Sound designer help!

[ProudEmaxOwner]

Taking ages to copy the banks across, bear with me.

[esynthesist]

Also when I try to send, it opens an empty box where all the sound files are- I double click the folder, they are all there. SD can't seem to read them

Besides resource fork problems... one common mistake made by "first time SD users" is that they are using the E2-->Mac and Mac-->E2 main menu options to transfer banks.
The file box opened by these will not recognize the EII banks because these menu options are meant for transferring EII samples instead of EII banks.
To transfer banks, you have to go to the EII Front Panel mode and then use the Send/Receive Bank options.

But I guess this is exactly what you're trying to do, right ?

Anyway, also E2->Mac and Mac->E2 need RS422 communication, so if you have a "can't communicate error" with these functions, you still have a problem...

[ProudEmaxOwner]

I did everything you said. When I pressed send bank, the emulator went into Mac mode. Mac then said it couldn't communicate. Also, in the last 5 mins, my top floppy drive appears to have died. Every time I try and send something, I can hear my amp making a popping sound.

[JMP]

You've run ahead of yourself whilst I was typing..... you should have pressed the special button on your EII first before trying to send or obtain a bank, not always necessary but this tells the EII to obtain some data off the floppy before communicating with the Mac. If your top drive has packed in then that's probably your issue...!  What drive did you use to boot?

[ProudEmaxOwner]

Top drive only just packed in. It boots up now, says software rev 3.1 and nothing happens... It made a nasty sound about 5 mins ago then wouldn't read a disk. Bloody 'ell. Did what you said using the bottom and top drive (before it went) and it still won't communicate. I did special on the EII.

[JMP]

Forget your top drive for now, switch off the EII and boot using the lower 2nd drive using another floppy (in case the other one is duff). It will pause looking for a disk in the top drive but will read and boot from the other eventually. Try again but press the special button first before you try to 'get' the soundbank from the EII. It probably won't work as it does sound like something else is causing your problem, my bet is the Mac as this is EXACTLY the same thing that happened with me on a PB140 at the weekend but was fine when using others.   

[ProudEmaxOwner]

Just tried that. Now I have no sound, no top drive, and no communication with Mac. This just gets better and better. The damn Mac was working fine, I used it myself! How can it just suddenly not work?
Is my top drive screwed?

[esynthesist]

Well, that all sounds not very good, does it...

When I pressed send bank, the emulator went into Mac mode. Mac then said it couldn't communicate

That's at least something.
Did you try again immediately after having received the "can't communicate" error.
My Mac Classic is always giving the error the first time it puts the EII in Mac mode. But I just repeat the "send bank" and from then on it works fine. It happens that the ACK response given by the EII to the Mac upon receiving the "put in mac mode" command is sent so fast that the Mac didn't "see" it...

If the Mac is able to put the EII in Mac Control mode but is not able to get any further communication with the EII, I think the RS422 driver IC of the EII is failing. This means the EII can not respond to the Mac, but the Mac really expects responses from the II 

Just some ideas...

[JMP]

How can it just suddenly not work?

Because it's 25 years old....!  

Seriously, I'd just stop trying now. YOU NEED to clarify whether it's the EII or Mac at fault, I suspect the latter. Pick up another Mac Classic, SE or Powerbook 165c or 180c so you can clarify which is giving you the problem. If and when you get his working, you won't need to use your floppy drives much so can manage with the remaining working one.

If the other is totally dead, I would remove it and put the good one in the top drive. MAKE SURE YOU NOTE THE JUMPER SETTINGS FIRST AS THEY'RE DIFFERENT ON EACH DRIVE.    

[ProudEmaxOwner]

Yeah, I did try it again. The top drive lights up, it gets as far as saying the software version then the drive just spins. I need to get this to a proper repair place. Half the time I don't even get any sound at all. Is there anywhere in the UK that fixes them?

[JMP]

Did you try again immediately after having received the "can't communicate" error.
My Mac Classic is always giving the error the first time it puts the EII in Mac mode. But I just repeat the "send bank" and from then on it works fine. It happens that the ACK response given by the EII to the Mac upon receiving the "put in mac mode" command is sent so fast that the Mac didn't "see" it...

Same issue on mine, hence pressing the Mac mode 'special' button first before ever trying to 'get' or 'send' from within SD.

[JMP]

Yeah, I did try it again. The top drive lights up, it gets as far as saying the software version then the drive just spins. I need to get this to a proper repair place. Half the time I don't even get any sound at all. Is there anywhere in the UK that fixes them?

I presume you've tried another floppy and/or used a floppy drive head cleaning diskette...?

James Walker of Synth Repair Services is in Stoke. He's top with all vintage gear and fixed up issues on my EII but not sure he has experience of using Mac connections and Sound Designer.... He could however, test the components of your EII. Unfortunately, he's extremely busy and difficult to get hold of most of the time. Website here:

http://www.synthrepairservices.com/

I wouldn't even bother taking it to him until you've tried another Mac.

[ProudEmaxOwner]

Yeah, same with all floppies. Where would I get a cleaning diskette for one of these drives?

[JMP]

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-25-Disk-Drive-Head-Cleaning-Kit-New-/130442220465?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e5ef653b1

Several available on Ebay US.

[ProudEmaxOwner]

Cheers.