E-MU Synthesizers/Racks/Modules

The XK-6 has some really good sounds like the synth leads and pads. These are the sounds that I use the most with it, but it also has some really good basses and analog sounds as well. You can figure out how to use this keyboard after using it for about 5 minutes because it is so simple and user friendly. I purchased it used so I did not have a manual to go by, but I did not need it at all. The XK-6 comes with 32 MB worth of sounds but you can easily purchase an upgrade card to take it to 128 MB if you want to invest a little more money into it. But for me the 32 MB was plenty enough. There are over 1000 presets on this synth depending on how much RAM you go with; if you install 512 MB you will get almost 2000 presets. There are plenty of filters as well, and they are all easy to work with and tweak to your liking. UTILIZATION There are many effects that you will find yourself using frequently with this keyboard because some of the sounds are very dry, well at least to me they were so I had to really dig in to the effects processing to get the sounds that I was looking for. There are over 25 different types of reverb alone; I loved all of the flange effects too. SOUNDS Sounds are amazing, and you can even expand out and upgrade the board with sounds from other systems. OVERALL OPINION This synth is great for all types of music, it was made in 2001-2002 and I have been using it every since it came out. But you can buy one now for a very affordable low price. This is one of the best synths that you can purchase because of the sounds and overall expansion capabilities. You can use some of the E-mu sound with this synth and even add some X Lead or XL-7 sounds too!

E-Mu's Vintage Keys is a rack mountable synthesizer that is made to emulate vintage analog keyboard sounds. I've used it with an M-Audio Pro 88 MIDI controller, as a MIDI controller is of course necessary for playing the sounds in the module. The Vintage Keys rack is from the early 1990's, so at this point this is certainly an older piece of gear. The only connections that I remember using with this are the MIDI ports, but it definitely has some other routing options as well. It will only take up a single space in your rack. UTILIZATION It isn't difficult at all to use E-Mu's Vintage Keys synthesizer. To be honest, I've really only used the presets for the most part, as I haven't done too much tweaking of the sounds that it already has built into it. It does have a whole ton of preset sounds in here, ranging from Moog synth sounds to Fender Rhodes sounds. I don't know too much about changing the parameters here, but if you want to get in depth with it, it might be a good thing to have the manual around if you can find it. SOUNDS The sounds found on the E-Mu Vintage Keys synth are varied and versatile to say the least. You've got pretty much every type of analog and vintage keyboard sound in here, or at least some form of it. In my opinion, the more synth types of sounds are the best sounding ones in here, rather than the Rhodes and other more traditional type of keyboards. Those sounds are very good sounding as well, but the really synthy sounds are definitely the most realistic sounding ones. I definitely haven't tried out every single sound in here, as there are hundreds to choose from... OVERALL OPINION While there are certainly a lot of modern day rack synthesizer out there that are probably cleaner sounding than E-Mu's Vintage Keys, but this is one of the first collection of vintage keyboard sounds, so there is definitely a lot that should be said for this. Beyond this, it's still a great sounding synth module, with a lot of different sounds and plenty of versatility. I don't really know what type of price these would command these days, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have one of these in your MIDI rack.

The MK -6 by Emu Mo Phatt sounds is a great synth, I have read several reviews about this before I bought it and I was skeptical at first because of a few bad reviews. But after trying it out myself I will be able to write a good review because this synth is exactly what I needed. The Mk 6 has 61 keys and comes with a 32 MB soundest that has be created by a solid group of sound designers from around the world in order to come up with some universal synths that no other synth boards have. There are 640 presets on board, so for the price that I paid which was 550 you flat out cant beat that. UTILIZATION There are four analog outputs and two footswitch inputs. You can control all the parameters in real times and there are a nice set of arps as well. SOUNDS Sounds are great, a bunch of high quality synths that haven’t been on any other board on the market yet. OVERALL OPINION Overall the E-Mu MK 6 is a great synth board, don’t expect to be able to get this board and lay down full songs with it, I think that’s what confuses people when they purchase a synth board. Its just for synths, you will still need something to sequence on. This is a very affordable synth board, for synths like this and a workstation you will be paying thousands of dollars. But if you don’t need the sequencing on board then go with this and sequence on a computer like I do, it will save you a lot of money in the long run and time because this board is extremely easy to use because there really isn’t anything that you need to know. You just need it to have some good synth’s for your compositions.

I bought the Pk-6 at the guitar center. I was just out shopping for some new sounds and loved the pk-6 after trying it out. I paid close to $700 a year and a half back. I like the rich sounds, and how they can be changed to whatever you got in your head. The arpeggiator is a headache to work with, and that's about it, not much I dislike about the unit. I don't uunderstand the question. Overall, I love working with the pk-6, so far out of all the gear I got, I use the pk-6 the most. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased for US$400 2nd hand off EBay. I bought it cause I wanted a compact powerful synth for dance music. Pretty much everything, but especially 1. Emu has stuck to a similar interface for all their Proteus 2000 line models, and for good reason. It's fantastically easy to use. 12 realtime control paramaters available from the front panel, super easy editing, almost manual free. As I got mine secong hand, it didnt have a manual, but I got straight into the multilayer (4 per patch) editing, effects, the lot. 2. At first I thought i wouldnt like the small 2 line display, but Emu write the best Synth OS hands down, and nothing much more is needed on screen. 3. The sounds are almost all exceptional (see below), infact there isnt one that I couldnt use. The Arps especially are ludicrously usable, and the beats function makes song creation totally simple. Phatt comes to mind, its really phatt. It far outperforms PC synths. Now I want the Pure Phatt expansion card. 4. Convenient. Dont hide this synth away, you will want to have it right there so you can make tweaks that are just too hard on other synths. Its small (1 U), I have it under my monitor (yes I use a PC sequencer). 5. Value for money. No-one seems to some close to Emu for this. I like it so much I might buy another one (turbo this time) Nothing much I dont really like but ... 1. Not all the patches have the realtime controls setup for the same paramaters. Although there arent many like this, the odd one makes you wonder why... 2. Most of the sounds are great, but I found with some that back to back notes (ie continuous quarter notes) that there was an audible digital click, Ouch! This was solved by backing off the note length by 120th of a note, but its a bit of a pain. 3. Occasionally some curious timing is using multiple arpegiators. 4. Outputs. It only has 2, I think every multi channel synth these days needs at least 4 outs, and probably digital. The turbo model has it, and with that gets effects inserts (awesome). 5. I like the effects, they are good quality, but I'd like more. Dance is demanding on effects, especially delays. If there were insert-style effects per patch it would be perfect. The jog wheel was wobbly when I got it. But I think that was from the delivery. The plastic front panel could be better quality, just milled Aluminum. Otherwise is feels like a totally professional peice of kit, however it would need to be protected well is taking it out of the studio. Love it. Get one. But get the Turbo model, I wish I had cause its even better. Maybe i'll get one as well. The turbo model gets 5 on this scale. I wish this was a 1-10 scale, id give this model a 9. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Bought the unit at MARS for $549.00 I am a part time producer of hip-hop and gospel music. Love this S+S unit. E-mu has really loaded this unit with over 1,200 waveforms and it's 50+ filters to give you a wide palette to create your music. I really get into the guitar waveforms, tons of wah-guitar type stuff that really kicks it. Also love the Farfisa organ samples. When you really dig into the filtering and effects in this unit you can create any sort of hip-hop or soul groove you need. The effects are pretty good. Reverbs are not Lexicon standard, but for live use they are nice. You can layer up to four sample waveforms per "patch" and can detune them, filter them, use velocity x-overs, pretty much whatever strikes you fancy. The drum kits are very good as well and I find myself using my Alesis drum machine far less than before now that I have the effects built in. I don't use the Superbeats mode that the Mo' Phatt has, but the arpeggiator is very tweakable and rivals my Triton's unit at a very reasonable price. To wrap up I'd endorse this unit for hip-hop, pop, rap, gospel, soul, funk and trip-hop musicians. I find a new fresh sound every time I dig into this unit in the studio. Wish it had more outs. Only one analog 1/4" pair. I did not have the cash to go for the Turbo Phatt, with six analog 1/4" outs and 128 voice polyphony. Only becomes and issue when using the drums. Excellent construction. Feels solid. You can open up the unit and add E-mu expansion ROMs but I have not dared yet. Rack ears are solid. Knobs are very nice and feel precise. They have a nice resistance when using the four face knobs to edit sounds in real time. Buy it! Or buy a another E-mu product in the Proteus 2000 family (XL-1, Proteus 2K, Hammond B3) etc. and purchase the Pure Phatt ROM, it is the same ROM as the Mo' Phatt and includes the superbeats, etc. with no shortcuts. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com