just tested yamaha bridge and also a PCD-50b

just tested yamaha bridge and also a PCD-50b in my 3000 - I already have a Acard and hot swap drive working well on my 3.11os MPC, but wanted to do a test to see what would happen and if I could find easier option for others.

sorry guys, can confirm what others have said, these don't seem to work, not for me at any rate - maybe if you were ultra lucky with firmware you might get one or the other to work who knows. MPC Hunter any insight?

I tested the yamaha bridge with my current working CF>IDE adadter/reader and with cards that work with that. couldn't read or format any cards at all.

PCD-50b could see cards formatted and saved on my other reader, could load a sequence, but not any sounds - and would not format a card at all.

tried various ID and termination options with both.

this week will be testing a Addonics hot swap drive - then am hanging up my testing hat to avoid doing my MPC any damage or blowing the SCSI fuse. hopefully some of the other info I have found (like working Acard firmwares and cards that work etc) have been useful to some.

thanks a lot for going to all the trouble Seed!

Shame the Chinese dont make real acards yet

Yeh ogod looks on testing some of these joints out. Saves people a hell of alot of time trying to go through numerous card readers that won't work.

They should give you your own sticky cf thread man, you must of done more testing than most by now.

SEED78 wrote:just tested yamaha bridge and also a PCD-50b in my 3000 - I already have a Acard and hot swap drive working well on my 3.11os MPC, but wanted to do a test to see what would happen and if I could find easier option for others.

sorry guys, can confirm what others have said, these don't seem to work, not for me at any rate - maybe if you were ultra lucky with firmware you might get one or the other to work who knows. MPC Hunter any insight?

Is the issue you are having an issue with the MPC and the bridge adapter or the CF card and the bridge adapter?

What is the DMA configuration on the CF cards? Are IORDY and DMACK being pulled high?

The bridge adapter I used back in 2005 was from a Yamaha CD Drive that was already working with the MPC 3000. No idea on firmware. Based on what I see online on the data sheet, I would make sure the jumpers are set for : Parity: OFF, Termination: ON, Blocks: ON.

MPCHunter wrote:
Is the issue you are having an issue with the MPC and the bridge adapter or the CF card and the bridge adapter?

What is the DMA configuration on the CF cards? Are IORDY and DMACK being pulled high?

The bridge adapter I used back in 2005 was from a Yamaha CD Drive that was already working with the MPC 3000. No idea on firmware. Based on what I see online on the data sheet, I would make sure the jumpers are set for : Parity: OFF, Termination: ON, Blocks: ON.

I have a working Acard + card reader setup - I swapped the Acard for the yamaha bridge, tried a few different scsi IDs and termination. when I next get a chance will try with the parity and block settings etc you suggested. thanks for the info!!

IORDY and DMACK - I've not got a clue, I just used the few cards that actually work with my Acard (4 different types), was hard enough finding ones that would work with the Acard - when it comes to card formats you seem to be the one with the indepth knowledge, on this forum by far! and with yamaha bridges you seem to be the only one with the know how to have got one working.

seems like the yamaha bridges come in a lot of random firmware variants - maybe even more so than Acard? Acards have firmware written on, can't see where its mentioned on the yamaha bridge though? one I borrowed was taken from a CD drive, but not one specifically working with the 3000.

thanks for the help!!

micb wrote:Yeh ogod looks on testing some of these joints out. Saves people a hell of alot of time trying to go through numerous card readers that won't work.

They should give you your own sticky cf thread man, you must of done more testing than most by now.

I wouldn't have even gotten off the starting blocks if it wasn't for people on this forum.

I'm slowly getting together a collection of the basic info, mainly for people who are getting together Acard setups >benefits/types of installation/installation guide/cards that work/transferring to the computer guide etc etc. all the info IS on this forum, but its scattered all over and some things are conflicting.

if a few of us on here could pool our info and it could be made into a locked sticky purely on CF drives that would be good - would be an end to the boring threads I've been posting at any rate cluttering up this forum,

shame we can't get a drive like the later (and more easily available) PCDs working with the 3000/60 - these are the standard budget drive for people with a lot of rack samplers - the 50b for example (that I had no luck with) you can get them SO easily!

I'm going to do further yamaha bridge testing this coming weekend

3 other drives I'm doing my final batch of testing on this week are:
MPL MC-DISK-G-1 (a Spyrus rebrand?) hot swap
and 2 random Adtron hot swap drives

If my 3000 survives those without blowing up I'm hanging up my hat after that. hope I can get at least 1 working as good news for anyone interested.

SEED78 wrote:

micb wrote:Yeh ogod looks on testing some of these joints out. Saves people a hell of alot of time trying to go through numerous card readers that won't work.

They should give you your own sticky cf thread man, you must of done more testing than most by now.

- the 50b for example (that I had no luck with) you can get them SO easily!

I wonder why the pcd 15 and 25 are so rare... Does anyone have any idea? I mean yeh I appreciate the fact that they are 10+ years old, there just doesn't seem to be much info on these things.

I think the 25's were massively kaned by the sampler community, prob all those amiga heads too... annoyingly, they prob got them in samplers that are less fussy than the the 3000 before we got the chance curse them!!!

hey seed... do you try updating the firmware on your PCD-50b?

I got the firmware update program for the PCD-50b and PCD-60b if you need it. I've got the PCD-60B and with the firmware update, made it able to read and write to the SCSI flash card slots. but you have to update it on a PC with a SCSI PCI card.

hi there - no I haven't - have you found your firmware update is specifically making these drives work with the 60/3000?

I'm kinda just trying to find simple solutions for people who need CF Drives for the 60/3000. I'm not that technical electronics knowledge wise, I just rig up drives and try different simple things out ID/Termination etc.

2 things I'll say with the 50b - they sit really far back inside the 3000, bit cramped when it comes to wires. also, the card holder thing juts out from the drive by an inch and is kinda ugly. even if I there was a firware that was universal in working on all 3000's I can see a lot of people not being that keen on these drives other than them being a cheap option. if your update meant the normal CF sizes slot can be used that would be good.

Just a thought but have you tried looking for PCMCIA drivesr rather than straight CF?

My drive is PCMCIA and I use adaptors for the CF.

SEED78: how did the yamaha testing go? I have one myself and no luck so far, maybe my bridge is busted I dont have way to test it on a PC...

never went well for me - got told its a 'piety' (prob not even spelt that right) issue.

I just stuck with Acard and IDE>CF... in the end.