Emulator I disk support or replacement... probably soon !

[esynthesist]

Hi

Thanks to a fellow forum member, I'm now the proud owner of an 8-Voice Emulator I too.
I just did a full service on it, it's in almost perfect condition now !

I immediately took the opportunity to reverse engineer the physical format of the Emulator I's floppy disk with my digital scope.
Because imho it's getting urgent to have a way to make backups of the rare Emulator I library (and home brew) floppy disks on a PC/cdrom/...

I think we are quite lucky: the disk format looks like the disk format of the successor Emulator II, although the track layout does not match the EII's track format for 100 pct; and of course the Emulator I only uses 35 tracks of a single sided disk...
For the freaks: here are my (draft) reverse engineering results:
http://www.emxp.net/Disk_layout_of_EmulatorI_floppy_disks_v0_8.pdf

Anyway, since the disks are fundamentally not very different from the Emulator II disks, and the Emulator II is currently already supported by Kryoflux and HxC devices, I'm pretty sure that Emulator I support can be expected in these devices soon !

From then on it will also be possible to exchange Emulator I disks on the internet (if allowed of course  )
And I will of course also extend the reverse engineering activities resulting in support for Emulator I in EMXP (e.g. WAV conversions could be nice...)

I will ask the Kryoflux team and HxC team to help implement this format in their software and hardware !

[Elmbeatz]

 

O.
M.
F.
G.

 

Incredible, just incredible. I hope I can move into my new home soon, so that I can set up all the E-Mus again.

[lubb]

Exactly said...

[RobyMX]

Great work!!!
 

[esynthesist]

I have received first outputs from Kryoflux...
...this looks VERY promising !!

Jeff from HxC is involved too, so I think the Emulator I will be supported very soon !

This is fun 

[Elmbeatz]

I'm shaking and shivering.....   

[esynthesist]

It has been done !

(see also other topic: http://eiiiforum.com/index.php?topic=775.15)

Here's the official statement:
http://www.softpres.org/news:2010-11-11

And here's a video:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/DrQvV2uFlU8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/DrQvV2uFlU8&rel=1</a>

I'm really having fun here  

[Elmbeatz]

....
I'm really having fun here  

I believe you  ...

Wonderful.
This is science. Where would we, the E-Mu enthousiasts be without your work?
Answer:
Stuck in 1988.

Congratulations E-Synthesist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You're the greatest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers,
Elm.

[esynthesist]

Code:

Congratulations E-Synthesist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You're the greatest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks thanks, but let's not forget that it is mainly the KryoFlux and HxC people who made this particular (r)evolution possible ! I provided them with information, performed all tests... and made the video 

Now I will of course add Emulator-I support to EMXP.
The reverse engineering to extract OS, samples and sample parameters from the disk images is being done right now and seems rather easy; then I have to add code to EMXP which will take a little bit longer, but I will release it in phases (e.g. first phase EMXP v2.10 will contain only reading Emulator-I disk images and extracting WAV files from them...).