As the keen-eyed among you will already know, about a year ago we scored an amazing Emulator II and a huge stack of 5.25″ floppies. We’ve been hard at work ever since, transforming floppies into Kontakt instruments, and the late nights are finally starting to pay off. We’ve now got over a hundred Emulator II patches converted to Kontakt format, plus a finalised GUI that you can see here:
What we’d like to know now is how much further to go with this. Basically, how many Emulator II sounds do you want? Is a selection good enough, or – given that we’ve got access to a really large library – should we try to do the lot?
Basically, let us know how much love there is for the EII, and we’ll adjust our ambitions accordingly… 🙂
i guess it would be nice to get them all )
Just PLEASE release it already!! 🙂 But seriously, release it with the core pack of sounds and then provide additional sample packs for future release add-ons which I would gladly pay for.
Rhythmic Robot is now on my radar and I will keep close watch on all your future developments! Keep up the GREAT work!
Regards,
Patrick
I think, a basic bank of 75 sounds were great (there could be the best well-known famous sounds in it). User can make variations for themselves. Some further soundsets can be sold as “add-on” library separately. I am searching for soundsets of the “Emulator I” – is there a chance?
At the moment we only have an EII to play with. But perhaps one day, if this mammoth sampling session doesn’t kill us… 😀
It would be great to have that signature sound used by Tangerine Dream (in “Canyon dreams”) and by Ultravox (in “Dreams”).
And of course it would be a great fun to have some of the sounds used by Depeche Mode during their concerts in 80s.
I opt for making a large library developed in time (for free for previously registered users of Emulator II Kontakt instrument).
Well, the consensus seems to be coming down in favour of something along the lines of – big starter pack, then smaller add-ons at intervals. That sounds pretty sensible to us.
The various disks we’ve got our grubby hands on are a motley collection and not particularly well labeled or organised, so to some extent we’re not quite sure exactly what we’ve got – which items were part of the core factory soundset, which were later additions, and so on. So we’re simply dividing things into categories like Strings, Bass, Keys, Brass etc at the moment; we’ll see where that takes us. We’ve already discovered some really great little oddball items as well, so those are definitely going in… 😀
Like many other comments – I would attempt to sample the whole library, or how much of it you have, and initially launch with a core set of sounds. You then re-launch individual soundsets at regular intervals to keep profile up. Initial core costs around the £89 mark with the add-ons at £18? Its important to have some flexibility for Rhythmic robot and the customer here! I’d buy soundsets that suit my interests.
Bloody good luck with this project.
G
Looking forward to this release. Go for the whole library if you have it. Release it with a core pack and then expansions later if that makes more sense economically.
A W E S O M E
Yeah, do it. I want it. Please.
Go for the whole factory library (+ a few off beat extras) to start with then release stranger packs of samples as you go along.
Great! The more sounds the better. Don’t forget SOLO VIOLIN, SHAKUHACHI (Sledgehammer) and the VOICE SOUNDS
I want it!!!….
It´s always nice to have many presets to see what´s possible or to start twiddling from a certain sound.
The original “Universe of sounds” library would be good – but releasing “packs” and updates would also be good – and what about contributions from users?
I’d like to have access to a really large library!
I really don’t know the number but a large selection including all famous patches is nice!
100 sounds surely a good basis, but perhaps occasional “add-on” sample packs in the future.
320
A truly great Kontakt version of the Emulator II must have as many E-mu and third party sounds as possible, especially Northstar and the Universe of Sounds series. I had an EII+ with all of these great sounds accessible via Sound designer software so they are available for re-sampling. Good luck with the project.
Hello,
Rhythmic Robot could
A. Take the same concept that Gforce Software did with the M-Tron Pro…release the Emulator with a good size library that covers all bases and continue to release expansion packs down the road which would keep the price more affordable for the instrument or
B. Release the Emulator with all the sound you have and charge a fair but mostly likely heavy price.
Either way…I’m buying it. I’ve been waiting a long time for a Emulator Kontakt instrument and I have been happy with what I’ve got from Rhythmic Robot so this will, no doubt be awesome. I like option B if it was $100 or less.
64 sounds
64 sounds. Keep it simple and sweet.
Looking forward to this.
The more you can, the best it is for users! 🙂
Thanx guys for your great products!
Yo optaría por agrupar las bibliotecas por tipo de instrumentos, porque para mi “menos es mas” el coste de los paquetes seria mas asequible y
seleccionable al gusto del consumidor eso en cuanto a la cantidad de sonidos se refiere. La interfaces es atractiva y creo que este instrumento sera otra obra de arte de calidad como todo el resto de su material. Gran trabajo. Sugerencia porque no una librería basada en
D-BEAMS de Roland seria muy interesante. Saludos y suerte The Professor (and Mongo).
Great news, I love your stuff and used to have an Emulator. I’d love to see you go for it. A two-tiered basic library and the extended? Anyway, it will be great to have those sounds back to use again!
I’d just like to say: CONGRATULATIONS!
Your sample libraries are wonderful, and I’m sure this one will be as well. 😉
Best regards!
Y’all rock on the instruments. A necessity of rocking in Any profession is too be obsencenly flagrant… This sample set should be the same. Shoot for the moon!
Just inject every inch out of that machine into a Kontakt library (Ferris Bueller flem sample included) via preamps that give it the aura of its heyday, and I’m happy to pay away.
In the meantime, I’m off to mop the drool… 😉
It seems like I end up buying everything you make. I never had an Emulator but I had some of the Emu racks that came a little later.
I appreciate knobs, so if you could add to the eleven knobs… and if possible, a glitch button.
as mentioned earlier- additional “volumes” would be welcome after the initial release 😉
Back in the late 80’s the studio I worked in had an Emulator II with male vocal “ooo”s that sounded like Peter Gabriel- Amazing for the time. I’ve looked through every E2 Library and have yet to find it in 2 years. I have a sample from a multitrack I did back then if you’d like me to post it. Any vocal sounds from this machine would be greatly appreciated!
The more the better. The strings, the brass the swells up …Choose pre-amp etc carefully. Make it warmer than you normally do.
Some of your stuff gets too nasal and honky and sits right smack in the vocal area
As many as possible, and I don’t mind paying more for that.
while my initial reaction is of COURSE- “bring it! MORE is not enough!”…the pragmatist in me (that guy’s a drag…) says enough to keep the price point around 20GBP or less (since I’m now on a more stringent austerity plan than Greece…)
That puts the question back to you and Mongo: “how many kickass EMU II presets will 20GBP buy?”
sorry… didn’t mean to answer a question with a question… told you that pragmatist guy was a drag ;P
Hmm… that’s a tough one. The work, plus the sheer gigabytage of material, might make £20 a hard price point to reach. Start “managing your expectations” (and perhaps saving) now 😉
This is going to be amazing when it’s completed can’t wait FTW
You guys are rockstars! I think its time to let it be known on a massive scale. Go for the gusto!
We completely agree. Mongo is putting on his leather jacket and waxing his Telecaster as we speak.
An encyclopedic, all-encompassing representation of the Emulator would be my vote (i.e. as-complete-original-library-as-possible, sampled in the manor you described to capture original interpolation quality).
Sir, we salute you 😀
The only point of a vintage recreation like this is the sounds. So, if you’ve got access to a huge library i say bring it on brother!
We’ve all got the 20 or so cliched/popular original sounds anyway.
So in RR tradition please go the extra 10 miles and give us the lesser known boutique stuff please.
Excited about this release.
If you’re itching to get it out (and collect some coin) put it out as is and sell us a bloody big expansion pack later.
Always look forward to your stuff.
Have to stop myself from using ShortWave on everything.
Ha! Good to hear from you, Harvey. Glad Shortwave is steadily colonising all your tracks 🙂
Good Lord! One of my favourites in Kontakt! If you can get the Pet Shop Boys sounds in there, that would be awesome! I think that the ‘Always on my mind’ brass stabs were off the Fairlight III but you can try and get similar? Any nice pads etc would be great. I’ll buy it once it’s released!
I would have thought that 100 good representative patches would do the trick, and yeah an online database for user patches!
Second person to ask for user patches. This is definitely something we’ll look into 🙂
https://youtu.be/1iaLoatdBCo?t=28m5s
Right at 28 minutes, 5 seconds. This type of string preset would be ACE.
As many as possible without to much cpu consumption….
If you really want to hit a home run, release it with 100 sounds, and host a sound upload page for users to share sounds.
That’s a neat idea. We’ll look into that. Sharing is good 🙂
A lot of! Still use my Emax II. Emu II would be a good tool beside it!
How many can you give us? Lots of bass, lots of synth, lots of strings is great. Maybe release a bass library, a synth lybrary, a strings library, a keys library, organ library… and a strange sounds you don’t even know what they are type of library…. I’m not one to get overwhelmed by too many patches to choose from.
Do an initial release with 100 or so patches. Then do additional add on releases with the rest of the library. Even better – group the patches by type like you did with the nanomods – that way folks only invest in the type of sounds they might like and/or use. That way you are only buying bass sounds if that is all you are interested in.
Just enough that i can feel like a genius reinventing Depeche Mode 😉
I like Steve Fitch’s idea: release an EII essentials pack for those of us who just want the signature sounds. Then offer upgrades or more robust models for the tweakers to make up for the time you’ve spent archiving. Clearly there’s a market.
I’m not a big fan of the 80s synth sound, so I’m probably not the ideal person to ask when it comes to a signature 80s synth. I’m sure that whatever you decide to include in the emu emulator II, that it will deliver a nice instrument to those who are into those sounds.
For what it’s worth you may consider selling a smaller moderately low price initial library with the meat-and-potatoes voices, and then selling separate extension/companion/all-in-one packages for the hardcore emu lovers. Perhaps you could release your library in chunks (which would allow you a stream of cash flow and extended publicity while you’re preparing other batched of samples), thus helping you to be able to compete in a market where 80s synth .nki libraries are in abundance?
Anyway, keep making the great and quirky instruments that you make. 🙂
Excellent choice! I really miss the days of Fairlight, Synclavier and E-mu. Enrico is right, it’s that gritty 8 bit digital sound that made them sound sooo good. Could be your best offering to date. In regards to patches, certainly the factory supplied sounds at a minimum and then maybe additional packs in the future (so we all can get our hands on it that much sooner!). Along with the Drumulator Plus we are talking classic sounds of the early eighties! I hope pricing is reasonable and maybe a package deal with the Drumulator, I would buy both together for that total Emu Systems experience. Very cool.
I’d say getting a core library of 100ish sounds should probably do the trick. More would be great of course, but as long as the bases are covered I’d be happy.
Gimme everything! 😉
I feel that an adequate amount would be approximately 27,000 or so patches, give or take a thousand…
Okay, fine, I’ll be serious!!
I agree with the other posts that quality is more important than quantity, and seeing how all the products I’ve purchased from RhythmicRobot are of great quality, I’m not too concerned of the actual number of patches. Perhaps a variety to meet your customers’ needs (e.g. basses, pads, percussion, etc.).
Thank you for asking our opinions! 😀
Best to all,
Shan 🙂
I’d be looking specifically for patches that bring across the characteristic sound of the original instrument.
More esoteric or “second grade” patches would be of less interest.
In any case I’d release it with a basic selection of classic patches and release incremental updates or add-ons. Also a nice source of continued media attention.
The sounds are enough to make a very good music.
Hi guys!
I would like a faithful rapresentation of the soul of this machine…untouched …this means a high quality “gritty” sound that makes me think about the songs I listened when I was a teen…:-)
Of course the more sounds you put the happier I am.
The Emulator II’s samples were tiny, I hope yours will be, too. E-mu only sampled a few notes and then interpolated them across the keyboard so there’s no need for you to sample every key.
Ooh, we kind of disagree there! If we only sample a few notes, we won’t get the flavour of the Emulator’s interpolation – we’ll get Kontakt’s interpolation instead. So we’re sampling every patch chromatically, which is a bit of a mammoth undertaking, but does mean that you’ll get exactly the sound of the EII, rather than just “a version” of it 🙂
Why not do two versions. A deluxe version with everything and then a stripped down version which would include what you figure to be the stand out sounds. Best of both Worlds and everyone is then happy.
I too think that releasing “The Most Complete EMU II Library” for Kontakt, with no further options/controls other than the ones found in the original instrument, would be the way to go. I take pleasure in *knowing* that in my computer I have all ever-existing Mellotron tapes, Optigan disks, LinnDrums EPROMs, and so forth… know what I mean?
Know exactly what you mean. And there’s something important to be said for conserving these bits of history, before all their drive belts fail / oxide sloughs off / shellac disintegrates. We’re on it 😀
Of course the classics would be nice but a collection should also contain sounds that surprise you and that you´ve never heard before if you didn´t own the machine yourself. I´ve always loved the EII for its mellow sound and great post-modern looks. The filters are warm and fat and many of the sound samples were very well crafted at the time. Bring it on and tell me when you´re done:-)
What you’ve done yet with later refills sounds better to me !
I’d want as many samples as possible, I can do tweaking presets myself.
Nothing much more to add to this thread so far as everyone has pretty much said what I was thinking.
Btw, I still own both a Emulator 1 with the JL Coopers ADSR mod, and an EII with 2 floppy drives, although both are in need of some maintenance these daze… Still have my libraries for both as well, so many interesting patches.
But one thing I’d love if you can do it is to somehow allow for the way the original Emulator would let one start reading one patch/floppy and then pull it out and stick another one in while the drive was still reading. This weirdness allowed for some really off the wall sound combos and mistakes/happy accidents that could then be saved back and then start it all over again.
Yes I know it’s a rather weird request, but you asked so there you have it from me for now.
Keep up the great work!
quality, not quantity please!
Iconic sounds + a few exceptional new ones perhaps.
Constantin
The lone voice for fewer patches! 😀
a 50/50 combination of pretty much untouched factory sounds along with some of you’re more, er, left field, noises would be great 🙂
You CANNOT go wrong with, just about, Any of the Emulator’s sounds. If I “had” to narrow it, the pads and soft leads were Such a memory inducer of the time.
Yayy! More Emulator !!
~David
Guys! I love your stuff, and though I agree that quality is important, your stuff has a lot of character! I’d love a comprehensive library of sounds, divided in each respective category. I personally am a patches and tweaks guy, though I’ve done some synthesis, speed is very important to me.
I’d say anywhere between “what you want” and 100/200/300 patches would be baaaaadddd ass!!
As many patches as you can. I am a heavy synth user so a diverse patch collection, that is constantly updated, is a major sell for me. For example, I constantly purchase synth preset packs for my current synths, at least 2 or three (at $15-$25 US) per month.
Hi,
and cool what can i say.
I have all of the Emulator Stuff from the 80s (Northstar)
in the Kontakt but!
The GUI is very Cool this is what we need for Kontakt!
Also the library for me when its the Original can be really large!
My question what is with Copyright of the old library ?
Do you sample new Sounds ?
And can i have a Demo patch ?
Iam waiting along time for this !
Thank you
Mario
Forgot to include the link, duh…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDxOhnL7pjs
I agree with Telex2Texel. 50-75 for the release, then perhaps an ongoing effort of rolling out separate sound libraries?
Excited to play with this thing.
The more the merrier, but if you have included most of the sounds from this video, it probably would be enough to get started.
I think quality is more important than quantity.
50 patches would go a long way, as long as they can be shaped further via the controls in the GUI by the users.
You can always add more patches later.
Sorry guys but I dont know the Emulator 2 or how its sounds like. But it seems to me very interesting so I would say give the people access to the shiat 😀
Greetz from Germany 🙂
the more, the better… so many of these sounds have become classics…
the original CD-Rom release of ‘Sounds of the Universe’ is what most people used at the time… do you have access to that library?
if so, please include as many as possible…
thx
P
I’d normally say the more the merrier, however more than one hundred sounds is certainly more than enough for an amazing release. You can always update it later on!
Introduce the instrument with a basic “overview” selection of samples, and offer add-on sample packs of detailed selections of particular instruments or sounds.
I offer a barrel of money (it’ll probably be coins, but alas… 😉 ) if you do the whole factory library and then some!
I say convert what you have and can get your hands on… one man’s grit is another man’s gold and vv.
The more sounds the better!