Emax

the sp12 uses descrete 12bit dacs and all the voice is discrete parts like 
the EII

the emax uses the s chip which use the compresion system like the EII and 
also its in charge of memory thats why its fixed to 512k as thats all it can 
address

the sp12 has 8 slots for samples so 8 samples can be used at 1 time but you 
can also use the internal sample rom so if you want to sample longer samples 
and just use 2 pads you can that way

the sp12 just sounds so nice but it only has 2 ssm2044 filters on 2 drum 
tracks unlike the emax which has 8 filters

the input adc and outputdacs are nothing special just the run of the mill 
that was available at the time

the timing is much tighter than the emax for drums

but you have to save sounds on 5 !/4 inch floppies to a commodore floppy 
drive

or you can save the samples to tape which takes about the same time as 
floppy any way

the sp12 is very digital 12bit harsh for 6 of the outputs the other 2 are 
filtered by the ssm chips

but for drums the sp12 turbo is better sounding than the sp1200
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt" <somatt@...>
To: <emax@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: [emax] Re: How can I dither samples to 12 bit for EMAX?


>I had no idea of this. Can you elaborate on other differences between the
> emax and the sp-12/1200?
> Thanks
> Matt
> On Feb 16, 2012 2:49 PM, "esynthesist" <esynthesist@...> wrote:
>
>> **
>>
>>
>> Yes I'm on this group ;)
>>
>> Actually the codec is converting 16 bit directly into the 8 bit data as
>> required by the Emax. The 8 bit audio data in the Emax is a non-linear
>> conversion of the original higher resolution audio data.
>> It uses a smart conversion algorithm (belonging to the u-law family as
>> used in analog telephony. It tries to make the 8 bit audio data sound 
>> like
>> "12-bit quality" instead of just linear "8-bit quality" as can be found 
>> in
>> cheap samplers like the Ensoniq Mirage.
>>
>> This compression algorithm is also applied within the Emax itself and by
>> the Emax-II when it compresses/saves the bank into 8-bit. The same
>> principle (but different algorithms) are also applied in the Emulator-II
>> and the Emulator-I.
>> The algorithm has been chosen by E-Mu in such a way that it gives the 
>> best
>> results for the most common musical sounds.
>> But the algorithm is weak when applied to some specific sounds, 
>> especially
>> percussion sounds.
>> You get similar problems when you sample such sounds on the Emax itself,
>> although I have to admit that from time to time they sound somewhat 
>> better
>> than the software conversion versions generated by Emax-II or EMXP.
>>
>> E-Mu must have been very aware of the weakness of their compression
>> technique for percussion sounds, because the SP-12/1200 drum computers 
>> are
>> NOT using 8-bit compression on their sampled sounds. The drum computers
>> store their samples in 12 bit resolution, which means sampling time was
>> sacrificed in favour of sound quality.
>> Which is a good choice, because percussion sounds are incredible on the
>> SP-12 !
>>
>> ///E-Synthesist
>>
>> --- In emax@yahoogroups.com, Nik Kinloch <nikkinloch@...> wrote:
>> >
>> > The EMXP manual says:
>> >
>> > "Resolution conversion: the bit depth of the sound data may be
>> > converted, e.g. from 16 bit to 12 bit. However, with the current 
>> > sampler
>> > formats supported, this conversion only takes place when converting to
>> > Emulator-II and Emax-I. In these conversions a special codec is being
>> > used since the resolution conversion is not linear."
>> >
>> > So it sounds like some conversion is happening, but from our experience
>> > it is not optimal. Perhaps someone can ask Kris Van de Cappelle (is he
>> > on this group?) about this? Maybe it just needs a tweak. I hear the
>> > aliasing as well esp on low frequency sounds with a tail (for example,
>> > long bass drums).
>> >
>> > izotope Ozone apparently can dither to 12 bits then save to 16 bit file
>> > (last 4 bits are zeros), this would seem ideal. Anyone tried it?
>> > http://www.izotope.com/support/help/ozone/pages/modules_dithering.htm
>> >
>> > Nik
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On 16/02/2012 15:34, zrennaya wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Hi!
>> > >
>> > > Thanks for your input! I gave up on the 12 bit render thing as you
>> mentioned there's no tool that converts to 12 bits.
>> > >
>> > > On the other hand I experimented with some dithering types and I
>> actually managed to reach the quality of factory samples in terms of 
>> noise
>> and aliasing (using the L1). So far I couldn't get that quality from the
>> emax ADC inputs!
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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