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Floppy disk emulator for Triton Rack
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Sun May 08, 2016 7:08 pm    Post subject: Floppy disk emulator for Triton Rack Reply with quote

I bought the Nalbartov USB floppy disk emulator for Krog Triton & Triton Pro, Pro X and Rack two weeks ago on Ebay for $135. Last night I installed it in my Triton Rack. I read the materials they sent me but I was still unsure about mounting the floppy disk emulator drive so I did a web search.

I found a post on another forum by a guy who did a Gotek floppy disk emulator install in his Triton Rack. He said that after you remove the 4 screws from the bottom of the rack case and remove the floppy disk drive, you need the 4 spacers that were under the floppy disk drive to support the floppy disk emulator when you put it in.

What you do is reinsert the screws at the bottom of the drive (tape them in place) and drop the washer shaped spacers on top of the screws and then use a toothpick to apply glue to hold the spacers until after the glue dries. Then you you remove the original floppy disk screws. The 4 screws that were supplied by Nalbartov are much smaller.

After you remove the original screws you are supposed to be able to screw the new screws into the Emulator through the holes in the bottom. I couldn't get the screws started so I removed the Emulator and then directly screwed the slightly too large screws into the 4 holes too make the holes larger. Then I put the Emulator back in place inside the Rack and I was then able to secure it using the 4 screws.

The guy in the Gotek post confused me by saying that both cables go back the way they came off the original floppy disk drive. This is true for the larger data cable but the power cable needed to be turned over to connect. After five minutes of trying the force the power cable on the wrong way, I turned the power cable over and connected it smooth as butter,

There are two round head screws that hold the faceplate on the emulator. I couldn't get the screw heads through the opening at the front of the Triton so I replaced them with flat head screws that made it possible to make the face of the emulator straight in the hole rather than crooked.

OK the Emulator works as advertised but the LED showing the number of the virtual floppy is far too bright for me. (And I usully love bright LED and LED displays but this is too much). I keep the LED covered with a post it note until I need to glance at it.

Tjere are two buttons on the front of the emulator. One selectes the next program and the other selects by tens. You can't go back, you just use the tens button to cycle through the rest of the 99 virtual floppies which is not a problem for me. When you arrive at the virtual floppy you want, you load it by pushing the Increment button on the Triton.

I would keep a list of what is contained in all the virtual floppies because there in no way to set up a Directory in the Emulator. The Emulator just shows you what you have stored in the virtual floppy disk, one at a time, as you select each virtual floppy.

Of course if you use an external drive connected to the SCSI port, you can set up Directories showing the banks grouped by type: Factory, Moss, Prorec, Nepro, Users, etc.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Mon May 09, 2016 9:39 pm    Post subject: More about SCSI versus Floppy Disk Emulator Reply with quote

Of course if you use an external drive connected to the SCSI port, you can set up Directories showing the banks grouped by type: Factory, Moss, Prorec, Nepro, Users, etc. To be considered is the extra cost of buying the Korg Triton SCSI connector option hardware on Ebay and the cost of the SCSI drive and SCSI cable. The floppy disk emulator only needs a properly formatted USB stick to work. The decision is yours. Both storage solutions work. The Emulator comes with USB formatting software version 1.3 which works with Windows XP just fine. Version 1.4 of the software is available on the web whiich allows you to back up your Floppy USB stick to your computer.

I couldn't get Version 1.3 or Version 1.4 to open a temporary storage area to save to the USB stick using Windows 8. Maybe I misssed something or did something wrong. I did not contact the seller since Windows XP worked OK for me.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:07 am    Post subject: Too Bright LED in the floppy disk emulator Reply with quote

The 3 digit LED in the floppy disk emulator was too bright so I wound up covering it with a dark green plastic gel which cut the brightness of the LED enough so now it is OK to look at. It still looks red but is considerably less bright.
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Joe Gerardi
Platinum Member


Joined: 06 Oct 2012
Posts: 534
Location: Savannah, GA

PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How much did you pay?

This one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5inch-144MB-Upgrade-Floppy-Drive-to-USB-Flash-Disk-Drive-Emulator-CD-Screws-SO/162061661121?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Is 23 bucks. And I've seen it as low as 18.95. Why would you pay such an outrageous sum?

As to installing the cables, it depends on the manufacturer. Each builds it to its own design, and as long as you put the same cable into the same receptacle, than he's pretty much spot on.

I have replaced several of my old drives with these. I'm not understanding your issues, because mine were all slide-in replacements on my Emulator E-Synth and Kurzweil K2000VP. I haven't done my Triton-Rack, because the last time I used to floppy was when I upgraded the firmware yonks ago.

I was going to recommend colored Scotch tape, but I see you got there already.

..Joe
_________________
Current setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88 Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Roland M-GS64, Alesis QSR, Yamaha KX88 & KX76, Roland Super-JX, Juno-Stage, Kawai K4, Kawai K1II.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:39 pm    Post subject: More on floppy emulator Reply with quote

Yes, I paid the outrageous $135 for the Nalbantov Triton floppy disk emulattor because I didn't know whether a Gotek one would work. According to the posting he sold 28 of these, I don't know whether this number was just for the Triton or whether it includes the other floppy emulators he sells for other synths.

I want to install a floppy emulator in my Kawai K5000R but when I opened it up to insttall a new white on blue LCD display I couldn't remove the floppy drive by simply removing tthe screws I could see. Apparently more extensive surgery will be required unless there was some trick to it that I am not aware of.

And again I warn anyone that I don't believe that any software later than Windows XP will work to transfer your data to the USB stick even though Nalbantov says that it will work with Windows 7 and Windows 8. I hope that the software will be updated soon. I will be delighted when the Version 1.4 transfer software has been updated to run on current Windows Operating Systems because it is such a useful upgrade to using prone to fail floppy drives.
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Joe Gerardi
Platinum Member


Joined: 06 Oct 2012
Posts: 534
Location: Savannah, GA

PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've read that you can make it fit the K5000R if you remove the front cover.

Cool synth, too. I SO want a K5000S, but if I just squeeze another synth into my house, I'm going to get pushed out and have to sleep in the car.

..Joe

PS: The cheapies work fine.
_________________
Current setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88 Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Roland M-GS64, Alesis QSR, Yamaha KX88 & KX76, Roland Super-JX, Juno-Stage, Kawai K4, Kawai K1II.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:23 am    Post subject: K5000S Floppy Emulator Reply with quote

I have never seen a USB floppy emulator installed in a K5000R rack but I have seen pictures of the USB floppy emulator installed in a K5000S keyboard. Maybe the install is more straight forward in the keyboard. I had my K5000S open last year to install a new white on blue LCD but I did not take the time to check out whether the floppy disk would come out easily. Also my floppy drive is still working fine.

But boy it was dusty in the synth. The previous owner must not have ever covered it. In fact when I had closed the synth some more dust got loose and got between the LCD and the clear display screen and I had to open the synth again to brush the addiitional dust away.

Opening the Kawai K5000S and installing the new LCD was easy. Once you remove the motherboard, the LCD is right in front of you with nothing else in the way. However there are 3 cables of a type I have never seen before. They have a catch on each side and when they separate from their connector, they come out as separate wires that you have to push back into the connector when you reconnect it. You line up the separate wires as best you can so they will all go into the connector at the same time. Wierd connectors, I hope I never see that type again. It is hard to tell if you have pushed the wires in far enough to make contact all lthe way.
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Joe Gerardi
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Joined: 06 Oct 2012
Posts: 534
Location: Savannah, GA

PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Little clamps that pinch the wires and hold them, a la backs of stereo receivers? Yeah, I haven't seen those in ages.

..Joe
_________________
Current setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88 Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Roland M-GS64, Alesis QSR, Yamaha KX88 & KX76, Roland Super-JX, Juno-Stage, Kawai K4, Kawai K1II.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:37 pm    Post subject: Stereo Receiver wire clamps Reply with quote

The clamps that attach speaker wires to the back of your receiver and or speakers work great. I hate the ones that just have screws to attach your wires to. The wires are hard to wind around the post and don't hold very well.

The catches on the Kawai connectors are not obvious and I only realized what I was dealing with when some separate wires started coming out of tthe connector as I tugged gently on the wires, I wouldn't have had to tug on the wires if I had disengaged the catches.
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maggotspawn



Joined: 30 Jul 2018
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 5:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Joe Gerardi wrote:
How much did you pay?

This one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5inch-144MB-Upgrade-Floppy-Drive-to-USB-Flash-Disk-Drive-Emulator-CD-Screws-SO/162061661121?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Is 23 bucks. And I've seen it as low as 18.95. Why would you pay such an outrageous sum?

As to installing the cables, it depends on the manufacturer. Each builds it to its own design, and as long as you put the same cable into the same receptacle, than he's pretty much spot on.

I have replaced several of my old drives with these. I'm not understanding your issues, because mine were all slide-in replacements on my Emulator E-Synth and Kurzweil K2000VP. I haven't done my Triton-Rack, because the last time I used to floppy was when I upgraded the firmware yonks ago.

I was going to recommend colored Scotch tape, but I see you got there already.

..Joe

What's the biggest USB thumb drive you can use with these?
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maggotspawn



Joined: 30 Jul 2018
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ANother question. Can you save to the thumb drive with these emulators?
I just snagged one off E-bay, so my fingers are crossed. I just want to replace my broken floppy in my Triton Pro. I plan on building a SCSI2SD external box for it anyway.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the largest USB thumb drive is 2 GB. The emulator software formats the thumbdrive into 99 1.44 MB areas for storing your program data.

If I learn that you can use a larger thumbdrive, I will post the info. here.

BTW the more expensive floppy emulator came with a 2 GB micro USB thumbdrive that only protrudes about a half inch from the front of the synth.
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maggotspawn



Joined: 30 Jul 2018
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reply. Is it possible to save PCG's to the thumb drive from the Triton itself?
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maggotspawn



Joined: 30 Jul 2018
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got one of the cheap ones off of Ebay. U.S. shipper, about $20. It kicks a$$.
I was able to load and save PCG's and also was able to update the OS.
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mandala music



Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Maryland, USA

PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 9:12 am    Post subject: Figured out how to install USB emulator in Kawai K5000R Reply with quote

I figured out how to install a USB Floppy Disk Emulator in Kawai K5000R. It's just a matter of removing the motherboard, the Faceplate and Volume & Headphone jacks so you could access and remove all four screws holding the original floppy drive in place. For the K5000R the Nalbantov supplied software is already on the thumb drive and it works in any Windows machine from XP to Windows 10. For this new software you have to use a thumb drive larger than 2 GB.

I bought another Nalbantov USB Floppy Disk Emulator. For the Triton Rack, the new Kawai software doesn't work and isn't supplied. There is a dropbox site you are directed to and the Version 2 of the old standard software is down loaded there but my Norton antivirus says it is a heuristic virus and removes it before it even runs. I could turn off my anti-virus but I want to talk to Nalbantov about it first. (Norton does sometimes identify harmless files as dangerous programs by mistake). As it is I formatted the thumb drive and loaded my Triton files to the thumb drive using old Version 1.4 which does work on Windows XP. It doesn't work on any more recent OS but I own a Windows XP machine which I keep for running old software programs. It works fine on Sandisk USB sticks of 8 GB and 32 GB. I used a 32 GB stick for my Yamaha RM1X, The USB thumb drives that Nalbantov supplies stick out of the synth 2 inches. I only use Sandisk "micro" USB thumb drives that only stick out 1/4 of an inch and are much less likely to be damaged and are so short that you can leave them in place when transporting the synth.

Does anyone else have any experience using the Nalbantov software for triton or am I the only one here that pays their extravagent price?
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