HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

HxC Floppy Emulator Ensoniq Keyboards/Samplers support
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Rich
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Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:27 pm

HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Rich »

Hi.

I want to install an HXC SD in my SD1 and although I have reasonable electronic skills and am confident I can actually fit it into the synth myself I get lost in the Software side of things, I have followed some of the threads but most just goes straight over my head so please bear with me.

I have read the Step by Step guide and think I understand some of it.

First questions is what extra hardware do I need to convert my SD1 floppies to SD card.

I have a Mac running OSX and an old PC laptop but no 3.5 drive.
Will this work with an external 3.5 drive for my Mac or PC ?

Any help much appreciated.

Jeff
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Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Jeff »

Rich wrote: I have a Mac running OSX and an old PC laptop but no 3.5 drive.
Will this work with an external 3.5 drive for my Mac or PC ?
No. You need an internal drive into a PC :
Page 14 for the procedure:
https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_driv ... al_ENG.pdf

I can also image you disk too if you want. How many disks have you ?

Rich
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Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:27 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Rich »

Many thanks Jeff.

I have read the Step by Step and once I have a drive I will give it a try ( I'd like to be able to do it if I get SD drives for my other gear with floppies).

If it's too much for me I'll get back to you.

Cheers

Rich
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:27 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Rich »

Hi Jeff.

I have 10 disks I need transferring from 3.5 Ensoniq VFX/SD1 format to SD card.

Let me know what you would want to do the hard work for me before I start buying hardware I may never use again.

Cheers.

Rich
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Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:27 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Rich »

Jeff ?

Is there a PM button (I can't seem to find one) on here so I can contact you directly ? ?

Jeff
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Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Jeff »

Rich wrote:Jeff ?

Is there a PM button (I can't seem to find one) on here so I can contact you directly ? ?
Contact me to :
Image

Rich
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:27 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Rich »

Will do.

Rich
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:27 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Rich »

Ahh ah.

Got it working and it's as good as I hoped.

I'll be posting details on the Ensoniq users group on Facebook and anyone needing it can look for help installing the HXC drive into an SD1 there.

Many thanks to Jeff for all the help.

ddick76@gmail.com
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Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:26 am

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by ddick76@gmail.com »

I never thought to look for an Ensoniq users group on Facebook (or anywhere). I'll have to check it out. I'm determined to figure out how to do the transfer myself (but it's good to know there's help out there).

NateofCA
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Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 4:53 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by NateofCA »

I bought a HxC floppy disk emulator from someone on Ebay for my VFX-SD and having trouble figuring out how to VFX-SD disks converted to HFE files that will read on the VFX. I'm techy with using hex editors and also the Geibler tools. The guy I bought the drive from included blank HFE files on a USB stick which have file size 2,049,024 bytes and first off I can't figure out how he created those HFE files using the current HxC2001 GUI software. I've tried several of the formats including the Ensoniq EDM and Mirage configs of course. In the HxCEmulator software I see there is a config file format with .fpf extension that can be loaded. Maybe someone can send me a correct one of those to work. So far the resulting HFE files I'm getting that are close in size are 2,008,064 in size. In hex editor I see one byte with value 0x07 that is different in the header from the 0x00 value in the blank HFE files the user gave me. I've changed the '07' to '00' and it seemed to work for an image file I had converted using a tool I mention in next paragraph in that the VFX was actually seeing the VFX data in the file, However when I tried to load something I get a 'drive not ready' error.

I have Geiber EDV files and also image files created with a set of 'VFXTools' I found online which work pretty well for creating images of VFX disks on a Windows 98 PC I have and they are very similar to Geibler EDV files upon investigation in a hex editor. I've read through all the replies in this thread but maybe missed the answer to the HFE config format. I also tried images I created using Omnidisk. Anyway; I'm pretty frustrated with this so far. Thanks a bunch for any help.

Jeff
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Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Jeff »

Hello,

Can you tell me what can you read on the emulator's screen without any usb stick connected ?

NateofCA
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Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by NateofCA »

Hi Jeff. It cycles through 4 screens with Hxc2001 name, creator, instructions and the version number 3.5.1.12a. Thanks.

Jeff
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Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by Jeff »

Do the HFE files provided on the usb stick working properly ?

NateofCA
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Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 4:53 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by NateofCA »

Yes the files I got from the drive seller work. I think I may have had to format one first though using the vfx. I only tried once as I was more interested in using my existing vfx disks converted to usb. Thanks

NateofCA
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Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 4:53 pm

Re: HXC in Ensoniq SD1 questions. Help needed please

Post by NateofCA »

Does it matter what FAT the USB drive is formatted to? The one he sent me is FAT32. Thanks

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