analog or digital ??

[roguefrequency]

can anybody please tell me is the filter on my Emulator lll xp analog or digital
thanks
d

[lubb]

The EIIIXP has 32 digital 4 pole filters, which are a very close approximation to the EIII analog filters, they even have resonance.

[wirefall]

The EIIIXP has 32 digital 4 pole filters, which are a very close approximation to the EIII analog filters, they even have resonance.

Sorry, I disagree. The analog filters in a EIII sounds totally different! I've both, an EIII and EIIIXP, and tried several a-b comparisons with the same sounds and the same settings. Even my wive clearly states the EIII sounding "more crisp" (not really knowing, what the difference between both machines is). There is definitely much more "meat" in the sound of a EIII, while an EIII XP sounds much thinner.

But I don't say, an EIII sounds better! It sounds different! There could be reasons to use an EIIIXP to get exactly the sound the digital filters give you. Just depends what you would like to do 

[lubb]

... but what you actually disagree with..? that the EIIIX digital filters are approximation to the EIII analog filters..? (for I did not write the two machines sound identical... the truth is the two machines sound different, your wife is perfectly right...  )

[aMusaic]

Lubb, it is not a big issue, but - you wrote "very close approximation to the EIII analog filters" - what is "very close" in comparison to "identical"? Interpreting what you wrote, I would say "very close approximation - almost identical - to the EIII analog filters" is a plausible understanding of what you wrote - hence one can disagree. But this is my opinion - and my understanding of "very close approximation" is, like, 90% or more of "identical" and 10% or less of "sounds similar, but..." - which all in all is pretty "close"/"identical" in a lot of musical scenarios.

[wirefall]

That's the point. 

"Very close approximation" could be understood as "sounds very similar", and this is indeed not the case, if anything. 

[lubb]

… and here is even more meat for your disagreement, guys... :

“In developing the EIIIX, we have retained the ….. user interface of the EIII and enhanced it with our all-digital, ….. and H-chip hardware. ….. The H-chips retain the warm character of analog filters while keeping the signal entirely in the digital domain.” (from the EIIIX Reference Manual).

“H-Chip (designed by D.Rossum): digital filter chip featuring ultra-low noise and super-high resonances while retaining the warmth of analog filters. “ (from the official E-mu Product History)

“E-mu also added two H chips which implement 32 excellent digital 4 pole filters as well as the final volume contours.... These 32 digital 4 pole filters are a very close approximation to the EIII analog filters, they have also resonance!” (from the Emulator Archive).

"...by mid-1989 Emu had both G and H chips in production. This enabled the release of the all-digital Emax II as a stereo 16-bit, 32-voice sampler in 1990. It was a big step forward in sample quality and had fantastic digital filters that emulated an analogue low-pass filter. " (from the article "The History Of E-mu Systems by Rob Keeble, published in SoundOnSound, Sept. 2002).


... I implore you, guys, it was not I, a hapless dilettante, who has invented those descriptions of the D.Rossum's H-chip, for pity's sake...! I agree with you the EIIIX sounds different from the EIII, but I also say the EIIIX is wonderfully sounding all-digital sampler...

… thanks to its digital filters which are a close approximation to the analog filters, I believe...  

(… and that is why I cannot accept a thought the H-chip descriptions above are mere packs of lies... packs of lies from deaf people...  

[seamonkey]

With all due respect to mr Rossum and your quote, he was in the business of selling samplers. At the time, the industry was moving into the digital world, a time when the DX7 and the D50 were replacing those old clunky moogs and prophets with drifting oscillators and lack of memory. So in my humble opinion this quote is merely a reflection of the time.
The Emax was supposed to be an improvement over the EII...which would you rather have?

A digital filter is not going to sound like an analog filter...any more than a VA is going to sound like a model D or EII...end of story!

[wirefall]

… and here is even more meat for your disagreement, guys... :

“In developing the EIIIX, we have retained the ….. user interface of the EIII and enhanced it with our all-digital, ….. and H-chip hardware. ….. The H-chips retain the warm character of analog filters while keeping the signal entirely in the digital domain.” (from the EIIIX Reference Manual).

“H-Chip (designed by D.Rossum): digital filter chip featuring ultra-low noise and super-high resonances while retaining the warmth of analog filters. “ (from the official E-mu Product History)

“E-mu also added two H chips which implement 32 excellent digital 4 pole filters as well as the final volume contours.... These 32 digital 4 pole filters are a very close approximation to the EIII analog filters, they have also resonance!” (from the Emulator Archive).

Well, this is just the typical marketing blabla of that time, when the whole industry switched to digital. What else should they write in those days? That the digital filters are far away from analog sound (which they are)?
I decided not to believe in marketing but to rely on definite results. And of course I also love my EIIIXP, which has got indeed a good basic sound. But when it comes to filter that sound most times I choose the EIII. No lie!