by Joe Waters

Where's the Floppy Disk?

The PSR-3000 has a number of innovations and one of the first things you will notice is that there is no floppy disk drive! Instead, if you look closely under the keys, just a little left of center, you'll see the SmartMedia card slot. This is much smaller than the typical floppy drive and is where you can place an "optional" SmartMedia card. But you do not get a SmartMedia card with the PSR-3000. If you want one, you'll have to go buy one. But what, exactly is a SmartMedia card and how will that help you get files from your PC to your keyboard? In this lesson, we'll take a look at flash memory, which is what this SmartMedia card uses and some of the other options you have for portable storage via the USB port on the back of the PSR-3000.

Flash Memory

Every computer needs chips that can store information that the computer needs to work. Even if you're not a computer guru, you've undoubtedly heard of terms like RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read-only Memory). Information is stored in ROM permanently. This is where the PSR-3000 can store the preset styles and voices. RAM memory modules can hold information temporarily, but the information is lost when power is turned off. Flash memory will store user information and retain that information even if the power is turned off. Flash memory is considered a solid state storage device, which means that there are no moving parts -- everything is electronic instead of mechanical. Your floppy disk stores information, just as the hard drive does in your PC, but these rely on mechanical drives to spin the disc and read the information encoded on it. Some examples of Flash memory would be your computer's BIOS chip; CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Memory Stick (these three most often used in digital cameras); PCMCIA Type I and Type II memory cards, which serve as solid state disks in laptop computers; and memory cards for video game consoles. If you are interested in just how flash memory works, you'll find an article explaining this at the howstuffworks website. Much of the information provided here was taken from articles at that site.

Removable Flash Memory Cards

With the growing popularity or digital cameras, removable solid-state storage devices have become increasingly popular, particularly since the growth of the digital camera market has led to economies of scale that allow these devices to produced at reasonable prices. SmartMedia and CompactFlash cards are both well-known and, since they are used as electronic film for digital cameras, you can find them wherever digital cameras are sold. Other flash memory products would include Sony's Memory Stick and the PCMCIA memory cards.

Yamaha has tapped into this market and chosen the SmartMedia card as the device to use in your PSR for storing information, lots of information. The Tyros has an optional hard drive that can be installed to store lots of information. There are several reasons, however, why one would want to use a flash memory storage device instead of a hard drive: flash memory is noiseless; it allows faster access; it is smaller in size; it is lighter; and it has no moving parts. So why don't PC manufacturers just get rid of hard drives and use flash memory drives? Because the cost per megabyte for a hard disk is very much cheaper and the capacity of hard drives is much larger than the largest flash memory cards. But your need for storage on the PSR-3000 is no where near what you might want on your PC and, since keyboards are often moved around a lot (from gig to gig), using a solid-state device for storage instead of a mechanical drive, may be the optimal solution.

SmartMedia

The SmartMedia card -- also known as a solid-state floppy-disk card (SSFDC) -- was originally developed by Toshiba. You can find them in 32 MB, 64 MB, or 128 MB capacities. There are smaller capacities as well, but they may not be easy to find. Whichever capacity you select, it is delivered in a plastic card that is very small, about 1 3/4" long and 1 1/2" wide (45 mm long, 37 mm wide and less than 1 mm thick). Imagine, this tiny card, in its 128 MB capacity, can hold as much information as you stored on 90 floppy disks!

Both power and data are carried by an electrode on the outside of the card to the Flash-memory chip when the card is inserted into a device. A notched corner indicates the power requirements of the SmartMedia card. Looking at the card with the electrode facing up, if the notch is on the left side, the card needs 5 volts. If the notch is on the right side, it requires 3.3 volts. The 5 volt version is not compatible with the PSR-3000. Look for the 3.3 version (3V). Also make sure that the card is compatible with the SSFDC Forum standard.

While Toshiba may have created the SmartMedia card, it is manufactured by a number of companies. Some of the available variety are shown below:

The SmartMedia card will function just like your floppy disk did. You can write files to the card, read files from the card and erase files from the card. But the card operates much faster than a floppy disk and provides fast, reliable performance. SmartMedia cards are small, lightweight and easy to use. BUT, they are less rugged than other forms of removable solid-state storage, so you should be very careful when handling and storing them.

CompactFlash

The PSR does not have a card slot for a CompactFlash card, but, via the USB port, you could also use this type of card for your storage so let's take a quick look at it and how it differs from SmartMedia CompactFlash cards were developed by SanDisk in 1994, and they are different from SmartMedia cards in two important ways: they are thicker and they utilize a controller chip.
CompactFlash consists of a small circuit board with Flash-memory chips and a dedicated controller chip, all encased in a rugged shell that is several times thicker than a SmartMedia card. CompactFlash cards are just a bit smaller than SmartMedia cards (43 mm wide and 36 mm long) and come in two thicknesses: Type I (3.3 mm), and Type II (5.5 mm). They support dual voltage and will operate at either 3.3 volts or 5 volts. The increased thickness of the card allows for greater storage capacity than SmartMedia cards. CompactFlash sizes range from 8 MB to 6 GB. The onboard controller can increase performance, particularly on devices that have slow processors. The case and controller chip add size, weight and complexity to the CompactFlash card when compared to the SmartMedia card.

Memory Standards

Both SmartMedia and CompactFlash adhere to standards developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). Because of these standards, it is easy to use CompactFlash and SmartMedia products in a variety of devices. Thus, the SmartMedia card that you use in the PSR-3000 could also be used in a digital camera or in your PC. You can buy adapters that allow you to access these cards through a standard floppy drive, USB port or PCMCIA card slot (on a laptop computer). By purchasing an appropriate adapter, you can use the SmartMedia card on your PC as well as on your PSR-3000. This is how you could transfer data from the PC to the Card and then take the Card and put it in your keyboard. But remember that caution about SmartMedia cards being relatively delicate. It's not clear that they can stand up to a lot of handling. But you do have additional options for storage devices you can use on your PSR-3000 because of the USB port on the back of the keyboard. To understand these options, the next lesson will take a look at USB and what it is all about.

 
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