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piper_flatline

Posted Wed Nov 21, 2018 1:49 pm

Shot97 wrote:Well, as someone who has made a full 40+ minute, 13 track album of 100% Amiga recorded music (and currently working on a followup), I can speak from experience with my GVP 4gb hard drive setup. Footprint is smaller than an actual music keyboard, and is attached snuggly.
Hell yeah. Listening now.

Have you taken this setup out to any gigs? I'm just kind of worried about jostling the hard drive, etc.

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Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:08 pm

Never, I just tinker around at home, proud ameture. If I can ever get out to a Commodore user group, might use that as an excuse to play something live, though. I can't say I've ever accidentally had the drive dislodge itself. It's snug, though not attached by anything other than the circuit boards. It's weighty enough that it shouldn't move, and I used to have that thing nearly hanging off a small metal table that only fit my 500 comfortably. Attaching the hard drive meant it literally had 85% of the unit in the air, and it never had issues like that, though I've gotten a hold of a proper wood desk that fits it all wonderfully now.

Inside of the GVP unit itself, the drive is super sturdy, long lasting SCSII. I want to say there's an episode of the Computer Chronicles out there showing off someone's old setup from back in the day with a hard drive, and he took it to gigs. I mean I can appreciate and understand the concern in a live scenario, but as long as you plan the setup and location well, I imagine it would be fine. On that same wobbly old setup of mine where the drive was hanging in the air, I had the Amiga running 4 days straight to transfer files via a null modem cable. I was always scared of how I used to have that thing placed, but it surprised me with working so well in that situation.

I think I'd be more concerned with the treatment of the computer after the gig, if other people are involved in transportation, like roadies. I'd have a firm talk with them. Ultimately whatever sounds the best for you, I don't like to steer people toward solutions as much as make sure they're not afraid of them. In my experience looking this stuff up, too many are afraid of the real drives. Choose something because it sounds good to you, not because you've been made to be afraid of something else. The GVP unit itself, pricey but not unreasonable these days. SCSII drives that have been guaranteed to work from the seller? 20 dollars. Newer SCSII drives might need an adapter, which I covered in my guide, but those are only 10 dollars. I'd be no more concerned with an attached GVP drive at a gig as I would about having the real Amiga itself there.

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femuruy

Posted Thu Nov 22, 2018 2:02 am

Hi, the ACA500+ is a fantastic piece of kit (i have one working stable at 40 mhz!) , if you check icomp's site you will see the ACA is going to be restocked in the next days in time for xmass ...

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piper_flatline

Posted Thu Nov 22, 2018 10:53 am

femuruy wrote:Hi, the ACA500+ is a fantastic piece of kit (i have one working stable at 40 mhz!) , if you check icomp's site you will see the ACA is going to be restocked in the next days in time for xmass ...
Glad to hear you like it. I've been watching their site for pre-orders to open. :)

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piper_flatline

Posted Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:20 am

Just got the email they sent out 25 minutes ago saying ACA500Plus preorders were open, so BOOM I pulled the trigger and got mine. Can't wait!

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm still interested in the old-school SCSI GVP setup, and might pick one of those up for a second A500, but I couldn't pass up the chance for the ACA500Plus after reading more about it and watching some videos. Wicked.

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McTrinsic

Posted Fri Nov 23, 2018 7:52 am

Make sure you also get one of the new Indivision ECS v2 units. :)

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piper_flatline

Posted Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:25 am

McTrinsic wrote:Make sure you also get one of the new Indivision ECS v2 units. :)
I've thought about it but I have my Amiga hooked up to a CRT monitor (Sony PVM) right now so it's not really a necessity. If I wanted to hook it up to a more modern monitor, is the Indivision the way to go, then?

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Nov 23, 2018 2:25 pm

IMO not really unless you plan on pimping out your Workbench someday and using software in hi-res modes.

If you mainly want to get your nostalgic fix, you are totally set with that Sony monitor.

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piper_flatline

Posted Fri Nov 23, 2018 5:24 pm

intric8 wrote:IMO not really unless you plan on pimping out your Workbench someday and using software in hi-res modes.

If you mainly want to get your nostalgic fix, you are totally set with that Sony monitor.
I've been flirting with the idea of putting an A500 or A600 mobo into an alternate case with a screen attached, so if I go down that road I'll likely look into flicker fixers/scan doublers then.





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