminator I'm waiting on to try next.

I'll be ok if I'm stuck with floppies but I want to try the scsi options and see if I can get something working.

edit:
found some more info. I guess that serial number info isn't correct. There are some diagnostic commands to tell you your os versions - press command, env1, env1, and choose software version. Mine says I'm running the rom version 2.00 - so I'll be ordering some new rom chips.

more info here: http://www.ensoniqsamplers.com/epsasr/011.html

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by fengland

well I just tried this old 80 meg quantum hard drive without luck. I tried with and without a termination block and with other stuff in the chain without luck, EPS just says 'scsi device unconnected' every time.

I'm looking in the EPS service manual and it says 'Units with serial numbers of 10075 or lower contain version 2.11 O.S. ROM' - I guess they switched to 2.40 after that - mine has a higher number so I'm assuming it should work. I bought a syquest ez flash drive and an active terminator I'm waiting on to try next.

I'll be ok if I'm stuck with floppies but I want to try the scsi options and see if I can get something working.

edit:
found some more info. I guess that serial number info isn't correct. There are some diagnostic commands to tell you your os versions - press command, env1, env1, and choose software version. Mine says I'm running the rom version 2.00 - so I'll be ordering some new rom chips.

more info here: Ensoniq EPS/ASR KB - 11

thanks for that tip i didnt know how to check what rom version i have but i have 2.40 with os 2.49 sweet

[fengland]

thanks for the info - which yahoo group is that? the asr 10/eps 16 one?
I have the ps systems scsi interface.

[fengland]

hope you don't mind if I hijack this thread for another eps question.
On the asr-10 on the pitch edit page you can set the start and end key of a wavesample. These commands don't exist on the eps. Is there a way to change the splitpoints between 2 wavesamples after sampling them and assigning the root keys? I'm fine just sampling and choosing the root key, I was just curious if there's a way to reassign the wavesample key range like if I copy a wavesample and I want the copy to play on a different key. Thanks.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by fengland

hope you don't mind if I hijack this thread for another eps question.
On the asr-10 on the pitch edit page you can set the start and end key of a wavesample. These commands don't exist on the eps. Is there a way to change the splitpoints between 2 wavesamples after sampling them and assigning the root keys? I'm fine just sampling and choosing the root key, I was just curious if there's a way to reassign the wavesample key range like if I copy a wavesample and I want the copy to play on a different key. Thanks.

press edit highlight the wave sample and select set keyboard range and you can spread the sample across the board as far as you like

[JaeOne3345]

In regards to scsi and the 16+:
That is all dependent on which eps16 scsi card you have.

Third party 16+ scsi cards supplied the termination power needed for a zip.

The OEM scsi card (without modification) did/does not work reliably with 9/10 zip drives because of the lack of term power. You run into things such as it might be recognized, but fail at saving, etc.

To get my zips to work, I used to add the termination power myself, used an inline termination power device, or used another device somewhere in the scsi chain to supply term power.

Later I started using a couple compact flash devices that supplied the termination power itself, so I no longer needed any modifications or other devices inline.

Regarding the original eps/epsm and scsi:
These things were always hit and miss with scsi, regardless of a 2.4 ROM/2.49 OS. They worked fairly reliably for me with old ass syquest type drives, but who wants to deal with those all of the time?

[JaeOne3345]

The same reason you felt the need to mention and say that it is different.

I gave further information so that people are not confused about it.

I am getting quite a few PM's from various members about the eps16+ and the eps/epsm due to this particular thread, and it is obvious those users are confused about the requirements on both machines. Some think the scsi standards/requirements are the same on both.

So instead of repeating the same info in 5-6 different PMs, I said it here.

Is that okay with you?

To anyone chasing scsi with the original eps/epsm: I would try to find a source that will allow you to test a drive and return it if it doesn't work. Even with all supposedly updated scsi devices/roms/eproms, they are very hit and miss depending on what drive/enclosure you end up with.

I would hate to see you dump bucks into a drive and find out it doesn't work. Try some second hand units off ebay as well (if they are cheap).

[JaeOne3345]

Originally Posted by KevWest

do you have a link or anything to route 66 ive never heard of them and would like to try to get a scsi drive into my EPS if possible

Make sure he has it IN STOCK.

People always refer this dude, but I myself have had issues with stuff taking FOREVER, and numerous people on forums can relate to that.

Hit and miss. Sometimes I got stuff quick, sometimes it took foreverrrrr.

That e-cooler has been out of stock and "in the works" for at least 5 years. LOL.

[fengland]

Originally Posted by KevWest

press edit highlight the wave sample and select set keyboard range and you can spread the sample across the board as far as you like

thanks so much, it was staring me in the face but I'm used to the asr!

haven't heard back yet from route 66... syntaur's site says they're out of stock too. I have an eprom burner if anyone's seen rom dumps anywhere

[fengland]

no luck on scsi yet - I've got some roms on the way from route 66. Tried a syquest ez flyer anyway but it just seems to spit out the disk after a few minutes even with scsi unconnected. Anyone know if that's normal on these drives?

there's an eps with a 4x expander on ebay right now ending in a couple hours for $100 with no bids if anyone's looking for one. I thought about it as a back up cause I had my first crash last night but I'm gonna skip it.

[fengland]

no luck on scsi yet - I've got some roms on the way from route 66. Tried a syquest ez flyer anyway but it just seems to spit out the disk after a few minutes even with scsi unconnected. Anyone know if that's normal on these drives?

there's an eps with a 4x expander on ebay right now ending in a couple hours for $100 with no bids if anyone's looking for one. I thought about it as a back up cause I had my first crash last night but I'm gonna skip it.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by fengland

no luck on scsi yet - I've got some roms on the way from route 66. Tried a syquest ez flyer anyway but it just seems to spit out the disk after a few minutes even with scsi unconnected. Anyone know if that's normal on these drives?

there's an eps with a 4x expander on ebay right now ending in a couple hours for $100 with no bids if anyone's looking for one. I thought about it as a back up cause I had my first crash last night but I'm gonna skip it.

if u have it please post the link i cant find it and have been looking for the 4x expansion with scsi as well as an 8 out expander for some time

[fengland]

it was this - it ended though: ENSONIQ EPS Performance Sampler - eBay (item 130491849397 end time Mar-04-11 08:58:41 PST)

there's a couple others on there too don't know if they have expanders. There's an 8 outs on there for $150 too - I broke down and got one for a similar price. It's way less noisy than the stereo outs which is nice.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by fengland

it was this - it ended though: ENSONIQ EPS Performance Sampler - eBay (item 130491849397 end time Mar-04-11 08:58:41 PST)

there's a couple others on there too don't know if they have expanders. There's an 8 outs on there for $150 too - I broke down and got one for a similar price. It's way less noisy than the stereo outs which is nice.

Thats a decent deal for an EPS I thought it was just the expander though. I already have an EPS I got it for $75 in 2008

[fengland]

my eps did have it's first hickup last night and I lost a beat which put me in a bad mood but I remade it better. I've heard people say they crash ocassionally so hopefully it isn't the beginning of the end.

[fengland]

finally got my os eproms months later (I think the first set got lost in the mail, route 66 was nice enough to send me another set) but still no dice - I have a couple other hard drives I could try though - maybe my scsi port is busted - it's a ps systems one. I'm pretty sure it's not supplying term power cause the LED on my active terminators aren't lighting up when certain devices are hooked up. I read about a mod to an eps 16+ one to have it supply term power, maybe I'll look into that. I've kind of wasted enough time on it though and I'm pretty fine with floppies at this point.

[HaterNob]

Originally Posted by fengland

finally got my os eproms months later (I think the first set got lost in the mail, route 66 was nice enough to send me another set) but still no dice - I have a couple other hard drives I could try though - maybe my scsi port is busted - it's a ps systems one. I'm pretty sure it's not supplying term power cause the LED on my active terminators aren't lighting up when certain devices are hooked up. I read about a mod to an eps 16+ one to have it supply term power, maybe I'll look into that. I've kind of wasted enough time on it though and I'm pretty fine with floppies at this point.

I thought this info might be of use to you.

The link below has some words on an EPS16+ SCIS mod which provides the correct term power for Iomega Zip drives:

Ensoniq EPS/ASR KB - 4

I've managed to mod my EPS16+ with a jumper wire as described and it now works with my Imoega Zip100 Plus every time.

Good luck!