Chicken Systems Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools User Manual

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For the...

MIDI-Disk Tools

for Windows

Windows MIDI and Disk Utility Software for the

EPS, 16-Plus, & ASR-10/88 Samplers

Copyright ©1994-2012 Rubber Chicken

Software Co. All Rights Reserved

Copyright ©1994-2012 Rubber Chicken Software Co. All Rights Reserved

Glossary Table of Contents

.WAV les

A standard incorporated my Microsoft for sound within an PC/Windows
system. They can be 8-bit, 16-bit, mono, or stereo. They are used for system
sounds within a PC/Windows, but also for any hard disk recording schemes

and other PC/Windows sound-related items. .Wav les cannot be looped, nor

do they contain multiple wavesamples.

WAVE OVERVIEW

A function where you can view the entire waveform, as opposed to just a part
of it.

WAVESAMPLE

A unit on the EPS/ASR that holds a set of parameters affecting sound, and
also either the actual sample data or pointers to another wavesample that
actually holds the data.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools for Windows is the sole property of Rub­ber Chicken Software Co. You are granted a license to use Ensoniq
MIDI-Disk Tools for Windows for your own personal use but YOU MAY
NOT COPY OR DISTRIBUTE any version of Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools
for Windows. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use, duplication, or
distribution is prohibited by law.

Introduction Page 2
Installation Instructions Page 3
List of Files Page 4
Brief Overview and History Page 4
Important Concepts Page 5
Screens Page 7
Main Screen Page 8
Instrument Controls Page 9
Control Buttons Page 9
Instrument/Layer Screen Page 11
Layer Panel Page 12
Effects Panel Page 13
Wavesample Screen Page 14
Envelopes Page 15
Loading EPS/ASR File via MIDI Page 16
Loading File Images Page 16
Menus Page 18
Global Parameter Screen Page 19
Sample Editing - SampleVue Page 21
Screen Commands Page 22
Going Deeper - Wavesample Data Editing Page 23
Truncating and Normalizing Page 23
Advanced Low-Level Commands Page 23
Looping Page 24
Basic Low-Level Commands Page 24
Preferences Page 25
Utilities Page 26
MIDI Keyboard Page 26
MIDI Tester Page 27
WaveMapper Page 28
Normalizer Page 28
Naming Wizard Page 28
Ensoniq Disk Tools Page 29
Ensoniq File Analyzer Page 30
MIDI Monitor Page 31
Setup Screen page 32
Sequencer Screens page 36
Sequencer Control Board Page 36
Sequence Parameter Editing Page 37
Troubleshooting Page 39
Personal Support Page 42
Update Policy Page 44
Shortcut Quick Reference Page 45
Final Notes Page 46
Thank You's and Legal Notices Page 47
Glossary Page 48

Table of Contents

Page 49 Page 1

Introduction Glossary

FILE IMAGE

Introduction

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools for Windows is a full-featured sample editor and
remote parameter editor for the Ensoniq line of samplers. It’s purpose is to

Replace the 22-character display on the EPS/ASR and provide a more

versatile user-interface with a computer screen

To assist the EPS/ASR with many tools programming and editing to

make the complex job of working with the EPS/ASR easier, and

Provide a computer link to the EPS/ASR that will prove truly indis-

pensable to the function and operation of the EPS/ASR

A le saved to your hard drive that stores all the parameters of an Instrument.

See Disk File.

GIEBLER FILE FORMAT

This is a PC le format standard introduced by Giebler Enterprises in their
Disk Manager series. It is essentially the binary data of an Ensoniq le, with
Hex200 header. Using these, you can manipulate Ensoniq les on a PC.

INSTRUMENT

A unit on the EPS/ASR that contains up to 8 Layers and up to 127 wavesa­mples.

Hopefully, you are excited to install the software and see how it works, and
work with it. Before we dig in, here’s some features of the program:

1. The ability to view and edit sound parameters (instrument-level, layer­level, wavesample-level, envelope-level, sample-level, effect-level,
sequence- and track-level for the instruments in the EPS/ASR.

2. Global Parameter viewing and editing.

3. Effect view and editing.

4. Sequence and track viewing and editing.

5. A handy MIDI keyboard to remotely play the EPS/ASR keyboard from
the computer.

6. Many programming short cuts.

7. Built-in MIDI Monitor with Sys-Ex programming

8. Remote Load File via MIDI

9. Naming Wizard

If you are a registered owner, you are qualied for free updates for the life of

the program, which will be sent to you automatically from Rubber Chicken
Software Co. There are many things we intend to add to this program to make
it more versatile for you to use. New versions are never far away!

JEFFERY RICHTER

The original author of EPS SENSE. He now is famous with Microsoft, writing

two books (Advanced Windows and A Windows 95 Developers Guide). He

also consults at a number of big name companies.

LAYER

A unit on the EPS/ASR that holds wavesamples across one keymap of the
keyboard. You can have up to 8 layers in an INSTRUMENT.

PATCH SELECT

A Ensoniq innovation that selects a pre-programmed group of layers from a
pair of momentary onboard buttons.

RUBBER CHICKEN SOFTWARE CO.

The makers, developers, sole distributors or Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools for
Windows. They also make samples for the EPS/ASR series, and other items,

specically for Ensoniq samplers.

SAMPLER NAME

This area tells you what kind of sampler the computer is expecting. Once you

read the EPS/ASR through MIDI, the computer nds out for itself and changes

this automatically.

SYS-EX (or, more properly, System Exclusive)

A MIDI standard that communicate specic messages to specic instruments.

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools uses this to changes just about any parameter in the
EPS/ASR.

TOOLBAR LIGHTS

These lights tell you (from the left) if the MIDI is turned on so the computer can

receive MIDI signals, if MIDI is coming into the computer, and if MIDI is trans­mitting out of the computer.

Page 2 Page 48

Thank You's and Legal Notices Installation Instructions

Thanks to Piet Crombach and Mike De Laat for their patient overseas commu­nication and sharing of ideas about the EPS/ASR sys-ex spec.

Thanks to Arthur Edstrom of Artic Software, and James Shields and Ruth
James of Mabry Software, for their MIDICoolTools/MIDIPack, which is used in
this product. Thanks for their personal gift of support.

Thanks also to James Erwin, Michael Love Graves, Mark Pulvar, Timo Kuit­tenten, Ed Buchmayer, Dennis Chesanek, Gregg Lentz, James Olsen, Michael
Bahr, Patrick Howell, Ron Williams, Jesper Gummeson, George Kalarant, Le­roy Coleman and Michael Baker (for the MIDI Keyboard improvements), and

several other people that took their time and helped us along our way. This
program wouldn’t be without you!

Installation Instructions

1. Take your installation CD-ROM, and insert it into your CD-ROM Drive.

2. The Setup program should automatically start up (if Auto-Insert Notication

is turned on in your PC). If it does not, click Start-Run and type d:\setup
(where "d" is your CD-ROM Drive letter). From there follow the prompts (it
should be self-explanatory).

3. After SETUP is nished, connect your EPS/ASR to your MIDI interface.

Both IN and OUT must be connected. Turn on your EPS/ASR and be sure

to either have the OS oppy inserted or the hard drive selected with the OS,

for the program may access the OS for an overlay during its operation.

Legal Notices

ENSONIQ, EPS, EPS-16 PLUS, TS-10, TS-12, ASR-X, ASR-88, and ASR-10
are trademarks of ENSONIQ Corp.

GIEBLER is a trademark of Giebler Enterprises.

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools for Windows was compiled using Visual Basic 5.0

Professional Version, Microsoft Word 5.0/7.0, and the indefatigable Ensoniq
ASR-10, EPS 16-Plus, and Original EPS keyboards and racks.

Glossary

DISK FILE

A le saved to your hard drive that stores all the parameters of an instrument

read by Tools. See File Image.

EFFECTS

The Ensoniq 16-Plus and ASR-10/88 have a built-in effects chip, which you
can assign parameters per instrument and bank.

4. Turn SYS-EX=ON on the EPS/ASR. This is required for use with the MIDI
engine. Double-cluck on the Chicken icon, and you are ready to roll! Please
follow the start-up screen by typing in your name to personalize the pro­gram, and set your MIDI In and MIDI Out drivers, what MIDI channel you
want the computer to communicate to the EPS/ASR from, the place where

you want your Disk Files to go, and the type of sampler you will be using. If

the program has problems at any point, don’t hesitate to call or write Rub­ber Chicken Software Co.

After this, you’re set! We have tested this program on many PC’s and many
sound-cards, but in this world of incontinuity and incompatibility, perhaps there

are conicts and machine errors that will cause problems. Again, please call

us toll-free and discuss your problems - we have many possible solutions

(please see Troubleshooting as well).

Here is your Registration Name and Number

EPS SENSE

A DOS program developed by Jeffrey Richter (now at MicroSoft) and Donna

Murray that controlled the Original EPS via MIDI.

Page 47 Page 3

Please type in the NAME AND NUMBER exactly as shown. Please pay attention to upper-case

vs. lower-case, or capital i's (I) and ones (1), zero's (0) and O's, etc. Again, the registration is

case sensitive - they must be entered into MIDI-Disk Tools EXACTLY as shown.

Note to European users: if you have problems with your registration number, substitute a
comma for the periods that the registration number might contain.

List of Files - Brief Overview and History Final Notes

List of Files

Program Files (in application folder)

mt32.exe Program File
rcsfx.efx Effects Information
eps249os.efe EPS OS
eps13os.efe 16-Plus OS
asros353.efa ASR OS

Text/Help Files (in application folder)

mdtools.hlp MIDI-Disk Help
disktool.hlp Disk ToolsHelp
rcsctlg.doc RCS Catalog
readme.txt Read Me
dtreadme.txt Disk Tools Read Me
revlist.txt Version History

ActiveX Controls (in system folder)

hslide32.ocx aspi.ocx
midiio32.ocx comctl32.ocx
tabctl32.ocx comct232.ocx
threed32.ocx
vslide32.ocx
msghoo32.ocx

Dynamic Link Libraries (in system folder)

msvbvm50.dll msvbvm60.dll
esd32.dll (app dir) xtool16.dll (app dir)
aspi.dll

If the program has problems at any point,
don’t hesitate to e-mail, call, or fax us at our
contact addresses.

Final Notes

A couple of things to keep in mind. Please report any alleged bugs that you
might come in contact with. Also, if you have any ideas about how to make
Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools for Windows better or easier to use, let us know.
Here are a few numbers to keep in mind.

Emu-Ensoniq Corp.

155 Great Valley Parkway

Malvern, PA 19355

Customer Service (610)-647-3930

www.ensoniq.com - www.emu-ensoniq.com

They are not making keyboards anymore, but they still answer questions

EPS/ASR/TS Internet Mailing List

[e-mail]
See subscription info at:
www.soundcentral.com/keyboard/ensoniq/mailinfo.html
Essential for in-depth EPS/ASR/TS probing

Transoniq Hacker

1402 SW Upland Dr.

Portland, OR 97221

[phone]

Brief Overview and History

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools for Windows is the pursuit of Rubber Chicken Soft­ware Co. to congure a full-edged computer support vehicle for the Ensoniq

line of samplers. It’s ideological genesis was a small program by Jeffery Richter
and Donna Murray called EPS-SENSE, which was written in 1989 to support
the Original EPS. It feature parameter editing and a waveform form where you
could see the wave (unfortunately, Ensoniq had a bug in their OS that prevented

this - it didn’t get xed until 2.49, long after the Original EPS passed it’s hey-day).

We had been selling that program, until we entered an agreement with Jeffrey
Richter to obtain the source and modify it to work with the 16-Plus and ASR-10.

Well, we had so many ideas for a great program that we abandoned the shell of
his DOS program and made our own, which you see the results of today. The
idea of this program is to get your hands of the EPS/ASR with it’s button pushing
and on a house and a keyboard and a monitor, where you can see everything.
All the screens necessary are provided, along with a sequencer control and a

special MIDIKeyboard controllable from a mouse or computer keyboard, so you

don’t even have to have a keyboard nearby!

Page 4 Page 46

[e-mail]

They are out of publication, but still a great back order resource

Thank You's and Legal Notices

Thanks to everyone who gave their comments and help, especially on the
Ensoniq Internet Mailing List [e-mail].

Thanks to John Bodenstein, brilliant developer of the Ensoniq Sampler Driver.
Thanks for your patience and commitment.

Thanks also to Tony Ferrera and Bert Nuskirk of Ensoniq, whom we've always
counted on for assistance and friendship, and Eric Geislinger and Jane Talis-

man of the Transoniq Hacker, whom it only seems days ago when we had a

Mirage and we picked up our rst Hacker and read it cover to cover.

Shortcut Quick Reference Important Concepts

Shortcut Quick Reference

Control Key

A MIDI -ReadAll
B MIDI Tester

C (Copy)

D Write to Disk Image
E MIDI - Read Single

F Format Floppy
G Global Parameters Screen
H Auto-Load Function
I Ensoniq File Analyzer

J SampleVue Screen

K MIDI Keyboard
L Load Remote File

M MIDI Monitor
N Naming Wizard

O Read Floppy to Disk Image
P (Print Parameters)

Q Exit Program

R Read File Image

S Setup Screen
T Ensoniq Disk Tools

U (Sequencer Track Control)
V (Paste)
W Write File Image
X (Cut)
Y (Sequencer Control Board)

Z Normalizer

Alt Key

F - R Read File Image
W Write File Image

X Exit
D - R Read Disk Image
W Write Disk Image

F Format Floppy

M - A MIDI - Read All
S MIDI - Read Single
M MIDI-Tester
U - Z Normalizer
N Naming Wizrd
A Auto-Load
T Ensoniq Disk Tools
I, L or W - R Create
C Copy
D Delete
L Locate
P - M Main Page

G Global Parameters
K MIDI Keyboard
B (Seq Control Board)

Q (Sequencer Track Con-

trol)

V SampleVue

Z Ensoniq File Analyzer

I MIDI Monitor
S Setup Screen
I - C Cascade Windows
T Tile Windows
A Arrange Windows
H - C Contents
H How to Order
T Trouble Shooting
R Revision History
U Update Policy
A About

Important Concepts

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk is an easy program to use; however, there are two special
concepts that are important to keep in mind. These concepts are the framework
of the program.

In a perfect world, a keyboard manufacturer would make their musical instrument
quickly accessible to the best user interface possible. Roland comes close by
providing a direct monitor output on their keyboards, and programming software
that shows exactly what is loaded into the machine. Ensoniq does not come as
close, but does make many aspects of the instrument available.

Concept 1: MIDI Parameter Reading

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools can query the EPS/ASR for the current contents of the

sounds and sequences loaded into RAM. It stores that information in a le that
is identical to the Ensoniq le format; in fact, you can load the newly made le
into your EPS/ASR via oppy or SCSI and it would be work identically (with two
important exceptions).

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools can then take the Instrument parameters and change
any parameter within that Instrument, just as you would do on the front panel of
the EPS/ASR. It then goes even goes further, by batch certain functions together

to make more efcient operation. At the same time, MIDI-Disk Tools updates
the stored le, keeping it current with the Instrument in the EPS/ASR memory.

There are a couple signicant shortcomings of the EPS/ASR MIDI implementation:

1. You cannot nd out what Effect is stored within the instrument, however,

you can read a subset (nine) of the parameters via MIDI.

2. Certain parameters are not available; e.g., Pitch Tables, etc.

3. MIDI is a VERY slow data transmission format. Reading the parameters of

an Instrument take a bit of time, but the majority of an Instrument's data is

the wavesample data. Getting this information from the EPS/ASR via MIDI,
given a 500 block instrument, takes about 3-4 minutes. That's too long!

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools attempts to rectify these concerns by establishing the
next concept:

Concept 2: Storage Device Reading

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools can also query an actual Ensoniq le on oppy or SCSI

Device for the same information; parameters, effects information, wavedata;

Page 45 Page 5

Important Concepts Update Policy

the works. It's MUCH faster than MIDI, and it can get ALL the information. The

disadvantage is that you can't audition your changes (nd out what a certain
change will sound like) immediately, since the info isn't in the samplers memory.

So, Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools attempts to merge these to methods of getting the
EPS/ASR information into an acceptable work format. Let's look at an optimum
setup for working with sounds, using a sound called MR BRASS for example:

EPS/ASR MIDI OUT to Computer MIDI In

Computer MIDI OUT to EPS/ASR MIDI In

Computer running

MIDI-Disk Tools,

with a Sound Card

and a Sample Editor

SCSI Cable

EPS/ASR

SCSI Drive

SCSI Cable

1. Using the EPS/ASR, load MR BRASS from the SCSI Drive.

2. Using MIDI-Disk Tools, save MR BRASS as a File Image in the computer.

3. Click the READ ALL button on the MIDI-Disk Tool Main Screen; this will query

the EPS/ASR for the contents of the memory.

(Sound Forge, etc.)

Update Policy

Starting with updates after Version 3.5, Revision/Build 22, Ensoniq MIDI-Disk
Tools updates are available again on our Web Site. They are in the form of

"Patches", les you download to update your currently installed program.

You will need at least Version 3.5, Revision/Build 22 to use this system. You will simply click

the Tools On The Web/Update menu option under Help in the program - that will bring up
your browser, dial the Internet, and take you to a Web page that will inform you on the avail­ability of an update. If there is one, it will display a link for you to download it.

You will not need to incrementally update. Your only concern is to update your version to the

current one displayed.

These "Patches" ARE NOT COMPLETE PROGRAMS. They only update your current installa-

tion. If you need another complete version, it will need to be snail-mailed to you at a $5.00

($8.00 international) charge.

You can always be fully updated; that is, get all the les needed for a full instal-

lation, by following these steps:

Download the MIDI-Disk Tools Setup File and install it on your computer. Make sure you note

the directory you installed it in.

4. The EPS/ASR will tell MIDI-Disk Tools that MR BRASS is loaded; MIDI-Disk

Tools will nd the MR BRASS File Image in the computer, and ask you if you
want to load from MIDI, or from the File Image. Choose File Image.

5. You will have full access to most of the parameters within MR BRASS.

Editing Common Parameters

Example: editing the release time of the wavesamples of Layer 1. Go to

the ENV3, and use the graphical envelopes to edit the release time. The
parameters will be updated via MIDI to the EPS/ASR, so you can paly the

Start the MIDI-Disk Tools program le, named mt32.exe (it must be version 3.5 revision 22 or

later) from within the directory you specied when installing the MIDI-Disk Tools Setup File.

IF YOU CAN CONNECT TO THE INTERNET FROM THIS COMPUTER: Click the Tools on

the Web/Update menu option, and follow the prompts from the web page that it dials.

IF YOU CANNOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET FROM THIS COMPUTER: Click Help, and

go to the About box. Note the Version number and the Revision number (such as 1.4.13).

When you can connect to the Internet, use this syntax to get to the correct web page:

www.chickensys.com/cgibin/update.cgi?type=MIDI-Disk%20Tools&maj=[major ver]&min=[minor ver]&rev=[build number]

Major Version Number, Minor Version Number, and Build number MUST BE two digits!

EPS/ASR to see when the release time is just right. The File Image in the

computer will be updated as well.

Editing Effects

These parameters cannot be changed via MIDI, so they are only changed

For example, if you have Version 3.6, Revision/Build 9, you would type:

Save your update le to oppy disk or other backup medium.

www.chickensys.com/cgibin/update.cgi?type=MIDI-Disk%20Tools&maj=03&min=06&rev=09

to the File Image. The only way to audition these is to reload the File Image

to the SCSI Drive, and then load that into the EPS/ASR.

Editing the Wavedata

Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools remotely works the Looping and other data-editing

functions via MIDI; however, only some of them update the File Image. You

are able to auditon these directly. Another method is to use your favorite

computer editor (Sound Forge, etc.) to edit the File Image wavedata. Of

Start your program by going to the Start button, go to Programs, go to the Ensoniq MIDI-Disk

Tools Program Group, and click on Ensoniq MIDI-Disk Tools selection.

Updates, full versions, registration numbers, and/or printed manuals sent

through snail-mail or e-mail carry a charge of $5.00 ($8.00 international) for

each item. You can order these at the Rubber Chicken Software Order Page.
No programs will be transmitted via e-mail - they must be sent snail-mail.

course, this will not update your EPS/ASR via MIDI, so you will have to
reload the Instrument to hear the total edit. But immediately, you can hear
the wavedata with the sound card while you edit it in the sample editor.

Page 6 Page 44