E-MU Proteus 2000

Easy to use for both novices and tweakheads.

os ver 2.26

Good range of features:
-built in effects.
-expansion card slots (4)
-no onboard seqencer

OK the preset sounds might not be to everyone's liking, but it does have a lot of them. Somewhat dance oriented.

This is where I have a problem. Maybe I got a lemon.
The CMPSR card will not load. This means the unit is effectively useless.
'User' can be selected, but 'CMPSR' does not show up.
Since the 'User' area just holds patch data based on the sounds on the CMPSR card the whole unit has become very silent.
If anyone has an idea how to fix this I would love to hear from you!
(I know it's often not worth the expense, but I can't even sell this thing unless it makes some sound - shame to just trash it - but I might have to.)

A great little box considering that it's getting a bit old now. Has that 'Proteus' sound which is a bit thin, but can often fit into a mix of other instruments nicely.

1.24 is the version i'm using and seems fine.
The presets are a mixed bag overall with basses and piano's comming out on top. Strings are pretty bad though and i'm going to have to re programme this machine for a lot of them. As noted before there are qiute a few patches with pretty fast release times which sound unnatural

great polyphony, midi. Good overall fx, i've heard a lot worse (hello Korg!). I wouldn't bother with rom's, a waste of time. I;d rather use software to sequence.

overall it's not a bad unit for 140 quid but i wouldn't pay any more for one. Compared with a jv1080 which you can pick up for about 200 qiud or less nowadays, there's no comparison. Th jv wins hands down. But that isn't to say the proteus is bad, far from it.

very dependable.Bomb proof build quality, which is nice.....

Never phoned 'em, but the website is good for software downloads and the 'E-Loader'.

It's an interesting machine, i can get some strange stuff out of it and the onboard sounds do not do it justice. It's quite inspiring in some ways, and irritating in others.

Pretty straightforard and easy to use.The manual describes a lot about synthesis and really exposed some of the synthesis capabilities that I think are almost hidden the first time you use it.You can layer 4 different sounds together,but you can almost isolate different parts of the envelope,loop the envelope,and the patch cords are great(have the filter freq trigger the LFO rate etc...).It's worth mentioning that there are A LOT of really cool sounding filters in this module-good for instant satisfication.

2 FX busses as I'm sure has already been mentioned...

expandability is great with the rom boards

This is basically an all-in-one sound module.Pretty much whatever sound you want,it'll probably be in here(acoustic/electric gtr/piano/rhodes/percussion/synth/live drums/electronic drums etc etc..),and because of that there's always going to be an area that doen't quite deliver.The presets are at times awful and cringe worthy just listen to the demos!It's never going to be a Virus C,It sounds very General MIDI if you know what I mean? It's had enough sounds to keep me busy for a few months but I only use it to thicken and layer out sounds made elsewhere.At times it sounds dated but this is where the synthesis part and editing patches comes into play,it increases it's life span.But to give it justice,I will always turn to it for a nice piano sound,or to layer lots of percussion,and to use it with a sequencer is great coz it's 16 part multi,and has 2 midi i/o s,so EMU have really taken into consideration the future problem of 3 extra rom boards fitted,effectively having 4 sound modules in one!

I don't think I would replace it.If you made a track just using the proteus sounds then it's going to sound like a demo school project kind of thing.But if you use it as a composition layering tool then it's quite good.Would much rather have a virus c or try the roland JP8000.

I had it only for six months, few years ago. It didn't fit me at all and I didn't use it in any song. I felt it sounded flat. I went thru all 1500 patches and I found only 10 usable sounds Some sounds were very badly looped and you could easily hear it (for some sounds it's mented but other not. I bought it to replacement for JV-1080 I sold (stupid me). I bought Proteus 2k after reading reviews from here and SynthSite.

So all the the specs tempted me to buy P2k (128 poly, tons of filters and patches) and I was totally disappointed when I got it. Now I'm afraid to buy another E-mu synth because 2k sounded so bad. But features and specs are the best of this synth... but that sound.

I remember the best areas were: electronic pianos, basses and drums. But then I had some other synths to cover basses and so on. Those times my other synths were: Yamaha AN1x, Kurzweil K2000R, Waldorf Microwave XT, Waldorf Microwave I, Waldorf Pulse. I bought P2k for additional strings/pads and some synthy stuff, but it had lame string sounds etc.

I bought Roland JV-1080 back and I'm still using JV (2080 actually). P2k is NOT bad synth, it just didn't fit to my music and I don't usually make own sounds with "preset" synths (not even with my JV, and there is no reason). I make my own sounds with other synths. It's silly to make synth with over 1000 presets you can't even use. But I think there is many of you who likes it so try the synth before buying... There is synths for everyone, this wasn't for me.

The E-mu proteus 2000 is easy to use,calling up presets is simple with the control wheel!...however too simple to get into the habit of just using the preset sounds "albeit most of them good",and not using the programming functions to create your own sounds. The manual is pretty thick , o.k. and easy enough to understand,but there's a lot of "White coat" nonsense in there than need be!

An impressive 128 voice polyphony,the reverbs and effects are fine enough!,but are a bit limited to how you can use them!,Of course it comes complete with the nice composer sound simm,and you can add a further three. I urge people not to fall into the trap of buying a lot of these sound simms,i bought the protozoa,it's got some great sounds in it,but you are getting a lot of the older proteus module sounds in there as well,and some of the piano sounds are a bit too "casio tone!" for me!. And it's obvious that the latest sound sets are a marked improvement.
There's a pallete of sounds already there between the presets and the option to experiment with the programming functions, it's more than likely you would be able to emulate most of the sounds that come with the additional sound sets anyway,buy them if you must!,but i'm begining to think there not worth the extra cash really!.

Some of the instruments are very realistic sounding,as it's sample based,there is a few turkeys in there as well,like most other things,and probably sounds you wouldn't touch in a million years!. Over all,quite impressive sounding!!. The drum sounds i do like,and the vintage keyboard/hammonds are cool and? too many other sounds too list!. As i said before the reverbs are fine. It seems to react fine with your playing, again there is lots of filters and different ways you can set it up to respond to your different styles of playing.

Dont seem to have any trouble with this little beaut!,the only thing i've noticed is if your very fast scanning through the sounds with the wheel,sometimes it jumps to a sound you dont want "if that makes any sense at all" a bit annoying,but it's maybe down to turning the wheel quicker than the machine can process the information!!,Technology eh!!? And i would gig with it no problem,as long as it was racked up in a case of course!

Strangley enough E-mu u.k. are just a stones throw away from me!..i phoned them once,i hate to say this but "Ahem!...they dont sound like they have their act together very well". Although i have never had to phone them with a technical problem,and i hope i never have to!!!

If it got stolen,i would replace it at some stage hopefully,but with the music i make it wouldn't be a priority,just for that reason only though! and no other.
When i went to check this out,i tried a Korg tr rack "At least i think that's what model it was?" Anyway the Korg was a bit cheaper but sounded like shit!! in comparison to the E-mu!

It has helped out a little bit with the music side of things,as there is a lot of inspiring sounds in there to build with. But used as an extra tool mainly,as apposed to relying on it totaly to make music!

I use software version 1.24
Most of the presets sound awful, but who cares?
Editing is quite simple, following the vocabulary of subtractive synthesis, although I rarely use the full complexity of the machine on all four layers.
The manual is ok, there could have been some more practical examples.
But after 4 years of using the proteus, I got used to a very intuitive way of programming, which gives me the ability to recreate sounds, which are born in my imagination. That's most important for me.

Polyphony is great
Build in effects are average, prefer external processing
Never expanded it, 'cause i make my own patches
Midi capabilities and their programming are fantastic
Who needs an onboard seq??

As told above: Forget about the presets, use them as raw approach to the sound that you want to hear. P2000 worked good for me in D&B, Jazz,Metal,Industrial, Soundtrack and Special Effects

Giving the full note. Had never any problems, studio or live.

Communicated with Emu for sponsoring after the release of my first CD. Juggernaut will be on their web page soon. Don't know about the service, didn't need any.

I would steal it back. I wouldn't want to live without it.
Playing music for 19 years, mainly electric guitars, sax, drums, keys and work with bands and do a solo project with a singer.
Compared to all other synthesizers I tried before, it was a quantum leap. If I would lose my P2000, I would buy a P2500, which has a more intuitive user interface. Other synths I tried: Waldorf XT (which is also a jewel among the modules), Korg (nearly all series from Poly to M1), Access Virus (don't love it too much), Roland Digital Pianos etc.
The proteus is responsible for everything, which is not done by a guitar, sax or vocals. I also work with a lot of samples and always find the balance with the Proteus. Listen at www.invasionsystems.de.

Currently using 1.45 Version, w/ the Vintage Keys ROM also installed.
I've only STARTED figuring out how to make use of most of the features
included w/ this module (the manual is very thick!) but anything related to playing live (choosing/editing patches in "real-time", i.e.) is pretty easy, intuitive. Still haven't figured out how to drive two differet patches seperately w/ 2 different keyboard controllers at the same time yet. The manual is DENSE! To be fair to EMU, there's quite a few features that I haven't attempted to use yet (described in detail in the manual).....I bought it for the sounds and the price so I may NEVER use some of this module's features.

Most of the features have been described to death in previous reviews so I'll refrain from repeating them, except for the fact that no one seems to have mentioned how well engineered/constructed the patches are....it's been a while since I bought a NEW piece of equipment and I was well-beyond-pleasantly-suprised to find that most of the patches I use on jobs (Hammonds/Wurlies/Rhodes/Clavs) all have realistic and useful FX built in......by using the mod wheel you can have effective panned vibrato, Leslie, wah and other FX added to the patch being used.
Love the polyphony and ROM headroom. Multi-timbral possibilities will come in handy once I get the "bugs" in this one fixed (see Reliability). Great price for all that it will do. I DO wish that particular patches (that I know, ahead of time, that i'll want to use on a gig) could be found and retrieved faster. It's a bit laborious and "mad-dash" pressing buttons and turning knobs to get to the right patch--LIVE-while your bandmates (not to mention audience members) are all waiting.

As stated before, I've added the "Vintage Keys" ROM to the factory pre-sets and Orchestral ROM that the unit was shipped w/.
I'm having an absolute BALL playing through all the sounds and am absolutely delighted that such a high % of them are useful, well-conceived and engineered. I'ts nice to be able to add panning vibrato to rhodes sounds, wah to clavs, Leslie to Hammonds, octaves to horn sounds all by moving the mod wheel. I thought the added ROM ("Vintage Keyboards") was a bit pricey but sounds are very good.....I'm not kicking myself for not buying the Clavia Electro now.....a lot of the hammonds have "key click" that's so heavy it sounds like a xylophone was added but it may be possible to dial some of that out by twisting the editing knobs after calling up the patch......still exploring those possibilities.

Seems well-built BUT.......I've had it less than a week and it's already goofing on me.....there are 2 midi ports on the back ..A (w/ Midi in/out/thru) and B (Midi in/out)........the module causes my controller to shut down when I connect to the B Midi In(yipes!)....... (Sweetwater Sound) The distributor's tech support says they've been told (by E-mu) that the problem must be my controller (a Studiologic/Fatar SL880)--gosh, there's a surprise. No explanation as to why they think so, they just think so, apparently..... (see customer support below)......so apparently I'll have to send it back at my expense, have them check it out and then....?

E--mu was absolutely hands-down the worst tech support experience I've EVER HAD.....what total ASSHOLES! It's tempting to just return the Proteus for a refund or just buy another brand...there's plenty of them out there......After dealing w/ them and their condescending crap I tried Sweetwater Sound (the distributor, who I bought the Proteus from) and their tech support.......better results...at least they listened to me and are trying to help! The problem is described above in "Reliability".

I'll add another review at a later date to described how problems w/ my Proteus were resolved

I'd like to add something important to the reviews below. There is one HUGE and VERY ANNOYING problem with all Proteus sounds. Almost all of the factory patches HAVE IMMEDIATE ATTACK and DON"T HAVE DECAY. You press a key (no matter what velocity) the sound suddenly jumps on you, you release a key - and the sound dissapears in a milisecond, it just cuts itself. Especially this is unbearable with pads, strings and pianos (well, pianos do have a decay but very short). It is so ANNOYING! Of coarse, you can program those attack and decay times, but I don't think you'll want to do it with 1000 patches! Emu programmers are idiots, sorry!

Very easy, proteus have realtime knobs for deep and "light"
editing, and sent this parameters to midi out.
Edit-menu is simpy to use,like a nokia mobil-phones, or maybe
Roland jv 880.

128 NOTE POLY, 32 MIDI CH, 6 ANALOG OUTPUTS, DIGITAL OUT,
1024 PRESETS, 18bit D/A...

ACOUSTIC PIANOS-7
BASS SOUNDS-10,E-DRUMS 9,ACOUSTIC DRUMS-8,
E-PIANOS, CLAV, ORGANS-9 (AND VERY BAD PIPE ORGAN PRESET)
STRINGS-8
BRASS-10
GYITARS-9
PADS-7 ...ETC
EFX-7

EXCELLENT

For Yugoslav-Belgrade dealers (SKY-music)-not bad...

OK

OS 2.26 The presets are overall terrific, except for the acoustic pianos, which are passable in a mix setting. The front panel editing is very easy. It's much less obtuse than Roland equipment that I've owned.

Since I've added the "Sounds of the ZR" (primarily for the 'Perfect Piano')and the B3 ROMs, I'm invincible. I'd put up the sound set up against the Triton or Motif.

The OS 2.26 upgrade is killer! It's added a number of functions that didn't exist before.

very easy. right out of the box you get phenominal sounds. editing doesn't look to hard but i don't have that much time so i leave it alone. the
manual is easy to read and helpful but i didn't read it.

i was so impressed with the sounds out of this thing. one of the reasons it sounds so good is that they are sampled sounds. this unit mainly
has lots of pianos, tons of bass guitars, cool sounding REAL DRUMS and odds and ends instruments like that, along with some violin and
viola and cello which is very good too. i used this unit for my classical cd along with cakewalk and it sounded just great.

i would use it on a gig if i was into that programming midi stuff.

never dealt with them but their website is very helpful.

i am a guitarist in a metal band but i use this for composing, as i do classical as well and have my own video production co. it is a
great-sounding unit and i would recommend it highly. this unit is cool since you can add cards to it to get sounds from other E-MU units.
this is the only unit that does this. so instead of buying the virtuoso rack unit for classical for $1000, you can get the 2 cards for it at $300
each and you save money and have all sounds in one unit. really nice. that is what i want to do. i had the virtuoso and loved it.

I'm using the latest OS update (1.24 I think). The only real improvement I've noticed being additional functions in the multi set up page. I have to say I have a love hate relationship with this module. I bought it as the mainstay of my set up to do R&B based stuff alongside an MPC and almost immediately regretted not buying the TR-Rack which I'd considered. Unlike Roland and Korg gear I've tried subsequently the EMU sounds really lack sheen and class. Areas where it's strong - bass sounds for instance - are far outweighed by ones where it lacks - pads, strings, drums, crappy percussion. If like me you're thinking of making it the mainstay of your set up sound wise, you'll have your work cut out. Almost out of necessity I've become adept at editing sounds to get them to work better and the ease of doing this is one of the machines plus points. I've not used a patch editor just the control knobs.
The manual is fine and like all other manuals becomes more useful after you've got to know the machine a bit better. This machine is easy to use - its just the overall sounds and functionality that let it down.

The effects as you may have already gathered are one of the biggest draw backs on this machine. They are inflexible and very limited in their application compared to something like a Triton. I actually turn them off and use stuff on my board.
I don't trust that the expasnion sounds will be any better than the stock ones so I haven't investigated that avenue.
One plus for the machine is that it has two sets of midi connections - useful if you use both a computer and a hardware sequencer like myself.

The instruments are basically a bit crappy and far from realistic, although for some reason the horns are all very good. The piano's and keyboards aren't going to fool anyone. The drums don't have the weight to use for R&B/Hip Hop rather than samples (again unlike the Triton).
However, there are some good sounds if you search them out. The bass sounds are great and the control knobs make it easy to push them into sub territory and using sounds in ways they weren't intended works well.
The machine is OK for R&B/Hip Hop. P Diddy used the Crackly Pop bass patch for Bad Boy For Life (which everyone thought was a sample) whilst Timbaland simply samples the audition patch for the Plexy bass patch for Nas's Owe Me Back.
In the UK this machine is beloved of the UK garage fraternity and the audion patch for the Carlos guitar patch formed the basis for the Masters of Ceremony's Do You Really Like It? as well as numerous So Solid Crew tracks.
I won't bad mouth the effects any more.

The power unit went on mine after a year taking with it all my multi patches - this only increased my hateful feelings towards. Me and my POroteus is like a bad marriage!!!!

Helpful enough

If it were stolen I wouldn't replace it and I'm a bit wary of other EMU stuff as a result. If I had loads of other gear I wouldn't feel this way. Sure I've doen stuff I'm happy with but I always feel like I'm making the best out of a bad situation with. It just doesn't give you basic things you need like some simple pad or useful FX sounds which can just be so frustrating - too may of the sounds are too overblown. Overall I prefer the stuff on my little handheld Yamaha QY 70. Soon I'll hopefully have a shiney new Triton and me and my Proteus can finally get a divorce.

Well I've been using the proteus 2k for over 2 years now (probs longer ;) ) and it is an impressive bit of kit. I'm using the 1.23 software as the 1.24 doesnt appear to warrant anything i need! Its an easy module to use as its a composers box...i.e. the presets sound good. To be honest so far I havent found the need to edit and save sounds of my own but when i have done it has been an easy task. Normally though this has just been ading sustain to notes or altering various flters to clour the sound. Its an easy task to do so and the manual is fantastic. The interface on the module prompts (questions) everything u do so tweaking or saving a sound is intuitive. One intersting feature i did find was the 'audition' feature. It plays a progression of an instrument which allows to hear how that instrument can sound if u were to use it. I'm a bit of a novice to the synth type world and the manual made me feel well at home...the programming chapter made great bedtime reading as my girlfriend knows only too well!!!

Ok I'm still learning and the chances are i wont use the full capabilities of the p2k. I have the the module hooked up to a computer sequencer and my multi-track and i generally use it for the drums, keys, and strings. Bu i do know after owning it a while that there are powerful features. Its easy to layer instruments on top of one another, and believe me u can alter the sound of the instrument within minutes with the various filters and effects. Effects are easy to use but in the setup i use unfortunately (midi) two effects can only be applied. Meaning that the designated effects of the instrument in channel 1 of my sequencer are the effects that will be used in the other instruments which is annoying if u wanna use delays or flanges etc. This is probably standard fair i dunno. Expansion capabilities on the p2k are good though expensive. U can add other rom boards with extra sounds. At the moment i cant afford a plectrum so i doubt i'll be expanding!!!

The p2k is what i would call a pick and mix bag of sounds. U get everything u want for all different styles of music. The presets as i said are good....u want a piano u got it no messing around. Before i get onto my main point and shout my ass off what i will say is that i think a lot of the techno/trance/ambient sounds are fairly safe. I for one didnt get a hard on when i heard them straight from the box. For me they didnt want me to create music in that genre which i would have love to have done. Ok maybe tweak and see what u get out of them.
Ok angry time...and the main reason which i'm writing this review and believe me i've been meaning to it for a long time! Basically the drum sounds on the p2k are complete crap. I'm not talking about the techno or dance sounds as they are well catered for, i mean acoustic drums, rock drums, heavy metal drums, pop drums, punk drums! doh! I forgive the fact that arent GM compatable (why i dont know) its just the plain simple fact that there isnt enough variation in the sounds avaialbe particulary in the tom-tom department. Each and every kit has the same boring ass high register toms which may be great when used subtley (did i spell that right?) but there are no low toms. U are left with two different toms on a kit. I write rock music and u cant do without variation in fills and embelishments and they cannot be achieved convincingly with the p2k. I'll go further. The kick drums either sound flat and uninspiring or too plastic and processed, the snares ditto... hi-hats no long sustained crisp open hat sound that will cut above other instruments and make it sound as hough the drummer is really going or it!! :( Crash cymbals are crap with no variation, hitting tin foil with a byro pen achieves the same noise. Yes i know theres an entire set of sounds dedicated to kicks, snares, toms, and cymbals but once again i didnt find anything that i wanted to use. Toms in the upper register and nothing u can really group together, kicks...hmm maybe could be used but the best ones are in the presest kits 4 me!!! and as u know by now i hate 'em. snares boring or too abstract i.e. u wont think about using them. cymbals too many dance types. There arent enough different types of cymbals that could be grouped together in a track to form a kit....u will not find geedy lee in the cymbal bank ;) Honestly i think everyone needs to have options to hand. If u write rock/pop/metal music u need a 20 piece drum kit palltte to hand because u never know what u might need. u need the options and the p2k lacks that. That rant took me two beers to put together!

This box is as hard as nails. I have had it for over 2 years now and its never crashed once. Never used it in a gig but the other guys on this site say its fine.

Mailed Emu onc and they replied after about 2 weeks. Good answer to my question and relatively friendly.
I've upgraded the software from the emu site each time the update has become available and its been fine.

I wouldnt buy the proteus again. Its not what i'm looking for but at the time the quality of the sounds seemed better than the competition such as the roland jv1010? and i preferred the p2k interface to the korg trinity moudule. I've been writing music since i was 8 and i'm 26 now. The p2k is my first foray into the synth/synth module market and to be honest what i use it for could be achieved on an el cheapo sound card. I'm not saying i dont explore what the p2k can do because i do and i know what its capable of. Other gear i own is fairly modest. Fostex digital 16 track, line 6 pod, more black boxes, a few hundred guitars, a sexy trace elliot amp which looks great in the dark when switched on, a marshall which never gets switched on, a drum kit 2 hundred miles north of me, and some mics which i can never be arsed to sing into. My music's at http://www.btinternet.com/~n.black

My version of the Proteus is 1.24. Everything seems to be working tip-top. The presets are phenomenal. Not too many strings but I find them very usable (if you get the Orchestral Rom Vol. 1 you'll be completely set for strings). Drums are disgustingly GOOD. Bass patches up the A$$. There are literally hundreds of bassline sounds. Uprights, synth, all of them are great and very usable. There are some excellent sub-basses but not too many electric bass sounds, but the ones that are there are very cool. I especially like the fretless basses. They sound very realistic and they glide from one note to another very well. It's especially useful to have a lot of basses doing the music I do (trip-hop/downtempo with a little electronic pop and rock mixed in). Good stuff. There are also countless organs... they all sound extremely cool. With a little programming you can get really nice Wurly's and Rhodes patches. Here, this might be easier.. if I break everything down sound by sound---

DRUMS- awesome, any kick or snare you could ever need... the kits in general are quite cool. Mainly geared toward electronic music. Nothing wrong with that.
BASSES- see above, MANY to choose from.
STRINGS- see above-- it might be to your benefit if you invest in the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM.... it's most of the strings from the Virtuoso 2000 but without the $1000 cost of the Virtuoso. And believe me when I say, the Virtuoso's strings are SICK. I haven't heard better strings... not even on a Korg Triton.
PIANOS- most are very cool, but in the low range, they sound sort of phony. But they still sound really good. I'm into Moby-ish piano sounds and the Proteus has a lot of them.
ORGANS- see above
LEADS- phenomenal. screaming 303's, low end rumbles, you name it.. this unit has them all. Juno's, Jupiters, Moog-style.... whatever. Good stuff indeed.
NOISES/FX- pretty cool.... you program this and you'll discover some insane presets. It can do a LOT.
PADS- awesome as well, but as other reviewers have pointed out, a lot of the pads are pre-made chords (you hit one key and it plays a jazz chord)... this isn't a bad thing if you're creative, but it does get in the way of playing your own pad progressions. all of this doesn't matter if you spend a little time programming so the pad patches play one note when you press down on one key.)
GUITARS- excellent! the acoustic guitars are disgusting... they sound so damn REAL! with a little efx, you could really make some amazing stuff. You have to hear them. Very cool.

I haven't used a patch editor yet but I'm sure Sounddiver is a wise investment. Any computer-based editor is a lot faster to get the sounds you want, rather than flipping through a tiny LCD screen.

The manual is very well thought-out. Lots to read. The only thing I don't understand fully is the effects routing... there are many internal effects in the Proteus 2000 and when you use it in multi-mode (MIDI sequencing), it seems like the effects are universal... I just need to figure this out more... I know there's a way to save each preset with its own effect, but.... I don't know. I'm not too into reading manuals. I'd rather be writing music.

The polyphony is 64 voices I think.. or 62. Basically, you have a lot of choices. You can get a fully orchestrated song sequenced with no problems. I've used 24 tracks of MIDI alone, in one of my songs, with a lot of stuff going on (all played by the Proteus) and no problems.

Tons of built-in effects. Reverb, delay, flange, chorus, etc. It's kind of difficult to get the effects working the way you want (see above in the Ease Of Use section).... but it's very versatile and the effects sound GREAT.

The Proteus 2000 can be expanded with three additional ROM chips. One great advantage is it can use something called a Flash ROM, which allows users to write their own patches and save them onto a ROM chip instead of the internal "user" bank. That's cool as hell. If you like programming, and save a lot of your own patches... it's very useful. Or you can just buy the additional ROMs... As I wrote above, the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM is a must-have if you are a strings fan. It runs about $289 as most of the ROMs do (sometimes you can find other ROMs for $199 now... like the Protozoa ROM). They also have the Holy Grail piano ROM which has a really good piano (and many other useful patches)... but for me, all I really need is the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM.

I don't know much about the MIDI capabilities... as I wrote above, I'd rather be writing music than figuring out little cool things that the Proteus can do. I know that the MIDI capabilities are extensive and powerful (as all E-Mu products have been and still are)... if you're a MIDI geek, you'll know what I mean. You can do it all with the Proteus.

No on-board sequencer in the Proteus..... stick to Cakewalk Sonar or something similar and you'll be fine. :)

I am pretty picky when it comes to sounds fro ma sound module or synth. I am a big fan of analog (speaking of analog, I highly recommend the Novation K-Station.... for $700 you cannot beat the sounds of that bad boy)........ but I also love the meat-n-potatoes sounds that the Proteus has. It's good to have a good sound module that has every type of sound you could possibly want. The Proteus is that module. I've read that people compare this to the Roland JV-1010.... I've played the JV and the strings are cool and certain other things are, but I don't know... the Proteus 2000 just takes the cake in all areas.

As I wrote above.... the sounds are quite realistic, but there are some bad, crappy ones (as all sound modules have). The basses are phenomenal. Bass guitars and synth basses are extremely important in electronic music (especially drum n bass and downtempo) and you have more than you could ever need.. but that is a good thing. They sound awesome. The brass is pretty damn good, I know that many reviewers said the brass was horrible but no way. There are muted trumpets that sound DAMN CLOSE to the sound of Miles Davis' own trumpet. I haven't heard a better muted trumpet. Not even on the Triton, which I almost was going to buy. The trombones are really cool, too. You can definitely use most of those brass patches. Guitars (acoustic and nylon string and other) are just superb. So clean, beautiful. I love them. The distorted guitars obviously are crap (think Casio) but I mean if you need to play a distorted guitar riff in your songs, then get a guitarist or buy a Les Paul. Synth modules are never good at duplicating distorted guitars. And why should they? It's an unnecessary patch. The drums sound amazing.. so many creative and unique abstract drum sounds and kits.. plus you have your typical acoustic and rock kits.. everything is useable... lo-fi kits, etc. Percussion (latin perc., tambourines, etc.)... everything you need. The kick drums THUMP. They really do. They have some balls. No joke. Snares are excellent as well. If you like drums, you won't be let down by the drum sounds in the Proteus..... moving on to strings... as I wrote above, there are some really cool string sounds.. and solo instruments. They sound quite realistic but the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM is the way to go if you need realistic, amazing strings. Noises and FX are plenty. Just do a little programming and voila, some weird-ass sounds. Synth leads are awesome, too. TONS. Jupiters, Moog's, Juno's, all kinds of good stuff. Seriously. You can get any sound you want with this unit.

You know what else is awesome? The Proteus can generate a patch randomly... if you are stuck and need a cool new sound, just go into the menu under the "save" section and it has a random patch generator. I've used it, and let me tell you I've gotten some amazing patches with it. I think that feature kicks ass. :)

Oh yeah.... do NOT download the demos on E-mu's website.. it's cheesy new age jazz music for the most part and it just doesn't showcase how cool this module really is. I would recommend either checking out some mp3's of my band at http://beautysconfusion.com (we use the Proteus in all of our songs) or look up "Proteus 2000" in all the search engines and see what you can find there. The demos are not bad but they're not good, either... also, definitely check it out in person at your local music store. Use the "audition" button (it plays a little riff when you go to any preset, and the riffs really showcase how powerful and how good this thing is and sounds) or hook it up via MIDI and go to town. I was sold on it, by only hearing the first 50 patches. :)

I think the Proteus is very dependable. I use it in studio-only applications (I don't bring modules to my band's live shows, we use a backing track for a lot of the electronic-based sounds)... the rack is built solid and I think it will hold up in the long run. I owned an Orbit the Dance Planet for years and it gave me no problems at all. E-mu makes solid stuff.

I haven't dealt with E-mu's customer service. But their website is very informative... they have MP3 downloads of the demos and sounds of pretty much all of their products... it's cool. And on the site, they walk you through the OS upgrade program and how to get your OS version upgraded. Very cool. I think they're a pretty respectable company.

I would definitely buy the Proteus again if it was lost or stolen. It's worth the price I paid and more.

I've been playing electronic music since about 1997... I really got into techno in Sept. 1998 when I bought a Yamaha CS1x (still my favorite synthesizer... incredibly powerful, that blue beast). And I got heavily into mellow electronic sometime in early 2000 when I first heard Moby's Play (and saw him a few nights before on that TV show Studio Sessions at West 54th). I've also been a huge Portishead fan since 1994 when I first heard Dummy. That's the band that REALLY influenced me and got me into trip-hop and downtempo/chillout)... In the summer of 2001 is when I really got into writing downtempo and trip-hop and formed my band Beauty's Confusion..... and just recently (a few months ago), I got the Proteus, and I've been super happy with it. I'm sure you will be, too.

I love that the Proteus is a very versatile sound module, and it's expandable, too. You get all kinds of basic sounds (the meat-n-potatoes stuff) and you get weird stuff. It's the best of both worlds. There are 4 user banks (that's about 512 user patches), plus 8 Proteus banks (called Composer banks)... that's well over 1000 sounds in this unit... you definitely get your money's worth. Another great thing is, the patches are organized alphabetically. For example, when you're on the bassline section, it would read "bas: Bassline 1" and then "bas: Cool Bass"... that helps a lot. I don't think many other manufacturers organize their patches that way. It's very useful and a cool feature, if you ask me. Plus, as you go through the Proteus banks (the Composer banks), everything goes by category... you have all the basses in one section (turn that jog dial and you're in the basses until you pass them and get to another category).... yet another very useful thing. I hate going through a synth module's sounds only to find a bassline at #5 and then another at #245 and then another at #641. Who has time to waste like that? That's how the Triton is set up. I can't stand that. E-mu put all the categories of sounds right next to each other. Right on.

I compared the Proteus to the JV-1010 and played with the JV for about 15 minutes (and went through every single patch) and I was like "ehh". I played the Triton LE and, as some of the sounds were VERY impressive...... I was like, I'm not paying $1300 for this. I don't need a built-in sequencer because I write my stuff with Cakewalk and soft-synths such as Reason.... I also played the Novation K-Station.... but that was no comparison.... I bought the Novation K-Station, too! :) That thing is awesome if you love techno and oldschool analog sounds. Personally I use the Proteus a little more than the K-Station but I still love them both. Again, it's a matter of taste. I think the Proteus is an amazing piece of gear and well worth looking into. A lot of heart and soul went into designing this thing.

I wish the Proteus had better strings built-in. Those ROMs can get quite expensive. But I invested in the Orchestral Vol. 1, as I think all of you should, too.... if you own a Proteus.

It definitely helps me make music. It doesn't get in the way. Well, most of the time it doesn't. ;)

Anyway... that's about it. I hope all of you reading this check out my band Beauty's Confusion at http://beautysconfusion.com .... fans of Sneaker Pimps, Hooverphonic, Portishead, Esthero, and Zero 7 might like us... check us out, and let me know what you think. :)

The soundnavigator is easy to search a preset by category. The edition of a preset is complete but sequantial because of the little screen. So, if you wish modify or creat new presets, you MUST buy an editor/librarian. You own Emagic Sounddiver 3 and the repogramming becomes exceptionnaly easy. With such a low price for the Proteus, buying Sounddiver is very reasonable.
The manual is very complete but not available in every language. For Europa, in english and in german I believe.
The real time knobs are for me useless. Once good presets are created, there is no interest to modify them in "real time".
The factory presets are fine but not exceptional. You must reprogram some (strings) to obtain the same quality as with Roland XV and Korg Trinity. But an User presets memory of 512 patches is available for creating.

128 voices ! even with layered and linked patches you have no problem !
The response of the keyboard is modifiable with a choice of 14 velocity curves and with reprogramming the patchcords. So you can make what you wish.
There are 3 expansion slots to add 16M or 32M Rom cards. I have filled my Proteus with Protozoa + Sounds of the ZR76 + Holy Grail Piano. For my needs it is widely enough. But some customers would appreciate more slots. Korg and Roland offer more.
I think that 2 Midi in, 2 Midi Thru, 1 Midi Out and 6 audio outs (but 4 without effects) is sufficient (+ a S/PDIF output which I don't use) for majority of customers.

The edition and programming possibilities of this module with Sounddiver are infinite. You can transform the "good" factory presets in "fantastic" user presets. If you like creat your own sounds, the Proteus 2000 is the best available deal today. It is cheap and offers 4 banks of 128 presets in Ram (+ the possibility to record on a computer lots of banks with Sounddiver).
The samples are very good, all multisamples, but not enough various. This is a "generalist" module but oriented toward modern music. 1024 factory presets but too much percussions. No solo violin, viola, cello, contrabass, harpsichord, harp, voice.... I play mainly classical music, I am not concerned by Techno, Dance, Rap or other modern grotesque styles. So I had to complete with 3 supplementary cards to find missing samples.
Now I dispose of all sounds for my needs, with more than 2000 factory presets (but too much percussions and basses). However, the following comments concern reprogrammed patches, especially because the samples overloops in multisamples are not convincing in the factory presets.
- Acoustic piano : the best of the world with the Holy Grail Rom and The Perfect Piano in the ZR76 card. Only Roland offers maybe more in the SRX2 card.
- Harpsichord : good, equivalent to Roland,
- Organ : exceptionnal power, only the Korg TR Rack can rivalise,
- Strings : combining all the available samples provides excellent and very various solo or group strings. But the Virtuoso 2000 (after reprogramming) offers more.
- Winds : excellent, except the fact that I can't obtain a good recorder flute.
- Brass : very very good, but I work yet on them.
- Acoustic guitars : magnific !
- Chromatic percussions : very various but better in the Virtuoso 2000.
- Voices : all the factory presets are distorded voices, fortunately the samples are good enough to create real voices and choirs.
- Harps : they are decent but are much better in the Virtuoso.
- Synths & Pads : not very original, Korg's are more beautiful.
- Other instruments : I don't use them.

Some users find the effects insufficient. For my "classical" needs they are perfect.

With 4 layers by preset and the possibility to link 3 presets you can layer up to 12 sounds. It is enough to create exactly the sound you wish once you are experienced with all the programming functions. And it is easier than with any other module !

No problem until now. The installation of the supplementary cards is very easy and the communications with my computer and my digital piano with no problem.

Emu answers allways to my emails, within two weeks. They offer regularly free upgrades and send news to registered customers.

For this price you can't find better (830 Euros alone), except the Roland JV1010 but it offers only 128 user presets, and an used Korg TRrack (alas not expandable).
With 3 supplementary cards, I have 96M of samples, 2176 factory presets and 512 user presets for 1900 Euros (about 1700 $). Not other module offers more.
I shall buy it immediately if stolen.

Navigating around the main screen is simple enough to select banks, sounds, channels and adjusting volume/pan. Simple editing via the real time knobs in Omni mode is easy as is saving patches. Things get a bit more involved when you start using multi mode with FX and Patch chords, layers etc?. The manual could set down procedures in a simpler step-by-step way - if you?re a novice (like me), some of the terminology can be a barrier. It takes a while to figure some things out?but eventually it?s worth it.
I sequence mine with a Yamaha QY70 (wot no computer?) using an Evolution MK149 keyboard and synchronised with a Boss BR8 to record on to. This is all amateurish stuff but it gets great results.

I like the real time knobs for quick editing and the Randomize feature is fun and can turn up some interesting results. I only need 16 channels but I?m sure 32 are plenty for most and I?m not going to be testing the 128 polyphony to it?s limits.
If I had a wish, it would be to assign FX individually to each channel. The quality of the 2 banks of FX are great it's just I find the assigning of FX in multi mode very cumbersome.

After the initial "new toy" euphoria phase wore off, I began to think I'd made a mistake buying it. Some of the instruments - acoustic pianos, strings & bass guitars in particular - didn't sound that great and a lot of the other sounds were very similar. Too many basses! And I also agree with another reviewer about the pads ? the majority are in chord format (Why??) and therefore of VERY limited use?.E-MU!?I am capable of fingering my own chords thank you!
However, now I'm much more au fait with using layers/FX/filters etc., I think this is a great and versatile module. Like a lot of other people have commented, to get the best out of the P2K you have to edit the sounds.
I still think the acoustic pianos sound naff when sustained but I can live with this (the piano on my friends Korg TR rack is much more realistic)

The unit I bought was the 1.21 version. It muted or missed notes, particularly some drum/percussion sounds. This was particularly irritating when sequencing a song. I have heard other people having problems with this version. It then went totally wrong, fading out then boosting back in very loud.
I took it back to get it fixed and they replaced the "main board" with the updated 1.23 version, all under warranty. It now seems to work perfectly?fingers crossed but I feel obliged to mark it down.

I haven?t bothered them?? yet.

I sound a bit negative so far but this is really a great value box of tricks. I've been playing for 20 years but mainly just guitar. I wanted an all-round module to improve on the sounds in my QY70. It more than does this. For sounds, I wonder whether I should have gone for the Roland XV3080 but it costs a lot more and doesn?t do everything the P2K does (The acoustic piano wasn?t much better anyway although the pads are). I would replace it if stolen but I'd also take a long hard look at the Roland...it's close.
It's taken my demos from sounding amateurish to nearly pro.
I'm still learning about this unit 6 months on from buying it and the more you find out...the better it gets.

Version 1.23 for mine. This thing is VERY easy to use. Very immediate. Only problems I had were the FX but then I figured that one out. Basically you can route your dry signals to any of the outputs but your wet part will ALWAYS come out of the Main Outs, no matter where you route each particular preset. Still for everything else its very good

The comment I made above about the FX wet signal ALWAYS coming out of the Main Outs means that the FX are pretty much USELESS in Multi mode. . I mean how can you mix if you have the FX for all of the parts coming out of the same two outs. Its ABSURD. As a result I have disabled the FX in multimode. I use outboard FX where necessary. Apart from that (pretty big) gripe, I have no other problems. The functionality and timing are excellent, polyphony loads, it accepts expansion cards (dont have any yet). Fantastic patch cord system which allows you to control anything using everything. It really is useful and very very easy to use. But overall marked down in this category for that stupid FX routing they have. (better to have had no FX and a cheaper unit)

Organs, Synths, Basses and especially guitars, also drum sounds are EXCELLENT. Very very usable. It never seems to let me down. The guitar sounds are fantastic in my opinion, especially if you play with the controls. My music is mainly deep house and chilled out kind of stuff and the organs and gtrs are fantastic for this. Strings and Brass suck IMO. Special FX are pretty good bleeps and this and that. With some editing you can really make them your own. On the DOWNSIDE, loads of synth stabs and hits which admittedly sound great but lets face it, you know you can't use them. The PADS are unbelievably CRAP. They consist of ready made Jazz Chords, not layered notes so you cant change them. Using one would pretty much dictate the whole key structure of your track/song (What a load of *******!!). But all synths have their good and bad. All you do is use them for the good sounds and get something else for pads or whatever you want (for pads try the Yamaha EX5 - totally amazing). Because of this I give a high rating for sounds

So far, not even a sign of a problem but I haven't pushed it

Lost or Stolen I would love to replace it again, but there are always new things coming out so I'd check around. I love this thing. Initially I thought it sounded a bit lame and I know alot of people say that, but it is quite an addictive machine and with a small amount of work you can nearly always get that sound you want, especially synths guitars and the Basses are truly amazing. Am going to get the XL card and hopefully Mo Phatt card too. I would be lost without it. Its grown on me so much that I actually submitted areview here which I haven't done for any other piece of kit I own. BUY ONE NOW!!!!

The patches sound great, especially the drums. Editing is tough through the LCD screen but navigation is not too difficult. The manual is certainly thick enough!
If selecting patches through a sequencer (such as Logic), it's a lot easier to use.

Polyphony (128 note) and multimbrality (32 part) are explorary, I'm sure I would never comes close to maxing out. The effects are buried in the menus unfortunately, but they do sound good. It has good expansion too (with ROM Cards) but they are a bit pricy.
The front panel knobs transmit MIDI so automating a performance in simple.

I would say it is most based towards mainstream music, but thats not surprising considering who is it aimed at. It contains lots of presets (over 1000), and they all sound as good as they could get.

It certainly is reliable, in fact the only problem I have had it that one or twice it has gone from Multi mode to Poly mode all by itself but apart from that flawless!

Havent needed support, yet!

I would say that for the part of the market it is aimed towards, the Proteus 2000 cannot be beat. It is reasonably priced, well specified and capable of good expansion. Top buy!

Once you get used to navigating the menu's, it's fairly easy. The new way of searching through sounds though is excellent.

Great features, still haven't come close to using half of them yet.

The guitars, organs, and basses are superb. The string's, woodwinds, and brass leave a lot to be desired though. The "synth" type sounds and percussion are great as well.

I've had a Proteus FX for 4 years, I know someone who's had one for at least 7, and have never heard of it having any problems. I've had my Proteus 2000 for barely 2 years, and it's dead. The Flash memory erased itself, and the unit is dead. It needs a new Flash card, which will take who knows how long to get ordered, and god knows how much. This is an uacceptable problem to have in a unit being marketed to a professional industry. E-mu only offers a 1 year warranty too. I wouldn't trust any of the new line of E-mu products any further than I could throw them. E-mu doesn't make them like they used to.

Their highly skilled staff his trained in the fine art of telling you where your closest authorized repair center is, and sending you there. The closest thing to help I got from the guy was "Yeah, that sound's pretty dead. You should take that to get looked at."

The sounds in it are either really good, or really bad. Unfortunately, it's about as reliable as a Yugo. 1 Protues 2000 for sale.

AS this is a review of the P-2000 ROM expansion, the ease of use would probably best be called "Ease of Install". As such the installation of these ROM simms is no harder than installing RAM simms in an E4 sampler. If you've done that before, than this is about as easy. If not, it still is not very hard. If you can use a screw driver than you can do the hardest part, namely getting the cover off! You must be careful of the little plastic tabs that hold the simm in place. Orientation of the simm is shown in the little booklet that comes with each ROM. There is usually one already in place (or two in a Virtuoso), so you can orientate it the same way.

I am reviewing two ROMS here, namely the Sounds of the ZR, and Protozoa. The ZR has about as much diversity as the Protozoa, but twice as much memory (32 as opposed to 16 megs in the Protozoa). However, this diversity is weighted more towards rock and pop, whereas the Protozoa is comprised of almost the exact soundsets of the original Proteus 1, 2, and 3. The Protozoa sounds will be very familiar to you even if you never owned a Proteus, as they have been used in countless productions and filmscores over the years. The ZR sounds are a different case. They will probably be much less familiar, even if you owned Ensoniq equipment before. The main strength of these ROMS is for layering and for replacing lame samples in both the Proteus 2000 and Virtuoso 2000, the last one being the module that can benefit the most. I have wound up installing both in my V-2000, where they work very, very well to replace some of the lackluster wind and brass samples, and for layers to get much more convincing brass and woodwind ensembles. You will, of course, have to program these yourself.

tz' Pipe organ presets from the old Proteus modules just aren't going to fool anybody nowadays, when you have little GM boxes that sound more convincing.
Electric and acoustic guitars? I think the ZR distortion guitars are pretty good, and for some reason sound more authentic than Rolands when placed in a track. The acoustic programs in both ROMs are really not up to the current standards, but are usable.
I should mention that in the case of the Protozoa ROM the orginal presets have been carefully approximated and that includes bypassing of all filters and not making full use of the chorusing parameters or the FX, but some have basic effects made to sound like the old Proteus FX module. The ZR ROM on the other hand makes use of everything the Proteus-2000 has to offer, but if your familiar with Ensoniqs effects, you'll notice that EMU still has a long way to go toward building quality effects (Why don't they try to incorporate the Ensoniq DP chips in there own modules?).

Well, if you install them properly and don't break off a little tab on the simm slot, you should'nt ever experience a problem. Don't waste your money having EMU sevice dept install these for you. If you are at ALL competent, you should be able to do this in less than an hour

EMU has a support staff that is no better or worse than many, many other manufactures. E-mail will get you faster action. They have many nice, courteous people working there, but some loose their patience with what they think are dumb/obvious questions. So do many other companies!