The Emulator Station FAQ

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Warning! Sone of this information may be old and outdated. Many of these answers may not apply to the Emulator Ultra Series.

1.1 How do I set up my Mac to send and receive samples to/from my Emu?
1.2 How do I set up my PC to send and receive samples to/from my Emu?
1.21 I am using the Adeptec 29xx card and the card will not talk to the sampler.
1.3 How to I load banks from Emu-formatted CD Roms into my Sampler?
4.10b - Can I burn my own CDROM as an image from a SCSI drive ?
4.14 - Where can I get a librarian software for my E4 ?
4.14b - Is it true that the ESI OS doesn't support SysEx and thus no remote control software for ESI-32 & ESI-4000 will be made ?
4.15 - Which software / SCSI card combo works with SMDI transfers ?
4.16 - How can I stop Windows 9x from searching drivers for the "unknown device"?
4.17 - I have cool ideas for more functionality of EOS / ESI OS. Where should I go ?
5.1 - RAM compatibility lists
5.2 - Drive compatibility lists
4.20 - Can I use the E-Synth / Flash RAM board with a 128 MB RAM E4 ?
4.21 - Can the ESI32 load the ESI4000 samples with all the filter settings ?
4.22 - What are controllers A-H ? Is there a standard set-up for these controllers?
4.4 - Can I use 72pin SIMMS to expand my e64 or EIV ?
4.12 - Can I upgrade my CPU RAM ?
4.13 - Do I need to upgrade CPU RAM ?
4.5 - Can I use EDO SIMMS / PS2 SIMMS to expand my samplers RAM ?
4.5b - Are 64mb MAC DIMMS compatible with e4?
4.6 - I have an e64 and would like to expand it. Can I add an effects board and more outputs? If not can I swap the system board for a new expandable model ?
4.7 - What is the empty 72pin socket on the mainboard of my e64 sampler for ?
4.8 - I have upgraded my e64 with EOS2.0. Whenever I use one of the advanced filters, there is occasionally a massive distortion on some notes. Changing the headroom or the output-level doesn't change things. What can I do ?
4.9 - My Emulator doesn't save the 12db Output boost setting. I must change this value whenever I switch on my sampler. Is this normal ?
4.10 - What filesystem does the Emulator 4 series use ? DOS ? MacFS ? How can I read samples from Emu-disks ?
4.11 - What is all these CPU, Flash, Esynth, Boot RAM/ROM for ???
4.1 - What are Z-Plane filters and how do they sound ?
4.2 - What is the Function Generator ?

Use any of the sample editing software - Peak, D-Sound, Digital Performer. Probably also Sound Designer. I believe TC is also just releasing an audio editor called Sparc for the Mac which should perform sample transfer and edit. Preview ads look very impressive. http://www.tcelectronic.com/

You must have the Mac and Sampler on the same SCSI chain. Set "Mac on SCSI" chain on the E-mu. Be sure that the last device in the chain is terminated. If this is the E-mu, turn on the software control for Termination. If this is not the E-mu, turn off that control. Also, set the E-mu to a unique SCSI ID, and set dip switches on the internal hard drive to be sure that is a unique SCSI ID. Every device in the chain must have a unique SCSI ID. SCSI Probe is a very useful utility for checking these matters.

Sound Forge works well with all Emu Samplers in Windows 95 and 98. Forge will allow you to send and receive Wave files from your computer's hard disks to the sampler. It does so by sending the data through SCSI. Your sampler must have a scsi port (some ESi samplers require you buy an additional SCSI hardware port) and your computer must have a scsi card. Most scsi cards will work, including the inexpensive ISA cards as long as they are configured properly with the correct drivers and you make sure you have set up the cabling, ID's and termination properly. Before you buy your SCSI card you should note the type of connector it has and make sure you have the right cables and adapters. It is possible to connect it in a series with external scsi devices like Zip drives and external CD Roms/CDRs. Turn on your sampler before booting the PC. Always completely shut down after changing scsi drivers and IDs. A warm boot does not always work, especially if your ID settings are set at the intial boot (often the case with ISA cards).

To use Emu format CD Roms you need to have a SCSI CD Rom drive attached to the sampler. It needs to have a unique SCSI ID. It is also possible to have your sampler access internally mounted CD Rom players and CDRs as long as they are SCSI devices (IDE drives will not work) and you have your IDs set properly. Important: In the Windows Device Manager you should turn OFF "auto insert notification" for all your scsi CD Rom drives, otherwise Windows will "steal" the scsi bus at regular intervals when it checks the drives for CDs it can automatically run. This will break the data flow to the sampler, causing corrupt banks, crashes, etc. You may need to "relog" the Scsi drives from the Sampler's global menu after rebooting your computer.

Yes. As long as you make sure that your source drive is filled with less than 650 MB of data, it is no problem to burn your own EMU CDROM. On Mac, there's a program called ToastPro, on PC there's a freeware program called Disk2CD which can perform this task. See Rich's article "How to Burn an Emu format CDROM on a PC". Note, you have to make sure that data on your source media is not fragmented, that is, you never saved anything beyond the 650 MB border (which is likely to remain there, even if you later deleted something and now have a total data of less than 650 MB). Otherwise the CD can be corrupt. On Atari, there's the program CD-Recorder from Soundpool, which does this job also very well.

EOS3.0 ships with SoundDiver EOS, which is a remote control software. However, you can buy the regular SoundDiver 2.0 which has interfaces for more than 240 devices. SoundDiver 2.0 exists as Mac and PC (Windows 95/NT) version. Note that you must have at least EOS 2.5f to use remote control software. EOS3.0 is recommended.

4.14b - Is it true that the ESI OS doesn't support SysEx and thus no remote control software for ESI-32 & ESI-4000 will be made ?

Sorry... but YES. EMU Systems Inc. released a statement that the ESI OS will not contain SysEx capabilities. Note that this has nothing to do with SMDI capability. The ESI does SMDI (SCSI Sample Transfer).

This is very difficult to answer. Several people reported working configurations on PC with Adaptec's 1541 and 2940 controllers. Other people suggest the NCR controllers. It really depends on your system configuration. SoundForge for Win95 is definitly capable of doing SMDI transfers with the E4 series. On the Mac, there is a software called TransferStation which should handle SMDI also.

4.16 - How can I stop Windows 9x from searching drivers for the "unknown device"?

Most people reported that you only must press "cancel" for a 8 times. Next time it won't ask you. But there are other people which reported that this doesn't function. This is not a bug in Windows: Windows sends SCSI device inquiry commands each time it starts to detect new hardware. Windows recognize the SCSI answer and wants to install drivers for the it. We wouldn't have trouble with this if Emu Systems Inc. would provide a small dummy .INF file, which tells Windows to ignore the specific SCSI inquiry answer. We hope Emu finds the time to provide this small fix.

4.17 - I have cool ideas for more functionality of EOS / ESI OS. Where should I go ?

The EOS developers are very aware of the Emulator Station 1 EOS List of Wishes. So just look if someone had this ideas before. If not, submit your idea on the Emulator Station

The actual RAM compatibily lists can be found at the EMU website. Due to a massive amount of manufacturers and models, it's not likely that ES1 will create an own one.

Yes, but.... when you want to use the E-Synth / Flash RAM board you can only utilitze 64 MB RAM. There is a software switch which can temporarily disable the E-Synth / Flash RAM board to make use of the full 128 MB RAM.

Yes, as long as the ESi 32 has OS 3.0x installed. The ESi-OS 3.01 which is used by the ESi-4000 and the Turbo upgraded ESi-32 also has an Export function in place of the Save As EIII bank function. The three options are as follows:

4.22 - What are controllers A-H ? Is there a standard set-up for these controllers?

Controllers A-H gives the EOS a way to listen to a number of Continuous Controllers. Each EOS-controller may be set to respond to MIDI Controllers 0 to 31 as well as Pitch Wheel and Channel Pressure. Controllers A-H exist in close relation to the Cords this means that you may set "MIDI Controllers 0 to 31 as well as Pitch Wheel and Channel Pressure" to act like Modulation Sources. You may for example use the infamous Breath Controller to control whatever Cord Destination on the Emulator. This is how you do it:

1) Set MIDI E Controller to "02" (Continuous Controller 02 is the Breath Controller)

2) Next, set up this cord: "MidiE AmpVol XX%" (where XX can be a value from -100 to 100).

This way you may control the Voice's Envelope Amplifier Volume by using the Breath Controller. The assignment for Controllers A-H is done from MASTER -> MIDI (Screen 3). More info: Page 104 (EOS 2.5 manual) and page 118 (EOS 3.0 manual). (Sorry that I didn't list the EOS 2.8 manual - I don't have it...)

I just installed 64 MB in my E64 using 72 pin simms and 72->30 pin converters. The simms where $109 each and the converters $20 each. This turned out to be cheaper than the 30 pin option, and I didn't have to buy outdated memory. Works great. The simm converters came from SimmSavers (www.solgate.com). They are not listed on the webpage, you have to call and ask. Also, you get four different converters that allow you to fit all those simms in the space provided (they are different heights and point different directions).

Except the "older" models e64 & EIV, all other models can upgrade the CPU RAM to 4MB.

If you plan to use the complete functionality of EOS 3.x, specifically the full featured MIDI Sequencer, you should upgrade your CPU RAM. If you use your computer sequencer to drive your MIDI setup, you'll be fine without the upgrade.

Yes. Several users reported functioning EDO SIMMS in their E4k and EDO SIMMS with 72->30 pin converters in the e64. PS2 SIMMS with the appropriate converters should work also.

4.6 - I have an e64 and would like to expand it. Can I add an effects board and more outputs? If not can I swap the system board for a new expandable model ?

No. There are no expansion slots inside the current mainboard. IMHO a replacement of the system board would be as expensive as buying a new sampler. In EMU's product line, the e64 is replaced by the (expandable) e6400.

Starting from EOS2.8, which ships since august 1997, there is the 16 MB sample ROM board (the so called E-Synth Board) and 8MB/16MB Flash RAM boards will be produced for this socket.

4.8 - I have upgraded my e64 with EOS2.0. Whenever I use one of the advanced filters, there is occasionally a massive distortion on some notes. Changing the headroom or the output-level doesn't change things. What can I do ?

As far as we know, this is a hardware bug in e64 (and maybe the whole E4 series). Changing the output clock to 44.1khz is a workaround which solves this problem.

4.9 - My Emulator doesn't save the 12db Output boost setting. I must change this value whenever I switch on my sampler. Is this normal ?

This is the normal behaviour for earlier EOS versions. Since EOS 2.8, the 12db Output boost setting is saved.

4.10 - What filesystem does the Emulator 4 series use ? DOS ? MacFS ? How can I read samples from Emu-disks ?

Emu Systems Inc. uses a proprietary file structure to store data on SCSI and floppy disks. Since EOS2.5 you can utilize a dos formatted floppy disk to store data on, but it's not likely that the SCSI file format will be changed. However, we asked Emu Systems Inc. to publish the documentation of its proprietary file structure, but unfortunately they denied. (Note: There are other companies, which do this...)

_______TYPE OF RAM	__AMOUNT	MISC COMMENTS
Plain 'ol RAM	0-128 MB	Volatile (i.e. you turn off your sampler and bye-bye samples) - E-IV and e64 used 30 pin SIMMs but functionally, they're the same as newer models which use 72 pin SIMMS
Flash RAM	0, 8, 16 MB	Non-volatile storage for samples. Needs EOS 3.2 (which in turn needs 2Mb of OS Flash RAM - both of these come with the kits) Speaking of kits there's a few of them: 8Mb: 6325 for E-IV and e64 6825 for everything else 16Mb: 6326 for E-IV and e64 6826 for everything else
Sound RAM	0, 8 MB	aka the E-synth board. The E-synth rack and keyboard (R&K) have this pre-installed. There is only one board so far, but ads for the E-synth (R&K) indicate upgradability to 32Mb, so I assume other boards are in the works. (I'm also assuming that the samplers can be taken up to 32Mb and that it's not a situation like FX on the E4X(T), e4K and E-synth vs. E-IV, e64 and e6400 - know what I mean?) Needs EOS 3.2 (which in turn needs 2Mb of OS Flash RAM - both of these come with the kits) Speaking of kits there's a few of them: 6320 for E-IV and e64 6820 for E4X, E4XT, e6400 6920 for E4K (not user installable) Early models of the E-synth (R&K) had EOS 2.8, but new models have EOS 3.2
OS Flash RAM	1 or 2 MB	Non-volatile storage for the OS. Everything up until the E-synth (R&K) had 1Mb of OS Flash RAM. 2Mb is needed for EOS 3.2 (which in turn is needed for the E-synth board or the sample flash RAMs - A 2Mb flash SIMM is included with those kits)
CPU RAM	1 or 4 MB	RAM for the run time operation of the OS. Also used as volatile storage for Presets and Sequences. E-IV and e64 have 1Mb and are not upgradable e6400 and E4K have 1Mb but can be upgraded to 4Mb with kit #6816 E4X, E4XT, E-synth (R&K) have 4Mb
EEPROM		Stores various system settings (SCSI ID, contrast, etc.)
FX RAM		On the FX card (or motherboard for those with E4X(T), E4K or E-synth (R&K) For time based FX (which is all the FX card does)

4.19 - I learned from many pepole that the morph filters in samplers are very cool and the best upgrade of EOS 2.0 (can make a really fat sounding morphs). I don't find it useable. Please help me with tips! Anyone use it?

Imagine a horizontal line. On the left end, there's a simple lowpass filter with determined cutoff and resonance settings. On the right end, there's a highpass filter with different cutoff and resonance settings. Now you have a controller which sets the actual position on this line. If your controller is set to left, your sound is filtered through the lowpass filter. If it is set to right, your sound is filtered through the highpass filter. If you let the controller move from left to right, the filter characteristics are interpolated (a.k.a. "morphed") to the actual settings. For instance in the middle, you have a band-pass filter with a mixture of the current cutoff and resonance settings. Now add a second dimension to this picture. Imagine a square with 4 different filter settings. You have two controllers. One controller, which moves the actual position from left to right, and a second one which moves from up to down. The Z-Plane filter interpolates all the in-between filter characteristics. But we're not finished yet. Let's add a third dimension. Imagine a cube with 12 edges. You have 12 totally different filter settings, and you can move the actual filter setting with three controllers, each for one dimension, inside the cube. You can't chose the characteristics of each filter (which by the way wouldn't make very much sense because of the large amount of internal parameters which corresponds to one filter model), you have to select a complex filter model, which is a line, a square or a cube model. Then you have up to two note-on controller and one realtime controller to move your filter position. The sound can hardly be described. It's as if you have access to several parametric equalizers which settings you alter in realtime. Additionally Emu provided many vocal formant filter models (in Morpheus and UltraProteus), which let your sounds form vowels. A less-capable form of the filters (no filter cubes, less poles) can be found in the Orbit and the E4 series.

Let's start with an 8 step (here called segment) envelope generator. For each segment you can give a rate and a level. So that's conventional. But: For each of a Function Generator's eight segments you can specify not only level and rate, but shape (select from 64 shapes including Linear, Exponential, random and Chaos)...

...and a Conditional Jump that will cause a jump to another specified segment based on the state of a choosen parameter (such as velocity, footswitch position, and note-off, etc.). So you can have nonlinear modulations, cycles and much more. And remember: The Function Generator is just another controller, so you can assign it modulating any parameter you want!

What is the recommended velocity and aftertouch response on the E-mu, especially for legato strings and pads? Something like the Roland JV Orchestral Card Full Strings patch.

What is the best way to quickly create Presets of drum kits? Is there an approach using a template?

Recommendations for programming realistic drum kits? Layering with crossfades? Samples of the same drum at different velocities across the keyboards? Details please. Recommended settings.

At first, you must ask yourself: Do I need a keyboard ? If yes, then the answer to the above question is easy: Take the E4K. This is currently the only keyboard-sampler manufactured by Emu. Basically this is a 64 voice sampler, but you can expand it with an option board to 128 voices. If you don't need a keyboard, you have three choices: ESI-32, e64, EIV. The ESI-32 is basically a renewed Emulator IIIXP. It contains the same voice structure as well as the same filters and destructive sample algorithms. But it is limited to 32MB RAM and 32 voices and it has no graphic waveform display. Truncating, looping etc. must be done only by hearing. The e64 and the EIV add a graphic display, more voices, more MB and an expanded filter section, which for instance contain a few Z-Plane filters. The e64 contains 64 voices and is expandable up to 64MB RAM. The e64 doesn't contain the EIV's expansion slots and so is stuck to its actual hardware limits. The EIV has 128 voices and a up to 128MB RAM expandability and contains three expansion slots. Yet shipping are the effects board, the second midi interface and the +8 output expansion. So it's at least a budget question. The e64 seems to the best compromise. It gives you Z-plane filters, 64 voices etc. for a reasonable price. If you need 128 voices or want a complete all in one pre-production tool, you can take the EIV with e.g. its midi interface and +8 output expansion. On the lower price section, there's the ESI-32 which gives you the Emulator III features at a REALLY good price.

The new models are out. Basically it seems that the best choice now depends on if you need the complete power now or later. The e64 is now the only which is not expandable. So those who were to decide between e64 and ESI should go for the e6400. For all the others its only a matter of how much money they want to spend NOW. Remember that a built-in harddisk (or even if you have no harddisk) can be replaced by a bigger one without problems.

Once more.... new models are out. The ESI4000 combines the ESI32 with 64 voices and up to 64 MB RAM, but still contains the disadvantage of the text-only display. ESI OS 3 adds morphing filters. So if you cannot afford a e6400 go for ESI4000 which is THE main competitor of Yamahas new A3000 (which has a worse user interface). Then there are the E-Synth Keyboard / E-Synth Rack which combine an E4X with the new E-Synth daughterboard which adds 16 MB ROM samples and 1000 Flash Ram Presets.

3.1 - Are the Morpheus & UltraProteus sound (SysEx) -compatible ?

A: Nearly. The Morpheus and the UltraProteus share the same system architecture. The main differences are that the UltraProteus has more filter models and 8 MB more sample ROM. The UltraProteus does not include the complete sample ROM of the Morpheus. Morpheus and UltraProteus users can share their SysEx patches, 'cause except of four parameters all settings are compatible. The ones which are not compatible are: Primary Layer Instrument, Secondary Layer Instrument, Primary Filter Model, Secondary Filter Model.

Depends on what kind of music you're into and what gear you have. The UltraProteus contains the whole Proteus 1, 2, 3 sample set and the piano from the Emu Proformance module. But the Morpheus has a set of cool Synth waveforms which are 'nicer' to be treatened by the Z-Plane filters. On the Morpheus its hard to play classical music, because of the lack of good orchestral samples. On the UltraProteus, you have a bit more work to create synthpads, z-plane-leads etc.

Hi folks,

This is Rick Kleffel of E-mu writing. First off, let me make my own position here clear. I'm a UNIX Sysadmin who also plays E-mu and other gear. As as result of the player bit, I happen to see and read the samplers list. I like E-mu gear, and I like the company I work for. But I don't speak officially for the marketing department, the service department or any department other than Systems Administration. And yet, I feel your pain :-). So I asked
around and got a few UN-official, can't-hold-me-to-them answers to some common questions on the list. I can't state "UN-official, can't-hold-me-to-them answers" strongly enough. It's very difficult for employees of *any* company to participate reasonably in a discussion about the company's product. I've been *very* heavily burned by irate internet correspondents who took my word for official company line and then requested that I be fired immediately. I am not speaking for E-mu, I'm speaking for Rick Kleffel here,
with an ear to E-mu closer than the average Sysadmin.

Disclaimer: I speak for Rick Kleffel and Rick Kleffel only, OK?

Well, now that the legalese is out of the way, here's the skinny on using those converters and the 30/72 pin memory debate. As to why E-mu chose the memory format it chose, I can't say, but I can say with certainty that hindsight is always 20/20. So, if you want to buy 72 pin memory, you can try one of those converters.

SimmSaver/372 seems to work pretty good. They can be reached at

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The OLD Emulator Station FAQ

3.1 - Are the Morpheus & UltraProteus sound (SysEx) -compatible ?