E-MU Carnaval

Pretty easy to use, but hardly enought buttons, too many menus hidden in there.

Features are good enough, but nothing special IMHO. One thing I really dont like is the color. The thing looks ridiculous in a rack of pro gear. Its UGLY and pretentious.

Here is where this thing really sucks!! I cant believe the stuff they put in here. Youd be better off buying a cheap latin sample cd. This has so many useless sounds that it really pissed me off. The drum loops, well, they sound a bit sterile to me and there's only like a few of em. What a JOKE!!!

Yes, I guess so, I dropped mine twice and its still ok. I should try tossing it out the window and see what happens. :) No, really emu stuff is pretty durable for sure.

The folks at emu are pretty cool....no problems.

If it disappeared, I would not miss it. I have never used it even once on a track and I have owned it since '99. Im going to sell it before the price goes south. This baby did not sell well in the US but it did in Europe. Go figure. Anyway, my bottom line is that this is a HUGE CHUNK of goat cheese. For anyone into Latin music, this is kind of moot , so you can pass on it, and not miss nothin.

OK, let me explain a few things before I write this review. I have been playing Salsa, Cumbia, and Merengue as well as Latin Jazz for 15 years. I have studied Brazilian music for about half that time and I have travelled to brazil quite a few times. I have also performed with a number of well known Latin Jazz musicians as both a pianist and a synth player. Some people refer to me as an ethnomusicologist, but my day job is as an anthropologist. I feel rather well qualified to comment on how well an instrument is geared towards Latin music. If you know Latin music well, dont bother with this instrument.

That said, it is fairly easy enough to use. If you are familiar with EMU gear, you'll have no problem. The manual far superior to a Roland manual, but its not like it was written by Paul Schrieber (MOTM)either.

For the beats alone this is worth having. If you have latin samples and know how to program real latin beats, don't bother.

In general, the sounds are not really bad. I imagine you could get them from some other cool EMU stuff.

There is not one good Johnny Pacheco/Fajardo lead flute.
For merengue sax, you're gonna use your Korg stuff if you have it.
The trumpets are good enough, but not spectacular either.
The lead synth...please refer to my other gear listed at the end of this.
The piano is ok...I like Kurzwiel pianos. I like the Roland electric pianos.
The conga is still not versitile enough. Could a synth manufacturer get it straight that a quality conga player is capable of producing like 50 different tones?
The vocal effects are nifty, but played and tired. If you need a sample that goes "Whopa" or "Agora Si!" then buy a Carnaval.
The preprogrammed beats are good, actually very good. However, they all contain a montuno played on a piano sound. The beats are much better when the montunos are removed. (THey arent even good montunos)

The sounds dont suck, but they aren't must haves either. If you get a great price, Im sure you could find something useful.

If you play Latin music and want this for that explicit purpose, don't waste your money. If you want EMU filters and get a deal, go right ahead.

EMU makes high quality stuff. Never had a problem.

The manual is still available on the EMU website. I think thats pretty cool. Otherwise, I never delt with EMU.

Like a said, if you know your latin music and have lots of gear to do what you want already, you'll probably be dissapointed with the carnaval. I really wanted a good Cuban style flute and it did not produce one. It also would have been nice to have Milton Nascimento style children's voices doing oohs or ahhs. I just sold mine for $350 so having it stolen is not an option.

I often buy and sell EMU/Korg/Roland gear. Currently my setup is a Roland XP-30 with a vintage synth and sounds of 60s and 70s expansion sounds and an SH-101 and U-220, Korg N1r (soon to be for sale), a Waldorf Q rack, a moderate MOTM modular system, a Kurzweil micro piano and SP 76, a Fatar 88 key controller, an Oberheim OB-8, micromoog, minimoog, DX-7, and a Univox Minikorg K-2.

Couldnt be easier. Especially if you are somewhat familiar with Emu modules. Manual is excellent. Presets are surprisingly good!

The features are typical for a module like this. Nothing too wild, but very functional in a midi set-up.

This thing sounds incredible. Usually presets really dont cut it for me, but with the Carnaval, I find the presets to be really awesome!!
They did it right this time. Some of the sounds are so nice, I wouldnt dare edit them. Others are very easy to edit, so in general, I love the sounds on this thing.

Rock solid. Metal casing. Very dependable. I hope it wont give me any trouble, but Emy gear is usually tough. I would use it without backup.

Nice folks at Emu. Always helpful.

I have to say this unit is unique. I dont own anything like it and have never heard such a cool rompler, so yes Id go get another if this was lost or stolen. Ive been playin music for about 35 years and I own a lot of Emu's stuff. This one is really special to me because its got more of what I wanted in it than my other Emu modules. If find this Carnaval to be very helpful & inspiring to my music. Gives me plenty of ideas to work with and gets me started on projects with ease.

Very easy to use right out of the box. No problems. Set up is like many other Emu rack modules. Manual is great.

The features are pretty typical of the Emu romplers. Pretty basic, but enough to work with. Great MIDI capabilities.

The ethnic sounds in this unit are fantastico!!! This baby has some great percussion and horns too. Some of the tribal stuff is KILLER!!
Even has some good human voice sounds.

No problems for 6 months. Built very solid.

They are very cool at EMU. I have talked with them regarding problems with other EMU gear, but not the Carnaval. Sometimes it takes a while to get thru to the tech dept. person you need, but when you do, they are very helpful.

If it were lost, Id be bummed and start looking for another one. Its definately worth the money I paid. Ive been playing music since the 60's and own a lot of gear. This unit is kinda special to me tho cuz it has such unique sounds. Im gonna keep it. I only wish it had a bigger display, buy hey, its not that small either.

has no way of loading its banks onto my cubase vst (producer pack). The manual only goes so deep. so then when you need support. big fat zero. they dont respond e-mails and cant be gotten a hold of.

this thing is very similar to planet phatt and v-orbit in the way it is laid out. all the buttons are the same. it has 0-4 banks(5 total) and it its loaded with tons of cool latin sounds(salsa, rock en espanol etc...). the beats mode plays authentic rythms where they had actually done alot of research to replicate. (if ony they could put that much effort into cust support)

of course nothing can sound as good as real players in a band put the machine really does very well, especially in the percussion. remember this machine is not trying to make synth sounds which are supposed to be computerish. it is trying to replicate ethnic,african and torpical drums, trumpets and even human sounds. it does a pretty good job. the accordion sounds pretty real but the trumpets i didnt expect to sound real anyway.

ive had it for about a year and no problems.

big fat ZERO on that one. all i want to do is get the names of the sounds into my cubase vst and cakewalk proaudio9 without having to manually enter all 600+ sounds. i emailed them millions of times and no response. finally one came and they said they dont do that, that i need to go to cubase or cakewalk. well guess what cubase and cakewalk said. the web site hasnt had updated in years it seems. oh, there was some support for proteus and its other mainstream modules but none for carnaval. did i not shell out 700.00 for this machine or what?

the questionaire asked if it was lost or stolen, would i buy it again? well only if they would provide me a way to load the sounds onto cubase. otherwise NO its not worth the trouble despite the cool sounds it has. IF ANYONE DOES HAVE THE LIBRARIAN,PATCHES,INSTRUMENT LISTING OR WHATEVER IT'S CALLED PLEASE E-MAIL ME!! AT asdruval@yahoo.com .you may just save my sanity.