Emu Emulator X Studio Sampling System with 1820M (Windows)

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24-bit/192kHz PCI interface. E-DSP multi-fffects processor. Standalone or VSTi operation.

Emulator X Studio is a 24-bit/192kHz software sampler with comprehensive integrated I/O, sync interfaces and hardware-accelerated effects for Windows XP and 2000. You can run the Emulator X software as a VST instrument within your favorite sequencer application or standalone, from RAM or streaming from hard disk. Emulator X is the culmination of over 30 years of sampler and synthesizer development, offering musicians and sound designers the sampling technologies, powerful DSP and pristine sound quality of E-MU's hardware samplers with the latest disk streaming, file management and graphical interface advantages of software.

Automated Sample Acquisition and Preset Creation
Emulator X makes sampling as easy as loading a preset by offering intelligent, automated sampling and preset creation from both external audio and batch files, allowing you to turn a .WAV file into a fully functioning preset in seconds with a single click of your mouse.

Advanced Synthesis Architecture
No software sampler can match the depth of the Emulator X synthesis engine, with 36 patchcords per voice, over 50 patented Z-Plane morphing filters, multi-wave LFO's, conditional voice modulation, clock modulation and a host of other synthesis features and parameters. You can even save your favorite synth setups as templates for quick editing.

Standalone or VSTi Operation
You can use Emulator X as a VSTi instrument within your favorite sequencer program or run it standalone for maximum system performance.

RAM read more and Streaming Playback
Emulator X offers you playback from both RAM and hard disk for total flexibility in optimizing the performance of your system.

24-bit/192kHz PCI Interface 18 Inputs, 20 Outputs, Sync, MIDI and FireWire
Emulator X ships with comprehensive I/O and sync, featuring mastering-grade 120dB SNR converters, two TFPro mic preamps, a turntable input (w/ ground and RIAA preamp), 2 sets of MIDI I/O and a host of other analog and digital I/O, as well as Word Clock, SMPTE and MTC sync.

E-DSP Multi-Effects Processor
The powerful 32-bit E-DSP Processor provides you with an arsenal of hardware-accelerated plug-in effects (over 500 presets) with no CPU overhead, saving your system resources for maximum polyphony and synthesis.

PatchMix DSP
Emulator X ships with PatchMix DSP- software that delivers 32 channels of zero latency hardware mixing and monitoring with a flexible virtual patchbay- no external mixer needed.

Integrated Waveform Editor
Emulator X provides you with a host of professional DSP tools that you've come to expect from E-MU (i.e. Gain Change, Time Compression/Expansion, Reverse, Pitch Change, Sample Calculation w/automatic digital tuning, etc.), giving you total control over your samples

Comprehensive Sound Format Support
Emulator X supports EOS, EIII, GigaSampler, Akai, HALion, EXS24, SoundFont 2.1, .WAV and many more sound formats- ships with over 2GB of sounds.

Automated Preset Cataloging Across Network Drives
Emulator X automatically catalogs and tracks all of your presets across your entire network- no wasted time looking for sounds

I/O Configuration:
2 TFPro Mic/Line/Hi-Z preamps (w/48V phantom power)

6 x 1/4 in. balanced inputs

8 x 1/4 in. balanced outputs

Turntable input (w/ground lug and hardware RIAA preamp)

24-bit/192kHz ADAT In/Out (switchable to S/PDIF)

24-bit/96kHz coaxial S/PDIF In/Out (switchable to AES/EBU)

24-bit/96kHz optical S/PDIF Out (switchable to AES/EBU)

2 sets of MIDI In/Out

4 stereo 1/8 in. speaker outputs (configurable from stereo to 7.1)

Stereo headphone output

FireWire interface

Sync Configuration:
Word Clock In/Out

SMPTE In/Out

MTC Out
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General
Sample Rates: 44.1, 48, 96, 192kHz from internal crystal or externally supplied clock (no sample rate conversion)

Bit Depth: 16 or 24 bits

PCI Bus-Mastering DMA subsystem reduces CPU usage

Zero-latency direct hardware monitoring w/effects

Analog Line Inputs (6)
Type: servo-balanced, DC-coupled, low-noise input circuitry

Level (software selectable):
- Professional: +4dBu nominal, 20dBu maximum (balanced)
- Consumer: -10dBV nominal, 6dBV maximum (unbalanced)

Frequency Response: +/- .05dB, 20Hz - 20kHz

THD+N (1kHz at -1dBFS): -110dB (.0003%)

SNR (A-weighted): 120dB

Dynamic Range (1kHz, A-weighted): 120dB

Stereo Crosstalk (1kHz at -1dBFS): < -115dB

Common-Mode Rejection (60Hz): > 40dB

Analog Line Outputs (8)
Type: balanced, low-noise, 3-pole low-pass differential filter

Level (software selectable):
- Professional: +4dBu nominal, 20dBu maximum (balanced)
- Consumer: -10dBV nominal, 6dBV maximum (unbalanced)

Frequency Response: 0.0/-.35dB, 20Hz - 20kHz

THD+N (1kHz at -1dBFS): -105dB (.0006%)

SNR (A-weighted): 120dB

Dynamic Range (1kHz, A-weighted): 120dB

Stereo Crosstalk (1kHz at -1dBFS): < -115dB

Combo Microphone Preamplifier/Line Inputs (2)
Type: TFPro combination microphone preamp and line input

Frequency Response: +0.8/-0.1dB, 20Hz - 20kHz

Stereo Crosstalk (1kHz min gain, -1dBFS): < -120dB

Line Input:
- Gain Range: -12 to +28dB
- Max Level: +17dBV (19.2dBu)
- THD+N (1kHz at -1dBFS, min gain): -94dB (.002%)
- Dynamic Range (A-weighted, 1kHz min gain): 100dB
- SNR (A-weighted, min gain): 100dB
- Input Impedance: 10K ohm
- Common-mode Rejection Ratio (60Hz): > 40dB

Microphone Preamplifier
- Gain Range: +10 to +50dB
- Max Level: -12dBV (-9.8dBu)
- THD+N (1kHz at -1dBFS, min gain): -95dB (.0018%)
- SNR (A-weighted, min gain): 100dB
- Input Impedance: 330 ohms
- Common-mode Rejection Ratio (60Hz): > 80dB

Headphones (stereo)
Type: linear power amplifier

Frequency Response: +0.0/-0.35dB, 20Hz - 20kHz

THD+N (1kHz, max gain)
- 33 ohm load: -70dB (0.032%)
- 600 ohm load: -85dB (0.006%)

SNR (A-weighted): 112dB

Dynamic Range (A-weighted): 117dB

Stereo Crosstalk (1kHz at -1dBFS, 600 ohm load):< -100dB

Maximum Output Power: 500mW

Output impedance: 22 ohms

Gain Range: 85dB

Phono Input (stereo)
Type: RIAA equalized phono input

Frequency Response: +/-0.5dB, 50Hz - 20kHz

THD+N (1kHz, 10mV RMS unbal input): -76dB (.015%)

SNR (10mV RMS unbal input, A-weighted): 90dB

Stereo Crosstalk (1kHz at -1dBFS): < -80dB

Maximum level:
- Professional: 80mV RMS
- Consumer: 20mV RMS

Input capacitance: 220 pF

Input impedance: 47K ohm

Digital I/O
S/PDIF:
- 2 in/2 out coaxial (transformer coupled)
- 2 in/3 out optical (software switched with ADAT)
- AES/EBU or S/PDIF format, switchable under software control

ADAT:
- 8 channels, 24-bit @ 44.1/48kHz
- 4 channels, 24-bit @ 96kHz (S-MUX compatible)
- 2 channels, 24-bit @ 192kHz

FireWire:
- 400 Mbps 1394a port (6-pin)
- Compatible with DV cameras, storage peripherals, etc.

MIDI
- 2 in, 2 out

Synchronization
Internal crystal sync at 44.1, 48, 96, 192kHz

External sample rate sync
- ADAT
- S/PDIF (opt. or coax)
- Word clock (75 ohm termination, switchable)

SMPTE LTC Timecode
- Converts between longitudinal time code (LTC) to MIDI time code (MTC)
- Regen, stripe, and conversion modes
- 24, 25, 30 drop, 30 non-drop frames/sec
- Compatible with 29.97 fps timecode
- Input level: 0.5 - 4V p-p
- Output levels: +4dBu, -10dBV (software selectable)
- Input Impedance: 10K ohms

Retail Box Contents
E-MU 1010 PCI card

E-MU AudioDock M

E-MU Sync daughter card

EDI (E-MU Digital Interface) cable (3 meters)

Sync cable

Mini-DIN MIDI adapter cable

Headphone splitter cable

PC power cable

Quick Start guides for Emulator X and E-MU 1820M

Emulator X Software CD-ROM

Four Emulator X Sounds CD-ROMs

Operation Manual on CD-ROM

Creative Professional Software CD-ROM
- Windows 2000 and XP Drivers
- E-MU PatchMix DSP
- E-MU E-DSP FX Library

Audio software package on CD-ROM

*This product is protected by a one year limited hardware warranty.

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. (65 ratings)
Submitted April 19, 2006 by a customer from yahoo.com

"GREAT!!!Sampler,Recording Studio,Synth with your PC"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This is central to my music and home studio.

Sound
The sound is excellent. It makes it easy to create your own samples, presets from these samples, and setups from the presets. I have been able to build any sound that I have in the past with other equipment; but with more nuance and control, both realtime and otherwise. I find making my own samples very useful , even though I'm not trained.I find my imperfections , though perfectly recorded, add realism to the sound.

Features
It has an almost exhaustive set of features. One feature that I believe is exclusive is the choices of tunings which can be applied to your programs. One of which is the Just C tuning which if you don't know is the optimum tuning if you were to stay in the key of C, believe it or not the standard tuning is a compromise for all keys. I use this system's hardware as my audio interface for recording even while I use the soft synth EmulatorX. I gave my previous audio interface (Aardvark DirectPro) away. It is much better.

Ease of Use
It is easy. But don't let this scare you away. It is probably as close to being as easy as it can be with all the options it offers. I wouldn't want it to do it all for me, then what would be the point. It offers intuitive and exhaustive ways to shape your sound.

Quality
So far after about 6 months it has held up well. I am very happy to say that read more I intend on using this live. This product may not be intended for live, but it offers so much that I need to take it with me. Besides I don't see any problems with taking it on the road with proper precautions especially for my computer.

Value
Yes this is a good value based on my previous experiences.

Manufacturer Support
For some reason my user patch I was using triggered a bug, it nagged me to death. They were very supportive and helpful. They fixed this bug for the next version -EmutalorX2- coming out very soon. The current version has proven itself reliable though. To my great relief I havn't experienced any other problems; and that's after many consecutive hours of playing and recording. It's a relief because this offers so much.

Musical Background:
Active Musician,Song Writer

Musical Style:
Classic Contemperary Rockternative
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