E-mu modules?

[VincePro]

What's up guys? Due to the recent price drops of the e-mu sound modules, I decided to go out to the local Guitar Center and pick up a Proteus 2500 (now $700) and a Mo'Phatt module ($500). I don't know why, but at the time I decided to go with the 2 modules as opposed to one module and an expansion rom, which people tell me is no different from owning the actual module. Now, after I had these modules set up, I find that the MoPhatt is pretty decent but the Proteus 2500 (which supposedly sounds just like the Proteus 2000) sounds like they put the Gameboy's sound engine into it!!!!!! THE PRESETS ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE.

I am a producer of mainstream pop,r&B, and rap music and I could hardly find a single sound that could be considered inspiring!!! Just about every single sound sounds exactly the same...thin, flat, weak, cheesy, from the 80s probably, and overall uninspiring. None of the instruments sound real at all. My roland xp-30 keyboard completely destroys this POS. I've seen Casio keyboards at Toys R Us that have more interesting presets. Now am I missing something here?? Is this supposed to be a joke? I thought the Proteus 2500 was supposed to be E-mu's flagship model?? I'm wondering if there's a possibility that I haven't "discovered" the true beauty of the synth, or if I need to buy the expansion cards...but I don't know.. I checked out a demo of the Orchestra expansion card to hear the sounds, and they were terrible. SO my question to any of you that have worked with the Proteus 2000 or Proteus 2500 is....

What's the deal? I thought the Proteus 2500 for 700 bucks would be a good deal but I'm starting to think otherwise. I'm usually very open when writing music and can find inspiration in any sound but these sounds kill me. I might keep either the Proteus 2500 or the MoPhatt but that would be a tough decision as well. The Proteus 2500 has more outputs, expandability, and more realtime controls but is it worth hanging onto just to have a nicer interface to work with expansion cards that might be more inspiring? Or should I keep the MoPhatt, lose the added options of the 2500, and add a few expansion cards to it? DECISIONS DECISION....BRING ME MY CASIO.

Vince

[moonmusic]

Hello,
I just bought a PK-6 a few months ago (same sounds/presets as the 2500)...I had a Proteus 2000 module that I took the card and sold and added it to the keyboard...I'll agree that alot of the sounds are very cheesy but there are also alot of great "bread and butter" sounds....To me the strong point is how easy it is to get going on a song with it...I love the bass sounds and some of the drums isn't bad for electronica type...Even some of the acoustic type guitars are nice...keys have some good patches...Forget about the synth,pad,etc. banks...Patch into the Roland for those types of sounds....I'd say out of all the exp cards to check out the "sounds of the ZR" card for a pretty good piano and the drum kits aren't bad....I haven't liked any of the other cards I've heard though...Again, the strong point to me was how easy it is to get a mix going without a lot of menus to go through...I use Gigastudio for the "Big Sounds" and the Emu to fill in the basics....Ted

[jim jedlicka]

why don't you just get a sampler. Do you have one? Considering guitar centers return policy I would just go in buy a good synth ,sit down with it one night , sample all the good sounds ,and then return it.

[citi]

That is so wrong on so many levels....damn...why didn't I think of that? [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Originally posted by jim jedlicka:
why don't you just get a sampler. Do you have one? Considering guitar centers return policy I would just go in buy a good synth ,sit down with it one night , sample all the good sounds ,and then return it.

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[VincePro]

Actually, I'm thinking about keeping it now...I think it's just that all the presets are terrible....

[synthguy99]

Yeah, that's pretty dorky. The buy, sample and return deal.

To me Emu's samples have had too much midrange and not enough low end outside of the techno stuff. Probably so it would cut thru a mix well, tho I thot the 2000 was moving away from that. I guess I was wrong.

Personally I love the Roland instruments if I was gonna pick just one. Yamaha and Korg are outstanding too, but Roland seems to have the best overall sounds in the business by a whisker. A great synth engine too. The Emu filters are incredibly flexible, but they can't save a cheezy sample. See if you can find some free sounds online for it if you can't fathom programming, maybe that would help.

[VincePro]

I don't understand the concept of "adding" sounds to the Proteus 2500...How do I get sounds online and put them in there? Through Rom Expansion????

[moonmusic]

I'm not sure if they have sounds you can download online...If they did it would use the base rom in the board to make new patches from....I bought their ROM cards that has 32MB of new sounds on and installed...I agree that a lot of sounds are mid rangy...One thing I found is that by turning the first knob (Filter Cut off) to about 2 o'clock it gave the chosen preset more airyness and you can save that as a preset then....I still think the bass sounds have a nice punch and low end but alot of the other sounds do lack in the bottom end...They need to work on getting a better blend of sounds, That's for sure...I could have bought a Triton LE but I liked how easy it was to get around on the PK-6 besides as I said before...I've got lots of huge Triton and Kurzweil K2500 sounds already sampled in Gigastudio and didn't need it....