E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP

Hi there,

Found this forum thanks to my fellow blogger David aka DVDBORN. We both share a passion for early samplers, especially EII's and Fairlights.

I have long been searching for a definitive and complete Emulator II sample library (as well as a Fairlight one) for use in a more modern environment. To date, I have had varying degrees of success but never anything that one could call "complete". For example, I have a handful of classic EII samples (Shakuhachi, Arco Strings, Waterphone, Strings, Choir, Orch Chords, etc) in Akai S6000 & Alesis Fusion format. I also have the Nostalgia (http://www.zero-g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=916) & Cult Sampler (http://www.bestservice.de/search.asp/en/897960a84p70p72p43) VSTi's which have various EII and other EMU samples on. Probably the best I have found is the Emax Collectors Edition (http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/emax-collector-s-edition-soundfont-bundle/product_info.php/products_id/213) library made by Digital Sound Factory (http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com/).

Speaking of which, I contacted Digital Sound Factory recently and asked them if they had any EII library and plans to release it, given their close ties to present day E-MU/Creative. They said that they did, but had no immediate plans to release it, but would do so at some point in the future.

Although I am predominantly an Akai user, last year I bought EmulatorX2 and found it to be probably one of the best software samplers out there, given that it actually samples stuff, rather than just play samples back like it's rivals Kontakt, HALion, etc.

So, my question to you guys is this. Does anyone know of a complete factory library of EII samples and other classic EII sounds available in the current Emulator .exb format or even Akai? And for a reasonable price too! :)

It's been a long and fruitless search so far, but I'm keeping the faith ;)

Many thanks in advance for any constructive replies.

Oh, and if you haven't already, please feel free to check out my blog, Failed Muso (http://failedmuso.blogspot.com)

Kind Regards,

Rob.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Emulator-2-sample-library-cds-Akai-Emu-S1000-Ensoniq_W0QQitemZ270431012057QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Pro_Audio_Samplers_Accessories_CV?hash=item3ef6f1c4d9&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50#ht_4224wt_958

Check that out.

I bought it, it's good!

Isn't that the Emulator X2 library which is sold in any other format ?
Because the list of presets mentioned on the ebay page seem to be the X2/E3 banks...

///E-Synthesist

Well maybe, but that's just a fraction of the original EII library !!

I don't know for sure. But I try to track down as many Emulator sounds as I can.
I have the Emax stuff from Digital Sound Factory too.

I am also try to figure out a way to get the OMI stuff converted. I sent some stuff to Garth at Chicken Sys.
 We'll see what happens...

Thanks to the responses so far, both here and off list. I now have a few leads that I can follow up in my long quest for the EII library  ;)

Keep those ideas coming so that the users of the latest Emulator technology can benefit from the sterling work of the past :)

Seriously.... don't hold your breath  :-\

The OMI banks can also easily be converted to native EIII format by EMXP, can't they  ;) ?
On condition you first convert your original OMI CDROMs to a set of "PC readable" SD files, for which a simple converter exists (I can provide you with this one)...

If EIII as a target format is not what you want, SoundFont 2 will be possible too very very soon. I'm running some final tests at this moment with EMXP v207 and it seems to be sufficiently stable to be launched as a beta release in the coming days. v207 adds SoundFont2 support to EMXP, which means that EII, EIII and Emax files can be converted to SF2 and the other way around.

I think most modern translation software and/or softsamplers support SoundFont 2 to a certain degree. Not all of them interprete or create all SoundFont2 parameters, but at least the basics (key assignment, filter and envelope settings etc) will be supported by all of them. So by converting EII banks to SF2 with EMXP first, these SF2 files can be used a starting point for conversions to other formats.

///E-Synthesist

That would be great. I have the OMI library. Let me know what I can do to help this process.

I would gladly do what ever I can so these sounds can live on. :)

Hi,

I own the OMI libraries with all 3 universe of sounds CDs. A while back, I was worried about the CDS3 cd drive so I copied (1 bank at a time) all the EII banks to the emulator II and then to a mac computer. I then copied all the banks (with the resource forks) using file typer. I always followed what esynthesis was doing with EXMP. When he released version 7 beta, I translated all the EII banks to sound font 2. I tried many of the banks last night in SFz soundfont player in my SONAR 8 recording program. The results are OUTSTANDING! The banks are all in tack just like they were in the EII. The sound quality is incredible, even by today's sample libraries. There are just a small few banks and samples that you will have to "tweak" with a sample editor. For example, lead gutiar (bank 193 on UOS #1) that uses backwards looping. Esynthesis has stated the current limitations in his current release in his documentation. In summary, of the 1500 plus EII banks, only 4 didn't translate.
I believe two of the banks didn't translate because they contain non-standard charactors in the name: & and -.
Also, 2 from UOS volume 2 bombed out EXMP. They were arranger's disk and Da big one banks.

My dream come true. Instant access to EII banks in a soft synth that has unlimited polyphony and I can assign to multiple midi channels in a recording program. I have reached nirvana!

Esysthesis and his EMXP program is amazing! The Emu community is lucky to have such a resource.
Thank you esynthesis!
Rod

Rod, many thanks for this encouraging feedback.

To be honest I'm quite surprised that the beta version succeeded in translating almost all OMI banks  ;)
I did only very limited tests myself before releasing v2.07.beta (only 10 factory EII banks have been subject of tests "in the lab").
So many thanks for doing this "stress" test of version 2.07.beta. It's a great help for me.
And since EMXP uses a universal translation engine, this should mean that most Emax and EIII banks should translate to SF2 successfully as well !

Of course I will have a look at the 4 OMI banks which caused problems or crashes. I'll try to fix that.

Many thanks

PS: I'm waiting for an USB/RS422 device specifically designed for use with Emu samplers. The prototype for this device is ready and will hopefully arriving soon from Australia. Once this has arrived, there's a big chance that a next version of EMXP will allow uploads and downloads from banks to Emax and Emulator II straight from a USB port of a Windows PC !

///E-Synthesist

 :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o  :P  :P

wow this is surreal

esynthesist when this comes out please make a thread in the EII general discussion forum and i'll make it a sticky

Hi esynthesis.
Again, I want to thank you for such a great option added in EMXP 2.7. I've completed more testing on the translations. I converted all 3 OMI universe of sounds CDs and all the other EII libraries I have, including the 100 factory disks, the FMS library, the burmer library and some home-made and forum EII sounds. I only had 1 additional bank that stopped the program. I also had a chance to try the converted EII banks in other software samplers. I tried Vsampler3, NI Kompakt3 and SFz (soundfont player). The EII banks sound so good in Vsampler3 and SFz. Some of the converted EII banks did not play in Kompakt3. Every bank I tried in Vsampler3 and SFz played great! I know the backwards samples and the arpegio samples a person would have to set up the paameters manually on the banks and samples, but everything else seem to maintain that "low-fi" quality that made the converted samples sound exactly like the originals. I owned that OMI library for over 20 years so I was familiar with many of the banks and sounds. One strange abnormality is that in Kompakt, some banks (and individual samples in one case) had to be tuned up or down a semitone to put it back in it's original pitch. I never ran into this on Vsampler or SFz. Also, bank 193 on OMI universe of sounds volume #1 (lead guitar) played differently in all 3 samplers and playback sampler. Kompakt 3 in this case played the samples back closer to the original than the other samplers.
I know that there are those that say play the original samples on the hardware for what it is designed for, and I agee, but your EMXP program translates these banks so well, it is like having a "software" emulator 2. Add to that the ease of assigning and manipulating samples and waveforms in todays software samplers, it's like having emulator II 2.0.

Thanks again,
Rod
PS If you need specific error messages or banks let me know and I can get you the information.

Mmmm.... that's the problem with all the software which claim to support SF2 (including EMXP  ;) ) !
They actually don't *fully* support SF2 most of the time, or they handle the limits and constraints specified by Emu in their SoundFont2 specification completely differently.

When I was looking for software which I could use for testing the EMXP SF2 translation results and also for investigating some of the more complex features of SF2 banks, I was quite disappointed by the degree the SF2 specs are supported by most "SF2 compatible" software out there.

In fact there was only one way for me to get 100 percent reliable test results: using the original Vienna SoundFont editor of CreativeLabs combined with a Creative soundcard (Audigy 2 ZS). Even the Viena freeware clone is weak in the more complex SF2 details, especially in the modulator part which is important for things like velocity, crossfades, and any realtime control in general.
The disadvantage of Creative Vienna of course is that it ONLY supports SF2 and that it requires Creative hardware as a dongle.

So I understand from your analysis that Kompakt is not that reliable in its SF2 support, while SFZ and VSampler3 are. Right ? But isn't SFZ quite limited in supporting SF2 specs either ? Maybe the presets all play, but some parameters are ignored ?

///E-Synthesist

 
 

SFZ+ and Vsampler3 play all the converted EII banks I've tried (about 350). I've haven't tried them all but I haven't ran into any problems on the banks I've tried. Vsampler3 seems to be better on CPU resources than SFZ+. Kompakt 3 didn't play about half the converted samples and they were + or - 1 semotone off so I had to tune the samples. It seems that the majority of EII samples and banks just use basic parameters. I created a few homemade banks a few years ago and I would basically record a sample, assign it to a key and range and loop it if I wanted to sustain it. Sometimes I would use ASDR parameters for some samples. Other times we may use velocity sensitive or fade if we assigned 2 voices inside a range. The converted banks worked just like you indicated in the documentation. The velocity switched samples (for example V-switch sax) would work like the EII. My midi controller would have a little bit different feel so the sax beast and hard tenor voice would trigger a little bit different than the EII but I believe that was my midi controller. One bank than really illustrates the different playback interpretations from the 3 samplers is bank 193(lead guitar)Universe of sounds 1.  Bank 193 is the exception to the rule for all the other tried EII samples and banks. SFZ+ plays the first voice (hard lead) in very short duration then sustains the harmonic feedback voice. The effect sounds wimpy. On Vsampler3, the samples on banks 193 have a slow attack. On Kompakt 3, the samples sound a lot like the original EII but are out of tune by 1 semitone. Also, voice 1 (lowest assigned voice on lead guitar sample was off 2 semitones. All other EII samples (pianos, organs, synths, strings, brasses, orchestra, special FX, ect. sound incredibly like the original EII using SFZ+ , Vsampler3 and sometimes Kompakt 3. It would be interesting to try other software sampler and soundfont playback to see what the differences are. Another think I need to try is to import SF2 samples to another format into Kompakt 3 to see how it works.
I hope that helps. Sometimes I have a hard time explaining things but I'm happy to conduct any testing to help get you information on how this wonderful program is working. Thanks again for such an incredible program.
Rod

Genius!!!!

I finally got around to converting my OMI library with EMXP ( thanks E)  I'm running the SFZ+ on My Open Labs Neko and it feels like I have a new school emulator.   ;D

Oh man,  Christmas is a week early! 

Very cool!!

Although I doubt that the sound is any cool as the original...

surprisingly it sounds very good...  must better than I thought it would. Then I add in the Decimort plug from d16 and it sounds really convincing.

Hi Jim.
I am an Open Labs Neko user. I have also an EII+HD .Older member on yahoo EII group. I sent you a message regarding using those EII soundbanks into the Neko. I am not sure, I hope arrived to you . Thank you, regards, Mike, Oslo,Norway.