Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By An Angry Mohawk Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:43 pm
OK rather than continuing to edit my last post here is whats up. I think this will work.

You need one ide card reader:
http://www.google.com/products?q=ide+cf+reader&scoring=p
Or this one if you want to be fancy:
http://www.acscontrol.com/Index_ACS.asp?Page=/Pages/Products/CompactFlash/IDE_To_CF_Adapter.htm

One IDE-SCSI bridge:
http://cgi.ebay.com/IDE-to-SCSI-Converter-Board-for-CD-DVD-Drives-R-IDSC-E_W0QQitemZ330378271793QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cec145c31#ht_952wt_1165

One 50 pin f/f cable:
http://www.welovemacs.com/flt210024.html

On internal to external adapter:
http://cable4pc.com/scsi201.htm

and a db25 m/m cable I am assuming you have. but you can find em cheap enough, shorter is better than longer...


Also this can probably be reduced further, this was just on first glance. The ide-scsi bridge is the most expensive component and thats the cheapest I could find it on ebay. Elsewhere they were far more expensive, although I hope you can do better!

Lemme know what you think!
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By dasinsation Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:40 am
You have confirmed what I thought. Waiting on my DB25 connector and I am going to connect it directly to the IDC 50 cable (in a similar way the IDC 50 was soldered directly to the SCSI port). Will let you know how it turns out. I am going to test it with my ATAPI Zip drive and if that works I am going to order a IDE to Compact Flash card.

I totally agree with your reasoning also. I could not afford the SCSI4Samplers "kit" before now it is even more expensive :shock:
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By dasinsation Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:39 pm
Beware of this SCSI to IDE adapter http://cgi.ebay.com/1-one-IDE-TO-SCSI-BRIDGE-ADAPTER-CARD-CONTROLLER-ATAP_W0QQitemZ260507764050QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca7790552 it is a 68 pin SCSI connection (I think that's what its called?), whatever it is it isn't an IDC 50 connection (not sure if it will work with an adapter but too many adapters can't be good).

If the seller doesn't show both side of the adapter it's probably not what you want (IDC 50) :?:
By An Angry Mohawk Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:02 am
The one I posted is indeed the 50 pin. The one you posted is the odd one, and you can tell because it has a weird plug thats not rectangular but rather its like a trapezoid, i.e. not our kind of scsi adapter. All of the maxtor ones are like this. Unfortunately the 50 pin aren't as cheap as the other ones though. It looks like it can be all purchased for about 50$

As far as how it works with the adapter, I am very interested, I have all of the pieces bookmarked and had I not bought that darn RJD2 Vinyl boxset, I would be ready to buy it right now :D

See I knew we could get this done!
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By dasinsation Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:43 am
Well... as of right now I am working on a failed project. Got the Jaz drive mounted, power connected and running (didn't know it was a 12v drive, oh well got it working). The failure came in the attempted DIY manual connection of the DB25 to the IDC 50 cable, not sure what's wrong but the MPC won't recognize the drive. So to save more headache and my SCSI fuse I am going to just order the DB25 to IDC50 adapter (like I should have did to begin with) and update you later hopefully with good news?
By An Angry Mohawk Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:06 pm
Aww I wish I had known what you were connecting. I have not tested myself but have read that the mpc will only recognize zip 100 drives and that the jaz drive isnt recognized in any circumstance, good diy connection or not. So teh jaz drive is scsi? What you could do is if you have SCSI to IDE converter is use an atapi cdrom with some .wav files burned to disk and see if it reads them. that may work. I have personally had as much to do with zip drives as I would ever like to have. I hate em! I want a 2500, I played with one at GuitarCenter and had a beat goin in minutes. Everything is so easy and similar to the 2k, just with more features.
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By dasinsation Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:04 am
An Angry Mohawk wrote:jaz drive isnt recognized in any circumstance
:shock:

I hope this is not true. I figured since my external Jaz drive works through the external SCSI port I didn't see why an internal Jaz drive wouldn't work connected to the external SCSI port (just mounted internally)? I really dislike Zips also, but I love Jaz drives, especially the ruggedness of the cartridges.

We shall see as soon as my adapter arrives, if it still doesn't work the project will be on hold as funds are completely depleted :?:
By An Angry Mohawk Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:32 pm
I dont know why I was under the impression the the 2k wouldnt recognize any iomega drives save for the zip 100 and 250. At any rate how much did you pay for the adapter? I am assuming you mean the ide-scsi? or keeping everything scsi.

I am so about to write this dang thing off. Vista formats the zip disks fine and the mpc recognizes them xp destroys them . it is soo frustrating. I have gotten it to work only when I first installed mpc editor, after that nothing I write from my pc will be read by the mpc... its very disheartening.
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By dasinsation Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:33 am
Yea, I am keeping everything SCSI to make sure I have the SCSI part squared away and then I am going to do the SCSI to IDE conversion afterward. Right now I am satisfied with my Jaz drive. DB25 to IDC 50 adapter was $14(shipped) 8)

I also had a problem with my Zip disk(s) being messed up by XP until I installed the "script". I am gonna try to find it, but it's a simple registry script that stops Windows from messing up MPC formatted Zips/disks (still cant access partitions, but I only use the Zip drive to transfer samples to the MPC from my computer).

I need a way to stop OSX from crippling the MPC OS disks I create on it. Don't give up man (I want to too), doesn't feel as rewarding if some work is not involved ???

An Angry Mohawk wrote:I dont know why I was under the impression the the 2k wouldnt recognize any iomega drives save for the zip 100 and 250. At any rate how much did you pay for the adapter? I am assuming you mean the ide-scsi? or keeping everything scsi.

I am so about to write this dang thing off. Vista formats the zip disks fine and the mpc recognizes them xp destroys them . it is soo frustrating. I have gotten it to work only when I first installed mpc editor, after that nothing I write from my pc will be read by the mpc... its very disheartening.
By An Angry Mohawk Sun Nov 29, 2009 2:26 pm
Yeah man, I have been thinking seriously about selling blood and most of my worldly goods and trying to buy a 2500, but due to your encouraging words I'll order the stuff tonight I think and I will take apart an old floppy to house the stuff. I mean my ASR 10 and the MPC2k are at least as good as the 2500. Although nowhere near as convenient. Admittedly not being able to transfer sounds to the mpc was making me wanna drop her!

I stopped being lazy and last night I sampled and edited a bunch of drums and stuff. Now all I need is to find some nice hats I'm happy with and all is good.

So you mentioned not being able to access partitions, is that a way to keep the files organized on the 2k in lieu of not having folder support? If so that would be plenty slick!
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By dasinsation Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:57 pm
That is how I do it. I put SEQs, PGMs, and SNDs all in separate partitions for organization purposes. It is my folder "workaround". If I want to transfer a specific file to my laptop, I do it via Zip disk. Just save it to a Zip disk and keep it moving.
I also have a hard drive in my SCSI chain that I backup everything I have on the Jaz drive everytime something changes (for a backup).
I will eventually get a 2500 (my co-producer has one) but I am so comfortable with the 2000's reliability, layout and kinda like taking it apart :lol:

Cheapest CF to IDE adapter, I have seen, is here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230395435957&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
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By dasinsation Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:14 am
Figured out my problem... Internal Jaz drive will not read or write to Jaz discs (always something) :roll: Got the internal SCSI working though and the drive is recognized. I am waiting on the SCSI to IDE adapter now because I have gave up on internal SCSI drives.

Oh yeah also ordered a CF to IDE adapter (gotta figure out what housing I wanna use). Anyone else have any luck :?:
By An Angry Mohawk Sat Dec 05, 2009 2:35 am
I spaced on the stuff. I was having a hard enough time getting disks recognized between computer zip and mpc zip and almost gave up on it altogether. I imagine next week I can put some more time into it and figure out whether I want to order the stuff or not. I would almost rather put money away for the scsi unit for my asr 10. Or maybe not, just stick with midi sample dumps and such. uugghh or for that kind of money move into something more modern.... its a tough call.
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By dasinsation Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:08 am
Yea I'm constantly looking for a XL to ease the pain. I only use it for a sequencer mainly, I love the Classic because of the punchy "bottom" it adds to the internal samples. Anyone doing a mod to the Classic SCSI related chime in 8)