E-mu Emax SE (1989)
The Emax SE was E-mu's 1989 update to the original Emax. It added a built-in sequencer and more RAM to the formula that had made the 1986 model a working musician's sampler. It sits between the lo-fi original and the completely different Emax II that followed in 1990 - don't confuse the SE with that later machine.
The SE is a 16-bit linear sampling keyboard with a 44.1 kHz sample rate, 16-voice polyphony, and 8-part multitimbrality. It shipped with 2 MB of RAM, expandable to 8 MB with proprietary boards. The 61-note keyboard is velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive. The voice architecture has a 4-pole low-pass filter, a 3-stage envelope generator, and a single LFO. E-mu also built in a digital effects processor with reverb, chorus, and flanger. Owner reports say the effects are noisy, and many people run the unit dry and use outboard gear instead.
The built-in 8-track sequencer holds 100,000 notes. Sample editing covers truncate, merge, split, reverse, normalize, and digital splicing. Storage is a 3.5" floppy drive that reads standard MS-DOS formatted disks, which is handy for transferring files. Owners consistently warn that the drive is glacially slow. *Studio Sound* (June 1988, p.28) covered the SE as the latest addition to E-mu's product line, highlighting the "Synthesis Enhanced" digital sampling system.
The SE's reputation today rests on its sound and its interface. At lower bit rates it has a distinctly analog, gritty sound that owners prize, and the interface is widely described as intuitive and dead simple. Studio Sound (June 1988, p.28) noted the SE's "Synthesis Enhanced" feature set. The trade-offs are the slow floppy drive, the noisy effects, and the usual aging problems. Floppy drive belts stretch, the backup battery can leak on the board, and the LCD backlight dims. Recapping the power supply is recommended for units that have sat unused.
A period E-mu spec sheet archived at Vintage Synth Explorer lists the original price at $2,995 for the keyboard and $2,495 for the rack version. It comes from an unofficial copy of the brochure, so treat the numbers as approximate. Current market prices run roughly $800 - $1,800 depending on condition and included sound disks. Aftermarket Gotek floppy emulators are the standard fix for dead drives.
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