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Setup of the EWS64 on PCs with Win9x and Win2000/XP:
On this page you will find several hints for practice

Contents:
  1. Introduction
  2. Pre installation basic hints
  3. Installation / Configuration under Win9x
  4. Installation / Configuration under Win2k/XP (EWS64 L/XL/XXL only)
  5. Virtual Channels
  6. The Wave Play Buffer Latency
  7. Autoload of soundbanks
  8. EWS64 Synthesizer settings (under Win9x only)
  9. EWS64 Codec settings (under Win9x only)
  10. The multimedia settings
  11. DOS-games with EWS64 (under Win9x only)
  12. The EWS64 control panel
  13. Memory expansion
  14. Difficulties with AKAI-CD import
  15. Further help: The homepage 'EWS Stress Control Panel'

1. Introduction

First of all the bad news:
The installation and configuration of the EWS64 is a very delicate procedure. This task mostly makes excessive demands of non-technicians. Even experienced technicians often have troubles to bring up the EWS64 without any error.

But now the good news:
On this page you will find extensively detailed hints and information based on my own experience with the EWS64.

I hope that will guide you through the installation and configuration of the several necessary Windows settings, to get success finally. I collected all my practice based experience for many years, so that you will be able to use all the possibilities of this extra ordinary soundcard and have a lot of fun with your fully functioning EWS64.

Note:
The following information is based on my present knowledge conditions and will be updated continuously.
Therefore the following request: Please tell my something about your own experience in case of differences or additions. I guess this will be the fast way to become advanced knowledge.

About the EWS64 series:
The following information includes the complete EWS series.
Any differences between the EWS64 S and the EWS64 L/XL/XXL family will be described in the text.
Especially EWS64 S users should read this carefully !

NT4-User:
Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the EWS64 under Windows NT4.

Let's go EWS64 !

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2. Pre installation basic hints

Before you start to build-in your EWS64 you should check the following: Back to the top

3. Installation / Configuration under Win9x

I. The Windows drivers:
Fortunately the installation of the Windows 9x drivers is very simple, if you use the up-to-date EWS64 drivers (view notes below):
After the hardware built-in and the EEPROM programming Windows will detect the EWS automatically as new hardware during the startup procedure. Please check after the reboot the device manager. You should see all six components of the EWS L/XL/XXL (EWS64 S: five components!). If you see the six (EWS64 S: five) components without any yellow or red sign the installation was successful :-)
If you have one or more red or yellow signs, then you definitely have any hardware conflict.
In the most cases you can fix this problem with changing the programed values of the EEPROM setup only. On my pages about hints for EEPROM setup you will find usefull helps about IRQs and the EEPROM of the EWS64. I hope this will help you fixing your problems.

After a successfull installation of the EWS64 you should see the following entries in your device manager:

A. EWS64 L/XL/XXL under Windows 9x

The EWS64 L/XL/XXL entries in the device manager of Windows 9x

B. EWS64 S under Windows 9x

The EWS64 S entries in the device manager of Windows 9x

II. Additional Software:
In addition you should install the following software:

A. EWS64 L/XL/XXL
A. The EWS64 ASIO 2.0 driver (Version v1.1 RC3)
B. The EWS64 Win9x applications (Version D) with Control Panel v2.12, FXPanel v2.05, VirtualChannels v1.05, Media Player v2.11, SynthInputPanel v1.05, SetManager v2.10 and the DOS application EWSInit v2.11.
C. The Instrument/Set-Editor Ed!son v1.9
D. The tool 'EWS64 Wave Profiler' (the files: WAVBENCH.EXE and WAVBENCH.HLP)
E. Recommended: install the booklets 'EWS64 Hardware','EWS64 Software' and 'Ed!son'
F. Copy one or more soundsets from the installation CD on your harddisk (especially the soundbank 'GSSBK320.94b').
G. Don't install additionally Setmanager v 3.15, because this version is buggy under Win 9x!
H. Further special recommendation: Install the 'EWS64 proMix' from Uwe Kindler (details see later).

B. EWS64 S
A. The EWS64 ASIO 2.0 driver (Version v1.1 RC3)
B. The EWS64 Win9x applications (Version B) with Control Panel v1.06, FXPanel v2.05, VirtualChannels v1.05, Media Player v2.11, SynthInputPanel v1.05, SetManager v2.10 and the DOS application EWSInit v2.11.
C. The Instrument/Set-Editor Ed!son v1.9
D. The tool 'EWS64 Wave Profiler' (the files: WAVBENCH.EXE and WAVBENCH.HLP)
E. Don't install additionally Setmanager v 3.15, because this version is buggy under Win 9x!
F. Recommended: install the booklets 'EWS64 S' and 'Ed!son manual'

III. Entries for your Autoexec.bat:
To have sounds in DOS games you need an entry in your autoexec.bat which defines a so called Soundblaster Environment Variable (details see later).

IV. Important Notes:
Always use the latest Win9x driver versions (v3.1) and ASIO-driver v1.1 RC3. NEVER use older driver versions - they are all buggy!!
You can get the up-to-date versions via http://www.terratec.com and http://ftp.terratec.net/Audio/EWS from Terratec. You should prefer the ftp server, because only there you can find ALL available downloads for the EWS64.

Don't install Setmanager v3.12 or v3.15 using Windows 9x (view my notes at page GSSBK320 as TTS).

If you are not able to install Ed!son 1.9 you'll first need to install the Adapatec ASPI Driver.
Further information to this driver and the place where to download you can find in Chapter 14 (Troubles with Akai CD-Import) at this page.

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4. Installation / Configuration under Win2k/XP (EWS64 L/XL/XXL only)

I. Very important ('Golden Rule'):
Based on my past experience the EWS64 will run with fully functionality only, if 2000/XP is configured in standard PC mode instead of ACPI mode. The synthesizer doesn't work in ACPI mode, because W2k/XP tries to run it in IRQ sharing mode with other PCI or onboard devices - but the EWS-synth is not able to share it's IRQ (like any other ISA card).
Take care of the standard PC mode configuration BEFORE the EWS64 hardware placement!

Exceptions from this 'Golden Rule':
Actual P4 motherboards for the EWS64 (including one or more ISA slots) with chipset i845PE, i865PE or i875P offer an onboard APIC controller - with this you'll be able to access more than 16 IRQs and you will be able to install the EWS64 also in ACPI mode (only if APIC is activated too)!!!
Further information to actual P4 boards with ISA slot(s) you'll find at my page Micro PC EWS64.
Note: With the motherboard 'BCM BC875PLG' (i875P chipset) the EWS64 works fine even in ACPI mode.

II. How can we force an Windows 2000/XP installation with standard PC mode?
Basicly there are two possibilities:
In case of a fresh installation Windows 2000 and XP are installable in standard PC mode. This is the best choice and you should do this if possible.
However there is a maliciously mouse trap:
You will get in hard trouble if you are using harddisks which are connected on a RAID- or SCSI-Controller which is not supported with Windows 2000/XP built in drivers!
In such case Windows 2000/XP is not installable without ACPI. Windows 2000/XP will not detect your HDs and the installation will interrupt at this point.
You can solve this problem with an installation including ACPI and after finishing installation just switch in standard PC mode.

III. Fresh installation of W2k/XP in standard PC mode:
After starting the installation of W2k/XP you will get a question about the installation of any new hostadapter. (Press F6 for installation of additional ....). If you press F5 instead of F6 you will get a menu view times later which offers the possibilities ACPI-PC and Standard-PC. Please choose 'Standard-PC!. The setup program will install W2k/XP without ACPI.

IV. Changing Windows 2000/XP into Standard-PC-mode
In the Computer Management/Device Manager/Computer you will find the entry ACPI-PC. Open the 'Properties Driver' and press 'Update driver'. Show all known drivers and choose the entry 'Standard PC'. Windows will warn you about a non-recommendation. You can ignore this warning. After a reboot Windows will run in standard PC mode.

V. Installation of the Win 2000/XP EWS64 drivers:
If your W2k/XP is running in standard PC Mode, you can built in your EWS64 hardware. You should program the EEPROM of the EWS64 with a DOS-Bootdisk before you install the Windows drivers. Look at my hints for EEPROM-Setup for this task. After Windows startup the new hardware will be detected and you can follow the standard driver installation.
Important note:
During the installation the system must install 6 different devices step by step. Therefore you should answer all questions about rebooting with "No - Reboot later". After the complete installation of all 6 devices you should restart Windows.
Please check after the reboot the Computer Management/Device Manager/Terratec Audio Devices. You should see all six components of the EWS64. If you see the six components without any yellow or red sign the installation was successfull.
If you have one or more red or yellow signs, then it is definite that you have any hardware conflict.
In the most cases you can fix this problem with changing the programed values of the EEPROM setup only.
On my pages about hints for EEPROM setup you will find usefull helps about IRQs and the EEPROM of the EWS64. I hope this will help you fixing your problems.

After a successfull installation of the EWS L/XL/XXL you should see the following entries in your device manager:

The EWS64 L/XL/XXL entries in the device manager of Windows 2k/XP

VI. Installation of the Windows 2000/XP EWS64 software:
After the hardware and device setup you should install the following applications:

A. The EWS64 Windows NT/2000 applications (Version 3.0) with ControlPanel v3.0, FXPanel v3.0, VirtualChannels v3.0, AudioInPanel v3.0, SetManager v3.15 and ASIO 2.0-driver v1.8
B. The Instruments/Set-Editor Ed!son v1.9
C. Copy one or more soundsets from the installation CD on your harddisk (especially the soundbank 'Gssbk320.94b').
D. Recommended: Install the booklets 'EWS64 Hardware','EWS64 Software' and 'Ed!son'.
E. Further special recommendation: Install the 'EWS XproMix' from Uwe Kindler (details see later) .

Important notes:
1. In Windows 2000/XP the EWS64-ASIO-driver (v1.8) will be installed automatically.
The ASIO-driver from Terratec's homepage v1.1 RC3 from Jan 2001 doesn't work with Windows 2000/XP and should not be installed !

2. If you are not able to install Ed!son 1.9 you'll first need to install the Adapatec ASPI Driver.
Further information to this driver and the place where to download you can find in Chapter 14 (Troubles with Akai CD-Import) at this page.

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5. Virtual channels

Virtual channels are one of the highlights of the EWS64. With the virtual channels it's possible to use the EWS64 with different audio software at the same time. On the other hand the count of the same time usable MIDI-voices will decrease. Further it could be, that you will have performance restrictions in Cubase.

Windows 2000/XP user:
In Windows 2000/XP you will always have 8 virtual channels. This count value is not controlable.

Windows 9x user:
In Windows 9x the count value of virtual channels is controlable. The best choice is between 2 and 4 channels. During the standard installation the EWS driver always configures more than 4 channels. My recommendation is to configure afterwards max. 4 virtual channels in the Device Manager/EWS64 Synthesizer Settings.

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6. The Wave Play Buffer Latency

This is one of the most important settings of the EWS64.
If this setting is wrong, you could get a bad crash of Wavelab for example. With Cubase you could get bad interrupts during replay or during recordings. Any other audio application could fail too. You have to find a good balance between short latency and good reliability. The default value is 10ms.

Windows 2000/XP user:
Based on my tests the results are: 10ms is too much. After a decrease to 8ms ~ 5ms the MME-driver worked correctly with Cubase5 on a PIII 500MHz with BX-Chipset.

Windows 9x user:
In case of Windows 9x the default value of 10ms is too small. After an increase to approximately 15ms ~ 20ms Wavelab and Cubase worked without any troubles. I did these tests on 3 different PCs from 400MHz until 800MHz with BX- and VIA-Chipsets, and 20ms was always recommendable.

Very important:
The best settings are depending on the count of virtual channels and the hardware properties of your own PC. You should make a lot of tests with different settings to find out which setting is the optimum for your hardware.

Attention:
The correct settings of the wave play buffer latency is a major condition for using the EWS64 without any troubles !!!
If these settings are wrong you never will get a good co-operation with EWS64 and any audio application.


How can you change the wave play buffer latency setting ?
In Windows 9x you can change the settings in Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Terratec Audio Devices/EWS64 Synthesizer Settings. Unfortunately you have to reboot your system after each change of this setting in this way. A more comfortable way to change this settings is the program WAVBENCH.EXE. WAVBENCH doesn't need to reboot the system after a change of this setting. Any new setting is directly available. This is a big advantage in case of testing different settings and helps to waste a lot of time.
In Windows 2000/XP you can change this setting in the control panel directly. Because of the new architecture of Windows 2000/XP you do not need to restart the system after any change of this setting.

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7. Auto upload of soundbanks

Windows 9x user:
Go to Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Terratec Audio Devices/TerraTec EWS64XL Synthesizer/MIDI.
You can choose which soundbank or soundbanks shall be uploaded into the EWS-RAM during the system startup. This bank (or banks) are available immediately for MIDI-playback.
To load for example my GSSBK320.TTS and DRUMKITS.TTS automatically, the settings should look be like shown in the following screenshot.

The EWS64 soundbank settings

In this case you first have to download both TTS soundsets. Afterwards you can choose these files with clicking the load-button. Basicly you can load up to 8 soundbanks automatically during the startup.
The standard is to load just on GM- or GS- compatible soundset for MIDI playback. If you need additional soundbanks, you can load them later very easy with the program 'Setmanager'.

Windows 2000/XP user:
Using W2k or XP, all soundsets loaded by Setmanager v3.15 will be reloaded at the next Windows start-up. So you just have to load once my both TTS soundsets with Setmanager, and both sets will be available again after rebooting.
Don't forget, that every currently loaded soundbank will be reloaded after the next XP restart! So please remove any soundbanks before a Windows shutdown, which shall not be reloaded automatically at the next XP restart.

Setmanager v3.15

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8. The EWS Synthesizer settings (under Win9x only)

To change these settings go to Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Terratec Audio Devices/ Terratec EWS64XL Synthesizer/Settings.
These settings are very important for the EWS64 operation. The following picture shows my own settings. The following table shows descriptions to all available settings.

The EWS64 synthesizer settings
 
Setting Comment
Number of Wave Play channels This is for setting the count of virtual channels (Default value: 8)
Best value is 4 max. (look at Chapter Virtual Channels).
Number of Virtual MIDI devices This is for setting the count of virtual MIDI devices.
If you don't need virtual MIDI-Ports, set the value 0.
Note: The virtual MIDI-Ports are not multiclientable.
Number of MIDI Record clients This value defines how many programs are allowed to access MIDI In1 simultaneously.
In case of value 2 you can use this MIDI input for example with Cubase and Ed!son at the same time.
I think the value 3 is enough for the worst case.
Number of MIDI Monitor clients This value defines how many programs are allowed to monitor MIDI-Data for the EWS64 Synthesizer.
This feature is not very important for standard users.
The best value in this case is 0.
Number of MIDI Play clients This value defines how many programs are allowed to play MIDI-Data via the EWS64-synth (MIDI Play).
I think the value 3 is enough for the worst case.
Number of MIDI-1 clients This value defines how many programs are allowed to play MIDI Data via the MIDI Out1.
The best practice values are 2 or 3.
Extended Settings: Card Alias This setting is important if you have more than one EWS64 in the same PC.
You can configure different names for each card to identify each card in your audio software.
Wave Play Buffer Latency At this place you can change the wave play buffer latency,
Look at chapter: Wave Play Buffer Latency.
DirectSound: Music mode/Game mode In normal cases switch to music mode.
If you have troubles with gaming than change to game mode.
DirectSound: Disable hardware based Multibuffer support In normal cases select deactivating.
In this case the hardware based multibuffer support is enabled.
If you have troubles with gaming than you can activate this option.

Windows 2000/XP user:
Based on my own experience these settings are not available in Windows 2000/XP. Therefore you cannot configure virtual MIDI-Ports and MIDI-In/Out-1 and MIDI-Play are not multiclientable.

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9. EWS64 Codec settings (under Windows 9x only)

Goto: Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Terratec Audio Devices/Terratec EWS64XL Codec/Settings.
My recommendations for these settings are:
 
The EWS64 codec settings
 
Windows 2000/XP user:
Based on my own experience these settings are not available in Windows 2000/XP.

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10. Multimedia settings

Windows 9x user:
You should configure the following settings in Control Panel for Multimedia:

In Audio the EWS64XL Codec Play should be the prefered play device.
On my own PC I deactivated the option 'Use prefered devices only', but it could be better to activate this option in other different cases.

The multimedia audio settings

In the MIDI-Play section you should select the 'EWS64XL MIDI Play' at 'Single Instrument'.

The multimedia MIDI-settings


Windows 2000/XP user:
You should configure the following settings in control panel for multimedia:

In Audio the EWS64XL Codec Play should be the prefered play device and the Codec Record should be the prefered record device. On my own PC I deactivated the option 'Use prefered devices only', but it could be better to activate this option in other different cases.

In the MIDI-Play Section you should select the 'EWS64XL MIDI Play' at 'Single Instrument' if you are using a GS-Set. First you have to load this set into the EWS-RAM via the SetManager.
Based on your preferences you can also choose 'Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth'.

Note:
The changes will be valid after pressing the Apply-Button.

The properties of sounds und multimedia

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11. DOS-Games with the EWS64 (under Win9x only)

I. Introduction

With the EWS64 you can play ancient DOS-games (under Windows 9x only). The EWS64 is Soundblaster- and SoundblasterPro compatible. In addition you can use the high quality sound features of the EWS64-synth. Just load the 4MB GS-soundbank GSSBK320.94B for example into the RAM of the EWS64. If you do so games like 'Doom2' or 'Heroes of might and magic2' sound very much better than using the FM-Synth of an original Soundblaster 16.
In addition you can use effects like reverb and chorus under DOS. This is only available with GS-compatible DOS-games.
Note: DOS game playing is not possible under Windows 2000/XP.

II. Playing in a DOS-Box

The configuration is very easy for DOS-games which are running in a DOS-Box.
Just add the following Environment Variable in your Autoexec.bat:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4

Please compare this values with the EWS64-EEPROM-settings for using the same entries:
A=SB-Pro-IO Address (220, 240, 260..)
I=WSS-IRQ (5, 7, 9..)
D=WSS-Play-DMA-Channel (0, 1 or 3)
T=2 for Soundblaster compatibility or
T=4 for SoundblasterPro compatibility
(Note: T=4 is in most cases the best choice - exception: super ancient DOS-games)

III. Games in full DOS-mode

Full DOS-mode is possible with EWS64 in Windows 9x only. There are two different possibilities:

A. Starting DOS-games manually
After the installation of a DOS-game you can start Windows9x at MS-DOS mode, change in the command line to the game Dir and start the DOS-game.
A better way is to use a batchfile for starting the DOS-Game (like: "C:\GAMES\DOOM2\DOOM2.EXE").
Note: My hints to Autoexec.bat are still valid.

B. DOS-games via Bootdisk (bootable Floppy)
Several DOS-games are just running with a particular DOS-Bootdisk. You can also use the EWS64 in this case including the wavetable synthesizer.
Since all necessary files (EWS64OS.BIN and EWSINIT.EXE) are already in the EWS64-folders of your Win9x-Installation there's no need to copy these files to the Bootdisk - you can run EWSINIT.EXE from HD!
In this case you have to initialize the EWS64 with an entry in the Autoexec.bat of your Bootdisk with EWSINIT.EXE. This procedure handles three parts:
1. Loading of the EWS64-OS (file 'EWS64_OS.BIN'
2. Loading of a soundbank (for example file 'GSSBK320.94B')
3. Loading of a EWS64-mixerset (for example file 'DEFAULT.TTM')

You need the following entry in your Autoexec.bat:
C:\EWS64\EWSINIT.EXE F V B C:\EWS64\SOUNDSET\GSSBK320.94B M C:\EWS64\SETTINGS\DEFAULT.TTM
(You have to adapt the pathes according to your EWS64-installation)

This entry loads for example the OS and the GSSBK320.94b-soundbank from Drive C:\ into the EWS64 and sets the mixersettings of the default.ttm. Please ensure that you have copied the soundset GSSBK320.94B to your HD if you want to use this 4 MB soundset with the EWS64 synthesizer under DOS.
Of course you can load different soundsets and/or mixersettings.

In addition you have to configure the Soundblaster Environment Variable in your Autoexec.bat like already described above.

IV. The synthesizer of the EWS64 under DOS

You can also use the EWS-synth in DOS-games. The soundquality of the most games will be better than using a standard Soundblaster 16.
For using the synthesizer of the EWS, first you have to load a GM- or GS- Soundset into the RAM of the EWS64. Any soundset which was loaded under Windows (for example with the Setmanager) is also available in a DOS-Box.
Normally you an access this soundbank using address '330'. If you have choosen another addressrange for 'MIDI 1' in the EWS64-EEPROM-Setup (like: 320, 340 ...) you have to chose this address.

Therefore an example (DOOM2):
Start Setup.exe in the DOOM2 directory. In menue 'Select Music Card' use the entry 'General MIDI' at MIDI Port 330. In menue 'Select Sound FX Card' select 'Sound Blaster' at Port 220, IRQ 5, DMA 1 (depending on your own settings' and choose 8 at 'Number of Sound FX to mix'.
That's it, enjoy...

Special hint:
Some very ancient DOS-games are not able to control the volume of the MIDI-playback. Because of the default high volume of the EWS-synthesizer a distortion problem can occure. Please reduce the MIDI Volume in the Controlpanel before starting the game.
Often you can solve this problem with your own Mixersettings *.TTM or *.MIX file:
Use under Win9x the control panel of the EWS64: Wave-Fader of the Codec to max. and any virtual channel Fader "Syn Vol" to a very lower value. Save these settings for example as DOSGAME.TTM and use it in your Autoexec.bat instead of DEFAULT.TTM. After rebooting the game sound should have less volume and no distortion.
Note: This method doesn't work with every DOS-game. Some DOS-games set the MIDI volume value of the EWS64-synth at every startup back to maximum with a GM- or GS-Reset or other possible MIDI control change messages. In this case you can avoid ugly distortions only by using the FM-synth of the EWS64.

V. Additional Wavetable under DOS

Additional Wavetable extensions like Yamaha DB50XG are usable in DOS-games too. For using this Wavetable extensions you have to configure the EEPROM-MIDI 2 address value in the DOS-game address settings.

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12. The EWS64 control panel

I. Introduction

The control panel is the center of switching for the EWS64. With this utility your are able to make several configurations.
Unfortunately the control panel offers a very bad overview:
All additional settings for effects, virtual channels and Audio-In-2 are missing. For handle these settings you have to open additional windows via the particular buttons. In worst case you have to open four different windows on your screen to handle all possible settings of the EWS64.
The visual structure of the control panel doesn't correspond to the internal routing of the EWS64:
During a record from an external mixer via 'In 2' I nearly destroyed my very expensive headphones, because I didn't mute the 'In 2' in control panel.
Which beginner mutes the particular input if he/she wants to make a record via this input?
But on the EWS64 the In-2 lever controls the routing value of the In-2-signal to the output of the EWS64. In some cases of records there could be dangerous feedbacks. The correct way to control the record value in case of recording signals from In-2 is the REC-lever in switch position B.
In many cases of records from 'In-2' the In-2 lever has to be muted. Otherwise dangerous feedbacks may result in destruction of your speakers and/or your amplifier.
In my case fortunately the headphones remained spared, but the 5 Amp fuses of my 200W amplifier were destroyed.

II. Possible way outs

Every EWS64-user should download the Freeware tool called 'EWS proMix 1.2' for Windows 9x or 'EWS XproMix 1.0' for Windows 2000/XP, availabe from my homepage (goto: Software downloads):

This program offers most of all possible settings of the EWS64 in a very good overview in a single window only. All settings of the virtual channels, effects, inputs, codec, ...

Make your own opinion:
Mouseclick on the picture for 1:1 preview (954 * 460 Pixel, 81 kB)
(IE 6-User first should deactivate the automatic picture range scaling)

EWS-proMix (Rev 1.2) from Uwe Kindler

Following switches are missing on the EWS64 proMix. For setting these switches you will need the original EWS64 control panel: Back to the top

13. Memory expansion for the EWS64

I. Introduction

For all users who are working with the synthesizer intensivly and who wants loadup bigger sounds a change of the original RAM with a bigger one would be an advantage.
In my case and in case of 2 friends (we changed the original RAM with a 64MB RAM) now the complete world of Akai Sound CD's (AKAI S1000-Format) is opened:
Even sounds with a size of 32MB are uploadable and usable for music production.
That means: There are a lot of high quality sounds available for the EWS64 if you have enough memory.
Note:
You need a 64MB RAM-module for the EWS64 to load 32MB Akai-Soundsets!
This is not possible with a 32MB EWS64-RAM-module, because the EWS64 loads their OS and all instrument settings into the RAM too.

You have to watch out with the selection of suitable modules, because the different hardware revisions of the EWS64 XL have different requirements. If possible, make an exchange agreement with your dealer. In some cases the EWS cannot detect the RAM Module or won't work correctly. The EWS64 S has the same requirements like a EWS64 XL Rev. 1.2.

Hint:
I and two friends bought the RAM expansions from special music stores ('Music Store Cologne' and 'Bestservice'). At that time this stores offered EWS64 certified modules. But I cannot say where you can get such certified modules at this time.

II. Memory for the EWS64 L/XL Revision 1.0 and 1.1:

For these revisions you can use FPM ('Fast Page Mode') SIMM-modules only. This type of SIMM-modules is often called PS/2-modules.
The specs for this modules have to be: 60ns, 32 chips max., no 'Parity' and single sided only!
Single sided means the internal organisation of the used Memory-Chips and not the mechanical assembly: If the product of 'Number of chips' and 'Address lines of each chip' is 32, the module is single sided - if this product is 64, the module is double sided. In case of 32MB modules only double sided modules are available. Therefore this both EWS64 revisions are not expandable with 32MB modules.

Following RAM-modules are possible:

Size Organisation Count Chips Chip-Organisation Structure SIMM-Type (60ns) Comment
4 MB 1M * 32 8 1M * 4 Single sided FPM  
4 MB 1M * 32 2 1M * 16 Single sided FPM Supplied by Terratec
8 MB 2M * 32 4 2M * 8 Single sided FPM Hardly available
16 MB 4M * 32 32 4M * 1 Single sided FPM The 8 chips version is the better choice
16 MB 4M * 32 8 4M * 4 Single sided FPM  
64 MB 16M * 32 8 16M * 4 Single sided FPM The best choice
Attention: Should have exactly 8 memory chips


III. Memory for the EWS64 L/XL/XXL Revision 1.2 and for the EWS64 S:

For these revisions you can use FPM ('Fast Page Mode') OR (!) EDO ('Extended Data Output') SIMM-modules.
The specs for this modules have to be: 60ns and 32 chips max.

Following RAM-modules are possible:
Size Organisation Count Chips Chip-Organisation Structure SIMM-Type (60ns) Comment
4 MB 1M * 32 8 1M * 4 Single sided FPM or EDO  
4 MB 1M * 32 2 1M * 16 Single sided FPM or EDO Supplied by Terratec
8 MB 2M * 32 16 1M * 4 Double sided FPM or EDO  
8 MB 2M * 32 4 1M * 16 Double sided FPM or EDO  
8 MB 2M * 32 4 2M * 8 Single sided FPM or EDO Hardly available
16 MB 4M * 32 32 4M * 1 Single sided FPM or EDO The 8 chips version is the better choice
16 MB 4M * 32 8 4M * 4 Single sided FPM or EDO  
32 MB 8M * 32 16 4M * 4 Double sided FPM er EDO  
64 MB 16M * 32 8 16M * 4 Single sided FPM or EDO The best choice
Attention: Should have exactly 8 memory chips

IV. Additional considerations:

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14. Troubles with Akai CD-Import

If you cannot import Akai-CD's (Ed!son can't find your CD-ROM-Drive), the failure will be to 99% the Windows internal 'ASPI-Driver' of any Windows version (from 9x up to XP) - they are all buggy! This problem you can solve installing the 'Adaptec ASPI Driver' (actual: Rev. 4.71) which can be found at the Adaptec homepage (Downloads/SCSI Software/Windows ASPI Package).
To install this driver you'll need to type 'install.bat X86' (for 98/ME/NT/2000) or 'install.bat XP32' (for Windows XP). Please read the included documentation for further details.

Another possibility could be an existing virtual CD drive (e.g. installed from WinOnCD v. 3.8). In this case you have to remove the virtual SCSI Hostcontroller in your Control Panel/System/Device Manager/SCSI Hostadapters.

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15. Further help: The homepage 'EWS Stress Control Panel'

Further help to the EWS64 you can find at the homepage 'EWS Stress Control Panel':
There you'll find a lot of information to the EWS64 including an useful FAQ page (even owners of other Terratec sound card should take a look at this page).

Important tip:
Don't hesitate to post your EWS64 problems at the 'Discussion Forum' of this page -
as I know this is the only forum worldwide especially for Terratec sound cards and you've good chances to get helpful replies to your postings!

Note: Please post your EWS64 problems at this forum before you contact me via email.

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C/O 2002-2012: Werner Ogrodnik (Cologne, Germany)