E-mu Planet Phatt
The E-mu Planet Phatt is a rack-mount sound module introduced at the 1999 NAMM show. It was built for hip-hop, R&B, and trip-hop production. It runs on the same sound engine as E-mu's Ultra series, with 64-voice polyphony across 32 MIDI channels and 16 MB of onboard ROM. 8 MB of that is drum samples shared with the Ultra line. The front panel has a large LCD. The rear has six audio outputs plus full MIDI In/Out/Thru.
The soundset is the whole point: hip-hop and R&B drum sounds, bass loops, vocal stabs, and synth stabs, all ready to go. It also has dual stereo effects processors running in series, with chorus, delay, distortion, phaser, a 4-band EQ, and a vocoder. A 32-track, 300,000-note sequencer is built in. Sound on Sound (1997, p.252) covered the programming depth and noted that virtually all settings could be adjusted via MIDI System Exclusive commands, so edits could be recorded into a sequencer.
The Planet Phatt belonged to E-mu's "Phatt" family and sat next to the Phatt-6 and Phatt-4 as a lower-cost sibling. The Phatt-6 (later renamed B-6) and Phatt-4 (B-4) were also in the series. Original pricing is conflicting. Sonic State says $1,195, and a Harmony Central review quoted there says $1,295. The exact street price at launch is uncertain.
The Planet Phatt sounded good but sold poorly. Sonic State's Gordon Reid, who owned one since 1999, called it "excellent" and "fantastic" sounding. He also said it arrived too late to the market and never really caught on, and called it one of the most underrated units E-mu ever made. Owner reports in the same article are split. Some used it for all their hip-hop and R&B work, while one buyer returned it after a week.
Known reliability issues: power supplies can fail, LCD screens fade, and the internal CR2032 battery can leak and damage the board. Check the battery on any unit you buy. E-mu no longer supports the module and parts are hard to find. On the used market around 2000, units went for roughly $300 - $400. No current pricing data is documented.
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