SD card and archive files

Since I finally broke down and set up my new KN7000, I have had only minor problems with the keyboard, but that SD card is really a thorn in my side. I finally found Alec's tutorial from 11-13-2002 on the SD card and finally managed to get it to take the download files from the Technics7000 site, which load and play as they should. I even did a backup of the files, created a new folder named "Custom", and put some commercial Technics styles in it, then backed it up and tried a merge, but the keyboard won't recognize the Custom file and only shows the original folders. Clearly, I must have done something wrong - maybe the style files had to be strictly "cst" files and nothing else? I can see where I will have to do some file shuffling on the pc to set up packets of twenty files for each folder, and transfer them to the SD card folders. With a couple of large archive files, it will take some time, but it's only a minor problem - however - with only 99 folders with twenty files each showing on the keyboard screen, where will I put all the files? What good is a 256 meg SD card if I can only have 99 folders and the files occupy only a quarter of that space? Will the folders automatically increase as I fill them up until the card is full, or is 99 the magic number?? Now getting back to the SD card and folders, can you load any type of style file into the card using the Song Manager and rename the folders to whatever you want for archival purposes on the pc, or does the renaming have to be done on the keyboard? Maybe it would be easier to keep the archive files on the floppies, but I sure do like the load speed of the SD card. Anyway, shortcuts and tips would be appreciated from those of you who have mastered the art of working with SD cards without smashing them in a fit of rage! Thanks for listening.

Hi Bud,
every KN7 owner has to bite himself throught the secrets of the SD-card
SZone offers a lot of info in various post, as you discovered already.
May I point you at the KESO-site under Tips&Tricks and Walt Meyer has a post too on KESO-Cafe.
So much to read and try before in fact using your card.
In Fact a 128MB should be enought, unless you gonna work with MP3 on the keyboard. If you uses just all large songfiles then even 128 MB could be just too small. And yes 99 is the limit (99x20= 1980 styles/songs!! Wooww ).
Success
Cees
P.S. An example: I have on my 128MB Card all the KESO-guestplayers songs (485) and various other artists.(The tecnics.com styoles are on another SD-card). In totaal 81 maps almost filled and 88 percent in use.



[This message has been edited by cees (edited 02-17-2004).]

not me!

I don't even remember that one Bud, but surely I must have said that only single custom "cst" files belong in the "Custom" folder on card

The folder structure is fixed unless you buy Techmanager 7001 which has 240 folders with 16 locations each per card but this includes midis whereas on your existing default system midi files are separate to the Technics folder system, and space is available for audio too.

Song Manager does not rename folders, perhaps the SD Card Tool by Thomas from my original design might help.

If you have floppies already one simple option is to copy each floppy to an SD folder using the 7000, but the method of my tutorial would be far, far quicker with a blank card.

Alec, you're right, you did say cst files, but yet the keyboard would not show the custom folder. I'll try again later, after I've transfered the archive files to sd. I don't know what I was thinking when I figured 5k would be the size of an average file and I wouldn't be able to fill a 256m sd card. Just my ballads archive of 300 styles takes up 90meg, so I won't have any trouble filling the card, and I'll be watching out for sales at Best Buy where you can get a 512m card for $130. I will use the tutorial suggestion for filling a card, and leave the 7000 functions for saving sequenced songs on another card. Seems the easiest way to go. Do I still need to do a file merge every so often since the files will already be in order, or just go ahead and fill the card at one sitting? It seems to take a long time to do a backup and merge. By the way, my 7000 came with all the goodies - Song Manager, Jukebox, and the Panasonic card reader. The only thing I didn't get was an inflatable tech rep to explain how to use everything. Thanks for the help. I'm sure I'll have more questions from time to time, and since Lindoz got a new 7000 too, we'll probably both be popping in from time to time.

make sure the path to the custom folder is correct Bud, and you are looking at the single custom load/save menu at left of screen, not the normal load menu.

The advantage of backing up groups of folders of related files in Song Manager and then making a big card from a successively merged backup of these groups is that when you decide you don't like the order of folders on the big card, or want to create some empty folders on it, you can rearrange the order of the groups of folders more easily just by rearranging the merge order. See Walt's post below, it only takes a few seconds to merge up some big cards with Song Manager, and you maintain all your long file renaming etc.

Isn't it good watching someone else struggle....snigger (no offence Bud just my silly sense of humour!)
Best of luck - it comes to you in the end; with Alec's help...
Roger M
p.s. the inflatable idea is a must

Okay, I got the hang of it now, but had to delete both the .inf file and the .bak file to get things to work properly. Since format is easier and faster than deleting 99 folders, I suppose one has to delete the .inf file each time you start fresh. Another question, I noticed one time I had merrily gone up to 140 folders with 7 meg left on the card. The keyboard will only show the first 99 folders, but the pc shows them all which tells me the card can have folders limited only by memory space, but Technics failed to give us a page 2, page 3, etc. so we could access a 512 or larger card. That seems a tad short-sighted! Too bad there isn't some way to fool the keyboard into thinking it can read up to 999 folders. I guess I will have to be content with setting up blocks of 99 folders and simply load up what I want to use at the moment. No more questions for now, thanks for the info, guys! No more snickering either....I got this baby down!!

excellent Bud , deleting the inf file must have been one of the steps described in the tutorial.

Right you are Alec....the tutorial said to delete the .inf file, but didn't mention the .bak file. Threw me off for a few minutes until I deleted it too. Figured I could always reformat if I had to. So I suppose there's no sense in buying an SD card larger than 256 meg when you can arrange your backups in order and save it to your hd then to CD's. Too bad, since the 1 gig is almost here and I really, really wanted one!

that's because you've got a tutorial that must be well over a year old and at that time there was no "bak" file - it did not exist then - and only appeared in a later system

As far as extra space is concerned remember that midi files do not use the Technics folder system, so even if you have 99 folders full and space left on the card this can be used for midi files. The midi playlist and playback system is very comprehensive compared to what you have been used to off floppy disk up till now.

And that extra space is definitely needed for audio!

Hey
If we were to drill a hole through each SD Card we could wear them like ear-rings - a fashion accessory if you like - and that way we'd always know where they were....
And a 1 gig ear-ring would be up market compared to an 8 mb one...
Ears just seemed appropriate when we're talking music!!!

Perhaps, can you tell me where's the keyboard ID (kn7000, etc) in styles files. Sometimes when i try sd-card tool "copy to sd" i have the message "no info found", but all other styles of a buyed disk are ok.
???

Thanks for your answer.
Jean-Claude Stritt / Switzerland

Jean-Claude, if you go to the first post in this thread it will give the date 11-13-2002. Go back in the forum to that date to find Alec's tutorial and copy and print it out. It will give you step-by-step instructions on finding the 7000 file on your computer, and what to do with it. It will be around 34-38 pages back and handy to have as a reference.

So Alec, you're saying I can convert styles to midi files and continue filling up cards? Seems almost too easy!

KN7000 files have J KD as the file identifier.

But i can't search by date in this forum ! Or i don't known the process ? Can you help me.

Thanks.
Jean-Claude

Ok, i have found the post, but i have an other question : is there a way in sd-card tool (great program and free) to copy midi-files on the SD card. There is a "sd-sounds" tabbed frame in release 1.0.95 but i can't make everything with this.

Thanks.
Jean-Claude

at the top of the subject page change the box to show all topics and then go.

at the bottom of the page go back to page 32 or thereabouts and you can find it by date.

or just use the search button above 'go' for key words 'sd card tutorial'.

You must read "I can nothing make with this" in my last post (sorry for my approximativ english).

Any anwser will be welcome.
Thanks.
Jean-Claude