EMXP version 3.11 build #5 (c) 2006 - 2026 by E-Synthesist


Important notes:
---------------

0. An overview of new features and changes in version 3.11 can be found at the end of this file.

1. Read the manual (EMXPv311_referencemanual.pdf) and the disclaimer in the manual before using EMXP.

2. Read the EMXP macOS/Wine manual (EMXPv311_macOSWine_manual.pdf) when using EMXP in Wine 
   on macOS/Mac OS X

3. Problems with RS422 communication

When using an EmuSer RS422 adapter, make sure that the EmuSer is compliant with the latest 
design specifications:
- version 1.02b or higher of the hardware specifications, especially with respect to capacitors 
  C4 and C5 for which capacitance values of 22pF or 39pF are strongly recommended (instead of 220pF)
- version 1.02 or higher of the EmuSer firmware

Moreover, the stability and speed of the RS422 communication with the EMAX-I, EMAX-II, Emulator-II 
and DPX-1 is determined by a set of communication parameters. These parameters can be changed in the 
Communication Preferences menu (see section "10.6 COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES" in the manual). 
The out-of-the-box values of these parameters may not be the best for your specific set-up. 
The values that should be used depend on the speed of the computer and on the reliability of
the USB ports. The most important ones are the "Delay time ..." settings.
** Don't worry or get angry if the communication fails when using EMXP with the initial
   (factory) communication preference settings ! **
Just go to the Communication Preferences (option 6.5 from the Main Menu) and change the values of
the "Delay time ..." settings:
- Decrease these values if you have an old or slow computer, or if you want to increase the speed
  of the data transfer. The communication will be faster but could be less reliable.
- Increase these values if you have a fast modern computer. The communication will slow down but 
  could be more reliable.
If the communication fails and additional attempts result in EMXP errors saying that no data could 
be written to the RS422 port due to reason code 31, you will have to unplug the RS422 port and 
plug it in again. Then retry sending or receiving the data in EMXP. 
If the EMAX-I or EMAX-II was still in a "sending or receiving data over RS422" wait mode, it will be 
interrupted by the next data transfer attempt saying a bad packet has been received. Don't worry. 
A next data transfer attempt will probably be accepted again by the EMAX-I or EMAX-II. 

4. Problems with MIDI communication (especially with SP-12)

The SP-12 MIDI protocol is pushing the MIDI interfaces and drivers to their limits. You may have to
adjust the "Delay time ..." and "Timeout ..." parameters in the Communication Preferences (option
6.5 in the Main Menu) in a similar way as described in the previous section (RS422).
You may have to increase the Data Packet Size as well.
SP-12 MIDI communication in Wine on macOS/Mac OS X is not supported, due to limitations imposed by Wine.
** However it's also very important to use the most recent MIDI drivers available for your MIDI
   interface. Avoid old drivers as well as standard (generic) Microsoft Windows MIDI drivers **
** If you are using a MIDI interface with the standard (generic) Microsoft Windows MIDI driver
   you may have to set the Data Packet Size to either 293 or 298. Other values can result in
   communication errors or can result in EMXP freezing during communication **

5. Problems with a correct display of the EMXP screens

By default EMXP automatically adjusts the size of the Windows Command console window, and whenever
one or more characters or symbols on an EMXP screen change, EMXP by default performs a positional
screen update only (= updating the changed part of the screen only instead of reprinting the whole 
screen). 
If this default behaviour of EMXP causes problems for one reason or another, you should adjust
the Look&Feel preferences related to these screen modes. If you even can't get into the Preferences
menu, you can start EMXP from the command line with flags -NOSIZING and/or -SCREENREFRESH. This will
start EMXP in a basic console mode and will allow to get access to the Preferences menu.
For more information, see the Reference Manual chapter "1.8 STARTING THE EMXP SOFTWARE". 



EMXP - software for EMU vintage samplers (for Windows XP or higher)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

New features in version 3.11:

- When copying or converting sound banks, or when generating construction files, the target bank names 
  and/or file names are user-configurable. Multiple naming rules are supported, including regular 
  expressions.
- Emulator-III, Emulator-IIIX, ESIv3 and SoundFont2 bank names in any file or on any disk can be 
  changed at any time
- EMAX-I, EMAX-II and Emulator-II bank names on hard disks or in hard disk images can be changed 
  at any time  


Optimizations applied in this version:

- The editor for entering text (e.g. file names) and numbers (e.g. sector sizes) has been improved 
  with some typical editor features which were still missing in previous versions: 
  switching between insert/overwrite mode, changing cursor position without deleting characters 
  (with left/right and home/end keys), copy/paste to/from Windows clipboard, keeping recent changes 
  in a memory buffer (accessible via up/down arrow keys)
- When generating bank names, preset names and voice names for Emulator-II banks, a more extended 
  character set than the one officially supported by the Emulator-II can be used. 
  This option can be enabled by the user. This extended character set is identical to the one used 
  by the other Emu samplers supported in EMXP.
- The specific bank naming rule regarding an 'X' character on position 16 for Emulator-IIIX banks, 
  and whether an 'X' on position 16 is also allowed for Emulator-III and ESIv3 banks is now also 
  applied when creating bank files. In previous versions of EMXP the rule was only applied when 
  creating banks on hard disks or in hard disk images.
- When changing a construction file name in the EMXP construction bank details screen, the cursor is 
  automatically positioned on the current file now in the file overview screen.
- When displaying sampler object names which end with spaces, the spaces are not shown anymore on 
  most screens to improve the readability.


Bugs fixed in this version:

- When deriving EMAX-I and EMAX-II preset names and bank names during conversion processes, the full 
  character set supported by these samplers is being used now. In previous versions of EMXP, 
  most special characters were filtered out and replaced by spaces.
- When pressing an invalid key in a Report screen, scrolling was applied anyway. This has been resolved.


Build notes:
- Build 3.11.1 - 2021-06-24: Initial build.
- Build 3.11.2 - 2023-04-15: The following software bugs were fixed:
                             - Conversion of SoundFont2 presets with different but overlapping 
                               instrument zones across its layers could result in a fatal error 2552.
                               This has been resolved.
                             - Conversion of EMAX-I or EMAX-II banks containing a key area from
                               A-1 till C#1 could result in a fatal error 601.
                               This has been resolved.
                             - When converting to the EMAX-I or EMAX-II format, some cross-fade
                               settings could be wrong resulting in unexpected cross-fade behaviour.
                               This has been resolved.
                             - When copying EMAX-I or EMAX-II banks with file/bank naming rules based
                               on the current preset name, the proposed target file/bank name could
                               be "no name" instead of the name of the current preset.
                               This has been resolved.
- Build 3.11.3 - 2023-11-08: The following software bugs were fixed:
                             - When converting Emulator-II banks to any other format, the sample loop 
                               settings were not converted correctly, typically resulting in no loops
                               in the generated target bank.
                               This has been resolved.
                             - Conversion of SoundFont2 banks with presets consisting of multiple 
                               layers could result in a crash of EMXP. This bug was introduced in
                               the previous build (v3.11.2) in the attempt to resolve another
                               problem (related to fatal error 2552).
                               This has been resolved.
                             - The conversion of stereo samples from SoundFont2 banks to other sampler
                               formats was not always correct.
                               This has been resolved.
                             Optimizations in this build:
                             - In the voice details screen of Emulator-III/Emulator-IIIX/Esi banks, the
                               parameter names for disabling loops and channels are in line with the
                               parameter names on the sampler itself. E.g. "Loop On/Off" has been renamed
                               into "Disable Loop". 
- Build 3.11.4 - 2025-08-13: The following software bug was fixed:
                             - Requesting a bank overview of the banks on an EMAX-I hard disk or in
                               an EMAX-I hard disk image resulted in a fatal error 2604 message.
                               This has been resolved.  
- Build 3.11.5 - 2026-06-28: The following software bugs were fixed:
                             - EMXP could suddenly crash due to extensive memory usage. This problem
                               especially occurred when performing bulk/batch copying or conversions
                               of EMAX-II (multi-disk set) floppy image files, e.g. when copying them
                               to EMAX-II hard disks or EMAX-II hard disk images. 
                               The main cause for this unexpected memory usage has been resolved.
                             - When generating an Emulator-II hard disk image (e.g. for DREM usage)
                               based on a user-defined physical format instead of a factory-defined one
                               EMXP stopped working if the format was set to a hard disk capacity 
                               of 46 banks.
                               This has been resolved.
                             Optimizations in this build:
                             - When defining additional Emulator-II hard disk configurations and formats, 
                               which deviate from the factory ones (Miniscribe 11MB and 22MB combined with
                               an ACB4000A controller), EMXP automatically detects if the user-define format
                               corresponds to an Emulator-II supported hard disks combined with an ACB4070
                               controller. In that case, a compatible DREM CFG configuration file will be 
                               generated as well.
                               (a 22MB/32MB ACB4070 hard disk format may be added as a factory format in 
                                a future version of EMXP. In this build, this has not been done yet, but
                                EMXP detects and supports it already if ACB4070 format has been added by 
                                the user) 
                                             
 
                                                                 
2026-06-28
///E-Synthesist




