E-mu Drumulator (1983)
Twelve digitally recorded drum sounds, ten outputs, and a two-level sequencer. This machine put sample-based rhythm programming within reach.
Overview
The E-mu Drumulator arrived in 1983 from E-mu Systems with twelve digitally recorded sounds and a price that made studio owners do a double-take. The idea was simple: give musicians the sound of real drums without making them mortgage the console. The sounds are bass, snare, rim, high/mid/low toms, clave, cowbell, hand claps, open and closed hi-hats, and ride cymbal. The service manual is dated Version 1.0, 11 April 1983, and the copyright line on every page reads E-mu Systems, Inc. 1983.
The sequencer is the strong part. Programming is a two-level process. Segment Mode builds short rhythmic patterns, typically a few measures long, and Song Mode chains those segments into complete arrangements. Storage runs to 36 segments and 8 songs, with a maximum memory capacity of 10,088 notes and a maximum song length of six hours. A segment can run to 1:99 measures, a song to 1:99 steps, and Measure Length is settable to 199 beats in units of quarter, eighth, or sixteenth notes. That is a working arranger, not a toy pattern chain.
The feel controls are unusually deep for the era. Auto Correction resolution is selectable across eighth note, eighth triplet, sixteenth note, sixteenth triplet, 32nd note, 32nd triplet, and high resolution, so a player can quantize hard or leave the timing loose. Swing adjusts the degree of shuffle in previously recorded segments. The manual cheerfully admits that is hard to describe but easy to hear. Tempo range runs 40 to 240 BPM, clocking at 24 clicks per quarter note, which lines the Drumulator up with the sync conventions of its contemporaries.
There are ten audio outputs: a mono mix, a metronome/trigger output, and eight individual instrument channels - bass; snare/rim; hi/mid toms; low toms; clave/cowbell; claps; open/closed hi-hat; and ride. Mix Volume sets the level of the mono mix output without touching the separate channel outputs. Metronome Volume governs the metronome, trigger, and signal beeps in the mix without affecting the independent Met/Trig output. Four trigger inputs parallel the four Play buttons, and the external trigger threshold is 1.5 volts. There is also a computer interface: the Drumulator can be controlled by any computer equipped with an RS-232, 9600 baud, eight-bit serial interface.
Sync and storage go through a single Cassette/External Clock jack that does double duty. In Cassette Mode it accepts digital data from an audio tape recorder and outputs digital data for storage on an ordinary audio tape recorder or Emulator disk. Dump and load time is quoted at 15 seconds. In External Clock Mode it accepts a clock at 24 clicks per quarter note, or at any integer multiple of 24 with a programmable divide-down, so the Drumulator can be driven by clocks from synthesizers, sequencers, and other drum machines. Footswitch jacks duplicate Run/Stop and, in Song Mode, let a player exit repeat loops or step to the next song while stopped.
Power requirements are listed as 115v/230v at 60Hz/50Hz, drawing 42W maximum. E-mu's own spec sheet carries the standard caveat: specifications subject to change without notice.
Contemporary coverage treated the Drumulator as good value. Recording-Engineer (February 1985, p.98) called it one of the more cost-effective machines on the market, noting that it offered several features found on more expensive units. The same piece flagged the absence of composite stereo outputs, with a technician quoted as saying the mono combined output isn't particularly useful in practice. So there are individual outs aplenty, but no stereo pair. The review also noted that, by going inside the machine, the entire array of sounds could in theory be tuned up or down in pitch, though the company didn't advertise the fact.
Third-party support arrived quickly. Modern-Recording (April 1984, p.60) reported that Digidrums was offering alternate drum and percussion sound sets for the Drumulator, each consisting of five EPROMs containing an entire replacement set of digitally recorded sounds. Sets covered electronic drums, Latin percussion, African percussion, heavy rock drums, jazz drums, sound effects, and analog drum machine sounds. There was also a Simmons/Synthesizer trigger set providing eight programmable trigger outputs via the Drumulator's direct outputs.
E-mu's advertising leaned hard on the performance angle. Promotional copy in Mix-Magazine (June 1983, p.90) and Polyphony (August 1983, p.48) emphasized a feature the company framed as a genuine surprise. Songs could be programmed to repeat until cued to continue by a footswitch press, letting a player change the length of a song each time it's performed - shortening or lengthening solos, or repeating choruses as many times as desired.
The service manual includes full signal name definitions - active-high and active-low conventions, signal types, and source/destination page references. It also has a signal name list covering sync/cassette input, chip-select lines for the pushbutton latch, display latch, sound channel data, and the sample/hold strobe. EEPROM programming voltage and the +5 memory supply are documented at the supply level.
The Drumulator is not a sampler, on the evidence. It is a rhythm arranger with a strong voice set and a deep output section. A unit's sound set may have been modified, since EPROM swapping was a supported, well-documented practice.
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