Yamaha TX-16W/HxC beginner questions

HxC Floppy emulator support for all others Keyboards/Samplers...
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TeeEx
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Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:12 pm

Yamaha TX-16W/HxC beginner questions

Post by TeeEx »

I have a Yamaha TX-16W sampler which I'm considering adding a floppy emulator to, but I'm new to all of this and have some newbie questions before I go ahead with it (from other postings I understand that the HxB is compatible).
I understand the floppy emulator works with "disk images" (virtual floppy disks) which the TX-16W sees as actual 3.5" floppy disks, and via the HxC front panel you eject/insert different disks just as you would swap physical floppy disks, correct?

1) How do I create the disk images, and is this hard?
I've already transferred all my TX-16W floppy disk's contents over to my Mac hard drive (via an Atari ST using some software which handled the MSX disk format) if that makes a difference, having to use the computer instead of the sampler for this task.

2) If I sample (record) some new audio with the TX-16W and create a new setup (key mapping, envelopes, filter etc.), can I easily save all that to the floppy emulator in the same way as I would to a physical floppy disk, or do I need to use a computer for that?

3) I see that some of the HxC drives have an LCD display -can this be used to give each virtual floppy disk a unique name so as to describe each disk's contents?

4) Anything I should keep in mind which makes using a floppy disk emulator different from using the original TX-16W floppy disk drive?

5) I see there are different floppy drive emulators around such as the Lotharek HxC, Gotek and a few others which I can't remember right now. Are they all the same and compatible with each other (and the TX-16W)?

Jeff
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Re: Yamaha TX-16W/HxC beginner questions

Post by Jeff »

TeeEx wrote:
Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:37 pm
1) How do I create the disk images, and is this hard?
I've already transferred all my TX-16W floppy disk's contents over to my Mac hard drive (via an Atari ST using some software which handled the MSX disk format) if that makes a difference, having to use the computer instead of the sampler for this task.
There is various way to create these images. I recommend you to have a look to this pdf to see some of them:

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... al_ENG.pdf
TeeEx wrote:
Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:37 pm
2) If I sample (record) some new audio with the TX-16W and create a new setup (key mapping, envelopes, filter etc.), can I easily save all that to the floppy emulator in the same way as I would to a physical floppy disk, or do I need to use a computer for that?
Same as a floppy : the data are saved on the floppy disk image.

TeeEx wrote:
Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:37 pm
3) I see that some of the HxC drives have an LCD display -can this be used to give each virtual floppy disk a unique name so as to describe each disk's contents?
yes !
TeeEx wrote:
Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:37 pm
4) Anything I should keep in mind which makes using a floppy disk emulator different from using the original TX-16W floppy disk drive?
no.
TeeEx wrote:
Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:37 pm
5) I see there are different floppy drive emulators around such as the Lotharek HxC, Gotek and a few others which I can't remember right now. Are they all the same and compatible with each other (and the TX-16W)?
HxC Floppy Emulators are compatible with the TX16W. Not aware for the others.

TeeEx
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:12 pm

Re: Yamaha TX-16W/HxC beginner questions

Post by TeeEx »

Thanks for your reply, Jeff.
The HxC (SD version, rev. F I suppose for the TX-16W) appears to be a great replacement for the existing floppy disk drive.

I didn't understand everything in the manual, but did download the Mac OSX software and read some more forum threads here, and it seems that the only complicated/time consuming process is to prepare the SD card with hundreds of empty disk images before I start using it. And since there's already a TX-16W thread on the matter I'm sure I can figure it out.

Finally, is it possible to order different backlight colours with the HxC? And is the backlight very dim? It seems so from online photos, but they might be inaccurate.
Alternatively, does it use a standard LCD which is easy to replace myself (I can solder/desolder)?

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