I have been listening to hardware samples from classic equipment, and I really love the vintage synth wave sound. Anyone ever used this?

 

R2R did a release of it some years ago that no longer had any web based authentication. Lots of people have used it. You can still find lots of libraries you can use in it. If you are looking for those specifically for it, search for Emulator.x3.

 

Last edited: Jan 29, 2025

I tried this. It may sound like the hardware but the GUI is really flimsy and complicated. So I bought a hardware Emulator 6400 which is so easy to handle. Especially if you want to do own Multisamples it's even easier to handle than modern software samplers.

 

Yea I've been exploring it, it seems this is from Windows95

 

Where did you buy it and how much did it run ya?

 

The emulator X was very good at the time when it was released, but it fell from time, the graphic surface is no longer up to date, the loading times are bad. He has no chance against contact. Only what kind of collectors and lovers of the old days.

 

Oh yea for sure it can't hold a candle to nowadays synths but I love that 70s-80s synth wave sound

 

Search for "E-MU Classic Series" on that one website and you will find lots of samples and a link to the R2R X3.

 

From a German portal similar to Craigslist I guess for like 270€. I even have second one from which I took out the AES/EBU Option. Tried to sell this one for 200 but nobody wanted to have it. So it sits here in case I will need spare parts for my production unit.

 

I once bought this sound card used: E-MU 1212M PCIe (PCIe Digital Audio System) 59 EUR, the E-MU - 1212M - EmulatorX (Creative Professional - EMU) with the CDs, a whole stack, was included. I installed it once and it worked under Windows 10 too, but the graphics applications for setting up are pretty bad.

 

im saving money for emu proteus 2000 module. i believe hardware is good... and even tho it is older now but i believe its good for the price and great sounds! i have emu emulator and i have some soundbanks for it... also cakewalk dimension has proteus soundset from digital sound factory company.. anyway this is the sounds to make that 2000s pop music but could work with modern pop... no one knows what sounds you use unless you tell them.

 

I've the same card (in an older computer), and it's still absolutely fantastic. Quality is great, drivers are rock solid. Ok, TotalMix is a hassle figure out, but once it's set up it just works.

Reasons why one might still get use out of Emulator X3: there's still a lot of great libraries for it out there, mainly E-mu's own catalog, some of which have dribbled to other formats (like the Proteus ones in Kontakt). And while fairly niche, the Z-plane filters are still unique, no one has bothered to replicate those, bat phaser to the win!

But other than those, something like Kontakt or Halion will go way further for sample mangling and/or library availability. But me, I've had several E-mu samplers (and software) so I'm a sucker for a lot of those sounds. But I'd still highly recommend the Proteus Kontakt collection to anybody.

 

I agree with you, very good sound quality. Based on this old test, I bought an Infrasonic Qaurtet PCI sound card with the same chip we've already seen them in the RME Fireface 400. Fantastic sound quality and little latency, somehow it broke and production was discontinued.

E-MU Systems - AD/DA Chips:
1820: PCM1804 CS4392 | 1212m AK5394 CS4398 | 1616M AK5394 CS4398 | 1820m AK5394A CS4398 JRC2068

 

Digital Sound Factory released the whole E-MU line in various formats so you don't need this outdated piece of software any longer.

If I recall it correctly it was initially tied to E-MU soundcards, which was a shame and by the time it got untied available for anybody NI's Kontakt became so ubiquitous that is didn't stand any chance. Even though E-MU were early on with PC digital sampling and with a huge fan base they missed the opportunity and now, with all the choices at out disposal, there's no reason to use this software at all (other than an urge to make it more complicated and difficult than it has to be.)

 

Are you sure you bought an E6400? Cause I have two of them here, have been using EMUs for about 24 years now, and they do not sound anything like Emulator X which used whatever sound card was in your machine at the time (or the EMU cards for the first two versions), and has absolutely no A/D or D/A capabilities on its own. Emulator X used with a Sound Blaster Live, sounds like a Sound Blaster Live. An E6400 sounds like an E6400's own audio engine..

That is literally the entire point of using one nowadays, otherwise even Halion is infinitely quicker to setup heh.

 

They did Kontakt libraries of the rack modules. The X3 was supposed to basically be a direct port of an E4 sampler.

 

It is still samples, not synthesis so it doesn't matter. The only "unique" thing the X3 has is Z-plane filter (which is a nothing more but a gimmick if you ask me, I wasn't impressed by it in a slightest)

 

it was for windows xp, the r2r release has a 64 bit version, it works under windows 7 without problems.