AkaiSeX (Atari) version 1.2

Copyright  1996 Jules Vleugels

Please read this entire file carefully; it contains some important
information about the program. If nothing else, at least read through the
paragraphs that are marked IMPORTANT!--they really contain vital bits of
information.

This version of AkaiSeX runs on the Atari ST/STe/TT/Falcon range of
computers. A PC/Windows port should either be available or become available
soon, and both an Apple MacIntosh and a Commodore Amiga port are being
worked at. See the `Ports' section for details.

   * Legal stuff
   * Contents
   * About the program
   * Compatibility
   * Usage
   * Goodies
   * Ports and supporting software
   * Support
   * Credits

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Legal stuff

AkaiSeX is shareware and may be freely distributed for non-commercial
purposes, provided the package is passed as a whole, the files are not
modified in any way, and proper credit to the author is given. However,
AkaiSeX is NOT freeware. Distribution by public domain libraries, magazines,
or any other organizations, and any commercial use of this program,
including non-profit use by commercial parties, is prohibited without my
prior written permission.

Although the program has been tested extensively and appears to be free from
serious bugs, I cannot and will not take responsibility for any damage
resulting, directly or indirectly, from the use of this program. This
program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any
warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance
of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume
the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. In short: use
this program at your own risk or just do without it.
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Contents

This archive should contain the following files:

AKAISEX.APP
     The program itself
AKAISEX.RSC
     Its resource file
README.TXT
     The accompanying documentation

AkaiSeX may only be distributed with all of the above files.
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About the program

Basically, AkaiSeX reads, writes, and formats Akai sampler disks. However,
rather than archiving entire disk images (as the PC program TeleDisk does)
it can read any separate item (program/sample/effect settings/whatever) off
an Akai disk, and store it in a sampler-independent format. This item can
now be written back to a different disk, even if this disk was formatted by
a different Akai sampler; the items are automatically converted to the
correct format. For example, using AkaiSeX one can now read a program along
with the samples used therein from an S2000 disk, and write this program
with its samples back to an S900 disk; the conversions between the different
formats are completely user-transparent. Only sampler-specific data--such as
effect settings and operating systems upgrades--can only be exchanged
between compatible samplers.

The programs and sampler-specific data are stored in a custom format, a
specification of which I will send out at request. Samples however are
stored as standard AIFF-C files, which can easily be converted into other
formats, or imported by other programs. This facilitates, for example, the
use of sample editors with an Akai sampler. AkaiSeX will also import
arbitrary AIFF and AIFF-C files and write their contents to a sampler disk
of choice.

Currently the following Akai samplers are supported:

S900/S950
     Although somewhat surpassed by the newer generation of samplers, there
     are still a huge number of these beasts around, and they still enjoy
     immense popularity as an entry-level sampler. This is probably due to
     their relatively good--albeit it only 12 bit--sound and their very
     affordable price.

     The main difference between the S900 and the S950 is that the S950 has
     digital ADSR low-pass filters, an HD disk drive, and allows for more
     internal memory. Because the S900's operating system can be upgraded to
     encompass most of these features (see "Goodies" section) I will in the
     following refer only to the S950.

     While working on this program I figured it would be good to make
     trading samples, including libraries of the newer samplers, possible
     for S950 users by supporting these samplers. Although not all features
     of the newer samplers are available on the S950, I've tried to closely
     map all parameters in order to allow as faithful a reproduction of
     programs and samples as possible.
S1000/S1100
     These samplers mark Akai's switch to 16-bit sampling technology.
     AkaiSeX will transfer nearly all features of these samplers with some
     very minor exceptions, the most important of which may be that the
     S1000/S1100 allows for eight loops per sample whereas this number has
     been reduced to four with the newer samplers. Note that this is a
     limitation imposed by the newer samplers and not by the program:
     samples transferred between two S1000/S1100s by AkaiSeX will still
     contain all eight original loops.
S01
     The philosophy adopted with the S01 was to provide basic sampling
     facilities at an entry-level price. The S01 lacks most of the larger
     samplers' editing facilities and can hold at most eight samples in
     memory at once. Currently only sample import/export is provided for
     this sampler; I hope to add program support soon. (A program
     encompasses little more than setting a MIDI channel for each sample
     anyway.)
S2800/CD3000/S3000/S3200
     The S3000 series has been Akai's top-of-the-line for a couple of years.
     Almost every sample library is available in the S3000 series format,
     and many non-Akai samplers will import S3000 samples. All features of
     this series are supported by AkaiSeX; in fact, while developing this
     program I've tested it on my S2800. (And I can consequently only
     guarantee it to work with this sampler.) ;-)
S2000/S3000XL/S3200XL
     The recently introduced S2000 series features a switch to better
     hardware upgradability, including multiple individual outputs and
     digital effects as options, as well as SIMM-upgradable internal memory.
     The architecture of these samplers however bears much similarity to
     that of the S3000 series, and all program and sample parameters are
     again supported.

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Compatibility

This version of AkaiSeX runs on the Atari ST/STe/TT/Falcon range of
computers. A PC/Windows port should either be available or become available
soon, and both an Apple MacIntosh and a Commodore Amiga port are being
worked at. See the `Ports' section for details.

The program has been tested on a MegaSTe/4 and a 1040ST, and runs without
any problems on both. Due to the somewhat different architecture of the
Falcon, I can not guarantee that it will do equally well on these boxes; the
beta tests so far didn't bring up any problems.

AkaiSeX appears to be compatible with all system extensions I've come across
so far. There's one minor bug: the ExtendedGEM library that AkaiSeX relies
on leaves a memory leak of 232 bytes every time the program is run; quote
it's beyond my control unquote. Other than that, there are no bugs--just a
few unexpected features.

As for the disk format, AkaiSeX supports both double-density and
high-density disks. Needless to say, the latter will only work if you have
an HD disk drive installed.

IMPORTANT! To decide whether there is an HD disk drive installed, AkaiSeX
will search the cookie jar (if there is one installed) for an _FDC cookie.
If no such cookie is found, the program assumes that there is only a
double-density disk drive available, and high-density disk access will be
disabled. If you find that AkaiSeX works correctly with double-density disks
but refuses to handle high-density ones, make sure that this cookie is
present in the cookie jar. (A program that installs this cookie, called
HD_FDC.PRG, is available from the usual FTP sites.)

IMPORTANT! Although AkaiSeX should work correctly with only a single disk
drive, the number of times that disk need to be swapped is not really
optimal--this may or may not be an understatement. I recommend using a RAM
disk as the destination drive instead.
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Usage

This version of AkaiSeX features a GEM interface. The menu items as they
appear from left to right are explained below.

AkaiSeX / About
     Displays the version number, release date, and copyright information
     about the program.
File / Get from disk...
     Lists the contents of the Akai sampler disk in drive A: using a custom
     file selector. The first row lists the item names as they would appear
     in the sampler's directory, whereas the last row displays the
     corresponding file size (in bytes). The middle row is used to indicate
     the item type as follows:
     b
          : bulk
     c
          : cue list
     f
          : operating system
     p
          : program
     s
          : sample
     x
          : effect settings
     The user can now select one or more of these items, and select `Get' to
     transfer these items to either the current directory or a fixed
     directory of choice (see Preferences below). If the line directly above
     the files reads `Programs+samples', the samples used in a program will
     automatically be loaded along with the program; `Selected items' will
     load only the actually selected items. The transfer can be aborted at
     any time by either clicking on `Abort' or pressing `Undo'.
File / Put to disk...
     The reverse process of the previous menu item: the AkaiSeX files in
     either the current directory or the samples directory (see below) are
     listed, and the user is prompted to select the files to be transferred
     to the Akai sampler disk in drive A:.
File / Preferences...
     The reverse process of the previous menu item: the AkaiSeX files in
     either the current directory or the samples directory (see below) are
     listed, and the user is prompted to select the files to be transferred
     to the Akai sampler disk in drive A:.

     IMPORTANT! If the disk contains an item with a name that is identical
     to the one being put, AkaiSeX will without any warning overwrite the
     existing item. I prefer this to having to click through hundreds of
     alert boxes, but let me know if you don't like this feature and maybe
     I'll change it in future versions.
File / Format disk...
     Using this menu item it is possible to format disks in an
     Akai-compatible format. The dialog box allows to choose the destination
     sampler and the disk density (low or high density). It is also possible
     to just wipe the contents of the disk without actually formatting it;
     for this to work, the disk should previously have been formatted in an
     Akai-compatible format.

     IMPORTANT! I have only been able to test this with the S900 and the
     S3000 series samplers, so this function is still rather beta. Please
     let me know if your sampler won't accept disks that have been formatted
     by AkaiSeX.
Misc / Rebuild index
     Akai samplers allow item names of up to 12 characters, whereas many
     computer file systems have a limit of eight characters. To
     unambiguously map each item to a unique filename, AkaiSeX maintains a
     file `AKAISEX.DIR' containing an index of items and their corresponding
     filenames for each directory. This index is automatically updated with
     every transfer from/to a sampler disk, but might become inaccurate if
     the user moves files between directories from without the program.
     Because AkaiSeX can only correctly deal with files that are listed in
     the index, this menu item should be chosen if the program does not
     correctly list all files in the current directory. The program will
     then try to identify all files in the current directory, and add the
     appropriate ones to the index.

     IMPORTANT! AkaiSeX will only try to identify files with an ".A?X"
     filename extension; the second character, which indicates the type of
     data in the file, is meant only as a convenience to the user and is
     ignored in the above operation. AIFF(-C) files containing sample data
     should have an extension of either ".AIF" or ".AFC" to be recognized by
     the program.

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Goodies

The following goodies are currently available as a direct spin-off of this
program:

S900 operating system upgrade to v4.0
     Apart from the differences in hardware between the S900 and the S950,
     the S950's operating system contains many features that do not exist on
     the S900. (The most striking of which is probably the digital ADSR
     low-pass filter that is available on the S950.) Although Akai did
     provide an operating system upgrade for the S900 that adds to the S900
     almost all features found on the S950, this is not very well-known; in
     fact, Akai US at some point pointed out to me that they didn't even
     know this upgrade existed. An important factor in this may have been
     that the disk containing this upgrade cannot be copied directly, not
     even an S950 can do this--it just never appears in any directory
     listing.

     AkaiSeX however treats the operating system upgrade as just another
     file on the S900's disk, so it can without any problems read and write
     it. The file S90040.AFX included in this package contains an image of
     the new operating system, whereas FIXUPS.AFX contains a boot loader
     that performs the actual loading of the new operating system into the
     S900's memory. To employ the new operating system, simply use AkaiSeX
     to transfer these two files to any S900 disk. Although the upgrade can
     reside together with programs and samples on one disk, I recommend that
     you do not write the upgrade to disks that contain important data. To
     load the upgrade into the S900 either insert the disk before power-up,
     or simply select `Clear memory and load entire disk' in the DISK menu.

     And yes, I do have permission from Akai to distribute this operating
     system, so you're not doing anything illegal by using this upgrade.

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Ports and supporting software

Although this version of AkaiSeX runs only on the Atari ST/STe/TT/Falcon
computers, the following platforms either are or will soon be supported as
well:

PC/Windows
     Gert Voets <voets@oce.nl> is currently porting this program to the
     PC/Windows environment, adding a graphical front end along the way. A
     first pre-beta is finished; we hope to make it available soon.
Apple MacIntosh / Commodore Amiga
     An attempt at porting AkaiSeX to the Mac and Amiga environments is
     currently in progress. However, it is still too early to make any
     definite statements about this. I will announce any new developments on
     the Akai web page.

If you are interested in porting this program to any platform not listed
here, please contact me for details (see the `Support' section below).

In addition to this, the following applications either support or will soon
support the various file formats used by AkaiSeX:

Zero-X sample editor
     A next release of Vinga System's sample editor Zero-X for the Atari
     range of computers will fully support import/export of AkaiSeX sample
     files, as well as direct import/export of samples from Akai sampler
     disks.
Silicon Graphics audio library
     The file formats used by AkaiSeX will be supported by a next release of
     the SGI audio library. This facilitates the development of SGI
     applications that support Akai samplers.

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Support

The latest version of this program, as well as information on the latest
developments and ports to other platforms, can be obtained from my
unofficial Akai website:

  http://www.cs.ruu.nl/~jules/Akai/

Of course I welcome any suggestions that might help improve the quality of
this program, or the support for a particular sampler. Also if you think
you've found a bug I'll be glad to hear from you--there undoubtedly are some
left.

If you use this program regularly and have access to email, I encourage you
to send me your email address so I can easily keep you informed on the
latest developments. Also this will give me a good idea of how many people
actually find this program useful.

The easiest and fastest way to reach me is by email at

  Jules Vleugels <jules@cs.ruu.nl>

but be warned that I'm very busy at times and it may take a while for me to
get back to you. If you don't have access to email or for some other reason
feel the urge to write me, or see me in person, my address is:

     Jules Vleugels
     Pieter Nieuwlandstraat 35 bis
     3514 HC Utrecht
     the Netherlands

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Credits

I am greatly endebted to everybody who has helped me, directly or
indirectly, with the development of this program. In particular I want to
mention Gert Voets for the soon-to-come PC/Windows port, Paul Kellett for
his help with the Akai disk format, Peter Segerdahl for beta testing and
providing test disks, Alex Buurman for helping me in every way possible,
Christian Grunenberg for his ExtendedGEM library, and Peter Missel for his
extensive Atari knowledge.

The S900 operating system v4.0 is Copyright  1988 Akai Ltd. Corporation.

Happy sampling!

-- Jules
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