Akai S3000 Newbie Setup - Need Suggestions Options

[ol2o]

I want a Akai S3000 XL. I'm new to it so I have several technical questions about set up.

CurrentEquipment list:

Akai s3000 XL
Powerbook G4 - no SCSI port, only firewire/Ethernet

Would you recommend for road use an external Hard Drive, CD Rom, or a zip for the scsi connection? What would be the best setup loading sounds and dependibility for a tour. Secondly, would a scsi to USB connector work to get it to connect to the laptop? If anybody cares to throw in some suggestions for sound editing software and transfer software for Mac OS X, that would be great too.

I'm wondering if a Benkin SCSI to USB connector will work as a direct interface from computer to sampler.

[ol2o]

I've settled on using an external hard drive. What would be a good one/compatible for an Akai s3000 xl? Would about any work?

[lepetitmartien]

S3000XL are stuck to 512 Mb of maximum capacity.

This said any SCSI 1-2 drive with that capacity will do. Akai strongly prevent that higher capacity drives are a bad idea.

Now on the adapter… I have no experience on it. But you have here a compatibility list of the devices it is known to work with. Note there is no samplers. I would be you I'd ask Belkin directly and I'll try the thing anyway to be sure.

As it is SCSI and scsi chains with samplers are a touchy subject I'd go there with body gards

[Mr.T]

As said below, no need to buy a HD bigger than 500Meg... The S3000 won't handle it (well it will, but it won't format above 500 Meg, so...).
I'm using both HDs (SCSI) and Zip...
In my humble opinion, Zip is still the best... Ease of use, better for organizing files, smaller and lighter than most HDs and pretty reliable as long as you take a little care of the player.

[ol2o]

Just to let everyone know, I got and Adaptec SCSI to USB adaptor and it works. The company provides drivers for the computer to read the USB, so with that in miind the sampler doesn't need to be the work horse in the connection. The USB/computer end does all of the work to read the machine. MESA II works just fine in conjunction.

Another issue.
I went with a Zip 250 SCSI for the external HD solution. The Akai is having a problem reading the disk though. i'm going to Hard Disk -A, but it's not finding the sounds/samples/programs on the disk. It sounds like there is an active connection to the drive as when I look for something the zip revs up. Does the zip have to be formatted in a different way? Does the Akai need a fresh OS on it to handle zips?

i just changed the SCSI ID to match a little while ago, but it's still not reading the disk. The SCSI set up is

Zip = 5 with termination on
Akai = 5

is this right ?

[Mr.T]

"Zip = 5 with termination on
Akai = 5
is this right ?"

No it's not! Each elements of a SCSI chain must have a different id...
Set your Zip to any other SCSI id and you should be fine...
Also, I guess you already know that, but Hd's and Zips have to be formated using the sampler itself.

[ol2o]

I'm still having problems with the write protection on the zip disk. On the computer side, it says that there is no write protection on the disk, but the sampler is insisting that there is on the disk. Any ideas?