What are you using your Atari for?

[Neo-Classical Guitar Man]

Yes the same applies to me, I had to be brutally honest with myself and ask if I REALLY needed it. Back in early 2000 I became even more interested in my Atari STE than I had EVER been in all the previous years. So I was drawing up lists of hardware upgrades for it, including hard drives, CD-ROM writer, SCSI adapter and a modem to get me on the internet, which had started to really get going. One of my friends had moved over to the desktop PC solution, and had stopped using his Atari and 300MB hard drive. I asked him if he would sell the hard drive to me, but he plain refused which confused me as I was not expecting his response. He then advised me not to waste my time and money on upgrading my STE machine, and so feeling a little dejected I stopped using it and put it into storage for the next eight years. I then began the very long and difficult journey with desktop PC music setups, which I finally solved in late 2012, early 2013.

However back in late 2008 I was on Ebay and saw a listing for two 4MB STE machines, one with an internal IDE interface, external floppy drive, 4160 metal badges and more. So I won the auction for a mere £74 and collected it all one even from a seller in Barnsley. The STE with the IDE drive became my absolute favourite computer, even more so than the two Falcons 030 and MEGE STE I later had. Anyway this started the whole obsessional buying of Atari hardware for the next four to five years. The remaining obsessional behaviour remaining is my addiction to the internet! I have lost sixteen years of my life to that, with very little to show for it. Wish me luck!

[David Etheridge]

Hi folks,
I've been rather quiet over the last three years, as my studio and Ataris have all been boxed up and have been sitting in the garage. A VERY nasty divorce and financial settlement (still to be resolved) has meant that I haven't had any premises to get it all set up again.
However, when the dust settles and I move house, my intention is to get it back up and running and even try expanding my studio still using 30 year old technology.
I'll post here when it happens!

Best wishes,
David.

[fatbenelton]

Sorry to hear that Dave. I hope you and the Atari's get settled soon!

All the best

J

[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?