Ensoniq EPS/ASR to Akai/Pulsar/MESA Translation

Ensoniq EPS/ASR Instruments are converted into as many as 4 Programs, each representing one of the programmed Patch Selects. An Ensoniq Patch Select may not contain valid data, in which case the corresponding Akai Program will not be written.

Programs are named with the same 12 characters as their Ensoniq counterparts, except the ones that are not allowed by the Akai. The first Patch Select (OO) contains the full name; the other Patch Selects have OX, XO, and XX appended to their names.

Samples are named the same as their counterparts, however, they are named uniquely as that is how the Akai identifies samples from each other. If the name is the default “UNNAMED WS”, it is converted to the Instrument name, plus a space and the Wave number following it.

The Akai only plays back samples at 44.1kHz or 22.05kHz, so any sample rates other than these are adjusted to the nearest available sample rate and the root key and fine tunings are adjusted accordingly.

Ensoniq's have a "Layer Delay" parameter, where all the wavesamples in that Layer are delayed from sounding until up to 5 seconds. Translator compensates for this parameter by adding data to the sample when possible.

Since the Ensoniq EPS/ASR has five stage envelopes and two multi-mode filters in series, a complex algorithm has been worked out to simulate this on the Akai. Complex enveloping or full use of the Ensoniq filters won’t translate as well as easier implementations.

Ensoniq samplers have the capability for alternative looping modes; Translator compensates for these modes.

Translator has been extensively designed to translate Ensoniq sounds not only to Akai itself, but also to appropriately load into "Akai-compatible" samplers as well. Please see the Miscellaneous topic Akai-compatible Compliance Support for more information.