E-mu E4K (1994–)

The E4K - officially the Emulator 4K - was the keyboard version of E-mu's Emulator IV line, the company's flagship sampler series of the mid-1990s. Released in 1994, it was E-mu's answer to the Kurzweil K2000, Akai S3000, and Roland S-770. It was aimed squarely at professional studios and composers.

The E4K was a serious piece of sampling hardware: 16-bit linear sampling with 64x oversampling, a 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz internal sample rate, and 64-voice polyphony. It came with 4 MB of RAM standard, expandable to 128 MB. The brochure touted its dual stereo filters - resonant lowpass, highpass, bandpass, and notch - built on E-mu's Z-plane synthesis technology. Onboard effects included reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, and EQ. Storage was an internal IDE hard drive, plus SCSI for external drives.

The front panel was built around a large backlit LCD (the spec sheet says 2-line x 40-character). The keybed was weighted and velocity-sensitive. I/O was generous: eight individual analog outputs plus a stereo main pair, stereo analog inputs on 1/4" TRS, S/PDIF digital I/O, and full MIDI In/Out/Thru. Frequency response was rated at 20Hz-20kHz (±0.5dB), with a signal-to-noise ratio above 105dB and THD under 0.02%.

Period coverage was enthusiastic. Sound on Sound (1996, p.81) described the E4K as much more than an EIV with a keyboard, noting it was completely at home in any project studio or on stage, with its advanced sound design and huge memory. The magazine also pointed to 24 minutes of sampling time and 128-voice polyphony in the related EIV rack unit. Mix Magazine (1997, p.141) ran an ad-style feature that leaned heavily on the word "standard" - as in, the E4K set the measure. The same campaign appeared across multiple issues through 1997.

Vintage Synth Explorer describes the E4K's sound as "warm, punchy sound with a very open top end." Forum users on Gearspace have called the filters "among the best ever made" and noted the steep learning curve of the UI, but the consensus holds that the sound quality justifies the effort.

Used units typically list between $800 and $1,500 depending on condition and installed memory. One forum user reported picking one up for $600.