E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP - The EIII That Wasn't

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 29, 2024, 08:25:54 AM
Home Help Search Login Register
News: Problems registering? Send an email to: EIII @ telenet.be (without the spaces)

+  E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP
|-+  General Category
| |-+  EIII General Discussion
| | |-+  The EIII That Wasn't
« previous next »
Pages: [1] Print
Author Topic: The EIII That Wasn't  (Read 7583 times)
buchla
Jr. Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 27



WWW
« on: March 26, 2008, 04:44:06 AM »

Here's a great story from Paul Wiffen from the time he used an Emulator II:

The most far-reaching effect of my McCartney sessions was not any of the sounds I did for him, but an in-joke that cropped up in an idle moment. Someone noticed that the white tape they used for naming the channels on the mixing console with a chinagraph was almost exactly the same width as the 'I's in the legend 'Emulator II' on the back panel. It was irresistible to stick an additional one on the machine so it now read 'Emulator III'. McCartney thought it was a splendid joke. It would probably have gone no further than the studio if McCartney hadn't decided to take it up to Abbey Road to use in the video for 'Spies Like Us' (title song for the John Landis movie with Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd, and the only hit to emerge from that period of McCartney's work). The 'EIII' was used for Chevy Chase to mime the keyboard part in the video, which was then put on heavy rotation on the newly launched MTV in the States.
Unbeknown to us, Emu then started getting all sorts of calls from disgruntled EII owners in the US, saying things like "Hey man, I've been using the EII since it came out, how come you've started shipping the EIII in Europe without telling me?" In vain, Emu tried to explain that there was no such thing as an EIII (it would be several years before Emu actually shipped a product with this name). All they would hear back was, "I've seen it on McCartney's video, it's a different colour and shape completely!" (all from the addition of a short strip of chinagraph tape!). Eventually things got so bad that dealers were cancelling their scheduled orders of EIIs, because the customers all 'knew' that the EIII was coming. It ended up causing a major dip in Emu's sales in the US.

In England, we were oblivious to all this until I went over to the NAMM show the following January. Mentioning to Service Manager Riley Smith on the Emu booth that I had been working with McCartney, I was dragged off to meet an accountant who wanted to throttle me because I had been involved. Obviously, they must have forgiven me eventually, because when the EIII really did come out a few years later at the NAMM Show they ceremoniously presented me with the first of the promotional T-shirts.

Source: Published in SOS September 2000
Logged
Elmbeatz
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 921


Official E-Mu Addict


WWW
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2008, 04:57:48 AM »

yeah I've seen that video...
Logged
rokuez
Administrator
Full Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 161



WWW
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2008, 09:32:55 AM »

great read, i can see how that caused a significant dip in their EII sales.
Logged

Macbook Pro 2.6 Ghz, 2.3 intel cpu w/ RME Fireface 800 Mackie HR824 s, PC p4 2.3 180 gig hd, 2 gb ram, Emu 1212m adat out 2 the rme, M-Audio Midisport 2x2, & . Atari ST Notator SMPTE Tracker, Yamaha kx88 , E-mu Emulator II, 2 Emu Emulator III rack, Prophet 5 Rev2, Andromeda
Elmbeatz
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 921


Official E-Mu Addict


WWW
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2008, 09:37:21 AM »

I think just idiots thought that it really was an EIII...
Logged
wiff
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1


« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2009, 02:27:22 PM »

Hey my Google Alert for Paul Wiffen (what an egotist!) just found this piece. Really glad to see that this story made it onto the Internet
Logged
dr.c
E-mu Doctor
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 903


I'm a hot dog !


« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2009, 07:01:15 AM »

I was the service manager of Emu in France at this time, for a distributor called Music-Land.

Gee... We suddenly received phone calls of people insulting us because we have sold them E2s while we "knew" that the EIII was available.

What a mess...  :-) Grin
Logged
Pages: [1] Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP - The EIII That Wasn't

SEO light theme by © Mustang forums. Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines