E-MU E4 XT Ultra

I am running eos 4.7. When you first turn this unit on, it is a little confusing to get around, however, after you play with it for a night or so, it is EXTREMELY easy to use. The manual is very wordy if you have ever worked with similar equipment, they obviously tried to cater to newbies and pros alike, but I think someone new to sampling would find the whole thing a bit confusing, but, emu *did* do about as good a job as possible of writing this manual for multiple audiences.

Plenty of polyphony. Fairly generous sample ram. Tons of upgrades (although the upgrades are VERY overpriced). 32 midi channels. An absolutely amazing spec sheet. But, there is one drawback...no step sequencer. not a real big deal, most ppl who have a rack set up will be using some other sort of sequencer anyways, but I don't think it would have taken much for emu to throw in a step sequencer. But, the arpeggiators more than make up for this minor shortcoming. And, I have to say where this beast really shines is the sample editing, simply untouchable in that department!!! The synth engine is only so-so, but I have found it more than sufficient (I am used to my kurzweil k2600, where from a programmer's perspective, the sky is the limit, but this is comparing apples to oranges...)

This category seems a little moot for a sequencer. The sample cd's that ship with it try to cover all genres and yet really don't have enough good stuff on them for any one style. But you didn't buy a sampler to only use the cd's it ships with, did u?? of course not, plenty of cd-rom's available, and it reads many other formats of sample cd's. And I have to add, the filters sound spectacular, very warm.

Rock solid--(knock on wood)

never had to deal with customer support, but I will say emu is very slow to ship anything you order from them (3 business days). I am spoiled with many places shipping same day. Never buy anything directly from emu if u can help it, they are very overpriced. But, their online store is worth checking out, sometimes there are good deals (e.g. right now they are selling e4xt ultra's for $1199.00 remanufactured, that is a true steal!)

Would I buy it again?? In a heartbeat!!! I would be lost without it. In fact, I really want to buy another one (so I can have 2). One other thing, unless you have a good mixer w/ a few send and return busses, and good effects processors, it will definitely be worth your while ot get the e4xt platinum which comes w/ the rfx upgrade. Rfx is pretty much a must-have even if you don't do your effects onboard b/c you need the rfx board to get the 8 analog output or the adat upgrade. So even if you do have a good mixer, the "platinum" might still be worth your while. All in all, an amazing instrument.

EOS 4.61 - Just to be clear as to how i use my E4XT Ultra, i never used the Factory Presets. I'm one of those guys who insists on doing every aspect of sampling himself. I don't use sample CDs. I haven't even used a keyboard with my E4 since it's duties for me have been for rhythms, loops, beats, percussion sounds, drones, ambient soundscapes, voice samples etc. I use an Akai MPC 2000XL for sequencing the EMU and i have never used the Akai for anything other than sequencing, because honestly, the Emu sounds so much better than the Akai.
So back to my review, for EASE OF USE i give the Emu a 9, because i found the interface and menu screens logical. I would have given it a 10, but i have the RFX-32 card and i found it takes quite some time understanding how it works. And even now, it's quite complicated to work with...
The manual is fine, but i did think that to a novice (which i was at the time) many of the terms were not explained fully.

128 Poly, 128 MB RAM, 32 MIDI channels, AES/EBU outputs, expanded with RFX-32 card + 24-Bit ADAT 8 channel in/16 channel out. 20 GB Internal IDE Hard drive. Qwerty keyboard.
That's my E4XT in a nutshell as far as features are concerned.

I doubt i'll ever need all 128 voices...i have however frequently maxed out on the 128 MB RAM. I also doubt i'll ever need all 20 Gigabytes of HD storage. I never used the sequencer.
With the RFX-32 effects card, this sampler is truly fantastic....

I use my Emu for electronic music mostly. I would say the Emu makes up the "electronic" part, while the rest is bass guitar, organ, rhodes, piano, and vocals. I find the Emu excellent as a Beatbox ... i will never use a drum module again (and i have the Alesis DM5)... The filters are wild and always useful. And as above, the Effects on the RFX-32 are just the icing on the cake. Distortion is an effect that many effects processors don't get right; they all make my stuff sound like NINE INCH NAILS - which is fine (i like NIN) but it's not what i'm after in my own music. The Grungulator FX Presets for the RFX are just the ticket however. They just make things sound dirty and abrasive. The other effects are also good - especially the BPM matched delays and the phaser and flanger.

In the 2.5 years of owning it, it has crashed maybe 5 times. It crashed several times at one stage, but it was the internal SCSI's fault. Otherwise with the older 4.01 or 4.1 EOS sometimes it would freeze on certain screens when i asked it to do dumb things like copy or paste an extremely small sample somewhere. Otherwise the Emu has been rock solid.

I wouldn't take on-stage though...well, i would if i had a second one, but otherwise i think it's a bit dangerous taking a $6000 instrument on-stage that normally makes its home in a quiet and well-maintained studio.

I used to be a customer service rep too, so i can attest to everyone having a bad day, so i would say that every customer has a different experience with the company he/she may deal with, but having said that, i never had any problems with the Emu customer service. Great service.

I love it. After 2.5 years I know what it can do and what i can do with it. It's an instrument. With the RFX-32 it's an effects processor. With RFX-32 it also can function as a mixer and much more. The RFX-32 infact, for me, has made it an essential piece of gear. I don't care what anyone's PC or MAC plugins can do, it is a rare opportunity to have so much power in such a reliable box and never have to worry about the computer crashing or the screen freezing or getting heaps of error messages. Needless to say, the sounds and filters and effects are just top-notch. 8 Analog outputs as standard is also nearly unheard from any other sampler manufacturer. To have the option to get more of nearly everything is a blessing.
If it was lost or stolen i would replace it immediately.

OS v 1.46. Everthing about editing is easy. Manual is great!

128 polyphony. I am using the RFX so the effects features are great. Built in effects have become useless. After instaling the RFX and the 8 output expander I still have expansion capabilities. It has an onboard sequencer but I have never used it in the 2 1/2 years I have owned it. Great with Digital Performer!

Realistic sounds! This all depends on the libraries you buy. But as far as sound quality, effects and the way it reacts to your playing in my opinion its the best out there.

This unit is very reliable. Has not broke in 2 1/2 years.

Customer support for me has been great.

I miss it when I leave the house.

Very easy to use - very nicelylaid menus make it easy to navigate. Editing is a breeze.. Manual is big and informative.

Sounds really warm and beautifull! Industry standard! If you want to check it - visit my page at www.ampcast.com/georgeicefield - all the songs were done on E4XTUltra only using mostly E-mu samples... Should I say more?

The best sampler on the market (except Platinum but hey!) Would very unhappy without it - it's so comfortable to work with!!!

I'm using a E4XT Ultra with EOS 4.61, expanded 128 mb ram, Phatt/Orbit RAM, 2nd SCSI port option, input option, RFX-32 card option, so you know what setup I' talking about.

Ease of use: Yes! Very logical, function modules arranged in an orderly fasion, great manual. I love the way it treats a HD or JAZ as a real computer would: that is, with icons, and folders, etc... Patch editing, along with other editing, is as always with Emu, suprisingly easy and straight-forward. The only negative thing I can think of is that I wish there was a keyboard version of it... I'm not terribly fond of rack mounts... But other than that, it's great. Big fat display, big data-wheel for changing numbers easily.

128 voice, man! I don't think I've ever been stopped by polyphony problems on this baby. And I've written entier pieces utilizing nothing but the E4XT Ultra. And that includes effects, and mixing, and everything!!! With the RFX-32 option card, you get another 16 mixer busses, all with individual effects, with a gazillion effects presets to choose from. Plus you can apply effect on a per patch basis. Plus, not to forget the thing has to build in effects units for starters, even if you don't by the RFX-32 card.

However, it's REALLY worth it! You can buy an input expation option, and simulaneously as you're playing the E4 sounds, you can have the 16 channel inputs routed thru the RFX-32, making it, in fact, a 16 channel digital mixer with SUPER-CHARGED digital effects. And this doesn't slow the sampler down at all... It's in there in the mix, playing! And of course you can add master effects, etc... And it's got just about every effect you can think of, from flanger to reverb, from delay to phaser, chorus, plate, gate, compressor, you name it.

Other features... Well dual MIDI interfaces (32 MIDI channels), you can connect a standard PS/2 keyboard to it, to act as a remote control, and to allow you to enter bank names easily. It can be controlled remotely from a PC with the EOS-Link. Very cool when your sitting by the sequencer, and you want to edit a sound or something: Just bring up your EOS window, and the entier E4XT front panel is right there, including it's LCD window.

And you can expand this baby all the way to... heaven? The things got more expantion slots than my PC. There's memory expansion, Sound ROM expantion, Sound Flash RAM expantion, ADAT i/o, extra separate/sub outputs, extra inputs (if you want to use it as a mixer), Harddisk mounting kit for BOTH SCSI and IDE thank god! The RFX-32, of course.

And the thing comes well equiped from the factory: 8 assignable separate/sub outputs, AES/EBU digital Input/Output, World Clock jack, PS/2 keyboard input, Analog inputs, SCSI controller, IDE controller,
32 MIDI channels, 128 voices, 46 track sequencer, automatic beat/loop creator for perfect drumloops in any BPM.

The sound of this thing is unbelievable. It delivered with a whole bunch of CDs with REALLY REALLY good quality sample banks, Not only does import pretty much every soundformat known to man, (all Emu sounds, fully backward compatible, AKAI, WAV, AIFF, etc, etc...) It has a warmth to the sound, that I have not heard since the Emulator III. You can really make this thing sound analog. The filters are beyond comparison the best filter of any sampler.

If you purchase the RFX-32 card, the onboard effects unit is a BEAST! 16 effects mixing busses and a master, with totally assignable effects. ei, 2 effects on this bus, none on this, 6 effects on that buss, etc, etc... If you go for the standard factory set-up, you get 2 effects units which sound good, but 2 effects units for a 128-voice-128mb-32-MIDI-channel-MONSTER seems a little bleak to me... So get the RFX-32!

Everything in the E4XT Ultra can be routed around, so you can make if you want the modulation wheel control the Z-Plane filter, instead if the vibrato: no problem. Also, you can use this to route velocity to some appropriate functions/filters, to get that analog, "no-note-ever-sounds-the-same" type of feel. Brilliant... Honestly, since I've gotten it, I've had a hard time sitting down with any other of my samplers/synths... All I did was popped in a cheap 100 gb IDE HD, copied over all my sound libraries to it, and off I went!

I think mine has been running for about a month now without ever powering it down, or rebooting it... It seems rock solid.

Although I sure it could handle a gig, it seems a little bit too expensive to use it for that... But, that depends on what expensive is to you, I guess...

Customer support is ok. Not great, but it always works out in the end. It seems they are a little bit confused with who does what over there...

Worth every penny!!!! I'd buy it again in a heartbeat! Actually, in fact I did!! I bought one for my home studio too!! I love the fact that with the RFX-32, it's actually a complete studio all to itself!
You know: Sampler, Synthesizer, Sequencer, 16 channel digital mixer, vocoder, "an entier rack of effects", sound designer, loop/beat creator.... The works!

Recently I installed EOS 4.6. With 4.01 I used to save complete banks (when in multimode) so they could be restored with all edited parameters. With 4.6 I was not be able to do so. There weas quite a mess with multimode. Probably there was a workaround, but I was that lazy not to download manual for 4.6. Because the only reason I installed 4.6 was the HDD problem and it didn't solve it. So... So I downgraded back to EOS 4.01.

Only two FXs for 32 channels is way too limiting (that's were comes Platinum!). All effects are reverb/choruses dedicated, which is very boring. Even no effect level setting for each part. Polyphony of 128 voices is a waste of money, when I try to use more than 20 voices I get midi timing problems (CPU is very slow!). I don't use internal sequencer, so I can't say how good it is. Also, when you turn value knob too fast, the value resets to 0. It's quite annoying, for example, when you want quickly jump from 50 to 10000. Synth engine is poor. Well, it's a sampler, not a synth... File system is nightmare. I had 1000+ banks (presets) saved separately, as far as I remember, 2.8 Gb. Then I resaved all them in proups, 50-60Mb per bank, and all these samples took only 1.1 Gb. I freed up 1.7 Gb by doing this!!! Wow! Don't save banks (presets) separately, group them!

No onboard samples means no sense to rate this category. The quality of sounds depends on a manufacturer of a sample CD. As for those 9, which come in the box, I find them insufficient. Acoustic emulations are excelent, although all quite repeatative. Too much vibrato on winds... Synth sounds outdated, and sounding not good at all - noisy, pale, dull and low-end overall. Quite a boring collection, but that's not a problem... At this moment I've collected almost 200 sample CDs, covering all genres of music, and I must admit that my new roland xv3080 beats all them together for the sound quality and variety. The only useful thing about sampler is drumloops, sfx, vocal lines... And acoustics, of coarse. As for those who writes new age, trance, techno, ANY decent synth is a much better deal. Emulated (even sampled on E4!)sound is always worse than original, right? Don't buy EMU producer series CDs - they are shit. Maybe I'm not that lucky, but I haven't found any even decent colection of main pads, winds and el.guitars among those 200 CDs I have... All CDs I have are shit as well (Steve Stevens, Hans Zimmer...). So comparing all these CDs to a single Roland XV3080 I see how boring and poor E4 in terms of sound variety. So I rate 10 because of a quality of playback, reffering to the sampler itself, but overall, considering a quality of all pro CDs on the market and what they offer to you - 5.

My HDD system failed in a year. When I try to save banks I get SCSI error and my HDD disappears form the view. Reformatting helped only for 1 week, then it started again. I need a external HDD to backup data, although I won't buy one, because... (look down)

I always liked them. They didn't help me with my problem, but... I'm not angry for them. Before and then they are always helpful and nice.

I'd like it not to be stolen because I'm going to sell it. I had some fun with it over these years, it was the only sound source in my home studio, but now I feel it's way too limiting me... I bought a month ago a XV3080 and now my E4 is gathering dust. I'm not into sampling at all, I use only sample playback, so almost all the feattures are moneywaste for me. I'm gonna trade it for Korg Triton and Wavestation SR. I need pads, I need guitars, I need cool dance sounds... Yes, I wrote many beautiful songs with Emulator, and I'm not happy to loose them (many of those used EMU only samples, which can not be played by Triton), but now is the time to jump onto the next level. I'm tired of SCSI problems, tired of hours spent loading-saving-searching for a desired sample, tired of shitty CDs... With XV I have so much more fun making music! I'm leaving to synths area...

OS 4.01 Everything about the unit is fantastic EXCEPT FOR so I'll only comment on those issues. I've only given it a 5 because I feel that if ALL you were considering is just a RAW sample/editor and playback then it would be rated a 10 BUT it has a synth engine and as such it CAN do a lot but at what labor. Example none of the paramaters in the synth and filter will update while you are tweeking. Every tweek requires a retrigerring. Even my JV 1080 can do that. How important that is depends on a few things. But in multitimbral use if you had even just a few parts going and wanted to be able to adjust a part's parameters while the sequence was playing you can't because you would have to stop the seq. select the part and make sure you are playing the right channel then go to the parameter that needs fixing -retrigger every time you adjust to here the results. Not only that but considering that a program can have as many as 255 !!! key assignments mapped to the keyboard and shared among 128 voices each with it's own synth... amp/filter/patchchords etc. the internal layout for getting at all of this is in the context of simply adjusting your sound is a mean trick.

I'm using OS 4.02 with the Orbit/Phatt and E-Synth boards installed. The presets on those boards sound great. There are a lot of techno and trance sounds in the cards. In fact, I would go so far as to say if you were to buy only one instrument for trance music, it would be hard to say there is anything better than an E4 XT Ultra equipped with those two boards. Editing patches is a breeze with the well laid out menus, but you will have to do some minor manual searching to find certain things. I've had my E4 XT Ultra for 6 months now and I still learn something new about it from time to time. Luckily, the manual is well-written. It is written in English and not some alien language translated to English. I think a patch editor would make it much easier to edit patches. Is there one available? For samples, I believe I can edit with most digital audio editors and export the samples to E4 format.

128 notes polyphony. Two built-in fx and both are reasonably easy to use once you learn the lingo, but that is like any sampler. It has more expansion capabilities than most samplers. Like another reviewer said, it's basically a computer with expansion slots. In fact, it costs as much as a decent Pentium. When fully loaded, owners will joyously suffer from the big d*ck syndrome. This is one mutha of a sampler. It is E-MU's flagship sampler and most will tell you that Akai's stink by comparison. You can add another 64MB to make it 128MB total. You have four expansion slots for sound cards or flash memory (where programs are saved if the unit is turned off). It has not one but two sets of 16-channel MIDI for 32 MIDI channels total. Yes, it has an onboard sequencer and it is pretty powerful, but it still doesn't beat Digital Performer or Cakewalk.

The unit comes with 9 CDs. There are some superb samples on the CDs. Piano samples are killer. Organ samples are killer. Synth pads are killer. Drums are killer. There is nothing that this thing cannot do. You can even go wild and create you own sounds using samples and its built-in synthesis engine. One thing I've noticed is samples that go in dry through analog will have a slight airy quality about them. It's as if the A/D converters add a little bit of analog warmness to sounds going in. This can be a good and bad thing. For the most part, especially in trance, it's a good thing because you want your samples to have an ethereal quality. You can program your samples to play in a myriad of ways. You can add a bit of randomness to a sample to allow it to play a little differently each time to mimic some old analog keyboards.

Yes, I think I can depend on it. It looks solidly built and there is a lot of attention to detail in the hardware and software. As with any $3000+ piece of equipment, I'd rather leave it at home in the studio than take it to a gig.

I've never had to speak with customer support.

My E4XT Ultra shipped with O.S 4.01, and I should be recieving EOS Link through the mail soon(so I can manipulate the E4 via my PC). It doesn't have any ROM sounds in it, but it does come with a 3.2Gig HD full of sounds and 9 CDROMS! The sounds that it comes with are slammin! Everything from vintage to world instrumants. Getting around the E4 is very basic after you learn how EMU organizes its Banks, Presets, Samples, etc. The manual is very helpful. Of course it doesn't have a shitload of examples, but what manual does?

128 Polyphony standard! Need I say more? The effects are really nice. I wish it had more busses, but you can always just resample with effects. You can expand the hell out of this thing! It already comes with 2 midi in/out/thru, word clock in/out, digital in/out(XLR) and 8 analog outs. You can add an ADAT in/out, 8 more analog outs, and ROMS. It has a basic sequencer that will read/write midi files.

This sampler can be used for ANY type of music! The sounds that come with it are more than enough for anyone. When you sample something it sounds exactly like what you sample...actually even better. Don't even let me get into the filters...

I don't picture this thing ever crashing. It is a "sampling computer"! That is what it is made to do. EMU has a good history with samplers, and how often do you hear anybody saying that their EMU sampler "crashed"?

I havent dealt with EMU except for trying to get my EOS Link. They're pretty strict.

I don't know what the hell I would do if I didn't have this E4 anymore! I've been making electronic music for about 4 years now and I've been through a lot of gear. I have a small home studio and this E4 is the centerpiece(my music is mostly samples anyways). I love everything about it. I feel spoiled with it!

Well, If you're experienced with E-mu products you'll get around fine. Sampling is a breeze for any user but you must take some time out to really get into the xtra's this machine gives you. The manual is easy to read but if your not familiar with patch cord technology (if thats what its called) it can be a bit overwhelming (E-mu please make a video tuturial so we can take full advantage quickly). My machine came with software EOS ver.4.1 and I just recieved EOS link which I havn't tried out yet. I don't think you need a patch editor once you get EOS link. I think the XT Ultra will intergrate into anyones studio situation transparently. Yes, this machine could be considered overkill for some but if your semi-pro & on a budget like myself, you can't beat the i/o, fx, sounds, 32 midi channels, and the 128 note polyphony that comes standard..

E4 XT Ultra has 128 polyphony (I've written whole songs on this thing), 2 built in fx (A into B) which are flexible. They can be set globally, to presets, or to individual samples (and resampled). 32 midi channels! a sequencer (which I'll never use). It has too many features to mention here. Call E-mu up! I don't think you'll be disappointed. OH! but I must say if your into looping and layering beats the beat-munging feature is a life saver. I didn't think I would really use it at first but now I have it analyze every sample I create. The features that come standard on this sampler blows away the competition. The options you could purchase to fine tune the XT cost no more and often less than other workstation. I could go on but I won't.

Right out the box I've found most synths and samplers to be geared toward dance/pop music (your into classical buy a Kurtz). I was looking for flexibility and I think I've found it in the E4 XT Ultra. I do wish it had a weighted keyboard (oh yeah, its a rack unit) sometimes but I dont think I would be able to afford it then. The instruments, piano, horn, strings, etc. are emulated (pun intended) extremely well. The basses are fat (or"phatt"), the synth & drum patches are great and it comes with 9 additional CD roms. Your considering it because its a sampler so bring in your own sounds and tweak the hell out of them. You'll have the power.

OK, here's the deal. It's basically a computer. Would you take your only Mac or PC out to the local pubs? Consider the smoke, bumps, and the ass that always spills beer on your shit while telling you either how great the band is or how your not playing real music (ok, I got that off my chest). I didn't think you would. My experience owning a used E3 is to keep 'em in your studio. If you take care of your boards you'll have little to no problems. The E3 I just sold out performed most samplers on the market to this date and it was made in the late 80's. Bottom line is if your looking for a giging sampler look elsewhere. In your studio it will become your best friend.

I called E-mu twice. Once, to get a mental handle on some of the technology and once for my free copy of EOS link (it lets you control your XT from your PC/Mac). I havn't bought a SCSI card yet for my G3. So I havn't used it yet. Uhmm, the guy was nice. I called asking questions about it even before I bought it.

I'd buy it in a heartbeat again. Frankly, I don't know how your living without it! (just kidding) Really, I think it's a great unit. It's the type of instrument that you could never out grow. I use it with MOTU's Digital Performer, 2408, usb midi express xt, KRK V8 monitors, Apple G3 450, and my imagination. Keep in mind this workhorse has synthesis as well as a sampler. Dont get caught up in the hype comparing what features a synth/sampler are going to have in the future. Compare to what features they have and what options are available NOW. I beleive the Korg Triton is comparable to the XT( I almost bought one) but I sample more than I twiddled knobs. The Triton has GREAT sounds but limited sampling capabilities without upgrading ($$). They're are tons of sampling CD's & CD-Roms on the market for the XT and it reads the Akai format as well. My only complaint is that I wish the synthesis capabilities were set up to be used by an idiot (like myself). Like everything else thats set up on this machine there's more than one way to skin a cat.