Emu Emax - A Depeche Mode Workhorse !! A Fanboy's Reaction | GeeK Talk 

I wonder if Fletch offered to do hand clap solos during the floppy disk loading times between songs. 😂

Release your inner Wilder.. 🎹🎼🔊

I’ve done a bit of programming for The Cure so I can certainly help Vaughn out in this area...I own one of their Emulator 4 samplers that contains the Tour Sounds and studio samples from the Wild Mood Swings/Bloodflowers albums. Roger also gave me the entire E3 sample library on cd roms....

My mind is blown how many times Vaughns mind was blown.

Brilliant video Vaughan! You lucky bugger! That Emax sound is unmistakable... And I had a right laugh when you played the riff from "Living On Video" - took me right back to 1985!

I got an Emu-Emax II a few years ago from another musician here in California and he also gave me a Zip disk with tons of sound libraries and later I got the Alan Wilder Zip from eBay, but I've been busy on my day job for these years and now this video inspired me to get back and setup my "home studio" again and do something. I really need to get involved and re-learn a lot of things but I'm sure it'll worth it.

Hey Vaughn! I wanted to say thank you so much for making this channel and these videos. I've been watching you ever since your Gary Newman gig review vid. And it's been a blast watching your channel and community grow. These videos have helped me out during stressful times, listening to you while working on art has brought me great joy. I'm currently 25 but I have a huge love for 80s music esp Depeche Mode, thanks to my mom who introduced me to them at a young age. Their music has inspired me and my art work. So to learn about them, and other bands has been lots of fun. Thank you so much and continue being awesome! - Victoria

Hey Vaughn, happy to see you had the chance to play with the Emax. It has a great sound. I believe that for the Black Celebration tour both Alan and Martin had a similar setup as for the Some Great Reward: Alan had a Emulator II and a Korg DW 8000 (I'd say that's an odd one)-instead of the Jupiter 8, and Martin had his PPG Wave but an Emulator II-instead of Emulator (first iteration). And sorry to point this out but the Emax is 12 bit, not 8 bit as you say in the video... : ) (Emax 2 is 16 bit.)

I've got an Emax II. A lot of the DM sounds are Synclavier, PPG, DX7, etc etc. The samplers were a necessity for touring. Not to say they didn't do a lot of sampling - they certainly did with the Emulator II's.

Hopefully, Simon can get you an interview with Mr Wilder sometime. Alan has gone very quiet now, so maybe he doesn't want the attention anymore, but if he can be convinced to have a chat then that would be wow!

It's funny, but I have watched the whole documentary from Pasadena 3 days ago and those parts when camera is so close to Alan are priceless...his smile, his fingers playing, beautiful sight

I think "listening to the screen" sums it up better than "looking at the screen". Great video. I absolutely love the EMAX - I own 4. It's weird, I own other samplers - (K2000, EIV), but i LOVE programming the EMAX. It's so simple and effective. Great job!

I miss the Alan Wilder fan boy alert siren!!

To sort things out, the NES and most other computer machines of that day did not have 8 bit sampling capacity. The Commodore Amiga had 8 bit sampling capacity though.

Vaughn, it was interesting and exciting to watch this vid, and I am looking forward to Simon's take on the synth because everything you said gelled with what I know and understand about E-Mu synths. I never owned an Emax but the first thing I did after coming to NY in 1997, was blow my 3rd paycheck on a floor model of the Esynth. The guy at Guitar Center had literally just taken it out of the box, so I scored it for an insane deal! It was a dream come true for an avid (or should I saw rabid) Depeche fan like myself - I finally had an E-Mu! It was/is fantastic, but I had to work really hard to get the tone I had expected from it. The sound was synonymous with DM and PSB to me and so that is what I expected. However when the Esynth didn't quite deliver *that* sound, I felt a little let down until E-Mu helped a little. The sound of the filter on the Esynth was fantastic and had everything from crisp to dirty! I can feel I am going to go on a long diatribe now because I want E-Mu back ..... The guys at E-Mu were extremely helpful and would email back and forth all the time - something rare nowadays. They expressed a *genuine* love for their synths that transcends anything I have encountered since then. I was heavily involved in sampling-synthesis back then and ended up beta-testing the Emulator X hard/software. I dove a lot deeper than most and was always doing some odd thing with the synth, and being a software programmer at the time, I had more ideas than you could shake a stick at! Pages of feedback and some bugs were sent off, and there was not a single item they didn't implement by the time it got to v3 of Emulator X. How many times can you find a company like that? I think an E-Mu fanboy warning light just appeared next to my Alan Wilder warning light! Anyway I walked away with lots of really good tips and tricks, many free discs and CDs, and the holy-grail thick binder-manual. They helped me "dirty up" the sound a little and I was finally able to realize the "DM sound" on an Esynth! It whines like a jet engine when I turn it on now, and the display hums like a@#$%%@@, but it still works. I haven't tried the disc drive in a long while though. I always shudder when I turn it on in case it does not come up, but so far so good after about 23 years of use! The keyboard is still the best I have played despite owning tons of synths over the years. As you said, sampling has moved so far past this era that when I bought a MODX last year, the sound of the samples was shocking to me. So damned phenomenal compared to the 90s, but just *something* missing. The Esynth has been my work horse for sampled sounds since the day I bought it, and I never did get another sample-based synth until the MODX. The advancement in sound is just insane. Dave Rossum was a genius and I can only imagine what he could do with today's technology and computer integration, if he had the chance again. I know he does EuroRack stuff but it is just not in the same vein as an E-Mu synth. I suppose I should throw some money at my Esynth and upgrade the display, and maybe convert the floppy to something else. It is a classic that I keep wishing would come back ...

Somewhere in my parents house there’s a box of 150+ Emax floppy disks. Owned two Emax I keyboards back in the day.

VG, also worth noting that DM used the Synclavier for sampling and FM synthesis. They also used tghe Prophet 2000, Emulator 1 and Akai samplers. if only you could get your hand on those

Rod Hull had the original Emu in the 70’s. Very aggressive. Difficult to control.

still enjoying mine and it continues to blow my mind

You should a video about The Cure.

Excellent Vaughn! probably worth saying that $30k back then would have bought you a house! So, it was either a Fairlight or a roof over your head. I know what I would have chosen though. Like Martyn Ware famously said: 'I had the choice between buying synthesizer or a car... I still can't drive' :)

I have an Emax II... used in violator and sofad tours! I still cant believie it.. of course i backed up the samples.

You're so right about the old samplers having character. I used to have two Roland 12-bit W-30 sampling workstations. Both died on me but I used them heavily live and would have to be creative in how I arranged sounds so that I would only need to load sounds once at the start of a a gig. Padding for 40 seconds or so as the disk loaded was a *LONG* time to fill. I just wish that with the resurgence of analog synths came a resurgence of computer-free sampling. I'd love an Emax as well :) The character of the Emu samplers are down to the D/A converters and the fact it has analoug filters.

Really brings me back - thanks for another great video!

The other day I dug out my Commodore 64 and loaded up Cubase Pro-16 using the ENORMOUS Floppy-Disk. This is such a muscle-memory for me and still remains the fastest way to sketch out a midi arrangement, I can truly enter the password code with my eyes closed. Back in the day this disk became corrupt so I telephoned Steinberg. They were SO shocked that I was still using something so old that they sent me a new disk special-delivery with a 'Thank for using Steinberg' card FREE of charge. What nice folks. This incredible service caused me to but Cubase 5 later on when I had money to burn and a proper studio, but sadly I found it cumbersome to use. In the early 90's I was writing song-sketches for The Pet Shop Boys using this exact same computer and a wall of humming analogue kit... Yamaha FB-01 being my favourite analogue lump. The Pet Shops Boys sadly chose 'Go West' over my track 'Something I used to do' as they (Spaghetti Records) said "Bad news... we have chosen to do an established cover version"... I was so so Close... Close enough to smell the chlorine in my heated outdoor pool. I dusted this track off the other day and I still maintain they made a huge mistake... I REALLY must give this a 21st century remix/Flavour... or is that 'Flava'? 🤔😂 Lyrically it remains the only sweet/sarcastic song I have ever written, a song I am currently playing to help cure a broken heart. Either way Mr George, this is a world exclusive!

Can you imagine DM loading Floppys durring concerts..changing over and over while we all stood there in awe.

I have a EMax 1 and Emax 2, is a great keyboard !!! but the only problem with this keyboard is the sequencer !! it really really sucks !!!

Thank you Vaughn 😎 The original Emax... This Sound gives me Goosebumps...

memories of Peter Gabriel explaining the Fairlight saying "mommy" ....happy times 👍🏻☮❤

Reminds me (no way same level but...) of when I tried to rent to own a green Gretsch Anniversary. Sadly couldn't keep up with payments back then but maybe will one day. Awesome video Vaughn! And congrats! 😎

I love the passion in your voice and the excitement... I would be feeling it too!!! Very happy for you, what a joy to own!

the first album of my own music that I produced on a DAW ,not tape as previously, took me 3 months to mix . It was horrendous ..i walked away for a week . Came back, deleted all the sessions took the raw tracks levelled them , slight eq, very minimal compression .. It sounded fantastic ( for my skill level) I realised I had been trying to SEE the mix not HEAR the mix.. Every album since I've been very careful to do the minimum and use the DAW as a logistical aid not an extra instrument . It can so easily overpower the song . 👍🏻☮❤

Not in the same league as this beauty, I have an 8bit yamaha VSS-200 sampler I've had since the 80s and you're right about character vs perfectly sampled - the pitched glitchyness of one sample over the whole keyboard has a gritty sound of its own.

Hi Vaughn, i´m a E-mu fan since i heard an E II live on the OMD Dazzle ships tour. Many years later i got an Emulator, without Manual. Neede 1 1/2 years to get in touch with an e-mu technician in Netherlands to get an copy. Sold it shortly after for beginning an job. In 1990 i visited a musicstore in Hamburg (germany) and get blown, when i entered the keyboard section: A Emulator III keyboard to test. Very great sound, but price at that time was 35,000.00 German Marks!! It was an 8 MB Version with 40 MB HD. 9 Years later i bought an used one for 10 % of that price. Now i´m collecting e-mus. The sound of e-mus is so undescribable, it´s living it´s own life. Waiting for the vid with Simon. I love him for his knowledge of e-mus.

Hello from Hungary! 😘

You look so excited with this jewel! Congratulations! We understand what you mean... the character (there is history there!). Waiting for more videos and samples from Emax! (Te ves tan emocionado con esta joya. ¡Felicitaciones! Entendemos lo que quieres decir... el carácter (¡hay historia ahí!). ¡Esperando más videos y samples del Emux!

i always wanted emax but i was lucky enough to inherit the EMU emulator 2 from my father anyway and if you want to know what instruments they where using in the BC tour 86 watch the wembley arena record live

Character is more important than perfection - not only in music

amazing! i;m also trying to find Prophet samples/patches for the Emax 1.. would you have an idea where i can find some ?

Thank you for sharing this Vaughn!!! I had a black EMAX II...I had the non-turbo version (with 4 MB RAM)...However, I found that certain SIMMs used for the Mac's (in my case the Macintosh IIfx) worked in there. So, I made my EMAX II into turbo version. I also swapped out the hard drive. Great stuff...

Wowwww I had one.. it's great for kicks.. btw you'll be doing the ARP 2600 Synth because It's Martins Synth,.. he had or has 3. and Minimoog

For want of a better term, the original Emax has more of an ‘organic’ quality, which I guess comes down to the analog filters. I purchased mine second-hand in the mid 90’s from an alleged film soundtrack producer, he certainly included some very interesting sample disks. Still my favourite sampler some 25 years later, although I’m a little reluctant to use it given its age.

I believe that on your video @17:35, you play a sound that reminds me better the track "Black Celebration" than "Behind the Wheel" (in the intro)

It’s a great unit. My last synth purchase was an OB-6 module. It can get you all the Mode sounds you’ll ever need! I know the OB isn’t a sampler (or a saaarmpler) as you say,...but that’s how far tech has come! You can get an analog unit with extra bells and whistles to create any sampled sound that the mid to late 80’s samplers gave you! I did love my Emax. An old friend that is no longer with us.😔🎶

It's kind of a resonant high level bass/low level mid ...tangy bounciness. That Pasadena sound... it's very evident on the People Are People long intro from 101.

I agree with the chracter of the sounds, back then each band, artist had their own sound because they used different technology. The modern availability of sound is amazing but at the same time without limitations creativity cannot flow.

The EMAX DACs are something special. If you haven't yet, sample at 10k, and listen to that legendary EMAX grunge. I have an EMAX SE keyboard and an EMAX II rack. The EMAX II can't sample below 20k, unfortunately. I sample everything in the EMAX I at 10k, it sounds like magic. Don't forgot about the analogue filters too.

I can certainly relate. We had to be much more creative when working with the old Ensoniq Mirage than today with my DAW and the thousands of samples and plugins we have access to. But it resulted in some unique sounds and it was a lot of fun.

I have mine still, used it in both my bands “ejector” and “Darling Gunsel”. Setting up my studio when my home is finished later this year and my Emax is going to be one of the guest stars of my recording equipment. There’s just nothing like those awesome buzzy sounds. Great video!

My God what you are talking. It took 15.5 minutes before I head a note played 😆

Fantastic video! It's cool to wonder if your particular Emu was used by any famous bands back in the day, you never know...

I doubt you'll see this but I'm wondering about that little soundproofing booth you have behind your desk. Did you make that or do they sell those pre made?

I had this exact Emax which I sold to to buy a Prophet 6. This sampler has analog filters which gives it a rich warmer sound. The biggest problem I had with the Emax was the weight of the beast.

The Emax 1 in this video has analog filters, the Emax II has very hard sounding digital filters. I prefer the Emax 1. Especially if you're sampling old synths. It's more time consuming with the Emax 1 tho, you have to do multiple samples over the keyboard. The Emax II you only need to sample one key, so sampling with the Emax II is a quicker process

Actually, you are absolutely right that people are "listening to the screen"! I love this phrase! There's an Emax (not HD though) for sale for $1500 in my area and I'm tempted!

Espen has some really nice clear plastic floppy disks. A whole bunch of them too.

Have you ever thought about doing videos about The Cure?

Wow! You've found the Holy Grail! This will definitely take your channel to the next level.

Yeeeeee, so happy for ypu, Vaughn. Missed you..

15:48 Can immediately hear Little 15 by Depeche Mode here.

LUCKY DUCK . My yamahe EX 7 use floppy disk. I hope to fix that . If you are a gearhead you get it . My favorite keyboard is my Roland JX-305 . I just wish i could get more storage space for the memory and new screen.

Very nice video! When you played the Behind the Wheel bass line, you were right , that’s not the sound used on the album BUT that sound you played sounds very similar to the 101 version . If you listen closely the 101 and studio version of “behind the wheel “ kind of have a different bass sound IMO.

wow awesome to see this on the channel! love the Emax, hope to see you eventually explore it further! I'll be buying the Kontakt library (which is developed by one of the E-mu engineers) which is the best i can get my hands on for now haha.

ABC also used the Emulator 2 (great band) :)

I owned one and it was great but in 2007 it was near of to die, mainly the disk player. I sold it finally.

Congratulations very cool looking forward to hearing you play it. I used to lust after samplers and synths in the 80's & 90's but there was no way I could afford them. I purchased a Roland-W30 sampling workstation brand new for $1900 at the time and was already pricy for me. Early 2000, people where dumping hardware synths for VSTi's and I picked up a bunch of gear for real cheap, an EMU E5000 Ultra sampler fully loaded for $199 Canadian. I've been subbed to Espen Kraft for a while and another great musician is Anders Enger Jensen

I'm crazy loving this channel more and more and more and more...

Absolutely brilliant - So pleased for you VG. You now need to go and have a lie down. MW

I see a guitar case...any video review sessions for guitar?

World violation tour..2 emax 11 turbo's midi linked to each other and backed up by 3sp 1200's for Alan,Mart and Fletch..pure heaven

I have an Emax Xhd variant, I cant play in the traditional sense, but its fun to have a little go on, if i had known DM discs had been available on auction, i would have been prepared to pay a lot of money to ensure i got one, just to play some riffs with the original sounds.

nice and nerdy video :D thanks :) btw ... the behind the wheel choir sound is never ever a martin gore sample. :D ... that sounds toooo far away from his voice ... but maybe you know more and know how they postprocessed it to sound that "synthi"? :) and btw2 ... even if "listening to the screen" was a slip, it makes that, what you wanted to tell, a bit more "deeper" ... so "listening to the screen" matches way better as "looking to the screen", when you try to tell someone, that he did not mix his song well enough, as he obviously did not listen by ear, than more by eye ;D

Totally agree....less is more....the amazing sounding stuff we have now some how is lifeless.....great , interesting video cheers

It's a cool Machine, but Depeche Mode, and most artists who used samplers then, were much more into sampling their own sounds and usually against using presets. The only real preset example I can think of is the intro to stripped, the idling motorcycle is a stock Emulator 1 sound.

First time I fired up one of these bad boys and loaded up a recorded sequence from the internal harddrive - it was a jazz influenced song that the former owner (I guess) had recorded; and regardless of the song genre it reminded me of Depeche Mode! It was the first time I really witness the essense of analog filters importance to "colour" the sound. I have always thought that the discussion of analog filters was a littlebit nerdy and some kind of expression of 'elitism'.

They used the EII on the BC tour since they actually used the EII as their main sampler on that album and the Synclavier for the drums only.

In their last tour the spice girls used an emax II !!!

Cool bit of kit-look forward to the forthcoming content,thanks to Simon Forsyth as well!

I got my Emax SE back in 88. 12 bit funny machine, and when I look at your interview I finally understand how boring i must have been to my friends and my family.

Vaughn, Alan and Martin both used an Emulator II for the Black Celebration tour in 1986.

It's hard to discern during most of the video, but the keyboardist is playing an Emax. Lord knows I'd love to own one, or even borrow one. Never seen one in person.

For those mere mortals like us, the vintage vault 3 from Uni.net has excellent samples including the original factory patches for emulator 1,2 and Synclavier

Looking it from a front view it looks a massive beast. With regards to Simon I always appreciate his knowledge of synths from the earliest days :)

Black Celebration tour was in 86’ this was brand new then. But the HD SE came out after that a little bit, the boys used and original mono EMAX unit i think.

Geekiness. 💕

The electric bass disk sounds like the bass used on It’s Called a Heart.

Fantastic stuff again. I remember sometime ago now the band I was in at the time used the Emax pretty extensively some people even though the songs were new songs by Depeche Mode. Have a look for Dr Strangelove Why Do You Do & youll see what I'm saying. Ps loving the show 😎👍

Emax SE is 1987. DM played regular from 86.

Fantastic video!!!!!! Love it!!!!

great videos and you choose very good topics, but it would be nice to see a more dynamic approach, with less talking before hear a single note...I think you could give the viewers more candy without waiting 15 minutes...maybe a quick intro, general topics, play sounds, then start to develop your concept, more playing, and the like...hope you take it as a good comment, I really like your channel. Cheers

It has become an additional Member of so many bands..more than a mere instrument. EMUs are more than a brand synth. They are intrigal parts of a revolution of music.

Great!! I enjoy it!!!

I HAVE AN ORIGIONAL BALDWIN IKE SAMPLER FOR SALE. what is it worth, and where can i offer it for sale. thanks....😎

I love these trainspotting stories.

New studio’s looking nice.

Imo the Emulator II is far superior. Even Emu thought so and was one of the reasons it didn’t carry the Emulator name.

I know exactly what you mean when you talk about character. Another similar feeling is something you can have with an Akai sampler.

Bought my Emax (standard) a year ago. 390 EUR-ish. Too cheap. Will Never Sell it!! Upgraded to OLED display and a disc emulator for convenience. Handy to have your own famous technician, Vaughn 😉 An EII was the same price as Golf GTI in ’84 😝

Simon is a top guy, get me out of a fix many years ago.

Great video my friend.....!!!