ESi FAQ

This is a list of frequenctly asked questions that ESI owners (ESI-32, ESI 2000, ESI 4000) often ask, mostly gleaned from the ESI owners mailing list (thanks guys!).

Contents

1. Basics

1. Operating Systems

• Full Compass (USA)
• Thomann (Germany/Europe)

2. Sampling

3. Memory

1. Specs

ESI-32:

• Only 1, 2, 4 or 16MB SIMMS work (8MB doesn't)
• Memory MUST be installed in matched pairs, unlike later machines. So the possible memory configurations are: 2MB, 4MB, 8MB or 32MB.
• 30 pin SIMM
• 70 nS or faster access time
• Parity or Non-Parity design (8 or 9-bit wide)
• If turbo kit is installed use low-profile SIMMs (Total height not to exceed: 1 & 1/4 inches)

ESI 2000 and ESI 4000:

• Only 4, 16 or 64MB SIMMS work (8 and 32MB don't)
• 72 pin SIMM
• 70 nS or faster access time
• Parity or Non-Parity design
• EDO or Non-EDO (Extended Data Out)
• If turbo kit is installed use low-profile SIMMs (Total height not to exceed: 1 & 1/4 inches)

The following are all the valid memory configurations for the ESI 4000:

Yes I know 16+4 is not 18 (and other combinations), but that's the ESI memory system for you.

Note: ECC RAM will NOT work in any ESI sampler!

4. Disks & SCSI

1. SCSI Specs

Apparently, for ESI 2000 users, these machines can auto-sense whether to provide termination power or not, which can cause problems in a SCSI chain. It is recommended that all SCSI devices are configured as passsive and let the ESI 2000 supply termination power. There is a mention of auto-sensing on page 237 of the ESI 2000 manual.

All the latest ESI OS versions only support upto 4GB per device. So while you can use a large drive, only 4GB will be used by the sampler. For example, on a 9.1GB drive a whopping 5.1GB of space is wasted.

2. Burning CDs

Try here http://www.tweakheadz.com/ to start your search.

The general approach seems to be:

Just copy the banks to your drive with ESI-Win, then ESI-Win can make a CD-ROM image of whichever files that you choose. Then use your CD Burning prog to burn the .ISO image that ESI-Win created.

Another approach for Mac users is:

compile a Zip-ful of banks first, then use Toast 3.5.7's "SCSI copy" function to burn a CD from the Zip.

3. Formatting ZIP Disks

Go to Global -> Disk Utilities -> Format Disk, then instead of pressing yes, press '8', which will then install the file system.

It would seem that Jaz drives bad medicine ESi no like. Better to copy ESI HDs to CDROM via CDRW (see above).

Both 100MB and 250MB ZIP drives work well with the SCSI (see below regarding ZIP250's). While Iomega don't make SCSI drives anymore there are plenty on eBay.

4. Disk Drive Settings

Here is a great site for 1000's of HD jumper settings: www.thetechpage.com

5. ZIP Disks and OS 2.10

Apparently its true -- you can connect ZIP 100 disks to an ESi-32 running on OS 2.10. From Troy <troy1 AT >: "I had an internal zip in my ESI with OS ver 2.10. It worked perfectly. The only thing that I noticed was that it would look for the floppy drive for a long period of time at startup, probably more than 10 seconds. The floppy obviously wasn't there, but once it saw that it didn't exist, it started up and worked perfectly."

But... there may be an issue with the age of the ZIP drive: (Troy again) "I think at one point Iomega changed the design of the zip drives at one point. This was an issue with my ASR-10. The zip drive was originally on the drive compatibility list, but then later it was taken off because Iomega did something that didn't meet the SCSI spec properly."

A good place to read is:

http://www.emulatorarchive.com/Archives/Samplers/ESI32Overview/ESI32ZIP/esi32zip.html

Apparently Iomega have stopped making SCSI ZIP drives, so check out the likes of eBay for second-hand units. Caveat emptor, etc.

It would seem that the factory-fitted ZIP drives were set to SCSI ID 5, so that could be a good starting point when adding a ZIP drive to your system.

6. ZIP 250 and non-SCSI disks

"I used a standard ATAPI Zip250 and one of these: ACARD AEC-7720U Ultra SCSI-to-IDE Bridge

The ACARD allows you to place IDE device on a SCSI bus. Pretty nifty. I own a few different models and try them out on different pieces of gear.

The ACARD sticks out a bit from the side of the Zip, but it just barely fits between a couple of connectors on the ESI-32's mainboard. It was really close. The best thing about the IDE-SCSI bridges is that the IDE items are much easier to find and replace than their more expensive SCSI counterparts.

For the power cable, I just spliced new connectors on to it. Just made a Y-cable out of it so one end supplies the drive and the other end supplies the bridge device.

Here's some pics of the Zip250 and the ACARD bridge installed in the ESI-32:

[Pic1]  [Pic2]  [Pic3]

I did learn that you cannot format a Zip100 disk on a Zip250 drive from the ESI. After formatting the Zip100 from a different drive on the ESI all was well."

7. Copying/Emailing ESi Floppy Disks

Ok, for us lucky Linux/BSD/Unix users we can use the dd utility to make and create binary images of ESi disks. The following commands will read or write ESi disks to/from file esidisk.out:

To read a disk:

dd bs=512 if=/dev/fd0H1440 of=esidisk.esi

To write a disk:

dd bs=512 if=esidisk.esi of=/dev/fd0H1440

Note: the name of the file, including extension, can be anything. I'd like to suggest "esi" as being easy to remember.

For those running Windows, you can also use the rawrite program to transfer disk images onto floppies (but not the other way). It can be downloaded from here:

http://www.tux.org/pub/dos/rawrite/

You might find rawrite2 version a bit faster.

8. Windows

Apparently there are problems with the Adaptec 2904 card, so it is recommended you use an Adaptec 2940 card instead.

If you have problems with UNKNOWN DEVICE errors in Windows try the following emu.inf file from Seven Cat Studio:

• http://studio.tsphillips.net/emu/

Thanks to Tariq, an alternative to the emu.inf file (which doesn't always work with an internal drive between the PC and the ESi on the SCSI chain):

Just once allow Windows to search for (and fail to find) drivers 8 times for the ESi on boot-up; then it won't ask again (and the ESi will show up with a yellow alert sign 8 times in Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Devices).

To 'see' the ESi from Windows if ESi is turned on after PC:

• Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Devices > SCSI setup > refresh

9. *** Drives That Work ***

Not all SCSI drives and devices talk to the ESi samplers. This is a list of things that do, or so I am led to believe.

• CD and ZIP in 1U rack space (Thomann) -- very neat idea, I like very much and plan to make my own. If you're handy with hacking metal panels it'd probably be cheaper to make your own from a couple of drives off eBay and a cheap rack case. Further details when I get round to it.
• Philips 8x (model 810) CD-ROM
• Pioneer 32x CD-ROM
• Panasonic 7502 CDR (read-only)

10. Replacing Floppy Drives

Like all mechnical items, the floppy drive will eventually fail. Its fairly easy to replace the drive, but not all drives will work, and if they do they sometimes need tweaking.

The main issue is to do with the Drive Select -- you need to set the floppy to "cable select", if it is capable of this setting. Generally "B" cable select.

The following is a table of replacement floppy drives that are known to work, together with any specific notes.

5. Software

1. What's ESi-Win?

ESi-Win Homepage

Note: the above link is now broken. But you can still download the installation files from the emuesisamplers group on Yahoo.

From the homepage:

• This is a Windows program to manage ESi sampler disk banks. It does not replace or attempt to replace the front panel of your sampler
• With ESi-Win you can transfer sampler banks from your ESi format disks to Windows, and from Windows to your ESi format disks. You can also delete banks directly from ESi disks.
• You can make ISO image files too, which you can burn to CDR(W). These CDs will be compatible with your ESi sampler. ESi-Win does not burn CDs.
• This program will allow you to perform a number of SMDI functions if your sampler is connected to your PC via SCSI.
• Due to popular demand, ESi-Win will also allow you to export WAV files to ESi format floppy disks.
• All operations involving WAV files maintain ESi sampler and Sound Forge v4.x loop points."

2. Sample Editors

WaveSurgeon

Square Circle is reknown for its award winning loop editing software. Our first product was the critically acclaimed WaveSurgeon, supporting a wide range of soundcards (including the SoundBlaster Live and AWE range), DirectX plugins, and direct support for SCSI samplers.

6. Hardware

1. Diagnostic Mode

The ESi has a basic diagnostic mode for testing various parts of the system.

CAUTION: This can damage your sampler!

To enter diagnostic mode, go to the Master module, choose option 8, then in the Special module enter 0. It now asks you to enter the magic code, which is 1358.

There are now several tests you can perform on various parts:

7. Programming

8. Web Resources

• The Emulator Archive
• ESi-Win Homepage
• E-Mu Systems homepage
• Analogue Samples
• Disk2File -- creates ISO images from SCSI disks
• Translator -- sample format translator
• Professional sampler library and conversion tool
• Unofficial ESI2000 Website

• North Star Samples

  A wide range of Emu sample CDs, and they also do floppy disk versions!!

  Note: I have heard that banks cannot be loaded from the Grand Gold Piano CD if you are running OS 3.02. From David:

  I discovered an interesting problem with it though, which I've never heard of before - after I upgraded from OS 2.1 to 3.02, I found I couldn't load banks from this CD-ROM. I e-mailed North Star about this, and they said that it is because the OS 3.02 is very slightly larger than 2.1, leaving less memory in the machine for sampler presets. This meant that their sample banks are slightly too large for OS 3.02, but work fine with OS 2.1! Sure enough, I tested this, and I could load individual presets from their CD-ROM, but not a whole bank. Interesting problem, which I've never seen documented anywhere before. The Piano sounds are absolutely fantastic, and definitely worth the trouble.

• TweakHeadz

  Also have one or two good sample CDs.

If you have any new FAQs to add to this list please email them to me at esifaq@njohnson.co.uk.