Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Well, sounds like you need a couple of
things....the chain is only as strong as its weakest
link.  What you really need on your PC is a Sound
Blaster Audigy Platinum card(24bitDAC-$149.00 last
time I checked, I paid $199).
Copy this link to review and decide, scroll through
all pages on the bottom.
 [
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=audigyplatinum&page=5
]
It has come with a front sound controller dock which
puts midi ports on the front of your PC!! How
convienient.  It matches the specs on your
MP7/XL7....there is nothing worse than having
something 24bitDAC going down to 16 bit(regular sound
card capability)...so you already lose 8 bits worth of
quality before you even push record on your computer. 
I know that most people on this site don't realize
such shortcomings...but hey.  But when you compress
your audio files and master it correctly....only THEN
do you want to bump it down to 16bit(This happens when
you want to record audio on a CD).  Most, well...damn
near all cd players on earth can only read audio
recorded in 16bit format.  If you want one that can go
24-32 bit you are free to spend a grand or two on
one(Why in the hell someone would do that is still a
mystery).  But that is how you get the most crisp
sound from home PC's 101.  

But back to the USB MP7/XL7 mystery...You need to
upgrade your OS to get USB to work...but you need USB
to Upgrade THE DAMN OS...ARGGHHHHH!!  Kinda
frustrating to most....  Well, It doesn't work the way
we'd normally think.  We are just familiar with using
USB than we are midi on our computers.  Most people
won't get the luxury of getting plug and play features
by going to radioshack and simply buying the midi-PC
gameport adapter.  There is still another operation
you must perform(I believe).  You must go into Windows
and go to your Control Panel(Start-Settings-Control
Panel)...and then guess what....out of all those boxes
you should see one called "Gaming Options".  So if
your Midi device isn't working right off the bat...try
this.  Open Gaming Options...and it will look real
stupid to what you're trying to do cause you will see
nothing but joystick stuff....but wait!!!  There is a
button that says "Add Other"....click on that.  aYou
will see a list of devices to install in the box to
the left.  Scroll down until you see one that says
"Microsoft MCI", click on that.  Then a list in the
right side of the box will pop up with six or so items
to choose.  The one you want will say "Midi Sequencer
Device(Media Control)" click on next, etc, etc,
etc....and you will probably need you Windows OS cd to
complete that install.  Besides opening your A&B midi
port in your MP7 and Xl7, you should be able to
communicate after a PC reboot.  Thus allowing you to
use the slower midi connection to upgrade your OS,
Thus allowing you to install the USB drivers located
inside your new OS file folder....going back into
control panet into the "System" part...go into the
hardware configuration and update your drivers after
it detects a new USB device.
And please if you haven't plugged USB devices into
your PCs before(just by chance), please check your
BIOS settings to make sure that the USB function is
"Enabled"...it serves as a on/off light switch for
your USB....plugging devices in the USb doesn't
activate it...just think of it as you changing
bulbs...the real light switch is in your BIOS.
I hope that this article helped someone..

But I don't know everything...Peace,

Will...VABeach, VA[Mississippi is my hometown :)]

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