Emax

I think quite some Emax users really appreciate your efforts !

So do I, and I didn't even buy your SCSI kit (yet) :-)

In fact I was very enthusiastic when I read about your SCSI kit and I 
was even more thrilled when I discovered my Emax SE keyboard had a 
Rev2 board.
But... my enthusiasm kind of disappeared when I started reading the 
SCSI Upgrade instructions. My headache reached a climax when I read 
that a 24-pin IC socket should be removed and replaced by an 28-pin 
socket (what about the PCB holes for the 4 additional sockets ??)
So as other members already mentioned: the problem is probably not 
the price (which is really fair) but the technological challenge and 
the risk to destroy a perfectly working Emax.
Personally I'm thinking about outsourcing this upgrade job to my 
synth repair guy but I have to ask him a price estimation first.

Of course this kind of upgrade/rev.engineering activities take a lot 
of time and may also require some "personal cash" investment.
E.g. for developing EMXP and making sure everything works fine I had 
to do quite some investments. At the beginning I thought that having 
an EMAX SE, an EMAX-II, an EII+, and an EIIIXS would be sufficient 
for making sure that the software works on all samplers of those Emu 
families.
But it seemed I had to buy an Emax Plus and a "real" EIII also, 
machines I didn't need otherwise. Especially the EIII was very 
expensive and I'm still not really using it - it's just sitting there 
for test purposes of EMXP. (true, I can sell them again when I stop 
developing this software)
Another example: for the past few weeks I was trying to add serial 
communication to EMXP for the Emax and EII. But to come to the 
conclusion that this will probably not be possible, I first had to 
buy two USB-RS422 converters and one USB-RS232 converter.
I'm glad I didn't buy a 1000+ EUR digital oscilloscope yet :-)

But I don't really care about these expenses, fortunately I don't 
have a wife :-)
In fact I think this expense problem is part of and compensated by 
the challenge/kick/hobby/appreciation...isn't it ? 
The fact that we are helping some Emu fans out there and that they 
really appreciate our efforts could be our main driver/objective.

Many thanks for the efforts and I'll probably send you an order in 
the coming days/weeks !

///E-Synthesist


--- In emax@yahoogroups.com, "Ted Summers" <djtbs1@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for your words of encouragement. $2500- wow. My wife freaked 
when she
> realized I had spent the $900 (although she somewhat chilled out 
when I told
> her that I had made some of it back)---- I couldn't imagine the 
amount of
> your project .... I hope people start coming through for you as 
well.
> 
> It is all very easy for people to say it could be done cheaper. I 
think we
> both know it isn't all as easy as it sounds. You never really know 
what it
> is gonna take until you get into it. And once you get into it, you 
feel like
> you wasted your money / time if you just drop your effort too.... 
catch 22.
> 
> Best of Luck!
> 
> Regards,
> Ted
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>