A look at how the Sound Designer software connected to the Emulator II, transmitting samples via the serial ports - and demos of a few classic Emulator sounds
Beautiful machine. A real classic synth. Still sounds great today. Always think the old synths are the best. So much went into them. A real piece of art.
I learned alot from this vid. I didn't realise these had the Mac connectivity. Nothing much has changed in terms of wave editing software except maybe the resolution on screen. Great vid. Loved that piano lick and those strings.
I used to love watching",Top of the Pops" cos you knew you had a Serious band/performing act just because they had an Emulator on stage....the most beautiful looking machine on the planet
EII also has one of the most unique looks with the big disks mounts. Still have my 1st EII+HD I got direct from Emu as a dealer and a used original EII sitting covered in studio. You’ve motivated me to find a MAC since I have the software w Mac cable sitting sealed
Interesting piece of software to edit patches. Everything except the vocals on West End Girls was made on an Emulator II. He and other artists made damn good use of it.
What a solid setup! If only companies could go back to ensuring a product was stable and finished before selling it. Allot of high end gear is buggy and requires an internet connection to be a finished product. I would give up a decent amount of gear just to have the EMU and mac classic without an internet connection. This trip back in time is a breath of fresh air.
It's amazing how good was that piano for the time it was made. So good that Chester Thompson from Santana band has used it in late '80s add early '90s on live gigs.
Thanks, 1984 forever! Wow excellent drums, I always wanted this oldskul smash, juicy punches and hits, from Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, of the 1980's! 👍👊
One of the owners of the first studio I worked for had one and left it out in the studio 24/7. I had just bought a Kurzweil K2000RS. There were a couple of late night sampling sessions once I got my keys.
After so many years e 2 is still a famous sampler .9:35 James brown is Dead !!! Shakuhaschi used in many songs :snap exterminate;Ordikea unity; Eurythmics Dire straits Peter Gabriel Enigma Depeche mode also used it.loon sound used in 808 state Pacific!! My best wishes great review Paolo
The Loon sample appeared almost simultaneously on the 808 State track 'Pacific' and 'Sueno Latino'. This video is the first time I've ever seen it played on the actual keyboard though. It's crazy to think that a particular bird happened to squark into a microphone and it ended up appearing on two important house records. That's more than most humans achieve!
I think that the CMI Fairlight V Synthesizer was the ultimate music creation instrument which was used to create the track Axle F and is also used by a certain female Singer songwriter who wrote the track Hounds Of Love.
Even today this is powerful stuff so to speak....OK the GUI is retro, but this would have been almost beyond the future back then. My first synth was a CZ-101, I also had a ZX Spectrum. I remember making a trip to London to buy what was then an expensive midi interface sequencer to the Spectrum to record In monophonic via midi. I thought at the time it was just incredible (1984 ish) I upgraded to the Casio sequencer later that allowed 4 multitimberal channels,. This though would have been serious pro kit back then of course. Great to see this....
Thank you and aaah, the ZX Spectrum! It's the first computer I used back in the first year of high school, so it must have been 1983. I remember our high school had purchased a few of them and they were teaching the first programs to us. I still remember the tiny "spongy" buttons, and the rainbow logo on the side. I wish I had had an interface to hook up to those as I also had a Casio CZ-1000 :-D but I only got into computer-based applications in the early '90s (Finale and Cubase)
Haa... i've searched the original banks for dayss, but ended up on a custom pack with sounds sampled from albums. Is it possible to find them, is it legal to share them?
and a few more Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer Wang Chung - Wake up stop dreaming Sting - Desert Rose remix Sade - Love Is Stronger Than Pride Enigma - Sadeness Part 1 Tears For Fears - When In Love With a Blind Man The Sugarcubes - Pump Klaus Schulze - Airlights Sun Only Project - Spirit Of Africa Eurythmics - Conditioned Soul Michael Bolton - Can I Touch You... There? Dire Straits - Ride Across the River Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring on The Dancing Horses Marshall Jefferson presents Truth - Open our Eyes Das EFX - New Stuff Snap - Exterminate B-Tribe - Nadie Entiende Ron C - Mary Had A Pimp Tangerine Dream - Unicorn Dream (also Fairlight ARR1) Coil - The First Five Minutes After Death NASA - Paula Juno Reactor - Samurai Maxmillion Dunbar - Peeling An Orange In One Piece Rush - Tai Shan Alpha Blondy - Jerusalem (Also EII Loon)
Thanks sharing The Emulator II soind banks.I bought the UVI version.I am a big Pet Shop Boys fans thanks for helping me figure out what sounds they used on please from the EMulater Ii .
There's a whole load of basic Pet Shop Boys sounds in there. Lovely machine. Had the chance to buy one about 8 years ago for a daft price but it was knackered. Regretted that decision ever since!
There's something magical about old samplers. To see that software as well. It must have been mindblowing using the computer for sample editing editing. I've always wanted an Emulator II. They look cool and have that magic about them. Don't I recognise that top sample from 808 state Pacific?
I’m trying to find Emulator II samples online that I can download and import to my Prophet X but I can’t find any anywhere. I’m mostly finding Fairlight samples, which I’ve already put into the PX. But no Emulator samples. Do you know any sites which may have them?
Not sure about straight samples. I do know there was an Emulator II sound library someone made for the Yamaha Motif XF series that wasn’t bad. Check the Wayback Machine Internet Archive and see if there’s anything on there maybe.
Random question but if I send you money do you think you can sample and email me some Emulator samples so I can put them into my Prophet X? All the EMU libraries I’ve looked into are missing some key sounds (Liquid Stack, Shakushi, Orchestral Hit, Marcato Strings etc). Please let me know :)
Was there software for the Atari ST and/or Commodore Amiga too? A Mac at that time was insanely expensive and there weren't even a lot of games for it, ha ha. ;) It did have the first proper wysiwyg word processor though.
Well, the Emulator II cost $8,000 in the '80s! So I think if someone bought one, he/she wouldn't have had too many problems spending $2,500 to buy a computer too
It's quite awesome as well. I've wanted to get the III for a long time. But maybe the rack version to save space. I have the I, the II, and the IV. Would be nice to complete the set
Hi Paolo, nice video. You done any sampling and creating custom EII banks yourself? If so, a vid of the process would be good and is sought after by other EII owners. I've been asked many times but don't have the video production skills ! ;) Cheers.
Thank you, JMPSynth - yes, I have several disks with custom sounds that I made, sure - I put it on the to-do list to make a video demonstrating it Thanks!
Stupid question of the video, does the sound designer software require the emulator II for making/editing the sounds of can it be done purely on the software?
So basicly it was the first software digidesign made before protools thats crazy, some video game sound designer probably made sample for early samples base game with that...
Good stuff my friend. Let me ask you this. Would you be able to make a copy of the enigma flute on a EMULATOR II size floppy and sell it to me? I have 2 Emulators but don’t have that particular disk. Let me know please. Thanks
Here you go , I posted the samples a while ago here www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=10459304&postcount=68 They are just single samples on the disk, so you just have to sample them and save on an empty disk (no multisampling)
SynthMania My friend thanks. Your a good man. I have to show you my studio one day. I’ll post it on TH-cam and will send you a link. I grew up listening to all Italian musicians. Great music, great people.
I am surprised there aren't better methods of controlling an EMU-2, other than a Mac SE. I saw Chromeo use a MacBook Air to control their EMU-2. Maybe they were using custom software? Great video BTW. Always wanted an EMU-2 since I saw it on stage at my school in the 80s.
Yes, there's a Mac OS X software called EII Editor by Wolfram Niessen th-cam.com/video/TrdAzxEKz20/w-d-xo.html It requires an Emuser interface, though, as with EMXP.
Ah, thanks, guys, he mentioned retrofitting it with USB in the video so the Wolfram Niessen software is probably connected through it somehow, bypassing the original serial port on the EII. I know they also have floppy emulator drives as well.It's good to have these modern tools
One of my favourite Vangelis moments was him cycling through his sample disks and declaring "I lost my harp".
Beautiful machine. A real classic synth. Still sounds great today. Always think the old synths are the best. So much went into them. A real piece of art.
9:55 Liquid Stack is by far one of the most delicious sounds ever conceived by man.
Agree :) Love it too. Reminds me a bit of the Ensoniq tones
Yep, those Liquid Stack patches are worth at least 1 billion ear dollars.
That and the Synclavier... I love love love those two sounds...
one of my all time fav sounds aswell!.
Variant 2 in particular.
Still sounds beautiful 35 years on. Thanks for posting.
the Eyes on the Editor are crazy :)
It was always fun to move the mouse just below them so that they went cross-eyed.
I like to see a Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys) demo!
Incredible hardware for the period.
It's pretty amazing how good this still sounds
Love all of your videos. Great playing! Wish I could get my hands on this synth.
Great to see the old Mac UI, mono interface is so clear. And as always, great playing Paolo.
I was waiting anxiously for "shakuhachi" and "loon" samples... 👀😁
Thank you Paolo for this tip-top presentation!
7:11 - "shakuhachi" - that is the voice of "ENIGMA" by Michael Cretu.
Also very well known for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer". :)
Also for Tangerine Dreams Legend soundtrack and Yellowstone Park on 1985 album Le Parc 🙂
More like that is the overused voice of Enigma.
Also on Sade's "Stronger Than Pride."
Yes it is! Widely used in many songs. Back in the day I sampled the sound from the beginning of Michael Bolton - Can I Touch You There :D
I learned alot from this vid. I didn't realise these had the Mac connectivity. Nothing much has changed in terms of wave editing software except maybe the resolution on screen. Great vid. Loved that piano lick and those strings.
I used to love watching",Top of the Pops" cos you knew you had a Serious band/performing act just because they had an Emulator on stage....the most beautiful looking machine on the planet
superb musical professional demo' as usual - grazie!!
Thank you!
EII also has one of the most unique looks with the big disks mounts. Still have my 1st EII+HD I got direct from Emu as a dealer and a used original EII sitting covered in studio. You’ve motivated me to find a MAC since I have the software w Mac cable sitting sealed
Again, a great video! Tks for sharing it with us.
Thank you!
The sound 11:00 sounds so much like one of the samples used on the Amiga MOD - Space Debris
Still an amazing instrument. Thanks for the demo!!!
Bob, thank you!
Good old days 🎼 Thx for uploading !
Thank you!
Awesome! brings back memories,... thanks
Fabulous as always Pablo. I’m a sucker for orchestral hits. Please make a video of it in the future. Thanks.
The Marcato Strings sound EXACTLY like the ones used in *Zelda - a Link to the Past*
and it's in the intro of "Papa don't breach" by Madonna
Originally sampled from the K250, amIright?
Interesting piece of software to edit patches. Everything except the vocals on West End Girls was made on an Emulator II. He and other artists made damn good use of it.
If Behringer ever does an affordable clone of this, nobody will ever see me again because I'll never leave the studio!
Thing sounds amazing still. That Liquit Stacks set reminds me of some JD-800 pads...very cool!
Thanks so much, Marshal!
Orchestra hits!!!! Man this is awesome
And next the EMU III would be great, thanks for the show
Thank you, I currently have Emulator I, II, and IV. Missing the III, but plan to get it at some point for sure
What a solid setup! If only companies could go back to ensuring a product was stable and finished before selling it. Allot of high end gear is buggy and requires an internet connection to be a finished product. I would give up a decent amount of gear just to have the EMU and mac classic without an internet connection. This trip back in time is a breath of fresh air.
I know this was used by so many. But for me I will always associate the Emulator 2 with Front 242.
Depeche Mode in my case.
Both 😉
This and the Dx7
@@juno6 Agreed. 242 just resonated stronger with me at the time. But undoubtedly, DM used it well.
@@Maschinestorm No doubt about that!
That orchestral hit section reminds me of Anasthasia 1991 by T99.
great video!!! emu emulator 🎹🙏🏻🙏🏻👍 best ever sampler
It's amazing how good was that piano for the time it was made. So good that Chester Thompson from Santana band has used it in late '80s add early '90s on live gigs.
Don't tell dos gos that. He thinks the piano sucks.
@@SynthManiaDotCom Listen "Guajira" from "Live in Mexico", 1993.
@@SanelKeys Link?
@@SynthManiaDotCom th-cam.com/video/Di0V7k_NBpo/w-d-xo.html
That's not an Emulator II - it's an Emulator III
Id love to see an Alan Wilder Emulator demonstration from you!
The sound is very tasty. So delicious that I eat it right with my evening tea
Great playing! :)
Jeze, thanks!
Thanks, 1984 forever! Wow excellent drums, I always wanted this oldskul smash, juicy punches and hits, from Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, of the 1980's! 👍👊
Haha! You've got that mouse eyes extension installed on that old Mac! What is it's name? I forget, and can't find it.
Googley eyes
One of the owners of the first studio I worked for had one and left it out in the studio 24/7. I had just bought a Kurzweil K2000RS. There were a couple of late night sampling sessions once I got my keys.
Love the file menu moving eyes.
This is great. I'd like to hear more from this sampler.
Will do
After so many years e 2 is still a famous sampler .9:35 James brown is Dead !!! Shakuhaschi used in many songs :snap exterminate;Ordikea unity; Eurythmics Dire straits Peter Gabriel Enigma Depeche mode also used it.loon sound used in 808 state Pacific!! My best wishes great review Paolo
The Loon sample appeared almost simultaneously on the 808 State track 'Pacific' and 'Sueno Latino'. This video is the first time I've ever seen it played on the actual keyboard though. It's crazy to think that a particular bird happened to squark into a microphone and it ended up appearing on two important house records. That's more than most humans achieve!
Damn.
This thing's a year older than me but it looks so clean.
Don't feel bad, it's easily fixable - start taking showers in the morning.
@@SynthManiaDotCom but then I'd have to get out of bed...
I think that the CMI Fairlight V Synthesizer was the ultimate music creation instrument which was used to create the track Axle F and is also used by a certain female Singer songwriter who wrote the track Hounds Of Love.
I used Sound Designer II with the SoundTools Digidesign card back in the early 90s :)
The "birth" of Pro Tools! :)
Even today this is powerful stuff so to speak....OK the GUI is retro, but this would have been almost beyond the future back then. My first synth was a CZ-101, I also had a ZX Spectrum. I remember making a trip to London to buy what was then an expensive midi interface sequencer to the Spectrum to record In monophonic via midi. I thought at the time it was just incredible (1984 ish) I upgraded to the Casio sequencer later that allowed 4 multitimberal channels,. This though would have been serious pro kit back then of course. Great to see this....
Thank you and aaah, the ZX Spectrum! It's the first computer I used back in the first year of high school, so it must have been 1983. I remember our high school had purchased a few of them and they were teaching the first programs to us. I still remember the tiny "spongy" buttons, and the rainbow logo on the side. I wish I had had an interface to hook up to those as I also had a Casio CZ-1000 :-D but I only got into computer-based applications in the early '90s (Finale and Cubase)
Play any sound and you're in the 80 s'.Time machine.
Drumulator, D50, Emulator, ma esiste una macchina che non hai?
Pouvez vous faire une vidéo avec les sons de jan hammer (miami vice)? J’ai reconnu le son liquid sticks
Much Respect Pablo
Haa... i've searched the original banks for dayss, but ended up on a custom pack with sounds sampled from albums.
Is it possible to find them, is it legal to share them?
...yet the crowd continued shouting: "We want part two! We want part two! We want part two!"
hehehe, everybody loves the Emulator! :-D
Loon garden gets me every time..Classic.
The Shakuhachi of the Emulator sampler library used in 1990 by Michael Cretu & Sandra in Enigma project and songs Sadeness, Principles Of Lust !
and a few more
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Wang Chung - Wake up stop dreaming
Sting - Desert Rose remix
Sade - Love Is Stronger Than Pride
Enigma - Sadeness Part 1
Tears For Fears - When In Love With a Blind Man
The Sugarcubes - Pump
Klaus Schulze - Airlights
Sun Only Project - Spirit Of Africa
Eurythmics - Conditioned Soul
Michael Bolton - Can I Touch You... There?
Dire Straits - Ride Across the River
Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring on The Dancing Horses
Marshall Jefferson presents Truth - Open our Eyes
Das EFX - New Stuff
Snap - Exterminate
B-Tribe - Nadie Entiende
Ron C - Mary Had A Pimp
Tangerine Dream - Unicorn Dream (also Fairlight ARR1)
Coil - The First Five Minutes After Death
NASA - Paula
Juno Reactor - Samurai
Maxmillion Dunbar - Peeling An Orange In One Piece
Rush - Tai Shan
Alpha Blondy - Jerusalem (Also EII Loon)
@@SynthManiaDotCom and Carlos Santana & John Lee Hooker - The Healer : th-cam.com/video/Xox9J0FNjZ8/w-d-xo.html
Good catch- added to list
Thanks sharing The Emulator II soind banks.I bought the UVI version.I am a big Pet Shop Boys fans thanks for helping me figure out what sounds they used on please from the EMulater Ii .
Now there's a synth I like.
9:55 Tangerine Dream!!! :O Super!!!
The sample of Marcatto Strings of Emulator II was used by "Selena and the Dinos" in the music of Tex Mex
There's a whole load of basic Pet Shop Boys sounds in there. Lovely machine. Had the chance to buy one about 8 years ago for a daft price but it was knackered. Regretted that decision ever since!
Which version of Sound Designer would work best with the EIII? Does somebody know?
Anyone know where you can find one of these now ? … this is an amazing synth . !
Great machine
As a kid back in the day I thought these keyboards were amazing and so wanted one. I don't even play lol
There's something magical about old samplers. To see that software as well. It must have been mindblowing using the computer for sample editing editing. I've always wanted an Emulator II. They look cool and have that magic about them. Don't I recognise that top sample from 808 state Pacific?
Hint hint Uli.
I’m trying to find Emulator II samples online that I can download and import to my Prophet X but I can’t find any anywhere. I’m mostly finding Fairlight samples, which I’ve already put into the PX. But no Emulator samples. Do you know any sites which may have them?
Not sure about straight samples. I do know there was an Emulator II sound library someone made for the Yamaha Motif XF series that wasn’t bad. Check the Wayback Machine Internet Archive and see if there’s anything on there maybe.
vintagemusicsamples.wordpress.com/
You’re welcome.
Loon garden, instant 808 state!
Also contains a lot of 90's tangerine dream / Christopher franke voices
Hi and is there a similar program for the emax 2 with windows 98 or XP ?
Random question but if I send you money do you think you can sample and email me some Emulator samples so I can put them into my Prophet X? All the EMU libraries I’ve looked into are missing some key sounds (Liquid Stack, Shakushi, Orchestral Hit, Marcato Strings etc). Please let me know :)
What's the differences between and Emulator II and Emulator II+?
More memory
Was there software for the Atari ST and/or Commodore Amiga too? A Mac at that time was insanely expensive and there weren't even a lot of games for it, ha ha. ;) It did have the first proper wysiwyg word processor though.
Well, the Emulator II cost $8,000 in the '80s! So I think if someone bought one, he/she wouldn't have had too many problems spending $2,500 to buy a computer too
@@SynthManiaDotCom Wow! That's expensive. I keep forgetting that buying/playing synths is so much cheaper nowadays. :)
Nice sounds! However, this looks a bit heavier than the Mirage to lift with only one hand hehe
The Emulator I is even heavier.
@Synthmania what do you think of the emulator iii in comparison ?
It's quite awesome as well. I've wanted to get the III for a long time. But maybe the rack version to save space. I have the I, the II, and the IV. Would be nice to complete the set
Behringer...are you watching and listening?
Why do they need to watch and listening?
GS hates Behring...
Hey what is the program called and Werge Can i get it and dies it works om windows or iPad ? I wish you a grear weekend
The 80’s Mellotron
thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!
легендарный синтезатор
Hi! I have a challenge for you: could make a percussion pattern from:
Tangerine Dream, album "Poland", first track "Poland"
?
How close is the emax 1 to this ?
I'm pretty sure those strings are on Madonna's Papa Don't Preach....
They are… ;-)
Hi Paolo, nice video. You done any sampling and creating custom EII banks yourself? If so, a vid of the process would be good and is sought after by other EII owners. I've been asked many times but don't have the video production skills ! ;) Cheers.
Thank you, JMPSynth - yes, I have several disks with custom sounds that I made, sure - I put it on the to-do list to make a video demonstrating it Thanks!
@@SynthManiaDotCom Excellent, cheers.
Stupid question of the video, does the sound designer software require the emulator II for making/editing the sounds of can it be done purely on the software?
You can do it purely on the software
@@SynthManiaDotCom Ah fantastic stuff. Thank, you!
Very welcome!
Loon Garden. Do I hear a bit of Sledgehammer in there with that pan flute sample?
Yep! That's exactly the keyboard it was played on in 86 :)
Frankie goes to Hollywood---Welcome to the Pleasuredome
So basicly it was the first software digidesign made before protools thats crazy, some video game sound designer probably made sample for early samples base game with that...
Can the Emulator layer multisamples like Kontakt?
It can do layers to a certain extent, but don't expect it to be Kontakt ;-)
Im hoping to put all my samples on an external SCSI hd and edit them on my Mac SE/30. 😁
Tremendous
😍 LOON GARDEN 😍
Thanks for all the great demos Paolo. What's the name of the song at 6:08?
Very welcome - just improvising
@@SynthManiaDotCom It sounded gorgeous!
How come the Emulator II is tuned to C# instead of C?
I have to figure that out - probably a technical problem
Good stuff my friend. Let me ask you this. Would you be able to make a copy of the enigma flute on a EMULATOR II size floppy and sell it to me? I have 2 Emulators but don’t have that particular disk. Let me know please. Thanks
Here you go , I posted the samples a while ago here www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=10459304&postcount=68 They are just single samples on the disk, so you just have to sample them and save on an empty disk (no multisampling)
SynthMania My friend thanks. Your a good man. I have to show you my studio one day. I’ll post it on TH-cam and will send you a link. I grew up listening to all Italian musicians. Great music, great people.
Paolo, do you know of any VSTs of the emulator II or just a sample of the shakuhachi flute?
You should take a lookat the UVI - Emulation II. not sure if it has all the disks.
TAL sampler dies a really good job of modelling eighties samplers and has a great library
Emulator X should have it. If not there are plenty of sf2's and samplecds out there.
You can also take a look at Rhythmic Robot Audio, it is included on "Emulator II OMI Universe of Sounds: Vol 1"....
or Digital Sound Factory website
@@DynamicRockers It doesn't. Just certain well-known banks and not exact reproductions.
Thx...famously !
Please do more videos on the sound designer and emulator.
Several people have asked - will do
What is the song at 6:10? :o
Improv
@@SynthManiaDotCom Sounds great :) Enjoying the demo as always
How much is it
I can hear Sueno Latino @ 8.40
I am surprised there aren't better methods of controlling an EMU-2, other than a Mac SE. I saw Chromeo use a MacBook Air to control their EMU-2. Maybe they were using custom software?
Great video BTW. Always wanted an EMU-2 since I saw it on stage at my school in the 80s.
Thank you - Post a link to the Chromeo vid, I'd like to see what software they used
Yes, there's a Mac OS X software called EII Editor by Wolfram Niessen th-cam.com/video/TrdAzxEKz20/w-d-xo.html It requires an Emuser interface, though, as with EMXP.
@@SynthManiaDotCom th-cam.com/video/Y10AmCiKde8/w-d-xo.html Jump to 07'44"
@@SynthManiaDotCom Hi, its roughly around here - th-cam.com/video/Y10AmCiKde8/w-d-xo.html
Ah, thanks, guys, he mentioned retrofitting it with USB in the video so the Wolfram Niessen software is probably connected through it somehow, bypassing the original serial port on the EII. I know they also have floppy emulator drives as well.It's good to have these modern tools
you should play some depeche mode on a emulator II