#1649075 - 03/20/20 07:57 PM
Updated os and can not see cdrII
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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I'm stumped. I'm a composer with 20 years of hundreds of VS 880 backup CDs.
I just got a VS880 in great shape, like new. It's expanded and shows the os as 3.20A when it turns on. It has all the expanded functions except it will not recognize the cdrII. When I turn on the 880, the cdrII makes a wooshing noise like it's available but it won't recover or save to CD. The err message is "NO CDR DRIVE".
I tested the cdrII and connections with a second VS880 and it works fine so the problem is in the new 880.
I'm not sure but my only idea is to update the os again. I did it in the past using the batch 'standard midi files'. There are 16 for updating 8 for 3.20A and 8 for 3.20B. If I remember correctly I updated 880s in the past by sending all 16.
But I have no simple sequencer to load and play these standard midi files. I've tried loading to Audacity and it doesn't seem to work. I import all 16 smf files or just 1. The Audacity track looks the same with 16 or 1 just one horizontal line and and it does not play. So I can't tell if the smf files are there and you must hit a sequencer's play into the VS880 to update. Ableton Live is complicating my simple brain.
Also, I have an old Midisport to go from the computer to the 880 but it is not lighting up. I definitely used it in the past to update. I have a pretty new Focusrite Pro interface that has MIDI, I could try using that..
whew - any help out there
.? much appreciated,
Raybo
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#1649084 - 03/20/20 08:48 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: Raybo]
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uptildawn
Planeteer
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 9073
Loc: on land
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Your best bet to load those os files might be to use the SMF tool that Roland (I think) still makes available in their support pages. I think, though, that the links from the VS os update pages might not work anymore. And I believe they might still have a separate page with the SMF tool for Windows and Mac in the support pages.......
If you can't find it there, you might see if downloading it from my onedrive link will work - https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApQxVDASwyuYj2kiaTwvH1aew1hC
It's still there from when I uploaded it a few years ago, so it must not be considered a virus (as some of the VSWE files have been known to show up in various anti-virus software).
You can use your midisport with that tool slick as can be (I hope I can still find mine when I need it someday!).
And I believe that you should only upload the A folder of files to the VS to get the CD-R function. Don't combine the both of them. The instructions say to load one or the other, depending on whether you want you machine to work with dat OR cdr - not both.
If they happen to all be in one folder now, then I'd suggest separating the A and B into different folders, so the update does not become confused or corrupted somehow.
I may be wrong, but that's how I always approached it. Changing from dat to cdr and back might be a slight hassle, but it's never failed me - not that I've done it more than a handful of times.
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uptildawn
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#1649093 - 03/20/20 09:36 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: uptildawn]
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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Super thanks for responding.
I'm struggling to convert the SMF tool to be mac friendly.. Converting it with a program called WINE right now and it's taking forever..
I still don't understand why my new 880 says its 3.20A and won't see the cdrII
And ideas beyond reinstalling the same os again
.?
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#1649114 - 03/20/20 10:20 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: Raybo]
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uptildawn
Planeteer
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 9073
Loc: on land
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There should be a mac version...... I have no clue about converting pc apps to mac, especially those created by Roland.
Is it possible for you to use bootcamp or the like to create an windows os partition on your mac? Would that be easy for you to do? Have on old pc around, or know somebody with one that you could use long enough to do the update? That tool doesn't imbed itself in the system.
Reinstalling the os might "fix" whatever is hanging up this new 880......... there again, after successfully reloading the A update and if the machine still won't do what you need, then you will be fairly confident that the problem is not the os.
Are you sure that the scsi cable is inserted correctly and that no pins are bent on either end? Make sure you power down the VS and the burner before connecting/disconnecting the scsi cable. You can do physical damage to either or both units with scsi connections.
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uptildawn
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#1649134 - 03/20/20 11:55 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: uptildawn]
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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Good idea. I removed the scsi cable and turned off everything put it all back and the same result. The cdrII makes a wooshing noise so there is some kind of communication..
Again I used a second VS880, tested the same cdrII and same cable and everything worked fine. It's something about this 880. The drive settings are all correct.
I still don't have a simple mac sequencer for smf files.. so frustrating.. And I'm not sure it will even matter since the new 880 is showing 3.20A, with all the correct menus. This is bizarre.
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#1649188 - 03/21/20 03:15 AM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: Raybo]
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uptildawn
Planeteer
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 9073
Loc: on land
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a google search took care of this - https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_pro...7-bcb4f1ca5541/
check the agree with tick box and save the download file to your mac.....unzip and you should be ready to roll.
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uptildawn
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#1649190 - 03/21/20 03:32 AM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: uptildawn]
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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uptildawn MANY MANY THANKS.
You gave me good advice to go back to the Roland site and I did. While you were writing that last post I had just finished updating.
The main sticking block was the smf player, a separate download. I had one from old files but it was for mac power pc. I needed this one for newer mac intel. "Playback" of the smf files is a bizarre process but it works.
The new 880 still says 3.20A as it did before but now I can recover and backup YAY! Like having a brand new 20 year old machine! Born again!
If I had a brain I would move 20 years of my project backups into LOGIC but who has the energy. By the time I would get that done it would be 2040, the year I mean.. And computers might no longer exist
. If there's anything to take away from this horror movie pandemic it's that everything we create is ephemeral smoke and society can go back to the jungle in a blink of an eye.
But in that movie the VS 880 would still be working!
All my thanks and I hope this info will help other mac users.
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#1649316 - 03/21/20 10:40 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: uptildawn]
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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Yes sir!
Over the years I've had no trouble with backups and recovers. I usually backup at the slower 2x speed. My only fear is that the cdrII will die. I've had the same one for years with no problems but no hardware lasts forever.
I looked at VirDis.. As far as I can tell it's not for mac. I'm more interested to replace the 880 hard drive with a CF card storage.
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#1649321 - 03/21/20 11:48 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: Raybo]
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uptildawn
Planeteer
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 9073
Loc: on land
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Yeah - cf card is okay. It's a bit more limited and cumbersome (taking it out, transferring it to the computer and back, blah, blah, blah). But it's okay. Same partition size limits, but that would be true of VirDIS as well, since it's the VS that spells the limits.
I don't know what sort of issues Bill Casey has had with the development of VirDIS into a usb interface, or for mac........ I think a lot of the slowness in releasing different versions comes from lack of sales. He has a full time job and has done this out of his love for the machine, the method, whatever it is that has kept his interest in helping us all this time. I'm sure everybody wishes he could finish a usb version... I've always gravitated toward Windows pc and have been fine working with older machines that have plenty of pci slots for the original card. It's been great - and Bill's support is next to the best...... hard to find anyone more supportive.
I still rely on the CDRack - like your CDRII - it's essentially the same. Those Plextor drives are fantastic and reliable. Speaking of burn speeds - I always had the most problems burning at the slower speeds and only got consistency with my own setups burning at the highest speed allowed - 2x with the original burner models and 4x with the CDRII - pitifully slow, really. Even burning discs on the pc has been a trip for me over the years - I settled on 24x long ago and keep it there no matter what the max speed would be. Hardly cut a coaster in years.
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uptildawn
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#1649410 - 03/22/20 06:41 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: uptildawn]
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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That's funny that you have consistency at high speeds and I do well at low speeds. I find the best fidelity is always to burn a CD. I just finished a project for string quartet, piano and singer. I wanted someone else to mix it in Logic. So I burned CDs with every track (generally the six parts) as 6 separate "songs", each with a count-off, and used Dropbox to send the tracks to the engineer at a different studio. She loaded the tracks into Logic and mixed beautifully. Very time consuming to transfer that way.. I could bite the bullet and start recording in Logic duh but I'm more comfy in the 880. The CF card would allow me to transfer tracks much easier without losing quality.
I absolutely hear you about the hassle of taking the cards in and out when it's practically buried inside the drive bay.
What do you think of this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-VS-Serie...er/283660569943
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#1649430 - 03/22/20 08:34 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: Raybo]
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uptildawn
Planeteer
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 9073
Loc: on land
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I found my best alternative to replacing the internal drive with the cf card (other than for more quiet operation, which I didn't need) was to use an external enclosure on the scsi port. The problem today is the decreasing availability of adapters that will convert the ide end to scsi format, as well as their increased cost.
The first external case I adapted cost less than 100.00 including the Acard 7720U bridge card I needed to use ide hard drives on the scsi port. The 3rd and final one I made cost 150.00 just for the Acard. Today the card sells for nearly twice that on ebay and that's for a used card.
I only ever heard of 3 brands/models of bridge card that worked for the VS (isn't that always the case?) and I don't remember what the other two are anymore. The 7720 is by far the most common one in my experience.
I know there are a few threads on this forum where people have modded the drive access of the internal drive bay to insert and remove the cf (or sd card as the case may be) through the front panel.
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uptildawn
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#1649511 - 03/23/20 05:45 AM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: uptildawn]
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Raybo
Planeteer
Registered: 03/16/03
Posts: 840
Loc: New York City
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Agreed..
You mention one or two others that were posted here but I found nothing like this when searching the forum.. I mean a finished unit that you could just stick into the drive bay..
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#1649529 - 03/23/20 12:07 PM
Re: Updated os and can not see cdrII
[Re: Raybo]
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uptildawn
Planeteer
Registered: 12/15/01
Posts: 9073
Loc: on land
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I didn't mean finished mods that were available for sale. I meant mods that people had taken upon themselves and then posted about them. There was one or two that were very similar in design. One was very much like this ebay listing. Another one had the slot out the rear, IIRC. Still another one had the ribbon cable and adapter coming out the front drive bay and setting on the table.
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uptildawn
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