Dan Nigrin said on 26/08/13 20:31:

>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm new to the group – my name is Dan Nigrin, and in the past I've
> successfully developed software for the Roland MC-202 and MC-4
> sequencers that interfaces with them via their cassette interfaces.
> This allows for converting MIDI sequences into the the tape "squelch"
> required to program their sequencers.
>
> I'm now attempting to do the same thing for the Oberheim DSX. Doing so
> requires analyzing potentially hundreds of tape dumps of existing DSX
> sequences, in order to reverse engineer the DSX tape save format. I am
> not a DSX owner, so I am seeking out interested DSX owners to help wit h
> the cause. (I used the same approach to figure out the Roland MC-4
> format, and it worked quite well – in fact to this day, I have never
> seen nor touched an MC-4!).
>
> If I'm successful, it will mean that you will be able to convert MIDI
> sequences to DSX format, and furthermore, you'll be able to use your DSX
> as an 8 channel CV sequencer, WITHOUT having to use it with an Oberheim
> keyboard.
>
> If interested, please contact me privately, and I'll give you more
> details of what I need.
>
> Thanks!
> Dan
>

Hi Dan,

Really impressed with your work on the Roland MC tape formats, and I
wish you every success with the Oberheim DSX one. I don't own a DSX,
but your attempts to contact the guy who implemented it reminds me of a
similar experience I had a few years ago. At the time I owned an E-mu
SP-12, and I wanted to write a sample librarian for it. It implemented
a sample dump, but it pre-dated the MIDI Sample Dump Standard. As with
the E-mu Drumulator - which originally featured a serial interface that
was almost like MIDI but not quite - the SP-12 had a sample dump format
that was based on early drafts of the standard. The guy who had written
the firmware was impossible to reach, and hadn't left any documentation
behind when he left E-mu! Somewhat off topic, and I hope your quest is
a little more fruitful :-)

Regards,

Chris