E-mu E4X/ E4X Turbo: Professional Sampling Powerhouse
The E-mu E4X/ E4X Turbo are cutting-edge 128-voice stereo samplers designed for professional musicians and sound designers. These high-end rackmount sampling workstations offer unprecedented flexibility, featuring a hard drive pre-loaded with top-quality sounds, 16MB of standard RAM (expandable to 128MB), and an integrated 18-bit effects board. Their standout features include 21 advanced Z-plane filters that provide extraordinary tonal manipulation, allowing musicians to craft unique sounds with remarkable clarity and warmth.
What sets the E4X apart is its modular design, enabling users to start with a more affordable base model and upgrade components over time. The sampler supports SCSI import of Roland and Akai sound libraries, offers digital I/O with AES/EBU and S/PDIF compatibility. Later versions of operating system (EOS 3.0+) delilvers advanced sequencing and MIDI control capabilities.
Key Specifications:
- Modular, upgradeable design
- Exceptional sound quality
- Broad sound import compatibility
- Sequencer in later OS
- 21 advanced Z-plane filters
- 128 voices
- 16MB RAM (expandable to 128MB)
- Expansion slots for Sound and Flash ROM
- 1GB pre-loaded sound library on HDD which could be upgraded to a bigger size
- Digital I/O (AES/EBU/S/PDIF)
- SCSI compatibility
Some more details
The Emu E4X Turbo represents a significant milestone in professional music sampling technology, offering musicians and sound designers an incredibly powerful and flexible sampling workstation. At the heart of this device is a remarkable 128-voice stereo sampling system that pushes the boundaries of sound manipulation and creative audio production.
The sampler comes with an impressive hard drive pre-loaded with an extensive collection of high-quality sounds, providing users with an instant library of professional-grade audio material. Its standard 16MB of RAM can be expanded up to 128MB, allowing for increasingly complex and detailed sampling projects. The device features an integrated 18-bit effects board that delivers exceptional sound quality, combining crystal-clear sampling transparency with rich, warm tonal characteristics.
One of the most innovative aspects of the E4X Turbo is its modular design philosophy. Emu recognized that musicians often cannot afford top-tier equipment all at once, so they developed a system that allows users to purchase a base lower spec model and progressively upgrade its capabilities like RAM, ROM, Flash and HDD storage. This approach means musicians can start with a more affordable system and expand it over time, adding features like additional voices, DSP effects, and internal storage as their budget and needs allow.
The sampler boasts an impressive 21 Z-plane filters, a significant upgrade from previous models. These advanced filters provide unprecedented tonal control, allowing musicians to morph and manipulate sounds in ways previously impossible. From subtle EQ adjustments to complex formant filtering, the E4X Turbo offers a breadth of sound-shaping capabilities that set it apart from competing samplers.
Connectivity and compatibility are key strengths of the E4X Turbo. It features SCSI support for importing sound libraries from other manufacturers, including Roland S700 and Akai S1000/S1100 formats. The digital I/O options include AES/EBU and S/PDIF interfaces, with a software switch allowing users to easily change between formats. The device also demonstrates exceptional compatibility with Mac systems, solving many previous SCSI connectivity challenges.
The EOS (Emulator Operating System) version 3.0+ delivers enhanced capabilities, including the 48-track workstation/ sequencer, advanced MIDI controller functions, and support for computer-based preset editing. Additionally, E-mu introduced Sound ROM and Flash ROM expansion options, with the first Sound ROM board (E-Synth) offering over 700 new samples that effectively transform the sampler into a ROM synthesizer.
Users appreciate the five new distortion effects added to the system, which can transform virtually any sample into unique soundscapes. From classic clean sounds to heavy metal-style tones, these effects provide additional creative flexibility.
The Emu E4X Turbo stands as a testament to innovative music technology, offering musicians and sound designers a powerful, flexible, and future-proof sampling solution that served to push the boundaries of creative audio production by the time it was introduced.