E-MU Systems E4K Operation Manual

Emulator Four Keyboard
Sampling Synthesis Controller

Operation Manual

© 1995 E-mu Systems, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

• FI498 Rev. B

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

IN ORDER TO OBTAIN WARRANTY SERVICE ON
YOUR E4K UNIT, THE SERIAL NUMBER STICKER
MUST BE INTACT AND YOU MUST HAVE A
SALES RECEIPT OR OTHER PROOF OF
PURCHASE. IF THERE IS NO SERIAL NUMBER
STICKER ON THE E4K, PLEASE CONTACT E-MU
SYSTEMS AT ONCE.

E-MU WORLD HEADQUARTERS
E-MU SYSTEMS, INC. U.S.A.

P.O. BOX 660015
SCOTTS VALLEY, CA USA
95067–0015

TELEPHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

THIS PRODUCT IS COVERED UNDER ONE OR
MORE OF THE FOLLOWING U.S. PATENTS:
4,404,529; 4,506,579; 4,699,038; 4,987,600;
5,013,105; 5,072,645; 5,111,727; 5,144,676;
5,170,367; 5,248,845; 5,303,309; 5,317,104;
5,342,990; 5,430,244 AND FOREIGN PATENTS
AND/OR PENDING PATENTS. EMULATOR IS A
REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF E-MU SYSTEMS,
INC.

EUROPE, AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST
E-MU SYSTEMS, LTD.

SUITE 6, ADAM FERGUSON HOUSE
ESKMILLS INDUSTRIAL PARK
MUSSELBURGH, EAST LOTHIAN
SCOTLAND, EH21 7PQ

TELEPHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

C-iContents

WARNING:
READ THIS
FIRST

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

Use in countries other than the U.S.A. may require the use of a
different line cord or attachment plug, or both. To reduce the risk
of fire or electric shock, refer servicing to qualified service person­nel. To reduce risk of fire or electric shock do not expose this
product to rain or moisture.

GROUNDING INSTRUCTIONS

This product must be grounded. If it should malfunction or
break down, grounding provides a path of least resistance for
electric current, reducing the risk of electric shock. This product is
equipped with a cord having an equipment-grounding conductor
and a grounding plug. The plug must be plugged into an appropri­ate outlet properly installed and grounded in accordance with all
local codes and ordinances.

This symbol is intended
to alert the user to the
presence of important
operating and mainte­nance (servicing)
instructions in the
literature accompanying
the appliance.

This symbol is intended
to alert the user to the
presence of un-insulated
dangerous voltage
within the product's
enclosure that may be of
sufficient magnitude to
constitute a risk of
electric shock to persons.

DANGER

Improper connection of equipment grounding conductor can
result in the risk of electric shock. Check with a qualified electri­cian or service personnel if you are in doubt as to whether the
product is properly grounded. Do not modify the plug provided
with this product. If it will not fit the outlet, have a proper outlet
installed by a qualified technician.

CAUTION

If the 6900, E4K is rack mounted, a standard 19 inch open frame
rack must be used.

USER-MAINTENANCE INSTRUCTIONS

1. The E4K should be kept clean and dust free. Periodically wipe
the unit with a clean, lint free cloth. Do not use solvents or
cleaners.

2. There are no user lubrication or adjustment requirements.

3. Refer all other servicing to qualified service personnel.

INSTRUCTIONS PERTAINING TO A RISK OF FIRE,
ELECTRIC SHOCK, OR INJURY TO PERSONS

WARNING; When using electric products, basic precautions

should always be followed, including the following:

1. Read all instructions before using the E4K.

2. To reduce the risk of injury, close supervision is necessary
when the E4K is used near children.

3. Do not use the E4K near water — for example near a bathtub,
washbowl, kitchen sink, in a wet basement, on a wet bar, or
near or in a swimming pool.

C-ii Emulator Four Keyboard

4. The E4K should be situated so that its location or position does
not interfere with its proper ventilation.

5. The E4K should be located away from heat sources such as
radiators, heat registers, fireplaces, stoves, or ovens.

6. The E4K should only be connected to a power supply of the
type described in the operating instructions and as marked on
the product.

7. Care should be taken so that objects do not fall and liquids are
not spilled into the enclosure of the E4K through openings.

8. This E4K may be equipped with a polarized line plug (one
blade wider that the other). This is a safety feature. If you are
unable to insert this plug into the outlet, do not defeat the
safety purpose of the plug. Contact an electrician to replace
your obsolete outlet.

9. The power supply cord of the E4K should be unplugged from
the outlet when left unused for a long period of time.

10. This product, in combination with an amplifier and head­phones and speakers, may be capable of producing sound
levels that could cause permanent hearing loss. Do not operate
for a long period of time at a high volume level or at a level
that is uncomfortable. If you experience any hearing loss or
ringing in the ears, consult an audiologist.

11. The product should be serviced by qualified service personnel
when:

A. The power supply cord has been damaged; or

B. Objects have fallen, or liquid has been spilled into the
product; or

C. The product has been exposed to rain; or

D. The product has been dropped or the enclosure damaged; or

E. The E4K does not operate normally or exhibits a marked
change in performance.

12. All servicing should be referred to qualified service personnel.

SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS

C-iiiContents

RADIO and TELEVISION INTERFERENCE

The equipment described in this manual generates and uses
radio-frequency energy. If it is not installed and used properly-­that is, in strict accordance with our instructions - it may cause
interference with radio and television reception.

This equipment has been tested and complies with the limits for
a Class B computing device in accordance with the specifications
in Subpart J of Part 15 of the FCC rules. These rules are designed to
provide reasonable protection against such interference in a
residential installation. However, there is no guarantee that the
interference will not occur in a particular installation, especially if
a “rabbit ear” TV antenna is used.

If the E4K does cause interference to radio or television recep­tion, you can try to correct the interference by using one or more
of the following measures:

• Turn the television or radio antenna until the interference stops.

• Move the E4K to one side or the other of the television or radio.

• Move the E4K farther away from the television or radio.

• Plug the E4K into an outlet on a different circuit than the
television or radio.

• Consider installing a rooftop antenna with a coaxial lead-in
between the antenna and television set.

6

CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE

REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL

C-iv Emulator Four Keyboard

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

DO NOT REMOVE COVER.

Contents

1 General Instructions

Introduction 3

Main Controls 7

Connections 13

Connecting to an Unformatted Hard Disk 18

Connecting to a Formatted SCSI Device 19

Sampling Basics 21

Definitions 22

Instant Gratification 34

2 Disk Menu

Disk Browser 41

Disk Utilities 45

Mount Drives 46
Copy System 46
Format Disk 47
Install File System 48
Backup 48
Load Bank 50
Save Bank 51
View 52

Info… 52
Folder 53

Bank 57

Preset 62

SoundSprint 62
Sample 68

Sequence 71

C-vContents

3 Master

Memory Statistics 77

Utilities Menu 78

Assignable Keys 78
Channel Volume 79
Tones 80
Volume Recalibration 80
Test Access 82
About the E4K/Credits 82

Bank Menu 83

Erase Bank 83
Name Bank 84
Auto Load Bank 84

Setup Menu 85

Tuning 86

Tuning Offset 86
Transpose 87
Audition Key 87

Output 88

Headroom 88
Output Boost 90
Output Format 91
Output Clock Rate 92
AES Boost 92

Miscellaneous Menu 93

Contrast 93
E4K SCSI ID 94
SCSI Termination On/Off 94
Mac on SCSI Bus 95
Zero Crossing Threshold 95
Undo/Redo Enable 97
Wrap Field Selection 98
Disk Button Goes To: 99

Import Options 100

Memory Configuration 102

C-vi Emulator Four Keyboard

FX Menu 103

Master Effects A 103

Master Effects B 106
Sequence Manage 107
MIDI Globals 109

MIDI Mode 110

Basic Channel 110

Mode Select 111
Local Control 112

Effects Control Channel 113
MIDI Mix 115
MIDI Controllers 117
MIDI Preferences 119

Velocity Curve 119

Controller #7 Sensitivity 120

Controller #7 Curve 120

Global Pedal Override 121

Receive Program Change On/Off 121

Send Program Change On/Off 122

Magic Preset 122

4 Effects & Sequencer

Dual Effects Processors 127
The Effects Sends 128
Effects B Into Effect A 130
Three-way effects Control 131

Effects as Part of the Preset 132
Master Effects Programming 133
The Effects Channel in Multimode 135

Effect Descriptions 136
Sequencer Manager 141

Utilities 143

Copy 143

Info 144

Setup 145

Time 146

C-viiContents

Memory 147
Name 148
Transport 148
To Record a Multitimbral Sequence 151
Recording MIDI SysEx 153
Erase 153
Export 154
Jukebox 156

5 Sample Manage

Overview 159

Utilities 160

Erase Sample 160
Copy Sample 161
Sample Dump 161
Defragment Memory 163

Name Sample 164

Create Sample 165

Left/Right Channels 165
Source & Rate 166
ADC Gain 167
Threshold 168
Sample Length 168
Arm Sample 169
Force Sample 169
Monitor On/Off 169
Keyboard Sample Trigger 170
Automatic Parameters 171

Place Sample 175

Export Sample 175

Get Info 176

C-viii Emulator Four Keyboard

6 Sample Edit

Background 181

Utilities 190

Cut Section 191
Copy Section 193
Paste Section 194
DC Filter 198
Sample Calculator 199

Sample Integrity 200
Loop Type 201

Tools 1 203

Loop 203

Truncation 206

Taper 207

Gain Change 209

Stereo <-> Mono 211

Swap Left <-> Right 211
Tools 2 212

Sample Rate Convert 212

Digital Tuning 214

Compressor 215

Parametric EQ 220

Reverse Section 222
Tools 3 223

Time Compression 224

Pitch Change 225

Transform Multiplication 226

Doppler 227

Exciter 230
Undo 231

C-ixContents

7 Preset Manage

Name Preset 236

Erase Preset 237

Copy Preset 238

New Preset 239

Export Preset 240

Get Info… 241

8 Preset Edit

Background 244

Programming Basics 244

Modulation 245

Modulation Processors 252
Dynamic Filter 258
Selecting Voices, Samples & Groups 264
Groups 266
Preset Editor 267

Preset Edit - Global 270

Preset Effects A 271
Preset Effects B 276

Preset Edit - Links 280

Utilities 281

New Link 281

Copy Link 282

Delete Link 282

Subsume Link 283
Links - Key Window 284
Links - Velocity Window 286

Preset Edit - Voices 288

Utilities 289

New Voice 289

Copy Voice 289

Delete Voice 290

Split Voice 290

Solo Voice 292

C-x Emulator Four Keyboard

Sample Zone 293

New Sample Zone 293
Get Multisample 293
Delete Sample Zone 294
Combine 295
Expand 296

Voices - Key Window 297

Keyboard Ranges 298

Voices - Velocity Window 302

Velocity Range 303

Voices - Realtime Window 305

Preset Edit - Dynamic Processing 308

Utilities 311

Voice Select 312
Copy Voices 315
Delete Voices 317
Automatic Voice Selection 318
Set 318

Voice Tuning, Modifiers & Setup 319

Key Transpose 319
Coarse Tuning 320
Fine Tuning 321
Non-Transpose Mode 321
Chorus 322
Delay 323
Start Offset 323
Glide Rate & Curve 324
Solo Modes 325
Latch Mode 326
Assign Group 327

Amplifier/Filter 328

Amplifier Parameters 328
Amplifier Envelope 329
Filter Parameters 330
Filter Envelope 335

C-xiContents

LFO/Auxiliary Envelope 336

LFO Parameters 336

Lag Processors 337

Auxiliary Envelope 338
Cords 339

Sample Retrigger 341

9 Appendix

SCSI 345

SCSI Problems 348
SMDI Transfers 349

Multiple Samplers on SCSI 350

E4K Menu Maps 351

Memory Expansion 354

Specifications 361

Warranty 362

Index 364

C-xii Emulator Four Keyboard

General

Instructions

1

Introduction 3

Main Controls 7

Connections 13

Connecting an Unformatted Hard Disk 18

Connecting a Formatted SCSI Device 19

Sampling Basics 21

Definitions 22

Instant Gratification 34

2 Emulator Four Keyboard

Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the Emulator Four
Keyboard! The various functions of the E4K are organized in
this manual by their module. Screen displays and step-by­step instructions are described for all aspects of use and
operation. Sidebars are used to highlight important points
or to give useful operational tips which might not be readily
apparent.

If you are totally unfamiliar with samplers and synthesiz­ers in general, you may need more information than this
manual provides. We suggest that you read some of the
many books and magazines on the subject of music synthe­sis. This will help you to get the most out of this extremely
powerful instrument.

Important Upgrade information

The E4K is a software-based device. The features and
functions of the E4K will be periodically enhanced and
upgraded and the new software will be mailed to you on
floppy disk. Please take a moment now to read the E-mu
Systems warranty and to fill out and send in your warranty
registration card. We NEED your mailing address in order to
send you upgrades and manual revisions.

- Tips contain handy

tips and tricks which
might not be readily
apparent.

& Cautions warn

you of situations that
may cause lost data or
audio problems.

Notes supply

?

additional information
which might be needed
for certain applications.

Instructions

General

The Emulator IV Keyboard

The E4K was designed to be the ultimate in professional
sampling keyboards. The features of the E4K expand the
state-of-the-art in performance instrument design, from ease
of use to the impeccable audio specifications. For starters,
the E4K contains an incredible 64 channels of polyphony
(32 stereo) and is expandable to 128 channels. The basic E4K
comes with 4 Megabytes of sample memory, but this is also
user-expandable up to 128 megabytes with standard SIMM
modules. With fully expanded memory, the E4K provides
over 24 minutes of sampling time!

General Instructions 3

General

Instructions

Performance Features

The 76 note (6 octave) keyboard on the E4K is slightly
weighted for a responsive feel and responds to velocity and
pressure. Four realtime control sliders are integrated into
each of the factory sounds to control the most useful aspects
of timbre according to the nature of each preset. The
realtime control sliders can be easily reprogrammed to
control any parameter on the E4K.

In addition to the standard pitch and mod wheels, a new
“Thumby button” puts a control switch at your thumb tip.
The Thumby button is quite handy to control such things as
rotating speaker speed, timbre or any other programmable
function on the E4K.

Sequencer and Data Filer

The onboard sequencer is capable of reading and playing
back standard MIDI files (format 0 & 1) direct from a DOS
floppy disk and saving them to the internal hard disk drive.
Music sequences can be stored within E4K banks or as
separate objects.

Sound Libraries

The E4K has full access to the huge library of sounds
available from E-mu and other sources. It is fully compatible
with the legendary E-IV, e-64, EIII, EIIIX and ESI-32 libraries,
and can transparently read Emax II, Roland S-760 and Akai
S1000/S1100 banks as if they were its own.

Sound Storage

The E4K can access up to 1000 samples per bank arranged
in up to 1000 presets. The 50-pin SCSI interface provides
access to high density media such as hard disks, magneto­optical disks or CD-ROM. The integral 3.5" floppy disk drive
provides a convenient means of updating the E4K software
which is periodically being enhanced and improved. Most
software upgrades will be mailed free to registered owners.

Our exclusive SoundSprint™ function automatically loads
presets from the hard disk as you browse through them. You
can continue to play while the new preset is loading in the
background.

4 Emulator Four Keyboard

Other professional features include selectable sample rates
of 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 48 kHz. D/A converters
are 18-bit linear for wide dynamic range with multiple
channels. The Sigma-Delta A/D converters are 16-bit linear.
Sampling can be performed in either mono or true stereo.

Advanced DSP

The E4K’s advanced features make sampling a breeze.
Samples can be automatically truncated, normalized and
placed on the keyboard as the sample is taken and advanced
tools such as Auto Correlation, Loop Compression and
Crossfade Looping allow even the most difficult sounds to
be easily looped.

Samples can be digitally spliced and mixed with other
samples, and dynamically controlled from the keyboard
using velocity and positional crossfading and switching
functions. Advanced digital processing features such as
Sample Rate Conversion, Compression, Parametric Equaliza­tion and Digital Tuning allow you to shape raw samples
more quickly and with greater precision than computer
based systems. Samples can be quickly and easily transferred
between the E4K and an external computer via SCSI if so
desired.

Additional digital processing functions include: Time
Compression and Expansion, which shorten or lengthen the
time of samples without changing the pitch; Pitch Change,
which changes the the pitch of a sample without altering
the time; Transform Multiplication, which can be used to
create weird and wonderful new timbres; and
Dopplerization, which allows you to move samples forward
and backwards in space as well as from side to side.

Instructions

General

Built-in Digital Effects

The E4K incorporates a high quality internal effects
processor to add reverb and chorus effects while keeping the
sound in the digital domain. 71 different effects are
currently implemented. There are several controllable
parameters for each effect and any realtime control can be
assigned to control these parameters in performance.
Sounds with effects applied can easily be resampled and
then saved as an entirely new sound with ambience and
effects included.

General Instructions 5

General

Instructions

Digital Hardware Features

The E4K’s digital hardware implements up to 64 Z-plane
filters. These digital filters are very “analog-sounding” and
currently implement the following types of filters:

• 12, 24, or 36 dB/octave Lowpass filters with resonance

• 2nd & 4th order Highpass filters with resonance

• 2nd & 4th order Bandpass filters with resonance

• Contrary Bandpass filter

• Three types of swept EQ filters

• Three Phasers and one Flanger with resonance

• Six powerful Morphing filters

Modulation sources include three multi-stage envelope
generators and two multi-wave LFOs per channel, as well as
a full MIDI modulation control over virtually every param­eter. The digital patchbay also contains a set of arithmetic
modifiers which allow you to create complex synthesis
models.

The E4K is 16 part multi-timbral, allowing complex
sequencing and sound effects creation, and can be con­trolled by remote control using an external computer. A
MIDI expander card is available which increases the number
of MIDI channels from 16 to 32 channels.

• Eight polyphonic audio outputs allow you to mix and
process specific sounds.

• Resampling - The E4K can resample its own output in the
digital domain for layering and the creation of new and
exciting effects.

• IBM compatible ASCII keyboard interface controls all E4K
operations including naming and browsing.

• A digital interface (S/PDIF & AES/EBU) is another standard
option which facilitates the transfer of stereo digital audio
between digital recorders, mixers, etc.

The E4K is based on the latest G-chip and H-chip digital

hardware. The G-chip allows smooth sample transposition
over a 10-octave range while the H-chips retain the warm,
musical character of traditional analog filters.

The E4K is an extremely powerful and reliable eighth

generation instrument. We at E-mu Systems sincerely hope it
will help you realize and further your musical potential.

6 Emulator Four Keyboard

Main Controls

Master
Volume
Control

Pitch

Control

Thumby

Button

Floppy Disk Drive

Mod
Control

Controller Wheels

The wheels are realtime performance controls and are
completely programmable in the preset as to their function.
The Pitch Control wheel is a center detent, spring-loaded
type and is normally used as a pitch bender. The Mod
Control wheel is not spring-loaded.

“Thumby” Button

The Thumby button can be thought of as a footswitch for
your hand. Like all the controllers on the E4K, its function is
completely programmable. The Thumby button can also be
latched by using a the Thumb flip-flop input (Cords menu).

Volume Control

This is the master volume control for all outputs including
S/PDIF and the headphone output. The master volume is a
digital control. For maximum dynamic range, set this con­trol near or at maximum.

General Instructions 7

Realtime Controllers Assignable Keys

REAL TIME CONTROLLERS

- Tip: The Controls

key will access the
Effects menu (either
Master FX or Preset FX)
that you used last. Press
the Controls key to Set
the key to the selected
menu. Press the Controls
key repeatedly to rotate
around through the
menus.

ASSIGNABLE KEYS

SEQUENCER

Controls & Sequencer

Access Keys

PRESET

SAMPLE

Real Time Faders

These four sliders are powerful performance controls allow­ing easy access to the most useful aspects of a sound. The
function of each fader is completely programmable per
preset (Preset Edit, Cords), as is the setting of each fader.
The functions of the realtime faders have been integrated
into the presets in the E-mu supplied factory banks.

Assignable Keys

These are user-assigned keys which can cause a jump to any
screen. To link an assignable key to the current screen:

1. Press and hold one of the assignable keys.

2. After two seconds, a pop up window will appear inform­ing you that the assignable key has been programmed
for the current screen.

For additional information, see Assignable Keys in chapter
three, Master Menu.

Controls/FX Access Key

Pressing this key causes an immediate jump to the Effects
and Controls section of the Preset Edit or Master modules.

Sequencer Manage Key

Pressing this key causes an immediate jump to the Sequencer
Manage screen of the Master module.

8 Emulator Four Keyboard

MIDI & SCSI

Indicators

Module

Select Keys

REAL TIME CONTROLLERS

ASSIGNABLE KEYS

SEQUENCER

Sequencer Transport Controls

Sequencer Transport Controls

These six buttons control the primary functions of the
realtime sequencer. Additional sequencer options are located
in the Master module and can be quickly accessed by press­ing the Sequencer key.

MIDI & SCSI Indicator LEDs

The LEDs illuminate to show activity on the SCSI bus or
incoming MIDI data.

PRESET

SAMPLE

Module Select Keys

The functions of the E4K are grouped according to their
function in six modules. The Sample Manage and Sample
Edit modules deal with operations at the sample level. The
Preset Manage and Preset Edit modules deal with operations
at the preset level. The Master module contains functions
that affect the entire machine. Any function that has to do
with the disk, such as loading, saving and the like is accessed
through the Disk module.

General Instructions 9

Note: The liquid

?

crystal display contains
a “Screen Saver” which
automatically dims the
backlight after ten
minutes of inactivity.

Any type of activity will
reactivate the display to
full brightness.

- Tip: Holding down

the Enter key while
turning the data entry
control allows “fine
tuning” of the value by
one number per click.

Function Keys

Function Keys

The lower line of the display will usually contain a row of up
to six “soft keys”. The soft-keys indicate the function of the
keys directly below them.

Cursor Keys

The left, right, up, and down cursor keys are primarily used
to move the cursor around in the display. The cursor is a
reversed-out section in the display which indicates the
currently selected parameter. In the preset selection screen
the left and right cursor keys can be used to select the
previous or next preset.

Enter Key

The Enter key is used to confirm a particular operation.
Enter can be used in place of an affirmative function key
response such as “OK” or “Go”. In the Disk Browser, pressing
the Enter key will advance the selection from: Drives ->
Folders -> Banks -> Presets -> Samples. (The Exit key reverses
the progression.)

Exit Key

The Exit key allows you to back out of a module one menu
at a time, each time the button is pressed. It can also be used
anytime you do not want to execute a particular function. In
the Sample Manage module, it can also be used to terminate
the sampling process.

10 Emulator Four Keyboard

Cursor Keys

Enter,

Exit

ENTEREXIT

PAGE

Page Select

PRESET SELECT

Inc,
Dec

Data Entry

Control

SET

.1+/- 234567890

Lock Key

Numeric Keys Set Key

Page Select Keys (Previous & Next)

The previous and next page keys are primarily used to move
back and forth between pages when multiple pages of
options exist. Each button has an associated LED arrow
which illuminates if there is more information on the
previous or next page. Arrows in the top corners of the
display also indicate if there are more available pages. In the
preset selection screen, the page select keys can be used to
select the previous or next preset.

Numeric Keys

The numeric keys can be used to quickly select a particular
preset or to enter data in precise amounts.

Lock Key - The +/- key has an alternate function as a digit
“Lock” key which sets the number of digits that you must
enter to change a preset. The status of the lock key is shown
in the lower left corner of the display (lock 9.., lock 99.).
With one digit locked (100s column), the last two digits of
the preset number must be entered to select a preset.
(Example: To go from preset 100 to preset 125, you would
key in 2 and then 5.) Note that the number of presets avail­able via the numeric keys jumps from 10 to 100.

With two digits locked (10s and 100s column), any one of
ten presets can be selected with a single key press. The
numeric keys select only the last digit (or ones column) of

General Instructions 11

General

Instructions

the three digit number preset number. For example, if the
currently selected preset were 067, pressing the numeric key
“3” would instantly select preset 063.

With lock turned off, you select a preset by entering a 1, 2 or
3 digit number. If fewer than three digits are entered, you
must press Enter or the Go key after selecting the number.

• The lock key can also be used as a quick way to set the
current rank of ten Bookmarks in SoundSprint™ mode. From
Sound Sprint mode, press and hold the Lock key, then press
a numeric key. This sets the tens column or rank to the
number you selected. For example, if you selected Lock-2,
selecting 2 on the keypad would select bookmark 22.

Entering Data - The numeric keys can be used anytime the
data to be entered is a number, such as selecting samples and
presets when you know the exact number. You could simply
enter the number without the leading zero as in “10”, In this
case, after entering the number, you will be asked to confirm
the value by pressing “Go”. The +/- key can be used to
indicate if the value is positive or negative. The numeric keys
can also be used for naming as some of the keys are labeled
“telephone-style” with 3 characters above the key.

Inc/Dec Keys

The increment and decrement keys are used primarily to
duplicate the function of the data entry control when a finer
degree of control is required. In the preset selection screen
the inc/dec keys can be used to select the previous or next
preset.

- Tip: Up to 100

Bookmarks can be saved
to non-volatile EEPROM.

Data Entry Control

The data entry control is a stepped, variable control which is
used to change parameter values. The control increments or
decrements the current value one unit each click. This
control incorporates acceleration (values advance faster if
the control is quickly turned).

Set Key

The set key is used to set a “Bookmark” in SoundSprint
mode. To set a bookmark, press and hold the Set key while
in SoundSprint mode, then press one of the numeric keys.
The current preset will be stored under that numeric key and
can be selected by pressing the numeric key while in
SoundSprint mode. Set also doubles as a decimal point key.

12 Emulator Four Keyboard

Connections

OPTION PORT

S/PDIFOption Port

SCSI Port MIDI

In/Out/Thru

Footswitch

Inputs

Footpedal

Input

Submix

Outputs

FOOTSWITCH FOOTPEDAL SAMPLE

21 RLRLRLRLRL

SUB 2 SUB 1 MAIN HEADPHONE

SUB 3

Sample

Inputs

Headphone

Output

Main Stereo

Outputs

SCSI Port

SCSI is a high-speed parallel interface which is normally used
to interface the E4K with external mass storage devices such
as hard disks or magneto-optical discs. The dual 50-pin SCSI
ports can also be used to link the E4K with an external
computer for extremely fast file transfers. The E4K contains
advanced SCSI links to facilitate multiple “master” devices
on the SCSI bus, such as multiple E4Ks or a computer and an
E4K.

For more information on SCSI installation, see page 1-18.
Also refer to the manual that accompanies your external
SCSI device.

POWER

ON

OFF

100-250 VAC 50/60 HZ 2A

AC Power

ASCII

Interface

General Instructions 13

General

Instructions

MIDI Connection

The E4K provides a MIDI IN, a MIDI OUT and a MIDI THRU
port.

• The MIDI IN port connects to the MIDI OUT port of an
external MIDI controller which could be a keyboard, a
sequencer, MIDI drum kit or whatever. Note that the E4K
can only respond to information that your controller
transmits. (i.e. If your MIDI keyboard does not have
velocity and pressure sensitivity, the E4K will not respond
to velocity and pressure.)

• MIDI OUT can be connected to another MIDI instrument
or computer. The MIDI OUT jack transmits all keyboard
controller and preset change information to a sequencer
or additional instruments and can also be used to transfer
MIDI sample dump information (transfers sample data).

• MIDI THRU simply re-transmits any information received
at the MIDI IN port.

Option Port

The option port allows you to add additional hardware
options such as a MIDI expander card which adds an addi­tional 16 MIDI channels. Other option cards will be an­nounced as they are developed.

S/PDIF Digital Interface

The digital interface allows the E4K to transfer digital audio
back and forth with other digital devices equipped with
S/PDIF or AES/EBU digital I/O. Keeping the signal in the
digital domain is desirable to keep the signal to noise level as
high as possible.

The digital input allows you to sample directly from a

DAT recorder or other digital device. The digital output
reflects the data at the stereo outputs of the E4K. See the
Sample Manage module and Output Format (located under
Output in the Master menu) for more information.

AC Power Connection

The E4K may be used in environments ranging from 100
volts to 240 volts at either 50 Hz or 60 Hz. No change of
voltage settings is required.

The E4K automatically switches itself for the proper
line voltage.

14 Emulator Four Keyboard

ASCII Keyboard Interface

A standard IBM PC style ASCII keyboard can be connected
to the rear panel ASCII Keyboard connector. The keyboard
must be connected before power is applied in order for the
E4K to recognize it. All the front panel controls of the E4K
can be accessed via the keyboard. Having an ASCII keyboard
is also a real time saver when naming samples, presets, banks
and sequences. The keyboard functions are charted below.

E4K ASCII KEYBOARD

Exit Esc

Ten Key Pad Ten Key Pad

Cursor Keys Cursor Keys, Ten Key Pad

Page Keys Ten Key Pad 3, 9

Numeric Selection [Num Lock, Ten Key Pad]

Inc/Dec +/-

F1-F6 [F1-F6]

Preset Edit [Alt, A], [Alt, F], [Ctrl, E]

Sample Manage [Alt, S]

Instructions

General

Sample Edit [Alt, D], [Ctrl, G]

Preset Manage [Alt, P]

Master [Alt, M]

Multimode [Alt, Z]

Disk [Ctrl, D]

Load Bank [Ctrl, L], [Alt, ] ]

Save Bank [Ctrl, S], [Alt, [ ]

Search Dialog [Ctrl, F] in Browser

Rename Dialog [Ctrl, R] in Browser

Audition Preset [Ctrl, A] Preset related modules

Audition Sample [Ctrl, A] Sample related modules

General Instructions 15

General

Instructions

Footswitch Inputs

The footswitches can be routed to control any parameter on
the E4K through the Preset Edit, Cords menu.

The two control footswitch jacks accept either a normally­open or normally-closed, momentary contact footswitch.
The footswitch polarity is automatically sensed on power-up.
Additionally, a MIDI footswitch command, on the controller
channels programmed in the Master, MIDI menu, will be
transmitted from the MIDI Out port whenever a footswitch
is pressed.

Footpedal Input

A control footpedal can be used as a realtime performance
control in the same manner as the front panel realtime
faders or the control wheels. The pedal can be routed to any
parameter in the Preset Edit, Cords menu.

Additionally, a MIDI continuous controller message, on
the controller channel programmed in the Master, MIDI
menu, will be transmitted from the MIDI Out port whenever
the footpedal is moved.

Note: The footpedal

?

can be either a voltage
type (which outputs a
DC voltage from 0-9
volts at the tip of the
plug) or a resistance
type (see the diagram at
right).

- Tip: Use a stereo

plug if you want the
sample inputs to be
balanced (tip -, ring +).

Pedal

PEDAL WIRING

Ring

Tip

Gnd

Stereo Plug

Sample Inputs

The two electronically balanced sample input jacks accept
any level input from microphone to line level. Input imped-

ance is 4KΩ. The gain of the sample input preamplifiers is

controlled from the New screen in the Sample Manage
module. When in the Sample Manage module the sample
inputs can be monitored from the main outputs.

Main Outputs

The E4K has provisions for a variety of output connection
schemes. The most common hookup will probably be using
the main stereo outputs. The electronically balanced main
outputs are available at 1/4" stereo phone jacks. Output level
is -2 dBu. Output impedance is 50 ohms.

16 Emulator Four Keyboard

Submix Outputs

In addition to the main stereo outputs, there are 3 additional
pairs of unbalanced submix outputs which can be used
when individual processing on specific instruments is
desired. Any combination of MIDI channels can be pro­grammed to appear at a submix output pair. Any voice can
also be assigned to a submix pair (In the Amplifier screen of
the Preset Edit module). MIDI channels can be assigned to
the submix pair in the Multimode screen. The submix
outputs are all stereo jacks. The tip of each jack (accessed
when a standard phone plug is inserted) connects to the left
or right output. If a stereo plug is inserted, the Ring of the
stereo plug serves as a signal Return which sums to the main
outputs after the effects processors.

Therefore the Submix jacks can serve as effects sends/
returns in order to further process selected voices or
channels without using the effect sends on your mixer.

The submix outputs are stereo jacks with -2 dBu outputs on
the tip of the jack. Impedance is 50 ohms.

Output Section

Instructions

General

- Tip: Inserting a

phone plug halfway into
a sub out jack sums it
into the main output.
This is a handy trick
when you need one or
two more mixer inputs.

Effects

Section

L Bus

R Bus

Tip

Tip

Ring

RL

SUB 1

Ring

Tip

Tip

Ring

RL

SUB 2

Tip

Ring

Tip

Ring

RL RL

SUB 3 BALANCED MAINS

Ring

Headphone Output

The headphone output is taken from the main outputs and
the volume slider controls also controls the headphone level.
This is a high quality headphone amplifier with an output
level compatible with professional grade headphones.

General Instructions 17

General

Instructions

- Tip: If the hard disk

is already formatted
with another file system,
you can use the Install
File System function
instead of formatting
the disk. See Disk
Utilities.

þ To Connect the E4K to an Unformatted Hard Disk

1. Position the SCSI device and the E4K in a stable location.
Hard disk drives are particularly susceptible to shock and
vibration. Make sure that you position your hard disk
where it won’t be bumped or moved while in use.

2. Important: Make sure that all power to the E4K and the
SCSI device is turned OFF.

3. Connect the SCSI device to your E4K using a quality
SCSI cable. Make sure that the connectors are firmly
mated and that the wire “keepers” are locked in place.
There are two type of SCSI cables in common use: the
50-pin Centronics type and the 25-pin DB connector
type. The E4K uses the 50-pin Centronics type connec­tor.

4. Set the SCSI ID of your external SCSI device to any
number other than 6. (6 is the default ID of the E4K).
Consult the operation manual of your SCSI device for
this procedure.

5. Turn on the external SCSI device and the E4K.

6. Make sure your hard disk really is unformatted. Format­ting a hard disk erases all the data on it. Press the Disk
button. If the display does not show the external hard
disk icon, the hard disk is may be unformatted. Try
mounting the drives (Utilities, in the Disk Browser). Also
check that the SCSI ID is not set to 6 (E4K's default).

7. Format the hard disk. While in the Disk Browser, press
the soft key Utils. A new line of options will appear.

8. Select Format. The display will warn that formatting
erases everything on the hard disk. Press the OK soft key
to continue.

9. The E4K will format the hard disk drive. Formatting
takes a few minutes. The time will vary depending of the
capacity of the disk.

10. After formatting, the hard disk will appear in the disk
browser and is now ready to accept data. Use the left/
right cursor keys or the data entry control to select the
newly formatted hard drive. Use the function key under
Info… to get information about the new drive.

18 Emulator Four Keyboard

þ To Connect the E4K to a Formatted SCSI Device

The E4K will recognize and load from SCSI devices formatted
for E-IV, EIIIX, EIII, Emax II, ESI-32, Akai S1000/S1100 and
Roland S-760.

1. Position the SCSI device and the E4K in a stable location.

2. Important: Make sure that all power to the E4K and the
SCSI device is turned OFF before you connect or discon­nect the SCSI cable.

3. Connect the SCSI device to your E4K using a quality
SCSI cable. Make sure that the connectors are firmly
mated and that the wire “keepers” are locked in place.
The E4K uses a 50-pin Centronics type connector.

4. Set the SCSI ID of your external SCSI device to any
number other than 6. (6 is the default ID of the E4K,
although this number is user selectable. Master, Misc).
Consult the operation manual of your SCSI device for
this procedure.

5. Turn on the external SCSI device and the E4K.

6. The SCSI device will appear as a new icon in the disk
browser screen.

Instructions

General

- Tip: Use the “Mount

Drives” utility whenever
an external SCSI device
does not appear in the
display.

General Instructions 19

Sampling Basics

Percussive

Sample

Each vertical line

represents a sample.

Each sample takes
a "snapshot" of the

instantaneous signal level.

1 second

Throughout this manual we will use the terms and con­cepts described and defined below. Read through this section
carefully, even if you don’t retain it all. You can refer back
periodically as you read through the manual until you
understand the basics and definitions.

The E4K is conceptually like a tape recorder. However, the
recording process is very different since the E4K digitally
records into its computer memory. Sounds for the E4K can
be loaded via removable-media hard disk, magneto-optical
disk or CD-ROM using the SCSI interface; or they can be
sampled through the analog inputs or the S/PDIF digital
interface; or even through the MIDI interface using MIDI
Sample Dump or SMDI.

Computers can accept information only in the form of
numbers, so the E4K accepts audio signals coded into binary
numbers. Samplers work by examining (sampling) the
incoming signal level at a very high rate (44,100 times a
second for compact disc rate), and sequentially recording
these different levels in memory. Once stored, these samples
may be played back (in the proper sequence, of course) to

20 Emulator Four Keyboard

reconstruct the original signal. For instance, if a two-second
sound were being sampled at 44.1 kHz, it would require 2 x
44,100 or 88,200 samples to be recorded.

A sound can be manipulated once it has been recorded.
Playing back the samples in reverse order from which they
were stored plays the sound backwards. Playing back the
samples at a faster rate than the rate at which they were stored
raises the pitch. Playing back at a slower rate lowers the pitch,
much like a tape recorder’s variable speed control.

Advanced onboard sample editing processors such as Time
Compression/Expansion and Doppler allow you to manipulate
the sound in both time and audio space. Other processors
provide standard studio functions such as parametric equaliza­tion, compression and exciter. Far more radical transforma­tions are possible using our exclusive Transform Multiplication
process. Sounds can also be manipulated in real-time by
filtering or by modulating amplitude and pitch.

Sample Memory & Preset/Sequencer Memory

When you load a sound in the E4K, sound data is trans­ferred from the hard disk into Sample Memory. Presets and
sequences are loaded into a special section of memory called
“Preset Memory”. Preset memory contains all the parameters
that make up a preset, such as where the samples are placed on
the keyboard, pitch information, loop points, and the other
parameters which describe a preset. Preset memory is fixed at
568 kilobytes per bank. Sample memory can be expanded up
to a maximum of 128 Mbytes. Because presets use far less
memory than do samples, less preset memory is needed.

Instructions

General

- Tip: The Memory

Configuration control
(Master, Setup,
Memory), allows you
to balance the
allocation of Preset
Memory between the
Sequencer and Presets.

Hard Disk

Audio Out

Sound

Generation

Data

Sound

Sample Memory

Sample

Sample

Sample Sample

SampleSample

Control Data

Control

Preset

Memory

General Instructions 21

General

Instructions

Definitions

How the E4K Organizes Sounds

It is important to understand how the E4K organizes
sounds in order to make best use of the instrument in the
shortest possible time. Many terms will be introduced now
that show up later in the manual.

You can think of the E4K as resembling a collection of
sound-organizing modules, all contained within the E4K
bank. Pathways indicate how information flows within the
E4K. Let’s take a closer look at what makes up this informa­tion, and how it is transferred from one section of the
instrument to another. The Disk is the largest element in the
E4K hierarchy; the Sample is the smallest element.

• Disk Drive - Floppy Disk, Hard Disks, CD-ROM Drives,
Optical Drives, etc.

• Folder - Used to group and organize collections of Banks.

• Bank - All samples, voices, and presets - Everything, that
resides in the E4K's RAM (memory).

• Preset - One complete keyboard setup containing one or
more voices.

• Voice - One complete sound which contains one or more
samples with keyboard and velocity settings and all
programmable synthesizer parameters.

• Sample - An individual digital recording with a name,
sample rate and looping information.

• Sequence - A sequence of key depressions, controller
movements, program changes or system exclusive MIDI
data. Ten sequences can be stored with each bank, but
sequences can also be exported as Standard MIDI Files or
as Emulator sequences.

To explain the hierarchy, we’ll begin with individual
samples, then work our way through the system.

22 Emulator Four Keyboard

The Sample

Loading in any sound in mono or stereo creates a sample,
the raw material with which the E4K works. The total avail­able sampling time can be divided up any way you like—one
long sample, lots of short samples, a few medium samples,
or any combination thereof.

The term sample commonly means two different things:

1. A digital recording of a complete sound, or

2. Each snapshot of the sound that makes up the com-
plete sample. Confusing? You bet! In this manual, we’ll
assume sample means the complete recorded sound
unless indicated otherwise.

You can modify a raw sample in several ways:

• Transposition: A sample can be transposed up or down in
pitch to cover a particular range of the keyboard. By doing
this, it is not necessary to record a sample for every key.

• Sample Edit: In the E4K, sample editing might consist of
Looping a sample (allowing even short samples to play
indefinitely), Truncating (cutting off unneeded parts of a
sample, thus saving memory), or any of a number of
digital processes that actually change the raw sample data.

Samples can also be named. It is usually a good idea to

name your samples with the original pitch as part of the
name so that you can place it on the keyboard later at the
proper pitch. A bank can hold up to 1000 samples.

Instructions

General

Voices

A voice is a complete sound which can be assigned to a

range of the keyboard. A sample is the sound-generating
portion of a voice. You can think of a voice as a complete
instrument consisting of one or more samples, which can
then be used as a building block in constructing more
complicated presets. A voice consists of one or more
samples, a dynamic filter, a dynamic amplifier, three, 6-stage
envelope generators, two multi-wave LFOs and 18 modula­tion routings called “Cords” to connect everything together.

In a typical scenario, you might record several samples of

an instrument (such as a piano), then place them into the
same voice. Normally these samples would be placed side by
side on the keyboard as in the diagram on the following
page. You assign the sample to a range by setting the original
key, (which is usually the original pitch of the sample) a

General Instructions 23

Note: Each Preset

?

can hold up to 256
voices.

General

Original

Key

Low

Key

HighOrigLow HighOrigLow

High

Key

S02 Piano D3 S03 Piano D5S01 Piano A0

Sample Sample Sample

Instructions

high key and a low key. The number of samples needed for a
realistic emulation varies with the instrument, but in gen­eral, “More is better”.

When a sample is taken, it is automatically placed into a
voice with one sample. You can then place the voice (and its
sample) on the keyboard.

Voice

Each Sample:

Orig. Key
Tune
Volume
Pan
Key Range/Fades
Velo Range/Fades

S01

Velocity Crossfade

S10

S02

S03 S05

S04

Positional
Crossfade

Sample 01

Loop, Info,
Sample Rate

Sample 02

Loop, Info,
Sample Rate

Sample 03

Loop, Info,
Sample Rate

If more than one voice is assigned to the same range, then
pressing a key in that range will play all the voices assigned
to that range. Voices assigned to the keyboard can be
crossfaded by their position on the keyboard or the key
velocity. Voices can also be switched or faded depending on
the value of a realtime controller such as a modulation
wheel, an LFO or an envelope generator.

24 Emulator Four Keyboard

Preset

KYBD Range KYBD Range KYBD Range

Group #

Key #

Velocity

Gate

Samples

Pitch

Chorus

Retrigger

Glide

LFOs

Samples

Loop

Start Offset

Envelope

Gen.

Voice

Voice

Morph

Filter

Frequency Q

Envelope

- 18 Cords -

Gen.

Voice

Voice

Amp

Pan

Vol

Envelope

Gen.

Velocity
or Realtime
Crossfade

L

R

Other

Sample 01

Loop, Info,
Sample Rate

S01

Velocity Crossfade

Sample 02

Loop, Info,
Sample Rate

S10

S03 S05

S02

S04

Positional
Crossfade

Sample 03

Loop, Info,
Sample Rate

General Instructions 25

General

Instructions

The Preset

A voice can be assigned to a single note on the keyboard,
or transposed polyphonically to cover a wider keyboard
range. A preset is one entire keyboard setup consisting of
one or more voices. The process of assigning, and optionally
transposing, samples to specific ranges of the keyboard is
called making a preset. Making a preset is a three-step
process:

1. Create the preset and give it a number and name.

2. Place voices to different keyboard ranges. For example,
with six voices you could assign each voice to cover one
octave of a six octave keyboard. A voice can be assigned
more than once within a given preset, and assigned to
more than one preset. Up to 256 voices can be assigned
to a single preset.

3. Choose from a number of available options that further
define the preset. Some examples are: assigning samples
to partially or fully overlap other samples, thus produc­ing doubling effects, or assigning dynamic control to
individual voices in a preset. Overlapping voices can be
crossfaded using any modulation source. You can modify
voice parameters and set up MIDI and dynamic process­ing parameters.

The E4K allows you to be very flexible in the way you
construct presets. Consider this — you can assign samples to
the keyboard inside the voice or assign single sample voices
to the keyboard. Unless you specify otherwise, only one
sample is assigned per voice. In this case you would assign
voices (and the single samples they contains) to the key­board and create presets. On the other hand, you may wish
to create finished voices before you start designing presets
and treat the voice as your finished sound. In this case, the
preset can be used to crossfade, layer or switch multiple
complex voices.

SoundSprint™

SoundSprint is a special mode on the E4K used to quickly
and automatically load presets within a folder as you browse
through them. Presets are loaded in the background while
the keyboard remains active with the last preset. Loading
time varies with the size of the preset, but most presets load
in two or three seconds.

26 Emulator Four Keyboard

Presets loaded via SoundSprint are placed at the top of the
bank memory and are assigned preset numbers 990-999. Up
to ten Sprint presets can reside in RAM and can be instantly
selected. Presets loaded using SoundSprint remain in the
E4K's RAM until ten Sprints have been loaded, at which time
the oldest Sprint preset is erased. SoundSprint will not
overwrite a preset that has been loaded in the conventional
manner and the E4K will display a “Memory Full” message.
See also: SoundSprint in chapter 2 - Disk Menu.

Bookmarks

When in SoundSprint mode, you can attach Bookmarks to
your favorite presets so that they can be instantly selected
with a single or double key press. Up to 100 bookmarks can
be stored and saved to non-volatile EEPROM. For additional
information on bookmarks, see Bookmarks in chapter 2,
Disk Menu.

The Bank

The bank contains samples, voices, presets and sequences.
Everything that is loaded into the E4K is part of the bank.
Although the memory is volatile, meaning that the data
disappears when you turn off power, all bank data can be
saved permanently to the hard disk drive or other media to
keep a record of your work. A bank can hold up to 1000
presets (000-999).

Instructions

General

Folders

A folder can contain up to 100 banks (0-99). You can use
folders to organize your sound banks or you might want to
include all the banks used for a particular project in a folder.
The number of folders in a disk depends on the size of the
disk. As an example, a one gigabyte hard disk can hold 96
folders.

The Internal Drive

A disk drive is a memory storage device that stores banks
of data. The E4K has an internal hard disk drive which is
used to load and store bank data. The floppy drive on the
E4K is used mainly to update the operating system software.
(The operating system of a computer consists of the instruc­tions that tell the computer what to do.) It is also ideal for
transferring sequences to and from a computer-based se­quencer. Because of the large bank size of the E4K

General Instructions 27

BANK

00

100 Banks per Folder

BANK

01

BANK

02

BANK

98

BANK

03

BANK

99

(4-128 MB) the floppy disk is impractical for backing up
sound data, although it can be used to save or transfer small
sound banks in a pinch. Other types of disk drives, as de­scribed below, can connect to the E4K to provide efficient
sound storage.

General

Instructions

• Floppy Disk Drive (Drive 0): The floppy disk drive
accommodates 3.5", double-sided, high-density (1.4 MB)
floppy disks. The floppy drive is used mainly as a
convenient way to update the operating system software.
As new enhancements are developed, the new software is
distributed on floppy disks. This software can be copied
into Flash RAM and made a permanent part of the E4K.

þ To Update the Software of the E4K

1) Turn off power to the E4K

2) Insert the floppy disk into the drive with the label
side towards the center of the unit.

3) Turn on power.

4) Press Enter to update or Exit to cancel.

5) Wait for the E4K to update its firmware.

• Internal Hard Disk Drive (Drive 1): A hard disk provides
the advantages of much higher memory capacity and far
faster access time. However, the hard disk cannot be
removed and its data must be backed up to another
medium for safekeeping.

External Drives

The Emulator IV Keyboard contains a SCSI (Small Com-

puter Systems Interface) connector on the rear panel. This
interface is commonly used in the computer industry, so
many devices made to work with computers—particularly
mass storage devices—will also work with the E4K. Here are
some of the types of mass storage devices that can plug into
the SCSI connectors.

• Hard Disk Drive: A hard disk provides the advantages of
much higher memory capacity and far faster access time.
Transferring data to and from the E4K is quite
straightforward. However, you cannot remove a hard disk
and replace it with another one—the disk is a permanent
part of the drive. There are three main cautions involved
with hard disks:

28 Emulator Four Keyboard

1. Hard disks are sensitive to extreme mechanical shocks. If
your hard disk falls off a keyboard stand, chances are the
hard disk will be damaged.

2. Make sure power is not interrupted when you write data
to the hard disk.

3. Hard disks have reached a very high level of reliability.
However, they can fail from time to time (as can any part
of a computer), so any data should be backed up periodi­cally on some other medium.

• Removable-media Hard Disk Drives: These are similar to
normal hard disk drives except that the disk itself can be
removed and replaced with another disk. Disk densities
can range from 44 Mbytes to well over 200 Mbytes per
platter. Removable-media hard disk drives allow you to
build a sound library of unlimited size and are quite
handy for transferring sounds between machines. They’re
also perfect for backups.

• CD-ROM Drive: A CD-ROM is a playback-only (data
cannot be written to it) mass storage memory device
whose capacity is approximately 660 Megabytes. Quality
CD-ROM libraries are available from several companies
(E-mu Systems, InVision, Northstar, Q-Up Arts). These can
be loaded into the bank as easily as you would load from a
hard disk.

• Magneto-Optical Drive: Basically a read/writable CD,
these high speed, high density storage devices are
currently the hottest thing around for storing large
amounts of sound data. Typically a magneto-optical drive
can hold upwards of 300 Mb per side and the removable
cartridges can be used over and over. Disk access time is
comparable to a normal hard disk.

Advantages: High-speed, high-density, reliable,
removable.

Disadvantage: Slower than most hard disks. High cost
(although prices are dropping fast).

Importing: When a

?

bank is imported from
another sampler, the
E4K will organize the
samples into voices and
multisampled oscillators
as logically as possible.

For example, when
importing from the EIIIX,
samples with identical
dynamic processing
parameters will be placed
into the same voice.
Primary and secondary
layers will be placed in
groups 1 and 2.

Instructions

General

General Instructions 29

General

Instructions

Modules

A module controls a particular set of functions in the E4K.
There are six main modules: Master, Disk, Preset Manage,
Preset Edit, Sample Manage and Sample Edit.

• Activating a Module: To work with a module, you must
first activate it. Press the button associated with the
desired module.

• Function Key Menus: Menus are selected using the soft
keys along the bottom of the display. Pop-up menus may
also be used when a field being edited has a small number
of choices.

• Page Selection: Each module contains several pages
which contain controls for additional functions.

In a graphical display, the different fields can be selected

in the following ways:

• By pressing the arrow keys (up, down, left, right)

• By turning the data entry control

• By assigning an assignable key to jump directly to the
screen you want to edit

Pressing either the module button or the Exit button will

cancel any operation.

The Module keys are located on the left side of the con-

trol panel. Each module affects a specific area of the E4K's
operation.

• Disk: This module controls everything to do with the disk
drives where E4K's sounds are stored. You can browse
through the disks, examine their contents and audition
sounds directly from a hard disk before loading. If you are
looking for a specific sound, the E4K can help you find it
with its “Find” function.

• Master: This module contains functions that affect the
entire machine, such as master tuning, headroom, master
FX, output sample rate, LCD contrast, and much more.

• Sample Manage: This “recording studio” module records
sounds from the outside world into the bank. Features
include adjustable preamp gain, variable threshold
setting, and adjustable sample rate and length.

30 Emulator Four Keyboard

• Sample Edit: With this powerful module, you can edit a
sample's length, loop (i.e. infinitely sustain) any portion
of the sample and have the E4K automatically find the
best loop points (Auto Correlate). You can splice two
different samples together, mix samples, or perform a
variety of advanced digital signal processes on the sample.

• Preset Manage: This module handles the preset
“housekeeping”, allowing you to create new presets, copy
them to any location, rename them or erase them.

• Preset Edit: This module lets you alter the synthesizer
voice parameters of the E4K, such as shaping the
amplitude and filter dynamics or adjusting the keyboard
dynamic response. Voices can be placed on the keyboard,
moved around or shaped in just about any possible way.

Saving

The bank only retains data for as long as the E4K is

plugged in and turned on. Of course, we don’t expect you to
leave the thing on all the time, which brings us to the
subject of saving data.

Pressing the SAVE function key from the disk module

shuttles all the bank data (samples, voices, presets and
sequences) to the drive of your choice. A hard disk perma­nently stores data so that even after turning off the E4K, the
disk will contain a record of your work.

Instructions

General

IF YOU DO NOT SAVE A BANK, ALL BANK DATA
WILL BE LOST WHEN YOU TURN OFF THE E4K.

Do not wait until the end of a session to save. Save your

work periodically in case of power failure or some other
unforeseen circumstance that might erase the bank’s
memory. Hard disks are not infallible. All hard disk banks
should be backed up periodically to another hard disk or
other media. Should you improve the preset or sample later,
you can always replace the original with the revised version.
And if something goes wrong, the original will still be
available to save you the ordeal of starting from scratch.

Whenever you have done enough work that you would
hate to lose it, back it up!

Since the disk contains a record of the bank data, loading

the disk bank transfers all the sample and preset data into
the bank. This will replace the existing bank data, if any.

General Instructions 31

D0 Floppy

This is the icon for the
floppy disk drive.

Default

A default setting is what we’ve judged to be a useful initial
setting, and remains in effect until you change it. For ex­ample, if you create a new preset, transpose will default to
“0”. Had it defaulted to +12, all new presets would be trans­posed up an octave.

General

Instructions

Icons

An icon is a little picture of an object such as a floppy
disk, a hard disk, folders, banks, presets or samples. In the
disk browser screens, icons are used as an easy way to iden­tify and select the appropriate object. When an icon is
selected, the image will reverse (black to white & vice-versa).

The Cursor

The cursor is a highlighted area on the display. It shows
you the number or letter that will be altered if you enter
data. Entering a new value will overwrite the number or
letter above the cursor, whereupon the cursor will move on
to the next number or letter (if applicable). If the E4K is
expecting a two or three-digit number, in most cases you
must enter all the required digits even if some of these are
zeroes (called leading zeroes). For example, if the E4K is
expecting a three-digit number and you want to enter 8, you
would enter 008. If it is expecting a single-digit number,
entering 8 would be sufficient.

Data Entry Control & Increment/Decrement Keys

In virtually all instances where the data entry control
selects options, the increment (Inc/Yes) and decrement (Dec/
No) buttons duplicate the data entry control. Press Inc/Yes to
increase a value, or Dec/No to decrease by one value at a
time.

Selecting

When the instructions say to select an option, you can
use whatever method is most comfortable for you: the data
entry control, the increment/decrement keys, the numeric
keypad (if applicable) and, when naming, the keyboard keys.
Some functions do not implement all these options; you
can’t go wrong by trying, though. If a function doesn’t
respond to the numeric keypad, for instance, then pressing
the keypad will have no effect. Use the data entry control or
the inc/dec keys instead.

32 Emulator Four Keyboard

The Big Re-Cap

• A sample is a raw sound that is loaded into the bank.

• A voice is a complete E4K sound, consisting of one or
more samples, processed through the dynamic signal
processors, that is mapped onto the keyboard.

• To create a new preset, make sure you have all the samples
required for the preset, then assign combinations of voices
from the bank to specific sections of the keyboard.

• After arranging a bank, it can be saved to one or more
drives.

• Since loading from a hard disk fills the bank with samples,
voices and presets, you can group these voices and
samples into new presets, process the samples contained
in particular voices, or alter existing presets.

• Presets loaded via SoundSprint are always placed in preset
locations 990-999.

• Up to ten sequences can be saved with the bank. Exported
or Standard MIDI File sequences appear in the bank
browser.

Instructions

General

General Instructions 33

Instant Gratification

General

Instructions

- Tip: The Disk Key

can be set to call up
either SoundSprint mode
or the Last screen you
used in the Disk Browser.
This preference is
located under Master,

Setup, Misc.

This short section is designed to get you playing sounds in
the shortest amount of time. It contains only a partial
explanation of disk operations. For more complete instruc­tions, see Chapter 2, Disk Module.

þ Loading SoundSprints

1. On the front panel, press the Disk key (see Tip). The
following screen will appear.

2. Use the bank soft-keys (F5 & F6), the left/right cursor
keys, the previous/next keys or the data entry control to
select new presets. The previous and next presets in the
folder are shown in the upper right of the SoundSprint
display window.

þ Loading a Bank from the Hard Disk

Loading SoundSprints is just one of the ways to load
sounds into the E4K. You can also load an entire bank of
sounds so that have a collection of different preset immedi­ately available.

1. Clear the bank memory to make room for a new bank to
be loaded. Press Master. Press Bank (F2. Press Erase (F1).
Press OK (F6) in response to the dialog box message and
erase the bank.

2. From the main screen, press the Arrow function key (F6)
in the lower left corner of the display.

34 Emulator Four Keyboard

Five additional soft key choices will appear.

3. Press the Load function key (F4). The following screen
will appear.

Press

Instructions

General

4. Move the cursor to the Folder field and select the Multi
folder. Move the cursor back down to the Bank field and
choose a bank to load using the data entry control, the
inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. Press OK to load the
bank or Cancel to cancel the operation. If you pressed
“OK”, the bank will be loaded and the first preset of the
bank you selected will appear.

General Instructions 35

General

Instructions

þ Selecting Presets

1. The main preset selection screen is shown above. Presets
can be selected using the data entry control, the cursor
keys, the page keys, the inc/dec keys, the numeric
keypad or from your MIDI controller. The previous and
next presets are displayed in the upper corners of the
display.

2. When using the numeric keypad to select presets, you
may enter leading zeros (i.e. type 0, 0 and 2 to select
preset 002) or simply type in 2, then press Go. If you do
not enter the leading zeros a screen will appear to con­firm your choice. Press Go to confirm your choice or
Cancel to cancel the operation.

þ Selecting Multimode

1. Multimode allows the E4K to respond to multiple MIDI
channels at once. Press the arrow key then the
Multi function key (F6) to turn on Multimode and
display the Multimode screen as the main screen. The
Multimode screen is shown below.

Note: Pan ADDS to

?

the pan setting made in
the voice and is not an
absolute pan setting.

2. Press the View function key to select MIDI Mix view. The
MIDI Mix screen allows you to display and adjust the
preset, volume, pan settings and output assignments for
up to 16 MIDI channels. This is a useful feature to fine
tune multi-timbral sequences. This screen also allows
you to override the output channel programmed in the
voice. Any volume pan and preset changes made over
MIDI will be reflected in this display. (Volume = MIDI
continuous controller channel #7, Pan = MIDI continu­ous controller channel #10)

36 Emulator Four Keyboard

þTo Adjust the MIDI Mix

1. Select the desired MIDI channel using the up/down
cursor keys.

2. Select preset, volume, pan or the output assignment
using the left/right cursor keys. Change the parameter
values using the data entry control, the inc/dec keys, or
the numeric keypad.

3. Press the key to call up the Load, Save and
Omni soft keys. Press Omni to return to normal (single
preset) mode.

Instructions

General

- Tip: Omni mode

plays only the currently
selected preset from any
MIDI channel.

General Instructions 37

38 Emulator Four Keyboard

Disk Menu

2

Disk Browser 41

Disk Utilities 45

Mount Drives 46

Copy System 46

Format Disk 47

Install File System 48

Backup 48

Load Bank 50

Save Bank 51

View 52

Info… 52

Folder 53

Bank 57

Preset 62

SoundSprint 62

Sample 68

Sequence 71

Disk Browser

Icon

D

Identifier

I
S
K

Functions

Function

Keys

Utils Browse

- Tip: The Info… key

gives information about
the selected object.

The type of View (list or
icon) you choose is
remembered for each
level.

Selected Object

D0 Floppy

F1 F2

D1 Conner CPF10605

Load

F3

The Disk Browser makes it easy to navigate through the
different levels of the disk drives. Take the time to familiarize
yourself with this section because the browser is such an
integral part of the E4K. A brief recap of the E4K disk hierar­chy is as follows:

• Disk Drive - Floppy disk, hard disks, CD-ROM drives,
optical drives, etc.

• Folder - Used to group and organize collections of banks.

• Bank - A group of presets which can be loaded into the
E4K's memory.

• Preset - A complete sound: samples, voices and all
programmable options.

• Sample - An individual digital recording with looping
information.

F4 F5 F6

Save…View Info…

Activates
Sub
Menu

• Sequence - A recording of keyboard key depressions (with
velocity and pressure) and any other performance
controllers (pitch and mod wheels, real time control
sliders, thumb button, footpedal, foot switch and program
changes). Sequences can be stored along with the bank or
can be exported as separate entities which appear as icons
in the bank browser.

40 Emulator Four Keyboard

þ To Browse the Disk:

1. Press the Disk key. The LED will illuminate and the
screen shown below will appear.

• SoundSprint™ - The Emulator Four Keyboard contains a
special function called “SoundSprint”.

2. The selected preset icon will be flashing, indicating that
the preset is being automatically loaded. SoundSprint is a
powerful function for auditioning presets from the disk
or when the bank is too large to be loaded into the
available memory of your E4K.

3. Use the up/down/left/right Cursor Keys to select an­other preset to be loaded. This takes a couple of seconds,
but note that the currently loaded preset remains active
until the new preset is loaded.

• If another page of choices exists, the right page arrow
LED will be illuminated.

• If other banks of presets exist in the folder, the <Bank
or Bank> function keys can be used to select them.

4. To turn SoundSprint Off, press the Utils function key
(F1), then press the SprntOff function key (F5).

5. Choose one of the presets, then press the function key
under Browser again. Press the function key under
Samples to examine the samples used in the selected
preset.

- Tip: To turn Sprint

mode On from the
preset menu, press
Sprint (F5).

Disk

- Tip: The Disk Key

can be set to call up
either SoundSprint mode
or the Last screen you
used in the Disk Browser.
This preference is
located under Master,

Setup, Misc.

41Disk Menu

6. Press the Info… function key (F6). a pop-up window
appears with information about the sample. Press the OK
function key to return.

Disk

- Tip: Use the Exit key

to back out of the pages.

- Tip: The Enter key

can be used to step
forward through the
Folder, Bank, Preset and
Sample browsers.

7. Pressing the Exit key “backs you out” of the pages. Press
the Exit key once from the sample browser to return to
the bank page. Pressing Exit again puts you in the folder
page. Press it once more and you're in the disk page.
Press Exit one more time and you're out of the disk
module altogether and back in the preset selection
screen.

8. Press the function key under Browser. Press the function
key under Seqs to examine or load the sequences resi­dent in the selected bank. If no sequences exist, a pop-up
window will inform you of this fact.

9. The browser lets you examine the various levels of the
disk, such as banks, presets and samples. When Sound­Sprint mode is turned On, the preset page of the Browser
will be replaced by SoundSprint and the selected preset
will be automatically loaded whenever the Sound Sprint
page is active.

10. Select the hard disk drive under Drives in the Browser.
The selected drive will be reversed out. In the following
diagram, the Conner hard disk is selected. When an
object is selected, its full name is displayed.

42 Emulator Four Keyboard

11. Press the View function key (F3). The display now
changes to a list format. Press the view key again to
return to the icon display.

12. Press the Info… function key (F6). A pop-up window
appears with information about the hard disk drive.
Press the OK function key to return.

13. Press the Browser function key (F2). Another row of
function key choices will appear.

Disk

14. Press the function key under Folders. The screen shown
below will appear.

15. The display now shows the various folders of banks and
presets resident on the hard disk. Use the cursor keys,
inc/dec keys, or the data entry knob to select the active
object.

• If another page of choices exists, the right page arrow
LED will be illuminated.

43Disk Menu

16. Choose one of the folders, then press the function key
under Browser again. Press the function key under
Banks to examine the banks in the selected folder.

• Note: Sequences saved as Standard MIDI Files also appear
as banks in the bank browser.

17. Choose one of the banks, then press the function key
under Browser again. Press the function key under
Presets and you're back in Sound Sprint mode. If Sound­Sprint mode is turned Off (Utils, SprntOff), the Preset
screen shown below will appear instead.

44 Emulator Four Keyboard

DISK

D

I

D0 Floppy

S
K

D1 Conner CPF10605

Utils Browse

The disk page of the browser contains functions and opera­tions related to storage media such as floppy disks, hard
disks, CD-ROM drives, magneto-optical drives or whatever.
When in the disk page, all drives which are connected to the
SCSI port will appear as icons in the display.

Load

DISK UTILITIES

The Disk Utilities menu contains several additional
functions. Pressing the Utils function key (F1) from the disk
browser enables a second row of soft keys.

• Mount Drives: Instructs the E4K to check the SCSI bus
for the presence of SCSI devices.

• Copy System: Allows you to update and make copies of
the E4K operating system supplied on floppy disk by
E-mu Systems or your authorized dealer.

• Format Disk: Initializes a floppy disk or a hard disk drive
to store E4K data.

• Install FS: Allows you to install the E4K file system on
pre-formatted hard disks.

• Backup: Hard disk drives can and do fail from time to
time. This function allows you to backup and restore
your valuable data to another hard disk or SCSI media.

• Find: This function allows you to find specific samples
presets, folders and banks anywhere in your library.

Save…View Info…

45Disk Menu

Mount Drives

This utility instructs the E4K to check the SCSI bus for the
presence of SCSI devices. Use this function whenever a
connected SCSI device does not appear in the disk browser.

þ To Mount Drives:

1. From the Disk Browser, press the Utilities function key
(F1).

2. Press the Mount function key (F1). The E4K will mount
all SCSI devices.

Disk

Copy System

From time to time the E4K operating system will be
updated with new features and functions. This software is
usually distributed on floppy disk and can be permanently
copied into the E4K's Flash RAM so that it will automatically
load whenever you turn on the E4K. Software can also be
saved to a floppy disk in order to back it up.

Each version of software is numbered and is indicated
when you select “About” under the “Utilities” menu in the
Master module. Copying software will not affect any other
data such as samples or presets.

þ To Update the E4K Software:

1. Turn off power to the E4K.

2. Insert the software floppy disk with the label side up.

3. Turn on power to the E4K. The display will show the
software version on the floppy and ask if you wish to
update Flash RAM from the floppy software.

4. Press Enter to update, or Exit to cancel the operation.

þ To Backup the E4K Software to Floppy Disk:

1. From the Disk Browser, select the floppy drive using the
data entry control, cursor keys or inc/dec keys.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the CopySys function key (F2). The display will ask
you to insert a floppy disk. Insert a formatted floppy disk
with the label side toward the center of the E4K. (If the
floppy disk is unformatted, the E4K will ask if you want
to format it.)

46 Emulator Four Keyboard

4. Press Yes , remove the current disk, insert a new disk and
press OK. Otherwise, press Cancel or Exit to cancel the
operation and return to the disk browser.

Format Disk

Before a new floppy disk or hard disk can record or store
any data, it must be told how to record this data. This is
called formatting. The floppy disk formatting procedure
should be run on any new disk, or on recycled disks previ­ously used with other systems (such as personal computers)
since these will not be formatted correctly for the E4K.

Formatting a hard disk or optical drive works exactly like
formatting a floppy disk. If the hard disk drive is not shown
in the disk browser, use the Mount Drive function. The hard
disk or optical drive should now be displayed.

þ To Format a Floppy Disk:

1. From the Disk Browser, select the floppy drive using the
data entry control, cursor keys or inc/dec keys.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Format function key (F3). The display will ask
you to insert a floppy disk. Insert a floppy disk with the
label side toward the center of the E4K.

4. Consider the implications of your action. Formatting a
floppy disk erases all information on that disk, com-
pletely. Press OK to format the disk or Cancel to cancel
the operation. Formatting takes about a minute and a
half.

5. After formatting the floppy disk, format another if
desired. The display will ask you if you want to format
another floppy. To do this, press Yes , remove the current
disk, insert a new disk and press OK. Otherwise, press
Cancel or Exit to cancel the operation and return to the
disk browser.

Disk

þ To Format a Hard Disk or Optical Disk:

1. From the Disk Browser, select the desired SCSI drive
using the data entry control, cursor keys or inc/dec keys.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Format function key (F3). The display will
warn you if you are about to destroy E4K data.

47Disk Menu

Disk

4. Press OK to format the disk or Cancel to cancel the
operation. Formatting time varies depending on the size
of the disk.

Install File System

Many new hard disk and optical drives as well as removable
hard disk cartridges now come pre-formatted. This function
allows you to install the E4K file system on pre-formatted
hard disks without having to reformat the disk. This can
save quite some time, especially with large capacity disks. To
find out if a disk is pre-formatted, try installing the file
system first. If this doesn't work, format the disk normally.

þ To Install the File System:

1. From the Disk Browser, select the desired SCSI drive
using the data entry control, cursor keys or inc/dec keys.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Install FS function key (F4). The display will
warn you if you are about to destroy E4K data.

4. Press OK to Install the file system on the disk or Cancel
to cancel the operation. Installing the file system time
takes a minute or more, depending on the size of the
disk.

Notes on Bank

?

Compatibility:

1) E4K can load banks
from E-IV, e-64, ESI-32,
EIIIX, EIII, Emax II, Akai
and Roland S-760 hard
disks or CD-ROMs.

2) E4K cannot load
banks from ESI-32, EIIIX,
EIII, Emax II, Akai or
Roland floppies.

3) If E4K backs up an
ESI-32/EIIIX bank, the
ESI-32/EIIIX will no
longer be able to load it.

Backup

This function allows you to backup and restore a portion or
the entire contents of the hard disk. You should develop the
habit of backing up any and all important data or risk
catastrophe at some future date. If you'd hate to lose it,

BACK IT UP!

þ To Backup your Hard Disk Data:

1. From the Disk Browser, select the SCSI drive you want to
back up using the cursor keys, inc/dec keys or the data
entry control.

2. Press the Utils function key (F1).

3. Press the Backup function key (F5). The display will
warn you if you are about to overwrite the current bank
in RAM.

4. Press OK to continue or Cancel to cancel the operation.
The following screen will appear.

48 Emulator Four Keyboard

5. Select the destination drive using the inc/dec keys, or
data entry control.

6. Move the cursor down to “Backup Type” and select the
type of backup mode with the inc/dec keys or data entry
control.

Your choices are:

• All: Transfers all banks from the source disk to the
destination disk.

• Range: Transfers a selected range of banks from the source
disk to the destination disk.

• Incremental: Transfers only those banks which have been
modified since the last backup.

Incremental Backup works by turning on a “bit” (stored
with the bank) whenever a bank is created or modified.
Whenever you back-up the bank, the bit is turned off.
Because the bit is turned off on the first backup, do not
use incremental back-up if you want to make multiple
back-up disks.

7. Move the cursor down to “Destination Bank Numbers”
to select where the banks will be placed on the destina­tion disk.

Your choices are:

• Same as Source: Copies the banks into the same
numbered bank locations on the destination disk.

• Use Empty: Copies the banks into the lowest consecutive
empty bank locations on the destination disk.

8. When you have made your choices, press OK to con­tinue or Cancel to cancel the operation.

Disk

- Tip: Use “Same as

Source” when backing
up to an ESI-32 or EIIIX
drive if you want these
machines to see your
E4K files. They will
overwrite any files stored
in those locations. The
ESI-32 and EIIIX cannot
load E4K files, but the
drive can be used for
both machines. Use
“Use Empty”␣ if backing
up to an ESI-32 or EIIIX
drive and you want the
E4K files to be invisible
to those machines. In
this case, ESI or EIIIX
files will not be overwrit­ten.

49Disk Menu

Choosing All or Incremental causes the backup to begin
immediately. Choosing “Range”, causes the following screen
to appear.

Disk

Note: EIII presets are

?

translated into E4K
presets as they are
loaded. E4K voices are
much bigger than EIII
voices. By contrast, E4K
sample zones within
voices are tiny. At
import/load time, E4K
tries to collapse adjacent
EIII voices into E4K
voice+szones if it can
(Envs, LFOs, etc. must
be the same), otherwise,
it creates voices.
Therefore, EIII presets
that use lots of differing
voices really balloon in
E-IV. Simpler presets
(Proteus instrument type
things - homogeneous)
may collapse into a
single voice.

9. Select the Folder to be copied.

10. Select the starting and ending banks of the range to be

copied, then press Backup.

þ To Restore your Hard Disk Data:

Select your backup disk in the disk browser and simply
backup to your regular work disk.

LOAD BANK

A bank can be loaded directly from the disk browser.

þ To Load a Bank:

1. From the Disk Browser, press the Load function key (F4).
The following screen will appear:

2. Choose a bank to load using the data entry control, the
inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. You may also
change the current drive or folder by using the up/down
cursor keys to select the drive or folder. Press OK to load
the bank or Cancel to cancel the operation. If you
pressed “OK” the bank will be loaded and the main
preset selection screen will appear.

50 Emulator Four Keyboard

3. If there is a bank already loaded into the E4K, the Merge
button will appear. Merge allows you to combine the
new bank with the bank that was previously loaded.

4. Press Merge to combine the two banks of presets or OK
to continue. If there isn't enough memory to hold both
banks, the display will inform you that the resident bank
is about to be destroyed.

SAVE BANK

A bank can be saved to disk from the disk browser.

þ To Save a Bank:

1. From the Disk Browser, press the Save function key (F5).
The following screen will appear:

& Caution:

“Memory Full”␣ error will
occur if you try to merge
two banks which
together contain more
than ten sequences.

A

Disk

D

S

Drive: D1 Conner CFP1060S

I

A

|Folder: F00 Folder X

S

V

Bank: B01 Empty Bank

K

E

Cancel

2. Choose a location for the bank using the data entry
control, the inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. You
may change the current drive or folder by using the up/
down cursor keys to select the drive or folder. Press OK to
load the bank or Cancel to cancel the operation. If you
pressed “OK” the bank will be saved and the main preset
selection screen will appear. If you are about to overwrite
an existing bank, the display will warn you.

OK

51Disk Menu

Disk

VIEW…

The display can be changed to a list format instead of the
normal icon-based format.

þ To Change the Display View:

From the Disk Browser, press the View function key (F3).
The screen will change to a list format. The List view is
shown below. Pressing the View function key again toggles
the view back to icon view.

INFO…

This function displays information on the selected disk drive
and also allows you to Lock the drive to prevent inadvertent
erasure or tampering.

þ To Get Disk Info:

From the Disk Browser, press the Info… function key (F6). A
pop-up window will appear with the vital statistics of the
selected disk.

Note: The lock

?

function actually locks
the SCSI ID and not the
drive. If you move a
locked drive to another
Emulator, it will be
erasable.

þ To Lock or Unlock a Drive:

A disk drive can be locked and unlocked to protect it from
inadvertent erasure or tampering.

1. To lock the selected disk, press Function Key F4, then
press OK (F6). The drive will be write protected until you
unlock it.

2. To unlock the disk, press Function Key F3, then press
OK (F6).

52 Emulator Four Keyboard

FOLDER

F

F00 Main Folder F01 FX

L
D
R

Utils

Folders help you organize your banks of sounds by providing
another level between the bank and disk level. You may
want to organize your banks by a particular project or by the
type of sounds contained within, such as: Sound Effects,
Pianos, Strings, etc. If you do not wish to use folders, simply
place everything on the disk into one folder. You can skip
over the folder level in the browser and forget that folders
even exist.

FOLDER UTILITIES

The Folder Utilities menu contains several additional func­tions. Pressing the Utils function key (F1) from the folder
browser enables a second row of soft keys.

Browse View Info…

Load

Save…

F

F00 Main Folder F01 FX

L
D
R

Man Browse View Info…

New

Find…RenameDelete

• New: Allows you to create a new folder.

• Delete: Allows you to delete an unwanted folder

• Rename: Allows you to rename the selected folder

• Find: Allows you to search the disk for a particular
folder.

53Disk Menu

New

This utility allows you to create a new folder.

þ To Create a New Folder:

1. From the Folder Browser, press the Utilities function key
(F1).

2. Press the New function key (F2). A pop-up window will
appear prompting you to name your new folder.

3. Press OK after naming the new folder and it will appear
on the screen.

Disk

- Tip: The up/down

cursor keys add and
delete spaces when
renaming. The tab key
on an ASCII keyboard
clears the entire name.

Delete

This utility allows you to delete a folder and all of its con­tents.

þ To Delete a Folder:

1. From the Folder Browser, select the folder you wish to
delete using the cursor keys, inc/dec keys or the data
entry control.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Delete function key (F3). A pop-up window will
appear asking you if you want to delete the folder.

4. Press the OK function key (F6) to delete the folder and
its contents or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the
operation.

Rename

This utility allows you to rename a folder.

þ To Rename a Folder:

1. From the Folder Browser, select the folder you wish to
rename using the cursor keys, inc/dec keys or the data
entry control.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Rename function key (F4). A pop-up window
will appear prompting you to rename the folder.

4. Change the name of the folder. Letters can be selected
using the numeric pad, data entry control, inc/dec keys
and cursor keys, or using an ASCII keyboard.

54 Emulator Four Keyboard

5. Press the OK function key (F6) to confirm the new name
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

Find…

This utility searches for folders, banks, presets, samples or
sequences on the disk for a particular search string (a pattern
of letters and numbers). If it finds the selected string anywhere
in the name, the item will be selected. Use the Find utility
again to find additional matching items.

þTo Find:

1. From the Folder Browser, press the Utils function key (F1).

2. Press the Find function key (F6). The screen shown below
will appear.

Disk

3. Select the type of item (folder, bank, preset, sample or
sequence) you wish to search for. If you have an idea of
where the item is located, you can narrow the search by
inputting additional data on the drive, folder or bank.
Selecting “All” tells the E4K to search everything.

4. Press the String function key (F4), and enter the search
string. Letters can be selected using the numeric pad,
data entry control, inc/dec keys and cursor keys, or using
an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press the Search function key (F6) to search for the item
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

55Disk Menu

Disk

VIEW

The display can be changed to a list format instead of the
normal icon-based format.

þ To Change the Display View:

From the Folder Browser, press the View function key (F3).
The screen will change to a list format. Pressing the View
function key again toggles the view back to icon view.

INFO…

The E4K can display information on the selected folder.

þ To Get Folder Info:

From the Folder Browser, press the Info… function key (F6).
A pop up window will appear with the vital statistics of the
selected disk.

F

F00 Main Folder F01 FX

L
D
R

F00 Main Folder
Max files: 112 Used: 16 14%
Total size of all files: 95.6mb

OK

56 Emulator Four Keyboard

BANK

B
A
N

B00 Horns B02 Synth B03 Bosend B04 Orches

B01 Proteus 1/Pop

K

B06 Indian B07 Car Gl B09 APPLAU B50 Sines

Utils Browse

The Bank is a set of up to 1000 presets which can be loaded
into and saved to disk from the E4K's internal memory
(RAM). When you save to disk, that collection of presets,
samples and sequences is a bank. Banks can be constructed
as large as the memory in your E4K will allow (which in the
case of 128 MB, is very large).

BANK UTILITIES

The Bank Utilities menu contains several additional func­tions. Pressing the Utils function key (F1) from the bank
browser enables a second row of soft keys.

B08 SODA

Load

Save…View Info…

• Delete: Allows you to delete an unwanted bank.

• Name: Allows you to name or rename the selected bank.

• Find: Allows you to search the disk for a particular bank.

57Disk Menu

Disk

- Tip: The up/down

cursor keys add and
delete spaces when
renaming. The tab key
on an ASCII keyboard
clears the entire name.

Delete

This utility allows you to delete an entire bank.

þ To Delete a Bank:

1. From the Bank Browser, select the bank you wish to
delete using the cursor keys, inc/dec keys or the data
entry control.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Delete function key (F3). A pop-up window will
appear asking you if you want to delete the bank.

4. Press the OK function key (F6) to delete the bank or the
Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

Name

This utility allows you to rename a bank.

þ To Name a Bank:

1. From the Bank Browser, select the bank you wish to
rename using the cursor keys, inc/dec keys or the data
entry control.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1).

3. Press the Name function key (F4). A pop-up window will
appear prompting you to name the bank.

4. Change the name of the bank. Letters can be selected
using the numeric pad data entry control, inc/dec keys
and cursor keys, or using an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press the OK function key (F6) to confirm the new name
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

58 Emulator Four Keyboard

Find…

This utility searches your disk library for a particular pattern
of letters and numbers (a search string). If it finds the string
anywhere in the name, the bank will be selected. Use the
Find utility again to find additional matching items.

þ To Find:

1. From the Bank Browser, press the Utilities function key
(F1).

2. Press the Find function key (F6). The screen shown
below will appear.

3. Select the type of item (folder, bank, preset, sample or
sequence) you wish to search for. If you have an idea of
where the item is located, you can narrow the search by
inputting additional data on the drive, folder or bank.
Selecting “All” tells the E4K to search everything.

4. Press the String function key (F4), and enter the search
string. Letters can be selected using the numeric pad,
data entry control, inc/dec keys and cursor keys, or using
an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press the Search function key (F6) to search for the item
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

Disk

LOAD BANK

A bank can be loaded from the bank browser.

þ To Load a Bank:

1. From the Bank Browser, select the bank you wish to load
using the cursor keys, inc/dec keys or the data entry
control.

59Disk Menu

& Caution:

“Memory Full”␣ error will
occur if you try to merge
two banks which
together contain more
than ten sequences.

A

Disk

2. Press the Load function key (F4).

3. Loading a bank overwrites the bank currently in memory
unless you choose to Merge the banks.

4. Press Yes to overwrite the current bank or Cancel to
cancel the operation.

5. Press Merge to add the new bank to the current bank in
memory.

6. A pop-up dialog box will appear, prompting you to select
the starting destination preset. Use the data entry con­trol, inc/dec keys or the numeric pad to select the start­ing destination preset. As the new bank is merged, its
presets will “fill in” any empty presets after this preset.

SAVE BANK

A bank can be saved to disk from the bank browser.

þ To Save a Bank:

1. From the Bank Browser, press the Save function key (F5).
The following screen will appear:

B

S

Drive: D1 Conner CFP1060S

A

A

|Folder: F00 Main Folder

N

V

Bank: B01 Empty Bank

E

K

- Tip: To save all the

samples in a bank in
EIIIx format, press and
hold the decimal point
key while you press the
Save soft key. The
display will offer you the
option to save in EIIIx
format.

Note that the preset
information is NOT
transferred, only the
samples.

Cancel

2. Choose a location for the bank using the data entry
control, the inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. You
may change the current drive or folder by using the up/
down cursor keys to select the drive or folder. Press OK
to load the bank or Cancel to cancel the operation. If
you pressed “OK” the bank will be saved and the main
preset selection screen will appear. If you are about to
overwrite an existing bank, the display will warn you.

• If the bank contains SoundSprinted presets (presets in
locations 990-999), the display will ask you if you want to
save the SoundSprint presets along with the bank.

60 Emulator Four Keyboard

OK

B

B00 Horns B02 Synth B03 Bosend B04 Orches

A
N
K

B06 Indian B07 Car Gl B09 APPLAU B50 Sines

B01 Proteus 1/Pop

Destroys resident bank…

?

continue?

B08 SODA

Cancel Merge Yes

VIEW

The display can be changed to a list format instead of the
normal icon-based format.

þ To Change the Display View:

From the Bank Browser, press the View function key (F3).
The screen will change to a list format. Pressing the View
function key again toggles the view back to icon view.

INFO…

The E4K can display information on the selected bank.

þ To Get Bank Info:

1. From the Bank Browser, press the Info… function key
(F6). A pop up window will appear with the vital statis­tics of the selected bank.

B

B01 Proteus 1/Pop X Type: E3X BANK

B00 Horns B02 Synth B03 Bosend B04 Orches

A
N
K

B06 Indian B07 Car Gl B09 APPLAU B50 Sines

B01 Proteus 1/Pop

Total bank size: 5.4MB

B08 SODA

OK

Disk

2. Press OK to return to the bank browser.

61Disk Menu

PRESET

P
R

Taiko Drum Warm Jets Bright Strin Votive Wave

S
T

Choir Breathy Marcato St Legato Str

Utils Browse Load… SprintView Info…

Dance Kit 2

E3

Synth World

A preset is one complete keyboard setup containing voices
and samples arranged on the keyboard together will all
programmable synthesizer parameters.

UTILITIES

The Utilities menu contains two functions. Pressing the
Utils function key (F1) from the preset browser enables a
second row of soft keys.

• Sprint: Toggles SoundSprint™ mode on and off.

• Find: Allows you to search the disk for a particular bank.

& Caution: Linked

presets are not loaded
using SoundSprint. Only
the selected preset will
be loaded.

Sprint

This option toggles SoundSprint mode (or auto preset load)
on and off. SoundSprint is a special browser mode which
automatically loads a preset as it is selected in the preset
browser. The currently loaded preset remains active until the
new preset is loaded.

Presets loaded via SoundSprint are placed at the
top of the bank memory and are assigned preset
numbers 990-999. Up to 10 Sprint presets can reside in

RAM and can be instantly selected. Loaded presets remain in
RAM until ten Sprint presets have been loaded or if memory
capacity has been exceeded, at which time the oldest sprint
preset is erased. (Sprint will not erase the current preset.)

A “Memory Full” message will be displayed if the new
preset cannot load without overwriting the current preset.
This message may also appear if you have a conventional
bank loaded.

62 Emulator Four Keyboard

þ To Turn SoundSprint Mode On:

Press the Sprint function key (F5). The SoundSprint screen
will appear and the selected preset will be automatically
loaded.

þ To Turn SoundSprint Mode Off:

1. From the SoundSprint Browser, press the Utilities func-
tion key (F1).

2. Press the SprntOff function key (F5). The Preset Browser
screen will appear and SoundSprint mode will be turned
off.

- Tip: Sprint mode can

also be accessed from
the main menu bar.
Simply press Sprint (F3)
to instantly jump into
SoundSprint mode.

Disk

Other banks which
are accessible by
pressing the Bank
function keys (F5
and F6).

þ To Select Presets using SoundSprint:

1. From the SoundSprint Browser, select presets in the
normal way using the left/right cursor keys. The selected
preset will automatically begin loading as soon as it is
selected.

2. Press the a Page key to selected another page of presets.
An illuminated red arrow beside the page key indicates if
there is another page of presets in that direction.

3. At the top of the SoundSprint menu there may be other
banks listed as in the screen shown above. These banks
may be selected using the <Bank and Bank> function
keys (F5 and F6).

- Tip: Pressing the

Disk Key can either call
up SoundSprint mode or
the Last screen you used
in the Disk Browser.

You can set the Disk key
function under, Master,

Setup, Misc.

63Disk Menu

- Tip: Nonvolatile

memory is retained even
with the power turned
off.

Bookmarks

When in SoundSprint mode, you can attach Bookmarks to
your favorite presets so that they can be instantly selected
with a single or double key press. Up to 100 bookmarks can
be stored and saved to nonvolatile EEPROM.

þ To Set a Bookmark:

1. From the SoundSprint Browser, select the preset you
wish to bookmark using the left/right cursor keys.

2. Press the Mark… function key (F3). The following screen
will appear.

3. Select a bookmark location using the data entry control
or inc/dec keys.

4. After selecting a location, press the Set function key (F4)
to set the bookmark. Press the Set/Save function key (F3)
if you want to save the bookmarks to nonvolatile
memory.

Note: The alternate

?

bookmark setting
method can only set
bookmarks 0-9 of the
current rank.

• The numeric keypad selects a bookmark from the rank of
10 you last selected with the Lock engaged.

5. Press the Go function key (F6) to go to the currently
selected preset.

6. Press Cancel (F1) to cancel the operation.

þ Alternate Method to Set a Bookmark:

1. From the SoundSprint Browser, select the preset you
wish to bookmark using the left/right cursor keys.

2. Press and hold the Set key located to the right side of the
numeric keys. While holding the Set key, press one of
the numeric keys. A pop up dialog box will inform you
that the bookmark is set.

64 Emulator Four Keyboard

þ To Select a Bookmark:

1. From the SoundSprint Browser, simply press the numeric
key(s) corresponding to the bookmark you wish to select.
For example, if you wanted to select the preset at book­mark number 9, press 9 on the numeric keys. The preset
will be selected.

2. The Lock key the first digit of the two digit bookmark
number. Press and hold the Lock key (located to the left
of the numeric keys) while pressing one of the numeric
keys to lock the most significant digit. Press the Lock key
by itself to turn Lock mode On or Off. The lock indicator
on the display is shown below.

Indicates first digit is locked at 0

3. With Lock Off, two digits must be entered to select a
bookmark. For example, to select bookmark 9, you
would press 0, then 9.

4. With the most significant digit locked, only one key
press is required to select a bookmark.

5. To select another rank of 10 bookmarks, press and
hold the Lock key and press one of the numeric keys.
The display will inform you which rank of 10 book­marks is now selected.

65Disk Menu

Disk

Find…

This utility searches your disk library for a particular pattern
of letters and numbers (a search string). If it finds the se­lected string anywhere in the name, the bank will be se­lected. Use the Find utility again to find additional matching
items.

þ To Find:

1. From the Preset Browser, press the Utilities function key
(F1).

2. Press the Find function key (F6). The screen shown
below will appear.

3. Select the type of item (folder, bank, preset, sample or
sequence) you wish to search for. If you have an idea of
where the item is located, you can narrow the search by
inputting additional data on the drive, folder or bank.
Selecting “All” tells the E4K to search everything.

4. Press the String function key (F4), and enter the search
string. Letters can be selected using the numeric pad,
data entry control, inc/dec keys and cursor keys, or using
an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press the Search function key (F6) to search for the item
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

LOAD PRESET

An individual preset can be loaded into the bank from the
preset browser. This is a way you can create your own cus­tom banks. Simply load in the desired presets, then save the
bank to disk.

þ To Load a Preset:

1. From the Bank Browser, select the bank containing the
preset you wish to load using the cursor keys, inc/dec
keys or the data entry control.

2. From the Preset Browser, select the preset you wish to
load.

2. Press the Load function key (F4). A pop-up window will
prompt you to select the destination preset.

66 Emulator Four Keyboard

4. Choose a location for the preset using the data entry
control, the inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. You
may overwrite an existing preset or choose an empty
preset as the destination.

5. Press OK to load the selected preset or Cancel to cancel
the operation.

VIEW

The display can be changed to a list format instead of the
normal icon-based format.

þ To Change the Display View:

From the Preset Browser, press the View function key (F3).
The screen will change to a list format. Pressing the View
function key again toggles the view back to icon view.

INFO…

The E4K can display information on the selected preset.

þ To Get Preset Info:

1. From the Preset Browser, press the Info… function key
(F6). A pop up window will appear with the vital statis­tics of the selected preset.

Disk

2. The preset size indicates the amount of memory that the
programmable preset parameters occupy. It does not
include the samples used in the preset. Press OK to
return to the preset browser.

67Disk Menu

SAMPLE

EIII

EIII

EIII

EIII

EIII

S
M

Piano E0 Piano D1 Piano F#1 Piano C#2

P

EIII EIII

Piano A0

EIII

EIII

EIII

L

Piano G#2 Piano C#3 PianoC#4 Piano F#4

Utils Browse Load…View Info…

A sample is the most basic sound element of the E4K and
consists of the digitized sound together with truncation and
looping parameters.

UTILITIES

The Utilities menu contains several additional functions.
Pressing the Utils function key (F1) from the sample browser
enables a second row of soft keys. Only one option is cur­rently implemented.

• Find: Allows you to search the bank for a particular
sample.

Find…

This utility searches your disk library for a particular pattern
of letters and numbers (a search string). If it finds the se­lected string anywhere in the name, the bank will be se­lected. Use the Find utility again to find additional matching
items.

Piano G#3

Aud

þ To Find:

1. From the Sample Browser, press the Utils function key
(F1).

2. Press the Find function key (F6). The find screen (shown
on the following page) screen will appear.

68 Emulator Four Keyboard

3. Select the type of item (folder, bank, preset, sample or
sequence) you wish to search for. If you have an idea of
where the item is located, you can narrow the search by
inputting additional data on the drive, folder or bank.
Selecting “All” tells the E4K to search everything.

4. Press the String function key (F4), and enter the search
string. Letters can be selected using the numeric pad,
data entry control, inc/dec keys and cursor keys, or using
an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press the Search function key (F6) to search for the item
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

VIEW

The display can be changed to a list format instead of the
icon-based format.

þ To Change the Display View:

From the Sample Browser, press the View function key (F3).
The screen will change to a list format. Pressing the View
function key again toggles the view back to icon view.

Disk

S

EIIIEIII EIII EIII EIII

S002 Piano A0 Type: E3 sample (stereo)

M

Length: 39139 samples Duration: 3.01 secs

P

Srate: 13000 Loop: 26319--39133

L

S005 Piano

S010 Piano

OK

69Disk Menu

Disk

LOAD SAMPLE

An individual sample can be loaded into the bank from the
sample browser. This is an easy way to create your own
custom presets. Simply load in the desired samples, build
your preset, then save the bank to disk.

þ To Load a Sample:

1. From the Bank Browser, select the bank containing the
preset you wish to load using the cursor keys, inc/dec
keys or the data entry control.

2. From the Sample Browser, select the sample you wish to
load.

3. Press the Load function key (F4). A pop-up window will
prompt you to select the destination sample.

4. Choose a location for the sample using the data entry
control, the inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. You
may overwrite an existing sample or choose an empty
sample as the destination.

5. Press OK to load the selected sample or Cancel to cancel
the operation.

AUDITION

The currently selected sample can be played directly from
the hard disk before loading.

þ To Audition a Sample:

From the Sample Browser, press the Audition function key
(F5). A pop up dialog box will appear and the sample will be
auditioned directly from the disk.

INFO…

The E4K can display vital information on the selected
sample.

þ To Get Sample Info:

1. From the Sample Browser, press the Info… function key
(F6). A pop up window will appear with information
about the selected sample.

2. The window indicates: sample length, duration in
seconds, the sample rate, and the loop points in samples.
Press OK to return to the sample browser.

70 Emulator Four Keyboard

SEQUENCE

S

E
Q
S

Up to ten sequences can be loaded into a bank or saved to
disk as part of a bank. When you Save to disk, you are saving
all presets, samples and sequences currently residing in RAM.
Sequences do not appear in the sequence browser until you
have saved the bank to disk.

SEQUENCE UTILITY

The Bank Utilities menu contains only one function — Find.
Pressing the Utils function key (F1) from the bank browser
enables a second row of soft keys.

Santa Cruz Sacred Grou ExitMoodt PoinDance Trak

Utils Browse Load…View Info…

• Find: Allows you to search the disk for a particular bank.

71Disk Menu

Disk

FIND…

This utility searches your disk library for a particular pattern
of letters and numbers (a search string). If it finds the se­lected string anywhere in the name, the bank will be se­lected. Use the Find utility again to find additional matching
items.

þ To Find:

1. From the Sequence Browser, press the Utilities function
key (F1).

2. Press the Find function key (F6). The screen shown
below will appear.

3. Select the type of item (folder, bank, preset, sample or
sequence) you wish to search for. If you have an idea of
where the item is located, you can narrow the search by
inputting additional data on the drive, folder or bank.
Selecting “All” tells the E4K to search everything.

4. Press the String function key (F4), and enter the search
string. Letters can be selected using the numeric pad,
data entry control, inc/dec keys and cursor keys, or using
an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press the Search function key (F6) to search for the item
or the Cancel function key (F1) to cancel the operation.

VIEW

The display can be changed to a list format instead of the
icon-based format.

þ To Change the Display View:

From the Sequence Browser, press the View function key
(F3). The screen will change to a list format. Pressing the
View function key again toggles the view back to icon view.

72 Emulator Four Keyboard

LOAD SEQUENCE

An individual E4K sequence can be loaded from another
bank using the sequence browser. Simply load in the desired
sequences, then save the bank to disk. Sequences can be
either Emulator sequences or Standard MIDI Files.

þ To Load a Sequence from another Bank:

If you wish to load an E4K sequence from another bank into
the current bank perform the following steps.

1. From the Disk Browser, select the drive and bank con­taining the sequence you wish to load using the cursor
keys, inc/dec keys or the data entry control.

2. From the Sequence Browser, select the sequence you
wish to load.

3. Press the Load function key (F4). A pop-up window will
prompt you to select the destination sequence.

4. Choose a location for the sequence using the data entry
control, the inc/dec keys or the numeric keypad. You
may overwrite an existing sequence or choose an empty
sequence as the destination. There are ten possible
sequence locations.

5. Press OK to load the selected sequence or Cancel to
cancel the operation.

Disk

INFO…

Displays information about the selected sequence.

þ To Get Sequence Info:

1. From the Sequence Browser, press the Info… function
key (F6). A pop up window will appear with information
about the selected sequence.

2. The window indicates: sequence number, size in bytes,
and type (either E-IV or Standard MIDI File).

73Disk Menu

Disk

- Tip: If the file name

does not conform to the
proper format, the
question mark icon
shown below will
appear. Rename the file
according to the file
name requirement using
the “Name Bank”
function. The icon will
look normal and the
sequence will merge
properly.

þ To Load a Standard MIDI File from Floppy Disk:

The E4K can load and play Standard MIDI File sequences
(type 0 or 1). Sequence files should conform to PC DOS
format using a DOS formatted disk and using the following
format for the file name: 12345678.MID (up to eight
characters followed by “.MID”). It is important to note that
Standard MIDI Files appear as Banks, NOT as sequences in
the sequence browser.

1. Insert a DOS formatted floppy disk containing the
Standard MIDI Files.

2. From the Disk Browser, select the floppy drive.

3. Press Browse again and select Banks. The MIDI
sequences will appear as banks.

4. Press the Load function key (F4). A pop up dialog box
will appear warning you that loading will destroy the
resident bank.

5. Press the Merge key (F4). The selected sequence will be
merged into the current bank, and will be placed in the
first empty sequence location.

6. Press OK to load the selected sequence or Cancel to
cancel the operation.

Important Information for Loading Standard MIDI Files

• Use PC DOS formatted diskettes to load from floppy. Disks
can be formatted on either the Mac or PC.

• To be readable by the E4K the file MUST have 0-8
characters, then a period, then “MID”. (The “MID” part
must be all capital letters.) Example: 12345678.MID

74 Emulator Four Keyboard

Master Menu

3

Memory Statistics 77

Utilities Menu 78

Assignable Keys 78
Channel Volume 79
Tones 80
Recalibration 80
Test Access 82
About the E4K 82

Bank Menu 83

Erase Bank 83
Name Bank 84
Auto Load Bank 84

Setup Menu 85

Tuning 86
Output 88
Miscellaneous 93
Import Options 100

Sequencer Manage 107

MIDI Globals 109

Mode 110
Basic Channel 110
Mode Select 111
Local Control 112
Effects Control 113
MIDI Mix 115
MIDI Controllers 1 & 2 117
MIDI Preferences 1 & 2 119
Velocity Curve 119
Controller #7 Sensitivity 120
Controller #7 Curve 120
Global Pedal Override 121
Receive Program Change 121
Send Program Change 122
Magic Preset 122

FX Menu 103

Master Effects A 103
Master Effects B 106

75Master Menu

76 Emulator Four Keyboard

Memory Statistics

The Master Menu contains functions which affect the
entire machine, not just certain presets or banks, such as
overall tuning, LCD contrast, MIDI modes, master effects, etc.

The main screen shows the E4K's internal memory status.
There are two types of memory in the E4K, preset memory
and sample memory. An E4K contains around half a megabyte
of preset memory. The amount of sample memory can vary
from 4 megabytes to 128 megabytes. Preset/Sequencer
memory is used to hold the preset parameter information and
sequencers and this ratio is user adjustable. Sample memory
contains the actual samples. Presets and sequences require
much less memory than samples, so you are not likely to run
out of preset memory, even when creating huge banks.

The master menu contains six main sub menus:

• Utilities - Controls for the assignable keys, test tones and
volume control recalibration. Also contains the channel
status indicator, credits and software version display.

• Bank - Allows you to name or erase the bank and set a bank
to be auto-loaded on power-up.

• Setup- Contains four submenus: Tune, Output,
Miscellaneous, and Import functions

• FX- Contains the digital effect processor functions.

Master

- Tip: The Master

settings are saved into
flash RAM when you
exit the module.

• Sequence Manage - Contains sequencer related functions.

• MIDI - Contains global MIDI controls, velocity curve and
other miscellaneous MIDI functions.

77Master Menu

Utilities

The Master Utilities menu contains several additional

functions.

• Assignable Keys

• Channel Volume

Master

• Reference Tones

• Recalibration

• Test Access

• About the Emulator Four Keyboard

ASSIGNABLE KEYS

The three assignable keys on the front panel can be
programmed to call up any almost any screen with a single
key press. This saves you from having to page through
multiple menus to find the screen you want to edit. The
assignable keys can be programmed either from the assign­able keys screen or directly from any screen you are working
in.

þ To Program the Assignable Keys from the Master

Menu

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the AsnKy function key (F1). The following screen
will appear.

78 Emulator Four Keyboard

4. Use the data entry control or the inc/dec keys to change
the screen associated with each assignable key.

5. Press Save to store the assignable keys settings and
return to the Memory Statistics screen.

6. Press Cancel to cancel the operation and return to the
Memory Statistics screen.

þ To Program an Assignable Key from the Current Screen

This method allows you to link an assignable key to the

screen you are currently in.

1. Press and hold one of the assignable keys from any
screen in the E4K.

2. After two seconds a pop up window will appear, inform­ing you that the assignable key has been programmed
for the current screen.

CHANNEL VOLUME

This function calls up a bar graph display showing the
volume of all 64 output channels of the E4K. If the optional
channel expansion board (model 6910) is installed, 128
channels will be displayed. The channel status display is a
useful indicator of your channel usage. The 64 channels of
the E4K are assigned in a circular order, (i.e. 1, 2, 3… 64,
then back to 1). Channels become available for reassignment
when their output volume falls below a certain level.

Master

79Master Menu

Master

TONES

This function generates accurate reference tones which
can be used to troubleshoot your audio system without
loading a bank or can be used to test each output of the E4K.

þTo Enable the Reference Tone

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Tones… function key (F3). The following
screen will appear.

4. Adjust the frequency, waveform, gain, and the output
submix channel using the data entry control or inc/dec
keys.

5. Press Exit to return to the Memory Statistics screen.

RECALIBRATION

This screen allows you to recalibrate the front panel
volume control, rotary encoder and the control wheels on
the E4K. The controls should be recalibrated periodically in
order to compensate for normal wear and tear on the con­trols themselves or if the controls ever behave strangely.

þ To Recalibrate

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Recal… function key (F4). The following screen
will appear.

80 Emulator Four Keyboard

4. Follow the instructions and adjust the volume slider to
the minimum and maximum position, then press OK.

5. The display will say, “Saving System” and the following
recalibration screen will appear.

6. Move the encoder approximately one revolution, then
press OK.

7. Again, the display will say, “Saving System” and the next
recalibration screen will appear.

8. Follow the instructions and move the pitch wheel as
directed, then press OK.

9. The display will say, “Saving System” and the last
recalibration screen will appear.

Master

81Master Menu

Master

10. Follow the instructions and move the mod wheel as
directed, then press OK.

11. You can press Cancel during any of the recalibrations to
skip that particular control and move on to the next
one.

TEST ACCESS

This screen provides access to the Service Center diagnos­tic routines. CAUTION: Some of the diagnostic routines
have the potential to destroy the data on your hard disk. It is
for this reason that the diagnostics are protected from casual
use by a secret password.

þ To Access the Diagnostic Access Screen

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Tests function key (F5). A pop up dialog box
will appear asking for the diagnostics password.

4. Enter the proper password (1-3-5-8) then press OK to
enter the diagnostics menus.

ABOUT THE EMULATOR FOUR KEYBOARD

This screen displays the current software version resident
in the E4K. It also credits the creators of the E4K and dis­plays the phone number to order additional sounds.

þ To List the Software Version

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Utilities function key (F1). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the About… function key (F6). A pop-up dialog
box lists the resident software version.

4. Press Exit to return to the Memory Statistics screen.

82 Emulator Four Keyboard

Bank

The Bank submenu currently contains three functions,
which allow you to name and erase the bank and automati­cally load a bank on power up.

ERASE BANK

Erasing a bank erases ALL the memory in RAM which
includes all samples, voices and presets. Erasing the bank
does not erase anything stored on your hard disk, only the
contents of the E4K's RAM.

þ To Erase the Bank:

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Bank function key (F2). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Erase… function key (F1). A pop-up dialog box
will appear asking you if you want to erase all presets
and samples.

4. Press the OK to erase the bank or Cancel to cancel the
operation.

Master

83Master Menu

Master

& Caution:

Bank Load works on
bank numbers, not their
names. If you move a
bank to another location
or switch removable
media, the bank may
not load or the wrong
bank may be loaded on
power-up.

Auto

NAME BANK

This utility allows you to name the current bank.

þ To Name the Bank:

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Bank function key (F2). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Name… function key (F2). A pop-up dialog box
will appear asking you to enter the new bank name.

4. Name the bank. Letters can be selected using the nu­meric keypad, data entry control, inc/dec keys and
cursor keys, or using an ASCII keyboard.

5. Press OK to name the bank or Cancel to cancel the
operation.

AUTO BANK LOAD

This function automatically loads the selected bank

whenever the E4K is first powered up.

þ To Set the Auto Load Bank:

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Bank function key (F2). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Auto… function key (F3). The pop-up dialog
box shown below will appear.

4. Set the bank to be automatically loaded on power up.
Banks can be selected using the numeric keypad, data
entry control, inc/dec keys and cursor keys.

5. Press Save to confirm your choice or Cancel to cancel
the operation.

84 Emulator Four Keyboard

Setup

The Setup menu contains four additional submenus.

• Tune - Contains three functions: tuning offset,
transposition and audition key.

• Output - Contains several functions related to the audio
and S/PDIF output levels.

• Miscellaneous - Contains eight miscellaneous and
unrelated functions.

• Import Options - Contains preferences and controls for
importing samples and presets from Akai™ or Roland™
samplers.

Master

• Memory Configuration - Allows you to control the
amount of RAM allocated between the sequencer and
presets.

85Master Menu

Master

TUNE

This submenu contains three functions related to master

tuning.

TUNING OFFSET

Tuning Offset adjusts the overall tuning of the E4K so

that it can be tuned to other instruments. The range of

tuning offset is ±100 cents or 1 semitone in approximately

1.2 cents increments.

þ To Change the Tuning Offset.

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Setup function key (F3). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Tune function key (F1). The screen shown
below will appear.

4. If it is not already there, move the cursor to the tuning
offset amount using the cursor keys or by pressing the F1
key.

5. Adjust the tuning offset of the E4K using the data entry
control, or inc/dec keys.

6. Press the Exit key twice to return to the Memory
Statistics screen.

86 Emulator Four Keyboard

TRANSPOSE

This function transposes the E4K in half-step intervals. The

range of transposition is ±1 octave. Transpose allows you to

play in a different key without having to use different finger­ings. Transpose will also allow you to play beyond the range
of the physical keyboard.

þ To Change the Transposition:

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Setup function key (F3). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Tune function key (F1). The Tuning screen will
appear.

4. Move the cursor to the transposition amount using the
cursor keys or by pressing the F2 key.

5. Adjust the transposition of the E4K using the data entry
control, or inc/dec keys.

6. Press Exit twice to return to the Memory Statistics screen.

AUDITION KEY

This function allows you to set the key that will be played
when the ASCII keyboard controlled audition function
(Control, A) is invoked. Note: The raw sample (at the original
pitch) will be played if you audition from any sample-related
screen (Sample Manage, Sample Edit, Disk Sample Browser).

& Caution:

off transposition before
selecting or modifying
any presets to prevent
confusion. Transpose
transposes the key
number rather than the
sample assignment.
Selecting the zone and
any other use of the
keyboard will show the
transposed key number.

Turn

Master

þ To Change the Audition Key:

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Setup function key (F3). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Tune function key (F1). The Tuning screen will
appear.

4. Move the cursor to the audition key field using the cursor
keys or by pressing the F3 key.

5. Select the audition key using the data entry control, inc/
dec keys or the keyboard.

6. Press Exit twice to return to the Memory Statistics screen.

87Master Menu

Master

- Tip: The headroom

adjustment also controls
the level of the digital
audio output.

OUTPUT

The Output submenu contains functions dealing with the

E4K's audio and digital outputs.

HEADROOM

Headroom is the amount of dynamic range remaining
before clipping will occur. Think of a tall person (the signal)
in a small room. Raising the ceiling would increase the
headroom.

A sampling musical instrument, unlike a CD player, must
play multiple channels at once. Each additional channel
boosts the headroom requirement by 3 dB.

The amount of headroom on the E4K is adjustable from 0
dB to 15 dB in 1 dB increments (with the front panel volume
control set to maximum). A headroom setting of 0 dB for
example, will provide the hottest output level, (and the
highest signal to noise ratio) but may produce “clipping” if
too many notes are played at once. The default headroom
setting on the E4K is +3 dB, which maintains an excellent
signal to noise ratio while keeping a reasonable amount of
headroom in reserve. If you hear the signal clipping or
breaking up, increase the amount of headroom. The head-

room adjustment also controls the level of the S/PDIF
digital output. Press Exit after setting the headroom to store

the setting in EEPROM.

þ To Change the Headroom:

1. Press the Master key. The LED will illuminate and the
Memory Statistics screen will appear.

2. Press the Setup function key (F3). A second row of soft
keys will appear.

3. Press the Output function key (F2). The Output menu
shown above will appear.

88 Emulator Four Keyboard