Emulator II

Overview

Enter a Classic The Emulator II was THE sampler of the mid 1980's, the aspiration of countless musicians until the introduction of cheap 16-bit sampling with the Akai S1000 in 1988. The EII was based on the original Emulator I design (Z80 processor, DMA micro controller), but considerably enhanced with eight full analog output channels, a large sample memory (up to 1 MB) and an excellent and easy to use disk based Operating System with LCD display.

The Emulator II has a sampling rate of 27,777kHz and uses 8-bit samples which are replayed at 14-bit resolution. The EII was introduced in June 1984 at a time when a Home Computer was the first IBM PC with 128kB memory and no hard drive, or a Commodore 64. The EII matched these home computers in terms of processing power, and provided the first affordable high quality sampler ever.

Demonstration Record A four track double sided plastic sound sheet record was produced in 1985 to demonstrate the amazing sounds of the Emulator II. There are also high quality MP3 downloads here: more »

Development Story The development of the Emulator II was a major challenge for E-mu Systems, causing cash flow problems as the major innovations in electronics caused the project to go seriously late. Read Dave Rossum's account of the complete story!

Positive Reviews The Emulator II received massive aclaim when it was launched. Keyboard Magazine in the US reviewed the Emulator II in their January 1985 issue - quoting it as the new hot rod version!

"Anyone used to the original Emulator will welcome the additional features of the EII. Combining sampling technology with analog synthesizer signal modification technology, makes for some very unusual and beautiful timbres. You've got yourself a reasonably priced dream machine."

E-mu Sytems were still a relatively small company back them, based in Chanticleer, Santa Cruz. They didn't even advertise in Keyboard magazine - they didn't have to.

Emulator II The initial model was introduced in 1984 with 512 Kbytes of sample memory, a single floppy drive, and no hard disk. E-mu Systems contemplated a 256KB model, but it was never launched. As the price of RAM and hard disks reduced, further models were introduced at competitive prices (well for professional musicians !).

Emulator II+ The Plus model of the Emulator II has an additional 512 Kbytes of sample memory bank, which enables a separate set of sounds to be loaded in parallel to the first memory bank. You can switch between them, but you can not use both together, or have samples than span the two memory banks. It was launched in 1985.

Emulator II+HD The last model of the EII range has a 20 MB hard disk in place of the second diskette drive. This enables 46 banks of sounds to be stored on a device that is much quicker than the usual diskette drive.

Options The Emulator II and II+ could be ordered with one or two 5.25" diskette drives. Two drives made it much easier to copy diskettes, but a second drive cost an additional $650. The "Winchester" Hard Disk upgrade was launched in 1985 for a staggering $3000.

Oberheim DPX-1 The EII sample format is unique, with only one other device being capable of reading EII diskettes - the 2U rack mounted Oberheim DPX-1 sample player. more »

Adverts & Reviews

Keyboard Magazine January 1986 The Emulator II with Digidesign software and a Mac.

Keyboard Magazine January 1987 "Time is Music" The new Emulator II+ was advertised in Keyboard Magazine in January 1987, just as the Emax was launched.

Reviews

Keyboard Magazine reviewed the Emulator II in January 1985. We have obtained permission from Keyboard Magazine to reprint the complete review article.

EII Keyboard Magazine Review 100KB Emulator II Brochure 275KB

CDROM's

Optical Media International Three CDROM's were introduced by OMI in January 1986 (at the Winter NAMM). They were the first ever sample CDROM's produced in the world. They can be used with both the Oberheim DPX-1 and the Emulator II, provided you have the special OMI CDROM drive which unfortunatley is no longer available. The sounds in these 3 sample CDROM's are AWESOME!! The range is called Universe of Sounds. Volume 1 and 2 are still available from QUpArts.

Volume 1 This CDROM contains an amazing 536 sound banks, with from 1 to 13 presets in each bank. There are a wide range of acoustic instruments, voices and sound FX.

Volume 2 This CDROM contains 509 banks, with a range of acoustic instruments and sound FX.

Volume 3 Northstar Gold This CDROM is no longer available. It contains 436 banks, which are still available on floppy diskette from NorthStar.

Sound Designer Format The first two volumes are also available as individual samples in Sound Designer I format for use on a Mac computer. Contact QUpArts for details.

CDS3 CDROM Drive

Introduction The CDS3 (Compact Digital Sound System) was one of the first CDROM products ever made. The average access time is 1 second, the CDROM's hold up to 600 MB, and the data is transferred at 512kbit/sec into the Emulator II RS422 serial port.

The CDS3 system includes a built in filing program (a simplified data base program) that enables you to quickly locate the voice bank you're looking for. Ideally the CDS3 system should be used with an Apple Macintosh computer, which provides easy on-screen access to the voice menus, and controls the transfer of voice banks to the Emulator II. In situations where a Mac is not available, the OMI hand held computer terminal (CRM3) has to be used instead.

CDS3 Program The CDS3 software is compatible with the Sound Designer for EII program from Digidesign. Both programs can run together on a Mac with 1MB or more of memory. Double density diskettes can be used to store voice banks on the Mac, but not single density (the 551KB file won't fit on a 400KB floppy).

Attention Unlock First!! The CDS3 unit came locked to avoid damage in transit. This lock must be freed before using the drive.

With power off, turn the CDS3 upside down and locate the adjusting screw. Using a screwdriver, loosen the screw and slide it to the FREE position. Tighten the screw. Always re-lock the drive when shipping or transporting the drive any distance. The CDS3 is very sensitive and can be easily damaged.

Option Settings Locate the Option Settings in the upper right hand corner of the back panel of the CDS3 unit. Check the dip switches are set for the configuration you are using. Always change the settings when changing configuration. Always turn the CDS3 off when changing settings.

Note: Black = what the dip switch is set to.

Hand Held Only Settings for the when the CDS3 is used with the Hand Held Terminal only (no Mac computer).

10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
down	up	up	up	up	up	up	down	down	up

Mac at one End Settings for using the CDS3 with no Hand Held Terminal and a Mac connected to the CDS3 only.

10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
down	up	up	up	up	up	up	down	down	up

Mac in the Middle Settings for using the CDS3 with no Hand Held Terminal and with the Mac connected in the middle, between the Emulator II and the CDROM drive.

10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
up	up	up	up	up	up	up	up	down	up

Select, Terminator and Mode Settings The CDS3 was designed for daisy chaining multiple CDS3 units, all controlled by one computer. It is unlikely this was ever implemented, so the correct settings are for a single unit. These settings are located on the back panel of the CDS3.

up	down	down	down	down	up
0	1	2	3
Select				Terminator	Mode

CDS3 to Emulator II Cable

Pin to Pin Wiring

CDS3 DB9 pin	EII DB25 pin1
1	3
2	11
3	N/C
4	N/C
5	7
6	N/C
7	9
8	10
9	2

N/C: No Connection

Shielding This cable does not appear to need shielding, but the cable shield can be connected to Pin 5 (Ground) on the CDS3.

3.5" Floppy Drive Upgrade

WHAT YOU NEED!

1. TEAC 3.5" Drive FD235HF-A529
2. IDE Extender Cable M - Fo
3. TEAC 5.25" to 3.5" Bay Adapter

Contact www.route66studios.com to buy a kit.

Introduction The Emulator II has either one or two 5.25" floppy drives, which are now become life expired. In many well utilised Emulator II's these drives are beginning to fail (motor death), or give read/write problems. The 5.25" media is also becoming harder to locate, and 5.25" are less reliable than 3.5" media.

Without a working drive an Emulator II is effectively useless. Now is the time to replace that failed or error prone 5.25" floppy drives. We encourage all EII users to upgrade to a new drive now, to ensure you will be able to read your valuable sample library in the long term.

The Shugart Legacy All E-mu samplers use a floppy drive interface that dates back to the original Shugart design and specification. This is slightly different than the current PC floppy interface specification. PC drives will therefore not work unless the jumper settings can be changed or you build a special interface cable.

5.25" Replacement New 5.25" drives are no longer manufactured. The best replacement is a TEAC FD55GFR-7220 (in black), but these are difficult to locate as they have been out of production since 1999. Try eBay or a legacy PC component supplier. They have an operational life of 20,000 hours. You will need to set the ID to either 0 or 1 depending on whether it is drive 1 (upper) or drive 2 (lower). You will also need to set the RY strap to output a ready signal on pin 34. We have NOT tested this procedure.

Places to locate a drive: Rapid Technology - Portland USA

3.5" Replacement Suitable new 3.5" drives are still being manufactured, and they work just like their larger brother. You will need the following components:

• One TEAC FD235HF-A529 drive (black)
• One TEAC CS235ROO 5.25" frame kit (black)
• One 12" standard male - female 34 pin interface cable

The TEAC 3.5" drive can be configured using jumpers and it has an operational life of 30,000 hours. The Emulator II will only work with 3.5" DS/DD media (NOT DS/HD), as this has exactly the same rotation speed and disk sectors as 5.25" DS/DD media. The Emulator II formats the disk with NO additional capacity, just the usual 512KB. Read/write times are very similar, as is the noise!

The new 3.5 drive is best used to replace the lower drive 2, as the Emulator II can only format diskettes in the lower drive rather than the upper drive. By keeping a 5.25" drive you can access and copy across your existing EII sample library.

If you have an EII+ HD you can replace the upper drive or the hard disk. With a single drive EII you can replace the original drive or add a second - check to see that there is a floppy interface cable with two drive connectors. If you do, then it is possible to do the upgrade.

Installation

Fitting a 3.5" floppy drive is very easy, here are the step by step instructions.

1. Assembly Mount the new drive in the frame adapter. Fit the metal side frames first, loosely tighten the screws to the drive. Then fit the front bezel and tighten the screws. Connect the interface cable extension to the new drive (red stripe aligned to pin 1), and connect the 5.25"/3.5" interface adapter to the other end of the interface cable (the slot in the adapter is aligned to the cables red stripe). Make sure this slot in the adapter plug is the same way round as the old drive. Connect the power adapter to the new drive
2. Remove old drive Power off the EII and disconnect external power. Open up the case and disconnect the power and interface cable from the lower 5.25" drive. Remove the old drive, there are 4 machine screws, two each side.
3. Mount new drive Mount the new drive with its frame adapter into the EII lower drive bay. Be very careful not to damage the underside of the upper drive.
4. Connect Up Connect up the power and interface cable. Check everything !
5. Test Close the case, and connnect power.Boot up the EII from the upper drive. Insert and format a new 3.5" DS/DD in the lower drive. Save a bank !

Operating System Versions

OS 1.6 First known production release of the Operating System. A very early version which came with a 12 page manual (Short Form Operator's Guide). The sequencer and SMPTE were not properly implemented.

OS 1.7 Released in 1984, still no sequencer or SMPTE functions.

OS 1.8a No details known, but we presume it added the sequencer.

OS 2.1 This is a major improvement release, that was available from 20 May 1985. New documentation was included, "The SMPTE Supplement". The software contains:

• Fully functional SMPTE interface
• Velocity Switch threshold increas
• Click track output added
• New error message for out of voice/preset memory
• Two overlays in sequencer module
• High C# phantom note eliminated
• Mac interface bug corrected
• Erase Preset crash fixed
• Retrieve full 17.6 second library sample works
• Sequence end works properly
• MIDI transmitted clock is stable
• Short library disk file bugs fixed
• Non existant controller erase ignored
• External clock works after sampling
• Most wheel jumps eliminated

OS 2.2 No details known, other than this release is needed to interface the EII to a Mac. However it has a bug in it ...see OS 2.3.

OS 2.3 This is a small but important release change. It was available from 25 September 1985. If fixes a bug in the Mac interface, whereby the EII locked up if you powered the Mac up after the EII. It is the software release found in many Emulator II's. The full Craig Anderton Owners Manual is based on this release. It needs boot EPROM 2.1 or HD2.2.

OS 2.6 HD No details known. We suspect this is the first HD release.

OS 3.0/3.0 HD Added some useful new functions, and finally nailed the remaining bugs. It needs Scanner EPROM 3.0, which was supplied as an upgrade with the OS. It cost $75.00, due to the PROM change. You can run OS 3.0+ on an EII without the new scanner PROM, but you will not get all the updates. The new features were:

• MIDI Supermode.
• The ability to switch double memory banks over MIDI via program change #00. This is needed for the EII+.
• Improved SMPTE, no hesitations.
• MIDI preset changes are not echoed over MIDI out.
• No stuck notes when MIDI notes arrive for unassigned areas of the keyboard.
• MIDI play sent out at the SMPTE start point, rather than at play.

OS 3.1/3.1 HD The final Emulator II production release. This seems to be exactly the same as 3.0 but it is the release that is often found with later model Emulator II's.

Boot ROM's

Main ROM

• Latest version is 2.1
• EII+HD needs 2.2HD

Scanner ROM

• Latest Version is 3.0
• Version 2.1 or higher is needed when EII is linked to a Mac

OS Manuals

• EII OS 3.1 Upgrade
• EII OS 3.0 Upgrade
• EII Attack Mod
• EII+ Memory Upgrade Installation

OS Diskettes

Latest Version: OS 3.1/3.1 HD

Older Versions

• OS 3.0/OS 3.0 HD
• OS 2.6 HD
• OS 2.3
• OS 2.2
• OS 2.1
• OS 1.8a
• OS 1.7
• OS 1.6

High Quality Demo MP3's

Demonstration Record A four track double sided plastic sound sheet record was produced in 1985 to demonstrate the amazing sounds of the Emulator II. Enjoy!

High Quality 128k 44.1kHz MP3 files for download Concerto for Nature and Orchestra - composed and performed by Chris Stone (5.4 MB) Incubus - composed and performed by Doug Morton and Kevin Monahan (2.0 MB) Clear Moment - composed and performed by Doug Morton and Kevin Monahan (2.3 MB) The Biff and Herb Show - composed and performed by Herb Jimmerson and Biff Vincent (3.6 MB)

Development Story The development of the Emulator II was a major challange for E-mu Systems, causing cash flow problems as the major innovations in electronics caused the project to go seriously late. Read Dave Rossum's account of the complete story !

The Emulator II Development Story (31KB)

Photos

Picture of a base Emulator II with two floppy drives.

Picture of a base Emulator II front panel. Notice the four sliders on the left hand side, they are used to set voice and preset parameters.

Picture of the front panel, all the basic functions are written onto the panel for easy reading. Trouble is they don't reflect any OS upgraded functions!

Big bold lettering announced the Emulator II to the user and more importantly to the audience and viewers!

This is a later Emulator II with the power supply on the right hand side.

This is a later model Emulator II+ with Hard Disk.

Emulator II : Repairs

Overview The Emulator II is not one of the most reliable products due to the very large number of electronic components and the large PCB's. After 15+ years you are likely to encounter failures. The main problem areas are the PSU, the LCD and sliders and buttons. Warning Please only attempt a repair yourself if you are competent at servicing electronics, use a service centre if in doubt. The Emulator II is easily damaged or melted by amateur attempts at repair. LCD Overview The Emulator II uses an Optrex 16x2 character LCD with an EL backlight. When new the display is bright blue with grey/black characters. The LCD does fade dramatically over time, and the backlight can fail or the inverter that drives it can fail too. LCD Age After around 2000 hours use the LCD will need replacement, and its a good idea to replace the LCD whilst parts are still available. You can check when the LCD was manufactured by looking at the code stamped on the back of the LCD in black. The first 2 characters are the year, and the third character is the month. 84 or 85 is a typical build year. LCD Part Number The original part number is an Optrex DMC16207-AE. This is a 16x2 LCD with EL backlight. The physical size is 84x44mm and it uses a standard single row of 14 data connections. E-mu Systems no longer have any spares, and this is a good job as its expensive from them! The current part number is DMC16207N-EB and it is widely available still for under $25/£15. Try Digikey. LCD Inverter The LCD backlight (the blue colour) is driven by a small inverter that generates 100VAC at 400Hz from a 5V supply. The inverter is a NEC (NEL-D32-46), and its a small black plastic box that sits below the LCD. The inverter can fail, which means no blue backlight, in which case it needs replacing. LCD Replacement The LCD can be replaced relatively easily. You will have to remove the left hand front panel PCB, unbolt the LCD from the PCB and then desolder/resolder the 14 way data cable and 2 way backlight cable that connect it to the front panel. When you refit the new LCD you may also need to file down the PCB to get the LCD to fit as new units don't have sloping corners to the metal frame. Ensure the new LCD face and the LCD transparent cover in the front casing are both protected whilst your desolder/solder. EL Backlight Replacement An easier solution to replacing the whole LCD is to replace just the EL backlight itself. This works well if you know the characters are working okay but you just cannot read them properly. An added plus is that the black on blue lettering remains, which is easier to read. Visit www.backlights.co.uk for more details. The EL backlight is easily removed by desoldering the two connections on the LCD and then pushing the backlight out using a credit card. The new backlight can then be slotted in and the connections soldered in place. Replacement 5.25" Floppy Drive E-mu System used a number of different drives including: Shugart SA465-3AA 5.25" The drives are DS/QD floppy disk drive, with 360kb/500kb of unformatted/formatted space. New 5.25" drives are no longer manufactured. The best replacement is a TEAC FD55GFR-7220 (in black), but these are difficult to locate as they have been out of production since 1999. Try eBay or a legacy PC component supplier. They have an operational life of 20,000 hours. You will need to set the ID to either 0 or 1 depending on whether it is drive 1 (upper) or drive 2 (lower). You will also need to set the RY strap to output a ready signal on pin 34. We have NOT tested this procedure. Hard Disk The Emulator II+ HD uses a MiniScribe 8425 MFM hard drive with a ST506 interface. There is an internal Adaptec adapter to drive the ST506 interface. The drive is a half height 3.5" drive, which holds 21 MB unformated. The Miniscribe drive is especially designed for operation in a rugged environment, and it has shock mounts. It can operate in any position. So in theory you can play your Emulator II upside down! E-mu Systems carefully researched the hard drive market before choosing this model. Finding new replacement drives is not easy, and the life span of this drive is much smaller than a modern drive, at just 20,000 hours use and 5 years. Possible sources of the Miniscribe 8425 drive: Campbell Technical, M Farris. 3.5" Floppy Drive The standard 5.25" floppy drive is better replaced with a new 3.5" floppy drive. Not only are these a lot easier to locate new, but 3.5" media is still readily available. Upgrade Details » Slider Knobs Looking for replacement Slider Knobs for your EII ? They are available from Farnell at part number 766756. Push Buttons The EII uses a small momentary push button for most of the controls. After 15 years use they are beginning to wear out and even with cleaning still don't work immediately. They are easily replaced with new buttons made by E-switch and are available from Digikey in the USA (blue: P/NEG2556-ND, red: EG1325-ND, black: EG1321-ND). A full set of buttons will cost around $60, and you can choose from a range of cap colours. You will need to desolder the old buttons carefully. Fuseholder The Emulator II uses a square black external fuse holder, with an internal red lid and fuse. These were made by Littelfuse and are: Low Profile Snap Mount 15A 250V Part Number 348871 Rotary Pots The Emulator II uses poor quality rotary potentiometers which should be replaced. Keyboard Replacement EII keyboards are not available as spares anywhere. However individual keys can be found from E-mu service centres and the rubber cones used as the contact mechanism can be obtained as 5 key contact mats from EPR ELECTRONICS, part number 422005505 at $13.50 each. Power Supply The power supply is getting old by now and failure is not uncommon. One of the rails may go out of specification. Replacement PSU's are not available, so the best option is a service centre repair.

Emulator II : Sample Library

Sound Libraries A massive sound library for the EII developed during the mid - late 80's. Third party libraries from small US start up companies sprang up alongside an expanding and high quality E-mu Systems Library. The best libraries came from E-mu Systems, OMI, K-muse and Northstar. The OMI library is still available on CDROM Q Up Arts. The Northstar library is still available on diskette CDROM's Optical Media International of California produced 3 CDROM's for the Emulator II in 1986. There were announced at the January 1986 NAMM as the first sample CDROM's ever produced in the world. They remain of a stunning high quality. OMI-55-101 OMI EII Universe of Sounds Volume 1 OMI-55-102 OMI EII Universe of Sounds Volume 2 OMI-55-103 OMI EII Universe of Sounds Volume 3 They cost from $249 - $329 in 1988. The first two CDROM's are still available brand new in EII and Sound Designer I format. The third CDROM contains the Northstar sample library. OMI Volume 1 - Sample Library Listing (32KB) OMI Volume 2 - Sample Library Listing (24KB) OMI Volume 3 - Sample Library Listing (21KB) Sony PCM-F1 The E-mu Systems factory samples for the Emulator II were recorded on the first consumer Sony digital recorder the PCM-F1. The F1 was "portable PCM adapter", well a stand alone digital to analog conversion box, that when used with the matching Sony Betamax SL-F1 video recorder you had a cost effective 2 track digital recorder. This was a ground breaking product released in 1981, with an amazing low price of just $1900. The PCM adapter uses Sony's first consumer ADC and DAC chips, the CX-899 ADC and CX-890 DAC. The PCM-F1 was widely used in the 1980's as the first cost effective two track digital recorder, a precursor to DAT. The recorder used 14 or 16 bits, had a 44.056kHz sample rate, 90dB dynamic range and a reasonably flat frequency response. Whilst it had its flaws (like shared converters across the left and right channels) it was remarkably cost effective, and has seen considerable use even to this day. The PCM-F1 samples that E-mu Systems recorded were in 16-bits and 44.1kHz, so the sample session tapes were easily reused for creating some of the Emulator III library in 1988. E-mu Systems The initial factory of around 100 diskettes is well catalogued and most EII's have a reasonably good selection of these diskettes. There are some famous names in the list of contributors, including Chris Franke from Tangerine Dream. Factory Library Listing (37KB) K-Muse Richard Burmer created many of the more interesting E-mu Systems factory sounds. He went on to release a number of "collections" via K -Muse. There are at least 3 collections in existence, and we have some details on these libraries. FMS Designs Volume #1 This collection of 50 diskettes has over 650 presets and 2600 voices. They were recorded directly into the EII or onto Sony 16 bit PCM-F1. All samples were processed with Sound Designer, and the entire collection took a year to produce. The library was available in 1986 and cost $399. MIDIMouse Premiere Collection #1 A collection of 10 diskettes available at $24.95 each. This "Premiere" Collection contained: Piano, Bass, Master Strings, Orchestral Classics, Antnthology, Composers Toolkit, Drum Kit, Percussion, Cosmos. The whole library was available at $199.95. MIDIMouse were based in Oregon, and the samples were available for the Emax, as well as other samplers. Others Navarrophonic 10 diskettes $80 for five Thank You! Many thanks to Rob Lewis in San Mateo for giving us some valuable info on the FMS, OMI and E-mu Systems Factory Libararies. Take a bow !

Emulator II : Sound Designer

Overview The first software product developed by DigiDesign was a Mac based sample transfer and editing program, called Sound Designer for the Emulator II. This allows visual editing of the EII samples - as well as acting as a remote control front panel. This version of Sound Designer is specifically just for the Emulator II. This legacy software is essential for any EII owner. It enables you to do without unreliable diskettes, edit samples using a computer, and keep an infinite library of sample banks that take just a few seconds to load. You need an old Mac, a serial cable and the software. Sound Designer developed into being a generic sound editing software as Sound Designer II, but only the original software has EII front panel controls, and allows a whole sample bank to be transfered and saved to Mac disk. It is by far the best software to use with an Emulator II. Sound Designer for Emulator II Digidesign initially produced a dedicated Mac sample editor called Sound Designer for Emulator II. They also produced dedicated versions for a variety of different samplers (Emax, Akai, Ensoniq, Prophet 2000), and also ported them onto the cheaper Atari platform. Sound Designer supports a range of sample rates, but only monophonic samples. Samples are converted to 16-bits for editing and storage on the Mac. Important!! Emulator II's with Rev 0 Logic Boards (serial numbers below approximately 990 (dual drive) and 460 (single drive) require an upgrade that converts the serial interface to RS422 to work with Sound Designer. This is a simple replacement of the old RS232 driver chips with new RS422 chips. E-mu Systems produced this on a small daughterboard which is no longer available. You may be able to get a service centre to do this upgrade for you as the changes are small - see the RS422 schematic manual. Both Emulator II EPROM's must be at Version 2.1 or higher, the OS diskettes must be at OS Version 2.2 or higher. OS 2.3 is HIGHLY recommended. Some Rev 1 Logic Boards may also need correcting (probably serial numbers from approximately 950 to 1100 ), but with a different modification. Please read the SD for EII Troubleshooting Manual before using the software. MIDI Setup When Sound Designer is being used MIDI must be enabled and set to channel 1, and ideally no MIDI cables attached to the EII (or ensure there is no MIDI data present whilst the EII is under Mac control). Sound Designer Universal Digidesign sensibly introduced a generic sample editor called "Universal", so that samples could be exchanged between a wide range of different samplers. This software supports RS422 serial communication as well as MIDI sample dump. The Emulator II and Emax are supported. Sound Designer was also enhanced to support playback and recording of samples using the new Digidesign Nubus sound cards. Universal will work with the original Sound Accelerator card, but not any of the later AudioMedia cards. Sound Designer Universal supports a range of sample rates, but only monophonic samples. Samples are converted to 16-bits for editing and storage on the Mac. Sound Designer II Digidesign continued to improve the software, and moved into two track, and then multitrack computer based recording market (Sound Tools, then Pro Tools). Sound Designer II was introduced with improved computer editing and DSP functionality, and with more samplers supported than ever before. However as Sound Designer II was further developed, after version 2.5 sampler support was dropped completely. SD II supports a range of samples rates, 8 - 24 bits, mono and stereo samples. The Emax (RS422), Emax II (RS422), Emulator II (RS422), Emulator III (SCSI) and SP1200 (Sample Dump over MIDI) are full supported.

Manuals

SD for Emulator II User Manual (1.6MB)

SD for Emulator II Troubleshooting (78KB)

Emulator II RS422 Schematic (581KB)

SD for Emulator II Review (380KB)

Suitable Mac

Supported Mac's SD for EII was designed to run on a basic Apple Mac with just 512 Kbytes of memory. It will happily run on a Mac with a 68000 to 68030 processor running in 24-bit addressing mode (Mac OS 7.1 or earlier). Turn off any RAM doublers etc. A Mac II or Mac Classic is ideal. It will also run on 68040's with cache off and on PowerPC Mac's. Proven Systems

Mac II VX OS 7.1

Quadra 800 OS 8.0

Powerbook 180C OS 7.1

Powerbook 5300C OS 8.6 The Mac MUST have a serial port. Unsupported Mac's iBook/iMac OS 9/OS X

Mac to EII Cabling

The EII RS422 connector must be connected to a serial port on the Mac via a specially constructed cable. To make a cable take a normal Mac serial cable (as used for connecting modems) and slice off one end. Wire the cable to a DB25 plug as follows:

Mac Min-DIN8 pin	EII DB25 pin
1	20
2	9
3	2
4	7
5	3
6	10
7	N/C
8	11

Connect the mini-DIN shield to mini-DIN pin4. The DB25 shield not be connected.

Emulator II: Technical Description

Architecture The Emulator II is an 8 voice polyphonic digital sampling keyboard, which uses two Z80 microcomputers to reproduce 8-bit digital samples of any musical sound or instrument. The EII is entirely controlled by computer software which is loaded from disk when it is powered on. Both the Z80 processor's run at a clock speed of 4 MHz. The first Z80 is utilised as a scanner CPU to regularly check the status of the keyboard, the control panel buttons, the control wheels and the footpedal and switch. The main Z80 runs the EII operating system, which is always loaded from disk, after the initial boot program has run directly from EPROM (Boot in Progress). The primary CPU takes commands from the scanner CPU, and controls the micro controller, generates envelopes for the analog circuitry and interfaces directly with MIDI and SMPTE. The micro controller replays the samples from memory into the analog processing output channels. Seven of the eight channels are identical, however the first channel has additional circuitry to create the sampling function. Sample Memory The 512 Kbytes of sample memory on the EII consists of 64 x 64k bit DRAM's fitted on 2 circuit boards. Memory prices had dropped by the time of the release of the 1 MB EII+, and 32 x 256k bit DRAM chips were used instead. Engineering Changes The Emulator II has had a number of minor circuit board changes to address early problems with MIDI, SMPTE, display and power problems. EII's built since June 1985 (serial numbers above 455 and 900), seem to have had no subsequent engineering revisions. Analog Filters The EII has analog 4-pole 24dB filters (SSM2045) for each of the eight voices. They sound very pleasant - although the bass drops off when they are driven into high resonance values. They do not sound like a Moog filter ladder ! The main Z80 generates software envelopes for the filters and VCA's - they are therefore consistent and they can be fast. The minimum envelope attack time was reduced by 4ms as an upgrade to the EII. That Sound The EII has a distinctive quality sound, which belies the use of 8-bit sampling. It does not sound like a Mirage or an E4 Ultra set to 8 bits! The warm analog filters and the grit of the low sample resolution gives the EII a desirable character from acoustic guitar to bass synthesizer. The EII is best suited as a keyboard instrument, rather than a sample wrench. Digital Sampling The EII samples at 12-bit resolution, but stores the samples into memory (and disk) as 8-bits. This is done by using hardware bit compression and expansion, from a DAC chip used in telephone communications. Remember this is before CD players made DAC's cost effective. The digital to analog converters are 6072 companding DAC's. Analog to digital conversion for sampling is done via successive approximation with one of the DAC's. There is no ADC on the EII - except for reading the analog controls. Sample RAM had to be used efficiently due to its very high cost in the mid 1980's, and is therefore limited to 512 or 1024 KB. 16-bit sampling would have made the EII too expensive to produce. The EII makes extensive use of CMOS/TTL integrated circuits, with over 150 chips spread across the memory boards, the digital board and the analog output board. No custom chips were utilised - except for the filter chips which had already been designed by E-mu with SSM some years before. This large number of chips makes the EII a warm instrument with a large internal power supply. It also means it is less reliable than modern day electronics (which have a small number of surface mounted components). The EII should no longer be gigged or moved about - and temperamental problems often develop on well used examples. Take care of this baby.

3.5" Floppy Drive

The Emulator II uses 5.25" floppy drives, which are well past their designed life span. Replacement drives are no longer manufactured, and 5.25" DS/DD media is now hard to find, and less reliable than 3.5" diskettes. A replacement 3.5" floppy drive is an attractive option. We have researched and proven a solution using new 3.5" drives, and we sell a complete upgrade kit. more »

Diskettes

Imation DS/DD DiskettesThe EII uses DS/DD soft sectored 5.25" diskettes, High quality diskettes are recommended. Do not try and use HD diskettes, or DD diskettes that are hard sectored or IBM formatted. They will not work. We recommend and use Imation DS/DD soft sectored diskettes. Why not High Density? There is a difference between double density media and high density media, and they are NOT interchangable. High density diskettes have different magnetic properties; a higher coercivity, requiring a higher write current from the disk drive. Formatting HD media as DD is not a good idea; the media will be too weakly magnetized, and your data may be completely unreadable or may fade away after a while. These problems are worse on 5.25" disks than on 3.5" disks because the difference in coercivity is greater for 5.25" media, but they exist for both types of disk. You cannot reliably distinguish between 5.25" HD and DD media if they are not labelled. There are a couple of ways of guessing: DD media usually has a hub reinforcing ring (but not always), while HD media generally does not. The color of the media also tends to be different; HD media is darker.

Emulator II: Upgrades & Add Ons

Diskette Drives The Emulator II could be upgraded from one to two diskette drives, for around $650. If you can find a second diskette drive - it is easy enough to fit, although you will need a second drive cable and the jumpers on the drive need setting up correctly. The ids of each drive are different, the upper drive is 0 and the lower drive is 1. Hard Drive The Emulator II+ HD came with an internal Hard Drive (Miniscribe 8425) which could hold 46 sample banks. It required extra circuitry and a new operating system version (HD). It is not possible to install a hard drive into the EII or EII+, without the hardware upgrade. The external multi pin connector on the back of the EII is NOT SCSI, but a RS422/RS232 for connecting a Mac, CDROM or terminal. Only specific disk drives can be used with the EII. We have only seen LaPine 10 MB and Miniscribe 20 MB used. The EII uses an in-house SCSI contrioller card, which is then converted to an ST506 interface protocol to access the MFM encoded Miniscribe 8425 hard drive by an Aaptec ACB-4000 card. The EII SCSI commands are in the OS and are specific to the hard drive. You cannot use other SCSI drives like a ZIP100 with the EII (we have tried!). Hard Drive Upgrade The Emulator II and II+ could be upgraded with an internal Hard Drive (Miniscribe 8425), full details are in the following documents. Many of the parts can still be obtained but you'll need the new boot ROM, and you'll need to construct the E-mu controller PCB. Memory From January 1985 the standard 512 Kbytes of memory could be upgraded to 2 banks of 512 Kbytes, by replacing half of the 64 x 64k bit DRAM chips with 32 x 256k bit DRAM chips. Vesrion 0 digital boards need a wiring kludge which involves cutting tracks and adding wiring. However digital board version 1 does not need any wiring changes. Both boards need a couple of new control chips, and the EII+ OS (diskette and EPROM). The piggyback memory board is ditched and a jumper setting needs to be changed. The EII+ upgrade is still possible to achieve, especially if you have the Rev 1 digital board. We can supply the new Boot ROM. Computer Editing Digidesign developed software for the Mac, called Sound Designer for the Emulator II. This allows visual editing of the EII samples and remote control. CDROM Optical Media International made a CD-ROM player for the EII which plugged in via the RS422 connection. It was announced in January 1986, at Winter NAMM (and sold for £1500). Two versions were available; The biege CDS3 external drive, and the purple and black ProCDP rack mount. The Emulator II was the first sampler to be supported by OMI and they used very early Sony CDROM drives with an added serial interface. They are sadly no longer manufactured. OMI created a three volume Universe of Sounds CDROM library in conjunction with E-mu Systems and Northstar, it covers over 1500 samples. These are very high quality samples.

3.5" Floppy Drive

The Emulator II uses 5.25" floppy drives, which are well past their designed life span. Replacement drives are no longer manufactured, and 5.25" DS/DD media is now hard to find, and less reliable than 3.5" diskettes. A replacement 3.5" floppy drive is an attractive option. We have researched and proven a solution using new 3.5" drives, and we sell a complete upgrade kit. more »

Upgrade Manuals

EII+ HD Upgrade (275KB / 10 pages)

Emulator II Hard Disk Supplement (152KB / 15 page)

Emulator II 1MB Memory Upgrade (28KB / 4 pages )

Upgrades

Hard Disk

CDROM Drive

OS 3.1 and 3.1 HD

3.0 Scanner ROM

2nd Diskette Drive

Upgrade to EII+ 1MB

3.5" Floppy Drive Kit

Replacement Hard Disk

SD for EII software