E-mu Emulator

E-mu Emulator was one of the first sample-playback electronic keyboards.

After seeing a Fairlight CMI at a convention in 1979, E-mu founders Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum began working on designing a less expensive sampler. In January of 1981 the E-mu Emulator debuted with a list price of $9,995, being less than the $30,000 Fairlight. It was the first sampler to cost less than $10,000.

The Emulator was a floppy disk-based keyboard workstation which enabled the musician to sample sounds, recording them to non-volatile media and allowing the samples to be played back as musical notes on the keyboard. The 5 1/4" floppy disk drive enabled the owner to build a library of samples and share them with others, or buy pre-recorded libraries on disk.

It was a very basic 8-bit sampler: It only had a simple filter, and only allowed for a single loop. The initial model did not even include a VCA envelope generator. In came in three forms: A two voice model (only one of these was ever sold), a four-voice model, and an 8-voice model. When the original Emulator was turned on it was split. It was designed to be played in split mode so if you wanted the same sound on the full keyboard you would have to load up the same sound floppy disk in each drive.

Stevie Wonder, who gave the sampler a glowing review at the 1981 NAMM convention, received the very first unit (serial number "001"). Originally 001 was promised to Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tenille, because Daryl had been a loyal E-mu modular system owner for a long time before that. On the other hand, Stevie at the time had a slightly larger name-recognition value. In 1982, the Emulator I was updated to include a VCA envelope generator, a simple sequencer, and the price was lowered. Approximately 500 units were sold before the unit was discontinued in late 1983. Six months after being discontinued, the Emulator II came out. The Emulator II was later followed by the Emax and the Emulator III.

Famous Emulator users

• ABC
• David Bowie
• Depeche Mode - used all three versions of the Emulator
• Dire Straits - played an Emulator II at Live Aid
• Ferris Bueller
• Genesis
• Herbie Hancock
• Jean Michel Jarre - Used an Emulator and Fairlight in Zoolook
• John Foxx - used an Emulator on his 1981 album The Garden
• Mister Mister - an Emulator II is featured prominently on "Broken Wings"*
• New Order
• Nitzer Ebb - used an Emulator III
• Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - The "Mexican Radio" sample included with the Emulator I forms the basis for "Junk Culture."
• Paul Hardcastle - used an Emulator II to create n-n-nine-nine-nine..."19"
• Paul McCartney
• Pet Shop Boys - used an Emulator II
• Ryuichi Sakamoto - used an Emulator while in YMO and later an Emulator II
• The Residents - purchased the Emulator I with serial number 005
• Simple Minds - used an Emulator II
• Tangerine Dream
• Ultravox - played an Emulator II at Live Aid
• Vangelis - used an Emulator on the soundtrack to Blade Runner
• Brian Wilson
• Stevie Wonder - purchased the very first production Emulator I
• Yes

External links

• A web page with information on older musical instruments by E-Mu, including the Emulator I