HxC Floppy Drive Emulator

Hi guys,

Firstly, great product and I am confident once I get over the learning curve it will be an amazing solution. I am consolidating my request to just the Akai thread - although I am having problems with both the MPC 60II and the Emax I.

Today I got both drives installed in each machine. They both turn on and can browse my SD card.

I formatted a card to Fat 32 and grabbed the appropriate files from the Quick Install Disk Images. I transferred the image to my SD card including the 99 black disc images for the MPC.

When I insert the SD card, it seeems niether machine is recognizing the drives.

Upon turning on the Emax, it ask me to "Please Insert Disk!".

For the MPC60, When it starts, it goes straight to the main screen. If I got to disk and attempt to Save or Load from the disk images - it says "There is no floppy disk in drive. Please insert floppy disk"

I am sure this is me overlooking a crucial step in the machine and disc recognizing each other. Could you advise me in my oversight? I have video if it may help you tell what is going on.

Thanks!

Please tell me :

-> What is the HxC jumper settings ?
-> What is the HxC behaviour when you try to save/load something?
-> Do you have double-check the floppy cable connection ? (is it in the right way ?).

Hey Jeff, thanks for the fast reply.

For right now, let's just focus on the MPC.

1) I am trying to use the single drive with a twisted ribbon cable jumper set up - because I read another post about that one. I am a bit confused to the layout configuration because on the REV C it is a 3x3 grid and on the REV F it is an 8x2 grid. Right now I have a single connector placed vertically over ID3A. I have only found the REV C manual on your site. Maybe I overlooked the REV F version.

2) The HxC doesn't react at all to the MPC

3) I have tried the above jumper configuration with the floppy cable both ways.

I am inclined to guess my jumper configuration is wrong. Is there any documentation on your site about jumper configurations?

Thanks for your help!

What about the HxC LED behaviour ?

Hi Jeff,

I am happy to report success! When I originally posted this - I had the jumper all mixed up. With your advice to check that and floppy cable connection I got everything fixed through trial and error.

Ultimately this is the combo of things I learned to install the the REV F into a MPC 60MKII (which fits almost perfectly into the existing drive space):

1) Only one of the existing brackets (the rear one) that secure the factory floppy will screw into the HXC. If you want to use the front one you will need to rig it in there with some sort of modification. However it is plenty secure for me - as my MPC doesn't get moved much.

2) You will need to file down the nub on the power supply connection to get a nice fit on the HXC.

3) The single drive with a twisted ribbon cable jumper configuration worked for me. Use a single connector single placed vertically over ID3A row,

4) The floppy connector should have the nub facing up to work.

Here are the pics in case anyone is more of a visual learner like me.



And the final product

Two more noob questions:

1) To change the name of an empty disk should I change the file name on the SD disk and just make sure I retain the .hfe extension?

2) Is my only option for converting all my old floppies to buy a old PC with a floppy drive and a USB port for a card reader? I'm on a newer MacBook pro and it seems the software is only PC. From what I hear even if I run a PC emulator on my mac, that a USB floppy drive will not work. Can you confirm?