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My God, this is one cool module!!! I bought it for $449 at E-Mu web site, and it arrived yesterday. I had so much fun go through the presets that I must rate this machine 5 out of 5 just for the initial fun factor. Ooh, gotta love those pads! The sounds change dramatically depending on velocity and modulation wheel. Not just some usual sample crossfades or vibrato stuff. Morphing filters and lots of cool harmonics and nice delay effects all kick in. You really gotta move that modulation wheel while auditioning the sounds. Some sounds change so drastically that it's like you get a whole new instrument. I don't know how much of the sounds' coolness is due to its morphing filters alone. There are definitely some layering and crossfading going on too, but those alone can't account for those living, breathing sounds I got. As it says in the manual, "Morpheus isn't a mere mortal synthesizer with just one filter." 197 filter types!!!! The programming section in the manual just blew me away!!! I can't even begin to grasp the scope of the thing's programming possibilities!!! You really gotta hear this thing to believe it.
It's such a shame that this gem didn't get the recognition it deserved. I heard someone say that the probable cause for its lackluster market performance was that when it came out, sample playback was the "in" thing, and there were other machines that outperformed Morpheus in that regard. Perhaps that is true, but that isn't to say that Morpheus's internal samples are bad. Sure, I've heard better samples, but the ones in Morpheus are convincingly realistic. No cheap stuff here. But that isn't why you'd want this machine. You want it for its cooler-than-coolest filters and program capabilities. With its modulation capabilities, I imagine this thing would fare really well as a live performance module as well. I've heard that the presets don't come close to maximizing the programming potential of the machine. Imagine that!!!!
If I haven't said it enough yet, I LOVE ITS SOUNDS!!!! It's so... alive. Many sounds, especially pads, evolve and evolve. And just when you thought the sounds have gone to the sample-loop phase, new harmonics kick in. It's just amazing.
Don't let the fact that it wasn't much of a market blockbuster hold you back from getting this machine. It only means that you simply won't sound like other guys, and the other guys will be left picking their jaws off the floor. Especially now that E-Mu is selling it for so cheap, there's no reason why you shouldn't have one. (Actually, I hope you don't buy one, so that it won't be all sold out until I can get enough money to buy one more)
Oh, one final note. It has 2 main stereo outs plus 2 stereo submix outs. That never hurts.
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