Home
Search
Links
Manuals
Rare Analog
Synth DIY

Site Intro
 

Overview
Ads & Reviews
CDROM's
CDROM Drive
New 3.5" Floppy
OS Versions
Photos & MP3s
Repairs
Samples
SD for EII
Technical
Upgrades

Created by
 Western Graphics
Last modified
 21 December, 2004
 

Emulator II : Sample Library

Sound Libraries A massive sound library for the EII developed during the mid - late 80's. Third party libraries from small US start up companies sprang up alongside an expanding and high quality E-mu Systems Library. The best libraries came from E-mu Systems, OMI, K-muse and Northstar.

The OMI library is still available on CDROM www.quparts.com.
The Northstar library is still available on diskette
                   www.northstarsamples.com

If you need the E-mu Systems factory library please contact us.

CDROM's Optical Media International of California produced 3 CDROM's for the Emulator II in 1986. There were announced at the January 1986 NAMM as the first sample CDROM's ever produced in the world. They remain of a stunning high quality.

         OMI-55-101 OMI EII Universe of Sounds Volume 1
         OMI-55-102 OMI EII Universe of Sounds Volume 2
         OMI-55-103 OMI EII Universe of Sounds Volume 3

             They cost from $249 - $329 in 1988.

The first two CDROM's are still available brand new in EII and Sound Designer I format. The third CDROM contains the Northstar sample library.

OMI Volume 1 - Sample Library Listing  (32KB) OMI Volume 2 - Sample Library Listing  (24KB) OMI Volume 3 - Sample Library Listing  (21KB)

Sony PCM-F1  The E-mu Systems factory samples for the Emulator II were recorded on the first consumer Sony digital recorder the PCM-F1. The F1 was "portable PCM adapter", well a stand alone digital to analog conversion box, that when used with the matching Sony Betamax SL-F1 video recorder you had a cost effective 2 track digital recorder. This was a ground breaking product released in 1981, with an amazing low price of just $1900. The PCM adapter uses Sony's first consumer ADC and DAC chips, the CX-899 ADC and CX-890 DAC.

The PCM-F1 was widely used in the 1980's as the first cost effective two track digital recorder, a precursor to DAT. The recorder used 14 or 16 bits, had a 44.056kHz sample rate, 90dB dynamic range and a reasonably flat frequency response. Whilst it had its flaws (like shared converters across the left and right channels) it was remarkably cost effective, and has seen considerable use even to this day.

The PCM-F1 samples that E-mu Systems recorded were in 16-bits and 44.1kHz, so the sample session tapes were easily reused for creating some of the Emulator III library in 1988.

The initial factory of around 100 diskettes is well catalogued and most EII's have a reasonably good selection of these diskettes. There are some famous names in the list of contributors, including Chris Franke from Tangerine Dream.
 

Factory Library Listing
 37KB
 

Richard Burmer created many of the more interesting E-mu Systems factory sounds. He went on to release a number of "collections" via K-Muse. There are at least 3 collections in existence, and we have some details on these libraries.

Volume #1
This collection of 50 diskettes has over 650 presets and 2600 voices. They were recorded directly into the EII or onto Sony 16 bit PCM-F1. All samples were processed with Sound Designer, and the entire collection took a year to produce. The library was available in 1986 and cost $399.

Premiere Collection #1
A collection of 10 diskettes available at $24.95 each. This "Premiere" Collection contained: Piano, Bass, Master Strings, Orchestral Classics, Antnthology, Composers Toolkit, Drum Kit, Percussion, Cosmos. The whole library was available at $199.95. MIDIMouse were based in Oregon, and the samples were available for the Emax, as well as other samplers.
 

Navarrophonic
10 diskettes $80 for five
 

Many thanks to Rob Lewis in San Mateo for giving us some valuable info on the FMS, OMI and E-mu Systems Factory Libararies.
Take a bow !