 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software Computer hardware |
| Founded | 1971; 54 years ago (1971) |
| Defunct | 2002 (2002) |
| Fate | Acquired byCreative Technology in 1993 and merged withEnsoniq, now dissolved |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Products | DSPs |
| Parent | Creative Technology |
| Website | www |
E-mu Systems was asoftware synthesizer,audio interface,MIDI interface, andMIDI keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as asynthesizer maker, E-mu was a pioneer insamplers, sample-baseddrum machines and low-cost digitalsamplingmusic workstations.
After its acquisition in 1993, E-mu Systems was a wholly owned subsidiary ofCreative Technology, Ltd.[1] In 1998, E-mu was combined withEnsoniq, another synthesizer and sampler manufacturer previously acquired by Creative Technology.[1] E-mu was last based inScotts Valley, California, on the outskirts ofSilicon Valley.[1]
E-mu Systems was founded inSanta Cruz, California byDave Rossum, aUCSC student and two of his friends fromCaltech, Steve Gabriel and Jim Ketcham, with the goal to build their ownmodular synthesizers.[2] Scott Wedge, who would ultimately become president, joined later that summer. In 1972, E-mu became a company, developing and patenting a digitally scanned polyphonic keyboard (1973), licensed for use byOberheim Electronics in theOberheim Four Voice and Eight Voice synthesizers and byDave Smith in theSequential Circuits Prophet-5.[3][4] E-mu, along with Solid State Micro Technology (SSM), also developed several synthesizer moduleIC chips, that were used by both E-mu and many other synthesizer companies.[5]
With the financial benefit of the royalties that came from working with these other synthesizer manufacturers, E-mu designed theAudity, their first non-modular synthesizer, showing it at the 1980AES Convention. With a price of $69,200 (over $200,000 in 2009 terms when adjusted forinflation), only one machine was ever produced. At that same convention, Wedge and Rossum saw theFairlight CMI and theLinn LM-1. Recognizing the trend ofdigital samplers, they realized that E-mu had the technology to bring a lower-priced sampler to market. TheEmulator debuted in 1981 at a list price of $7,900, significantly less than the $30,000 Fairlight.[6]: 25 [7][8]: 198 Following the Emulator, E-mu released the first programmabledrum machine with samples built-in priced below $1,000, the E-mu Drumulator. The Drumulator's success was followed by theEmulator II andIII, theSP-12 drum sampler, and theEmax series of samplers.[8]: 24
In 1990, E-mu introduced theProteus, arackmountsound module, containing pre-recorded samples inROM. At its introduction, the Proteus had a relatively large library of high-quality samples priced much lower than the competition. The success of the Proteus spurred the development of several additional versions, including the Proteus XR, an orchestral version, and a world music version.[6]: 32 In 1987, E-mu'sSP-1200 drum sampler offered an "all-in-one" box for sequencing not only drum sounds, but looping samples, and it quickly became the instrument of choice forhip hop producers.
In 1993, E-mu was acquired byCreative Technology (the Singaporean parent company of Creative Labs) and began working on PCsound card synthesis.Creative Wave Blaster II andSound Blaster AWE32 used EMU8000 effect processor.
In 1996, E-mu attempted to break into thedigitalmulti-track market with the Darwin 8-trackhard disk recording system.[9] Meanwhile, E-mu continued to develop electronic musical instruments, and in 1996, began introducing another series of 32-voice polyphonic, 16-part multitimbral sound modules along the lines of the Proteus series, each loaded with preset sounds designed for a specific music genre, and packaged in a 1-space rackmount unit. The first of these was the electronicelectronic dance music-oriented Orbit.[10] In 1997, thehip hop andtrip hop-oriented Planet Phatt and thelatin music-oriented Carnaval were introduced.[11][12]
In 1998, E-mu was combined withEnsoniq, another synthesizer and sampler manufacturer previously acquired by Creative Technology.[1]
In 2001 E-mu's sound modules were repackaged in the form of the XL7 and MP7 Command Stations, a line of tabletopmusic workstations, each featuring 128-voice polyphony, advanced synthesis features, and a versatile multitrack sequencer. A complementary line of keyboard synthesizers was also released using the same technology.
Subsequent products from E-mu were exclusively in software form. In 2004 E-mu released theEmulator X, a PC-based version of its hardware samplers with extended synthesis capabilities. While aPCI card is used for audio input and output, thealgorithms no longer run on dedicated hardware but insoftware on the PC.Proteus X, a software-based sample player, was released in 2005.
During 2003-2007, E-mu designed and published a series of high-fidelity "Digital Audio Systems" (computer sound cards), intended for professional, semi-professional and computer audio enthusiast use. They were released under the name E-MU, however bearing a "Creative Professional" label. The card names are number-coded for the number of physical inputs and outputs: 0404, 1212m, 1616, 1616m, 1820 and 1820m, where 1616 is aCardBus version and the rest for PCI, while "m" denotes extra high-quality analogue outputs and inputs. The 1820m was touted as the series'flagship product until the 1616 and 1616M were released (A PCI version of the 1616/M later followed). All of the cards had drivers forMicrosoft Windows2000 and later versions that were current at time of the respective products' release. (32- and 64-bit). Only a beta version driver was released for Windows 7.Apple Macintosh support appeared to be pending, but may have been affected by Apple's migration towardsIntel.
While the core DSP chip (EMU10K2) of the cards is the same one designed by E-MU and used in Creative'sSound Blaster Audigy2 cards (and hence capable of 24-bit 192 kHzPCM sound), official press releases for the E-MU sound cards have emphasized Creative's lack of input on the design, and the in-house development of the cards and drivers — that is, they wanted to distinguish their "own" series from Creative's signature Sound Blasters. Notably, the cards and drivers entirely omit internal 'wavetable'sample-based MIDI synthesis, Creative's proprietaryEAX sound routines and basically anything commonly associated with the parent company. Although the cards were rushed into market and originally came bundled with fairly raw drivers (which have subsequently received periodical major improvements and even additions beyond the advertised specifications), they have generally met with rather favourable reviews.
 | 1979 - Audity |
| 1982 - Emulator |
| 1984 - Emulator II |
 | 1985 -SP-12 |
.jpg) | 1987 -SP-1200 |
 | 1987 - Emulator III |
.jpg) | 1988 - Emax SE |
 | 1990 - Proteus 1 (Pop/Rock) |
 | 1993 - Emulator IIIXP |
 | 1994 - ProteusFX |
 | 1997 - Planet Phatt (Hip-Hop) 1996 - Orbit (Techno/Electronica) |
 | 1996 - Launch-Pad controller for Orbit |
.png) | 1998 - E-mu Proteus 2000 |
 | 1999 - E4XT Ultra |
 | 2000 - Xtreme Lead-1 (Techno/Electronica) 2000 - Mo'Phatt (Hip-Hop) 2002 - Turbo Phatt (Hip-Hop) |
 | 2001 - E-mu PK-6 (Pop/Rock) |
