Hi Bob,

It is not imperative that you get samples from CD's into your sampler if you don't own any sample CD's. However, if you own some sample CD Roms (not audio CD's) or plan on buying some, then it is. If you don't have any of the samples you are looking for already or don't have the means or time to do it, CD Roms are your best alternative. For the time and effort you save, the money you spend on them is well worth it.

One thing to note is that E-mu sample CD Roms are in a proprietary format. You will not be able to load E-mu sample from the CD into your PC directly. Your PC will complain that it cannot recognize the format.

There may be some PC programs out there that might be able to read them though. You may want to check out a program called Translator from Rubber Chicken (www.chickensys.com). Translator provides PC support for some of the propietary CD Formats.

The easiest way by far is to buy an external SCSI CD Rom that is compatible with your sampler. This way you can bypass your PC altogether. What I did was buy an internal SCSI CD Rom drive and then the case (with the power supply) for it. It cost me just over $100 US.

BTW, this stuff is not as difficult as you think, especially if you've worked on nuclear warheads. It's probably just different. Spending some time reading and playing around with the technology will start you rolling.

Good luck.

Fernando