E-MU Samplers

Phat_Sam

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Kinda lookin at Kama for this one cos I know he knows his shit about this stuff but at the same time.. anyone else?

E-MU samplers. Was lookin at the ESI 4000. What's so good about it that makes it so much better than say.. Kontakt? I understand that it's Hardware meaning theres more chance of tiny glitches causing a more unique sound but at the same time... difference?

Also... I understand that the filters are realy good but again... how would I be able to utilise an E-MU in a creative way.

I saw a video interview with a dnb duo that use a hardware sampler (I think it was an E-MU) then wire that into a Mackie desk nd make that to use their basslines nd other stuff.

Just want some background stuff about it basically. Also, does anyone know if Break uses one? I've heard he does...
 
thyre great for that late 90s early 2000 sound, dillinja 808s, ed rush optical reeces etc from that time. Zplane filters are grimey sounding...all the filters are good (quite a few types) Sure you might make something close with kontakt and a shit load of plugs, but the emu just has that sound down. Also the mod matrix in it is superb. It takes a bit to get your head around the menus but once you have its easy and quick to use.
Has interesting lfo types/shapes. The chorus is awesome.

works for me as i used to sit loopmonging tweaking synths too much, now i have to bounce sounds out of the emu and use those ...which actually speed up my workflow. This works for me, maybe not everyone.

im still learning how to use it, but wouldnt sell it for anything..
 
i couldnt get by without mine. the filters, lfo shapes, aural exciter and chorus are so awesome its unreal.
shame cos its about the same size as a desktop pc, it really is disturbingly big.
 
What do you guys think of the VST that they brought out, the EmulatorX3. I've started using it recently, and it looks to be a nice bit of kit. It's a real pity creative labs let EMU die off though - with no tangible support, etc. :(
 
I'm not so keen on the Emulator, mainly because of the horrible GUI. I've only scratched the surface though, and it was v2.

The biggest and most obvious difference would be that it takes more work to use, since the interface buttons are not as quick to navigate the OS as you'd have with a big screen, mouse and keyboard - like with Kontakt.

The second most obvious is the sound. To the users it's the main thing though! You can clip something and drive it over without fear of having a horrible digital slush distortion, and depending on the preamps you are using (mackie has good preamps for this) it can sound better than most software "colouration" or "saturation" plugins. And like it was said, the filters are unlike anything else I've heard. They're not soft as cream, and not sharp like a razorblade, but they just have a very personal sound to them. It's hard to describe. If you missed the thread where I attached a few bass sounds from the emu, try to search it up, can't find it myself now.

It's not just a bass machine though, you can do all sorts of things with it. It can deliver punch to your beats if you record a whole beat into it and back again and re-slice it. You can make smooth pads that utilize the filters to their fullest extent by layering string samples on top of each other etc. It's not as flexible as today's soft samplers but it is definately worth the buy if you can get one.

Not sure on the specs of the ESI 4000, but you can look those up easily. The Ultra and Turbo models are a little faster and have more options than vanilla models.

---------- Post added at 12:23 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------

Found it: http://dnbforum.com/showthread.php?110971-Justification-for-10-year-old-gear-the-EMU-samplers in case you missed it the first time around. The attachments are on the second page.
 
I'm very curious about an emu sampler too, and wondering if you can give some more info? :) I like working with hardware, at least when it comes to synthesis. But for sampling, I've always liked seeing the wav file when it comes to trimming, cutting and looping etc.

Leaving aside sound quality issues (I think I'll get close enough with software so I'll be satisfied), are there are other major advantages to having a hardware sampler? Workflow type issues? Does it make anything easier than say, Guru or Battery? Are Photek beats going to come pouring out of it with a minimum of effort?

I have a yamaha a3000 and its a bit of a pain in the arse, and I never use it TBH. Just wondering if a hardware emu sampler would be much of the same?
 
the emu has a screen you can see the waveform just fine. its not like cooledit mind, its like the old mobile phones with black and white dot matrix screens. i wouldnt necessarily say it simplifies workflow, in fact quite the opposite, but you have to know what you want. when you know that, you know what you have to do to get it and fucking with that little screen and the jog wheel and the buttons on the emu become a pleasure.

you can photek all you want with it but im not sure where that button is. i like to make drumkits in the emu and just using desk gain and eq with the built in effects and filters on the emu you can come up with some incredibly twisted stuff. i made a tramen kit that was kind of cool, it felt cool to tweak such a classic break as that into something original and still reckognizable.
 
havent used it at all for beat yet, wouldnt mind giving it a go though. Any-one keen to do a you tube tutorial? Seems like there are very little actual tutorials re the emu samplers on the web.

I also havent used the emu with more than one sound loaded into the keyrange. So im hardly scratching the surface, i should really map a few resampled versions across keys and get right in there...

and like logikz i love "dialling" in sounds using the jog wheel and getting away from the computer screen for a few minutes.

I looked at the emulator but for the price of the hardware unit, and the fact theyll most likely appreciate in value it seemed like a no brainer.

logikz..wheres the aural exciter?

anyone have the rfx card?
 
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Yeah I've just called in sick to work, and I actually am (not enough to keep me off production :D), so I'll try to get it done today. I'm planning on doing 2 or 3 parts: The basics (sampling, sample & preset editing), Layering and Splitting, and utilizing multiple midi channels and outputs eg. the Multimode. Stay tuned.
 
I'm not so keen on the Emulator, mainly because of the horrible GUI.

The second most obvious is the sound. To the users it's the main thing though! You can clip something and drive it over without fear of having a horrible digital slush distortion,

Cool man, cheers for the reply.

It's totally agree with you - a curse be upon EmuX's poxy gui - it is awful! :) I'm just messing around with V3 at the moment, and it's good, but I find it hard to use. Kontact seems a lot more intuitive.

I know what you mean about the sound tho', I've still heard nothing quite as cool (imo) as that natural overdrive with the mackie desks and emu ulta.

Personally, I love using my guitar distortion pedals for a heavy sound. But I do like some plug ins like Ohmicide, etc.

Cheers,

Rob.
 
I don't think I can do the tutorial tbh. I was planning on using a canon powershot camera to shoot the video but you can't see the sampler's lcd screen from the video at all, it just looks bright as hell no matter the camera settings.
 
no matter, thanks for trying, guess im going to have to come clean and ask. soooo can you tell me about this 'multimode' you speak of, cos you know. im not sure i know what that is. specifically i mean, genrly i know most thing. at a glance.
 
WELL KARL. LET ME TELL YOU.

You just assign different presets within the bank to the rows in the multimode screen, and they respond to the corresponding midi channel. When you use multiple outputs with the FX card (that I happen to have built-in in my version), things really get interesting. In fact you can use the stereo sub outputs as 2 mono ones by panning the voices or groups hard left or hard right and setting them on the same sub out. Like having the Kick and Snare voices in the same preset, assigned to Sub1, but having the Kick panned to left and Snare panned right.

But anyway, multi mode, nothing special actually. Just if you want to keep stuff in the sampler for longer without recording to computer, or want to have lots of different versions of a single preset, it's useful.
 
ah right. thats going to simplify things im sure. anyway i totally already knew that. ive got an emu e6400 sam, and it is fonky. i havent got the rfx card though which i sorely want.
 
I have E4X. It has the FX. Built in or not, card or not card i dunno, it just has them. I love some of the verbs so much: I put a growling bass to two mono outputs to mixer, use other as bass and other as mids, gain the mids channel a bit to the red on the mixer gains (yamaha doesn't sound as cool as mackie when OD'd) , and route the sound to a verb - then cut mids and lows from the verb channel on the mixer. It's just such a classic sound.
 
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