@schellebel LOL no. The Synclavier was a sampler, but it was also a synthesiser in it's own right. It was the first synth to use FM synthesis, developed by a guy called John Chowning. He later sold the patents to Yamaha who developed the DX range using it. However the Synclavier used 12 operators against the DX7's 6, hence that massive sound. The closest thing to it now is the Native Instruments FM-8 VSTi
The Rev 1 models (later ones) have RS422 ports for connecting an external Optical Media CD Rom drive. OMI 1-3 CD libraries were created for it. Most of these drvies don't work these days but most owners use the communication port for connecting an old Mac, using Sound Designer and the converted libraries instead.
@JMPSynth Actually this was a compliment if you read it correctly. What I meant was these EXCELLENT sounds can sound like any digital synth or analog synth. I know its a sampler but the character of the filters and bitrate and convertors allow it to sound very convincing unlike a lot of new synths and modern samplers, in particular software samplers which are good but lacking personality. I am well aware that classic synths all have distinctive and unique sounds, unlike modern synths.
Hehe, nice to hear Fancy - Lady Of Eyes at 00:26. I loved it in my teens and it took me some minutes before I recognized where I've heard it before. I'd love to get the Emulator II some day...
@JMPSynth IT reads them as well, but it also has a parallel RS422 interface in the back. I know as I had two EII's and got rid of them and just used the Oberheim.
@LaugermanPROductions The power supplies are an early switched-mode design, and rather underrated, and liable to go bang. I have had two do it to me, and heard of quite a few other people it happened to. The Shugart floppy drives wear out (and are also really slow), so where possible, it's best to use the RS-422 interface and get a hard drive installed. Apart from the occasional button seizing up, they are generally very good as long as you don't throw them around and treat them with respect.
Yep, the Burmer, Emu & OMI CD 1 libraries for this batch. You need a vintage Mac to run Sound Designer (for EII) to open the SD banks and transmit to an EII.
Ebay is the way... one appeared in UK the other week. Just keep looking but be prepared to get one fixed up as they're rarely working 100% when being sold.
@jerydm The "Cult Sampler" VSTi from Best Service has a few EII samples on board along with other legendary sounds from all the important older hardware samplers (Fairlight, Synclavier...).
It probably was a synclavier, samplers had to sample something. The library people would sample anything they could get their hands on as long as they thought it might be useful or unique.
Ah, sorry man, your message could be read both ways, my bad ! Glad you like it too. ;) The library blows you away on these considering when it was put together. My ESI sampler hardly gets switched on despite having 128MB of memory and CD quality playback ! Cheers.
I had that same feeling when I saw Alanah Currie bash angrily on her Fairlight CMI II on TOTP;-)... I saw an Emulator II for 2000,- Euro in a shop about five years ago and would have bought it on the spot, but I just didn't have that kind of cash at my disposal... But yeah... I would love to own a Fairlight and an Emulator. I have an Amulator rack sampler and have all my official Fairlight factory samples on my E-Mu sampler's internal HD, but it's not the same...
Lol, it would look very cool on stage. Think most EII owners are afraid of moving them these days. 8" floppies are mental ! Makes the EII's 5.25" ones somewhat less ancient. :)
Yeah.. JMP is right.. the laser harp is definitely a Synthex Preset.. in fact the Rendezvous album is almost a demo disc for the Synthex.. and JMP is lucky to have one ;)
Hey! Nice sounds!!! I from Argentina and I like very much this sinth! hmmm Do you know some soft or program to emulate this sounds? or some virtual synth like Emu2? : ) Tnkx again !!! : )
You sample your own stuff ! Insert a microphone into the audio/sample 1/4" jack on the back of the EII or sample direct from other synths. All of my own sounds come from other synths or WAV's played back from PC into the sample input of the EII. All my own samples/sounds are available on 5.25" floppy disk and SD format. :)
I would like to have one on stage just to watch the face of the people wondering... does that thing actually works? A few years ago I went to a airplane simulator, an actual one and they had all these old computers with the old floppy disks that were the size of an actual LP!!! The Emulator II reminds me that computer lab for that simulator.
That's weird: I know I heard it on another Emulator II demo, and it sounds more like an FM sound than anything else. Then again, according to Vintage Synth Explorer, the Synthex used DCOs, so it would be stable enough for FM sounds.
@JMPSynth Also, I have owned many hardware samplers as well as analog and digital synths over the yrs and my point is that this library has a BIG and expensive sound considering the memory limitations of this instrument, almost laughable by today's standards. Most new sample library's although more accurate and higher quality come nowhere near the professional quality of this library.
@JMPSynth 8" Floppies are almost impossible to get.... since you have a CMI it's gonna drive you crazy... wish the CMI had also 5.25" floppy disc drives
Emulator II - one of Pet Shop Boys' synths! I'd still like to have one of these... how much would it cost, JMPSynth? Do you know? Nice demo =) Regards!
beautiful legendary instrument - but realtime controllability seems pretty restricted as far as i understand it, always just one group at a time with 4 (ABCD) preset parameters
But an Emax doesn't look as cool. :) Nowt wrong with MIDI on mine. 8 note poly mix audio output (you forget that bit?) both working floppy drives and a choice of 3 Macs to connect.... ta very much. The 8 bit sound quality is what gives it 'it's' sound. Much prefer it to the ESI sampler I also have.
the sun and the rainfall at 4:13!
thats the best song off a broken frame in my opinion. nice choice.
Matt Griffiths yes! The best one IMO too!
again, minimalistic and beautiful; intelligent groove without obsolete whistles. Respect!
Fantastic demo.
Emulator II sounds unique
@JMPSynth The Oberheim DPX could also read the Emu CD-ROM drives.
The best sampler ever made.
@schellebel LOL no. The Synclavier was a sampler, but it was also a synthesiser in it's own right. It was the first synth to use FM synthesis, developed by a guy called John Chowning. He later sold the patents to Yamaha who developed the DX range using it. However the Synclavier used 12 operators against the DX7's 6, hence that massive sound. The closest thing to it now is the Native Instruments FM-8 VSTi
The Rev 1 models (later ones) have RS422 ports for connecting an external Optical Media CD Rom drive. OMI 1-3 CD libraries were created for it. Most of these drvies don't work these days but most owners use the communication port for connecting an old Mac, using Sound Designer and the converted libraries instead.
My favourite syntesizer of all times, whish I had one!
@900GTi The Synclavier was the original FM synth. The designer, John Chowning sold the rights to Yamaha.
@JMPSynth Actually this was a compliment if you read it correctly. What I meant was these EXCELLENT sounds can sound like any digital synth or analog synth. I know its a sampler but the character of the filters and bitrate and convertors allow it to sound very convincing unlike a lot of new synths and modern samplers, in particular software samplers which are good but lacking personality. I am well aware that classic synths all have distinctive and unique sounds, unlike modern synths.
Hehe, nice to hear Fancy - Lady Of Eyes at 00:26. I loved it in my teens and it took me some minutes before I recognized where I've heard it before.
I'd love to get the Emulator II some day...
@schellebel : No. That was an NED Synclavier II - the most expensive synth ever built. That said, it was essentially a souped-up DX7 in a lot of ways.
@JMPSynth IT reads them as well, but it also has a parallel RS422 interface in the back. I know as I had two EII's and got rid of them and just used the Oberheim.
Yes, you heard it on my EII demo. :) I sampled it directly from my Elka Synthex.
I love the reverse sitars!
@LaugermanPROductions The power supplies are an early switched-mode design, and rather underrated, and liable to go bang. I have had two do it to me, and heard of quite a few other people it happened to.
The Shugart floppy drives wear out (and are also really slow), so where possible, it's best to use the RS-422 interface and get a hard drive installed. Apart from the occasional button seizing up, they are generally very good as long as you don't throw them around and treat them with respect.
Yep, the Burmer, Emu & OMI CD 1 libraries for this batch. You need a vintage Mac to run Sound Designer (for EII) to open the SD banks and transmit to an EII.
I agree; the 2010 soundtrack was actually cut with a Synclavier (at least whatever wasn't outright orchestral/choral).
I've sampled it into my custom banks for the EII. It's originally a preset from the Elka Synthex used all over that album.
@JMPSynth Not really. Got two EIV Extremes and a ton of other Emu racks instead. :)
man 3:31 sounds exactly like a dx7 this thing kicks ass
Ebay is the way... one appeared in UK the other week. Just keep looking but be prepared to get one fixed up as they're rarely working 100% when being sold.
@jerydm The "Cult Sampler" VSTi from Best Service has a few EII samples on board along with other legendary sounds from all the important older hardware samplers (Fairlight, Synclavier...).
I think that sound in 3:30-3:51 from this excellent synthesizer was used in Robin Gibb's hit song 'Juliet' from 1983!
Yep, I agree. Not the same sounds but a great tune to demo many.
It probably was a synclavier, samplers had to sample something. The library people would sample anything they could get their hands on as long as they thought it might be useful or unique.
Ah, sorry man, your message could be read both ways, my bad ! Glad you like it too. ;) The library blows you away on these considering when it was put together. My ESI sampler hardly gets switched on despite having 128MB of memory and CD quality playback ! Cheers.
I had that same feeling when I saw Alanah Currie bash angrily on her Fairlight CMI II on TOTP;-)...
I saw an Emulator II for 2000,- Euro in a shop about five years ago and would have bought it on the spot, but I just didn't have that kind of cash at my disposal... But yeah... I would love to own a Fairlight and an Emulator. I have an Amulator rack sampler and have all my official Fairlight factory samples on my E-Mu sampler's internal HD, but it's not the same...
sounds like a synth worth having(keeping)
Well spotted, seems exactly like the same sound.
Lol, it would look very cool on stage. Think most EII owners are afraid of moving them these days.
8" floppies are mental ! Makes the EII's 5.25" ones somewhat less ancient. :)
Love it man, good ear. Would have been an extra bonus if you listed the patch names.
Yeah.. JMP is right.. the laser harp is definitely a Synthex Preset.. in fact the Rendezvous album is almost a demo disc for the Synthex.. and JMP is lucky to have one ;)
I agree !
This synth is in the background in Ferris Bueller's Bay Off!!
thnx for this really good sounding[ iget a impression now ] of the emulator always wanted one,....
we have a sp1200 = drum sampler
thnxio
Hey! Nice sounds!!! I from Argentina and I like very much this sinth! hmmm Do you know some soft or program to emulate this sounds? or some virtual synth like Emu2? : ) Tnkx again !!! : )
Great sound. Where do the sounds come from? is it the original library? I have it in SD format, but cannot read it.
Congratulations.
Right... so that would be between €600 and €1100 (aprox.). I guess It's worth it.
Thanks a lot, JMPSynth!
You sample your own stuff ! Insert a microphone into the audio/sample 1/4" jack on the back of the EII or sample direct from other synths. All of my own sounds come from other synths or WAV's played back from PC into the sample input of the EII. All my own samples/sounds are available on 5.25" floppy disk and SD format. :)
The 0:28 Guitar sound has been recycled and is now part of the EMU Proteus Sound Modules...
Ah, no longer unfortunately. Sampled a fair amount of it into the EII though. ;)
I would like to have one on stage just to watch the face of the people wondering... does that thing actually works?
A few years ago I went to a airplane simulator, an actual one and they had all these old computers with the old floppy disks that were the size of an actual LP!!! The Emulator II reminds me that computer lab for that simulator.
That's weird: I know I heard it on another Emulator II demo, and it sounds more like an FM sound than anything else. Then again, according to Vintage Synth Explorer, the Synthex used DCOs, so it would be stable enough for FM sounds.
i have the library on my hard drive =)
@JMPSynth Also, I have owned many hardware samplers as well as analog and digital synths over the yrs and my point is that this library has a BIG and expensive sound considering the memory limitations of this instrument, almost laughable by today's standards. Most new sample library's although more accurate and higher quality come nowhere near the professional quality of this library.
@JMPSynth 8" Floppies are almost impossible to get.... since you have a CMI it's gonna drive you crazy... wish the CMI had also 5.25" floppy disc drives
Do these emulators have sounds in them already or do you have to sample only
0:46-1:09 sounds almost exactly like the soundtrack from Myst, man...
Emulator II - one of Pet Shop Boys' synths!
I'd still like to have one of these... how much would it cost, JMPSynth? Do you know?
Nice demo =)
Regards!
Think it's a collection of PPG sounds from memory.
Have you posted this on the wrong you tube video...?
Didn't realise that.... Miss the EII's?
Isn't the infamous laser harp bass from Jean-Michel Jarre's "Rendezvous" album also an Emulator II patch?
@JMPSynth No it should be an answer to another post... but the new UA-cam design fucks it up....
Anywhere between £400 - £900 I would say depending on condition, library etc.
Well to my ears this sounds like any analog or digital synth out there and this is with very limited sample space.
Don't you mean the EII 5.25" floppy disks?
Thats a propper 80's music sound.
I got it wrong, though. :P It's oscillator sync, not FM.
And in the E-mu Orbit 9090...;-)
beautiful legendary instrument - but realtime controllability seems pretty restricted as far as i understand it, always just one group at a time with 4 (ABCD) preset parameters
But an Emax doesn't look as cool. :)
Nowt wrong with MIDI on mine. 8 note poly mix audio output (you forget that bit?) both working floppy drives and a choice of 3 Macs to connect.... ta very much.
The 8 bit sound quality is what gives it 'it's' sound. Much prefer it to the ESI sampler I also have.
0:46... I hear the sounds of Myst, no?
3:30 sounds like 2010 soundtrack.
As reliable as any other vintage synth/sampler. They all need TLC.
Could you share the sample at 5:28 please?
Hi, it's in the factory libraries OMI 1 - Bass Synth Bang. Think these are generally available / shared online these days?
So all analogue and digital synths sound the same do they? Lol. It's a sampler not a synth, it's supposed to sound like other instruments.....
Someones got a bent for DM and Bronski Beat ha ha
sons de guitar cyndie lauper(true colors)
doesnt look as cool lol... damn right the EII looks cooler and whatever its downfalls it sounds freakin ace..:)
bit of bronski beat in there
@scott93257 I understand why she's your ex now ;)