Loading Akai CDs without CD-Rom player?

EricG · Post by **EricG** » Wed May 30, 2012 7:59 pm

Hello fellow Kronos owners.

I have a question that some of you may have an answer to.

I have some old Akai CD-Roms with samples that i would like to load. The only problem is that I don't have a compatible cd-rom drive. Is there a way to copy the akai cd's to a USB memory stick, so try can be loaded into the Kronos. Or can they be converted to Korg format, and tjene transfered to the Kronos. (i know about the chicken sys translator, but heard nothing but bad about it....)

If some you have any experience that can hjelp me load my akai samples into my kronos without buying an external CD-rom drive I would like to hear from you.

Post by **Sharp** » Wed May 30, 2012 9:08 pm

Is there a way to copy the akai cd's to a USB memory stick,

No, AKAI format is an entirely different format from anything a PC would normally have to deal with. To even read an AKAI disk on a PC you need to use special software. It's simply not possible to copy the data from a AKAI disk to something like a USB memory stick.

Or can they be converted to Korg format, and tjene transfered to the Kronos.

Yes, but there are no programs on the market that can write native KRONOS pcg files, so you would have to convert the AKAI disk to SF2 foramt.

The KRONOS will read everything in an SF2 file and even create the PROG sounds itself.

Awave Studio or Extreme Sample Converter are two good options.

If some you have any experience that can hjelp me load my akai samples into my kronos without buying an external CD-rom drive I would like to hear from you.

My 2 cents, forget everything I said above and buy an external DVD-Drive for your KRONOS. If you want the AKAI data converted flawlessly, then the ONLY way to do it is to load it directly into the KRONOS from an external DVD Drive.

Regards
Sharp.

EricG · Post by **EricG** » Wed May 30, 2012 9:28 pm

Thank you Sharp.

I guess I have to go for a cd-rom drive then. I just have to find a model that works with the Kronos. I have seen this discussed here on the forum, so I will do a search. (I tried with my wife's Apple external cd-rom player for MacBook air, but with no success....)

Thanks again

Fibcouple · Post by **Fibcouple** » Thu May 31, 2012 8:11 pm

EricG wrote: I just have to find a model that works with the Kronos.

I use this sleek little drive which works very well with my Kronos.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... 02_s00_i00

Also, and I am not 100% on this, by using Akai CDs directly on the Kronos, you may get less duplication of files if they are used in multiple patches, rather than first converting them to SF2.

Regards

Francois · Post by **Francois** » Thu May 31, 2012 8:18 pm

I'm tracking all models reported here and elsewhere to work.

http://www.kronoscopie.fr/graveur-usb.html

The first table is that of compatible models.

Francois · Post by **Francois** » Thu May 31, 2012 8:21 pm

Fibcouple wrote:I use this sleek little drive which works very well with my Kronos.

That's the one I use too, and I tested it extensively. It will read and write audio CDs, read Akai discs and install the system of expansions from DVD.

On top of that, it's cheaper than otehrs, and offer top loading (easier access).

If anyone uses something else, please do tell, I'll add it.

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 12:20 am

I have a Samsung SE-208AB and it works great! Nice and small/light too.

Only thing I notice with the Kronos is it doesn't always read all the partitions of the Akai disks. IT'S THE KRONOS, NOT THE DRIVE. Because when I use that drive with my computer with programs like Awave and CDExtract it reads the CDs NO PROBLEM.

Hopefully Korg will improve it's ability to see partitions! It's kinda disappointing to buy a drive (explicitly for the Kronos) so I can load samples directly and save RAM vs. using a convertor which inflates the sample size and then having to resort to using the converter on the computer ANYWAY cause the Kronos can't see the partitions!