Using SD-Cards with old hardware samplers - ZuluSCSI - (Roland XV-5080, Akai, Yamaha, Emu, ...)

In this video I test the ZuluSCSI adapter (similar to SCSI2SD) which simulates hard discs and CD-Roms with files on a SD-Card. Works totally fine with my Roland XV-5080.
zuluscsi.com/
store.inertial...

[@mosspa1]

I'm adding this here because it may help people who viewed this video yet still have questions as to how the Zulu actually operates. In the discussion, you will see that I have asked the author questions about the creation of the files on the SD card that allow the Zulu to function in the sampler. For the past three days I have been accumulating information from sources including, Rabbit Hole (the developers of the platform) and Sampler Zone and Chicked Systems, one of the primary resellers of the ZuluSCSI devices in the US. Contrary to what is being suggested in the author's responses to my specific question, the files written to the SD do require a proper format in order to work. So, while there isn't a formatting "process", per se, if the .img, .iso. or .hda files don't provide the Zulu software files with properly delimited values it won't work. So, while the SD, itself, doesn't need to be formatted (except as FAT or exFAT devices), the files on it do. The way the author went about doing this in the video obviously works, however, it doesn't really provide an optimal blueprint to follow that will allow the full exploitation of the Zulu devices. For the purpose of the present discussion, a SCSI device can be represented by a SCSI ID # that can range from 0 (zero) to 7 (seven). That is, a SCSI chain is usually limited, then to eight SCSi devices, among which the host device occupies one of the IDs (usually this will be ID 7 for common samplers, but can be different, for example it is ID #6 for Kurzweils). So, in practical terms, the Zulu device can address up to seven different SCSI devices from the sampler it is running on. Each of these devices can be any combination of emulated HDDs and emulated CDs. In the case of the author, a common shareware CD burning program was used (CD Burner XP). When that program is asked to create an ISO image, what it will create is a standard ISO 9660 format file of up to about 650kBytes. I may be wrong about what CD Burner XP actually does, but my guess is that, since it "believes" it is creating an ISO formatted file for a writable CD-ROM, what it generates is a 650 (0r so) kByte "image" that it "presumes" will eventually be written to t CD-R media. So, after the program does its work, you end up with a file named xxxx.iso that is probably about 650kB in length. The Zulu device "looks" for an appropriately named "image file". The naming conventions it uses involve a valid name prefix (e.g., "HDx", or "CDx", where the HD is an emulated HDD and the CD is an emulated CDR, and where x denotes the SCSI ID#)) and an appropriate suffix that denotes an image file (e.g., img, .iso, or .hda). Zulu doesn't "care" what the suffix is, as log as it is one of those. So, by definition, Zulu is capable of dealing with up to seven (in total) emulated HDDs or CDRs, each denoted by an ID number. The only real difference between the CD and HD names is that Zulu will treat a HD device as a read/write device, and a CD device as a read-only device. Note: it doesn't matter what the nature of the data is from Zulu's "perspective", so if you change the name from CD to HD Zulu will allow you to write to the emulated device, and if it is named CD, Zulu won't write to it. So, to backtrack to the video, what the author did was to create a standard ISO image using an image burning program. To that image, he added several sample files by name by including them in the write instructions for the program. Then when he executed an ISO file creation, the burning program created, presumably, a 650kB image file with real space occupied only by the data in the samples he added. Naming the file beginning with "CD" allows the Zulu to treat the image as a CD-ROM. Changing the name so that it starts with "HD" allows Zulu to treat it as a HDD. The "CD" in the prefix conveys all of the information that Zulu needs to be able to access the data and allow it to be read as though it were on a real CD-ROM. However, when the filename is changed so it begins with "HD" the only information that Zulu has is that it is a read/writ image of some sort, but it can''t "deal" with the data because it isn't "aware" of the specific format. That's is why the author was required to use the sampler's format utility to provide that information. Once formatted, Zulu has all the information required to access the data, and to read or write to that emulated HDD. So, assuming that all of this works the way I have assumed it does in regard to the CD burning program, what this method does is allows you to pretty easily create HDDs with a fixed volume of 650kB (or whatever the correct size is for an ISO standard CD). But, what if you want to create an image file that is greater than 650kB in order to take advantage of the maximum volume size allowed by your sampler. Here is where there won't be a hard fast set of instruction for how, exactly, to create an optimal image file, because the characteristics of the file will be dependent on the sampler it is to be used with. My expertise is with Kurzweil samplers, so the best I can do is to couch the image file preparation instructions in terms of those particular samplers. The Kurzweil K2000S (or K2000RS), is capable of dealing with SCSI volumes that are 2GB or less in length. From what I have inferred from reading, 2GB is also the maximum size disks that can be dealt with by other same era samplers. While it is true that in iterations of the K2xxx OS, from the K2500 through the K2661 can deal with 8GB volumes in four 2GB partitions, I'll constrain the discussion to the simplest K2000 case (i.e., one 2GB volume per SCSI ID #). Last evening at this time I didn't have this information until Garth Hjelte, the wizard behind the Chicken Systems curtain, and Petteri Aimonen from a Zulu-oriented forum on GitHub, educated me about it last night. For use on the Kurzweil (and this applies to all of the other samplers, using their particular constraints). The easiest way to think about this is for a 2GB HDD to be emulated, a file of that length (2GB) must be created and then written to the Zulus SD card with the form of HDx.img (or any of the other valid filetypes). In practical usage, I'm not sure how many ways there are to go about creating such a file, but using a Hex editor would be one way. representing each byte as "00" and correctly naming the file in accordance to the Zulu file naming conventions. Pettteri provided the following for how to do this using Windows: "To create empty hard drive image, you need to create a file full of zeros. On Windows there is built-in command you can run in admin command prompt: fsutil file createnew HD00.hda 2000000000 where the big number is the size of the drive in bytes". This will create a correctly formatted .hda file that Zulu will recognize and be able to use. Garth provided similar instructions using UXIX "dd" syntax on a Mac. It's been a long while since I seriously dabbled in UNIX, and I've only recently acquired a Mac so I really don't know too much about them. However, the important thing is that you have a file that has as many 0s in it as would make up the total size of the volume you want to use. Clearly, typing 2-billion sets of "0"s into an editior would be a bit of a stretch, and using some utility to do that for you would, obviously, be much more preferential. However, that "long way of doing it" should provide a pretty clear picture of what you are trying to accomplish in the creation of the image file. Hope this is of some help, John

[@mossgraber]

Thanks for the detailed explanation! I somehow falsely expected that people who own such old samplers know about these things. I stand corrected :-) I guess I need to do another video with some more details of the process. Regarding the ISO format: This file (!) format is indented as an "in-between" format to store the content of a CD on your PC/Mac. E.g. Windows can also mount such a file as a virtual CD drive. One correction: the size of a CD is not 650kB but 650 MiB (!) of data. Also capacity is routinely extended to 80 minutes and 700 MiB by arranging data more closely on the same sized disc (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc). Furthermore, it is notable that the ISO file has only the size of the contained data and is not enlarged with empty space to 650MiB. That was the actual mistake I made in the video: reformatting the CD file only gave a small HD size since I had only some example WAVs on it.

[@mosspa1]

@@mossgraber My bad about the 650kB and 650MB mixup. I'm probably jaded by working with storage media in the multi-TB range now. I guess that, even when I thought about it (and I actually did), the kB and MB difference never even set off a bell! So, are you saying that when you use CD Burner XP to "burn" a standard ISO 9660 disk image to a file, it really doesn't create a 650MB file, just a header that specifies a 650MB disk? Also, I infer from that last set of remarks that the specification of the image size is not enough for ZuluSCSI to allocate the 650MB of space on its writable drive? As I thought I was making clear, I really don't know what the CD Burner XP program does as far as the image it creates, but I also believe that somewhere I was mislead (not by your video) to believe that just specifying the length would be sufficient to get ZuluSCSI to allocate a drive with that amount of space. If that, indeed, is not the case then the information I conveyed from Garth and Petteri in the last two paragraphs of my reply are obviously that of most critical importance.

[@mossgraber]

@@mosspa1 It is up to 650MB (max), not always 650MB (fixed). If you look at the written CD-R you can clearly see which area was written and which is still empty (you could also create "unfinished" (don't know the exact word) CD-R and add more data to them later, CD-Rs were very expensive back in the days). So, the CDBurnerXP way might not be the easiest solution for creating an ISO for a HD, you could e.g. just fill it with enough data for the size you want to have (if I remember correctly you could also create larger images than 700MB, you just got a warning). Therefore, the other solutions suggested to you might be more straight forward.

[@bootlegazremixaz]

This is a lifeline for the MPC2000, no wiring/hacks etc.

[@JDvirt]

Just to make sure before purchase Does the blue one second link is it compatible with MPC 2000 not the XL just the 2000 and do I have to format?

[@OdoSendaidokai]

Awsesome! Maybe I shouldn't have give away my akai s2000 years ago :)

[@MarcoPolux]

don't start there! I gave away during a bad choices years a LOT of Analog cool gear, because "I turned digital".... DARN!!!! now I am slowly getting back to Analog. Also during a time where I wanted to be like free soul and hipppie, I sold all of my Vinyls records to the first buyer. I am soooooo regretfull of that,... I've even bought again some records now like PinkFloyd's, Metallica's firts albums, Crystal Method.... I am wating for the Super-Vinyl that Music visionaries are talking about.

[@mossgraber]

That was even bad gear when it came out. Returned it to store after 2 weeks 😁

[@OdoSendaidokai]

@@mossgraber I didn't have another comparison that time, so it was the best pieve of hardware sampler that I ever got :)

[@ChristianFernandoPerucchi]

Hi Guys! this is a very helpful video and thanks @mosspa1 for all the detailed info on the Kurzweil k2000 that is the sampler i have, i have an 4gb SD card i put an iso file as HD1.iso, which is seen by the kurzweil but when i put load it says Not a DOS disk: pc_dskinit" and then "problem mounting disk" i already tried formatting the SD with the Kurzweil and mac or PC in Fat...

[@mossgraber]

Could it be that the ISO disc is too large for the Kurzweil? Don't know what size it supports max.

[@ChristianFernandoPerucchi]

simple drag and drop the firmware update for the Zuluscsi to the SD putting in the SD and working as a charm

[@TecladistadoYoutubeRivaLima]

I have a scsi2sd that I use on my roland w-30... an sd card written using scsi2sd, can it be read by zuluscsi?

[@mossgraber]

No, they work differently. scsi2sd requires partitions which contain the simulated CD/HDs. The advantage of the ZuluSCSI is that you can copy images on the SD while the SD can be formatted with plain FAT format.

[@bvazquez90]

I got this card some time ago... I have never been able to use it because I think there is a fault with my XV-5080. None of the three SIMM modules (72 pin, EDO, 60ns, 5v, all 16MB) work with it. I even tried cleaning the RAM contacts with Servisol super 10... I really do not want to take into a repair shop as none of them local specialise in fixing small faults like this. If you can still read this... do you have any suggestions?

[@mossgraber]

Not really. Can only suggest to try with different SIMM modules or get a card to check if you can load from it to identify if the issue is really the RAM.

[@mosspa1]

Hi. I was really pleased to find your video. I have been tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to format the SD card so it will work in the Zulu with my Kurzweils. Your video is very descriptive, but the part where you begin to use CD Burner XP goes by in, literally, a flash. When you see the main menu of that utility, do you first select the "Burn ISO" option? It isn't clear on exactly what you did because it goes by so fast in the video. I'm sure there are other potential users like me out there who know the basics of SCSI, and are familiar with our particular synths or samplers. The stumbling point is in getting the SD media ready to use. So, if you could elaborate a bit more on, EXACTLY, what steps you went through to ready the SD card, I think it would be greatly appreciated.

[@mossgraber]

You select "Data Disc" (first option). "Burn ISO" is for writing an existing ISO image to a physical CD. The SD-Card came with ZuluSCSI and I did not check the format but I guess it is either FAT or exFAT.

[@mosspa1]

@@mossgraber I wasn't asking about the emulated CD drive. What I need to know is how you got the emmulated HDD disk that you were able to write to on the SD card before you formatted it in the Roland. I mean, what do you do to create a "blank" image?

[@mosspa1]

@@mossgraber I just opened CDBurnerXP and selected create data disk. As far as I can tell, the only device the program will let me interact with is my BluRay burner. It allows me no options that involve the SD I have plugged in the reader. Also, it appears to be wanting to create an ISO 9660 image that is fine for emulated CD drives, but it is the writible disk that I want to create. How is that done? Am I missing something about how CDBurnerXP works in relation to SDs?

[@mossgraber]

@@mosspa1 There is no need to write a physical CD. From the File menu choose "Save Compilation as ISO file".

[@jlindborg1105]

Sadly my Yamaha EX5 only sees HD0...

[@dtnjnq]

Hi, thanks for the video. I just purchased the Zuluscsi. Now waiting for it to arrive. My question is when you created the iso files did you have to specify the format of the iso file? Was the iso for the CD the same format and size as the iso for the HD?

[@mossgraber]

AFAIK there is only one ISO format for CDs. As you see in the video I simply copied the created CD ISO and renamed it to HD. If this does work, depends on the file format of your sampler. As you also see in the video I had to format it for the XV-5080.

[@dtnjnq]

@@mossgraber what was the size of the CD iso?

[@mossgraber]

@@dtnjnq This depends on the number and size of the samples (or files in general) you add to it. In the examples it was just a couple of MB.

[@dtnjnq]

@@mossgraber thanks. The size of a CD is usually fixed at 680mb. Does this mean that the size of the HD is the same or can they be larger?

[@mossgraber]

@@dtnjnq I did not test that but I guess it can be any size (that your sampler accepts).

[@guyfromavillage134]

interesting is it possible to browse this drive from windows? seeing the contents of the disk images?

[@mossgraber]

Yes, you can "mount" ISO files on Windows (as well as other operating system) which then appear like a physical CD-drive. If you then can read the content does depend on the format of your sampler. If it uses FAT, yes otherwise you need specific software like e.g. Chicken Systems Translator.

[@mosspa1]

One more specific question... Does the size of the HD disk need to be specified somewhere (the Zulu manual refers to creating a "blank image")? If the size needs to be specified, how do you specify it, for example using CD Burner XP? The Kurzweil Disk OS can access disks of up to 2GB, so that would be the size limit in my particular case. Thanks again!

[@mossgraber]

I did not experiment with this. Maybe you need to use the IMG format for it but did no research on this so far.

[@mosspa1]

@@mossgraber What size disk did the emulated hard drive you ended up able to write to turn out to be after it was formatted? I don't know a lot about Roland samplers, but 2GB seems to be the limit for most samplers back then. Is this the case for the Roland, and did your SD card format to that length?

[@mossgraber]

@@mosspa1 I think you have a basic misunderstanding of how ZuluSCSI works. You do NOT format the SD-card to be compatible with your sampler. Instead you can create up to 7 files which you simply copy on the SD-card. These files will then show up as SCSI drives on your sampler. ZuluSCSI does the magic in between. I am not sure about the size limit of tzhe XV (need to experiment with that further) but could be also only 128MB.

[@rawl747]

@@mosspa1 Roland XV-5080 samplers support up to 2GB in a FAT formatted partition. That is what my XV has as the original HDD and it still works...

[@elbarto05]

Would this work with a 50pin to db25 adapter for an emu e5000 ultra?

[@mossgraber]

Sorry, no idea.

[@georgejanho30]

Any advantage, disadvantage of ZuluSCSI compared to SCSI2SD v6?

[@mossgraber]

Yes, SCSCI2SD requires the card to be formatted in a certain way. With ZuluSCSI you can simply copy ISO and IMG files to the card.

[@georgejanho30]

@@mossgraber Thank you. My Zulu is not working with my AKAI S1100. When I go to format it (on the AKAI) it says "hard disk drive not ready". The Zulu is plugged into the back of the SCSI (AKAI) and the SD card is inside. The SCSI Drive ID is set to 5 and the S1100 SCSI ID is set to 6. Am I missing something? Drive sector size is set at 512b. Thank you for your time

[@mossgraber]

@@georgejanho30 I do not have any Akai sampler, I am afraid I cannot help you. When you say "SCSI Drive ID is set to 5" you mean the file name? Did you try a small file size (I do not know what the disc size limit is of the Akai)? Also did you try both with an ISO and IMG file?

[@gtubgle]

So the XV powers it?

[@mossgraber]

Yes, exactly.

[@djvine]

very nice item but very very very bad price!!!!

[@mossgraber]

Definitively not cheap. But I guess reasonable for a niche product.