What are you using your Atari for?

[Eazy360]

I think it's important to separate i`Atari´ the brand, and the company carrying the Atari name. With that being said...the Atari brand is beloved and has incredibly high nostalgia and attachment among-st all children of the 80s

[David Etheridge]

And I'm back again!
After nearly six years in store, the entire studio is back in a new premises and it's gradually being re-commissioned. Guess what? The Ataris fired up first time with no problems, although one of my Syquest drives has thrown a wobbly and will need to be replaced - no matter, I have three spares and an EZflyer to replace it
Synthwise, I'm still expanding. It looks like it'll total out at 28 synths and modules, with recent acquisitions of a Korg 01W and an X5DR (if they're good enough for Rick Wakeman.....) and I have my eyes on a future XV5080 for more soundtrack work. My humble Fostex 80 is in for an MOT and an oil change (it's first since 1986!) and even my Sony PCM/Betamax mastering set up is fine. Most of the synths are fine although one or two needed new batteries and a couple of backlights, but with luck this studio of mine will last another 30 years.
The biggest problem of all is re-allocating MIDI channels to the various synths. Some of them will only work on all 16 channels, and you can't turn them off (particularly my little monster, a Ketron SD2, the smallest module but in its own way astonishing for its size and power). Still I have 96 MIDI channels to play with, and I haven't even investigated the possibility of slaving two Ataris together with Notator!

[muzines]

Welcome back, David!

[ManFromGlass]

I keep reminding myself to buy an Atari t-shirt like the youngsters wear. That’s enough reminder of all the fun and a tiny bit of frustration that were the Atari days. Still amazed at the pieces I was able to write on it back then, all synced to video.

[The Elf]

I've got an XV-5080 here , stuffed with expansions, looking for a new home. Drop me a PM if you want to discuss, mate. Be quick, though - it's just gone auction-ward!

(Good to see you here!)

[Folderol]

Welcome back

Oh, and similarly, seeing as you're using an open-reel taperecorder, would you be interested in a UHER Report Monitor, the needs new rewind belts, but otherwise seems to be fine?

[Martin Walker]

Welcome back David - you seem to be being deluged with potential gifts, so I've got a spare battery you can have if you're interested

Martin

[Folderol]

Gone very quiet here
Although not an Atari owner myself, I always like to hear about what folks are doing with them.

[ManFromGlass]

I’m curious too due to the good memories. Sold mine years ago. Created some fun tracks with it, mostly for modern dance companies. I do remember dragging it samplers and synths into a studio a number of times. I can’t imagine bringing my tower to a studio now, not that I’m weak but I’m not that strong!

[alexpop]

Got two Ste‘s one is 4MB, not sure what the other one is can’t determine the ram. Ironically the 4MB STe disc drive started playing up, ie not working ( both Ataris I bought just over 10 years ago ..cheap then) so I had to dig the other Atari out not used for a decade and it fired up no probs. With Unitor I’m managing to run a Roland /Micro Korg .. and a Casio WK - not much overflow ( if any) with the Emagic Notator 3.21. With the lockdown bla bla bla .. it’s been great fun tarting up old songs. Need more gear though.

[David Etheridge]

Alex - need more gear? Everyone knows that you can NEVER have too many synths/samplers/fx/ etc ad nauseam..

[alexpop]

Alex - need more gear? Everyone knows that you can NEVER have too many synths/samplers/fx/ etc ad nauseam..

Hi David,

NEVER have”?

True dat.

Fun working on old songs. Ironically I’ve not written any new stuff, just rearranging old songs tempo change, groove mode etc with Notator SL 3.21...never ends the endless creativity loop.
Keeps you busy I guess. But, new gear? Always on the lookout.

Best wishes,
Alex

[The Korff]

There's some fine Atari (and Amiga) action in our latest SOS Feature Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDn7ZDcx9w0

[Chromeman]

I've been using my Atari for 6 months now (last used in 1996). It powered up without a fuss after 24 years in the loft - and seems to work perfectly. I currently use it with Notator and Maschine Studio hardware to sequence drums - it's far quicker than using Maschine's awful arrange mode and despite all the power of modern DAWs I can create everything so much more quickly on the Atari even though I've used Logic and PT for years.

[peredur]

I have a friend who is a dyed in the wool Atari user. Up until recently, he has been happily transferring files by formatting the FD in his PC and inserting that into the Atari. Suddenly he the PC drive does not want to know, and if he uses FD which is already formatted then the PC will not read it after it has been in the Atari.

Does anyone have any ideas which might help?

TIA

[Eddy Deegan]

I have a friend who is a dyed in the wool Atari user. Up until recently, he has been happily transferring files by formatting the FD in his PC and inserting that into the Atari. Suddenly he the PC drive does not want to know, and if he uses FD which is already formatted then the PC will not read it after it has been in the Atari.

Does anyone have any ideas which might help?

TIA

A PC can't read an Atari-formatted disk, but a stock Atari ST with a double density '1 meg' floppy can read a PC-formatted disk if it's formatted as a 720k volume.

There are utilities for the Atari that will convert an ST-formatted floppy to 'DOS' format, which can be read by a PC, as well as utilities that will format a floppy to standard PC format but I'm afraid it's been too long for me to remember any names. A few google searches should help there.

He's probably using a floppy formatted on the ST instead of one formatted on the PC. Assuming he has a DD drive in the ST, if he formats a 720k disk on the PC and then uses the Atari to copy the files from the floppy that the PC won't read onto that PC-formatted disk, it should work OK.

[johnny h]

Is anyone still using an Atari for making music on a regular basis?

[timewind]

I just bought MiSTer and started playing with Pro-24 and Cubase. I've never had Atari before so it's a completely new experience for me.