E-mu Emulator IV (1994–?)
The E-mu Emulator IV was E-mu's flagship sampler, released in 1994 as the successor to the Emulator III. It was also the last hardware sampler E-mu ever produced. It was a rack-mountable 4U unit built on the E-mu E4K Ultra sampling engine, aimed at professional studios and film composers. The list price was $9,995. For that you got 64-voice polyphony, 16-bit/44.1 kHz sampling, and 20-bit D/A converters. The base 64 MB of RAM (expandable to 256 MB) and 16 MB of internal ROM sounds made it a self-contained workstation, and the 100 MB internal SCSI hard drive held the sample libraries.
The spec sheet is long: 8 balanced 1/4" TRS outputs, 2 balanced XLR/1/4" combo inputs, MIDI In/Out/Thru, a signal-to-noise ratio above 100 dB, THD under 0.002%, and 2 independent stereo DSP effects processors. Each voice had a 4-pole low-pass filter with resonance, 3 envelope generators, 2 LFOs, and a modulation matrix routing 6 sources to 15 destinations. Mix (June 1998, p.179) noted that the Emulator IV family had built on E-mu's reputation for sterling sound and powerful control features, and that the EOS 3.0 operating system upgrade made the flagship more flexible.
Reception was strong, with caveats. The sound quality and flexibility drew consistent praise. Mix ran a full-page ad featuring composer Danny Elfman vouching for the EIV's power, audio quality, and adaptability across studio, orchestral, and band environments (June 1995, p.92). The complexity and price drew criticism. One Sweetwater owner called it "the best sampler I have ever used," while another warned that "the learning curve is steep." On Gearslutz, users have praised the filters as "legendary" and noted that while the Akai MPC3000 was easier to sequence with, the E-mu had far better effects and more polyphony.
Used prices run roughly $1,500 - $2,500 depending on condition. Common failure points include the original SCSI hard drive, leaking button batteries on the CPU board, and dead output capacitors. Owners report that replacing the battery and swapping in a SCSI2SD adapter brings the machine back to rock-solid operation. Rack ears are frequently missing on used units. It was a direct competitor to the Akai MPC3000 and Roland S-760.
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