Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

I finally received my Ensoniq Project ROM after debating on the 
purchase for about a year. Ensoniq Project is a blend of two Ensoniq 
ROM's for the MR/ZR series containing sounds from their hip-hop and 
world expansions. As with the Sounds of the ZR, the size of the Emu 
ROM is less than the total size of two combined Ensoniq ROM's.

The ROM has quite a few beat patches which may be good for quickly 
tossing together a new hip-hop flavored song but I normall find there 
useless. There is also a collection of simple arps and chord patches 
that are common on hip-hop sound sets. Again, these tend to be 
useless for people who do not need to play a chord with one finger. 
In all, these patches which may be considered useless number about 
100. On most systems this would be a problem but luckily the Emu 
ROM's come with 512 patches. The rest of the patches can be broken 
down into three areas.

Hip-hop. There are a collection of patches and kits which are very 
nice. There is not enough material here to compete with the PurePhatt 
ROM, but it makes a nice addition. There are a few interesting sounds 
in some of the kits, and just a sprinkling of spoken words to add 
some spice to the creation. There are a lot of basses, some very nice 
kits, and an unexpected number of sound effect patches.

World. I once owned the original Ensoniq World ROM which was 
installed in a MR Rack. The ROM was very nice and I regret selling 
it. They now easily sell for over $200 on ebay. The sound set on the 
Ensoniq Project world section is nice but it does not quite compete 
with the dedicated World Expedition ROM. For me the highlight is the 
world kits.

Vintage. Yes, vintage sounds on this ROM. I was quite surprised to 
find so many ep's, organs and synths. Most likely these are from the 
hip-hop section but I feel the need to separate them in my review. In 
my view the electric piano's and organs are a disappointment. They 
cannot compare to the sounds form the Vintage Pro ROM or even the 
base ROM in the P2500. There are a few synth leads but not enough to 
get excited about. The big surprise is the pads. There are a lot of 
nice usable pads and sound effects patches.

So do you need the Ensoniq Project ROM? If you have a unit with Pure 
Phatt, World Expedition and Vintage Pro ROM's you will not gain much 
by picking up this ROM. If you have the an MP-7 and want a bit more 
variety the Ensoniq Project can fill that need. Where this ROM really 
stands out is in a tightly focused unit that needs some variety. I 
placed my Ensoniq Project into a Virtuoso 2000. It gives that device 
the variety of sounds I need to make it usefull in every song. You 
can do this with the Protozoa or Sounds of the MR ROM, but those have 
a different focus on sounds. This would also be very nice in an XL-7 
as the hop-hop and world kits would give you a lot of mileage.

I am not sure I would pay the normal $279 price for the Ensoniq 
Project ROM. It would be worth the $170 I have seen them sell for on 
ebay. At $79 it is a great buy for the kits alone.

Robert