Question for E-MU Ultra owners

[tez]

Hey folks, haven't posted here in ages... (so long ago that all my old posts are now deleted, hah!)

Anyway, I'm shopping around for a sampler. Would love a Yamaha A5000, but they don't seem to pop up locally at all. Thus, I've been eyeing up the E-MUs and have a couple leads on the 6400 Ultra and the 5000 Ultra.

My concern with these however, is their ability for realtime tweaking. I've read some vague reports/reviews where people mention that the filters cannot be tweaked while playing-- that is, any changes you make will only be applied on a subsequent note-on event. I'm also particularly interested in the ability to modulate sample start/end points in real time.

Can anyone confirm or deny this? Any comments on the general performance abilities of the Ultra series would be great!

Cheers,
tez

[madtheory]

I think that filter issue only applies to the ESI series, not the EOS based samplers.

[Hugo76]

Plus I think Emu released an effects card for the series, giving like 16 effect blocks or something.
The Yamaha's are still awesome, so in case it does show up, go for it! Have you checked ebay?

[tez]

Thanks for the replies folks. Yeah, I have checked (and am checking) ebay regularly. No such luck. The effects card for the EMU Ultra line (RFX-32) is notoriously hard to find, from what I've read. And then it's usually overpriced. So I'm not counting on having that.

Can anyone else confirm/deny the realtime filter tweakability? And how about the ability to adjust the sample start/end points in real time. I do this alot on my Machinedrum and would not want to live without it on a sampler.

Thanks again!

[gcoudert]

OK, I have an E4K, the keyboard version of the EIV "Classic", which is inferior to an "Ultra".

First of all, using the E-mu's 'Cords' - their version of a modulation matrix - you can assign a MIDI controller such as one of the sliders on the front panel to filter frequency, resonance, sample start point, almost anything you want.

Now, the question is, does it work in real time over MIDI? So I put the E4K in Local OFF mode and connected a MIDI cable between the MIDI Out and MIDI In of the machine: I was still able to control the filter freq in real time on a sustained note. Obviously, in the case of sample start point, you have to re-trigger. Sample loop point can be tweaked in real time.

So I guess it does work but if you want to be certain, ask the experts on the EmusOnAcid forum. They're very knowledgeable when it comes to Ultras.

Gilles

[rockmanrock]

I read somewhere the issue with the filters is the resonance isn't modifiable in real-time - it's static from note-on. Not a huge limitation I would say.

[gcoudert]

I read somewhere the issue with the filters is the resonance isn't modifiable in real-time - it's static from note-on. Not a huge limitation I would say.

Yes, you're right. I have just repeated the aforementioned test on the E4K, assigning a MIDI controller to filter resonance. It only changed when I played another note.

Gilles

[tez]

Interesting!

Thanks for all the input, fellas.

What version of EOS are you running, Gilles? I read in a review (Harmony Central I believe) that version 4.7 (?) fixed that issue?

[aeon]

EOS 4.7 addressed a few things, but real-time modulation of resonance is not one of them.

The reason resonance cannot be real-time modulated is because there is not enough CPU horsepower to recalculate the coefficients for all of the poles of the Z-Plane in real-time (while also doing all the Cords modulation).

The compromise is to calculate it at note-on.


cheers,
Ian

[tez]

Well that settles it then!

Cheers, Ian et al!

-Adam

[gcoudert]

Interesting!

Thanks for all the input, fellas.

What version of EOS are you running, Gilles? I read in a review (Harmony Central I believe) that version 4.7 (?) fixed that issue?

I can only run 3.00b unfortunately because I haven't got enough Flash RAM to run a higher version of EOS. The problem with the keyboard versions (E4K and E-Synth) is that upgrading Flash RAM involves (un)soldering, etc. and it has become hard to find. And expensive.

Also, remember that most E-mus suffer from sticky buttons and double-triggering after a while so unless you have the ASCII keyboard interface (built-in on certain models), it could be a pain to use.

[tez]

Thanks for the heads-up, Gilles. Definitely good to know!

-Adam

[tez]

Thanks again for the info. I recently decided on the E5000 Ultra. What a great sounding machine!

[Ashe37]

As i said in another thread, i got an e6400... and have 8 cds plus a 4 GB hard drive of samples to work thru...