EMU ESI-32 Sample Module User reviews -Page 21

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Average rating: 4.3 out of 5

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spacebar a part-timer user from japan writes:

i got mine used for around US$400 with SCSI so I'm not complaining much. SCSI setup was a breeze and was able to use it with my Mac and various sample manipulation software with ease. It sounds a bit thicker than a Yamaha, although mine doesn't have built-in efx, although I could compromise by doing that on my Mac fairly easily.

it's just a bit frustatingly slow in the floppy/formatting department, and the lack of a waveform graphics display can be depressing plus the menus need a bit of getting used to but to anyone who wants a cheap sampler to cut some drumloops and do some drum n bass you can't get any better than this... which is what i am primarily using it for, for my drumloops and some efx and dialogue samples...

it just sounds marvelous, and the multimode option for multitimbral setup is pretty easy to master. i got mine with a japanese manual and pretty much figured most of the operations out in two days... (still waiting for the english manual). i saw grab it if you see one cheap, plus it's an Emu and it's black (so it doesn't stain easily like those grey samplers).... i'd give it a 4 for its value for money.

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Wednesday-Feb-24-9999 at 17:54

tekslut a part-timer user from usa writes:

I think the ESI-32 is a fine sampler. It's easy to use after you read the manual once or twice (as you should with all new gear). Creating Presets, assigning Realtime controls, fattening up the preset--it's all a breeze. If you want to do any serious editing get a computer with scsi (like an old mac or something) and download ricci's shareware dsoundpro. Otherwise, all the fun stuff is right at your finger tips!

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Saturday-Feb-06-9999 at 20:14

David Johnson a professional user from another freakin' American jerk writes:

As the esi32 and the E IIIXP are virtually the same, I'd buy the cheaper of the two. The Older version of the Emulator III has real (Curtis?) filterchips if that's your bag, later versions switched to digital processing. I've got an old E II sitting next to me and that's kinda nice in a battleship sampler kinda way.

So look over yer options--and how many outputs you need, and make your decisions from that.

I think Emu has a list of compatible scsi CD-Roms on their website.

Take care

DJ.

posted Saturday-Oct-24-9898 at 09:30

Exxosphere a professional user from France writes:

I have an ESI4000 / 32M+ ZIP + CDROM SCSI, and I really don't know what to think about this machine. First, what I dislike : awfully long processing time for samples (especially "Transform Multiply", unfortunately one of the most interesting FX), which I really dislike. Poor display too, bad interface (same as ESI32). If you don't use it night&day, it's somewhat difficult to know by heart where the functions are located, I mean to find them at the first try. And I don't like whatever distracts me from my music. Thank godness I do 90% of the editing on my PC with the help of my friend SCSI. It hangs sometimes, but not too often. The filters are not too bad, but the resonance tend to suck, it easily goes beyond digital ceiling, and of course, that doesn't sounds good. But the filters, which are supposed to be one of the strong points in the ESI4000, remain useable. The way it works internally is fairly simple and straight, and that's nice. I also have Digidesign's Samplecell II, and I love it, and that's maybe the reason why I'm so severe with the poor user-friendlyness of the ESI. In fact to get the most of this machine, it's truly expensive : ESI + RAM + HD + CD + ZIP + TurboKIT. But there is one big reason why I keep this sampler in my setup. It is extremely difficult to say why, it's maybe sorcery, but It has a truly AWESOME ENERGY INSIDE. The ESI4000 changes whathever it is feeded with to muscles. And I really don't know why, I couldn't explain this strange phenomenon, and it's strange because it seems like I'm the only one to notice it. It's maybe because EMU know what D/A converters are about, or maybe because of those professionnal features like output headroom compensation....Don't know,really. But, making Techno/Dance stuff, it is one thing extremely important to my ears : the sound has to be true and DYNAMIC, and with this gear, I get what I want, and even more.

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Monday-Oct-19-9898 at 13:43

Chris Dillon a hobbyist user from Oztralia writes:

Yes, storage and editing on the ESI is a bitch. My solution was cheap simple and effective. I purchased a 2Gig SCSI hard disk and mounted it an external case, connected one end of it to my ESI and the other end of it to a PCI SCSI card in my PC. I sample through the ESI, suck the sample through the SCSI bus to my PC using Sonic Foundry Foundarys Sound Forge (which just happens to support SCSI Dump for the ESI) Edit it, name it, and save it on the PC, when I am happy with a sample I wanna use in a track, I send it back through the SCSI chain from Sound Forge into an ESI bank. When I have a good enough bank happening I then save it to the external (EMU FORMATTED) hard disk.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Thursday-Sep-03-9898 at 08:53

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