What IS VirDIS®?
VirDIS®, from Advanced
Storage Concepts, Inc., is a hardware/software solution that can transfer a
recorder’s content onto a Windows-based PC.
{Other platforms will be added with the release of VirDIS-2.} With the free
included 'VS Wave Export' utility can open VirDIS image files and all the
tracks of songs/projects can then be exported to WAV files. The included SCSI cable and ASC Target SCSI (PCI or PCI Express) adapter serve as the portal into the PC – and beyond.
How does it work?
VirDIS® fools the recorder
into thinking there is a Hard Disk and/or CD-R attached to the (provided) SCSI
cable. It does this by emulating a these
devices on ASC’s PC-based hardware/software platform (cable and PCI/PCI Express board
included). Once a VirDIS file (disk
image) is formatted by the recorder, it can be seen by the recorder (Project
List on the Roland VS-2480) as a 'blank' drive of whatever size the user has
specified e.g. up to the Roland partition size of 11 Gigabytes. One can then copy one song/project to
this VirDIS file or all the songs/projects of that Roland
partition. This automatically gets all
your content onto the PC and also provides a replacement in case your
recorder's IDE drive decides to pack it in.
We also include VS Wave Export, a free utility, which allows all the
tracks of a song/project to be exported to WAV files for using them in other
tools.
Much more than a backup tool!
But VirDIS® isn’t just a
transfer program or backup tool! It can serve as your default or
replacement (in case of failure) drive for your internal Roland IDE
drive. So you can have some projects on the IDE and some (or all)
residing on the PC for interactive use. That means you can move
song/project files to the PC and work with them there. The recorder will remember that it was working on a
file located on the SCSI cable and open it up at boot time. From that point on the recorder is basically
directly connected to the PC! You can
also record to it and do playbacks - with your content never leaving the PC.
VirDIS files make
archiving your work a breeze, since are just that – files. They are ordinary files on your PC and can be
copied anywhere. Indeed it can exist
anywhere too - like on a USB stick, external HD or even on a network drive. So you automatically have all sorts of backup
and archiving choices and never have to lose any content ever again!
