E-mu Emulator X (2005)
The Emulator X is a hardware/software hybrid. It pairs E-mu's DSP audio-card technology with the full E-mu sampler engine, which runs as a plug-in inside your sequencer. Announced in 2005, it arrived roughly two decades after the original Emulator first turned heads. It was E-mu's answer to a market where software samplers like Kontakt and GigaStudio were becoming the obvious competitors.
At its core, the Emulator X *is* the E-MU 1820M PCI audio card, paired with a MIDI breakout box and sampling software that runs as a VST instrument (the later X2 added Audio Units support). Sound on Sound called it "arguably the most complete integration of software and hardware" among samplers of the era. The computer is the synthesis engine, but you still get E-mu's DSP and a real control surface via the breakout box. It's 16-part multitimbral, and polyphony is limited only by your computer's hardware. It can also load older EOS-format files, so owners have a substantial legacy library to draw from.
The sound engine includes E-mu's classic Z-plane filters, which the same review singled out as a major attraction. The original Emulator X natively ran at 44.1kHz. The X2 update pushed that to 192kHz and added extra I/O. There were limitations. When running as a plug-in, sample-rate options disappear entirely, and the third-party content libraries were thinner than what Kontakt offered.
Known specs, as documented:
- 16-part multitimbral software sampler
- Runs as VST (X2 adds AU) inside a host sequencer
- Based on the E-MU 1820M PCI audio card with MIDI breakout box
- Native sample rate: 44.1kHz (X2: up to 192kHz)
- Loads legacy EOS-format files
- Includes Z-plane filters
- Polyphony limited only by host hardware
Original pricing was documented at $599.99 in Mix Magazine (September 2005, p.7) and £429.99 in Sound on Sound (September 2005, p.133). Production years aren't well documented in the available record.
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