E-mu Systems - History

History

Unofficialy founded in 1970 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers. In 1972, E-mu officially became a company, developing and patenting a digitally scanned polyphonic keyboard (1973), licensed for use by Oberheim Electronics in the 4-Voice and 8-Voice synthesizers and by Dave Smith in the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. E-mu, along with Solid State Microtechnologies also developed several synthesizer module IC chips, that were used by both E-mu and many other synthesizer companies.

With the financial benefit of the royalties that came from working with these other synthesizer manufacturers, E-mu designed the Audity, their first non-modular synthesizer, showing it at the 1980 AES Convention. With a price of $69,200 (over $200,000 in 2009 terms when adjusted for inflation) only one machine was ever produced. At that very same convention, Wedge and Rossum saw the Fairlight CMI and the Linn LM-1. Recognizing the trend of digital samplers, they realized that E-mu had the technology to bring a lower-priced sampler to market. The Emulator debuted in 1981 at a list price of $7,900, significantly less than the $30,000 Fairlight. Following the Emulator, E-mu released the first programmable drum machine with samples built-in priced below $1,000, the E-mu Drumulator. The Drumulator's success was followed by the Emulator II and III, the SP-12 drum sampler, and the Emax series of samplers.

In 1989, E-mu introduced the Proteus, a rackmount sound module, containing pre-recorded samples in ROM. At its introduction, the Proteus had a relatively large library of high-quality samples priced much lower than the competition. The success of the Proteus spurred the development of several additional versions, including the Proteus XR, an orchestral version, and a world music version. In 1987, E-mu's SP-1200 drum sampler offered an "all-in-one" box for sequencing not only drum sounds, but looping samples, and it quickly became the instrument of choice for hip-hop producers.

In 1993 E-mu was acquired by Creative Technology (the Singaporean parent company of Creative Labs) and began working on PC soundcard synthesis.Throughout the 1990s E-mu made many different sound modules along the lines of the Proteus series. E-mu also made unsuccessful attempts at breaking into the digital multitrack recorder with the Darwin hard-disk recording system. In 1998, E-mu was combined with Ensoniq, another synthesizer/sampler manufacturer previously acquired by Creative Technology.

In 2001 E-mu's sound modules were repackaged in the form of a line of tabletop units, the XL7 and MP7 Command Stations, each featuring 128-voice polyphony, advanced synthesis features, and a versatile multitrack sequencer. A complimentary line of keyboard synthesizers was also released using the same technology.

Subsequent products from E-mu were exclusively in software form. In 2004 E-mu released the Emulator X, a PC-based version of its hardware samplers with extended synthesis capabilities. While a PCI card is used for audio input and output, the algorithms no longer run on dedicated hardware but in software on the PC. Proteus X, a software-based sample player was released in 2005.