Using fast memory cards?

[AmineX-Inc@live.jp]

Currently am using an old 256 card which is very slow, can I use an a fast SD card whith an adapter?

[Credo]

Currently am using an old 256 card which is very slow, can I use an a fast SD card whith an adapter?

The official scoop from the FAQ here at Roland Clan is as follows:
1.2 What sort of a storage card should I buy for my Fantom-X?

The Fantom-X series has a type II PCMCIA slot to accept memory cards. Whilst you can buy PCMCIA memory cards, they are both very rare and very expensive. The recommended solution is to buy a "PCMCIA to Compact Flash" adaptor plus a Compact Flash memory card of suitable size. Roland officially guarantees memory cards up to 1 GB to work with the Fantom, however, up to 2.2 GB Compact Flash form factor Microdrives are reported to work well.

The following adaptor and Compact Flash cards are known to work:

Kingston CF memory card and adaptor: http://www.kingston.com/digitalmedia/cf_standard.asp
Viking CF memory card: http://www.vikinginterworks.com/products/compact.asp
PNY CF memory card: http://www.pny.com/products/flash/compactflash.asp

I don't know the max data-transfer rates of the Roland hardware in question, so it's hard to say how much of performance increase faster Flash media will offer. What I do know is that Rev 6 CF Type I media usually has a top transfer speed of around 200 Mbytes/s. It'll be difficult if not impossible for a Fantom to work any faster than than the fastest Rev 6 CF cards on the market.

Sadly I have no idea what the latest PIO mode a Fantom can support is. You can find fast CF cards (Rev 6) that will do UDMA7 speeds up to 167 MByte/s. These cards are usually backward compatable with older revision cards (systems just think they are IDE drives and they simply work).

CFast media can do up to 600 MByte/s, but I doubt very seriously these will work in Fantom without a very special adapter (more like an SD adapter), so avoid these if you go Compact Flash type I.

As for adapters from SD and other media types into PCMCIA, it shouldn't hurt to try and wouldn't be terribly expensive these days to take for a test drive, but from what I am seeing via web searches people have varying results. Note, you'll still most likely be limited to transfer speeds 200Mbytes/s or less, even with far faster cards.

It should work if the adapter is truly built to full PCMCIA standards but adapters makers often assume that everyone is using Windows or Mac, and take short-cuts by requiring special software drivers, which only support the bare minimum serial transfer methods (SATA rather than PATA) supported by the media while ignoring all the true IDE PIO modes.

I did a quick web search and found some discussions on using SD media with Fantoms:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7471

Just one thread of many on various forums, so spend a little time with your favorite web search engine and you might find specific models and brands 'known to work'.

Good luck,
Credo

[madbrain]

A fast card will be a complete waste of money . At least with my XR, the Fantom XR itself is the limiting factor.
I have determined that it loads samples at a rate of about 600 KBytes/s (not a typo).

This is with an SD to PCMCIA adapter and various SD cards of 512MB, 1GB and 2GB capacity.

If you must buy a new card, buy a large one so you can have many samples. Don't waste money on a fast one.

And don't buy one >2GB .

[madbrain]

FYI I determined the read speed by mounting both the internal memory and the SD card on my computer over USB, and benchmarking the drive. The read speed is actually exactly 512KB/s for both. It's not going to go any faster with a fast card or card reader.

[LesliesTube]

After reading this thread and many others about memory cards...
If I get you right, SD Cards are slightly faster than CF Cards?
If so, what adaptor and what cards are recommended and known for their reliabilty and read\write speed?