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E-mu Systems was a
software synthesizer,
audio interface
An audio interface is a piece of computer hardware that allows the input and output of audio signals to and from a host computer or recording device.
Audio interfaces are closely related to computer sound cards, but whereas sound cards are opti ...
,
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
interface, and
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as a
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
maker, E-mu was a pioneer in
samplers, sample-based
drum machines and low-cost digital
sampling music workstation
A music workstation is an electronic musical instrument providing the facilities of:
*a sound module,
*a music sequencer and
*(usually) a musical keyboard.
It enables a musician to compose electronic music using just one piece of equipment.
Origin ...
s.
After its acquisition in 1993, E-mu Systems was a wholly owned subsidiary of
Creative Technology, Ltd.
[About E-MU](_blank)
Creative.com
In 1998, E-mu was combined with
Ensoniq, another synthesizer and sampler manufacturer previously acquired by Creative Technology.
E-mu was last based in
Scotts Valley, California
Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about thirty miles (48 km) south of downtown San Jose and six miles (10 km) north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mount ...
, on the outskirts of
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
.
History
E-mu Systems was founded in
Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a p ...
by Dave Rossum, a
UCSC student and two of his friends from
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, Steve Gabriel and Jim Ketcham, with the goal to build their own
modular synthesizers
Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, ...
. Scott Wedge, who would ultimately become president, joined later that summer. In 1972, E-mu became a company, developing and patenting a digitally scanned polyphonic keyboard (1973), licensed for use by
Oberheim Electronics
Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim.
History and products
Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and contract manufacturer of electronic effects devices for Maestro (most ...
in the
4-Voice and 8-Voice synthesizers and by
Dave Smith in the
Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with full ...
. E-mu, along with Solid State Micro Technology (SSM), also developed several synthesizer module
IC chips, that were used by both E-mu and many other synthesizer companies.
With the financial benefit of the royalties that came from working with these other synthesizer manufacturers, E-mu designed the
Audity, their first non-modular synthesizer, showing it at the 1980
AES Convention. With a price of $69,200 (over $200,000 in 2009 terms when adjusted for
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
), only one machine was ever produced. At that same convention, Wedge and Rossum saw the
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight.
— with links to some Fairlight history and photos
It was based on a commercial lic ...
and the
Linn LM-1
The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American e ...
. Recognizing the trend of
digital samplers, they realized that E-mu had the technology to bring a lower-priced sampler to market. The
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...
debuted in 1981 at a list price of $7,900, significantly less than the $30,000 Fairlight. Following the Emulator, E-mu released the first programmable
drum machine with samples built-in priced below $1,000, the E-mu Drumulator. The Drumulator's success was followed by the
Emulator II
The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary m ...
and
III, the
SP-12
E-mu SP-12 12 also known as the “sampling drum computer” was designed in 1985 and widely released in 1986 by E-mu Systems. Although the SP-12 was quickly superseded by the more powerful SP-1200, the SP-12 is often regarded as the first commerci ...
drum sampler, and the
Emax series of samplers.
In 1990, E-mu introduced the
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...
, a
rackmount
A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or "ears" that protrude from each side of the equ ...
sound module
A sound module is an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a piano-style musical keyboard. Sound modules have to be operated using an externally connected device, which is often a MIDI controller, of which th ...
, containing pre-recorded samples in
ROM
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* ...
. At its introduction, the Proteus had a relatively large library of high-quality samples priced much lower than the competition. The success of the Proteus spurred the development of several additional versions, including the Proteus XR, an orchestral version, and a world music version. In 1987, E-mu's
SP-1200 drum sampler offered an "all-in-one" box for sequencing not only drum sounds, but looping samples, and it quickly became the instrument of choice for
hip hop producers.
In 1993, E-mu was acquired by
Creative Technology
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the compa ...
(the Singaporean parent company of Creative Labs) and began working on PC
soundcard
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio ...
synthesis.
Creative Wave Blaster II and
Sound Blaster AWE32
The Sound Blaster AWE32 is an ISA sound card from Creative Technology. It is an expansion board for PCs and is part of the Sound Blaster family of products. The Sound Blaster AWE32, introduced in March 1994, was a near full-length ISA sound c ...
used EMU8000 effect processor. Throughout the 1990s, E-mu made many different sound modules along the lines of the Proteus series. E-mu also made unsuccessful attempts at breaking into the
digital multitrack recorder with the Darwin hard-disk recording system. In 1998, E-mu was combined with
Ensoniq, another synthesizer and sampler manufacturer previously acquired by Creative Technology.
[Rob Keeble]
"30 Years of EMU"
, ''Sound On Sound'', Sep 2002
In 2001 E-mu's sound modules were repackaged in the form of a line of tabletop units, the XL7 and MP7 Command Stations, each featuring 128-voice polyphony, advanced synthesis features, and a versatile multitrack sequencer. A complementary line of keyboard synthesizers was also released using the same technology.
Subsequent products from E-mu were exclusively in software form. In 2004 E-mu released the
Emulator X, a PC-based version of its hardware samplers with extended synthesis capabilities. While a
PCI card is used for audio input and output, the
algorithms
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing c ...
no longer run on dedicated hardware but in
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
on the PC.
Proteus X, a software-based sample player, was released in 2005.
Non-Creative sound cards
During 2003-2007, E-mu designed and published a series of high-fidelity "Digital Audio Systems" (computer sound cards), intended for professional, semi-professional and computer audio enthusiast use. They were released under the name E-MU, however bearing a "Creative Professional" label. The card names are number-coded for the number of physical inputs and outputs: 0404, 1212m, 1616, 1616m, 1820 and 1820m, where 1616 is a
CardBus version and the rest for PCI, while "m" denotes extra high-quality analogue outputs and inputs. The 1820m was touted as the series'
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
product until the 1616 and 1616M were released (A PCI version of the 1616/M later followed). All of the cards had drivers for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
and later versions that were current at time of the respective products' release. (32- and 64-bit). Only a beta version driver was released for Windows 7.
Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
support appeared to be pending, but may have been affected by Apple's migration towards
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
.
While the core DSP chip (EMU10K2) of the cards is the same one designed by E-MU and used in Creative's
Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system pl ...
Audigy2 cards (and hence capable of 24-bit 192 kHz
PCM sound), official press releases for the E-MU sound cards have emphasized Creative's lack of input on the design, and the in-house development of the cards and drivers — that is, they wanted to distinguish their "own" series from Creative's signature Sound Blasters. Notably, the cards and drivers entirely omit internal '
wavetable'
sample-based
Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthesis. The principal difference with sample-based synthesis is that the seed waveforms are sampled sounds or instruments ...
MIDI synthesis, Creative's proprietary
EAX sound routines and basically anything commonly associated with the parent company. Although the cards were rushed into market and originally came bundled with fairly raw drivers (which have subsequently received periodical major improvements and even additions beyond the advertised specifications), they have generally met with rather favourable reviews.
Timeline of major products
* 1973 -
E-mu Modular System
* 1980 -
Audity
* 1981 -
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...
* 1983 -
Drumulator E-mu Drumulator is a sample-based drum machine by E-mu Systems. Introduced in 1983 at a price of $995 USD, the Drumulator was the first programmable drum machine with built-in samples for under $1,000, resulting in sales of over 10,000 units over tw ...
* 1984 -
Emulator II
The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary m ...
* 1985 -
E-mu SP-12
E-mu SP-12 12 also known as the “sampling drum computer” was designed in 1985 and widely released in 1986 by E-mu Systems. Although the SP-12 was quickly superseded by the more powerful SP-1200, the SP-12 is often regarded as the first commerci ...
* 1986 -
Emax
* 1987 -
Emulator III
* 1987 -
E-mu SP-1200
The E-mu SP-1200 is a sampler created by Dave Rossum that was released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems.
Like the product it was meant to replace, the SP-12, the SP-1200's intended use was as a drum machine and sequencer for dance music produc ...
* 1990 -
Proteus 1 Pop/Rock
* 1990 -
Proteus 2 Orchestral
* 1991 -
Proteus 3 World
* 1991 -
Pro/Cussion
* 1993 - Morpheus
* 1994 -
Emulator IV / e 64
* 1996 - Orbit 9090
* 1997 - Planet Phatt
* 1997 - Carnaval
* 1997 - Orbit 9090 V2
* 1998 -
Proteus 2000
* 1998 -
E-mu APS (Audio Production Studio)
* 1999 -
E4 Ultra Samplers
* 2001 - XL7/MP7 Command Stations
* 2003 - PCI Digital Audio Systems
* 2004 -
Emulator X
* 2005 - CardBus Digital Audio Systems
* 2006 -
Emulator X2
* 2006 - Xboard 25, 49, 61
* 2006 -
E-mu Proteus X E-MU Proteus X is a Virtual Sound Module produced by E-MU Systems that is a software-based audio sample-based synthesis
Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthe ...
* 2007 -
Digital Sound Factory Digital Sound Factory is a sound design company that creates sound libraries, known as SoundFont libraries, for playback on synthesizers and computers compatible with Steinberg Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Reasonstudios, Steinberg Halion, Native Instru ...
licenses and remasters original Proteus and Emulator sound libraries
* 2009 -
E-mu PIPEline
E-mu Systems was a software synthesizer, Sound card, audio interface, MIDI interface, and MIDI keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as a synthesizer maker, E-mu was a pioneer in Sampler (musical instrument), samplers, sample-based drum machi ...
Digital Wireless Transmitter and Receiver System
* 2009 -
Emulator X3, the final incarnation of E-MU's flagship software sampler
* 2010 - longboard 61, shortboard 49 wireless performance keyboards
See also
*
Digital Sound Factory Digital Sound Factory is a sound design company that creates sound libraries, known as SoundFont libraries, for playback on synthesizers and computers compatible with Steinberg Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Reasonstudios, Steinberg Halion, Native Instru ...
(company)
*
Sampler
*
Polyphony (instrument)
*
Oberheim Electronics
Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim.
History and products
Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and contract manufacturer of electronic effects devices for Maestro (most ...
*
Sequential Circuits
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
{{Commons category, E-mu Systems
E-mu SystemsDigital Sound FactoryInterview with Scott WedgeNAMM Oral History Library. January 21, 2007.
Interview with David RossumNAMM Oral History Library. January 21, 2007.
(archive.org)
(archive.org)
(archive.org)
(archive.org)
Synthesizer manufacturing companies of the United States
Sound cards
Manufacturing companies established in 1971
Creative Technology acquisitions
American companies established in 1971
1971 establishments in California