emusonacid!

Iv just received an emu E6400 which i bought in my usual rushed, excited fashion without looking into it as much as i should have. Upon turning it on i have noticed that the effects card isn't installed. Im gutted, is it easy to acquire? and how much shitter is the standard 6400 emulator than ultra? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

bollocks... just found out that you cant get the effects card for the classic 6400 anymore, and even if you could it wasnt very good. If only i had paid more attention to the word "ultra"

Yep, confirmed... regarding the quality of the effects.
The standard effects of the Ultra are also not high end FX. So, don't bother.

If you need further outputs look out for an Output Expansion like
- Model 6313 - 8 Analog Outputs ... to a total of 16 analog outputs
- Model 6861 - ADAT I/O ... PLUS a D/A converter with ADAT interface
To get the ADAT I/O working with your e6400 you need EOS 4.0 Classic or higher.

There are some other expansions that will only work in combination with the RFX-32 card for the Ultras:
- Model 6866 - ADAT I/O for RFX-32
- Model 6867 - 8 Analog Output for RFX-32
- Model 6868 - 4 Analog Input for RFX-32

The e6400 has the following limitations in contrast to the Ultra samplers:
- No "Beat Munging" as the CPU processing power is too low for this realtime effect/function.
- No installation of an internal IDE hard disk
- No EOS 4.70 for support of FAT filesystem -> Therefore limited hard disk space to 20GB
- No Installation of a RFX-32 effect board and related I/O expansions.

But:
None of the above mentioned features are really necessary for working with this nice machine.

If you need a hard disk you can go for a CF card drive at http://www.ScsiForSamplers.com with a 16GB CF card for storage.
As you can read somewhere in the forum, are these CF cards not hot swapable so that you need to turn off the sampler before changing.

Wow thank you for the very detailed reply! I was going to be using the sampler for drum and bass where the type of sounds i wanted from it are going to be distorted and harsh, i dont know if the classic 6400 would be much use to me without LFO's and filters? and one more question is the CF drive you mention if i needed additional hard drive space? Sorry im not the most technically minded person all these different drives and optional cards are confusing the hell out of me!

The samplers of the Classic line got the same LFOs and Filters like the Ultras.

To get distorted and/or harsh sounds, you have to sample them by yourself from a respective audio source or load/import sounds/samples from a mass storage media like a CD-ROM (AKAI or EMU-Format), a hard disk or a floppy disk.
Then you can process the samples with the Filters, LFOs and other realtime controls.
Or you distort the sounds outside the e6400 with an external device like a mixing channel or distortion effect (I mentioned a Tech21 SansAmp GT2 and a Tech21 SansAmp PSA-1 in another posting).

Regarding the mass storage:
You can install ONE internal hard disk INSIDE the sampler. This hard disk has to be connected to the internal SCSI-bus.
The CF card drive is available as complete internal solution (with no access to the CF card) and as a replacement at the space the internal floppy disk drive is allocating.
When replacing the floppy disk drive by the CF card drive, you are able to exchange the inserted the CF card when the sampler is switched off. The CF card solution has no moving parts and is complete noiseless, in contrast the old SCSI hard disk drives.

Regarding the output expansions:
When using the sampler for playback of drum-sounds (e.g. a complete Rock Drum Kit) it is recommended to have as much outputs as possible. Then you will be able to route each single sound to an own output for further processing (EQ, Compressor, FX via channel insert or via AUX-send) via a mixing console.
Actually you have 8 analog outputs. This will be sufficient for now. But maybe in the future you might think of more outputs.
The problem here is, that all expansions are only available in the 2nd hand market and they are rare.
The question will be: Analog Outputs (6313) or ADAT I/O (6861)?

JackT1989 wrote: If only i had paid more attention to the word "ultra"

same here but anyway.

I'm still kinda new to the Emu Universe as well, but as far as i found out (thx to mosrob here). You can get the same "emu sound" with your classic Emu !Cause as far as i know, the main things like filter, amplifiers inside the emu as well as the whole modulation possibilities (chords) are all the same. So the "sound" of the emu will be the same. You just got less FX to put on.

btw: are there any more filters on the rfx expansion ? or is it realy just stuff like reverbs, delays ... ?


And regarding your Disk Expansion. You don't need IDE with FAT, if you're happy with your current setup ! If you have enough diskspace and you're happy with the sounds on it then it's fine. For ex: I got (as far as i remember) 1 GB on a SCSI DISK. But since my emu had almost no sound on it, when i got the device. I have to arm it myself. And for what i'm going to use it 1GB is far enough. So don't worry too much about your disk as long as you have enough space for your material.

mosrob wrote: The CF card solution has no moving parts and is complete noiseless, in contrast the old SCSI hard disk drives.

hehe true ! that would be a reason to upgrade The "loudest" device at my place atm is definitly the Emu.

Thanks blackcat and mosrob! Thats cleared some things up, so in effect the only things i am missing are things that i would really have used anyway? Also, mosrob you have probably answered this question in a way but as my emu vocab is currently awful im not grasping some of the basics; All i want to be able to do with the emu is record sounds in from my computer, drum hits and "bass" to either twist up with the filters and LFO's or just bulk up the sound a bit. What is necessary for this?

Sorry this question has probably been answered millions of times on this forum and i have gone through pages of topics trying to grasp it but all SCSI and drives etc is confusing my simple mind haha

JackT1989 wrote:Thanks blackcat and mosrob! Thats cleared some things up, so in effect the only things i am missing are things that i would really have used anyway? Also, mosrob you have probably answered this question in a way but as my emu vocab is currently awful im not grasping some of the basics; All i want to be able to do with the emu is record sounds in from my computer, drum hits and "bass" to either twist up with the filters and LFO's or just bulk up the sound a bit. What is necessary for this?

Oke so assume, you have connected your EMU Inputs to either your soundcard, or a Mixing Desk. An easy way to record stuff to your emu is:

- Open the sound you want to transfer in your Sequencer
- Emu: Sample Manage / New / --> Make your settings there and then hit Arm
- On the sequencer let your Sample Play (for ex on an audio track) --> The Emu (depending on the Threshhold) will automatically record the sample
- New Screen will appear (there you can basically asign the sample to a preset, place it on your keyboard, normalise & truncate it) --> enter your settings

And the Sample is on your emu ready to play :)

To get a sound back from the emu to the computer i do the following:

- Have a Midi Track on your Sequencer where you can play notes and edit parameters
- Play a sequence
- Make an audio Track with no ouptut assigned, hit record on your sequencer

aaaand: then you got your sound back in your computer :)

no clue if this helpd :)

oh nice one mate i followed your instructions and i have managed to get a sample into the emu. There are a few things i can do to the sample using the tools in sample edit mode but these arnt very interesting. Do you know how i apply things from the preset edit mode like cords etc? Thanks for your help so far btw :)

Sweet! i worked it out (well watched a video on youtube). Think i know enough to start playing about with it properly now. Soooo glad i dont even need the ultra, thought i had just wasted a load of money