Hi there - I have purchased an SX-GX5 organ which was sold due to the owner now being deceased. I therefore cannot make any enquiries about this to the owner.

This organ includes a floppy disk drive which seems not to be standard issue on this model. I have established this by enquiring of two existing owners of this model.

I have the reference manual of this organ - believe you me, the KN7000 manual is a veritable mine of information compared with this one!!! No mention at all about floppy disk drive, how to access etc.,

I have two floppy disks with sounds and styles on them, I have looked at them on a PC to establish this. The details are handwritten on the label so presumably they were "Saved" to the floppy rather than purchased as is. Does anyone know how to access these? Also how to save to floppy. There does not appear to be an obvious way - does not appear on the screen etc.,

Not being able to use the floppies would not a great loss to me as I want to play it as an organ and will use the KN7000 to play the more modern music, but having got the floppy disk facility it would be a shame not to use it? I would appreciate any advice/help anyone can offer.......Joan

HI JOAN,
You don't say how old this organ is but I might have some info of interest that could help answer your question.
I bought a digital Piano from Technics when they first brought them out, about 1987 or thereabouts. it came with a little card that you could save half a dozen songs on.
There was a floppy disc accesory that was also sold but because it was over 700.00 USD at that time, I declined to buy it. I also recall there was not any info in the PR90 piano manual about the floppy disc other then a reference to it as an available accesory.
Best to you,
Bebop

Hi there Bebop - according to this site the SX5 model came out circa 1989.
http://www.geocities.com/vincentsxea3/EvolutionPart2.htm

I had a G7 which was an earlier model to this one (perhaps two years earlier) and the option with that model was what I think was called a RAM PACK, not a floppy disk. I don't recall having any problems accessing that and saving settings etc. so presumably there was some indication/instructions that indicated you were in that mode when you were using it.

As I said in my enquiry - it is no great loss if I never use the floppy feature, but, it like when someone asks a mountaineer why they climb mountains they will reply, "Because they are there!".....Joan

Hello Joan
Cant find a GX 50 on the link you posted, however I assume it has some form of LCD display, and that the Floppy is an external plug in unit, if so then you may find that when you select save or load (And the Floppy drive and disc is plugged in) the option to use the internal memory or floppy will appear, thus giving you a choice of where to load or save to.
If nothing shows up, then try and find the basic settings screen and see if there is an option to enable an external floppy drive.
Hope this helps

Bill

Hi there Bill - Thank you for your comments.

Looking at the link I have refered you too showing the GX5, if you use the scroll bar to the bottom right of the screen you will see a nearly towards the end a GX5 amongst other models for that year.

If only there was a SAVE or LOAD feature on the organ then life would be much easier and even if I had no success with it then at least I would assume that I was in the correct area. Unfortunately there is nothing that remotely resembles either of them. When you insert a floppy disk into the drive then you fleetingly see a red light appear so I am assuming that the drive is live.

The floppy drive is not an obvious add on - it fits very neatly in the bottom right of the left/lower keyboard - there are no "seams" it completely looks as if the whole section is standard to the organ. If I had not contacted other GX5 owners who told me that their GX5s haven't got this feature I would have assumed that it was a standard part of the organ.

Well - it has kept me busy looking, must get around to playing it soon!!!! If only it had the sounds/styles of the KN7 in addition to the organ it would be the bees knees!!!Thanks again - Joan

Hi Joan,

Congratulations on your new 'toy'. I've been thinking about your posting and can recall when we first started our Keyboard & Organ Club, one of the members had an old Technics (not sure what model it was) and couldn't get his Floppy Drive to 'behave' as he put it, so I went over to his house to have a look and discovered it only used 2DD Floppies, not the 2HD we are using today.

Could this be your problem do you think?
Might be worth trying a 2DD disk - if you can hold of one that is. They're almost obsolete now unfortunately.

If this is the answer, let me know and I'll have a look through my floppies to see if I have another 2DD you could have.

Happy Playing!

Aud

Hi Audrey - Thanks for your suggestion which is valid - I have the 720MB floppies which have been formatted correctly, two came with the organ and a fellow forum member has kindly let me have some more.

To compensate for the lack of information in the manual what I need is a hand coming out of the organ and a finger pressing a certain part of the organ and a message saying "Press This Key"

How many times have any of us been using a any sort of equipment be it PC or other when this sort of message would have been a godsend? Joan

Hello Joan
Have just been watching a DVD of a couple of players on their Technics organs, (Not sure of the models) and I noticed on both that there was a compartment by the side of the lower manual with a flap that either lifted up or slid back, and from memory I am pretty sure this is were the controls were for the disc drive, when fitted by the factory.
You may have to have a close look if the knob or handle is missing, as it is not immediately obvious. (Please bear in mind that it may be only certain models that have these controls, and that as your model did not come with a disc drive they may not be fitted, thus precluding the use of the disc drive)
Hope this helps

Bill

Joan, I have read the email you posted and wonder if you still have the problem of accessing the floppy drive. I have a GX5 and have no problem at all. Just in case you still need hellp, tyr iserting the floppy that you think has something on. The drive should buzz a bit and the red light on the drive should wink. All you need to do then is press the FSC button on the left of the control panel and then on the upper keyboard there are keys marked from 1 to 20, press 1 and the drive should start up and will put the contents into memory.

This may only be a registration setup and if so just play the organ to see what it sounds like.

If you need any further help, please email me . trevor-churchill@lineone.net.

Hope this is of help.


Trevor

Hi Everyone,

I think this may be an old posting as recently Joan sold her Technics KN7000 - unless of course, she has a 'spare'

Audrey