Studiologic EM-100

I use Master Tracks Pro 6.5 and Cakewalk Audio 8.0 and the sounds are incredible compared to many of the comparable units. I preferred it over the Alesis Nano Synth, The Korg 05 and the MIDIMAN GM.
I have not found it necessary to edit patches. However, my unit did not come with a manual.

The instruments have a clarity that is unbelieveable and realistic, with the exception of the woodwinds: Flute lacks ambience, but Oboe and English Horn are good. Saxes work well playing as a section, but for soloing, the Soprano Sax is the best.

I use this unit on the gig without a backup. It's extremely durable and reliable.

If I lost it or it were stolen, I would have to replace it. I wouldn't use anything else.

I plugged it in and it worked.. I use it with a computer and another keyboard.. using the sound board of the computer and the Yamaha Keyboard.. to get a better over all sound.

easy for me is to use the computer to assign the instruments

most of the instrument pass but I have preferences

been very reliable.. the only problem I have found using the box is sometimes it hangs if you shut down a midi .. before it finishes

never had to deal with the company

I would probably buy something else

This budget GM box seems very low tech and low quality considering the company's winning master keyboards. I took it apart and was surprised to see how simple the electronics were. I'd suggest putting the $50 towards something else-like a used SC-55 , MidiGMan or GS1000R. Some of the pads work when you add chorus and stereo echo reverb. Still the sloppy sampling is surprising. The acoustic bass (GM#33) has air before the attack. Even at $50 maybe you should take a pass.

Tthe built in effects are usable and almost necessary for the pads. I have seen this unit sitting on top of a StudioLogic SL990 for marketing and that seems ludicrous. Since the SL990 can transmit only on channel one the EM-100's multi timbral GM design is useless unless you use software. It again seems ludicrous that Studiologic would put their name on this lame GM box.

$50 worth of lame stuff

Forget customer support. Even Fatar which I will assume is involved in this box seems uninterested in any customer relations. I guess you need a ticket to Italy and maybe that wouldn't help since the EM-100 was probably put together by Chinese prisoners or blind Tibetan monks.

A new GM box for $50 seems like a misprint in various catalogues. Still maybe you should put the fifty towards something more substantial. There are maybe 9 decent GM instruments out of 128.

This is, actually, a soundsource (a module) not a synth. Since HarmonyCentral doesn't have a "Module" category available I thought this would be the next best place to put this review.
I bought the EM-100, from Musician's Friend, because it was $50.00 and because it had piano patches in it. My needs were simple and my cash reserves low, so I figured I couldn't lose. The patches are not editable, but some of them have "variations" available, if you can figure out how to access them. You have to have a computer program or synth/controller that can select the sound and/or variation that you want--you can't select the patch from the module itself. I use a Fatar (Studiologic) SL880 w/ it. The manual is basically useless.
The Grand Piano patch is average, passable. the other acoustic pianos are terrible. The elctric pianos, clav, are useles IMO. #39, Synth Bass, has a nice analog-ish fat sound. Decent Harpsichord and Acoustic Guitar sounds. Out of the 125 basic patches available, I'll probably be able to make use of half-a-dozen until I can get a better sound module. I'll make do w/ the Grand Piano patch until then, because I'll have to, but it's not very good.
FROM THE MANUAL:
Features
Full GM/GS implementation with top quality sounds
128 General Midi sounds
195 Variation sounds including sound effects
9 drum sets + 1 SFX set
Up to 48 voices of polyphony + Reverber, Chorus and Spatial effect with MIDI control
4 bands parametric equalizer, fully controllable by MIDI
---------------------------------------------------------------
Again, I bought this thing because it was cheap and I needed something quick to supply my controller w/ acoustic piano sounds for gigs. This the EM-100 will do! Not well, but it will do it. I have no way of accessing anything but the 128 GM sounds, and the few I will use I commented on their quality above already.

48 note polyphony. I have no way to check out the other stated, alleged features of this module (patch "variations", drum sets and FX). No expansion capabilities. No sequencer.

Average pianos at best. There are too few (and those that are there are of inferior quality, IMO) of the types of patches I wanted-----acoustic/electric pianos, analog sounds, clavs. No aftertouch or velocity controls on-board. Average string and woodwind sounds, at best. Very good "Bird Tweet" sounds (#124)-----my daughter gives her hard-won seal of approval to this one.

Very light, very small. I hate that it doesn't really have a dedicated "out" for headphones; I've tried headphones through the audio out provided but I can't get enough volume to really make it usefull. And the audio out is a mini-jack size (1/8 inch) and that really sucks; have to use a 1/8 to 1/4 inch adaptor w/ something underneath the adaptor to keep it from sagging and falling out of the connection, etc., etc. Bitch, bitch, whine, moan. Oh, well-it works!

I've emailed them several times to get answers to questions related to this module and also for the cotroller they made that I'm using; they replied to one question (totally unhelpful response, unfortunately------I had to resend my original question) and then they seemed to fall off the face of the Earth; I haven't received any further replies from them since. Not one.

I'm using this because it's what my finances would allow. $50.00, that, even to me, is only a modest investment and a modest risk.
It works for me well enough but I'll buy a module w/ better sounds as soon as I'm able and then use this one as a backup. 1/8 inch audio out!!? What were they thinking (drinking.........smoking........)?