Within the years strange programs get more and more important for specials jobs. If you are using old gear you are just like a grumbler, who needs specials obscure tools to survive in a World of perpedual new technics. Keep the faith, I love this tool! You are my friend.
Thank you so much for showing this handy tool. I had never heard about it. Like yourself, I rely on the floppy drives of many of my instruments: Ensoniq SQ-80, TS-10, ASR-10, Korg T-3 EX, Yamaha EX-5 and QY-700, and, to a lesser extent: E-mu E-5000 Ultra and Roland MC-80. I made backups of every floppy but I would welcome an extra backup possibility on the pc. My oldest floppies are from 1989 and contain SQ-80 sequence and program files of my first album.
I bought an old laptop for the purpose of OmniFlop. It helped me test my Emax, and also recovered data from some Prophet 2002 disks I bought that my P2002 wouldn't read.
I used this to try and recover some old late 80`s early 90`s Atari Cubase / S950 / S1000 / EPS files , with a success rate of about 50% , this was sadly due to the original floppy degradation and NOT Omniflop .. So if you`re thinking of converting your disks do it sooner rather than later is my advice !
Omniflop won’t run on floppy equipped Mac, even in a virtual machine ( for those who remember soft-windows!) This is because the floppy drive is completely different in that it’s a constant velocity read device. So the rotation slows towards the periphery. Yes Apple made the floppy über complicated! Great video Espen and a super little app everyone should use with all our old gear :-)
Apple (Wozniak) invented variable floppy timings. So (old) macs do the stuff by default, where DOS and WIndows used fixed speed. The hardware in Macs is capable.
Yes, this is gold for retro synths and samplers! I'm using Omniflop on flea market laptop with integrated floppy (Dell PIII 1Ghz WinXP/DOS). Also I'm using the same laptop to connect C64/128 floppy drive (using special DIY adapter) to read/write 5.25" C64/128 disks. Cheers! S
@@Ancaja123 Best PC for the job is late Pentium 3 and early Pentium 4 laptop (some flagship brand name). They have decent quality TFT LCD, serial and parallel ports, integrated floppy with real controller, LAN, WiFi and USB for image file transfer. Laptops from that era accept 512-1024MB RAM and run Win XP or even Win 7. I have dual boot Win XP and DOS. Older laptops than that have bad LCDs, don't have USB and WiFi that make file transfers hard. Newer laptops don't have serial/parallel ports or floppy controller with integrated drive. Cheers! S
@@Ancaja123 As I remember - I used windows program (can't remember name) to backup SCSI hard drives from my samplers to image files. Than I could burn those images to CD ROM or another SCSI drive or open and browse image or convert on PC with CD Extract. This way I suppose you can make images of your ZIP disks. Of course, you need PC with SCSI...
@@suadcokljat1045 thanks dude, vital information. I’ve had a lot of floppy’s go bad in the last couple years (probably due to a ton of use and not taking very good care, as it happens to only be my favorite disks) and I’m so worried for a Zip disk to go bad, because it can be up to 14 or so projects on there.
Sounds like a very handy utility. I'll be interested to check the documentation to see if you needed a drive with native 800K support to read that 800K disk.... (Haven't powered on the DSS-1 in years; probably should back up my factory disks also... if it isn't already too late...) Thanks for the point in that direction.
@@EspenKraft OK. Great to know. I knew that Sony used to market their floppy mechanisms as 720/800/1.44, whereas others just marketed 720/1.44 - so I didn't know how much a requirement that would be. Good info. Thanks!
Like I said in the video, to use Omniflop to its full potential you must use a setup like I describe, but if you're only after some formats a USB drive can sometimes work too.
If I could create an image of one of my old Alesis Datadisk floppies, could I then crack it open and get the sysex data directly for use with say, Sysex Librarian?
Thanks! I don't understand the question. You can pick out image-files from the computer and write those to a floppy to be used in the original hardware, like a sampler.
Hi, I have some doubts on the use of omniflop. I have the img files from Korg legacy but I do not have any chance to install a floppy hardware in my laptop, so I cannot insert a disk to read nor to write. I have a Korg T3 with his floppy disk reader working fine, so, is there any possibility to connect via MIDI the T3 to my laptop and use Omniflop with the embedded floppy disk reader in the Korg synth? Or the only solution is to buy an old PC with floppy hardware and use it? Otherwise it's useless to have the img if you depend on old hardware like floppy's one and there's no way to send directly the info from the discs to my T3. If you have any info or can help me it will be great!
Yes, the solution only works with an old PC that has a floppy drive in it, but you also have to be able to install the correct driver of that floppy drive. It's all explained on the Omniflop site.
@@EspenKraft Fortunately, I found anold one in the junk room..LOL.. and now I have to deal with my wife .. to add another piece of old junk inside the house.. By the way, is there any way to extract the content of the IMG to the PC just with some sort of software emulator?? I tried to mount the image but no way to read it.
hello are all floppy drives the same? both double density and high density? thanks..................... are ALL floppy drives exactly the same or different ?? thanks !!
Hey EK do u use Zips at all tryin' tooo figure out if they're useful anymore for transfering samples via MIDI to USB then computer to Zip drive or is any of this necessary & does it just take tooo long for anykind of practicality today &/or is what ur describing in this vid eliminate the need for these things also is there easy way to convert SCSI to USB why won't serial adapter interfaces work for this, vice versa or is all this irrelevant to what's goin' here sorry if my wonderin' never ceases and is somewhat all over the road thanx again dude 😎
Thanks for this video. I've always heard of OmniFlop but never really looked into using the program. Too bad there isn't a Mac version. I still have a sh!tload of floppies for my ASR-10, MPC3000LE and Yamaha SU700.
Buy an old PC with a floppy drive. Infact most of these pcs are thrown away, so you could get one for free! Note Ensoniq use a 10-sector drive @800k per side, not the standard 9-sector 720k. I solved this one by swapping the floppy for usb in my EPS16+, then put the Ensoniq FDD in an old pc. :-)
Hello and thank you forthe tutorial.I have an ensoniq ts-10 and I am trying to create the original floppy disks from images I found online. I can format and burn the images successfully but the ts-10 does nor load them . I get a disk not formatted error . Any help appreciated. Thank you
It does not work with a USB floppy drive as I say in the video and as the website clearly states. However some features might work, but definitely not all the formats. I run a Win7 machine. I will never update anything to Win10.
Just download the latest version the Akai 3000 format is supported (check for yourself on the Omniflop web page , scroll down and a list of all supported formats are listed )
@@2000stephenellis iv tryied.many times to install it but every time when i check th installation the akai is not exist when wants to write the activation code it doesnt doing anything
@@costasaroniadis3376 Hi Costas ! if you have any issues try contacting the developer directly via email , i seem to remember i had installation issues at first so i mailed the guy who wrote the prog , and he responded really quickly and sorted it , it was that long ago i can`t remember what the issue was now but it maybe the same as what you`re experiencing ..good luck steve
The old PC is kind of a deal breaker for me. I rather see a USB interface for IDE floppy drives that can handle flexible RPM control needed for these old weird formats. Anybody know if such a thing exists? Preferably for Mac.
@@EspenKraft Found some usefull info, there are some low level arduino interfaces that use the serial monitor as DOS interface and allow copying from and to a SD card shield.
The old PC is no option. You probably better of getting an old Powermac G3/G4 as they are cheap as heck. I also like to try the new floppy-shield by adafruit, it lets you interface an Arduino or similar to a classic IBM PC floppy drive that can be controlled directly unlike USB floppy drives.
@@peddersoldchap It should be possible, it is basically an interface to the motor and it gives raw data output. If the disk fits physically, you can write a driver for it.
Within the years strange programs get more and more important for specials jobs. If you are using old gear you are just like a grumbler, who needs specials obscure tools to survive in a World of perpedual new technics. Keep the faith, I love this tool! You are my friend.
Thank you so much for showing this handy tool. I had never heard about it. Like yourself, I rely on the floppy drives of many of my instruments: Ensoniq SQ-80, TS-10, ASR-10, Korg T-3 EX, Yamaha EX-5 and QY-700, and, to a lesser extent: E-mu E-5000 Ultra and Roland MC-80. I made backups of every floppy but I would welcome an extra backup possibility on the pc. My oldest floppies are from 1989 and contain SQ-80 sequence and program files of my first album.
I have emsoniq eps, so saving data on pc is cool
I bought an old laptop for the purpose of OmniFlop. It helped me test my Emax, and also recovered data from some Prophet 2002 disks I bought that my P2002 wouldn't read.
What laptop would you recommend for reading an disk
Very helpful application! Had forgotten how useful it was in conjunction with EMX..
Yay! i have a FEW gear older with floppies. i needed this so bad. fantastique! thank you!
I used this to try and recover some old late 80`s early 90`s Atari Cubase / S950 / S1000 / EPS files , with a success rate of about 50% , this was sadly due to the original floppy degradation and NOT Omniflop .. So if you`re thinking of converting your disks do it sooner rather than later is my advice !
Omniflop won’t run on floppy equipped Mac, even in a virtual machine ( for those who remember soft-windows!) This is because the floppy drive is completely different in that it’s a constant velocity read device. So the rotation slows towards the periphery.
Yes Apple made the floppy über complicated!
Great video Espen and a super little app everyone should use with all our old gear
:-)
Thanks Chris! Yes, a Mac is no good here. ;-)
Apple (Wozniak) invented variable floppy timings. So (old) macs do the stuff by default, where DOS and WIndows used fixed speed. The hardware in Macs is capable.
Yes, this is gold for retro synths and samplers! I'm using Omniflop on flea market laptop with integrated floppy (Dell PIII 1Ghz WinXP/DOS). Also I'm using the same laptop to connect C64/128 floppy drive (using special DIY adapter) to read/write 5.25" C64/128 disks. Cheers! S
this is what I need to do, I never used omniflop because the PC my friend loaned me that had a floppy drive would barely even boot up.
@@Ancaja123 Best PC for the job is late Pentium 3 and early Pentium 4 laptop (some flagship brand name). They have decent quality TFT LCD, serial and parallel ports, integrated floppy with real controller, LAN, WiFi and USB for image file transfer. Laptops from that era accept 512-1024MB RAM and run Win XP or even Win 7. I have dual boot Win XP and DOS. Older laptops than that have bad LCDs, don't have USB and WiFi that make file transfers hard. Newer laptops don't have serial/parallel ports or floppy controller with integrated drive. Cheers! S
@@suadcokljat1045 thanks so much for this!!! With that setup I could also backup all my MPC60 Zipdisks which would be a huge stress relief.
@@Ancaja123 As I remember - I used windows program (can't remember name) to backup SCSI hard drives from my samplers to image files. Than I could burn those images to CD ROM or another SCSI drive or open and browse image or convert on PC with CD Extract. This way I suppose you can make images of your ZIP disks. Of course, you need PC with SCSI...
@@suadcokljat1045 thanks dude, vital information. I’ve had a lot of floppy’s go bad in the last couple years (probably due to a ton of use and not taking very good care, as it happens to only be my favorite disks) and I’m so worried for a Zip disk to go bad, because it can be up to 14 or so projects on there.
Informative & clear video, thank you.
One day I will have an old PC in my studio for this kind of stuff.
Cheers
This is brilliant! Would work perfectly with my dedicated old music pc, which runs Windows XP.
thanks for the data, this is gold info✌
I use a greaseweazle for such purposes. I think this is excellent as well.
catweasel?🤔
Sounds like a very handy utility. I'll be interested to check the documentation to see if you needed a drive with native 800K support to read that 800K disk.... (Haven't powered on the DSS-1 in years; probably should back up my factory disks also... if it isn't already too late...) Thanks for the point in that direction.
You can use Omniflop with a HD floppy drive to read and write 800kb floppies, for use with the DSS-1. Done so many times.
@@EspenKraft OK. Great to know. I knew that Sony used to market their floppy mechanisms as 720/800/1.44, whereas others just marketed 720/1.44 - so I didn't know how much a requirement that would be. Good info. Thanks!
How did they miss Amiga floppies?
For those wondering if works for external drives, I got it to work using the RAAYOO USB floppy drive on Windows 10.
Genuinely amazed. What did you do ?
@@MrSmithUK Honestly, I just plugged it in and it worked. I didn't know it was not supported until watching this video after lol
Like I said in the video, to use Omniflop to its full potential you must use a setup like I describe, but if you're only after some formats a USB drive can sometimes work too.
Thank you for this video very helpful
Happy to hear it Tim. :)
Great Video, Its great to see another take on this, Do you remember what Disk drive model you used?
Thanks! It's so many years since I did this, but not all drives will work. The chipset required is on the Omniflop pages.
If I could create an image of one of my old Alesis Datadisk floppies, could I then crack it open and get the sysex data directly for use with say, Sysex Librarian?
Anything is possible I guess.
hi density for zx spectrum with mb-02+ 1.8mb on 4x disk drives
I'm having problems to dump some ATARI 800XL floppyes
Great video, is it possible to read from the images not directly from floppy? Like we do from mounting an ISO image of a CD or DVD?
Thanks! I don't understand the question. You can pick out image-files from the computer and write those to a floppy to be used in the original hardware, like a sampler.
Any ideas about what to do if you have a laptop and USB drive only?
Yes, dig a hole and jump into it.
That's amazing. Didn't knew there is such a solution. What about 1541 commodore 64 disks?!?
Those are 5.1/4" so naturally they can't be mounted in a 3-5" tray. ;-)
you need an Amiga with a catweasel card
Hi, I have some doubts on the use of omniflop.
I have the img files from Korg legacy but I do not have any chance to install a floppy hardware in my laptop, so I cannot insert a disk to read nor to write.
I have a Korg T3 with his floppy disk reader working fine, so, is there any possibility to connect via MIDI the T3 to my laptop and use Omniflop with the embedded floppy disk reader in the Korg synth?
Or the only solution is to buy an old PC with floppy hardware and use it?
Otherwise it's useless to have the img if you depend on old hardware like floppy's one and there's no way to send directly the info from the discs to my T3.
If you have any info or can help me it will be great!
Yes, the solution only works with an old PC that has a floppy drive in it, but you also have to be able to install the correct driver of that floppy drive. It's all explained on the Omniflop site.
@@EspenKraft Fortunately, I found anold one in the junk room..LOL.. and now I have to deal with my wife .. to add another piece of old junk inside the house.. By the way, is there any way to extract the content of the IMG to the PC just with some sort of software emulator?? I tried to mount the image but no way to read it.
You can send all contents of Korg T floppies over MIDI. For the samples you need to use C6 (it is Electron Transfer now).
Thanks !!
hello are all floppy drives the same? both double density and high density? thanks..................... are ALL floppy drives exactly the same or different ?? thanks !!
Go the the Omniflop website I link to and check it out there.
Hey EK do u use Zips at all tryin' tooo figure out if they're useful anymore for transfering samples via MIDI to USB then computer to Zip drive or is any of this necessary & does it just take tooo long for anykind of practicality today &/or is what ur describing in this vid eliminate the need for these things also is there easy way to convert SCSI to USB why won't serial adapter interfaces work for this, vice versa or is all this irrelevant to what's goin' here sorry if my wonderin' never ceases and is somewhat all over the road thanx again dude 😎
I still use ZIP-disks on one of my samplers.
Thanks for this video. I've always heard of OmniFlop but never really looked into using the program. Too bad there isn't a Mac version.
I still have a sh!tload of floppies for my ASR-10, MPC3000LE and Yamaha SU700.
Cheers
Buy an old PC with a floppy drive. Infact most of these pcs are thrown away, so you could get one for free!
Note Ensoniq use a 10-sector drive @800k per side, not the standard 9-sector 720k.
I solved this one by swapping the floppy for usb in my EPS16+, then put the Ensoniq FDD in an old pc. :-)
Hello and thank you forthe tutorial.I have an ensoniq ts-10 and I am trying to create the original floppy disks from images I found online. I can format and burn the images successfully but the ts-10 does nor load them . I get a disk not formatted error . Any help appreciated. Thank you
My best tip is to ask in a dedicated Ensoniq forum online. Cheers
Interesting. Does that work with 5 and 1/4 inch floppies?
Not without some DIY solutions.
Hi espen,
On what kind of computer and os you are running it ?
Did you try with win 10 and a usb floppy disk ?
Thanks,
It does not work with a USB floppy drive as I say in the video and as the website clearly states. However some features might work, but definitely not all the formats. I run a Win7 machine. I will never update anything to Win10.
can it handle Amiga floppies too? thanks...............
Amiga is problematic.
Does OmniFlop work with Pro-Tools authorizer disks?
I have no idea. I don't use it for that.
@@EspenKraft I just found out that it does not copy copy-protected disks.
Does it work with external usb drives?
No
Ηello my friend iv installed the omniflop..do you know what version need of omniflop to.read and write disc for akai 3000 series thanks
No idea. Check forums that discuss these things.
Just download the latest version the Akai 3000 format is supported (check for yourself on the Omniflop web page , scroll down and a list of all supported formats are listed )
@@2000stephenellis iv tryied.many times to install it but every time when i check th installation the akai is not exist when wants to write the activation code it doesnt doing anything
@@costasaroniadis3376 Hi Costas ! if you have any issues try contacting the developer directly via email , i seem to remember i had installation issues at first so i mailed the guy who wrote the prog , and he responded really quickly and sorted it , it was that long ago i can`t remember what the issue was now but it maybe the same as what you`re experiencing ..good luck steve
Does omniflop work for emax1?
I dont thi k it does but you would know better.
Been using Omniflop with my Emax samplers for many years.
@@EspenKraft ok great. Just trying to find a PC that will run it with an internal floppy drive.
The old PC is kind of a deal breaker for me. I rather see a USB interface for IDE floppy drives that can handle flexible RPM control needed for these old weird formats. Anybody know if such a thing exists? Preferably for Mac.
Forget it on Mac. I love old PCs so very happy to have as many as possible around. ;-) USB is the devil.
@@EspenKraft Found some usefull info, there are some low level arduino interfaces that use the serial monitor as DOS interface and allow copying from and to a SD card shield.
The in-between device might be the Greaseweazle, it is a decent USB to Shugart interface.
It’s unfortunate that Omniflop requires a built-in floppy drive PC… looks like it would be really helpful.
It's an integrated part of why it works so well.
🙏🧡💚👍
The old PC is no option. You probably better of getting an old Powermac G3/G4 as they are cheap as heck.
I also like to try the new floppy-shield by adafruit, it lets you interface an Arduino or similar to a classic IBM PC floppy drive that can be controlled directly unlike USB floppy drives.
Sure, do what you want.
No Amiga? Much sad.
No luck reading amiga floppies?
No idea. Don't use them.
@@EspenKraft TBH I think the PC floppy controller is not capable of doing it.
It would seem so.
@@peddersoldchap It should be possible, it is basically an interface to the motor and it gives raw data output. If the disk fits physically, you can write a driver for it.
except no modern motherboard has floppy controller
That's why you must use an older PC, like I say in the video. ;-)
Don't copy that floppy! If you know what I'm talking about, you are officially old!
Your floppies are upside down.
this is very expensive
Expensive? It's free.
You probably refer to the fact that you need 10 liters of retrobright to make the sight of the PC anything acceptable...