Nice playing on the B3 sound patch. Reminds me of when my Dad played. He was a fantastic jazz pianist/ keyboardist. A year and a half since he's passed now. I really miss his playing.
@Synthlord - i feel the pain of your absence... my dad passed away 8 years ago...and there's a hole in my heart that will never be filled... hope you're okay...
I was a big fan of Depeche Mode at school and was also obsessed with the Emulator 2. What a fantastic bit of kit. You can actually alter the resonance of the sound using the ADSR sliders. A nice extra feature (or maybe bug) that was exploited by many artists.
There's an episode of Bob's Burgers where Gene meets a friend's dad who has a home studio with tons of synths and it's as if he's in a candy store🎹 Made me think of this channel😁
The "Floating Ork" sound was used in two songs of Dieter Bohlen's "Blue System" project: in the song "She's A Lady" from the project's first album in 1987, "Walking On A Rainbow", and in the song "Body Heat" from the project's second album of the same name in 1988. In both cases, this sound opens the composition.
"She's a Lady" begins with a sample of a dramatic scream borrowed from the central part of Jean-Michel Jarre's greatest composition "Ethnicolor", which was tightly mixed with this preset "Floating ork".
A few days ago, I converted a CD-ROM for Eⅲ that had been lying dormant for many years using Kontakt4, making it usable in my DAW. The sound is amazing! Of course, the usable range is narrow, but it's thick and smooth, and gives the same impression as the sound you hear in this video. How could they samplinged such a convincing sound in the 80s? It's magic. It's something that most 21st century ROMpler plug-ins couldn't achieve.
LiteTinkLoop that he played just after Ork is great also. Perfect for soundtrack and video game work. Felt like I was in a Myst game listening to those sounds.
This takes me back - mainly because back in the mid 80's I had - what was probably the largest E2 sound library in the US. I was on tour with Van Halen during 1986, so in every city, I'd get together with the local EII owner - (usually a recording studio), and swap sounds. Hard to think that we were all so excited by the samples, as they were 8 Bit, and weren't even stereo. Great to hear them again though.
Awesome!! Thank you for the insight! Yes, there's something special about those early libraries, still great sounds, especially considering these were done thirty-five years ago...
strange as it seems, I was just about to throw them all out. I put a listing on eBay, and someone paid me about $1,500 to buy them and have me ship them to Hawaii.................................a nice little surprise
Yeah, i bought an Emu 2 back in 85 and yes Sound Designer was literally amazing tech back then. Only the Fairlight gave it a run for the money with its light pen and drawable waveforms...but at about 100,000 bucks (canadian ) it was out of most people’s price range. Heck, even the Emu 2 cost me over 13 grand at the time!
Thanks that was interesting, that software seems pretty amazing for its time! ( I’ve got the much later Yamaha A5000 and just found out PCs can read it’s disks so it makes sending sounds to it a massive pain)- funny emu cracked that decades before!
Eighties samplers with analog filters sound more realistic than life itself, and E-mu was the rightful emperor. Unfortunately, I bet on the wrong horses (Ensoniq Mirage and Sequential Prophet 2002).
@@antigen4 To be fair, the Mirage's difficulties in realism can sometimes be to its advantage. Some of its factory library (especially the strings) has an uncanny valley effect in the same way the Mellotron evokes. The Prophet 2002, on paper, is better than the Emulator II - 12-bit, vs. 8-bit companded. Unfortunately it didn't get the library that the Emulator II did.
Just wait until you see what both the Fairlight CMI IIx and the Synclavier II were capable of. Innovative samplers for their time yet costs just as much as a house.
Not a musician, but definitely a fan of synth. Spent many hours just muckin' about with fascinating sounds using PC based apps & a dumb midi keyboard - waay back in the 1990s...
The first chord of Heaven 17 song "Temptation " is a haunting bass that even they can not recreate because they said the sample was lost ! I love the low signiture , the prodigy used the emu 2 , need I say more
I want to say that ive been enjoying your synth reviews for a long time. When i was buying synths several years ago before i committed to one id go online to the website to see what your take was on whichever synth i was thinking of buying. You'd play a few lines on most of the sounds. You helped me sooooo much in my decisions. Thank you. Now, Idk if you know much about him but didn't Yanni use this synth? Seems like i saw one in his setup at "Live at the Acropolis"?
Kevin, thank you - I don't know Yanni very well but at the "Live at the Acropolis" I see an Emulator III, which is the successor to the machine in the video. However, Yanni is one of the top synth guys, so I think it's likely that he used the Emulator II as well at some point in his career
It's bizarre how modern the librarian app appears on that old mac! Those sounds are so delicious. I would love to have sampled instruments of those banks. The strings, and brass particularly sound right to me. Do you want to make some in Ableton maybe? ;-)
why doesnt UVI or other companies make refill libraries for the plug in versions?-I have the UVI plug and its great but only has minimal sounds? where can I get the sought after classic sounds from?
I had all my Emu II and Emax sounds converted to Reason files and now I use them in my computers. I also have all the Fairlight sounds converted. I no longer need the hardware.
I have 2 zipdrives that work still. but you can only use the disc in the same zipdrive you wrote the disc with =) one internal and one external. dont really use them anymore since i have a scsi2sd installed
Super cool that you could send patches from the Macintosh! Is it real time control, like with filters and envelopes or do you make changes, then send to the synth? I'm amazed at any rate that this existed back then.
i hear emulator i hear depeche mode
Just like me :)
I hear numan/tubeway
Depeche Mode used a lot of Emulator. as well as Pet Shop Boys
Yes, and the Simple Minds used the Emulator 2
Depeche Mode had the most original samples of all bands. Amazing how Alan Wilder and Martin Gore used the emulator.
Nice playing on the B3 sound patch. Reminds me of when my Dad played. He was a fantastic jazz pianist/ keyboardist. A year and a half since he's passed now. I really miss his playing.
Thank you and sorry for your loss
so sorry to hear that my friend, sending you a big hug from Argentina, long live to your father's music for ever.
@Synthlord - i feel the pain of your absence... my dad passed away 8 years ago...and there's a hole in my heart that will never be filled... hope you're okay...
I was a big fan of Depeche Mode at school and was also obsessed with the Emulator 2. What a fantastic bit of kit. You can actually alter the resonance of the sound using the ADSR sliders. A nice extra feature (or maybe bug) that was exploited by many artists.
The sound at 5:04 is - in my opinion, one of the top 5 greatest EII sounds ever made.
I'd LOVE to get that sample...sounds like that don't get used enough today.
The first note sounds a little bit like the strings at the beginning of Orbital's "Halcyon".
For sure its dreamy and ethereal. Takes you out of here.
@@fender1000100 9:32
let's all go down to get some refreshments
It sounds very 80s ! ;-)
Love the floating ork sound. Reminds me of being on a mystical ride of some sort in Disneyland or something.
5:54 if i ever made a dark ambient album, i would DEFINITELY use this sound, mostly for the atmosphere.
Good sound from this preset
Enigma & Sandra sound !!! Thnks!
Haha I remember the Zip disk! They were heavy and expensive but super reliable...
There's an episode of Bob's Burgers where Gene meets a friend's dad who has a home studio with tons of synths and it's as if he's in a candy store🎹 Made me think of this channel😁
which episode?
@@acialist season 3 episode 8 The Unbearable Like-Likeness of Gene!
The "Floating Ork" sound was used in two songs of Dieter Bohlen's "Blue System" project: in the song "She's A Lady" from the project's first album in 1987, "Walking On A Rainbow", and in the song "Body Heat" from the project's second album of the same name in 1988. In both cases, this sound opens the composition.
Thank you!
Also used in the opening section of Pink Floyd's "Yet Another Movie". It is even easier to spot it in the Delicate Sounds Of Thunder version.
"She's a Lady" begins with a sample of a dramatic scream borrowed from the central part of Jean-Michel Jarre's greatest composition "Ethnicolor", which was tightly mixed with this preset "Floating ork".
Absolutely love the sounds this thing can make. If I was an artist in the 80s would have this on every single track !
I know, this was 10 months ago but please check out for Alan Wilder Emulator II. :)
Love the e-mu design so simple
A few days ago, I converted a CD-ROM for Eⅲ that had been lying dormant for many years using Kontakt4, making it usable in my DAW. The sound is amazing! Of course, the usable range is narrow, but it's thick and smooth, and gives the same impression as the sound you hear in this video. How could they samplinged such a convincing sound in the 80s? It's magic. It's something that most 21st century ROMpler plug-ins couldn't achieve.
Look at the size of that thing! Wow thanks for the scene w the Zip drive and B&W Mac.. instantly brought back memories!
Glad you enjoyed it
This is cool, I was around when the original came out, I was 17 and my friends Dad owned a studio that bought one
This is NEAT ! "Old Technology " STILL can rock!
floating ork is such a great sound
LiteTinkLoop that he played just after Ork is great also. Perfect for soundtrack and video game work. Felt like I was in a Myst game listening to those sounds.
Yes it is!
So good soundquality!
Man, You can about do anything with this ! So wild!
9:30 Quite unexpected to hear Hammond organ samples played on Emulator :-). Nicely done.
I love the floating ork sound lol
This takes me back - mainly because back in the mid 80's I had - what was probably the largest E2 sound library in the US. I was on tour with Van Halen during 1986, so in every city, I'd get together with the local EII owner - (usually a recording studio), and swap sounds. Hard to think that we were all so excited by the samples, as they were 8 Bit, and weren't even stereo. Great to hear them again though.
Awesome!! Thank you for the insight! Yes, there's something special about those early libraries, still great sounds, especially considering these were done thirty-five years ago...
Damn, 35 years ago?! Yes, that really show my age I guess. Thanks for responding, and uploading this great little vid!
You wouldn't happen to still have that collection on some old floppy, would you? Many people would love to archive and preserve such a trove
strange as it seems, I was just about to throw them all out. I put a listing on eBay, and someone paid me about $1,500 to buy them and have me ship them to Hawaii.................................a nice little surprise
@@willswitchcraft nice to know they didn't go to a landfill
2:50 SCARFACE/Clockwork Orange Vibes
WOW!! That Dust Warrior sound was awesone
Wow that Mac. I had no idea this type of audio editing was possible back then
Yeah, i bought an Emu 2 back in 85 and yes Sound Designer was literally amazing tech back then. Only the Fairlight gave it a run for the money with its light pen and drawable waveforms...but at about 100,000 bucks (canadian ) it was out of most people’s price range. Heck, even the Emu 2 cost me over 13 grand at the time!
On entend aussi Genesis. C est génial et c est un son énorme.
Early Depeche a la Mode and Constance Demby/Novus Magnificat come to mind for the E-mu Emulator/Fornicator II.
8:05 very Depeche Mod-y stuff
industrial sounds
8:00 "Some great reward" era
One of he coolest machines ever built! Thanks for all your work.
Thank you too!
2:12 I wonder if the High Strings sound is the same as Kraftwerk's Sex Object lead sound?
Omg i never knew there was a piece of software so powerful so early on in computers history 😐😍😐
The Fairlight had it even before
I recognize the "LITETINKLOOP" sound from a radio show back in the late 80's....interesting to now know where it came from
You may find that 'Mad Metal' was used on Everything Counts by Depeche Mode
5:00 unfortunately this amazing sound is nowhere to be found on Emulator II, a VST plugin by Arturia. What a shame D:
I need to get an Emu II so i can have a day off school.
This is great! Thanks for sharing this with us.⚡️
Great hardware, oldies are goodies here it seams!! have a fab time :)
Such a great sounding synth. Love that you're using that old Mac SE to transfer data.
Floating Ork took me to another dimension.
Think E-Mu. Think DM!
Thanks that was interesting, that software seems pretty amazing for its time! ( I’ve got the much later Yamaha A5000 and just found out PCs can read it’s disks so it makes sending sounds to it a massive pain)- funny emu cracked that decades before!
I bought an A4000 when they came out. I sold it a short while after, because the SCSI loading times were unbelievably long
Awesome video Paolo. Very well put together and sonically good as always 👍
Happy New Year. Stay blessed
Thank you! You too!
Strings sound fantastic.
Eighties samplers with analog filters sound more realistic than life itself, and E-mu was the rightful emperor. Unfortunately, I bet on the wrong horses (Ensoniq Mirage and Sequential Prophet 2002).
Lol I had a Casio Keyboard when I started.
haha the mirage was AWFUL - it was obvious when it came out - it was one of the few affordable ones however
@@antigen4 To be fair, the Mirage's difficulties in realism can sometimes be to its advantage. Some of its factory library (especially the strings) has an uncanny valley effect in the same way the Mellotron evokes. The Prophet 2002, on paper, is better than the Emulator II - 12-bit, vs. 8-bit companded. Unfortunately it didn't get the library that the Emulator II did.
@@100DollarHeadache Skinny Puppy used the Mirages, and they had major hits with them -I mean how could you go wrong sampling the Exorcist?
@@mrkitty777 If it was a Casio SK-1, it might not have been that much worse than the Mirage in sound quality.
5:06 it's sounds similar to Alan Wilder remix of In chains-Depeche mode
Such amazing sounds in this! Wow, 1984 and these were around? I would expect these in romplers from the early 90's. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it
Just wait until you see what both the Fairlight CMI IIx and the Synclavier II were capable of. Innovative samplers for their time yet costs just as much as a house.
very cool!
Not a musician, but definitely a fan of synth. Spent many hours just muckin' about with fascinating sounds using PC based apps & a dumb midi keyboard - waay back in the 1990s...
The first chord of Heaven 17 song "Temptation " is a haunting bass that even they can not recreate because they said the sample was lost ! I love the low signiture , the prodigy used the emu 2 , need I say more
I need one of these keyboards in my life!
There are several for sale on Reverb and eBay
Thank you Paul!
I enjoyed every second of this ♥
Thank you, Christiaan!
nice as always
Great sounds
Mad Metal seems like it wouldn’t be out of place on Construction Time Again
Impressionante its sound!!
That string patch in the intro is directly from Dark Train by Underworld.
Lol, I had those pointer-following eyeballs on my Performa 2600 back in the day...
The Mellotron of the 80's.
Good video and some fine sounds, but MAN! That monitor flickering like hell at the start! I bet you've sent a few epis to hospital with that already!
Mad Metal is Depeche Mode 1984
Yeah, the People Are People intro. I always thought that was a custom sample.
Pet Shop Boys Strings please!!!
Amazing...
the BIGBIGBIGBIG sounds a lot like ABC's Poison Arrow
SUPER!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
5:04 love of a lifetime
modern talking sound
I want to say that ive been enjoying your synth reviews for a long time. When i was buying synths several years ago before i committed to one id go online to the website to see what your take was on whichever synth i was thinking of buying. You'd play a few lines on most of the sounds. You helped me sooooo much in my decisions. Thank you. Now, Idk if you know much about him but didn't Yanni use this synth? Seems like i saw one in his setup at "Live at the Acropolis"?
Kevin, thank you - I don't know Yanni very well but at the "Live at the Acropolis" I see an Emulator III, which is the successor to the machine in the video. However, Yanni is one of the top synth guys, so I think it's likely that he used the Emulator II as well at some point in his career
Kevin you and me both...If I saw a synth on Craigslist and was wondering what the sounds were like, I would be checking out his 15sec. Demos...
It's bizarre how modern the librarian app appears on that old mac! Those sounds are so delicious. I would love to have sampled instruments of those banks. The strings, and brass particularly sound right to me. Do you want to make some in Ableton maybe? ;-)
Esse synth soa fantástico nos dias de hoje... e eu escutei pelo falante do meu celular aqui. Imagina isso num P.A. !!
5:15 is so good!
Tina Turner band member used Emulator ll, when on tour in the 80s
Petshop boys sounds
There's a very similar sounding patch to that That Big Big Big on the Kawai K1. I bet they got the idea from the EII
here bc of the residents. heard they used this in recording.
Cool 🔥💯🔥💯🔥💯
When I see a big synth like that, I wonder how small it could be today.
It’s the size of an iPhone. GarageBand does so much more.
why doesnt UVI or other companies make refill libraries for the plug in versions?-I have the UVI plug and its great but only has minimal sounds? where can I get the sought after classic sounds from?
SALVE EMULATOR FOREVER
Holy shit iomega zip drives
I had all my Emu II and Emax sounds converted to Reason files and now I use them in my computers. I also have all the Fairlight sounds converted. I no longer need the hardware.
I'd like to buy a copy of those if you'd sell me a copy. :)
Suena Genial!!!
Museum of music and IT.
This is very cool. I have this but I have an Emax.
I have 2 zipdrives that work still. but you can only use the disc in the same zipdrive you wrote the disc with =) one internal and one external. dont really use them anymore since i have a scsi2sd installed
Ciao Paolo,love your show, can you do one whit the Roland MC 505.Grtz. Salvatore Panzali 👏👌👍
I dont know for sure but I think that Floating Ork is the intro of Peter Ceteras "WIld Ways"?
It seems I only dug original library from this machine. These imports somehow do not touch me too much on personal nostalgic meter.
i was just wondering what you think of this vs a kurz 2000 sampler
5:06 Windows NT Worstation boot sound?
Then, floating Ork patch, Pearls Girl - Underworld
Was this not also ferris beullers synth? 'U seen aliens?.... well its like that '
Yep, he used the disk, I think it’s called (sick day) or something like that
Please some place on the net were could download each key of mad metal disc ???😅😊😢😮❤
2:18 he hit the back dat azz up strings😂
4:43 big in Japan opening sound
That B3 patch sounds better than most sampled Organ vsts.
Hey Paolo, Thanks a lot for another great E-mu video
There is a lot of Depeche Mode in it
Super cool that you could send patches from the Macintosh! Is it real time control, like with filters and envelopes or do you make changes, then send to the synth? I'm amazed at any rate that this existed back then.