āđ„āļĄāđˆāļŠāļēāļĄāļēāļĢāļ–āđ€āļĨāđˆāļ™āļ§āļīāļ”āļĩāđ‚āļ­āļ™āļĩāđ‰
āļ‚āļ­āļ­āļ āļąāļĒāđƒāļ™āļ„āļ§āļēāļĄāđ„āļĄāđˆāļŠāļ°āļ”āļ§āļ

Drive Belt Fix - Roland Quick Disk PR-100 MIDI Sequencer

āđāļŠāļĢāđŒ
āļāļąāļ‡
  • āđ€āļœāļĒāđāļžāļĢāđˆāđ€āļĄāļ·āđˆāļ­ 17 āļŠ.āļ„. 2024
  • If you enjoyed this video please consider subscribing! It really helps the channel out. 🙂
    I got this Roland PR-100 MIDI sequencer and a pile of Quick Disks for free with my SC-155 Sound Canvas. But the drive isn't working. Can a drive belt swap fix it? The answer, apparently, is no.
    Relevant Links:
    My DOS Gaming MIDI Video (Very Old!): â€Ē DOS Gaming MIDI: Rolan...
    Drive Belt: www.ebay.co.uk...

āļ„āļ§āļēāļĄāļ„āļīāļ”āđ€āļŦāđ‡āļ™ • 16

  • @ReesRambles
    @ReesRambles  2 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

    Note on calibration: I didn't attempt to calibrate the drive in this video. That was silly of me, because I've since learned that it *will* need doing after changing the belt. That said, I spent a few hours today (2 months on) going through the whole procedure and it's still not reading these disks. It could just be that they're blank or don't contain PR-100 sequencer data - who knows.
    Anyway, if you're looking to attempt to calibrate this thing look up a guide for the Famicom Disk System, as the drive itself is mechanically identical. You can adjust the spindle position, drive head position and motor speed with basic tools. Finally - good luck! 👍

    • @neilday837
      @neilday837 8 āļ§āļąāļ™āļ—āļĩāđˆāļœāđˆāļēāļ™āļĄāļē

      Hi . . I've put up a separate post outlining my please for help. As regards the disk error message, I think the QD is working correctly and its telling you that the QD's you have do not have midi sequencing data on them but only have digitised "sound samples" that it cannot do any thing with. The only way to "test" if the QD on the PR100 works would be to "record" some midi data into it via the 5 pin midi ports and then "save" that data (file) from the volatile memory onto a QD. That might also not be easy with the QD's you have as they could be write protected (breakable plastic tab) and even if you do the old "sticky-tape-over-the-protect-tab" there is no "format disc" option in the PR100 manual or indeed any disc management functions that I can see. So I don't know what the PR100 would do if it was told to save sequence data to a QD if the QD was "full" of sound sample data. Good hunting!!

  • @neilday837
    @neilday837 7 āļ§āļąāļ™āļ—āļĩāđˆāļœāđˆāļēāļ™āļĄāļē

    Cracked it!! Thankfully figuratively not literally . . . and the top and bottom casements are now apart . . AND ... in one piece. The really tricky bit that was "welding" the top and bottom casements together, was the interweaving tabs running across the top of the rear jack sockets, PSU and DIN sockets recess. Particularly the corner above the "MONITOR OUTPUT" socket. After a very careful re-examination of your video for about a thousand times, I was pretty sure that . . . having carefully pried the casement free on all other sides . . a bit more force applied via a 5mm flat head screw drive in that corner was called for . . this did the trick and it popped. Now lets have a look at that drive!! Cheers again for the vid.

  • @datassetteuser356
    @datassetteuser356 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

    Ah, the joys of 3" drives (and their disks) 😅. Was never a big fan of the format, but also had no idea that they used it for midi devices. Fascinating.

  • @ReesRambles
    @ReesRambles  4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™ +10

    Since recording I've been made aware that the drive mechanism here is basically identical to a Famicom Disk System, which was indeed based on this format. I really should have spotted that - especially considering I've successfully serviced FDS units in the (distant) past! So the next step will be to try calibrating the drive. Watch this space!

    • @KrisGraney
      @KrisGraney 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™ +1

      Sorry future Rees

    • @chrissy344
      @chrissy344 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

      was going to say, needs calibrating 😂

  • @neilday837
    @neilday837 8 āļ§āļąāļ™āļ—āļĩāđˆāļœāđˆāļēāļ™āļĄāļē

    Hi there and thanks for the video. I was really hoping it would give me some clues to getting to grips with my PR100 as I'm pretty sure the drive belt on the QD has gone. Replacing it would not be a problem as done this with other 3" floppy disk drives, but I cannot get the top and bottom casements separated for love nor money. As you skip over how the top separates from the bottom very quickly in the video, I was hoping if you could give me some clues on this separation technique, as we all know the slightest force in the wrong direction will break these ancient casements.
    I can see three lipped lugs on the inside face of the front edge so the two casements "clip" together at the front. After removing all the screws as you did . . I cannot get the back edge of the unit to separate at all. Might some "gunk" be stopping the top half moving away from the bottom base casement?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW . . I think its just the file types on the QD's you have thats producing the error messages. As the PR100 is a midi sequencer only, it cannot do anything with the digitised "sound samples" that are on the disks you have. But the fact you are getting the error shows that the drive is working.

  • @poofygoof
    @poofygoof 3 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

    I had to replace the belt and recalibrate the QD on my MKS-100 (rackmount S-10 sampler) when I originally received it. The belt was a little fiddly to re-thread, and IIRC recalibration involved iterating over a process of tweaking a set screw a tiny amount and checking that I could reliably read the factory-written disks I had received with the unit. I did get it dialed in, so there's hope for yours.
    the QD mechanism is pretty fascinating with its spiral track and no seeking. My sampler uses up to four for a patch, resulting in a bit of flipping and disk swapping. It is quicker than SysEx over MIDI.

  • @cromulence
    @cromulence 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™ +1

    I think these drives are a bit of a bugger to calibrate after changing the belt - my uncle recently gave me his old Amstrad CPC with a similar drive and the belt was toast so I replaced it... the drive is really hit or miss! I need to calibrate it but I'm not sure how.
    A few days ago I dipped my toes into the world of Japanese auction sites and scored a SoundCanvas SC-88ST for ÂĢ29 and an MT120 (basically an SC-55 + SB-55) for ÂĢ19!
    Looking forward to getting them shipped to me and having a play around with them!

  • @RyanMercer
    @RyanMercer 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

    Tell it exactly what it can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate.

  • @retrorabbitstudios
    @retrorabbitstudios 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

    I've had one of these for a while, only really used it as a MT-32. I can't seem to find any floppies for it.

  • @Garoninja
    @Garoninja 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™ +1

    Isnt future Rees technically past Rees but not quite as far in the past Rees to us?ðŸĪ”

  • @mryon314159
    @mryon314159 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™ +1

    I know it's not as satisfying but could you not use a gotek just to verify everything is working and then focus on the drive/disks?

    • @cromulence
      @cromulence 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™

      Doesn't appear to be a standard Shugart interface though :/

    • @mryon314159
      @mryon314159 4 āļŦāļĨāļēāļĒāđ€āļ”āļ·āļ­āļ™āļāđˆāļ­āļ™ +1

      @@cromulence For sure but there are mentions on the interwebs of using a gotek with quickdisc although I've never tried it myself. I reckon it'd need different firmware? and/or a bit of a rewire?