Frequently Asked Questions

General

Which machines is ZoeOS compatible with?

ZoeOS is compatible with any E-MU sampler running EOS 4.0 or above. This includes E4, E4X, E4XT, E4K, E6400, E64, E5000.
It doesn't work with the ESI range.

Will ZoeOS be pre-empted by an exclusory product from E-MU?

Zuonics has been asked this and the feeling now is that it's unlikely. E-MU have assured Zuonics in the past that their "support for EOS is dwindling" and that ZoeOS does not conflict with any of their current development plans regarding the EX. Zuonics as a company have proceeded on this basis to provide you with legacy support for the E4 range of samplers. You can be assured that your financial investment in ZoeOS should not be pre-empted by an exclusory product from E-MU.

Regarding the incomplete control specification, E-MU want you to buy the EX so it's our opinion that they have no motivation to do the right thing and complete the control specification in EOS - better to leave it an unsatisfactory state (and maybe that is understandable given their previous difficulties and subsequent new direction).

What ability level is ZoeOS pitched at?

Intermediate to advanced user of EOS. Beginners should get comfortable with using the Emulator from the front panel first. Once you are comfortable with all the functions and are moving about the system quickly, you will then find ZoeOS will start to make a difference. If you are an advanced user you get the most benefit.

Why the name ZoeOS ?

Zoe is a Greek word for life - and that's what ZoeOS is all about - continued life for the Emulator IV.

Is ZoeOS a shareware or professional class application?

Absolutely not shareware. ZoeOS is a properly designed application developed by a professional for professionals. It's a must have killer product if you use Emulator IVs for producing sound and music. ^ top

Features

Does ZoeOS negate the need to use the Emulator from the front panel?

No, but it is an extremely useful assistant. You will still need to visit the front panel for certain operations. If you have EOSLink, you can do all front panel ops from a PC. For the future there are plans to integrate EOSLink style functionality into ZoeOS and at that point it will become more of a one stop solution.

Can I run ZoeOS alongside the major sequencer applications?

Yes, if your midi interface is multi-client or you have the midi option installed. Please refer to this support FAQ for a discussion.

Will there be an Mac OS X version?

Please refer to Mac OS X

Will there be a Linux version?

Yes, in the future.

Will ZoeOS support the RFX?

Right now you can select RFX busses in the multimode from ZoeOS and also select the RFX external inputs in the ZoeOS preset editors for internal processing of external signals.

More broadly, the answer to this question is undetermined. E-MU have not published any SysEx specification to remotely control the RFX. We have requested such specification, but the response was that it doesn't exist. If enough people petition E-MU they might publish. As far as we can tell some initial work was done on an expanded SysEx specification, so prehaps there is already something written that could be used by the community?
Having said that, sales of the RFX were dissapointing for E-MU and they will be somewhat disposed with the Emulator X, so don't expect anything soon.

There is one other possibilty. The PepTalk protocol would allow screen scraping. Information contained on RFX screens in the Emulator would be read off in raw format and OCR'd. ZoeOS could learn RFX information using such methods (it would be a little clumsy though). It's not a trivial undertaking, but could certainly be considered in the future. ^ top

Capabilities

How does SysEx work on the Emulator?

Succintly: You can send SysEx to either the Midi In A or Midi In B on the Emulator, but it will always respond on the Midi OUT A.

Can ZoeOS help clean up a bank by deleting unused samples?

Yes, the capability to do this is already in ZoeOS. Here is the procedure:

First make sure the ZoeOS cache is consistent with the remote i.e refresh any presets that you may have edited outside of ZoeOS.
Goto the presets palette
Filter All
Filter Non-empty
Filter User
Select All

You should now have all the non-empty user presets in the bank selected

Goto the samples palette
Select referenced by current preset selection
(you might have to wait while some presets are initialized by the system)

All the samples referenced(used) by the user presets are now selected, but you want the "unused" samples, so ...

Filter Selected
Filter Invert
Filter Non-Empty
Filter User
Select All

Now all the non-empty unused user samples in the bank should be selected.

Process menu (or right click) and Erase

Now all unused user samples have been deleted.

^ top

Development

Why does ZoeOS seem a little slow on my PC?

Users with 500 Mhz or less PCs report slight slugishness with ZoeOS. This is to be expected at that clock speed. Java is a psuedo-interpreted language which means it needs more CPU cycles than equivalent applications written in C/C++. We found that ZoeOS loosens up and starts to feel fluid around 750-1000 Mhz. This is particularly so in the case of Swing (the graphical element of Java used in ZoeOS). This situation is becoming increasingly less of a limitation of Java, as most new PC's today are shipped at above 2GHz. Also, each new version of ZoeOS to date has shown an incremental speed-up - and that will continue until optimization is complete.

Why does ZoeOS memory usage keep increasing?

Without getting too technical, Java memory management is radically different to that of C & C++. You will find that memory usage will increase up to a point and then level off without any further increment. This behaviour is a side effect of the garbage collector, a feature of Java that in one sense improves the reliability of programs. We currently have set the level-off at around 128MB. If you would prefer a configuration of more or less than that amount, please contact Zuonics and we'll send you a custom version.