A look at how the Sound Designer software connected to the Emulator II, transmitting samples via the serial ports - and demos of a few classic Emulator sounds
Beautiful machine. A real classic synth. Still sounds great today. Always think the old synths are the best. So much went into them. A real piece of art.
I used to love watching",Top of the Pops" cos you knew you had a Serious band/performing act just because they had an Emulator on stage....the most beautiful looking machine on the planet
EII also has one of the most unique looks with the big disks mounts. Still have my 1st EII+HD I got direct from Emu as a dealer and a used original EII sitting covered in studio. You’ve motivated me to find a MAC since I have the software w Mac cable sitting sealed
Interesting piece of software to edit patches. Everything except the vocals on West End Girls was made on an Emulator II. He and other artists made damn good use of it.
What a solid setup! If only companies could go back to ensuring a product was stable and finished before selling it. Allot of high end gear is buggy and requires an internet connection to be a finished product. I would give up a decent amount of gear just to have the EMU and mac classic without an internet connection. This trip back in time is a breath of fresh air.
I think that the CMI Fairlight V Synthesizer was the ultimate music creation instrument which was used to create the track Axle F and is also used by a certain female Singer songwriter who wrote the track Hounds Of Love.
It's amazing how good was that piano for the time it was made. So good that Chester Thompson from Santana band has used it in late '80s add early '90s on live gigs.
One of the owners of the first studio I worked for had one and left it out in the studio 24/7. I had just bought a Kurzweil K2000RS. There were a couple of late night sampling sessions once I got my keys.
I learned alot from this vid. I didn't realise these had the Mac connectivity. Nothing much has changed in terms of wave editing software except maybe the resolution on screen. Great vid. Loved that piano lick and those strings.
and a few more Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer Wang Chung - Wake up stop dreaming Sting - Desert Rose remix Sade - Love Is Stronger Than Pride Enigma - Sadeness Part 1 Tears For Fears - When In Love With a Blind Man The Sugarcubes - Pump Klaus Schulze - Airlights Sun Only Project - Spirit Of Africa Eurythmics - Conditioned Soul Michael Bolton - Can I Touch You... There? Dire Straits - Ride Across the River Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring on The Dancing Horses Marshall Jefferson presents Truth - Open our Eyes Das EFX - New Stuff Snap - Exterminate B-Tribe - Nadie Entiende Ron C - Mary Had A Pimp Tangerine Dream - Unicorn Dream (also Fairlight ARR1) Coil - The First Five Minutes After Death NASA - Paula Juno Reactor - Samurai Maxmillion Dunbar - Peeling An Orange In One Piece Rush - Tai Shan Alpha Blondy - Jerusalem (Also EII Loon)
Even today this is powerful stuff so to speak....OK the GUI is retro, but this would have been almost beyond the future back then. My first synth was a CZ-101, I also had a ZX Spectrum. I remember making a trip to London to buy what was then an expensive midi interface sequencer to the Spectrum to record In monophonic via midi. I thought at the time it was just incredible (1984 ish) I upgraded to the Casio sequencer later that allowed 4 multitimberal channels,. This though would have been serious pro kit back then of course. Great to see this....
Thank you and aaah, the ZX Spectrum! It's the first computer I used back in the first year of high school, so it must have been 1983. I remember our high school had purchased a few of them and they were teaching the first programs to us. I still remember the tiny "spongy" buttons, and the rainbow logo on the side. I wish I had had an interface to hook up to those as I also had a Casio CZ-1000 :-D but I only got into computer-based applications in the early '90s (Finale and Cubase)
After so many years e 2 is still a famous sampler .9:35 James brown is Dead !!! Shakuhaschi used in many songs :snap exterminate;Ordikea unity; Eurythmics Dire straits Peter Gabriel Enigma Depeche mode also used it.loon sound used in 808 state Pacific!! My best wishes great review Paolo
The Loon sample appeared almost simultaneously on the 808 State track 'Pacific' and 'Sueno Latino'. This video is the first time I've ever seen it played on the actual keyboard though. It's crazy to think that a particular bird happened to squark into a microphone and it ended up appearing on two important house records. That's more than most humans achieve!
Thanks, 1984 forever! Wow excellent drums, I always wanted this oldskul smash, juicy punches and hits, from Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, of the 1980's! 👍👊
Thanks sharing The Emulator II soind banks.I bought the UVI version.I am a big Pet Shop Boys fans thanks for helping me figure out what sounds they used on please from the EMulater Ii .
There's a whole load of basic Pet Shop Boys sounds in there. Lovely machine. Had the chance to buy one about 8 years ago for a daft price but it was knackered. Regretted that decision ever since!
There's something magical about old samplers. To see that software as well. It must have been mindblowing using the computer for sample editing editing. I've always wanted an Emulator II. They look cool and have that magic about them. Don't I recognise that top sample from 808 state Pacific?
So basicly it was the first software digidesign made before protools thats crazy, some video game sound designer probably made sample for early samples base game with that...
A normal teenager from the mid-'80s nonchalantly buying a very specialized keyboard that cost $8,000 of that time ($20,000 of today). Yah, perfectly believable! :-D www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1984?amount=8000
I managed to get those eventually for EMU ESi. Just can't get enough bank is literally true ... It almost has all the samples :-). Nice bank though. Hold a key and a lot of long looping samples happen. Good stuff.
Yes, much less expensive than a Fairlight, but the Emulator II was still very pricey at $8,000 when it came out (the price of a sports car). The Ensoniq Mirage, however, broke the barrier of entry for sampling, at $1,695 around the same time.
Random question but if I send you money do you think you can sample and email me some Emulator samples so I can put them into my Prophet X? All the EMU libraries I’ve looked into are missing some key sounds (Liquid Stack, Shakushi, Orchestral Hit, Marcato Strings etc). Please let me know :)
Hi Paolo, nice video. You done any sampling and creating custom EII banks yourself? If so, a vid of the process would be good and is sought after by other EII owners. I've been asked many times but don't have the video production skills ! ;) Cheers.
Thank you, JMPSynth - yes, I have several disks with custom sounds that I made, sure - I put it on the to-do list to make a video demonstrating it Thanks!
Was there software for the Atari ST and/or Commodore Amiga too? A Mac at that time was insanely expensive and there weren't even a lot of games for it, ha ha. ;) It did have the first proper wysiwyg word processor though.
Well, the Emulator II cost $8,000 in the '80s! So I think if someone bought one, he/she wouldn't have had too many problems spending $2,500 to buy a computer too
It's quite awesome as well. I've wanted to get the III for a long time. But maybe the rack version to save space. I have the I, the II, and the IV. Would be nice to complete the set
Haa... i've searched the original banks for dayss, but ended up on a custom pack with sounds sampled from albums. Is it possible to find them, is it legal to share them?
Stupid question of the video, does the sound designer software require the emulator II for making/editing the sounds of can it be done purely on the software?
Good stuff my friend. Let me ask you this. Would you be able to make a copy of the enigma flute on a EMULATOR II size floppy and sell it to me? I have 2 Emulators but don’t have that particular disk. Let me know please. Thanks
Here you go , I posted the samples a while ago here www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=10459304&postcount=68 They are just single samples on the disk, so you just have to sample them and save on an empty disk (no multisampling)
SynthMania My friend thanks. Your a good man. I have to show you my studio one day. I’ll post it on RU-vid and will send you a link. I grew up listening to all Italian musicians. Great music, great people.
