Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

If you didn't get the email from EMU, here is what it said:
(graphical headers were removed)






E-MU's new Digital Audio Systems and Emulator X Desktop Sampling 
Systems are now shipping worldwide! E-MU's new desktop products were 
launched to great acclaim at Winter NAMM in Anaheim and Musikmesse in 
Frankfurt. The response from the worldwide press, dealers and 
customers has been fantastic - look for the first print reviews to be 
posted on www.emu.com soon.

Version 1.01 Driver Update on www.emu.com for E-MU Digital Audio 
Systems and Emulator X Desktop Sampling Systems. This free driver 
update contains enhancements and fixes to improve the performance of 
your E-MU Digital Audio System and Emulator X Desktop Sampling 
Systems. Click here for the download and more info.


Beat Shop Two - Acoustic Drums and Grooves shipping May 2004. Beat 
Shop Two is the first release of the Emulator X sound library, and 
features three more brand-new 24-bit acoustic drumkits (1.2 GB of 
sounds) specifically created for Emulator X's powerful engine, as 
well as an assortment of grooves performed by professional drummers. 
Beat Shop Two will be available late May 2004 with an estimated 
street price of $69.99 US, €69.99, and £49.99.

 
 
  Upgrades and Accessories for your Digital Audio System or Emulator 
X Now Available from E-MU!

 AudioDockM™ US$299.99 (€299.99, £209.99)
If you have a 1212M or Emulator X, you can purchase the AudioDockM 
upgrade and get the same external Analog and Digital I/O that comes 
with the 1820M and Emulator X Studio (replaces your 0202 interface). 
The AudioDockM features the same converters used on Digidesign 
ProTools™ HD 192 system with an SNR of 120dB!

Simply connect the AudioDockM to your existing core 1010 card via the 
supplied EDI (E-MU Digital Interface) cable and you're done - 
PatchMix DSP™ automatically detects your new I/O. This upgrade even 
includes a FULL edition Cubase VST™ 32 version 5.1 for Windows XP and 
2000! 


Here's what you get with the AudioDockM upgrade:


   (2) TFPro™ Mic Preamps on Neutrik™ Connectors with 40dB of gain 
control and Phantom Power.
 
   (6) 1/4" TRS Analog Inputs
 
   (8) 1/4" TRS Analog Outputs
 
   (1) Stereo RIAA Turntable Preamp with ground
 
   (4) Stereo Mini-Jack Outputs (great for connecting external PC 
speakers up to 7.1)
 
   (1) S/PDIF Output on optical TOSLINK™ connector
 
   (2) Full-size MIDI I/O
 
   (1) Stereo Headphone Output with volume control and Y-adapter 
cable to drive 2-sets of headphones
 
   EDI cable (3 meter)
 
   Software/Driver Installation CD-ROM, including Steinberg Cubase 
VST 32 Version 5.1 (full edition)
 


Sync Daughter Card US$79.99 (€79.99, £59.99)
If you have a 1212M, 1820 or Emulator X, you can purchase the Sync 
Card upgrade to get Word Clock, SMPTE and MTC.


EDI Cable (3 meter) US$19.99 (€19.99, £13.99)
This is the cable that connects the core 1010 PCI card to the 
AudioDockM or AudioDock. It's always a good idea to have a spare.


Rack Shelf for AudioDockM, AudioDock US$29.99 (€29.99, £21.99)
Rack Mount your AudioDockM or AudioDock! Simply remove the feet from 
under the dock and use the screws that came with your system (1820M, 
1820, Emulator X Studio or AudioDockM upgrade) to attach to the rack 
shelf and you're ready to go.


To place your order, go to http://www.emu.com/shop/shopcategory.asp?
Category=299 or call toll free 1-877-742-6084 from North America, 
0800 9012168 in the UK, 0800 0677878 in Germany, 0805 639811 in 
France, and +353 1 438 0045 for the rest of Europe.

 


Emulator® X Sampler Upgrade Introductory Special Available Through 
May 31, 2004.
If you are a registered user of an E-MU 1820M, 1820, or 1212M you are 
eligible to upgrade to Emulator X for just US$99.99 (€99.99, £69.99) 
through May 31, 2004. This is $50 off the regular upgrade price of 
$149.99. This upgrade includes the Emulator X sampling software with 
all the sound libraries, including our stunning 1.6GB grand piano, 
included in the retail Emulator X and Emulator X Studio packages.


Emulator® X is the culmination of over 30 years of sampler 
development; combining the pristine sound quality, powerful synthesis 
and filters of E-MU's hardware samplers with the disk streaming, file 
management, and interface advantages of software. It even supports 
EOS, EIII, Giga, Akai, HALion, EXS24, SoundFont 2.1, .WAV (and many 
more to come) sound formats.


Remember, Emulator X works only if you have an E-MU Digital Audio 
System (DAS) model 1820M, 1820 or 1212M and this upgrade is available 
by calling E-MU toll free 1-877-742-6084 from North America, 0800 
9012168 in the UK, 0800 0677878 in Germany, 0805 639811 in France, 
and +353 1 438 0045 for the rest of Europe. Please have your DAS 
serial number (located on the outside of your box and the PCI card) 
ready when you call. You owe it to yourself to add the most 
comprehensive sampler in the world to your rig for less than a 
hundred bucks.


CD-ROM Sound Library Special!!
E-MU is now offering the lowest pricing ever on CD ROM's to all our 
loyal hardware and Emulator X sampler owners with pricing as low as 
80% off SRP. Go to http://www.emu.com/promo/cdrombundles/welcome.asp 
to take advantage of these great offers!

 
 

 This month we've invited Brent Elder, E-MU's Director of Hardware 
Engineering, to share his insights into the circuit design of the new 
Digital Audio Systems (and Emulator X systems). Brent was Director of 
Engineering for Apogee Electronics prior to joining E-MU about six 
years ago, and developed the AD-1000 and AD-8000 professional audio 
interfaces, among others, during his years there. Besides being the 
primary circuit designer of E-MU's new desktop products, Brent 
previously managed the development of E-MU's legendary Proteus 2000 
line of sound modules, keyboards and command stations, as well as the 
RFX-32 card for E-MU's Emulator 4 Ultra family of samplers. 

Here's what Brent had to say about creating the hardware circuits for 
the new Digital Audio Systems:


"We certainly enjoyed the challenge that the 1820M and 1212M 
presented, particularly in the design of the analog input and output 
stages. We made the decision early on to use two of the best 
converters available, the AK5394 and CS4398, and even now, almost a 
year and a half later, no other vendor has improved on the 
specifications of the AK5394. The AK5394 analog-to-digital converter 
has a flat noise floor all the way out the 96 kHz (Nyquist frequency 
for a 192 kHz sample rate) unlike most ADCs which are flat only to 40 
kHz. In addition, this ADC has outstanding SNR (123 dB A-weighted) 
and THD+N (-110 dB). The CS4398 is one of very best digital-to-analog 
converters available as well, with THD+N of -105 and SNR of 120 dB. 


Having made the decision to use these advanced ADC's and DAC's that 
can achieve signal-to-noise ratios of 120 dB or better, it was no 
longer possible to use 'cookie-cutter' circuit designs. Getting close 
to what these converters can achieve requires attention to every 
detail, and could be compared to peeling an onion. Peel one problem 
away, and there's another one lurking underneath. We had to redesign 
our clock circuits to minimize jitter, develop new analog circuit 
topologies and components that could reduce thermal and amplifier 
noise while keeping amplifier loading to a minimum, design new low-
noise switching power supplies, make extensive use of balanced 
circuit design techniques throughout the input and output stages, and 
use isolated system grounds to prevent ground loops from introducing 
60 Hz noise. We also took great care to virtually eliminate stereo 
crosstalk in this product line, with separation exceeding 115 dB.


We're also proud to include TFPro™ microphone preamplifiers in this 
product, with 48V phantom power for condenser microphones. For the 
DJ's out there, we've included a low-noise phono preamp, with less 
than 0.5 dB deviation from the RIAA equalization curve, that can 
handle a wide range of MM cartridge output levels.


The end result is a product we hope will delight our customers with 
it's unprecedented dynamic range, extremely low levels of distortion, 
and wide variety of professional I/O at an unbelievable price."

 
 

 Sean Wilhelmsen, Emulator X product manager, shares his advice this 
month on how to set up your system for optimal perfomance and 
polyphony:

Emulator X and CPU Usage


Emulator X is a heavyweight software sampler that features the most 
advanced synth engine on the market, a powerful hard disk streaming 
engine, and pristine audio quality with unmatched pitch interpolation 
that allows you to sample and playback sounds at 24-bit resolution 
and sample rates up to 192 kHz. Emulator X is no sissy sampler. Do 
you think we would have created it any other way? 


So, how does all of this power relate to CPU usage (i.e. am I hosed 
if I have a slow computer)?


In a nutshell, we decided not to handicap Emulator X by limiting its 
abilities. Instead, E-MU has created a software sampler that offers 
an arsenal of innovative tools and unmatched sound quality that makes 
the most of steady improvements in processor speeds and CPU power. Of 
course we don't expect every Emulator X user to buy a new computer, 
and we have included several tips below on how to optimize your 
system's CPU usage and maximize your polyphony. You can use all of 
the suggestions provided below, or just some - remember that every 
project is different, so try different combinations. Ultimately, when 
you move on to your next computer (studies show that most musicians 
upgrade about every two years), you'll be dancing in the streets 
knowing that Emulator X's features and sound quality weren't 
compromised to play on that outdated computer.


Great ways to improve CPU usage and increase Polyphony for Emulator X:


 1.
  Turn High Pitch Interpolation off.
 
 
 2.
  Convert 24-bit samples to 16- bit samples when streaming.
 
 
 3.
  Sample rate convert higher rate samples.
 
 
 4.
  Use 2 or 4 pole filters, or turn them off for presets that don't 
need filtering.
 
 
 5.
  Use less PatchCords. Delete unnecessary PatchCords. Many of the 
factory sounds use lots of PatchCords, giving you complete editing 
access from the 16 MIDI control knobs. Great for tweaking, but once 
you have the preset the way you want, get rid of the PatchCords that 
aren't being used.
 
 
 6.
  Resample. You can turn 50 notes of polyphony into 2 stereo voices. 
Definitely one of Emulator X's best features. Another result of re-
sampling your own drum grooves, pad washes, intros, synth leads is 
that you have new samples to tweak and play off of. You can now 
filter the section differently, copy it and reverse it, re-trigger it 
on the up beat; the possibilities are limitless. You can also re-
sample using the hardware-accelerated PatchMix DSP effects.
 
 
 7.
  Render your MIDI track to a stereo audio track in your software 
sequencer. Many software sequencers allow you to convert your MIDI 
track into a stereo audio file. Playback that 24-bit Grand Piano solo 
with Emulator X's lushness and then render it to gain back polyphony.
 
 
 8.
  Play your samples from RAM, turn streaming off.
 
 
 9.
  Use fast hard drives when streaming. Try Raid configurations for 
amazing results.
 


Remember, software is dynamic. You can have the same preset playback 
different ways depending on the song. If you're using a Proteus 
Composer X preset and the filter is wide open and there's no 
resonance being used, turn the filter off. Every bank can save its 
own presets and samples, so you don't have to worry about 
compromising that preset for future songs.


In conclusion, with power comes responsibility. E-MU's has designed 
Emulator X to give you unparalleled power, and we hope that some of 
the tips above will help you optimize your setup and get the most out 
of this amazing desktop sampling system.