AKAIDISK - Akai sample disk reader for Windows & DOS v1.0
---------------------------------------------------------

This text file contains the following:

 * Instructions for installing AKAIDISK

 * Guide to using AKAIDISK

 * Guide to using ADISK 

 * How to contact the author


Installing AKAIDISK
-------------------

Installation from Windows:
  Double-click on INSTALL.EXE in the File Manager, or use the 'Run' 
  menu option in Program Manager to run INSTALL.EXE. You can specify
  a destination directory, but unless you know what you are doing 
  leave it on C:\AKAIDISK. Click on [Install] to copy the files onto
  your hard drive and make  a new Program Manager group. 
 
Installation from DOS:
  If you Don't have Windows, you only need ADISK.EXE, and possibly 
  this text file. Make a directory on your hard drive and copy these
  files into it.

  eg. MD C:\AKAIDISK
      COPY A:\ADISK.EXE C:\AKAIDISK
      COPY A:\AKAIDISK.TXT C:\AKAIDISK

Advanced installation:
  If you already have VBRUN300.DLL in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory 
  you can delete the one in the AKAIDISK directory.
 

AKAIDISK.EXE - AKAI S-Series disk reader for Windows
----------------------------------------------------

AKAIDISK reads Akai sample disks. It can read S900, S950, S1000 and 
S3000 disks, and will have a go at reading other Akai disks. When 
you launch AKAIDISK it looks in A: drive for an Akai disk. If it 
finds one it gives you a list of available samples. To look on a 
different Akai disk, put the disk in the PC's floppy drive and 
select [Update]. 

If your 3.5" floppy drive is B: select [Drive B:] in the [File] menu.

To copy a sample off the disk, double click on its name or select 
with the up/down arrows and [Enter]. This opens a new window. The 
program will take a guess at what you want to call the file, and you
can normally press [OK] straight away. Of course, if you want to 
change the filename or directory you can do this in the normal way. 

If you want to create a new subdirectory, select the directory you 
want the new one to 'hang' from and press [New...]. Note that you 
are not allowed to use the floppy disk drives to save samples. 
If you give a filename that does not end in .WAV then the file you 
make will not be in .WAV format, but instead will be a copy of the 
data on the Akai disk.

.WAV files created by AKAIDISK will always be 16 bit mono at 44.1kHz
regardless of their original sample rate.

Troubleshooting
---------------
Whenever AKAIDISK reads an Akai disk, an icon will appear at the 
bottom of the screen saying 'Please Wait...'. If you ignore this
advice and do something like activate a different window you may 
distract Windows, causing it to forget about the icon. If this 
happens double-click on the icon to wake it up. - It should then go 
away.

The reason the icon appears is that AKAIDISK.EXE is just a pretty 
front end to the DOS program ADISK.EXE. Whenever an Akai disk is 
read, AKAIDISK runs ADISK in an icon.

If you have no luck reading Akai disks with AKAIDISK try the DOS 
version, ADISK (see the instructions below). Check that you have 
selected the correct floppy drive. If that doesn't work then you 
probably have an unusual or old PC. If your PC 3.5" floppy drive
cannot normally read HD disks, you should not expect it to read 
Akai disks.

ADISK.EXE should be run in DOS or from the Windows "MS-DOS Prompt".
If one fails, try the other. If you break out of the program while 
it is running your floppy drive may not read DOS disks. Some PCs are
better than others at recovering from this (try a few DIR A: 
commands) but others won't work again until you reboot. 

The program will not run under Windows NT, and is unlikely to run 
under Windows 95 (not even in a DOS prompt) because the reprogramming
of the floppy drive is not permitted.


ADISK.EXE - AKAI S-Series disk reader for DOS
---------------------------------------------

This program allows the PC to read AKAI sample disks. It can read 
S900, S950, S1000 and S3000 disks. It will also have a go at reading
other AKAI formats, but may get a bit confused. 

Usage:
------
  ADISK                            - Directory listing of Akai disk
  
  ADISK /?                         - Prints out some help on usage

  ADISK filename                   - List of sample names to a file  

  ADISK "samplename" filename      - Copy a sample to a file
  
  ADISK "samplename" filename.wav  - Copy to a .WAV format file

Notes:
------
If your 3.5" floppy drive is drive B: then type AKAIDISK B: instead
of just AKAIDISK. Remember to leave a space between each word.

If the sample name contains spaces, it must be put in double quotes. 

If you only give a filename, a list of all available samples will
be written to the file.

If your filename ends in .WAV the sample will be converted to a 
44.1kHz, 16 bit mono .WAV format file. If your filename does not end
with .WAV the sample will be copied exactly as it is written on disk.

If you give a sample name but no destination filename, the program 
is unlikely to do what you expected. Sometimes you might generate a 
file you didn't mean to, with spaces in its name. These are a bugger
to get rid of but the trick is to use a question mark wherever there
is a space. eg. if you have a file called "TONE 2", then get rid of 
it with the DOS command "DEL TONE?2".

Note that DOS filenames cannot include certain characters used by
AKAI for sample names. You can use "'" instead of "." and "&" instead
of "+" and "_" instead of space. The filename can't be longer than
8 characters.  

When you give a samplename, the program looks through the available
samples on floppy until it finds one which matches your request (it 
ignores upper or lower case). If you have asked for "snare" and it 
finds a sample called "snare 2" first, this is the one it will copy.
To avoid this, you could ask for "snare  ". The advantage of this is 
that you do not have to type all of a long samplename, just enough 
that no other sample on the floppy matches.

Although the directory listing shows all files on a disk such as 
programs, drum settings and Qlists, you can only copy samples. 


Contacting the author
---------------------

If you have comments or problems with AKAIDISK please contact the 
author at the adress below. If however, you have problems working 
out how to use AKAIDISK, don't bother me - ask your local expert.

If the program cannot recognise your Akai disk, please write, giving
details of the device that wrote the disk, whether the disk is high
or low density, and what AKAIDISK thinks it is (On the 'Volume in 
drive A: is...' line of the directory listing). Better still, send
me a copy of the offending disk, so I can have a go at adjusting 
AKAIDISK to read it correctly. I might get around to returning the
disk with an updated ADISK.EXE on it, but can't promise anything!

Hopefully Version 2 of AKAIDISK will be able to write samples to 
Akai disks, but be patient as this is a part-time project.

The author can be contacted at the following address:

Paul Kellett
24 Eastrop Lane
Basingstoke
Hants
RG21 4AS
England
