The Emulator IV series of samplers was introduced in 1994. They are compatible with the Emax 2 and E-III program libraries, and later versions can read Akai and Roland CD-ROMs. (Some reports state that only the Ultra versions can consistently load Roland 16 bit samples.)
The first to be released was the Emulator IV rack which could come with 128 voices and up to 128 Megabytes of RAM. Later you could add a multi-effects processor, additional output sockets and 32 MIDI channels.
These early EIV's had a vastly superior user interface than the Emulator III (which itself reappeared, in all but name and some unnecessary functions, as the ESI32 - ESI400 range) despite being only 3 rack units high. The screen worked on a series of windows that were far more informative that the previous system which dated back to the Emax range.
The new Operating System became known as the Emulator Operating System or EOS, which was updated regularly, the 48 track sequencer being one of the first updates.
Emu appreciated that not everyone could afford a £5000 ($7000) sampler or even needed 128 voices or a potential 128 Megabyte memory, so a cut down Emulator IV was launched based upon the EOS. This was the e64 and as the name suggests, this unit had 64 voices and could only expand to 64 Megabytes. It was quite a bit cheaper than an E-IV but was, for some, a false economy as the e64 was not upgradeable once it left the factory (memory excepted, which was limited to 64 Megabytes).
To get around this Emu released the e6400 which could be upgraded to full E-IV status.
Later the e-Synth was introduced: a 128 voice fully expandable EOS sampler which could be expanded to 128 Megabytes and had the effects board as standard. It also came with the e-Synth flash ROM, which unfortunately reduced the available sample memory to 64 Megabytes. The user could disable the ROM if you needed the full 128. The ROM contained hundreds of pre-made sounds which could be edited like a synthesizer (the same editing features were on the E-IV, e64 and e6400 as well). A number of e-Synth ROMs were made available.
Around this time the e64 was dropped and the internals of the E-IV and e6400 were changed to accept e-Synth ROMs.
Two keyboard versions became available; the E4K and the e-Synth Keyboard. These have unique circuit boards and are not as expandable as the rack units. They can be upgraded to 128 voices, but cannot exactly match the capabilities of the Ultra series.
Creative (formerly Creative Labs) acquired E-MU in 1993, and their influence led to the introduction of the Ultra series of EOS samplers based on the previous rack models. Ultras benefit from increased processing speed due to the 32 bit RISC chip, 20 bit A/D converters and a new 32 bit Effects Card option, as well as many other minor tweaks and a new V4.0 EOS.
An end-user may upgrade to Ultra status with the exception of an original 1994 E-IV, an e64 or any of the keyboard versions.
Three newer releases of the E4 series overlap with the e6400 and e6400 Ultra. The E4X was an expandable E4, as was the e6400. The E4X had a 500MB hard disk as standard, 64 voices and 4 Megabytes as standard, like the e6400. There was also a turbo version launched called the E4XT which was effectively the original EIV (128 voices and 16 - 128 Megabytes of RAM), with a 1 GB hard disk drive.
The E5000 Ultra was £1500 unlike the e6400 and had fewer outputs and connectors - though these could be addressed unlike the previous entry level machine, the e64 (though not the number of voices which remained at 64).
The final version was the Platinum E4 which had all upgrades pre-installed (i.e. a run out model to liquidate remaining parts). It retailed at just over £4200 (with RFX card) against £899 for the E5000. EOS samplers were discontinued in 2002.
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