emusonacid!

Hello Everybody.

I'm new here so this is my first post.

Basically, I have been making breakbeat music for some years and programme my beats using one shot samples in an Akai S3200XL.

I have noticed, for some time, that the Akai adds a certain crunchy, high-end, trebley sound to my drums and this is not the kind of sound I am looking to have.

I am trying to get a snare sound like you would hear in 1970s funk tracks such as Future Shock by Curtis Mayfield (God rest his soul), Hoppin' John by Melvin Van Peebles or Assembly Line by The Commodores.

The snares I load into my Akai are very close to this (in fact they are exactly like those snares I've mentioned in those tracks above), but once I write the beats the Akai imparts it's own trebley quality into my drums thus resulting in my losing the fat quality I'm looking for.

In order to try and fatten up the snares and lose this trebley sound, I compress my beats (using VST plug-ins) and then record them into a Revox Reel to Reel.

The Revox seems to smooth out the harsh, high-end edge to the drums but is lacking somewhat in low end "depth" and "warmth".

I have considered buying an analogue compressor (as I only have a digital one at the moment), but it has been suggested to me that I should consider an Emu.

I have heard that Emus are not so trebley as Akais and would be more ideal for creating fat drums than an Akai would.

In your experiences, do you think this is true and do you think if I bought an Emu it would add that low-end, fatness to my drums (and specifically my snares) which I am losing when I use the Akai.

Also, if an Emu is the way to go which model should I plump for?

What's the difference between an E6400 and an E5000, for example?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,


Geo

well, how about this: i am actualy having issues with too much bass in my sounds. even before zplane madness.

i think you will find that the emu does give you good lowend. but it sounds like you want some mid range lowend. but i am sure it would work for you there as well.

i have an emu e 5000 ultra, and love it. some like the 6400, slight differences, i think an upgradeable polyphony. and then there is the platnium. i suppose the platnium is the best, but they are all great machines.

you should find an emu before you buy it and test it out with your snare that you use. if it sounds the way you like then go for it.

Thanks for the advice.

I have actually found an Emu E6400 Ultra with 128Mb of RAM and it is going for a really cheap price so I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy it.

I was going to buy another sampler - a Z8 - because my current one has only 32MB RAM and I cannot load big kits into it.

The price of this Emu is just making me think, sod it I'll get it...however, I cannot test it out because it's in the US and I'm in the UK.

It's going for ?272 (but there is P+P on top of that) but that is still a bargain!

What do you reckon?

Geo wrote:Thanks for the advice.

I have actually found an Emu E6400 Ultra with 128Mb of RAM and it is going for a really cheap price so I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy it.

I was going to buy another sampler - a Z8 - because my current one has only 32MB RAM and I cannot load big kits into it.

The price of this Emu is just making me think, sod it I'll get it...however, I cannot test it out because it's in the US and I'm in the UK.

It's going for ?272 (but there is P+P on top of that) but that is still a bargain!

What do you reckon?

That IS a good price if you ask me. I have that very same model and it is the best sampler I've ever had.

The sound in these machines is incredible.

Yeah that was what I was thinking.

I'm speaking to a number of people with various different Emu Ultras for sale (including Emu themselves who have offered me a Platinum for $1495) and this one seems like too good deal to ignore - even without testing it out.

The Platinum, for me, seems like overkill - I don't really think I'd need something with all those options and all those Outs.

If anyone is interested I can give you the guy at Emu's address if you want to buy it.

Dane,

Have you had any Akais before or used any before? Just interested to see if you could compare the sounds of the two.

Geo wrote:Yeah that was what I was thinking.

I'm speaking to a number of people with various different Emu Ultras for sale (including Emu themselves who have offered me a Platinum for $1495) and this one seems like too good deal to ignore - even without testing it out.

The Platinum, for me, seems like overkill - I don't really think I'd need something with all those options and all those Outs.

If anyone is interested I can give you the guy at Emu's address if you want to buy it.

Dane,

Have you had any Akais before or used any before? Just interested to see if you could compare the sounds of the two.

I used to sell samplers full-time and I know exactly what you mean when you refer to the 'trebley sound'.

The Akai samplers sound good but I would recommend the Emu anytime. They are a lot 'hotter' or warmer sounding

You will have to learn a completely new user interface though :-)

I was a bit put off with having to learn a new OS but it can't be THAT different from an Akai OS.

I can programme an Akai pretty indepth and have been doing so for a long time now, so my knowledge of samplers is pretty indepth.

One thing I'm trying to find out is if second hand goods are charged VAT and Import Tax when they come into the EU/UK from outside.

If there are any UK people out there (or EU people for that matter) that have experience of buying second hand from outside the EU (and specifically from the US), did you pay VAT and Import Tax on your purchase?

Heyas,

I'm a Brit living in the USA and consequentally have some experience in shipping to / from the UK.

ALL goods imported to the UK are subject to duty. The sender needs to print out a "Commercial Invoice", which basically nothing more than shipper and receiver's addresses, the date, what's being shipped and how much it is valued at.

This value needs to be the same amount as the insured value of the package.

Whichever courier is delivering it to you (I'd reccomend FedEX or UPS) will deliver it and hand you an invoice for the VAT charged at the full 17.5%

Now it's an offence to have someone understate the value of an item, but if you look on ebay you'll find lots of baby Emus going for around $200 so you can argue it, though it's super unlikely anyone is going to ask or pay any attention to anything but the commercial invoice info.

Good luck..

Geo wrote:Yeah that was what I was thinking.

I'm speaking to a number of people with various different Emu Ultras for sale (including Emu themselves who have offered me a Platinum for $1495) and this one seems like too good deal to ignore - even without testing it out.

The Platinum, for me, seems like overkill - I don't really think I'd need something with all those options and all those Outs.

If anyone is interested I can give you the guy at Emu's address if you want to buy it.

Dane,

Have you had any Akais before or used any before? Just interested to see if you could compare the sounds of the two.

The EMU is a great buy, u should go for it.

My mate has an akai an an E6400 Ultra.....the EMU sounds so much better in ever respect. The Akai always needs a shedload of EQ to make it sound fat. Always did sound tinny an thin to me. Personally the value of that machine is the timestretch ...man what a legacy that left.

Buy the EMU, u wont look back trus me.

drayon,

I have just bought it earlier - it should be with me early next week (though I am hoping I get it by the weekend!!).

With regards to the Akai, I find when I source a nice fat snare from my library of sounds once I load it into the Akai it totally f*@ks up the sound and I spend months and months trying to EQ/compress/EQ/compress back to the sound I originally had, but never get there!!

It's a bloody nightmare and wastes my time. However, that is not to say that I don't think it's great, I can see it's uses.

If I was going for a drum sound like a jazz drummer or a rock drummer then it would be perfect, but at the moment I'm not.

Diginerd,

So are you saying if I say the package is worth $200 (or thereabouts) then I may get away with VAT and Import Tax?

The (private) seller I am buying it off has said he has written on the packaging before that it is a gift and VAT and Import Tax have not been charged to the buyer.

However, he (and others) have said that it's really down to luck whether I get hit with the above or not...so fingers crossed...

Thanks for the info, anyway.