Yamaha A3000 & 4000 & 5000 Sampler DISKY Revival Project

I am the original author of DISKY, a tool for Widows machines which enables the administration of Yamaha A-samplers (A3000,4000,5000) disk systems via SCSI.

This tool was written for the Yamaha A-samplers but can also be used with other devices which utilize Yamaha SFS filesystem, such as the SU700 and RS7000 and EX- range of workstation synthesizers.

I have received many requests over the past few years to revive DISKY and get it working on modern architectures, such as RaSCSI (Raspberry SCSI interface), BlueSCSI, and so on.

I can do this - but I need funds to get the necessary development resources available in my workshop. I would need to get the modern versions of the SCSI emulator accessories, and then begin porting my DISKY low-level filesystem driver code to those environments. I would also need to source parts to rebuild a DISKY-compaitlbe PC (Windows), with an Adaptec SCSI interface, and all the needed cables. This will assist greatly with the effort to do the port of my code to new environments.

This fundraiser helps make that happen. At the end of the project, we will have our Yamaha A-sampler filesystems accessible using modern tools and technologies, ensuring that these samplers continue to be used as creative, fun instruments for many more years to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is DISKY and how does it work?

The Yamaha A-samplers, launched in 1996, utilized Yamahas proprietary SFS filesystem format, which is not compatible with anything available on modern computing platforms, such as Windows, Linux or MacOS.

In 1997 I reverse engineered this filesystem and successfully implemented a low-level SCSI-based driver for the SFS, and made it available along with a GUI for Windows95/2000/XP users. This allowed users to import samples at much greater rates than the onboard SCSI system was capable of providing, and meant that users could use their PC to build an extensive sample library.

What is the target for "DISKY-21-Century"?

Devices that allow acces to SCSI disks exist today, and some of them, such as the BlueSCSI accessory, are very powerful! (See https://bluescsi.com for example) The idea would be to port my SFS driver to such a device, which would give your A-sampler a SCSI/Wifi bridge. The SFS driver would be ported, as well as a web interface for higher level access to the samples saved on the disk - the idea being that you could remotely manipulate (save/restore) Yamaha SFS disks, import samples directly over modern high speed interfaces, and so on.

Who are you/what have you done?

I am the original author of DISKY and the operator of the original TekLab community, which provided community-based support for a lot of Yamaha instruments during the 90's and early 2000's. I also produced 3 officially supported Sample CD's for the Yamaha A-samplers, and maintained the TekLab archives of community-originated samples and tools for the Yamaha instruments in the TekLab community.

What else might come about with this project?

Well, we could certainly lrevive the TekLab Sample Archive, as well - meaning that almost a gigabyte of amazing samples and sound sets will once again be available, and when DISKY-21-CENTURY becomes usable, means we can drag and drop samples into these devices with a great deal of ease and simplicity.

How will the project be run?

I will maintain an open public github repository for the project, with regular updates as progress is made until completion.