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Proteus MPS At a Glance
	Released: 1991 \| Specifications User rating: 3.7/5 \| Read reviews (9) EMU News(41) Streaming Video (9)
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Jason Bruce writes:

Awesome controller keyboard, you can assign the pitch and mod wheels to just about any patch parameter (except filter cutoff! Arrgh). The mod wheel can be assigned to any midi controller. Just about any preset parameter (attack, delay, LFO amounts, volume, pitch, you name it) can be controlled by any controller... mod/pitch wheel, aftertouch, velocity, pedal. This makes for very expressive playing. The view window is small, as most were when this keyboard came out, but it tells you what you need to know. Overall a very clean design. The "quick keys" are nice, I haven't done much with them, but within each "performance" (which is selectable with one button) there are 10 buttons, each with its own FX and keyboard splits. My data entry wheel became a bit glitchy a couple years ago, sometimes the numbers jump around. The keys have a solid feel to them, even though they are unweighted. The sounds are very clean, typical of the Proteus line (play Myst again.... most of the soundtrack was done with this keyboard.) I'm still finding new sounds to create on this synth, but it's still limiting in some ways, such as the inability to loop samples. Still, despite only 128 waveforms (256 with the MPS+ I believe), it's very versatile once you start creating your own patches. The last 30 or so waveforms are pure harmonics.... Oct 3 Odd, for instance, which can change the timbre of any o! ther instrument you add it too, and you can use two waveforms per preset, and link up to 3 other presets to it (this will use up your oscillators very quickly!) I plan on keeping this board for a long time, the only problems it has is the glitchy data wheel, and it's locked up on me a couple times after it's been left on for 8 hours or so.... but turning it off and back on works just fine.

Comments About the Sounds:
The onboard effects really enhance the patches.... of course, in multi mode, it gets difficult to use the two FX processors effectively, but you can assign which FX processor will be used by each preset in multi mode. All of the sounds are very clean, but some of the percussion needs work (the vibraphone is pitiful, but the marimba can be VERY nice if you give it a softer attack). Snares and bass drums sound pretty good, the cymbals kinda suck, and most of the latin percussion is very good. The grand piano is very nice, works well in all registers, especially good for classical music. Good orchestral string sounds, but no solo string instruments (those are in the MPS Plus which has another 4MB sample rom).

(Thanks to Jason Bruce for this info.)

Links for the EMU Proteus MPS

	More Synth Gear Best US prices on many current models
	JSynthLib- free Librarian / Editor supports Proteus MPS and other synths
	The E-mu room at Synthmuseum.com History and technical information about E-mu instruments.
	The Patch King The Worlds Largest 3rd Party Synth & Sampler Developers. Thousands of new sounds for over 100 synths and samplers. Check us out!
	E-MU Proteus MPS Resource Center Sound Patches and info
	Wheels Articles and Resources about DHWheels

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