HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

HxC Floppy Emulator E-mu Emulator I & II support
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Synth boy
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Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:26 am

HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Synth boy »

Hi

I recently purchased an Oberheim DPX-1. Not exactly an Emulator ii but as it reads EII disks, I'd thought I'd post in this forum. I wish to replace the 5.25 drive (emulator ii) with an HXC floppy emulator with SD and I am desperately tearing my hair out to find the right one.

I am currently checking out http://lotharek.pl to find a suitable HXC. I would be most appreciative if somebody could advise me which particular (or category) model of HXC would be a suitable replacement for the 5.25 drive.

Cheers

Jeff
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Jeff »

The Rev F HxC is fine. But you need to have an 5"1/4<->3"1/2 bay mechanical adapter.

Synth boy
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Synth boy »

Hi Jeff

In terms of the Bay adapter, do you think this device http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_3847.html would be a good option?

swissdoc
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by swissdoc »

Got the HxC Version F and an adapter. Now I opened the DPX-1 to see, that the power connector is small on HxC vs. big on the 5.25 floppy as well as the disk cable is using an edge connector on this old 5.25 drive. Before I start chasing up adapters and new floppy cables, is there anyone who did this already on a DPX-1?

I like to keep the original 3.5 drive and to replace the 5.25 drive with HxC.

Jeff
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Jeff »

yes this was done before.

swissdoc
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by swissdoc »

Now I have all needed cables and adapters available. I found out, that the DPX-1 is reading only Original Emulator II disks from the 2nd diskdrive, so to read i.e. Mirage floppies, the HxC has to be installed as 1st drive.

OK, I tested all available options:

S900
I took the sk1.img from http://www.polynominal.com/site/studio/ ... ample.html and loaded with S900/S950 Raw template, export to HFE.
Result is dE (disk error) on DPX1
ID A0 set -> 3.5 disk on first slot of DPX1

Emulator II
I used zm325.hfe from the Quickinstall Emulator II collection, stored on SD and loaded with the DPX1.
Result is A9 dE (Akai S900 disk error) on display
ID A1 set -> 5.25 disk on second slot of DPX1

Prophet 2000
I took http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/3/97/ ... -50_01.p2k which is not loadable in HxC tool, tested with raw load, which allows conversion to HFE, but sector settings are different to P2000 format.
Cannot load to DPX1

Bummer, Jeff stated P2000 image to be supported, but conversion from p2k format is not implemented.

Taking Empty_Disk_000.hfe from the Quickinstall Prophet 2000 collection and storing this directly on SD card.
Result is fine, display on DPX1 shows P2.
ID A0 set -> 3.5 disk on first slot of DPX1

Mirage
I took the mp1.bin file from the MetaScape sample collection, renamed to mp1.img and raw read into HxC Tools, export to HFE.
Result is fine, display on DPX1 shows eN.
ID A0 set -> 3.5 disk on first slot of DPX1

DPX1 - Emulator II
I converted EII files with E2DPX (DPXTOOLS) to DPX format, this loads fine in HxC tool, then export to HFE.
Result is fine, display on DPX1 shows E2.
ID A0 set -> 3.5 disk on first slot of DPX1

HxC tool: HxC FloppyEmulator v2.0.26.0
HxC firmware: 1.8.2.40
DPX1 OS V2.2

Questions:
S900 - what I am doing wrong here?
Emulator II - what I am doing wrong here?
Prophet 2000 - any chance to get the p2k dump format supported by the HxC tool? There is some French discussion on the board, but not clear to me, what is the conclusion.

So I will install in the 3.5 bay and configure as 1st disk, then I can use the Emulator Library I have in EII format, which was my main goal.
Thanks anyway to Jeff for the great tool and fine support he is giving.

Jeff
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Jeff »

mmh to be honest i don't understand : are you trying to load all these disks coming from other machine into the dpx1 ? Is it possible ?

swissdoc
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by swissdoc »

Correct, the DXP-1 supports reading all those native sampler formats, that was the scope of the box, plus it could "backup" onto the 3.5 disk into DPX-1 format, kind of mediation.

This is from the SOFTWARE REVISION 2.1 and 2.2 OWNER’S MANUAL ADDENDUM

LOAD DISK FUNCTION:
1. Data Formats — the data currently being loaded originated from:
A9 an Akai S900.
E2 an E-mu Emulator II.
P2 a Sequential Prophet 2000 or 2002/2002+.
En an Ensoniq Mirage.
Cd a CD ROM disk drive (the O.M.I. “CDS3”).
UF a MIDI sample dump.

2. Backup Disks - the data from the disk currently being loaded is from a DPX-1 backup disk containing:
A9 Akai S900-type samples/presets.
E2 Emulator Il-type samples/presets.
P2 Prophet 2000/2002-type samples/presets.
En Mirage-type samples/presets.
Cd samples/presets that originated from a CD ROM.
UF . . . . samples that originated from a MIDI sample dump.
In DPX-1 internal test presets.

3. The data from the disk currently being loaded is from a DPX-1 backup disk containing sample data plus the SP configuration parameters for:
A.9 Akai S900-type samples/presets.
E.2 Emulator Il-type samples/presets.
P.2 Prophet 2000/2002-type samples/presets.
E.n Mirage-type samples/presets.
C.d samples/presets that originated from a CD ROM.
U.F samples that originated from a MlDl sample dump.
I.n DPX-1 internal test presets.

Overall manuals you find:
http://www.theemus.com/documentation/ob ... e_Real.pdf
http://www.theemus.com/documentation/ob ... _Guide.pdf

Jeff
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Jeff »

swissdoc wrote:Correct, the DXP-1 supports reading all those native sampler formats, that was the scope of the box, plus it could "backup" onto the 3.5 disk into DPX-1 format, kind of mediation.
Interesting.
In this case i think that you should force the interface mode into the embedded menu : remove the SD, press select -> Interface CFG, choose Shugart.

swissdoc
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by swissdoc »

Thanks a lot for your kind reply. OK, will try that. May help to load EII and Akai HFE correcty.
May be still a limitation on the DPX-1 that it cannot load EII format from a drive it knows it is 3.5 inch and not supporting that format.

Is there any chance, that the HxC Tool would be able to convert the .p2k format into the P2000 image format?

Jeff
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by Jeff »

swissdoc wrote: May be still a limitation on the DPX-1 that it cannot load EII format from a drive it knows it is 3.5 inch and not supporting that format.
Yes -> I think that you must use the 5"1/4 place for this !

swissdoc
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Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by swissdoc »

Jeff wrote:
swissdoc wrote:Correct, the DXP-1 supports reading all those native sampler formats, that was the scope of the box, plus it could "backup" onto the 3.5 disk into DPX-1 format, kind of mediation.
Interesting.
In this case i think that you should force the interface mode into the embedded menu : remove the SD, press select -> Interface CFG, choose Shugart.
This is not working for the Akai S900 files from the quickstart archive. So looks like the Akai S900 loader in the DPX-1 is not able to read from HFE files. Any further ideas?


Is there any chance, that the HxC Tool would be able to convert the .p2k format into the P2000 image format?

motionboy
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Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:24 pm

Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by motionboy »

Hi everyone,
I'm trying the same here, but with the difference that I like to install an USB Gotek Hxc Floppy Emulator into the upper 3,5 Floppy Slot of the DPX-1.

I know now that the Data Cable is Flipped, but in my opinion the power cable is correct in the upper slot.

I tried to read some dpx into image converted files but the dpx-1 does not recognize these kind of files.

tried the shuggard setting - nothing happens

Any ideas or suggestions?

best,
ray

rotomtom
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Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:44 pm

Re: HXC emulator for Oberheim DPX-1

Post by rotomtom »

Hi, I had the same problem with my Oberheim DPX-1 with Gotek/OLED USB drive installed in the 3,5" upper slot. Here's how you get S900 image files into your DPX-1:
Use latest HxCFloppyEmulator tool.
Go to "Floppy disk dump"
in the "Floppy disk dump" menu enter following parameters: Drive A, double sided, Number of tracks: 80
Click "Read Disk" (this will take a while)
When finished click "OK"
Open the "Export" menu and save the .HFE file (1961 kB) on your USB-Stick
Put the USB stick into the GOTEK of your DPX-1 and select the file with the buttons on your Gotek
Hit "LOAD DISK" on the DPX-1
The display should indicate S9 while loading

Note: I also tried to use omniflop to generate S900 disk images for my DPX-1/Gotek from S900 floppies. No success. My DPX-1 does not like the S900-format omniflop is generating: the DPX-1 loading process is stopping at different track numbers with an unfriendly reset or freeze state. Same issue with DPX-1 disks. I don't know why, but omniflop with the Akai S900 default settings or auto-detect and then using HxCFloppyEmulator always generates a larger .HFE file (2060 kB / 84 tracks) than the process with HxCFloppyEmulator (1965 kB). I assume there is something wrong with the track number settings. Any hints welcome to get the S900 / DPX conversion also working with omniflop.

Note2: I saw in this email threat that there is also the question how to get EII images working on your DPX-1 /w USB Gotek HxC Floppy Emulator in the upper 3,5" slot. Please find a solution here: http://www.torlus.com/floppy/forum/view ... 661#p19661

Have fun!

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