emu esi2000 anyone?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ade
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A

ade

original JOKER
ok does anyone own one of these?
if so can u tell me whats good and bad about it

i've decided that a rompler (rom module) will cost as much + i want to sample my synth so for the same price a sampler would be best

i've looked at a few akai s2000, and esi32 for 2nd hand prices and i am looking at £250 to £500 depending on expansion

the esi2000 is £499 inc shipping and 10 EMU CD's
 
I owned an ESI 2000 d for a short period and really went off it quick. While it's cheap, and you get the 10 cd library (which is a big, big plus, esp if you like Emu sounds), you'll need to upgrade RAM immediately, and also get a cd rom drive (this will add about 30-50% more to your total cost). The biggest problm is that the output is really low, so you have to crank up the volume to the maximum, and it's still not very loud. So I imagine when you record, you're going to have to do some processing to get it to an acceptible level, and pray there;s not too much noise. Also, there's no waveform edit with the current os, so that's a big drawback, and some of the best features are available only if you upgrade with a turbo expansion card (add another 50% to the cost).

I really, really wanted a hardware sampler, because soft-samplers are way too buggy and eat up cpu power like crazy, but editing samples on a cmputer screen made more sense. I recently purchased an Oasys card, and the latest OS features sample playback. Cheaper than an ESI-2000, loads samples faster, easy editing, and has tons of FX plus several analogue synth modeling programs, Triton sounds, blah blah blah and no hit on my cpu, and no crashes. It's a serious piece of gear.

My 2 cents, anyway.
 
I currently own an emu esi4000 which is the older version of the esi2000. It is, however, the exact same thing with a different frontpiece. Same OS and everything. In fact, I think the esi2000 even says "esi4000" when it boots up.
I think it's a great machine.

You definitely need to either get a SCSI HD, SCSI CD-R or hook it up to your computer (via SCSI) or else it'll be a pain.

As far as the "graphical editing" thing, it's an easy fix...
hook up the sampler to the computer (you need a SCSI cable and SCSI card in your computer)
prepare the sample on your computer in ReCycle, or Sound Forge
then you can send them directly to the sampler

Too bad you didn't post this about a week ago, because I was almost going to sell mine ('cause I bought another sampler). But I decided to keep it and use both together.

But check ebay. I got mine for just under $600 (US). came w/ 64MB ram and the turbo option (which I suggest you get if you can... adds digital ins/outs and i think some processing options) but no disks unfortunately.

If you want, you can dl the manual off emu's website for free and see everything it actually does.
 
well i've got scsi on my pc and i'll have a jaz drive in a month
only other thing is edo ram i can get that cheap but it has to be low profile
and getting a scsi hd isnt a problem my friend is a mac collector and he has various bit and pieces

as for the turbo option i am going to wait for it

yeah i got sound forge thats why i know its going to be easy for me
 
and another thing!

the turbo board, i keep seeing it only in bad pix but it only appears to have 3 jack sockets and spdif i/o is this true?
and r the jack sockets stereo 1's no L/R individual sockets
 
esi 2000 sample cds

I have a friend who gave me his 10 free ESI sample cds. Only problem i can't read them. I've tried to in a PC and a Mac. Does anyone know how to get at the samples without owning an ESI sampler?
 
headsnack:
the ESI CDs can't be read by your computer, you need an ESI

ade:
i'll check when I get home... I don't really use the turbo board
 
it's got
1 S/PDIF in
1 S/PDIF out

and 3 others labeled
FX
Sub2
Sub3
and says "tip=left ring=right"
so it's 3 FX sends or return

the S/PDIFis quite good though, as it's a better to sample to a digital format from a digital format, and vice versa. If you use any other digital equipment (especially if you're using your computer, see if you can get a card w/ digital out.). So you don't have to convert D/A then A/D again.

I really have no idea if you need special S/PDIF cables, or if you can use regular RCA cables (same shape). I'm going to look into that, b/c I have a bunch of RCA cables I use for nothing.
 
:mad: arse i just went to order one and guess what its been discontinued :mad: :mad:
 
Last edited:
no the esi2000 has been discontinued too :mad:

i am going search around the shops to see if anyone still has one otherwise it will be an akai s3000xl or another synth module

ebay in the uk is really **** for instruments, computer bits its good for but anything else its sh*t
 
sorry to butt in so late.
i use an esi32 with the latest operating system (3.02) which gives a load of filters. i am also running an scsi hard drive and an scsi cd rom. it is really good. it has 8meg of ram which is plenty with the hard drive.
you should be able to pick up a 2000 though. just get a copy of future music and look at the shop ads.
emu filters are lovely though
 
thanks

i got ur pm :cheers:

i'll try sound on sound this month, i really wanted that esi2000 but i can alway get a second hand one
 
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