You will need:

EPSDisk, an EFE instrument file, and a unused diskette. If you do not have EPSDisk, then you could download it in the d o w n l o a d s section. To get some EFE files, try going to s o u n d . c e n t r a l, they have many keyboard, bass, and drum sound files to download in EFE format.

Purpose:

To format a disk using EPSDisk. To write an EPS disk image into an ASR or EPS formatted disk. Also to extract an already made ASR or EPS disk containing instruments into a disk image for the PC (so you could upload them and share them with your internet pen pals).

Introduction:

EPSDisk is a DOS based program that is not very user friendly. The whole program looks like a programming project from a computer science class at some college institution. It feels like the type of program I would be writing. Nevertheless the program seems to be very stable for me and has never crashed my system. This program can get very complex once you go in depth with it, asking for HEX and ASCII values (for some reason) that just perplex me.

Despite all that chaos, I will take you through step by step into using this program with its three main purposes. This will be easy after you get the hang of this, trust me. Matter fact, it'll be easy after you read this.

Okay, lets start. You need at least three things here, the EPSDisk program execution file, an ensoniq disk image (whatever.efe), and a formatted diskette. First of all, if you haven't formatted your disk yet then do so. You can do this on the EPS/ASR-10 or on the PC using EDE or EPSDisk.

Formatting on EPSDisk:

Insert a diskette that you want to format. Open up EPSDisk and you will get a menu screen. Enter T to select that type of disk that you are formatting. We will use the ASR 10 for this example, so I have to entered 3.

Then we continue on and enter F to format our disk.

Then we get a confusing "Enter volume spec (exits):" message. Basically what this message means is that it wants to know what drive location is the disk that you want to format located in. For most of us, it would be in the A drive so we type "a:".

Then hit enter and it should format the disk. It will do some math and calculations and display numbers, after when it is done it will return to the menu again.

Writing to the diskette:

Okay now that we got the diskette formatted, we now want to write a file into the disk. Let's say that we have a file called "kick57.efe". It's just a simple kick drum. Well, this file will be written as an instrument file on the disk. Thus after we write this file, fire up the ASR 10, insert the disk, we will get one instrument called "kick57". Once this instrument is selected, the key range of the kick drum will be all the keys on the board with C5 as the root key, in most cases. The root key and the range would differ if the file was saved in a different manner.

Let's do it. Enter T and select the type of disk. Select the appropriate format. Enter W to write a file onto the disk.

Now we get a "Destination volume ( exits):_" message. You should put the disk drive that the diskette is in which is "a:" in most cases. Then we get a "Directory at block (default 3):_", just press enter. I think this has to do with writing the file to a particular sector in the diskette or drive, I'm not sure.

Then we get a "Source file name (exits):_". You should enter the file you want to write to, it is not case sensitive. In our case, I would have to type "kick57.efe".

After I hit enter I get this screen which means it has been successfully written, otherwise I would have gotten a -1 error message. That's it, I'm done. Writing instrument files with over 60 sounds lined up in all the keys (such as large drum kits) works the same way.

Extracting a disk:

Okay you got some dope samples on an ensoniq formatted disk and want to get them onto your PC to share with your internet pen pals. EPSDisk can do this also. The process is similar to writing a file. Get you diskette with all the dope samples and put it into the disk drive. Enter the T and select the appropriate disk type and then enter X to extract the disk.

Enter the drive letter for the "Source volume" and hit enter on "Directory at block" as usual. Now, enter the name of the instrument where all the dope samples are in. For this case I will use that same instrument I just wrote, kick57 (not so dope since there's only one kick in the entire instrument). Whatever, it will do for this example.

Important, for the "Destination file name ( exits):_" put the drive you want to save it in and the file name you want to save it as. For this case, I will save it as "test", but you name it whatever you want. Also, specify what type of file. Do you want it as a "efe" or an "ins"? Both of these are EPS instrument files. If you do not specify, the default will be an "ins" file. Let's say I want it as a "efe" so here is what I do.