Maybe it uses diskettes which are typically formatted 720kb. Which is 80 tracks in 9 sectors. (DS/DD 720kB)
If you are using the newer 1.44Mb format 3.5" diskettes (DS/HD 1.44Mb) they will not work in that FD drive.
I know that was my problem with my Roland S50 sampler.
Here's a place I found you can get the older 720kB format diskettes.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://floppydisk.c…"]Floppy disks - 3.5 and 5.25 diskettes, discs[/]="http://floppydisk.c…"]Floppy disks - 3.5 and 5.25 diskettes, discs[/]

Hope that helps...

djmukilteo: Thanks, but that isn't the problem. I did try it....I do have a few old 720 disks.

mberry593, post: 409317 wrote: I am fighting an old Akai S3000. It seems to be working fine but I can't figure out how to format a 3.5" floppy. I have the instruction manual which shows a screen that you get when you push the FORM soft key, but I can't find how to make the FORM label come up.

btw, existing floppies load just fine so the drive is ok......and yes, I have checked the write protect.

I am sure I am doing something dumb. Does anyone have any experience with these things?

Thanks.

I have an S1100. Its been years since I used it, but recently I racked it and am now thinking about using it again. Before I parked it I invested in a box of zip drives. Glad I did. I remember having this problem and if my memory serves me right, there is a step for formatting that isn't clear. Check you have the actual floppy set for use and write. I believe it can appear to be active but not when it comes to writing to it. So, there could be a scisi , floppy or internal or external system ex / bank or ID select.

Hope that helps.

I just had an Akai S2800 given to me. I still haven't determined how functional it is. Does anyone have any good samples?

I still have some blank 1.44MB floppies that I can format for it and roll my own samples if it works, but I guess I'm wondering how much effort to put into this thing. I know they were highly regarded in their day, but so were a lot of other things that didn't hold up over time.

Thanks.

There are better libraries now, Dave. But, hardware samplers are a very useful tool. I'm a pop musician and programmer so samplers have always been a part of my workflow. But, I can do most of this ITB now.

Hard to say whether its worth the effort to learn how to use it. According to the guru's, the S1100 is the one to own. Its the one I have and I haven't used it for 20 years. What does that tell you. I replaced the backlight and its sitting here collecting dust. I'm thinking about setting it up again. Why?

Its really easy to grab parts of a song ( vocal content) chop parts and spread them across a keyboard and play with it for creative purposes. A very useful tool for the talent!

I also have an Akai Renaissance and its is really cool for mixing and programming. Better to have that over the S series.

Thanks for the info Chris.

Next time I've got some spare time I'll see if it even works. And then if it seems worthwhile, I suppose I'll consider shopping for a SCSI CD-ROM or hard drive for it. The prospect of going too far backwards and depending on an unreliable, aging floppy drive doesn't really appeal to me. I've got two other old samplers that live on floppies, but I can't do anything other than floppies with them - what a headache. This is the only one sophisticated enough to be equipped with a state-of-the-art (circa 1997) 50-pin SCSI port.

Agree.

scsi is cool and you can load on the fly with these. I bought 10 iomega HD and a few extra drives for mine. Works great.