Emax

I've had this thread saved in my inbox and meant to post my thoughts for some time.  I read all the posts, but I guess I'm more of a lurker.  But I thought I would say some things after reading this thread.

I don't know what went on between the customer and SCSIForSamplers, and won't even attempt to comment on that transaction. I'm sorry to hear about the problem between a vendor I've done business with and a frequent respected poster on this board.  

For what it is worth, I can say I've bought several expensive pieces of equipment from that vendor, and have received sterling products and support.  In relevant part (for this Board), one item was a rack-mount dual SCSI card reader, and another item was a rackmount dual SCSI CD-ROM & hard drive. 

That company provides a great service in supporting all of our vintage equipment, in my humble opinion.  And no, I have no affiliation or financial interest in that company, am not friends or an acquaintence with anyone there. Strictly business, $$ spent, products received.

This thread got me thinking about the frequent theme I see in many of the posts on this Board, that of DIY work on our beloved Emaxes.  I recognize the right of any owner to do DIY work, and this thread illustrates that there are always options to spending the $$ and buying a finished product (such as a plug in, turnkey, professional looking and operating card reader) - instead, for the DIY'er, just make it yerself.  To each their own.  I prefer to just pay the money and get the product, no hassles.  

Now I recognize in reading the posts here that there is a very strong "DIY" contingent of readers/Emax owners here, and that's great, taking a technical interest in this gear.  My perspective is somewhat different I guess - call me strange but I actually don't mind parting with my money to pay my local vintage gear technician to fix my studio equipment.  I want to support them (well, maybe not pay too much money) so they will actually be around when my Emax power supply bites it, or another board starts missing notes, vintage Harmonizer starts buzzing, you name it. 

They check for loose connections, clean the damn thing out, are incredibly resourceful in locating discontinued parts (mine found a custom IC chip and VCA for one of my boards) and generally care for it, looking for problems that could crop up (failing solder, etc).  I find the care most techs put into the work (versus the depreciated value of the gear) is an amazing value and probably a labor of love for them.  

Guys that smart could be doing a Bernie Madoff in the stock market, and yet there they are, working out the problem on your vintage gear.  And no, I am not a tech, am not friends or family with a tech, etc.  I just want that KNOWLEDGE to stick around, so they can fix it when it breaks.  When that KNOWLEDGE is lost, it's gone for good.  Nothing more depressing than the day that will come for all of us Emax owners where the number of people who even can work on these things is down to a very few, and then none.  Know anyone who works on [insert name of 1970s business computer] mainframe?  

I assume all of you on the Board not only have the vintage piece of gear that brings us together (Emax I/Emax II), but probably other vintage gear as well.  That means you, like I, have probably sat there in your studio in utter frustration as that dear piece of vintage gear (whatever it is) sits mute, or buzzing, or has a mysteriously attenuated right stereo out (current problem du jour for me), or otherwise malfunctioning in front of you.  Now THAT experience probably brings us all together. 

I guess my main thought is that, for the DIY'ers, if you can't bear to part with $$ to pay a tech, please don't F*** up that vintage piece of gear further with a half-baked DIY fix - at least if you ever plan to sell it.  It is depressing to hear a tech say that whatever problem that gear is suffering that a new owner bought has been magnified by some prior DIY fix.

I bought my first Emax new in the summer of 1987, after saving to pay an astronomical amount of money at the time - it was worth it as it was such a superior product to the main competitors at the time, i.e. the Roland S50.  Now does anyone remember that - with the wave pen gimmick, etc.  The Emax by comparison, although depreciated now, was a major advance in gear at the time - again, 1987.  I was there.  You had the crummy Roland, Ensoniq, Korg and Akai, the eye-wateringly expensive Series III, the beyond-reach Waveterm, and, then, before the EIII - the Emax - an affordable EII.  What magic it was playing around with the Emax at the dealer, that summer.  The look was like no other sampler, the sound of the analog filters warmly swirling that digital source.  Oh Yeah.   

I still have that Emax, in like new condition, a time capsule of sorts.  Like someone who bought their car new, I guess I take special care of it, and (to use the analogy) don't do burnouts in it. This in contrast to a 2nd, 3rd or 4th owner who paid greatly depreciated value for it and consequently just "wrenches on it in the backyard."  Being an original owner, I still "take mine to the dealer."  Yes I guess I'm talking about both cars and Emaxes.

Again, to each their own, just my opinion.  Thanks again to everyone who posts here, good bad and ugly - it is such a valuable resource and I can't thank all of you enough.  Keep posting!  Long live EMAX.  


--- In emax@yahoogroups.com, "jammie" <jammie.emma@...> wrote:
>
> i spoke to jd and he said that he did not want to do business with you that is why he refunded your money when you paid by paypal 
> 
> jd is very reasonable in costs as he is a business seller and has to make a living 
> 
> if you can get it cheaper then get it cheaper by all means but it is not nice slagging people off and saying that they are making a masive mark up is not correct
> 
> he could make a massive mark but does not 
> 
> now the scsi to ide cards he could sell the same as other stockest which is $100-120 this is just for the cards with out the cfcard adapter  he sells them for $89
> 
> the mcdisk1 now i tried buying from the manufacturer they are £550 per drive and you have to have a minimum order of 100 now scsiforsamplers was selling them for $250 thats very cheap compared to the manufacturer
> 
> but its not nice to rubbish some one and there reputation as a company and jd always replaces damaged goods as long as they are damaged by manufactur basis and not by the person installing it he get you to send it back to him where he will send you another 
> 
> now if you can do better i would surgest that you do your own company to sell these drives
> 
> the saying goes you can keep most people happy most of the time but some peolple happy only some of the time
> 
> alll i say to you when you brought from scsiforsamplers for you spyrus drive did it work did you have problems from jd if not htne you should go by this 
> 
> and telling people to not to buy from him is illegal and he can sue you for deformation of character if you are not happy then air your views to him and the other person who has problems and not spreed rubbish about people
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Julian 
>   To: emax@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:28 AM
>   Subject: Re: [emax] WARNING: scsiforsamplers.com
> 
> 
>     
>   hey jammie - did you get in touch with JD?
> 
>   further weirdness has evolved in relation to scsiforsamplers.com
> 
>   http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/415880-hardware-samplers-scsi-hard-drives.html
> 
>   seems that without paypal protection, someone in italy was sold an "as
>   is" drive, after being redirected from a sale through
>   scsiforsamplers.com, by scsiforsamplers.com to an "associate" of
>   scsiforsamplers.com.... called JD... (you know - same name as the guy
>   that everyone who deals with scsiforsamplers.com actually deals
>   with......) and this drive arrived in a non-operational state.
> 
>   now I don't know about anyone else, but when I read something is being
>   sold "as is" I assume it to mean "this works, but there's no warranty"
>   if you know something is broken, then you would sell it "broken, as is"
>   and I don't understand how, that at the markup scsiforsamplers.com sells
>   things, the drives are not ALL checked, and their working status is
>   confirmed or not, as soon as they arrive in store.... which leads to a
>   very bad assumption on the character of whoever is doing this...
> 
>   anyway - like I already said.. massive uncharacteristic weirdness is
>   going on here with scsiforsamplers.com - be extra careful of anything
>   they (or an associate of them that you might normally believe is acting
>   on their behalf) tries to offer you something to buy "as is" through an
>   untraceable payment system - because it looks like the trick is to get
>   people to buy something broken with no warranty, and then use the "no
>   warranty" as an escape clause for selling broken gear in the first
>   place..
> 
>   and THEN on top of everything else, when their victim talks about it on
>   line, to go and email the victim, threatening a defamation suit!
> 
>   so - unless some massive explaining gets done, I'd recommend that nobody
>   buy from scsiforsamplers.com without the protection of paypal. if
>   they're interested in dealing with a company that can allow this sort of
>   behaviour at all....
> 
>   julian
> 
>   -- 
>   http://bleepin.com
> 
>   -- 
>   http://www.fastmail.fm - Send your email first class
> 
> 
> 
>   
> 
> 
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