This purple 1 rack synthesizer is one of the best hip hop modules I've ever come in contact with. The drums, synths, sound effects, and everything else sounded amazing when I heard the presets. I scrolled through them and almost every single sound inspired me and I wanted to begin recording right away. But I knew it was time to crack this synth open and see what it was really capable of.
Editing is done with the 4 knobs on the front panel, which can control 3 different parameters, each, much like the other E-mu synths. There are also a few rows of buttons and a bigger jog wheel. And with over 50 different modeling filters, there are a lot of sonic possibilities with this machine. The Mo'Phatt has 64 voices of polyphony and is 16 part multitimbral. I really believe that this box and a sequencer combined could help you build dozens of tracks.
There is a slight problem though. Like some of the other cheaper E-mu synths, the Mo'Phatt only has one set of stereo outputs. You can get the "Turbo" upgrade for the Mo'Phatt which gives you 3 stereo outs, 128 voice poly and 32 parts multitimbral. It's a shame that they didn't include these with the synth originally, though.
Like I said above, the presets in this synth are simply amazing. You get really convincing leads and basses and the drums are really good. You can easily make the most up to date hip hop songs with these presets and all of those songs would sound amazing. In fact, I bet you'll here a good majority of these sounds on the radio in the next year. They are that good!
There is also something called the Superbeats mode, which allows you to bring preset parts in and out of a groove by using the keyboard. For example, you can get one of the grooves going where drums, bass line, and synth are playing. By releasing a key, the synth line will stop and you'll just have the other two parts playing. At any time you can just hit the key again and bring the part back in. Although this part may be seen as 'cheating', I still think some may find it a good source of inspiration and may give you some good direction on your songwriting.
Remember that there is a fairly complex synthesizer engine buried in here. Once you get tired of using the preset sounds, you can dig in and start getting dirty and start programming your own sounds. There is also an expansion slot so you can add the sounds of another E-mu module (like the XL-1 techno sounds, for example). This ensures that the Mo'Phatt will always be a productive tool in your arsenal.
Check out more on this at http://www.xhiphop.com
Released: 2000 | 
