I think the roms would sound better since I am assuming the sampling engine/CPU only has to sample and play verses sample/play/sequence, etc. But unfortunately, I have never owned any new Emulator samplers and I have not an inkling of any experience with them. Let us know if you find out anything.
Interesting. I do believe there are a number of Command Station users here that also had/have E-Mu samplers. I am wondering if anyone has done some sort of spectral analysis to see the differences the same sample or preset produces in the CS v. Emulator. Also, I am wondering if (and how) the samples from a ROM placed in an EOS machine differs from the same samples played through a command station. (You mentioned sampling the CS as opposed to putting the ROM is side and playing the samples directly.)
As for manipulating samples, I would agree that an Emulator with an RFX-32 card would give someone far more options than the Command Station.
BTW, I wasn't really making a comparison. I was just saying that the factory presets are quite good. Thinking about it, many EIII and EIV presets are just straightforward multisamples. Many loops are fixed at whatever the bpm is of the sample, unless you want the pitch to change along with the tempo. Here's where the Command Stations beat the Emulators--when you change tempo, your sequences don't change pitch.
As others have said before me, its too bad E-Mu didn';t develop a CS with all of the sampling capabilities of an EOS Ultra Sampler in addition to all of the capabilities of a Command Station.
--Steve
--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, James Ulibarri wrote:
>
> "the E-Mu factory presets are quite good and if someone makes music
> using just those they should not be made to feel unwanted here."
>
> In comparison to what exactly? I would honestly bet cold hard cash
> that 85-90% of the Command Center users out there have not heard
> what Emu built their name off actually.
> All I hear is how good these voices sound all the time. And I have
> also heard people say they are warm. Ummm, really?? What's warm
> to my ears are voices coming from an Emulator II or III or Emax 1.
> Why? Because everything passes through SSM low pass analog filters
> on the way out. So yes, you are right then. Once the Command
> Station voices are sampled into one of the machines above, I would
> say yeah they do sound good, but not until they are. If you have
> never heard the engines on these things with your own ears and what
> a real set of filters sound like than you haven't heard what Emu
> built it's name on. Command Stations are just regular 24-bit
> DAC outputs rom synths. But once you sample these voices into say the EIII
> than you're in for a real wake up call. Instant plump and girth, and what
> real warmth sounds like. But what's going on there at face value is out of
> the Command Station is pretty tame. There is no comparison. To my ears it
>; almost sounds like software. And I don't even need anyone to back me up on
> this. I know what's up and what's what on all these old machines.