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

Sounds like you have been doing some exploring.  I have a few comments to add.

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "Scott E. Whitehead" <scottewhitehead@...> wrote:
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>  
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> I've finally got Proteum connecting reliably and here's what I learned, or
> at least my impressions.  I'm not an expert so please correct as
> appropriate.  I'm writing this to offer a resource to a future me who comes
> looking for this information.
> 
>  
> 
> 1) The USB connection on the back of the CS works for ELoader every time but
> I never got it to work for Prodatum or Proteum.  At the moment, I don't
> personally have a need to back up my patterns yet so ELoader working is
> moot.
Steve: yeah--E-Mu usb port is only for doing stuff with e-loader, though one time I monitored a midi file dump and tried to understand what the sysex was doing. Not sure if the E-Mu usb drivers will let you do anything else.
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> 2) The CS is managed via MIDI SYSEX which can have a lot of data in each
> message.  This is compared to MIDI notes or CC which are very short
> messages.  
Steve: Sysex bank dumps take a while--lots of data; but you can do short sysex commands, such as parameter edits. (See sysex manual for details.)
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> 3) USB 2.0 will send this data faster than the CS can respond.  Trouble
> ensues.  USB ports on some computers can be forced to run at 1.0 speeds
> rather than 2.0 or 3.0 so that the rate the data is sent does not overwhelm
> the CS.  You set this in the BIOS of your computer if your BIOS supports it.
> If it doesn't, you can try to put a 1.0 USB hub in line but then you're
> adding other things that could be the problem in an already fragile chain.
> You could buy an old USB 1.1 card and install that maybe.
Last August I had a battle of sorts with a whole bunch of people in another group. [Bring back bad memories of people making erroneous claims.] I even went out and borrowed (bought with the plan to return)a 1x1 usb midi cable to test with 1980s gear, an arduino,and midi ox.

Its much more complex than usb to midi--there's the hardware [midi interface, even if its a usb midi cable, it is an interface] and the software [drivers]. There is a world of difference between crappy hardware/drivers and good hardware/drivers. The usb-midi interface cable I tested worked flawlessly with a win7 laptop, which I am pretty sure has usb2.0.

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> 4) Low-cost USB-MIDI interfaces often don't support SYSEX.  That is to say,
> the data comes in fast and there isn't enough buffer in the low-cost adapter
> to hold onto the overflow information while the CS is digesting it.  I
> picked up and returned a HOSA adapter/cable which was around $50 that didn't
> work.  Edirol\Roland has one that supposedly works better, EMU actually has
> several and there are others.  I tested none of these.
Steve: Yeah!! There is a guy who has some highly technical articles posted about this issue--that sysex doesn't work on crappy usb-midi cables. I will see if I can find the links.

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> 6) In the end I used an Access Virus synth as a MIDI bridge, if it wasn't a
> synth too, it would be about as much money as you could spend on a MIDI
> bridge.  The combination of the USB 1.0 downspeed, setting the SYSEX ID on
> the Virus to a different number than that of the CS and resetting my CS to
> factory to undo all of my troubleshooting steps was what got it working in
> the end.      

Steve: I have also had success with e-mu's 2x2midi interface. Not sure if its usb 1.0 or 2.0. And of course, if you have a parallel port, there are some trusty motu parallel port interfaces available in the second hand market.