GaiaUsers.com

The USB port is rather annoying. Takes me some time to figure out where to plug in the stick, because the port is on the back of the Gaia - and I'm in front of it. Sometimes I even get a small electric shock. Which is OK for me but I care for my synth.

Today I found a nice peace of hardware. Since I live in Germany, the link directs to a german website (Conrad Electronc), but you can check out the picture: It's a 4 way switchable USB hub:

http://www.conrad.de/ce/ProductDetail.html?hk=WW4&insert=V0&WT.mc_id=Froog&productcode=973813&utm_source=google&utm_medium=deeplink&utm_content=dl_article&utm_campaign=g_shopping

I'm sure you'll be able to find something similar somewhere in your country or on the net.
Works quite good and needs no external power. Just make sure you turn off the active USB stick before you switch to another one. Sometimes the hub acts kinda weird if turn on multiple sticks.

Apart from that little problem it works excellent.. You can load the patches and data dumps and even use the USB patch feature.

Price is 15 EUR, about 20 USD. I'm using 1 GB Transcend USB sticks.

I use a USB extension wire. Then keep that permanently plugged in to the usb socket on the back of the Gaia.

Whenever I wish to change over usb stick I switch the USB MEMORY patch button off and replace the stick for a different one.
Leave it for a few seconds for GAIA to read the new stick.
Switch the USB MEMORY patch button on and use the new patches.

In the same way that you are using your switch box, which is a great idea incidentally. Basically, by doing this it isn't wearing out the usb socket on the back of the Gaia.

I also wrap different coloured electrical tape around each stick so I know which one I am using.

Multi flash drives, why didn't I think of that!

I use a single flash drive plugged into the back of the Gaia.
I have one folder named ROLAND, which is the current patch (that the Gaia will see when plugged in)
I have a bunch of other folders named ROLAND_FISHER, ROLAND_ROB etc that the Gaia won't see.

If I want to use one of these patches, I have the plug the usb in my computer and rename the folders accordingly.
It's a little confusing remembering the name of the current patch bank, so I put a txt file in the folder with the name of the patch so i don't forget when renaming.

Easy. HAHAHA

Amazing! Some great ideas here!!

I got some 1GB usb keys for $2 each from an Office Depot clearance bin, so I've being doing the swap thing. It feels really wasteful, because the whole 64-patch file takes up less than 1/1000 of a 1GB key. Surely it wouldn't take a programming genius at Roland to figure out a way to do a "super bank select" and store multiple banks on 1 key. Hell, I'd do it for free if they sent me the source code.

Oh if they would send me the source code... hehe.