Emax

Hi,

I'm trying to help a friend with her Emax II.  It's essentially
"broken", because none of the floppies are any good.  The unit
has no hard disk or CD-ROM.

I have downloaded a number of .em2 files from the net, and
am wondering if there is some way to make these into Emax II
floppies.

Does anyone know about this?

- Jay Ts

> Hi,
>
> I'm trying to help a friend with her Emax II.  It's essentially
> "broken", because none of the floppies are any good.  The unit
> has no hard disk or CD-ROM.
>
> I have downloaded a number of .em2 files from the net, and
> am wondering if there is some way to make these into Emax II
> floppies.
>
> Does anyone know about this?
>
> - Jay Ts

You might try looking around www.emulatorarchive.com for a utility that can
make EMAX II floppies from a PC.  There should be one there.

Hope this helps
Steve

It is a DOS program which will runs in Windows 95/98/NT. It reads Emax I and 
Emax II diskettes from a PC diskette drive, and loads the OS and samples to a 
PC disk drive. It can also write and format Emax diskettes

http://www.emuarc.com/Samplers/EmaxOverview/EmaxOS/emaxos.html

It was written:
> It is a DOS program which will runs in Windows 95/98/NT. It reads Emax I and 
> Emax II diskettes from a PC diskette drive, and loads the OS and samples to a 
> PC disk drive. It can also write and format Emax diskettes

This is exactly what I wanted - Thank You!

> http://www.emuarc.com/Samplers/EmaxOverview/EmaxOS/emaxos.html

Er, those are for the Emax, and I have an Emax II.  I've read that
the Emax II will not play Emax samples correctly ... or are you sure
these will also work properly with the Emax II?

(I live over 200 miles away from the Emax II I'm working with, so
I can't just try it and find out!)

- Jay Ts

Steve wrote:
> You might try looking around www.emulatorarchive.com for a utility that can
> make EMAX II floppies from a PC.  There should be one there.

Someone graciously sent me a copy of the emx.exe program, which I could not
find on www.emulatorarchive.com, because I didn't know it's name.

I asked this in my other message, but now that I'm looking around more
on www.emulatorarchive.com, I can state my question more clearly:

Are the free Emax sample downloads, for example, the ones listed at

http://www.emulatorarchive.com/assets/ASPpages/EmaxLib/EmaxLibListAll.asp?offset=50

also good for the Emax II?  I'm asking because my friend (the owner
of the Emax II) tried downloading some samples for it, and they clicked
at the loop points, which made them unusable.  I read on another site
(I think it was in the Emax FAQ?) that the Emax II does this when
playing Emax samples, so I'm assuming she downloaded samples for the
wrong Emax version.

- Jay Ts

I would like to know how are the floppies "no good". Is the unit 
reporting a "bad disk" error everytime you put in a diskette? If so there 
is a better chance that it's the drive itself. It seems odd that all the 
floppies went bad at once.

To put em2 files onto a diskette, you need EMX. I do have it available 
via my site, but it is a hidden file with no link. Use 

http://www.silveriafamily.com/emax/emx.zip

I do that because, I have no desire to perform technical support for it 
and that's what the bulk of my Emax related email was always about.

Note: to you use EMX you need 

1) A DOS compatible PC .. not a Mac

2) A DS/DD floppy disk already formatted in an Emax II, you cannot 
use 1.44 HD diskettes.

3) To unzip or place the em2 files in the same directory as EMX.

Lastly, read the emx.txt fil included.

Good Luck!




**********************************************************
     AIM/AOL: Emax JS **John Silveria II** ICQ: 60199476

Emax and Emax II User's Group - http://www.silveriafamily.com
Emax and Emax II Mailing List - emax@yahoogroups.com
**********************************************************

Yes, em2 files are for the Emax II and em1 files are Emax SE banks, 
which are still usable. If he is getting clicks there are a few causes and 
one solution.

First of all almost all loop clicks are usually just off by a few samples 
which is do to a reasons like the original sample creator liked them 
that way or the loop got thrown off when converted to 16 bit from 12 bit 
(this applies to emax se banks). 

He can always remove them if he just adjusts the loop points himself. 
Or even lets the Emax II do that itself in Sample Edit mode.



**********************************************************
     AIM/AOL: Emax JS **John Silveria II** ICQ: 60199476

Emax and Emax II User's Group - http://www.silveriafamily.com
Emax and Emax II Mailing List - emax@yahoogroups.com
**********************************************************

> I would like to know how are the floppies "no good".

It was my understanding that the people who were using it did
not make backups, and the floppies gradually went bad one by
one from being used a lot.

> Is the unit 
> reporting a "bad disk" error everytime you put in a diskette?

No, it can read new floppies just fine.  It was just that my
friend probably used em1 files and the loops all click.

I now have a copy of the PDF Emax II manual, so I can read it
over and find out how to remove the clicks, as you suggested
(thanks).

> To put em2 files onto a diskette, you need EMX.

Yes, I have it now.

> Note: to you use EMX you need 
> 
> 2) A DS/DD floppy disk already formatted in an Emax II, you cannot 
> use 1.44 HD diskettes.

Really?  It's hard for me to believe that HD disks won't work; they
are virtually identical to DS/DD diskettes, except for the extra square
hole, which can just be taped over.  At least, that's always worked for
me on various computers, IIRC.  (It was so long ago...)

- Jay Ts

I've found that you can use HD disks OK if you use an HD drive.  It's a bit
tricky to get it to work though.
I haven't tried connecting an high density floppy to my Emax II as (touch
wood) its floppy seems OK just now.  The connectors are slightly different
from a standard PC drive IIRC.
What we have here is a Shugart interface, y'see...  They use a different
system for signalling "drive ready" and "motor start".
Other kit that use Shugart floppies include Ensoniq Mirage (my other
sampler), SQ-80, possibly VFX-SD and EPS samplers, and the Casio FZ range.
I'm not sure about the Yamaha DX7][-FD, but I suspect it's the same.  I
would in fact expect almost any mid-80's DD-using synth to use Shugart
instead of PC.

What to do?

Go to Rainer Buchty's website (http://www.buchty.net), follow the Casio
links, and read up on how to make a cable.  This ought to help those of you
with dead floppy drives, and will allow these crumbling dinosaurs to use
cheaply available HD floppies.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Keeble <rob@...>
To: emax@yahoogroups.com <emax@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, March 16, 2001 8:01 AM
Subject: RE: [emax] Making floppies from .em2 files

<snip>

>The advice on using EMX is entirely correct. It is essential it is run
under DOS, and that new >DS/DD diskettes are used. HD diskettes will not
work, they have a different number of tracks and >the media has slightly
different magnetic properties.