Akai MD280 won't complete write function

Synth Repair
1

Dear Forum,

I have an Akai S612 that works great. The accompanying MD280 won’t complete the write function. I’ve pulled it apart: the felt pad looks new and the belt is good. When I hit save it spins into position and then just stops. I bought a bunch of 2nd hand Smith Corona discs that have been written on, the tabs are not broken so I assume they should just write over the old data?

Any help? Thanks!

2

Here’s a response from Dani Wilson of Hideaway Studio, who sell an XD-280 setup ($245 shipped) to replace that QuikDisk drive:

'Frankly those MD-280 drives are not worth fixing… they are a nightmare of alignment and inter-operability issues.

Once you’ve used the XD-280 you’ll never want to go back and you can send your samples over email.

Now 100 new sample disks in the XD-280 library to be bundled with the drives.’

This is a brand-new product, not yet on their site, but further info is here: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1278701-introducing-xd-280-disk-emulator-akai-s612.html

And let me testify personally that the products I have gotten from Hideaway are super well-made.

3

Thanks for the reply and info. Considering that I paid $100 for both the S612 and the MD280, I would have to think long and hard about dropping $245 for memory. Cool unit though!