E-mu E4XT Ultra

The E4XT Ultra was the flagship of E-mu's E4 Ultra sampler line. It was a rack-mount digital sampling workstation aimed at professional studios and sample library developers. It was a serious piece of iron: 128-voice polyphony, up to 128 MB of RAM, and a 4 GB internal hard drive made it one of the most powerful samplers of its generation. Under the hood sat a 50 MHz 68060 processor running the EOS 4.0 operating system, with 32-bit DSP and 24-bit effects. The brochure also lists 8-channel ADAT I/O, S/PDIF, AES/EBU, SCSI ports, and three expansion slots.

The "Ultra" branding was about speed and headroom. E-mu's own advertising for the E4 Ultra line pushed the new 32-bit processor's fast MIDI response, quicker SCSI transfers, and rapid access to frequently used functions (EQ Magazine, April 1999, p.83). The EOS operating system was also flash-updateable, so new features could be added without hardware changes. The 32-bit processor also gave faster MIDI response and quicker SCSI transfers (EQ Magazine, April 1999, p.83).

Surviving information on this model is thin in places. No production years or original MSRP are documented in the available sources, and the record is just as quiet on weight and dimensions. What collectors and users do report is that the E4XT Ultra is regarded as one of the best-sounding samplers E-mu ever made, with genuinely usable onboard effects. The criticisms are practical. The A/D and D/A converters run a bit dark by modern standards, the interface is dated enough that most users want the computer editor, and EOS can be finicky with modern Macs. Common failure points are the memory backup battery and the floppy drive. The original 4 GB hard drive is old enough that replacing it with a CF card or SSD via SCSI is recommended. The proprietary CPU board is no longer manufactured, so spare parts are getting harder to find.

• 128-voice polyphony
• Up to 128 MB RAM (64 MB Flash ROM)
• 4 GB internal hard drive
• 50 MHz 68060 processor, EOS 4.0
• 32-bit DSP, 24-bit effects, 2 stereo effects slots
• 44.1/48 kHz sample rates, up to 24-bit/96 kHz DACs
• 8-channel ADAT, S/PDIF, AES/EBU, SCSI, MIDI
• 3 expansion slots

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