More Emu X thoughts
2004-06-01 by erik_magrini@Baxter.com
Well, I had some more time to play with the Emulator X over the holiday weekend, so here's some new comments on it. First of all, I have to say I reallly like the "tree" concept. This is basically the Windows Explorer type view in the left pane that I mention last time. It really lets you try out different samples quickly, so going through the extensive sample collection they give you isn't so bad. Speaking of samples, I had a go at using the new file convertor app that comes with the X. This is used to import sample formats from other samplers, ie Akai,Giga, Soundfont, etc. I had an old Akai S1000 sample disc laying around I hadn't used in years, and gave the convertor go at that. Some things like the drum loops transferred just fine. But most of the more complex multisampled patches failed the conversion process. Oh well, the samples weren't that good anyway. Also, I could have sworn I read that Emu X supported REX files, but I had no luck importing those either. Not a biggy as it's easier to handle those in SX anyway. The synth section yielded a surprise I didn't realize, until I had time to read the manual. 4 of the filter types are user defineable. That's right you can make your own Z-plane filter. It's not completely configurable, you need to start out with the appropriate type of filter for your needs (EQ Morph, EQ + LP Morph, EQ + Expression, and Peak Shelf Morph) to get the best results. Still, fun stuff, you can in effect create your own formant filters. I also had more time to go through the Preset Banks that come with the Emu X. Kind of funny hearing so many samples I've used in my songs, as a lot of these straight from the Proteus ROMs, I think. This is especially true of the Proteus Composer bank, go figure. Many of the effect banks are drum kits and loops, all of which sounded good if you're into that sort of thing. My favorite of the banks is the Hip Hop Producer. This ones has a lot of good stabs and drums, and just browsing the samples gave me a ton of ideas for my own songs. Not sure how much overlap this one has with the Mo'Phatt soundset, as I don't own that ROM. Good stuff though. The Proteus Composer bank is pretty much the P2500 sound set from what I can tell. The Saint Thomas Strings bank sounds very good too, it'd be my first choice if I needed some realistic strings in a song I was working on. The Studio Grand bank I criticized before as being too light sounding. I still feel this is true somewhat, though some of the presets like Baby Grand sounded much better to me on a second listen. They still don't sound as realistic as The Grand to me, but in the middle of a dense mix, I bet they sound better. One thing that sort of surprises me with this software, is that you have to have one of the DAS systems installed to run ithe Emulator X, but there's no way to access any of those cards' effects from within the sampler itself. Considering that everything else is identical to the Proteus synths and the Emulator samplers, this seems a shame. Yeah you could set up a send in the PatchMix DSP panel, but it would be so much quicker if you could do it while crafting a sample. Lack of Emu's excellent arppegiators is surprising too. Also, there were a few times, when the sampler's internal "tree" would disappear, and I would have to relaunch the app to get it back. I could drag and drop new banks into the upper pane and the sampler's multi page would show the new samples, but I couldn't see anything in the tree view, and thus was not able to edit the presets, or scroll through them. One final niggle (just to nitpick), but many of the presets were so quiet compared to my other studio gear, that for awhile I thought something was wrong with the sampler or the soundcard. They set up so much internal headroom padding in the preferences, that you can barely hear your current Preset. Once I maxed this setting out at 12dB, things were much better, though still on the quiet side. On one hand I can see the reason for this, in a complex sequence utilizing many Emulator X channels, you want to make sure you have enough head room to avoid clipping. Though I personallly found that for single Preset sounds, this was much too low. Not a biggy as it is user adjustable to some extent. Appended wishlist: - MIDI Learn mode for the knobs, with template save. - Onscreen Keyboard really needs to be bigger, and show you what keys you're pressing in real-time. Just makes setting up keymapping so much easier. - Resizeable main window. - Way to access DSP card effects. - A way to zoom vertically in Voices and Zones view, a lot of screen space is wasted with low sample count presets. rEalm (BTW, Sean just sent me a new Studio Grand version too, so I'll report back on that later) The information transmitted is intended only for the person(s)or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material. Delivery of this message to any person other than the intended recipient(s) is not intended in any way to waive privilege or confidentiality. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of , or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. 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