Replacing Floppy Disk Drive with USB Emulator - PSR5700, PSR6000

[David PSR5700]

Having had the usual issue with the PSR5700 keyboard having a faulty drive, I have found a solution using the GOTEK SFRM72-FU-DL floppy to USB Emulator. I post this so that others with a similar problem may find a solution.
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Success in using the Floppy to USB Emulator for Yamaha PSR5700
Emulator can be purchased from ebay if you search for the following:
720KB-USB-Floppy-Drive-Emulator-Simulation-for-YAMAHA-KORG-ROLAND-Music-/171742386245?

For folks looking for a replacement for the Shugart Interface floppy disk drive (my failed drive was a Sony) the SFRM72-FU-DL works just fine.

I had been looking for a long time for a replacement that didn't cost the earth. Most of the solutions were expensive (original new drives, refurbished old drives, or modified standard interface floppy drives). I fitted the USB emulator and after a few false starts understanding the interface everything works as delivered.


Set Up

1. Take apart the keyboard (contact me if you want details)

2. Check the SFRM72-FU-DL has jumpers set as pattern JP-D in the user manual (JA and SO jumpers installed)

3. Replace the 3.5" floppy drive with the emulator (standard 34-pin data cable + 4-pin power lead). Note that it might be worth drilling 4 new mounting holes about 25mm forward from the existing ones because on the standard mounting the emulator display is somewhat shrouded by the keyboard case.


Use

Follow the HxC User Manual and it works fine. However here are some useful tips.

MIDI Files Interface

1. For MIDI interface use the emulator as described - note that each emulation 'disk', e.g. a folder named '006' on the USB stick, should not contain a total set of files greater than 720K as the end ones will not be accessed by the keyboard. Only MIDI files are recognised in this mode.

2. Remove the USB stick whilst the emulator is in use by the keyboard, otherwise songs seem to unexpectedly terminate.

3. Wait for about 20 seconds after powering on the keyboard for it to access the emulator - it should then come up with 'General Midi' and 'Select Files to Play - ALL' you can then select the files as you would with the old 3.5" floppy.


Yamaha Setup Files Interface

If you want to use the emulator to save keyboard setups, including the sequencer songs stored on the keyboard, then follow this procedure:

1. Start with no USB stick in the emulator

2. Set up the emulator in IMAGE mode and select the folder you wish this to be stored in on the USB stick, e.g. 'b01' (see HxC manual)

3. Select the DISK function on the keyboard (F6), and then select FORMAT DISK; or, alternatively, press the 'TO DISK' button. Format the 'disk'. This then formats the Image File - 'b06' in our example.

4. Then press 'TO DISK' on the keyboard and the keyboard setup is then saved to the disk emulator IMG file.

5. Insert the USB stick and use the 'To USB' function on the emulator to save the file (see manual).

6. See the HxC Manual for how to retrieve saved files and load them to the Image file on the emulator for reading by the keyboard


Yamaha Disk Orchestra Files

As these files are in a non-standard format they need to be translated from the floppy and the raw image placed on the USB stick. Once you have done this it is the same kind of routine as in the Keyboard setup files above. Unfortunately I only have a USB 3.5" floppy drive and I have not found a way of reading the raw disk image on my computer which does not have provision for a direct floppy interface. I am hoping to gain access to an old computer to try the method suggested by GOTEK of getting an image from the floppy disk.

If any of you has had success in getting raw floppy images from a USB 3.5" external drive I would be very grateful!


I hope the above helps. It should work for other Yamaha keyboards using a 720K 3.5" DD floppy drive (eg PSR6000)

 

[DickR]

It works for most other psr's as well and some other brands. You only have to make sure you order the correct one 740 k or 1.4mb. I changed one in 2009 in a psr2000 and it is is working without a problem since.

 

[David PSR5700]

Thanks, DickR. I was unsure what other Yamaha keyboards would work with the USB Floppy emulator. Which part number emulator did you use? Was it the SFR1M44-FU-DL that you used? It would be useful to update the supported keyboard list in Lotharek's Lair (lotharek.pl) with confirmed model useage.

 

[David PSR5700]

Thanks, DickR. I was unsure what other Yamaha keyboards would work with the USB Floppy emulator. Which part number emulator did you use? Was it the SFR1M44-FU-DL that you used? It would be useful to update the supported keyboard list in Lotharek's Lair (lotharek.pl) with confirmed model useage.

DickR
Have you tried creating and loading a Yamaha Disk Orchestra image and, if so, how did you get the image from the floppy? Unfortunately, I only have an external 3.5" drive and my latest computer's motherboard does not have a floppy interface so I can't use programs that interface directly to the drive.

 

[BigMacDaddy2767]

Have an older Yamaha PSR740, in great shape,can this be done on that model.

 

[DickR]

Yes, no problem it has been done on hundreds older PSR's. Make sure you order the correct one as there are various models.

 

[Fred Cogger]

Problems fitting SFRM 72-FU-DL emulator with PSR5700

Hi everyone, I'm hoping that David PSR5700 or someone else can help me. I'm trying to fit an SFRM 72-FU-DL to a PSR5700 for a friend who wants to use it to save keyboard settings.

First problem: pin outs on original Disk Drive don't match those on the 34 pin connector on the keyboard. I eventuslly realised this is why the ribbon cable is twisted through 180 degrees. The emulator pin out seems to match the keyboard socket but only if I connect the plug “upside down” ie with the locating spigot upwards (not in the notch on the circuit board) I confirmed this by checking the “N/C” pins (1,3 & 5) on the emulator were connected to the equivalent “N/C” pins on the circuit board. I also checked the emulator “MO” header pin is connected to the “motor on” pin (pin 61) on the keyboard floppy controller chip. Have I got this right?

Next problem: With everything connected up and no usb stick in the emulator I started the Image Mode procedure: Switch ON – display reads 00.0. After a few seconds the red “Disk in Use” led on the keyboard and the green led on the emulator both flashed once. I then pressed both emulator buttons simultaneously and instead of the display showing b00 it just incremented to 10.0.

I also tried formatting a 2Gig usb stick. First I opened the usb drive and created a folder IMG720. I then tried to format this folder using USB_floppy_manager_V1.31.exe (as my laptop is Windows 10). This formatted the stick with 100 partitions but deleted the IMG720 folder.

Where am I going wrong?

Fred Cogger

 

[David PSR5700]

Hi Fred
I will get on my keyboard and check out your observations and hopefully get back to you in the next day or two.

 

[David PSR5700]

Problems fitting SFRM 72-FU-DL emulator with PSR5700

Hi everyone, I'm hoping that David PSR5700 or someone else can help me. I'm trying to fit an SFRM 72-FU-DL to a PSR5700 for a friend who wants to use it to save keyboard settings.

First problem: pin outs on original Disk Drive don't match those on the 34 pin connector on the keyboard. I eventuslly realised this is why the ribbon cable is twisted through 180 degrees. The emulator pin out seems to match the keyboard socket but only if I connect the plug “upside down” ie with the locating spigot upwards (not in the notch on the circuit board) I confirmed this by checking the “N/C” pins (1,3 & 5) on the emulator were connected to the equivalent “N/C” pins on the circuit board. I also checked the emulator “MO” header pin is connected to the “motor on” pin (pin 61) on the keyboard floppy controller chip. Have I got this right?

Next problem: With everything connected up and no usb stick in the emulator I started the Image Mode procedure: Switch ON – display reads 00.0. After a few seconds the red “Disk in Use” led on the keyboard and the green led on the emulator both flashed once. I then pressed both emulator buttons simultaneously and instead of the display showing b00 it just incremented to 10.0.

I also tried formatting a 2Gig usb stick. First I opened the usb drive and created a folder IMG720. I then tried to format this folder using USB_floppy_manager_V1.31.exe (as my laptop is Windows 10). This formatted the stick with 100 partitions but deleted the IMG720 folder.

Where am I going wrong?

Fred Cogger

Hi Fred
I am sorry it has taken me over a month to get back to you!
It looks like you are doing the right things and that the emulator is probably working OK. Did you check the jumper settings on the emulator? They should be as pattern JP-D in the handbook, i.e. jumpers in JA and SO.

So let's try a few fundamental tests.
Without the Memory Stick inserted:
1) Switch ON (you are correct that the emulator and 'Disk In Use' LEDs flash).
2) I assume that the display is showing '000' at this point
3) Pressing of buttons:
Press RH button, display shows '001'. Repeated presses of RH button increment this digit for each press. Leave it at '000'
Press LH button, display shows '010'. Repeated presses of LH button increment this digit for each press. Leave it at '000'
Press LH and RH buttons together, display shows '100'. Repeated presses of LH and RH button together increment this 100's digit for each press until '900' is reached. The next press of the LH & RH buttons changes the display to 'b00'. This means the emulator is now in IMAGE mode.
4) Leave the emulator in IMAGE mode. Display shows 'b00'
5) On the PSR5700 select Function 5 (DISK) then, using the down arrows, sub-function 'Format Disk'. Select -YES- (the two RH buttons under the keyboard's display. You should then see the keyboard formatting the 'floppy', in this case the emulator.
6) Operate the keyboard normally. For testing I record a tune in the keyboard's sequencer.
7) Press the 'To Disk' button on the keyboard. Select a file number e.g.-01:NFILE-01 on the keyboard and press 'Yes'. The keyboard setup should now be saved in the emulator.
8) Change the setup on the keyboard, e.g. record another song in the Sequencer saved as song 2.
9) Press the 'To Disk' button on the keyboard and select a different file number, e.g. -02:NFILE-02 and press 'Yes'. The keyboard should have saved the new setup that now includes Sequencer songs 1 and 2.
10) Delete Sequencer song 1.
11) Press 'From Disk' on the keyboard and select file -01:NFILE-01 and press 'Yes'
12) After the keyboard setup has finished loading you should then find that you only have Song 1 in the sequencer, i.e. you have loaded the keyboard setup stored in step 7.

If all goes well you now have the emulator working as a 720K floppy disk, 'b00', containing whatever keyboard setups you want to store. Note that you have another 720K disk at 'b01', another at 'b02' etc. although you may not use these for a long time as the keyboard setup files are quite small.

To check that MIDI files can be loaded from a USB and how to save your files from the emulator, if you are still having trouble, I will post another reply.

Do let me know how you got on.. By the way pinouts for the Shugart floppy interface, as used by the PSR5700, you can get from: http://pinouts.ru/Storage/InternalDisk_pinout.shtml

 

[Fred Cogger]

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply which has solved my main problem. This was that the instructions which came with the product and on other sites that I trawled through were extremely vague and failed to explain that you had to press the two buttons eleven times to select image mode. I can now use the keyboard to format the emulator, save keyboard settings to the emulator memory and then restore these settings to the keyboard as required.

Sorry to be a pain but I now have some more questions:

As part of my “learning process” I did the following:

Loaded 20 different set ups (Files 00 o 19) using a fairly basic method which entailed just pressing different combinations of the illuminated keyboard buttons. Having checked that all of these had been correctly loaded and could be recalled using “From Disk”. I then switched the keyboard off for a few hours and when I switched it on found that all 20 files were retained in the emulator memory.

Question 1: Is the usb stick really needed other than to provide a safety back up for the saved folders?

Using the “Disk Free Area” function (on keyboard) I found that I had used only 12% of the b00 virtual disk space (with 637K still available). I then plugged a usb stick (formatted on laptop using floppy emulator tool v1.40) into the emulator and pressed left button to copy files from emulator to usb stick. I then opened usb stick in laptop which showed one folder: IMG.720 which contained an image file: 000.img. Checking “properties” for both showed a size of 709KB. Opening stick in “Disk Manager” showed the 100 partitions with the first 100% full and all others 31%.

Question 2: These figures don't relate to those in “disk free area” above. Any ideas why?

Question 3: How do I select the other 99 virtual floppies? I tried incrementing b00 to b01 ( using right button). The display did read b01 but when I tried to load files they went into slot b00

Question 4: The owner has some floppies to which keyboard set ups were saved when the FDD was working. How do I get these into the emulator?

Once again thanks for your help

Fred

 

[imtiazchuttoo]

Hello DavidPSR5700

Thank you for the instructions on replacing the floppy drive with USB Emulator.

I am actually looking for raw floppy images for the PSR-5700. If you (or anyone in this forum) have been able to make them; could you please share.

Thanks and kind regards

Imtiaz.

 

[David PSR5700]

I am afraid I haven't found a way to get data from old PSR setup files or Yamaha Disk Orchestra files as I no longer have a computer that has a direct floppy interface, i.e. on the computer's motherboard. i only have a USB-Floppy drive. This is OK for reading MIDI files that have been put on a 31/2 inch floppy and transferring them to a USB disk for use with the emulator. Unfortunately the PSR5700 could not directly create MIDI files, only keyboard setup files.

 

[imtiazchuttoo]

Hi David

Thank you for your prompt response!

I have an old PC, with an internal drive that I have configured for reading and writing the PSR-5700 floppy disks raw images. I have performed some tests with the setup data saved on floppy disk from the PSR-5700. I have successfully read the data as raw image using the PC and written back to another floppy which was then uploaded to the PSR-5700.

However I do not have the original floppies. It would be much appreciated if someone could make these floppies available to me; I could make the raw images and upload to the forum so that it could benefit all those (including myself) who require these floppy images. I have contacted Yamaha and they are taking me to a ride!

Kind regards


Imtiaz

 

[bdubidon]

Hi,

I as well experienced the same problem of the stock floppy on my old PSR-5700 not working anymore...
I tried to replace it with an old 1.44MB drive (with 720k formatted diskettes) I had as a spare with no luck, then I followed your recommendation and ordered a Gotek SFRM72-FU-DL, flashed it with HxCFE firmware, purchased at a reasonable 10€ cost plus taxes and using a special 3.3V FTDI cable I fortunately already had, always following the not always clear instructions found on the editor's website (hxc2001.com).
Now the emulator seems to react as intended but the PSR-5700 keyboard seems not to recognize it.
The red "DISK IN USE" LED is continuously flashing while the emulator (working in indexed mode with 3 prepared DSKAxxxx.hfe image files on the USB key) 3 digits display shows "000" (pressing the right button increments the number to 001 and 002 successively ).
Pressing the "DISK ORCHESTRA/GENERAL MIDI" button has no effect than quickly display an error message on the display (something like "No disk found" but to quick to read..). The same occurs when trying to access the function menu F5 (DISK) and disabling access to F6 submenu. On power on, the emulator shortly displays "RiB" before switching to "000".
Unplugging the floppy ribbon cable resets normal function menu operation but displaying "Not found Disk !" when on sub function F5 (DISK).
At this point, it looks to me the floppy interface on the keyboard is fried (hence the "RiB" display). I tried to use another ribbon cable I had with no success...
Any suggestions ?

Kind regards

bdubidon

 

[JeanPierre080]

Hello David,
I've got some problems fitting SFRM 72-FU-DL emulator with my PSR5700
Can you help me please ? what is wrong ?

Step 1

I had to cut the power cable of the floppy drive to extend it because the cable and the power supply are reversed on the emulator compared to the floppy drive.
I'm not sure which way to connect the data connector. I left it in the same position as on the floppy drive with the mark on the top
I followed pattern JP-D in the user manual (JA and SO jumpers installed)

Step 2 Your tests
1) Switch ON (you are correct that the emulator and 'Disk In Use' LEDs flash).
Emulator green Led is not flashing No flash and 'Disk In Use'Led flash. Is is Normal ?
2) I assume that the display is showing '000' at this point
Display is 00.0. with the two points flashing
3) Pressing of buttons:
Press RH button, display shows '001'. Repeated presses of RH button increment this digit for each press. Leave it at '000'
Press LH button, display shows '010'. Repeated presses of LH button increment this digit for each press. Leave it at '000'
Press LH and RH buttons together, display shows '100'. Repeated presses of LH and RH button together increment this 100's digit for each press until '900' is reached. The next press of the LH & RH buttons changes the display to 'b00'. This means the emulator is now in IMAGE mode.

If i don't put the memory stick on the emulator, i can't change the value of the display by pressing RH, LH or RH+LH
Is is Normal ?
So i can't go further in my tests
Can you help me ?Please

Best wishes,

 

[Samhain]

Dear keyboarder.

Just read the posting from 2015 and i hope you are all well.

My floppy drive of the PSR 5700 is damaged and i try to replace a similar unit.

Can someone help me?

Which one should i buy?
Do i need to flash the HxCFE firmware?

y.c.
Franky from germany