Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Certainly you dont mean to include VCO in the analog....
    
    So why the title? ..Sordid tale?
    
    How adjustable is the sampling rate?
    
    enjoy.

    Right, Ron, no VCO.
    
    'Sordid tale'.. I dunno.. sometimes I think I oughta give it all
    up and go back to playing acoustic...
    
       RATE        TIME
    10kHz	52.0 secs
    16kHz	33.5 secs
    20kHz	26.0 secs
    28kHz	18.8 secs
    31kHz	16.6 secs
    42kHz	12.4 secs
    
    km

    karl,
    
    Is there any way to increase sample memory, for example, maybe E-mu
    will offer a memory upgrade?  (Doubtful, since I assume they want
    to keep selling Emulartor II's)  If not E-mu, maybe a third party?
    
    -jim

    re EMAX memory upgrade: not currently avaiable. Of course, it would
    impact on the E-II sales.. kinda like �VAX vs bigVAX sales.
    
    There ARE many tricks to maximize memory.. like recording samples
    at double speed and then transposing them down an octave for 
    playback.. effectively doubling available memory. Also many sounds
    don't require real high sampling rates.
    
    karl

    >... effectively doubling available memory.
    
    ... and effectively cutting sampling rate in half.
    
    Edd

    nononono Edddd..
    
    let's try this again.. I have only 1 second (@28Khz) of memory 
    available. I have a two-second sound I wanna sample. I record it 
    on tape at 7.5 i.p.s., and sample it at 15 i.p.s... now taking only 
    one second's memory.. now I transpose that doublespeed sample 
    down one octave, halving the frequency back to the original, two
    seconds duration, 28Khz fidelity.
    
    The other point I was making is that many sounds don't require a
    full 28Khz sample rate giving approx. 14Khz fidelity..
    
    karl

    yesyesyesyesyesyes Karllll...
    
    Your taking a 2 second sound and ramming it in a one second slot.
    
    When played back at -1 octave on the sampler, the pitch will be
    correct, but the effective sampling rate is cut in half.
    
    The inverse of this also works, as was written in a recent Keyboard
    article on the Mirage. It stated you could 'double' the rate by
    sampling at .5 speed and then transposing UP one octave....
    
    But your right, some sounds don't need the whole shebang....
    
    Edd

    So you theenk I lose fidelity thees way, eh?
    
    Check 756.0, in which I mention 'oversampling'.. this is real, and
    the compression method we've been discussing is why. I heard some
    double/half speed samples with appreciable high freq. content that
    were indistinguishable from the original.. ordinarily with the above
    method, one WOULD lose fidelity..
    
    ain't you seen the ads ?  EMAX: What price MAGIC ?
    
    km

    Emax UPDATE:
    
    Operating system rev 3.2 has come out. All my recent sample diskettes
    are at this rev, which has no functional changes from v3.1, except
    that if I try to do anything but play the samples as is, and the
    Emax was booted with a diskette with the other rev on it, it says
    
                        'WRONG SOFTWARE REV !!'
    
    .. so now I get to upgrade all my samples (there IS a 'write the
    new rev O.S. on your old-rev diskette' utility).
    
    I've learned a LOT about running multiple MIDI channels from the
    MAC into multiple Presets, and allowing dynamic voice allocation
    between Presets.
    
    However, my favorite sounds all take LOTS of sample memory, and
    if I were to play a concert live (not that I'm planning one ;^)
    I wouldn't be able to have multiple samples in the 512K sample bank..
    also, sequencer memory competes for sample memory.

    E-Mu Systems seems to have a fixation on 512K memory banks- even
    the Emulator II+ only has two independent 512K banks that one can
    'toggle' between.
        
    Until there's a memory upgrade for the Emax (and if there is it's
    likely to resemble the E-II+), E-Mu Systems has announced a Hard
    Disk option. This is a 20mb hard disk that will mount inside my
    rack unit and offers 4-second bank loading. (holds 36 diskettes'
    worth of data.)
    
    Price for the 20mb hard disk is ~$1K, possibly field installable.
    I see one in my future.. it would add a LOT of flexibility both
    in the studio and for playing LIVE.

    Also, I find myself lusting for MORE VOICES. The Fb01 is quite
    outclassed by the rest of my gear (Emax & Roland MKS-20).. if the
    Oberheim DPX-1 a) cost less b) supported Emax format, I'd probably
    try and get one... plus it would be great to have more voices available
    for LIVE performance. Not that I'm thinking about it.
    
    karl moeller, hotter than you are

>    < Note 756.9 by SALSA::MOELLER "111�F, but it's a DRY heat..." >

>                           -< is CD-ROM far behind? >-

    OMI, Optical Media International, has announced a CD-ROM for the
    EMax, available this fall.
    
    karl

    HUH? I thought OMI offered *sounds* on OpRom that 
    any sampler could sample, not samples in a certain
    samplers data format....
    
    ??
    ron
    

    Ron, it's been a long time since I posted that note re CDROM for
    Emax.. but here's what I remember : 
    
    OMI makes a CDROM drive (and of course CD's) for multiple samplers.
    There is a board which allows the Emax to request preset loads to
    memory, as if it was off a floppy or hard disk. This is the same
    company that supports the E-II and maybe the SC DSP-1 sample player.
    
    MANY companies offer CD's of sounds, but without a hookup like the
    above, you must sample and loop every sound.. this CD setup offers
    prelooped waveforms. That's all I know.. I'm not gonna get one !
    
    karl

    neat. I hadnt heard of it.
    
    If you dont sample the audio from a CD, you are stuck with the
    looping (and/or effects,filtering,etc) that the 'data' CD would
    contain.
    
    I dont think that's a feature, but may save time....
    
    

>If you dont sample the audio from a CD, you are stuck with the
>looping (and/or effects,filtering,etc) that the 'data' CD would
>contain.

    Well, I'm certainly not good at getting smooth loops, I'd rather
    let someone with a hot workstation do that work. Everything else
    *IS* twiddleable/farkable, using the digital and analog processing
    menus.. once the sample in memory is changed, you may save it to
    floppy or hard disk.. not, of course, to the CD.
    
    So you do get the best of both worlds using the CD.. use the samples
    as is, or modify them and save to magnetic media.
    
    karl

    Recently encountered limitations on the Emax' sequencer.

    It works fine for controlling the Emax, but falls woefully short
    as a master sequencer while playing live (i.e. xmitting MIDI to
    other SGU's). It will xmit notes, controller and velocity info.
    Period. No patch changes. No Sysex. Can't differentiate the tracks 
    that play Emax Presets from those destined to play voices in 
    other SGU's.

    In order to suppress xmission of MIDI info from those tracks
    driving only internal Emax Presets, you need the 'SE' software.
    for $100 (until the end of June). And the 'other' tracks STILL 
    won't send Patch change info to the other SGU's, say, at the 
    beginning of a piece.
    
    I'm a bit pissed off. The internal sequencer was quite a large portion
    of the rationale for buying the Emax vs. the Akai S900.  Now over
    a year later I discover it's a cripple.  The topper is that an E-Mu
    Systems' support dude told me to go buy an Alesis MM8 or whatever
    it is.
    
    karl

    I have an MMT-8 & I wanted the Mac for better control during Live
    performance - don't tell me I have to write my own sequencer?!!!?
    								Jens

RE: .15

    Karl - I was browsing thru the latest Keyboard (Herbie/Chick) want ads
    and saw a MIDI DJ for $100.  Pretty decent deal if you're interested. 

    And sorry to hear that things didn't work out.  Of course, you could
    always consider the S-550 ... ;-)

-b

>< Note 756.16 by TYFYS::MOLLER "Vegetation: A way of life" >
>I have an MMT-8 & I wanted the Mac for better control during Live
>performance - don't tell me I have to write my own sequencer?!!!?

    Jens, that doesn't necessarily follow.. I don't intend to use my
    Mac running Performer when playing out... I assumed I could download
    my sequences intact to the Emax' internal sequencer.  The drawbacks
    I uncovered have to do with the Emax' own sequencer controlling
    other SGU's, like the Kurzweil rack.
    
    Also, as there is no way for the Emax to suppress transmitting 
    notes on channels that it itself is playing, I can see getting into
    a MIDI loop (recently discussed in another note) thusly:
    
                         IN     THRU             OUT       
                    --->   KX88 -----> switcher ----> Kurzweil
                    |                           ----> Emax    out->-+
                    +-----------------------------------------------+    

Anyone know what an Emax rack mount goes for?  ($$$) /Mitch

    Synthony Music in Scottsdale AZ sells the Emax SE (1 floppy drive)
    for $2475.  The Emax SE HD, with 20Mb hard disk is $3275.  They
    also do (tax-free) mailorder.  You know those ~100 disks I have
    ?  -  anyone who buys thru synthony can copy that library.. so 
    at a conservative $10 per disk, you'll SAVE $1000 by buying thru
    Synthony.. not exactly clear how library access would be arranged
    when buying mailorder, though.
    
    The SE software has been reviewed extensively in the trades.  The
    Emax now has the SE software bundled (it WAS an option).
    
    Synthony (602)945-0368 or (800)221-KEYS
    7117 E. 3rd Ave
    Scottsdale AZ 85251
    
    ask for Rocky or Mark
    

    > also do (tax free) mailorder...
    
    You folks may want to read the CONSUMER notes files about the 
    gyrations The People's Republic of Massachusetts is planning
    to go through to collect "use tax" on out-of-state purchases.
    
    Edd 

    I discovered a way to truncate an open hihat, giving the classic
    and much sought after 'shoop' sound.
    
    Using EDIT parameters, I assigned both the open and closed hihat
    samples to DAC #8 (8-8).  I then went thru all the other drum sounds in
    my preset and assigned them to DAC # (1-7).  This allows the other
    drums sounds to dynamically use 7 of the DACs, while the two hihat
    samples must share DAC #8.. thus an open hihat sample will truncate
    when the closed note(s) is/are hit.
    
    karl

    
         ||: chick chick chick chick chick chick chick shoop :||
    

    The EMAX II can create floppies readable/usable by the original EMAX
    model.  So if the store where you bought your EMAX (I) no longer
    carries it (been discontinued by E-Mu), don't panic.. you can still
    have access to the original sound library using the new box.
    
    karl