E-Mu EMAX, Owner'S Manual

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Emax Owners Manual
© 1986 E-mu Systems, Inc. Enhanced by The Emulator Archive 2001 Page 19
OTHER DEFINITIONS
The Disk Archives . So far, we’ve loaded a bunch of Voices into the Bank, created some Presets
containing those Voices, and done some Voice processing. However, remember that the Bank only
retains this information for as long as Emax 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 on disks.
Commanding the Central Computer to “Save All” shuttles all the Bank data (Voices, Presets, and
Sequences) to disk. This disk permanently (well, at least as long as the disk lasts) stores data so that
even after turning off Emax, the disk will contain a record of your work.
IF YOU DO NOT DO A “SAVE ALL,” ALL BANK DATA WILL BE LOST WHEN YOU TURN OFF
EMAX.
Do not wait until the end of a session to save--save your work ( PRESET MANAGEMENT 2 )
periodically in case of power failure or some other unforeseen circumstance, which might erase the
Bank’s memory.
Since the disk contains a record of the Bank data, loading the disk back into the Bank transfers all the
Voice, Preset, and Sequencer data into the Bank (this will replace the existing Bank data, if any).
Therefore, you can work a Bank of sounds out at leisure, and save the results of your work on disk; when
you go to a gig, simply take the disk with you and load all your hard work from disk into Emax in a few
seconds.
The Keyboard.
Note the two paths coming from the keyboard in Fig. INTRO-2; the LFO, VCA, VCF, and
AHDSR Analog Signal Processors are tied to keyboard dynamics (for example, playing harder can alter
the loudness, attack time, filter cutoff, etc.), as are some Preset assignment characteristics (i.e. playing
louder assigns a different Voice to a particular key).
The Channel Outputs.
The Central Computer assigns sounds to the output channels. For example,
when you play a key, that key’s sound is assigned to Output Channel 1. If you hold this key and play
another key, the new key’s sound will be assigned to Output Channel 2. Emax includes eight channels;
therefore, you can play up to eight sounds simultaneously. Each channel has its own output jack, and
there are also stereo output jacks (use one for mono), which mix the eight channels together.
Note: Channel assignments can be changed by the user ( PRESET DEFINITION 2 ).
Booting. Booting Emax is not a repair technique; rather, it is a computer term that means “putting a disk
in the disk drive after you first turn it on, and having the computer read software necessary for its
operation from that disk”. (It’s easy to see why this was shortened to “booting”.) To boot, insert a disk in
the drive before, or just after, you turn on Emax. Once booted, the instrument is ready to go.
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, the arpeggiator defaults to off on creation of a new preset. Had it defaulted to the
on position, new presets would all be arpeggiated!
Cursor
. The cursor is a small line that shows up in the display, and flashes when it wants data from you
about the number or letter under which it is located. Entering a new value will over-write the old one,
whereupon the cursor moves on to the next number or letter (if applicable).