Hello everybody.

This is the story of how I made my SY85 happy with the addition of a modern Sony drive when the "belt" gave up on me. During the last few weeks we started a discussion at www.yamahaforums.co.uk about replacing a non-working floppy drive in a Yamaha SY85 synthesizer. Out of necessity (my drive stopped working) I asked some questions and eventually I ended up with a cheap adapter that works fine so far. The link is listed below but I decided to start a thread with additional details on this forum since not everyone checks both sites: http://www.yamahaforums.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=4181 The process begun by opening the SY85 and making a crude adapter out of a ZIF 24pin connector and an IDC 34-pin connector attached to a Sony MPF920 1.44MB floppy drive. I chose that particular drive not only because I had a couple of them available but also because technically it is supposed to be the only drive with the most advanced firmware in the market today. That means that the drive can be adapted to various environments, hosts, configurations, operating systems, etc. The official link of the latest version (Sony MPF920Z) is currently here: http://sony.storagesupport.com/product/192 You can download some files with technical details if you wish but nothing really special. Please note that I used model MPF920; not MPF920-1, MPF920Z or other similar. Hence all the information presented below is tested with the MPF920 only. You can try with some other model, maker, etc if you wish but you may or may not get good results. The manufacture date of the drive that I used was June 2006. This picture shows the original setup with a new Sony drive on the side of the SY85 and some connectors and cables between the two devices:

I used a few color-coded clips to change and/or measure various logic levels with my multi-meter and at some point near the end of the project I added a switch. It is shown disconnected on top of the SY85. This particular synthesizer along with the W7, EX5R, QY700, QS300, PSR7000, PSR8000, and others use different versions of the Hitachi HD63266F floppy drive controller. The HD63266F can be made to function with 24-pin 720kB MSX-type drives (SY85, W7) or with 34-pin 1.44MB PC-type drives such as those used in modern Yamaha instruments. Casio, E-mu, Hammond and other manufacturers also use the same floppy controller chip and normally that would make locating technical documents for it an easy task. That was not the reality I faced in over 4 days of extensive web searching. I did find that there are at least 3 configurations of the HD63266F used by the different musical instrument vendors but I was not able to find any extensive literature of that particular chip. There is a 3-page pdf document available in some of the few links that google comes up with but that file only lists the pins and their functions. No timing diagrams were available. I needed those diagrams because though I was able to match most pins between the SY85 and the MPF920 I had problems with two signals: /DCHG (disk change) and /READY (drive ready). The "/" in front of the abbreviation signifies that the signal becomes active with a logic "0"; it corresponds to 0V. If you apply 5V (logic "1") the signal becomes inactive. With devices like floppy drives it is also important to know

when to apply the proper signals. It is called sequential logic, in contrast to combinational logic. I won't go into more details here but google can be your friend. Since google was my friend after many days it found a link about the HD63265 floppy controller, a predecessor to the one I was searching for. I guess that google was not that much of a good friend of mine after all but anyway... The detailed pdf document of the HD63265 told me that the /READY signal had to become active within a second or less AFTER the drive's motor had been activated and AFTER the "drive select" signal had also been activated. That's where I used the switch mentioned above. The SY85 would give the order to the drive to start rotating but without the proper /READY signal it would stop and the "drive not ready, hit exit" message would appear on the screen. Attaching switches to the synthesizer was not something I liked. A switch meant that both hands had to be used: one to press a button on the SY85 giving the command to start a drive operation and the other to flip the switch. I needed something else: a delay circuit. But that would also mean more time to develop one with an RC (resistive capacitive) network of some kind. The 555 timer chip is helpful in those instances. However after almost a week of dealing with the SY85 and its drive I was sick and tired of it, just about ready to give up and I had no intention to develop delay circuits or anything. While I was fiddling for the last time with the wires and clips and I was pressing various buttons on the SY85 the format process went through perfectly. I made a few more tries to replicate the "accident" and that told me a different story: the /READY signal did not have to follow exactly the order shown in the document I had downloaded. I just needed to make it active ALONG with the activation of the drive's motor. Hence I connected the two signals together and suddenly the SY85 had found its match; the Sony and the SY85 became buddies and lived happily ever after. I did the dance of success and happiness and then went back to building an adapter with whatever parts I had available in my workshop. I used a piece of a generic PC board (Radio Shack #276-147), a 34-pin double male header, a Molex 24-pin ZIF connector (Mouser #538-39-51-3243, end of life item), a 2200 ohm resistor (0.25W), an electrolytic capacitor 220uF/16V (not required but I was picky), a floppy drive power connector with pins, about 12 inches of red/black wire for the floppy power connector, some 20-gauge wire for PCB component connections, two IDC 34-pin connectors and about 14 inches of 34-wire ribbon cable: MATERIALES: TABLA FENOLICA PERFORADA CABLE RIBON DE 34 PIN CON CONECTORES IDC(14 PULG DE LARGO) 34-pin double male header a Molex 24-pin ZIF connector (Mouser #538-39-51-3243, end of life item) a 2200 ohm resistor (0.25W) an electrolytic capacitor 220uF/16V (not required but I was picky)

some 20-gauge wire for PCB component connections a floppy drive power connector with pins

Arrow "A" shows a long hole that I opened on the PC board in order to position the ZIF connector properly. The hole is not straight because my drill was going too fast at 10000rpm and I missed a point there. The ZIF connector's two rows of pins are shifted against each other and hence only one row can be soldered on the board. Arrow "B" shows the resistor, "C" shows the electrolytic capacitor, "D" shows pin 1 of the header and yellow arrow "E" shows pin 2 of the header. A small black mark was made in the middle of the header in order to match it to the notch of the IDC connector. Arrow "F" shows pin 2 and arrow "G" shows pin 1 of the ZIF connector for reference. This connector (after the installation) has all of its contacts on top. Hence the flat cable

from the SY85 must be positioned with its contacts facing up. Nothing will happen if you put it in the other way around. You will know that your drive is connected because its light will be on all the time. The light is brighter when the drive is working. The 34-wire ribbon cable and the two IDC connectors should also be matched accordingly. One side of the IDC connector futures a small arrow that points to pin 1. The wire with the red stripe must go to this pin on both IDC connectors. A special tool is needed in order to make that cable with the two connectors. If you try a pair of pliers most likely you will brake something. Here is what the IDC tool (costs about $15 in the USA) looks like:

The following table shows the detailed connections between the SY85 and the Sony drive:

The next picture shows the adapter mounted on the drive's cover with 4 metal posts and some screws. Special care was taken to ensure that the screws were of proper length so as not to interfere with the drive that mounts below the cover.

Finally the adapter and the drive were mounted inside the SY85. The 34-wire cable was folded nicely underneath the drive and the SY85 ribbon cable had to be folded differently than before. I added some duct tape in the opening of the SY85 chassis because the original tape needed reinforcement. I did not like the 24-wire ribbon cable touching the bare metal.

So, that's all. The synth is back in business and shines with a new drive and its blue display. That, as you may recall, was another one of my modifications posted somewhere around here. If you click on the yamahaforums.co.uk link that I included earlier on this post you will read that a W7 owner who tried to help me with my project has promised to adapt his W7-to-Sony adapter and offer it for free to SY85 owners that know how to solder PCBs. So check it out.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year. DrF