RE: Emax II 1Mb -> 2Mb
Ted Stockwell (teds@microsoft.com)
Fri, 5 Nov 93 13:32:07 PST
|From: <netmail!cacclin@sfu.ca>
|What is involved in upgrading to 2MB?
You should probably review the FAQ (attached below). Basically you've
entered the one real GOTCHA of the Emax II. You're gonna have to buy
a bit twiddler from Emu to enable the memory, and possibly some hardware.
|There are quite a few empty IC sockets about...hopefully I can get RAM off
|the shelf and plug it in.
Ah ... well you can, but it won't be enabled until you buy the Emu Emax
II memory
bit twiddler update package (which includes memory chips) ... currently
available at European Prices ( i.e. One for the price of two) right
here in America !!!!
|What is involved in upgrading to stereo sampling?
|Again I notice a few empty IC sockets around the input..."plug & play" or
|is there some nasty soldering work?
Again, you're gonna have to go through Emu.
Good luck ... the Emax II is a great sampler ... although I wish I had
the EIIIxs
these days ...
T-
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F A Q
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Emax II Frequently Asked Questions
v. 1 -- February, 1993
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All,
Ask and you shall receive. Here's a first stab at a FAQ list for the
Emax II (and other E-mu instruments, as whim dictates). Everything here
is off the top of my head. If it looks wrong, it probably is. I'll continue
to compile and update this list. If you have questions, suggestions,
corrections or more info on specific topics, send it to me care of
Grahame@Sask.USask.CA. Thanks.
- James Grahame
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(1) What's the latest version of the Emax II operating system?
I recently received a copy of version 2.14 in the mail. If you're
using an older one, give Emu a call and ask them to send you a new one.
(2) What configurations of Emax II's has E-mu sold over the years?
The first offering by Emu was a 1MB, mono sampling model. This was
replaced in mid 1990 by a stereo model with 2MB on the main board. For
those with money to burn, Emu offers a "Turbo" model which includes a
105MB Quantum hard drive and 8MB of memory. Initially, the "Turbo"
designation indicated that a machine had a 40MB internal drive and 4MB
RAM.
(3) Can I upgrade my 1MB Emax II to 2MB, so that it can be expanded to
a full 8MB?
Yes. In the past, Emu offered this upgrade for about $195. It involves
removing the 64K DRAM chips on the motherboard & replacing them with
256K x 4 DRAMS (80 nanosecond). The sockets are already in place for the
upgrade. An install disk is (may be?) required to make the machine recognize
the upgrade.
(4) Can I upgrade my machine's memory from 2MB to 8MB without having to
buy the upgrade from Emu?
Nope. At one time, PS Systems offered an upgrade board, but this is no longer
on the market. The Emax II only has room for 2MB on the motherboard. More than
that requires the addition of a plug-in daughter board. The "bare" daughter
board comes with 2MB of memory, expanding the Emax II to 4MB. Adding more than
that is simply a matter of plugging in additional DRAM chips & using an install
disk to make the machine recognize the change. [Note: I'm working on a way to
reliably copy the install disks, so that they can be made available for DIY
upgraders]
(5) Can I add an internal hard drive to the Emax II?
Certainly; Emu offers a 105MB SCSI Quantum drive kit. Unfortunately, the
drive costs an arm and a leg from Emu. The Emax II has an internal power
cable for a drive, and a 50 pin SCSI connector is located on the edge of the
digital PCB, near the external SCSI connector. Adding a drive is simply a
matter of plugging it in, formatting it, and using it (although actually
mounting the drive to the inside of the case will take a little ingenuity).
(6) What about adding external drives?
Piece of cake. Most simply plug in; you'll need an external SCSI drive
and a Mac-type SCSI cable (Centronics to 25 pin). Before you can use the
drive, you'll have to format it, though. Remember -- the Emax II's disk
architecture divides the HD into 100 sound banks, if you have a 2MB
Emax II, you'll only be able to save a maximum of 200MB of information
(100 banks x 2MB) on the drive. Therefore, there's little point in
getting a drive larger than 800MB (100 banks x 8MB).
(7) Will any SCSI CD-ROM drive work with the Emax II?
Again, buyer beware. Emu suggests that you use drives with TOSHIBA or
SONY mechanisms. Don't buy until you've tried it out, though (drop me a
line if you've found drives that work fine).
(8) Are there any hidden functions and tricks in the Emax II?
Select the MASTER module. choose option 9. The display will give you
a choice of 1-8. Again, press 9. When prompted for a password, enter
3629 ("EMAX" on a telephone touchpad). Voila; undocumented functions.
Experiment at your own risk.
(9) Is there an archive of Emax samples?
Thanks to our good friend SID in New Zealand, we have some disc space
on the mysteriously named machine 161.66.1.11 - they have no
nameserver there yet. All donations should be placed in the 'uploads'
directory, and then you should let SID know. His e-mail address is in
the ftp site login screen. You can find Emax related stuff in the
directory 'emax'. All donations are welcome.
We also have a small program for transferring sounds from an Emax II
diskette to a PC. This is the transfer mechanism for samples uploaded
to the FTP site. LHARC is the chosen compression package for the FTP
site, also.
(10) Who sells good sounds for the Emax II?
Let's see. The first stop would have to be your local E-mu dealer.
Hopefully, they've got the E-mu library. If they do, copy away! The
best (and most cost effective) way to get Emax II samples is via CD-ROM.
Emu offers a collection of 4 CD-ROMs, priced at $199 each. Invison has
several Emax II CD-ROMs (pop instruments, classical) which are available
for $275 a crack. Q up Arts (formed by a group of Optical Media employees)
offer six CD-ROMs ranging in price from $199 to $399. They include two
disks of SFX, pop instruments, classical, and a couple of stacked instrument
sound discs (I've got a list of samples -- these look interesting).
(11) Is the Emax II compatible with other samplers?
The Emax II is compatible with disks from the original Emax. However,
the samples are expanded from 8 bit to 16 bit format. Additionally, the
Emax II has digital filters and DCAs, while the Emax's were analog. Generally,
the sounds transfer well, but some may require a little bit of tweaking, and
loops occasionally sound glitched. Remember, the original Emax was limited in
the amount that one could pitch-shift a sample upwards. The Emax II can
shift +/- 5 octaves, so you can reassign samples to take advantage of this.
Also, there can be problems with samples that have loops less than 32 samples
long.
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That's it for version 1 of the FAQs. I'll update this as I think of
more questions, or as info/questions come "pouring" in from you. Later.