E M X P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

software for vintage EMU samplers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the homepage of EMXP

software for vintage EMU samplers

developed by ///E-Synthesist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current version

EMXP is a software package for reading, writing, copying and converting disks and files for Emu Emax, Emu Emax II, Emu Emulator I, Emu Emulator II, Emu Emulator III, Emu Emulator IIIX, ESI, SP-12, SoundFont2 and Akai S1000 samplers.

 

*** NEW BUILD 3.11.3 ***

The latest version of EMXP is version 3.11 build 3  (November 2023)

 

This version supports user-configurable bank and file naming rules when copying, converting and generating sampler sound banks.

Changing bank names is supported as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows and

Wine on macOS

EMXP has been written for Windows XP or higher.

 

However it's also possible to run EMXP on macOS by using Wine version 1.8 or higher. Wine can be downloaded free of charge. The EMXP software package includes a manual for using EMXP on macOS in Wine. This manual is based on the Wine.app which can be downloaded from http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/downloads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost all functions of EMXP are currently available in Wine on macOS, including looking into sampler files, copying between file formats, conversions between sampler formats, WAV conversions, sound bank construction, audio playing, most MIDI and RS422 communication, ... The only functionalities not supported are SP-12 MIDI communication and direct access to external sampler disks like Emu hard disks or CD-ROMs. This is due to limitations of Wine. For direct access to sampler hard disks, a work-around is explained in the manual.

For using the RS422 features in Wine, the latest firmware must be installed in the EMuSer. Updating the firmware is very easy and is explained in the manual as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download EMXP

You can download the latest version of EMXP here:

 

EMXP Version 3.11.3

 

This version supports user-configurable bank and file naming rules when copying, converting and generating sampler sound banks. Changing bank names is supported as well.

 

Please read the manual including the copyright information before using EMXP.

 

The previous version of EMXP can be downloaded here:

 

EMXP Version 3.10.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Price

EMXP is 100% free of charge (freeware).

For more information regarding the license, please read the reference manual included in the download package.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donations

If you can't resist contributing to the support of the EMXP initiative ;-), you are welcome to donate with PayPal to the well-known esynthesist e-mail address on yahoo.com, which can also be found on the EMXP main menu screen and in the EMXP user manual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other downloads

You can download some additional software utilities and files here:

 

-       DPXTOOLS is a set of utilities for reading, writing and converting Oberheim DPX-1 disks. To download DPXTOOLS, click here. Some information about installing an RS422 interface in the DPX-1 can be found here as well.

 

-       PROPHET2000TOOLS is a set of utilities for reading and writing Sequential Prophet 2000/2002 disks. Also some information about the Prophet 2000/2002 disk structure is available. To download PROPHET2000TOOLS or the disk information, click here.

 

-       CDS3TOOL is a utility that can extract Emulator-II and Emax soundbanks from CDS3/OMI cdroms. To download CDS3TOOL, click here.

 

-       The EMuSer is a USB-RS422 hardware adapter that can be used with vintage Emu samplers and the Oberheim DPX-1. To download the EMuSer package, which explains how to build, install and use a compatible USB - RS422 adapter, click here.

 

-       The HxC floppy emulator supports the Emulator I and Emulator II samplers. An installation and user manual specifically written for using the HxC in these samplers, as well as some bootable disk images, can be downloaded here.

 

-       Emulator I, Emulator II and Emulator III/IIIX operating system files are also available, as well as some tweaked Emax operating systems for use with Sound Designer for Emax 1.12, an Emulator II memory test disk file, an Emulator III UST bank and some bootable hard disk image files for the Emulator III/IIIX. Also some information about the Emulator I and Emulator II disk structure is available, as well as information about the copy protection mechanism applied in the Emulator I. You can download these additional files here.

 

-       IMG2EMX is not available anymore, because converting Emax and Emax-II floppy disk image files to .EM1 and .EM2 files is supported by EMXP now. This means that EMXP is capable of converting Emax related .IMG files created by OmniFlop or by HxCFloppyEmulator into any other Emax (or even other Emu) file format now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMXP

Features

The full feature list of EMXP can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMXP

Screenshots

Although written for the Windows XP platform or higher, EMXP still uses an old MS-DOS look & feel interface. The Emu Emax, Emulator II, Emulator III and SP-12 samplers are children of the 80's and early 90's, so we thought some nostalgic user interface would preserve the spirit of those times...

 

Some EMXP screenshots can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next version of EMXP

The new features of the next version and its release date are not determined yet. Further development of EMXP has been put on hold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What EMXP is

EMXP is software primarily designed for use with vintage Emu samplers.

 

Started as an evolution of the original EMX software (which was only available for MS-DOS), EMXP can now handle many file formats and all kinds of disks of the vintage Emu sampler series, including the Emulator I, Emulator II, Emax, Emax II, Emulator III, Emulator IIIX, ESI-32, ESI-2000, ESI-4000 and SP-12. Of course EMXP also supports conversions between these sampler formats, and it can play samples in any supported sampler format.

 

Although EMXP will keep its focus on Emu vintage samplers, EMXP also supports SoundFont2. This allows any vintage Emu sampler user to translate his/her sound banks to the widely accepted SoundFont2 format. From this format it is possible to translate to any other sampler type using some other (commercial) translation software.

And of course the other way around is also supported.

 

EMXP is also capable of communicating with the Emax, the Emax II, the Emulator II and the Oberheim DPX-1 via RS422 and with the SP-12 via MIDI without the need for a vintage Mac computer anymore. This allows Windows and "Wine on macOS" users to transfer complete banks between their computer and one of these samplers.

Sample transfers between EMXP and the Emax, Emax II, Emulator II and SP-12 are also supported. For Emax and Emax II this can be done via RS422 and MIDI, for SP-12 this can be done via MIDI (upload to SP-12 only).

When using RS422 with EMXP, a custom designed USB-RS422 adapter is required. Details on how to build one are provided on this website.

 

EMXP is compatible with the Emulator I and Emulator II files required by the HxC conversion software, and with Emulator-II .DSK files required by the DREM hard disk emulator.

SCSI2SD cards containing multiple sampler partitions are also supported by EMXP.

 

EMXP supports Akai S1000 as well, but conversions are limited to Emax-to-Akai and Wav-to-Akai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Platform & hardware support

EMXP runs on Windows XP or higher versions of Windows like Vista, 7, 8 and 10.

 

Starting with version 3.05, EMXP also runs in Wine on macOS. Almost all functions of EMXP can be used in Wine on macOS except for SP-12 MIDI communication and direct access to external sampler disks like Emu hard disks or CD-ROMs. This is due to limitations of Wine.

EMXP in Wine on macOS has been tested on Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) and on macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and with the AppleUSBACM and AppleUSBCDC kernel extensions v5.0.0 (for RS422 support).

 

The floppy disk access feature has only been tested on Windows XP.

 

In order to be able to read and write floppy disks, you will need a PC with an internal floppy drive and the OmniFlop floppy driver installed. EMXP requires at least version v2.01n. For more information, see the EMXP manual. The OmniFlop floppy driver can be downloaded here.

 

External (USB) floppy disk devices are not supported.

 

In order to be able to read and write Emax, Emax II or Emulator III/IIIX/ESI (removable) hard disks or SCSI2SD cards, you will need a removable hard disk drive - such as an Iomega ZIP drive, CF or SD card reader/writer - connected to or installed into your PC. EMXP has been tested with USB and Parallel Port ZIP drives. Both 100 MB and 250 MB disks and drives are supported.

EMXP has also been tested with many sizes of Compact Flash cards and SD cards.

 

In order to be able to read Emax, Emax II or Emulator III/IIIX/ESI CDROMs, you will need a CD-ROM player connected to or installed into your PC.

 

In order to use RS422 communication, you will need a custom built USB-RS422 adapter like the EMuSer. Make sure its hardware components comply with the latest specifications ! For using MIDI, any Windows and macOS compliant MIDI interface should be usable.

 

The Emax and Emax II files and disks created or read by EMXP are compatible with the whole range of Emu Emax samplers:

-          Emu Emax

-          Emu Emax-SE

-          Emu Emax-HD

-          Emu Emax-SE HD

-          Emu Emax-Plus

-          Emu Emax II

-          Emu Emax II Turbo

 

The Emulator I files created or read by EMXP are compatible with the Emulator I.

 

The Emulator II files and disks created or read by EMXP are compatible with the full Emulator II sampler range:

-          Emu Emulator II

-          Emu Emulator II+

-          Emu Emulator II+ HD

 

The Emulator III files and disks created or read by EMXP are compatible with the whole range of Emu Emulator III samplers:

-          Emu Emulator III

-          Emu Emulator IIIX

 

The ESI files and disks created or read by EMXP are compatible with the whole range of ESI samplers and support the Turbo extensions of these samplers

-          ESI-32

-          ESI-2000

-          ESI-4000

Note that the ESI v1.xx format is not supported and that the ESI v2.xx format is considered the same as the Emulator-IIIX format. The ESI v3.xx format is unique and is also supported by EMXP.

 

The SP-12 files created or read by EMXP should be compatible with the whole range of Emu SP-12 samplers, but the sofware has only been tested with the SP-12 Turbo:

-          Emu SP-12

-          Emu SP-12 Turbo

 

The Akai S1000 files and floppy disks created or read by EMXP are compatible with the Akai S1000 samplers (S1000, S1000PB, S1000HD, S1000KB).

 

The SoundFont2 files created by EMXP are compliant with the SoundFont 2.1 specifications. Any SoundFont 2.1 compatible hardware device or software should be capable of processing these files.

The SoundFont2 files read by EMXP can be SoundFont 2.0, SoundFont 2.1 or SoundFont 2.4 files.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links

OmniFlop Software: http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/

Fdrawcmd Software: http://simonowen.com/fdrawcmd/

The Emus: http://www.theemus.com/

Emu Website: http://www.emu.com/

Emulator I / II / III Forum: http://www.eiiiforum.com

Atmel Website: http://www.atmel.com

PJRC/Teensy Website: http://www.pjrc.com

LUFA Website: http://www.fourwalledcubicle.com

HxC Floppy Emulator: http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/

KryoFlux Floppy Controller: http://www.kryoflux.com

WineHQ Website: http://www.winehq.org

WineBottler Website: http://winebottler.kronenberg.org

SCSI2SD Website: http://www.codesrc.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=SCSI2SD

DREM Website: http://www.drem.info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trademarks

EMAX, EMAX-SE, EMAX-SE-HD, EMAX PLUS, EMAX-HD, EMAX II, EMAX 2, Emulator, Emulator I, Emulator II, Emulator III, Emulator IIIX, ESI, SP-12, SP-12 Turbo and SoundFont are trademarks of E-Mu Systems

 

IOMEGA and ZIP(drive) are trademarks of Iomega Corporation

 

Akai S1000 (S1000, S1000PB, S1000HD, S1000KB) is a trademark of Akai Professional.

 

OMNIFLOP is a trademark of Sherlock Consulting Limited

 

Sound Designer is a trademark of Digidesign

 

Sequential is a trademark of Yamaha Corporation

 

Prophet 2000 and Prophet 2002 are trademarks of Yamaha Corporation (Sequential)

 

Oberheim DPX-1 is a trademark of Oberheim Electronics/ECC/Gibson.

 

AVR, AT90USB1287, AT90USBKEY and FLIP are trademarks of Atmel Corporation.

 

TEENSY, TEENSY++, TeensyLoader are trademarks of PJRC.COM LLC.

 

OMI and CDS3 are trademarks of Optical Media International

 

HxC, SD HxC, USB HxC are trademarks of the HxC2001 Project (initiated by Jean-Francois Del Nero).

 

KryoFlux is a trademark of The Software Preservation Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCSI2SD is a trademark of Michael McMaster's SCSI2SD Project.

 

DREM is a trademark of PortaOne, Inc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact

Contact information for questions and support can be found in the manual which is included in the download package.

Please note however that support for EMXP is suspended. Receiving an answer or a solution for the reported problem is not guaranteed (anymore).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(updated 08-November-2023)