DOS Counterpart Files

If all samplers used the DOS disk format initially, instead of all these proprietary disk formats that computers can't recognize, life would be a lot easier. But you can't blame the manufacturers - many sampler's initial conceptions came in the late 1980's/early 1990's. Back then, Windows was hardly an accepted operating system - and DOS was definitely not "de facto" standard. Also, memory was expensive and that played a part in instrument design.

DOS Counterpart Files is the term we use for storing sampler files that were designed to be stored on proprietary non-DOS formats on DOS disks. For example, the Ensoniq stores it's Instrument files on it's own special disk format, but it can be read and stored as an .efe or an .efa file on a DOS drive. Of course, the Ensoniq can't read this file directly, but it does enable the user to work with the file more easily. Even more importantly, it allows transfer of the file over the Internet.

A DOS Counterpart File is not a super-complicated thing. It basically is the actual file, plus some extra information (called a header) stored at the beginning. Some DOS counterpart file formats were created by Chicken Systems, mostly because they didn't exist, but in other cases we adopted what was already existing. Chicken System's position is the the fewer the formats, the better - we seek standardization on every level.

In Translator, you can use DOS counterpart files just like you use the files as if they were on their proprietary disks. The only difference would be that you would right-click to convert these to another DOS format instead of dragging the file across the interface.

Below is a description of the different DOS Counterpart file types and extensions.

  Akai - .ak1, .ak3, .p, .s, .sts, .prg, .s3p
This is definitely the most complicated DOS counterpart set. .p and .s come from the Pulsar platform, which simply takes a Akai program/sample and writes it as a .p or .s file. A .sts file is an Akai program with some extra chunks added on the end. .prg and .s3p are practically identical - they are produced by MESA. They are Akai programs encoded with sys-ex 7-bit encoding.

.ak1 and .ak3 files (representing S-1000 and S-3000 files accordingly) were developed by Chicken Systems. They represent an attempt to include all the contents of an Akai Program or Volume into one file.

Ensoniq - .efe, .efa
This format was introduced by Giebler Enterprises. .efe represents a EPS or EPS 16-Plus file (can be any type, such as an Instrument, Bank, Song, Sys-ex, Effect, etc.), and .efa stands for a ASR-10 type of file. The .ede and .eda file types represent whole Ensoniq floppy disk images.

There are other file formats introduced by other DOS programs, notably.gkh. Translator does not support this format. .ins also existed, but that was identical in content to the .efe format. Translator does not support this either, not only because of it's redundancy, but that it would conflict with the Sample Instrument extension, which is also .ins.

Emu - .esi, .e3, .eos, .e4b
.esi, .e3, and .eos were developed by Chicken Systems, whereas .e4b is what is written by the EOS samplers when saving an Emu bank to floppy. All the Chicken System's formats have a 512-byte header that stores the actual Bank Name and other pieces of information. This is needed to save the actual Bank Name, because it is possible to have characters in the Bank Name that can't be used in a DOS or Mac file name. .e4b is simply an .eos file without this header.

Roland - .rol
The .rol format was developed by Chicken Systems to represent a Roland Volume (rarely though), Performance, Patch, Partial, or Sample objects in one file. The floppy disk program SDisk (included as unsupported with the Translator package) used the default extension .out, and those files aren't supported by Translator.

Kurzweil - .krz, .k25, .k26
This isn't really a DOS counterpart file, since Kurzweil has always paralleled the DOS format, at least as always writing and reading to DOS for floppies. It's only mentioned as a DOS counterpart file because Kurzweil's used a quasi-DOS disk format and stored .krz files on that format. See the Miscellaneous topic Kurzweil CD-ROM Support for more information.