E-mu Emax II (1989–1993)

The E-mu Emax II came out in 1989 as E-mu's answer to the Akai S900/S950 and Roland S-50. It was a 16-bit sampling synthesizer that sat between the budget Emax and the flagship EIII. Its predecessor used 12-bit sampling with 16-bit playback interpolation. The Emax II went fully 16-bit at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate. The bit depth wasn't the headline, though. The analog filter section was. It was built around Curtis CEM 3379 chips with a 4-pole lowpass design, and it gave samplers something most of the digital competition lacked: a warm, musical analog VCF. Sound On Sound (May 1995, p.25) noted the continued relevance of E-mu's sampler line years after the Emax II's introduction. E-mu's own advertising in Mix (January 1993, p.112) touted the Emax II's 16 stereo-voice polyphony, digital processing, and SCSI compatibility with hard drives, CD-ROM, and magneto-optical drives.

The base unit shipped with 2 MB of sample RAM (expandable to 8 MB), a 3.5-inch floppy drive, and a SCSI port for external storage. Polyphony was 16 voices in stereo or 32 in mono. A 61-key keyboard sat above a fully configurable output system - each voice could be routed to a separate output, which Sound On Sound highlighted as a major strength. The Emax II also had built-in digital effects and 4-stage envelopes. E-mu designed it as a full sampling workstation in the tradition of the SP-1200 and Emax. It found a devoted following among hip-hop and house producers who liked its filter character better than the cleaner sound of the Akai and Roland rivals.

Several variants appeared over the production run. The Emax II HD added an internal hard disk. The Emax II Turbo was a CPU/OS upgrade - an installation kit replaced the 68000 processor with a 68020 and updated the OS for faster sample loading and processing. The Emax II SE, a limited "Special Edition," came with a gold-plated front panel. The analog filter sound is still the calling card, though the Curtis CEM 3379 chips are no longer in production. Common issues on used units include dead floppy drives (Gotek emulators are a popular fix), failing power supply capacitors, worn key contacts, and an internal CR2032 backup battery that needs replacing. SCSI2SD adapters are the standard workaround for storage. Typical used prices run $400-$800, with well-equipped units and rarer HD/SE variants fetching more.

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Emax II Keyboard Synthesizer

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E-mu Emax II (1989–1993)

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