ROLAND SP-700 SAMPLER FIRMWARE v1.12
What problems did earlier SP‑700 firmware versions have?
Before the release of the final v1.12 firmware, earlier versions of the Roland SP‑700 had significant issues related to sample and disk compatibility. Since the SP‑700 was released in 1993, at a time when the use of external SCSI devices and standardized sample libraries was becoming common, these problems were a major frustration for users
The main problems with older firmware versions were:
- Incompatibility With Roland's Own Formats
- Paradoxically, earlier firmware versions had trouble correctly loading samples and loops from older Roland samplers, such as the S‑50, S‑330, and S‑550. For instance, envelopes and loops would load incorrectly or fail entirely, disrupting the musical performance of the loaded sounds
- Issues With AKAI Disk And CD‑ROM Loading
- A major selling point of the SP‑700 was its ability to "Convert Load" samples from the industry‑standard AKAI S1000 and S1100 series, which greatly expanded the user's sound library. However, older firmware could not handle these disks properly. It would often flag a formatted AKAI disk as "UNFORMATTED" because it could not recognize the disc's ID string, even though the sample data was present
- A major selling point of the SP‑700 was its ability to "Convert Load" samples from the industry‑standard AKAI S1000 and S1100 series, which greatly expanded the user's sound library. However, older firmware could not handle these disks properly. It would often flag a formatted AKAI disk as "UNFORMATTED" because it could not recognize the disc's ID string, even though the sample data was present
- SCSI Device Compatibility
- Older firmware had limited compatibility with the rapidly evolving SCSI market. The v1.12 update significantly expanded the list of compatible SCSI CD‑ROM drives, hard drives, and ZIP drives, making it much easier to use modern (for the time) storage media
- Limited MIDI Sample Dump Standard (MSDS) Support
- The capability to transfer samples directly over MIDI using MSDS was not fully implemented or was buggy in earlier versions. The v1.12 update fixed this, allowing users to load samples from their computer directly into the SP‑700's RAM
In summary, the earlier SP‑700 firmware was plagued with data loading and compatibility problems that severely limited the sampler's usefulness, especially for users hoping to access the vast libraries of samples available for other devices. The release of v1.12 was a major improvement that addressed these issues and brought the sampler up to its full potential
➤ The v1.12 final firmware update for these two EPROM's is available as a free download at the Synth & Sampler Binaries homepage
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