E-mu Emulator

The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integration of computer technology and was among the first samplers to find widespread usage among musicians. While costly, its price was considerably lower than those of its early competitors, and its smaller size increased its portability and, resultantly, practicality for live performance. The line was discontinued in 2002.

Impetus
E-mu Systems was founded in 1971 as a manufacturer of microprocessor chips, digital scanning keyboards and components for electronic instruments. Licensing revenue for this technology afforded E-mu the ability to invest in research and development, and it began to develop boutique synthesizers for niche markets, including a series of modular synthesizers and the high-end Audity system, of which only one prototype was produced. In 1979, founders Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum saw the Fairlight CMI and the Linn LM-1 at a convention, inspiring them to design and produce a less expensive digital sampling keyboard.

E-mu originally considered selling the design for the Emulator to Sequential Circuits, which was using E-mu's keyboard design in its popular Prophet-5 synthesizer. However, Sequential Circuits soon ceased paying E-mu royalties for its keyboard design, which prompted E-mu to release the Emulator commercially.

Products

Emulator

Finally released in 1981, the Emulator was a floppy disk-based keyboard workstation that enabled the musician to sample sounds, recording them to storage media and allowing them to be played as musical notes on the keyboard. The 5" floppy disk drive enabled the owner to build a library of samples and share them with others, or to purchase prerecorded libraries on disk.

The original Emulator was a very basic eight-bit sampler with only a simple filter, and it only allowed for a single loop. The initial model did not include a VCA envelope generator. It was produced in three forms: a two-voice model (only one of which was ever sold), a four-voice model and an eight-voice model. The keyboard was designed to be played in split mode with one sample on each side, so playing the same sound on the full keyboard required loading the same sound from disk into each side.

Stevie Wonder, who gave the sampler a glowing review at the 1981 NAMM convention, received the first unit (serial number 0001). The first unit had originally been promised to Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille, as he was a longtime E-mu modular-system owner, but Wonder's greater fame moved him to the top of the list. In 1982, the Emulator was updated to include a VCA envelope generator and a simple sequencer, and its price was lowered. Approximately 500 units were sold before the unit was discontinued in early 1984. Other prominent users of the original E-mu Emulator were New Order, Tangerine Dream and Tony Banks of Genesis, and it was among the many groundbreaking instruments used in the production of Michael Jackson's Thriller album. Composer and writer David Frank of the System used the original Emulator on his productions from Sweat to Don't Disturb this Groove. The Residents, who had received the fifth Emulator produced, used the instrument extensively on their album The Tunes of Two Cities. Vangelis had an Emulator at Nemo Studios in London and used it on the Blade Runner soundtrack.

Emulator II

Released commercially in 1984 to huge acclaim, the Emulator II (or EII) was E-mu's second sampler. Like the original Emulator, it was an eight-bit sampler, but it delivered superior fidelity by employing companding digital-to-analog converters and a 27.7 kHz sample rate. It also allowed more flexibility in editing and shaping sounds, as resonant analog filters (provided by longtime E-Mu collaborators SSM) were added. The EII also featured greatly improved real-time control. Its price was similar to that of the original Emulator, at US$7,995 for a regular model and $9,995 for a "plus" model featuring extra sample memory. Several upgrades, including a second floppy drive, a 20 MB hard drive, and a 512K memory upgrade were also available. Despite the EII's price, it was considered a value in comparison to the Fairlight CMI Series II, the most basic model of which was priced at $30,000 upon its initial release.

The Emulator II offers a unique sound because of its DPCM mu-255 companding, divider-based variable sample-rate principle and analog output stages featuring SSM2045 24 dB/oct analog four-pole low-pass resonant filters. Equivalent output stages in modern samplers perform similar functions purely in the digital domain, and some argue that some of the desirable analog effect is lost.

Several popular OEM and third-party sample libraries were developed for the Emulator II, including a multitude of high-quality orchestral sounds. Many of the EII's original library sounds were sampled from the more expensive Fairlight and Synclavier workstations (for example, the Fairlight's famous "Sarrar/Arr1" choir sample is called "DigiVcs" in the E-mu library). This can cause difficulty in identifying the original sampler hardware heard on songs. Famous samples include the Shakuhachi flute used by Peter Gabriel on "Sledgehammer" and by Enigma on their album MCMXC a.D., and the Marcato Strings heard on many popular '80s records including the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls". According to the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, every instrumental sound on the track was produced with an Emulator II.

The Emulator II was popular with many musicians in the 1980s, such as early adopter Stevie Wonder, and was used extensively by Front 242, Depeche Mode, 808 State, New Order, ABC, Genesis, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Herbie Hancock, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Yes, OMD, Stevie Nicks, Mr. Mister and many more.

It was also heard in numerous film scores, such as the Terminator 2: Judgment Day score by Brad Fiedel, many of Michael Kamen's film scores (such as Lethal Weapon and Highlander) and those of nearly all of John Carpenter's films in the 1980s. The Emulator II is featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off when the titular character plays samples of coughing and sneezing in order to feign illness over a phone. David Foster mentioned his Emulator II in the 1985 documentary about the creation of Tears Are Not Enough, a song in which a note of a French horn was included in the single.

Emulator III

The Emulator III was introduced after the discontinuation of the Emulator II in 1987, and was manufactured until 1991. A rack-mountable version was introduced in 1988.

It featured four or eight megabytes of memory, depending on the model, and it could store samples in 16-bit, 44 kHz stereo, which was equivalent to that of the most advanced, professional equipment available. The Emulator III's sound quality was also improved greatly over that of its predecessors, with quieter outputs and more reliable filter chips produced by CEM. However, the Emulator III was considerably less popular than its predecessors, largely because of its price; at a time when manufacturers such as Akai, Ensoniq and Casio offered samplers at less than $2,000, the Emulator III's use of high-quality components resulted in a price as high as $12,695 for the 4 MB model and $15,195 for the 8 MB model. E-mu had previously been able to sell its samplers in the $10,000 range because the only alternatives were the $30,000–$200,000 Fairlight CMI and the $75,000–$500,000 NED Synclavier system. However, as technology had advanced and become increasingly accessible, E-mu faced great difficulty remaining competitive.

Although the Emulator III did not prove a great success, it may be heard in the music of many prominent artists including Tony Banks of Genesis, Lynda Thomas, 808 State and Depeche Mode, who used it on their 1990 album Violator.

Emulator IV and EOS

The Emulator IV (EIV) series of samplers was introduced in 1994. The new, proprietary operating system used in the EIV was known as the Emulator Operating System or EOS. The flash memory in these models was expandable. 

The Emulator IV was the first to be released, a rack sampler that featured 128 voices and memory expansion up to 128 MB. Options included a multi-effects processor, additional output sockets and 32 MIDI channels.

The e64 was launched soon after the Emulator IV, and in order to meet a lower price point, it was limited to only 64 voices and a maximum 64 MB of memory. It was soon joined by the E4K, essentially an E64 with a 76-key weighted keyboard, although it could be expanded to 128 voices and 128 MB of memory.

A second series of rackmount EIV was launched in 1996 with the E4X Turbo as the new 128-voice flagship model. The E4X (without Turbo) and e6400 offered only 64 voices and fewer options in order to meet lower price points, although unlike the e64, it was fully upgradable. E-mu also released the E-Synth in both rack and keyboard form, with both models including a 16 MB sound ROM and an optional 16 MB "Dance" factory-installed sound ROM that would be accessible immediately upon startup of the unit.

The final EIV samplers were marketed with the Ultra designation. They samplers featured a fast processor and upgraded analog output stages, as well as the ability to install the RFX dedicated high-quality effects processor. The entry-level model was the E5000 Ultra, which was limited to four output jacks, could not accept the voice upgrade and was unable to write sound ROMs. The E6400 Ultra (now with a capital "E") was a basic model but with full upgradability, the E-Synth Ultra refined the previous E-Synth offerings with one or two new 16 MB sound ROMs and the E4XT Ultra was the top model with the full 128 voices, digital audio inputs and outputs, 32 MIDI channels and an ASCII keyboard input for remote control. The final Ultra sampler, called the E4 Platinum, was loaded with the RFX effects card and every option.

The EIV series was discontinued in 2002.

Notable players
The following musicians have played an E-mu Emulator series sampler in their recordings:
 ABC
 David Bowie
 Daft Punk used the ESI-32 sampler for their first few singles and their studio album Homework
 Depeche Mode used Emulator I, II and III in studio recordings and in live performances
 Enya
 Front 242
 Genesis used Emulator I, II and III
 Philip Glass
 Herbie Hancock
 Jean-Michel Jarre used an Emulator on Zoolook and Revolutions, and an Emulator II on Rendez-Vous.
 Kitaro
 Paul McCartney
 Mr. Mister used an Emulator II (featured prominently on "Broken Wings")
 New Order
 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
 Pet Shop Boys used an Emulator II (notable for the Marcato Strings sound in "West End Girls")
 Tangerine Dream
 Simple Minds used an Emulator II
 Vangelis
 Brian Wilson
 Stevie Wonder purchased the first production Emulator I
 Yes
 Margita Stefanović
 Yellow Magic Orchestra

See also
 E-mu Emax
 Sampler (musical instrument)

References

Further reading

External links
 1980s Interview with Philip Oakey from the Human League about the use of computers and the Emulator in pop music
 E-mu Emulator II demo & pictures
 E-mu E4XT Ultra Demo Part 5
 Emu E4X – Sound On Sound review (archive.org)

Samplers (musical instrument)
E-mu synthesizers