Mellotronists

<<  I'm somewhat surprised that most places online state that this is a 
"discontinued item" as it was just released last year and I bought it last 
summer.Maybe the market for such a tool is smaller than Emu thought? Anyone heard why 
this happened?>>

scanning the adverts in back issues of sound-on-sound, it appears that some 
dealers, but not all of them by any means, had got wind of this as long ago as 
four years. most of them now are knocking out emu /hardware/ products at 
rock-bottom prices, & it's not just because of the exchange rate. my pk6 was £300, 
& I got a new proteus 2000 module for the same. the samplers have been heavily 
discounted (except for the very most high-end unit, the platinum) for two 
years at least.
my recent conversations with emu, & visits to their site, confirm that they 
are winding up the hardware side of the business & concentrating on the 
computer-sampling platform. shame. probably they don't want to have to support 
awkward users like me....

<< So, when they answer the phone, do they say "Emu. Later." and hang up? >>

sadly, they are not possessed of this level of sophistication. these days you 
get a bunch of sampled voices (how appropriate...) to navigate, & the first 
one tells you that you're a valued customer of "creative labs", who now own the 
emu & ensoniq brands. thanks heavens the japanese haven't abandoned hardware 
sampling yet. pretty soon a new mellotron will be the only hardware-based 
playback instrument on the market. that ironic enough or what?

duncan/400nr1098 

& five (5) emu samplers, a proteus 2000, an audity, a planet-earth & a pk6, + 
many roms.
& to think I switched allegiance to emu because alesis had poor support.