Emax I & Emax II User's Group
Original content and design by John Joseph Silveria II the Owner/Moderator of the Emax and Emax II Users Group on Yahoo! Groups
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Emax II MIDI SDS Guide This is one of the most frequent e-mails I get. The problem stems from the Emax II manual being incorrect in it's Key Assignment listing which incorrectly stipulate voice #s 256-344 for secondary voices. Also most people seem unsure how to set-up MIDI SDS capable programs to communicate with an Emax correctly. I only use Sound Forge with my Emax II so this guide is written for that combination specifically, however most of the information can be used with any software that supports MIDI SDS. At the end of the guide there is a table with the correct Emax II Key Assignments.
In Sound Forge use the Generic MIDI SDS template to start with. From there you need to do a little tweaking. First, select your computers MIDI In and MIDI Out ports that the Emax is connected to. Next set the MIDI Send and Receive channels. They need to match the Emax's Master MIDI setting (Master/9/2). This is very important, you will receive errors if they are set to different channels or if you fail to set your Emax's Master MIDI setting to a specific channel. If you still get transfer errors make sure you have no other MIDI instruments in the chain, sometimes when the requests and data are sent over MIDI if it runs into another instrument along the way it will cause errors. If that still fails try new shorter cables. Optionally you can set SF's Sample Bias. By default SF assumes sample #12 is assigned to note C1, but on the Emax sample #12 is actually assigned to note A0 so you need to set the Sample Bias option to +3. This way when you request sample #12 in SF you will get the primary sample assigned to note C1. The chart I've included below contains the correct Emax II Key Assignments, but it is for software that start with sample #0 , others may actually start with sample #1. Note: The chart does not reflect setting the Sample Bias. So why set the Sample Bias? For me it's because I don't use the chart to look up assignments I look at my keyboards all of which start at note C1 and I think of every C as a multiple of 12 (A0 isn't even on my keyboard so I would never assign a sample to it). I don't want to remember that the Emax is actually off by 3. If you plan on having the chart handy and you have no other samplers then you might not want to set the Bias. Now click on Save As and give the new settings a name like Emax II SDS. Remember: when sending samples to the Emax that the sample will only be assigned to that one note and it will also only be assigned to the Master outputs. You have to use Preset Definiton #2 - Edit Assignments to assign the voice to your desired zone and outputs.
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