E-MU E4XT Ultra

Of course you can buy a software sampler that may exceed the E4 capabilities but nothing comes close to the features, reliability, & application ratios in a hardware sampler. I must add that the price has come down quite considerably since I bought mine in 1999. I highly recommend it if you primarily use sampled sound material in the studio and gig quite a bit. 8 outputs, transparent sampling, a 4 gig HD, and more than enough memory. XLR digital inputs & outputs, large LCD, etc. Some of the other really cool add ons cost extra. It's about time for a full function software interface though!

Price paid: 2495.00 USD

UTILIZATION

I record a lot of sounds "on the fly" which makes it difficult to reproduce live. With this baby, I can sample and play, patches, fx, etc. at a gig. It is one of the few pieces of equipment that works flawlessly. It's hard to tell you how it would be applied to your studio. It's fun to use as well as so many possible applications. The editing is percise and easy. You can start sampling right out of the box. I've sampled backing trax for live gigs and no one was the wiser. The manual is easy to understand and is useful. You can get around without it though. It may be a bit overkill for the average user but once you have one, you wonder how you lived without it.

SOUNDS

The sound is transparent! What you sample is what you get , verbatim. It also has extensive manipulation possiblities. Filters, EQ, compression, beat match, etc. are offline but it does come stock with a more than usable multi FX engine that can be assigned to any of its 8 outputs.

OVERALL OPINION

It's the "Benz" of samplers! it's built on proven rock solid technology. Never had to call EMU once for anything!

Like most things you love, you take it for granted and push for more.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 1-, 2003)

In the full version, it's just perfect! there's everything you need, even +. My sounds are stored on an external SCSI HDD is super reliable and saw the connection, there is no risk of accidentally unplugging.

I miss him more than a small ROM)

UTILIZATION

there's better now ... I always use the good old SoundDiver to edit the beast that is easy and stable even with Windows 7! How could they stop the production of such a soft ... but that's another debate! I also bought at the time "Zuonics ZEOS" I finally put aside: Connection not reliable SMDI.

SOUNDS

A killer! phenomenal power, a headroom of oufff.
Level spatial sounds, I would say it is less precise and surgical some plug and machines +'s recent.
With RFX32 when we know the run, it's deadly. The quality of the effects is impressive and creative possibilities of the sampler is tenfold.

OVERALL OPINION

It is now more than 10 years since I had my first E-MU. I had other machines in the meantime, I sold some and not others. The E-MU is still there! Now, I used mostly as expander to enrich my songs. The sound is irreplaceable, especially (for me) parts Drums. I've never heard better now. sounds are strong, soft and "warm" at a time (even ADAT), nothing to do with Drums rack Ableton and other plug that attack the ears in the treble. And yet the sample size is tiny at the time! I also had the Rack Attack Waldorf and now I have the MachineDrum and I always complete the sampler.
there's may be a bit of affect comes into play but it is a machine that I recommend to everyone, considering the price. At the time, he really had to break piggy bank to buy a 6400Ultra, basic config!

Polyphony 128 voices
Base effects (dual processor) far from being as bad as some say, I find them very well.
Extensive connection, ASCII keyboard, scsi, double triple noon (a / b), world clock, sub1/2/3, output mix, in / out AES / SPDIF, headphone jack, stereo analog input.
Converter very good, big potato ......
128 MB memory, 64 MB card if debrayable Roma in the setup to switch to 128.
Editing utility ZOEOS very complete, EOSlink to control the sampler, just edit the presets SoundDiver but not for samples.

UTILIZATION

The configuration of the sampler is the EOS can not be simpler.
The manual is clear but useless all functions are quickly mastered.
Editing the sounds is very intuitive and allows the EOS to work quickly and efficiently, much better than bump on the pc.

SOUNDS

Clear my liver not really on the ultra series this is less colorful than the "classic".
I sample everything from emu akai then I converted and it keeps one sounds much better than directly sampled on the akai.
Dynamic HUGE !!!!!
The filters are very effective and many have little get sounds barges.

OVERALL OPINION

For a very long time in fact I just bought a third of the Roma with E-Synth.
They're great bikes nothing to do with apps musicounet shabby for wearing shorts that play buckle is a real synthesizer that allows a single sample from build sounds hell not need to buy with expanders what kind of bikes you can have all the inside.
Value exorbitant price at the time but now its really worth it ....
The update 4.7 allows the recognition of the standard fat and thus play wav etcc ... to put an IDE disk of large size format in fat32.