emusonacid!

Hi,

Firstly, im a new member to this forum and would like to say hi to everyone. I have just bought a second hand 5000 ultra and waiting for it to be delivered, cant wait.....

I have one quick qustion reguarding EQ.

Does the 5000 have EQ? im used to using halion where i can EQ my samples in Cubase SX as i build the track, having no eq on the sampler would be a problem. I do have a small mixing desk in which i can eq, but this will be a pain if i have to keep re-sampling every time i make an EQ change.

Cheers,
Omen

No, there's not an EQ in the Ultras that compares to most software EQ. There's nothing real time. You do have a Parametric EQ that you can adjust per sample but it's kind of a piece of junk. A lot of people that use EMU's do use mixing boards to EQ, but a lot of people still do there sample editing in a PC or MAC sample editor and then SCSI it over to the EMU. The standard SCSI card that most EMU users have is the Adaptec 2906. It's what I have and I haven't had any problems with it yet. So almost all of my sample editing gets done in Soundforge then I SCSI it over to the EMU.

Hi wrecker13,

Cheers for your reply. So i guess its a case of trying to EQ my samples b4 i send to sampler, man this will be a pain lol.

If i could track down an rfx 32 card could i EQ on this?

Thanks,
Omen

now, hold on. the parametric eq is bad, i mean at it's finest tuning it notches filters out at a sledgehammer's accuracy (at 1 band width you are hearing roll off over an octave). but there is something else in the e 5000 ultras inventory that is just as good. now, i can't tell what it is actualy called because i can't tell the difference between lower case l's and capital I's on the emu, but i believe it is called a FIR, or FLR. this is a non-musical type of filter, kind of like an lpf or hpf. you can actualy do notches, band passes, if i remember right, and of course lpf and hpf as well.

you have a graphical representation of the filter at work, and you have a q control as well. depending on what you are filtering, you have either one frequency options (for hp and lp) or two frequency options (notch and band pass) and a thing called "point". the point value goes from 1 to 99, at the highest setting you get the sharpest resolution level of filtering and at 1 of course you get low resolution in your filtering. there is also if i remember correctly, you have a gain reduction or boost option as well.

i used this filter the other day on some cymbals that sampled to fill out my break. i used a hpf form of this fir or flr and completely wiped out my lowend off the cymbals. it gave them that tight, tinnie shacker sound that you get in alot of dnb tracks. of course i think i set my frequency at either 500 or 1 k.

of course i would say try this out, and if it isn't to your liking you can aways resample using one of the zplanes or standard filters on the emu as well. i do this all the time so i can get my break layers sitting just right.

That would be FIR as in Finite Impulse Response, as opposed to IIR Infinite Impulse Response - I have no idea what that means, but that's what it stands for.

Every time I try to use the FIR, I get massive distortion. I've never successfully used it , in fact. What kind of settings are you using to get workable results?

Yes, Finite Impuse Response.

You get massive distortion... I sometimes get strange "artifacts" when i use the parametric eq in the sampler. Some times i get a click, or a loud snap, but the funny thing is, after I undo the eq, i can actualy pick out what caused the problem, usually it is a glitch in the sample it self... but i am off subject, sort of.

well, last night, I was working on a song and the vocal sample i was using had some low end noise to it. So what i did was used the FIR to get rid of the low end noise. my settings where as follows:

set the FIR to High Pass

center frequency at 1000hz

point at 99

and i believe the gain was set to reduction if there is a set for gain reduction... now i can't remember. I hate how automatic things are now...

but those are the settings i used last, and the low end is gone from my sample and it now sounds more clearly defined. i will double check the settings since they are saved from the last time i used it last. and i will post a more accurate response.

but yeah, i have had issues with the eq in the sampler crupting my samples after using it.

Thanks, I'll give it another go. It's been a long time since I screwed around with the FIR, actually...

Omen - Unless you're really set against it, I'd look into an outboard EQ if I was you. I got a TLA 5013, and I love it (though it made me want a good EQ really bad :)). Resampling only takes a second, once you incorporate it into your process, and hardware EQs are sooo much easier to deal with than software... Just my take on it.

wrecker13 wrote:No, there's not an EQ in the Ultras that compares to most software EQ. There's nothing real time. You do have a Parametric EQ that you can adjust per sample but it's kind of a piece of junk. A lot of people that use EMU's do use mixing boards to EQ, but a lot of people still do there sample editing in a PC or MAC sample editor and then SCSI it over to the EMU. The standard SCSI card that most EMU users have is the Adaptec 2906. It's what I have and I haven't had any problems with it yet. So almost all of my sample editing gets done in Soundforge then I SCSI it over to the EMU.

lol the Parametric EQ is junk haha u is a tripper man.

I get some wikid results out of that junkassed EQ....its dope for overloading the low mids, to give basses some real GROOOOOOOOOWL.

U shouldn't dismiss it, cos it does sound way better than the sterile EQ in plugins esp logic plugs.

i kind of agree with wrecker... the parametric eq isn't that good. you don't have much control over the sound at all. with a parametric eq, you should beable to set the bandwith at 1 hz and maybe only effect the frequencies some what near it but not as bad as it actually does. when a band width of 1hz affects a complete octave, the parametric eq is just not valid for most applications.

but hey, if you have had it go good, then great. i just haven't had much luck with it, and i suppose that goes for wrecker as well, even though i can't really speak for him.

give us some settings you used to get that parametric eq to work proper.

that would be cool.

Klaseed, are you saying the TLA 5013 isn't very good compared to other Pro EQs?

Well, I'm saying the 5013 isn't very good compared to $1000-per-channel EQs that I've heard (Daking, Focusrite, Toft, API, etc). It sounds a bit rough and/or brittle.

That said, it's a whole other world than the EQs on my Mackie, and certainly adds more life than most software EQs. It's quite easy to dial in studid-extreme settings that sound nice and wrong

Hmmm - i was really hoping the eq would be useable, that was one of my reasons for getting an RFX card. I played around with it and notching out frequencies I could hardly hear it, boosting frequencies I could hear though.

Oh well....