Installing a HxC SD Floppy Emulator for Ensoniq EPS

This video documents how to replace the floppy drive on an Ensoniq EPS sampler with a Lotharek HxC Rev F SD Card floppy emulator. The whole process from opening the sampler to formatting the SD card and creating and saving a new sample is covered.

[@LordHasenpfeffer]

I totally enjoyed seeing this whole process being done. I have an EPS-16Plus from 1993 which needs to be liberated from its floppy moorings as well. Until this I've only seen others doing mods involving SCSI-to-SD mods, etc. I would still like to do that in the future - but even better would be to have this mod *and* the other mods combined at some point in the future... if I can, that is.

[@andres.n.1706]

Great real time tutorial with trouble shooting. Nicely done. Thank you.

[@lisandropagan6943]

Pretty Nice! Very informative to re work with my EPS again. Nice Studio Gadgets and the PPG is Beautiful piece of tech and Synth!

[@MichaelBlueMusic]

Thanks for this! Shopping EPS now and will likely have to do this myself once I buy one. I notice you also have an Oberheim and MatrixBrute! Your setup is very similar to what I’m trying to put together for my next project. I’d love to hear some tracks with those 3 units together if you have any! 👍

[@kaiherrmann4800]

Thanks a lot for all these realtime-workflow-details. I´ve had my doubts is practical behaviour of this (and similar) type of storage device. Unfortunately I was right: compared to SCSI-performance the floppy-emulation sucks. (And it sucks really heavy, beginning with your examples showing read/write-tasks. That is ... somewhat rediculous, far out of range to be a rocket-propelled boost of workflow - which scsi CAN be. -- And I didn´t mention the powerful macro-command-facilities in my , ok, "judgement" until now.) I can tell you, first hand, that a harddrive-sported EPS fills memory (0,5 MB? 1 MB??) of classic EPS twice while you snip with your fingers - once. :) You don´t even need a couple of huge drives, to be happy: the size of banks sooo limited. --- --- Coming to THE POiNT: an enssoniq-bank remembers EVERY content´s location, therefore a BANKfile loads across (!!!) EVERY available media - means: emulator would have to SWAP images during access to storage (because OS "knows" where bank-included files came from - via more or less reliable source-ID). Does it? Can it? Will it at any time in future? I guess: NO. Simply no, it can´t and won´t. In best case, OS will tell you to do so: please insert (!) disk-ID "blaa085", just like that ... - and you´ve got the JOB to dial througt your emulator´s SD card invetory to grab the (correct memorized) data aka img-file. Good luck ;) But, to be honest, I cannot rate the device you presented and let me nail on my proposal - I have scsi, luckily - not both. So, please let me know if hcx is "willing" to chain img-slots access. (A kind of "autodetect" of needed volume/adress to continue a bankload-command.) The classic OS mirrors its demand on EPS´ greenish display - aka "feed me with ANYWAYS123". Had they managed a way to follow those pointers on SD - if an image-title is availlable? It would be great if this IS the case. Ensoniq´s SamplingInstruments without mass-storage-option (floppy only) are a pain in the ass, when it comes to organize performance data, ... drag floppy out, drag floppy in. Is hcx "intelligent" enough, to solve that issue? -- thx for any kind of response --

[@grxengine6188]

In all my years of owning this thing it never occurred to me have a drink nearby to just sip on it while it saves to disk. It may sound like I’m kidding, but I’m not!😂. I was young. I would always just stare impatiently at the screen like THAT would make it save quicker. Cheers.

[@Metamophisis]

Cool 😎 video man. I might have to do this with mine real soon. There is a guy who sells floppy emulator with usb files I got a technician to install one into my Ensoniq Eps and change the transformer from 220 to 120 v.

[@Metamophisis]

He installed onto my Ensoniq Eps 16 Plus

[@LordHasenpfeffer]

My main question at this point is how do I get all of my work from 1993-1998 which is currently still on 3.5" diskettes into virtual disk form?

[@discoprotection]

I'll tell you what you need. Some more desktop icons

[@p.granger8824]

Was thinking the same.....wow

im so confused , the eps wont read any files FROM THE QUICK INSTALL FLOPPY DISK IMAGES , ive updated my gotek to the latest flash floppy firmware 3.42 and nothing ...do i have to use HXC firmware for it to read my HFE files ...also my CFG file looks like a booklet for notpad it dnt look like the CFG file in this video and i cant seem to change it ...PLEASE HELP!

[@InitialGain123]

The floppy port is too slow. I fitted a Micro SD card to the SCSI port that is way faster. There is no comparison. Of course I have fitted a 4x mem expander together with the SCSI interface board. It loads a bank of sounds in a jiffy. The only problem I haven't solved yet with the classic EPS is the power supply heating problem. I put a fan on it from the outside whilst using an air conditioner in the room. The most patience needed when fitting a SCSI 2 SD interface was the cable between this and the SCSI interface. I did this myself. Noel from Malta 💖

[@p.granger8824]

My eps has this scsi port stuff already installed and I have a working external scsi drive. What type of external scsi card reader are you using connected to this?

[@1234bcadlog]

can you show us how to repair/replace the board for keyboard calibration error on the EPS?

[@TjimmyChonga]

As it happens my EPS is currently out of commission with this error, so that’s a good idea. Let me think about that for a little. Thanks.

[@1234bcadlog]

sorry to hear that man, much appreciated!@@TjimmyChonga

[@luisdelgadocompositorsolista]

Gracias por el tutorial, por favor me podrias ayudar para instalar a un ensoniq ts 12 ??

[@Johnsormani]

you lost me when I saw the PPG wave underneath the EPS :-) . From that moment on I didn't register anything you said !

[@noid6720]

Does this floppy disk emulator also work with the eps 16 plus?

[@TjimmyChonga]

I can't see why it wouldn't work, but I have never tried. Hopefully someone here has done that and can answer. Thanks!

[@iamtrevorlang]

Can you share what position you have the jumpers in?

[@TjimmyChonga]

I don't have it open, but I'm pretty sure I set it to Drive A, ID 0, so switch 1 set to 1 and all others set to off. I will try to double check next time I open it up.

[@iamtrevorlang]

@@TjimmyChonga thanks