Issues with HxC SD emulator on Korg Triton

[ravadisk]

Hello,

I have installed a Rev F Sd Hxc floppy emulator on my Korg Triton Pro and experience problems.
Almost everything works but it won't write any data larger than the triton config files, which is about 900 octets. Sample data writing fails and PCG writing fails, even just one bank. I always get the "Error writing to medium" error message.

What I did so far:
- I have updated the hxc firmware with the latest version (HXCFE_V1_8_2_40)
- I set the jumper to ID1 and the data socket correctly.
- Disk images load correctly in the Triton disk utility. They appear as unformatted.
- I have tried different HXCSDFE.CFG (the config file) settings. The one that works best is
HFE file interface mode = IBM PC 1.44 mb, double step
SD HxC floppy emulator interface setting = from hfe

- The floppy image format that works best is standard 3"5 DOS DD. This disk image is recognized on the Triton and can be formatted. All other images I've tried failed to format with an "Error in formatting medium" message (formatting is mandatory for the Triton, it won't let me write to a disk that hasn't been formatted).

- I have tried many different types of floppy images. I've tried standard 3"5 DOS HD, but it won't be recognized by the Triton (appears as "no disk").
I have been messing with custom disks layout. I tried doubling the sectors per track to 18, to have something like a 1.44mb capacity. In that case the Triton will see the disk but will fail to format it (and therefore to write anything on it). Weird thing is that it will see it only as a 720kb disk, although with the original floppy drive I was able to work with 1.44mb floppies.
Whatever virtual format I've tried the Triton would either not see it at all, or see it as 0 Kb size disk, or see it as a 720kb disk. It's as if it would work as a 720kb disk drive...

After many fails with this approach, I've tried the image less approach, and formatted my sd card based on a gpt partition I found in the firmware archive. In that case it is the HxC that will not work and say something like "SD card not in FAT format". I've only seen this image less thing for usb sticks so maybe it doesn't work for sd cards (I have done the firmware update).

By the way, I've tried all this with two different SD cards, a 32 Gb Sandisk, and a 4Gb Lexar.

It seems that some people managed to make it work so I'm asking for help here because right now I'm running out of ideas.
I don't want to do anything fancy like os upgrades. I just want to save my (small sized) samples in a reliable way, because the original floppy drive I was losing data all the time.

Thank you very much for reading me,

Best regards

Hugo

[Jeff]

Hello,

I am not sure if i got success report about the Korg Triton "Pro". (btw is it a "Pro" or "Pro X" ?)

Tell me :

- The release date/year of this model.
- The floppy disk drive brand and model used in this machine.
- Is this machine use a custom format or it is supposed to be compatible with a DOS/FAT12 format ?
- Please share or send me (hxc2001 at hxc2001 dot com) the formatted image.

[ravadisk]

Hello Jeff, thanks for reaching out

It is a Korg Triton "Pro" from 1999
The floppy drive that was installed is an ALPS ELECTRIC DF354H
The Triton manual says it uses a DOS filesystem
I sent you by email the image disk

[Jeff]

Hello Jeff, thanks for reaching out

It is a Korg Triton "Pro" from 1999
The floppy drive that was installed is an ALPS ELECTRIC DF354H
The Triton manual says it uses a DOS filesystem
I sent you by email the image disk

Please try to write to each of these images:

https://hxc2001.com/vrac/triton_test.zip

Don't format them ! They are already formatted ! Just write some files.
If you can't read them, then there are 2 issues ...

(each image have a different interleave setting)

[ravadisk]

Each of these disk images appear as "unformatted" on the triton.
The Triton won't let me write anything on a volume that is not formatted.

By the way these images appear as volumes of zero octet size, which usually means they cannot be formatted at all.
I've tried formatting these images anyway and I get an "error formatting medium".

What are the 2 issues then ?

[Jeff]

Each of these disk images appear as "unformatted" on the triton.
The Triton won't let me write anything on a volume that is not formatted.

By the way these images appear as volumes of zero octet size, which usually means they cannot be formatted at all.
I've tried formatting these images anyway and I get an "error formatting medium".

What are the 2 issues then ?

ok. Can you send me/share a picture of the hxc board ? is it a recent purchase ?

[ravadisk]

Which part of the board do you want ?

[Jeff]

Which part of the board do you want ?

whole board, just a picture

[ravadisk]

Just sent you the picture by email.
Yes I bought this board a few weeks ago.

[Jeff]

Just sent you the picture by email.
Yes I bought this board a few weeks ago.

Please try with these images :
http://hxc2001.com/vrac/triton_test2.zip

(same : don't try to format them)

[Jeff]

Just sent you the picture by email.
Yes I bought this board a few weeks ago.

Please try with these images :
http://hxc2001.com/vrac/triton_test2.zip

(same : don't try to format them)

Also : Please use the CFG file present in the archive, and reset the internal emulator parameters (to reset the emulator parameters. remove the sdcard , press the select/middle button, then choose "clear eeprom" -> and finally "yes".)

[ravadisk]

some progress made here

disks 0 to 4 all behaved the same.
They were directly recognized as formatted and I was able to write the small config files (940o) on them. However they all failed with "error in writing to medium" when trying to write bigger files, PCG or sample data.

disks 5 to 7 appeared as unformatted

[Jeff]

And what about these ? :

http://hxc2001.com/vrac/triton_test3.zip

(Please try all images - and don't format them)

For your tests please try both sdcards btw.

Which sdcard are you using exactly ? (Brand + model/series)

it seems that this Triton is very sensitive to the write latency. You probably need a faster SDCard: Sandisk Exterme series for example.

[ravadisk]

Hi Jeff,

No more luck with that last batch.
0 and 1 showed up as unformatted
2 was writable (althought the hxc board was especially noisy for this one) but it failed to write even the smallest file with a different error "insufficient memory available".

I have been using two sd cards:
sandisk ultra plus (microsd) 16gb, 98mo/s
lexar sdhc multi-use 4gb class 4, 4mo/s
(i found the write speeds on the web)

Using one card or the other made no difference.
I am not really sure about buying another card, as the ultra plus is already very fast.

I am going to try something different :
upload sample data directly on the disk image with the hxc software, then try to read it from the triton.
I have the specifications for data files korg is using, so if this works maybe I could create my samples on the computer and hack them into the triton

Tell me if you want me to try another batch of disk images

[Jeff]

2 was writable (althought the hxc board was especially noisy for this one) but it failed to write even the smallest file with a different error "insufficient memory available".

That's interesting. Does the progress go up to 100% with this before the failure ?