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Emulator IIIX : Overview
Racking the Emulator III A cheaper rack mount version of the successful Emulator III had to wait until 5 years after the original was launched. Whilst a rack version of the EIII was built in 1988, they were
expensive and in short supply. The project to build a cheaper all digital version was frequently cancelled, until 1993 when a completely re-engineered EIII was put in a 3U rack unit. The EIII design really needed reducing to fit into a
rack unit, and the EIIIx is completely different to the EIII inside - although the OS is nearly identical. E-mu Systems were focusing on their Proteus module range as an attractive source of revenue (well actually a case of survival!), and
they did not seem to want to take on the industry standard Akai's.
On the Rack 32 excellent digital filters, digital inputs and outputs, 32 multi-timbral voices, and a decent 32 MB of RAM were a significant step forward. But E-mu Systems failed to develop an improved
user interface. The operating system was launched with less facilities than the EIII, and most concerning was a 5 year old LCD design (which lives on via the ESI range). The IIIx broke with E-mu's traditional success and fell short of the
new Akai S3000 range. Within 2 years it was replaced by a sorted Emulator 4, and the mid range ESI32. The IIIx was too late and too little.
USP for the DSP E-mu Systems marketed the EIIIx range on the basis of their proprietary DSP technology (10 octave transpositions
without aliasing, imaging or clock noise), the digital features and the optional remote control software for the Mac. The sound library was a selling point in 1993, before the third party Akai CDROM market had taken off. E-mu Systems also
competed on price in the US, but not in Europe - although the polyphony was ahead of the Akai's.
Quality The EIIIx was certainly of a very high technical quality, but as Keyboard magazine in the US said in August 1993 -
Pros: A huge library of sounds, wonderful sound quality.
The SCSI networking facility.
Cons: The Operating System is somewhat outdated.
There can be a loud pop when the unit is switched on or off
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Product Spec
* 16-bit Digital Sampler
* 44.1/48kHz sample rate
* Internal Hard Drive
* Up to 32 MB Sample RAM
* Analog Sampling $495
* 100+ Sample Diskettes
* EIIIXP Turbo $6495