I am a C6 user. About 20 years ago I used an Atari 520 st running Pro 24. I am trying to get the midi files off the floppies so I can import into C6 to save me trying to figure out what I was playing back then…
I have tried downloading a couple of ST emulators but get the message that I ‘Need to format my disc before use’.
I suspect I haven’t got it right.
Can anyone please point me in the direction of an emulator that I can use with my W7 (Vista on laptop) OS so I can open the floppies and export the midi.
It’s not that simple…your floppies are not readable by PC’s in their current state.
20 year old floppies may well be knackered anyhow so I wouldn’t hold out too much hope.
There are two parts to this: (1) just being able to read the floppies; (2) making sense of the files on them.
Actually, I think the best solutions to your problem, Carl, are ones that involve the use of an Atari ST (if you can find someone with one).
Re ‘(1)’, the later versions of the Atari-ST OS DID actually format floppies in a way that they could be read by PCs. I take it that your Atari ST didn’t do that. There were Atari utilities that would modify a floppy to make it readably by PCs - though I’d be worried about using those with the only version of a floppy. I presume you don’t still have an Atari ST? If you do (or if you can find someone with one) that might be the easiest way to get them readable on PCs and/or to save files that C6 can open.
Re ‘(2)’. That’s the harder part. I don’t think you’ll be able to run Pro-24 in an Atari-ST emulator on a PC (like you were hoping), because of the missing dongle. Lean a bit closer while I whisper something - perhaps a cracked version would run? However, you might not need to use Pro-24, because some versions of Cubase used to open Pro-24 files - I can’t remember when it stopped - whether it was just Atari versions or if Cubase VST would open them. If it’s the latter, perhaps you could find someone who still has access to Cubase VST and would be willing to open the files and save them in a suitable format?
A warning about the floppy disk formats …
The standard Atari ST disks were only single-sided and not high-density. Some modern drives don’t claim to read such disks, while others do claim to. However, I’ve been trying to buy an external USB floppy drive that will read 720KB disks, but, having had three of the same model from Amazon UK only to discover that they won’t read them - in spite of an assurance that it was just a problem with the first batch - I’m wondering if I’ll actually be able to find a suitable drive. (I’ve been able to borrow one that works - so they were available at one time.) My older PCs that came with a floppy drive do all read the 720KB format.
I sometimes used to use utilities on my Atari ST to format disks with greater capacity (eg more sectors per track and/or more tracks). I haven’t tried reading those on a PC, but perhaps it’s impossible? So if you did that too, you might have an extra problem to deal with.
Yes, I think I’ll try and take an old floppy drive out of a PC and see if it works with my Atari. The ribbon connector and the power lok the same as a standard old floppy drive.
I’ll then see if that works, if not I have a mate in Wales who has a 1024 and I’ll mail them down to him to see if he can open.
Otherwise, I guess I’ll just have to figure out what I played by ear and re-record into C6, which in reality is what I probably should really do…
USB floppy drives function in a nother way as standard floppydrives as i understand it…
Ive tryed it to… but i read a while back on the omniflop site that it is impossible…
blippo - No, it’s not impossible. You seem to have missed this sentence a bit further into the paragraph that you quoted:
… made by Toshiba. I could also use it to boot PCs (with a suitable boot floppy), which was what I was mainly wanting.
By contrast, this one sold by Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00028MGS4 said on the box that it wouldl read 720KB disks and could be used to boot PCs, but I had three from Amazon (all returned) that would do neither when I tried them with the same PCs with which the Toshiba drive worked successfully.
It would appear that my Atari 520 ST FM is a bit poorly. BUT, I found a nice chap called Barrie in an ad in SOS and have taken my atari and my floppies to him today in Warrington.
I still got the original “Cubase VST for PC” boxed release and the big old dongle for it and probably have the floppy disk earlier ones for Atari somewhere, tend to keep everything, bit of a squirrel really when it comes to hoarding things lol. But that Cubase VST reads Atari disks so all that’s needed is and old PC with an early version of windows, on a mission now
Thanks for that key change info though, very useful
