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

Hi. 
I'm a dealer in Italy, and I specialize in music electronics for 
remix and dance productions. I am the premier dealer for this 
kind of gear in my country. 
I've been in this business for a long time and I've owned, used 
and sold ALL products ever produced  in the last 15 years that 
had keys, knobs or a PLAY button on them. 
Since I also indulge myself in having a small and effective studio 
setup, I grabbed an MP7 for my own use.
It's an enjoyable machine and I like to play with it. I won't use it 
professionally yet until I really get it to do what I like. 

However, after a few days of exploring, I will tell you the following 
comments, but don't take them too bad:

* The interface layout is not bad but not excellent either. Too 
much space is given to functions that could be within menus, 
and too little to those that should be upfront, like sequencer edit 
functions, extended transport buttons, and so. 

*Where's my UNDO button? The COMPARE button, which is 
there instead, is only one-tenth as useful as the UNDO button. If 
there is an Undo function anywhere, I couldn't find it. Not even in 
the index.

*The sequencer is steady but barely there in terms of features. 
For example, I can't copy just some bars that I recorded well over 
some other bard I recorded badly within the same track: I have to 
copy the whole track somewhere else or nothing. 
Yamaha keyboard workstations from 10 years ago had a better 
sequencer on board. And you should be able to sequence a 
song WITHOUT just chaining patterns.

* The soundset is quite uneven in terms of dynamics, overall 
levels and sound quality. Enough said. And the reverbs fizzle. 
UUGGGHHH!!! THAT'S CHEAP!!!

*To say that the effect bussing section is confusing is putting it 
mildly. Also, the effects could include a few more variety, what do 
you think?

*The hip-hop soundset is good only in the Bass and Drums/Perc 
categories. Everything else is useless in my opinion.

*A TWO-LINE DISPLAY? IN 2002? IN THIS PRICE RANGE?

*The E-Loader won't load a damn thing from a Mac using USB. I 
don't even want to make any effort to find out why, nor I want to 
switch platform. It should work immediately. Period.

* The synth programming functions are certainly very deep, 
powerful and extensive. 
But guys, I don't feel like scrolling with a dial and tapping 
endlessly with a cursor switch anymore, sorry. I'm 36 y.o., and I 
want better for my money.

*The pads are very well built and respond well. You obviously 
have used a lot of the ideas from the Ensoniq ASR-X series, 
from the sequencing structure to the pads themselves. But I'd 
have gone further. I'd have implemented sampling as well 
(Yamaha RS-7000 beat Emu to that) and a fixed Ram storage 
like that featured on Roland SP-808, which, you'll agree, is THE 
BEST and MOST PRACTICAL type of memory storage ever 
developed in music application, period.

Thanks for your time and I hope I didn't offend anyone.

Max Ventura,
Italy.