1984: E-mu Systems releases the Emulator II at $7,995 - a sampler that sounded more expensive than its memory. 8-bit samples at 27.7 kHz, 512 KB of RAM, SSM2045 analog filters - and a sound that Peter Gabriel, Pet Shop Boys, and Depeche Mode preferred over the $30,000 Fairlight CMI. The Emulator II is not the first sampler (the Emulator I came out in 1981, the Fairlight CMI in 1979), but the first to achieve mass adoption thanks to a price three times lower than its competitor.
Context: E-mu and the ancestral samplers
E-mu Systems was founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum as a manufacturer of microprocessor chips and components for electronic instruments. In 1979, Wedge and Rossum saw the Fairlight CMI and the Linn LM-1 at a convention - and decided to build a cheaper sampler. The first Emulator shipped in 1981: an 8-bit sampler with a 5.25-inch floppy drive, no VCA envelope, priced at about $8,000. Stevie Wonder received serial number 0001 - originally promised to Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille, but Wonder's fame moved him to the front of the line.
About 500 units of the Emulator I were sold before it was discontinued in early 1984. It was used by New Order, Tangerine Dream, Tony Banks of Genesis, and Vangelis - on the “Blade Runner” soundtrack. The first Emulator was also among the instruments used in recording Michael Jackson's “Thriller” (1982). David Frank of The System used the original Emulator on all his productions. But the Emulator I was primitive: a simple filter, one loop, no envelope. The Emulator II was meant to fix that. But 500 units was a negligible run by industry standards: the Emulator II had to become a machine for the masses. And it did: by 1986 the Emulator II was in studios from London to Tokyo, from pop producers to film score composers.
The Emulator II: what's inside
The Emulator II shipped in 1984 with the same 8 bits, but with key improvements. Companding DACs expanded the dynamic range of 8-bit samples to a level approaching 12 bits. The sample rate was 27.7 kHz. Memory: from 512 KB to 1 MB (in the “Plus” model at $9,995). Resonant analog SSM2045 filters - 24 dB/octave, 4-pole, with a low cutoff frequency - gave samples a character that purely digital machines lacked.
The Emulator II offered 8 voices, 8-part multitimbrality, MIDI, 61 keys with velocity and aftertouch. Samples were stored on 5.25-inch floppies. The user could build a sound library, share it, or buy ready-made libraries on disks from E-mu and third-party manufacturers. A 20 MB hard drive was an option - without it, loading a large orchestral set took minutes. A second floppy drive was also an option, allowing loading from one disk and saving to another without swapping media.
Samples in the Emulator II had only one loop - like the Emulator I - but the added SSM2045 resonant filters radically changed the timbre. The filter could cut the highs of a sample, turn an orchestral string into a warm pad, add resonance at the cutoff frequency to create a “howling” effect. Velocity and aftertouch allowed real-time control of the filter cutoff - a technique Depeche Mode used live for dynamic transitions.
Detail: the unique sound of the Emulator II is the result of three factors: DPCM mu-255 companding, the divider-based variable sample-rate principle, and analog output stages with SSM2045 filters. The 8-bit samples sound “dirty” by modern standards, but that dirt is the machine's timbral signature - what producers of the 80s preferred over the clean 16-bit sound of the Emulator III.
15 recordings featuring the Emulator II
The Emulator II was used by virtually every major 80s artist. Here are fifteen verifiable examples:
- Pet Shop Boys - “West End Girls” (1984/1985): Neil Tennant stated that every instrumental sound on the track was an Emulator II, including the Marcato Strings
- Peter Gabriel - “Sledgehammer” (1986): the Shakuhachi flute sample from the E-mu library
- Depeche Mode: Emulator II in studio recordings and live in the 80s
- New Order: Emulator I and II in studio work
- David Bowie: Emulator II in 80s studio sessions
- Herbie Hancock: studio use
- Vangelis: Emulator I and II, including the “Blade Runner” soundtrack
- Tangerine Dream: Emulator II in electronic soundtracks
- Jean-Michel Jarre: Emulator II in concerts and studio
- OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark): studio use
- Genesis (Tony Banks): Emulator I, II, and III
- Front 242: Emulator II in EBM production
- Enigma - “MCMXC a.D.” (1990): the Shakuhachi sample from the E-mu library
- Brad Fiedel - “The Terminator” soundtrack (1984): Emulator II for metallic textures
- John Carpenter - 80s films: Emulator II in soundtracks
Emulator II vs. Fairlight CMI
The Emulator II cost $7,995; the Fairlight CMI Series II cost $30,000. The price difference was nearly fourfold. But the Emulator II was not a “budget Fairlight copy”: it was a separate machine with its own sound. The Fairlight offered a graphical interface, a sequencer. The Emulator II offered 8-bit samples, but with analog filters that the Fairlight did not have.
The Fairlight CMI remained an instrument for studios with a large budget - Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush. The Emulator II occupied the mid-segment: studios that could not afford a Fairlight but wanted a professional-grade sampler. The $7,995 price in 1984 is equivalent to roughly $24,800 in today's money - not cheap, but four times cheaper than the Fairlight. For comparison, the Roland Jupiter-8 cost $5,295 in 1981, and the Yamaha DX7 $1,995 in 1983. The Emulator II was more expensive than both, but offered a function no synthesizer could: sampling any sound - orchestra, voice, household noise, other synthesizers - and playing it on the keyboard. It was the Emulator II that democratized sampling: by 1986 it could be found in studios from Los Angeles to Milan.
Sound library and floppy-disk culture
E-mu and third-party OEM manufacturers released sample libraries on 5.25-inch floppies: orchestral sounds, ethnic instruments, synth timbres. Many samples from the original Emulator II library were recorded from more expensive Fairlights and Synclaviers - for example, the Fairlight's “Sarrar/Arr1” choir sample was called “DigiVcs” in the E-mu library. The Shakuhachi sample, used by Peter Gabriel and Enigma, was one of the most copied sounds of the decade. This sample - a Japanese bamboo flute, recorded in E-mu's studio - became the timbral signature of dozens of tracks from 1986 through the early 90s. If you hear a Shakuhachi in an 80s pop record, it is almost certainly an Emulator II.
The floppy-disk culture created the first “sample market”: producers exchanged disks, copied libraries, modified sounds. This is an early analog of the modern sample-pack market - only on physical media and without digital rights.
For the Italian scene, the Emulator II had an indirect significance. Italo Disco producers worked primarily on the Jupiter-8 and Prophet-5, but samplers like the Emulator II were used for orchestral pads, choir inserts, and special effects. The article on Italo Disco for beginner producers shows how analog synthesizers and samplers complemented each other in an 80s studio setup. The Emulator II in an Italian studio was a “second-row” instrument - not for bass or lead melody, but for textures and timbres that analog synthesizers could not provide. This did not diminish its role: it was the sampler that added the orchestral pads and choir inserts that distinguished expensive productions from budget ones.
The decline: Emulator III and price competition
The Emulator III shipped in 1987: 16-bit, 44 kHz, stereo, 4 or 8 MB of memory. Price: $12,695 for the 4 MB model, $15,195 for the 8 MB. By this point, Akai, Ensoniq, and Casio were offering samplers under $2,000. The Emulator III sold worse than its predecessor: Depeche Mode used it (on “Violator”, 1990) and 808 State, but the mass market had moved to the Akai S900 and S1000. E-mu had previously been able to sell samplers in the $10,000 range because the only alternatives were the Fairlight CMI at $30,000-200,000 and the Synclavier at $75,000-500,000. But as technology became more accessible, E-mu could not remain competitive in the high-price segment.
The Emulator II in cinema: Brad Fiedel used it for metallic textures in the “The Terminator” soundtrack (1984). Michael Kamen - in the music for “Lethal Weapon” and “Highlander”. Virtually all of John Carpenter's 80s films contain the Emulator II. In “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986) the main character plays cough and sneeze samples through an Emulator II to feign illness over the phone - the sampler used as a plot device.
The Emulator II remains in history as the machine that brought sampling from elite studios to mid-level ones. Its 8-bit sound - with “dirty” samples and warm analog filters - is valued by collectors today more than the clean 16-bit Emulator III. The Emulator II is not a perfect sampler, but it is precisely its imperfection - 8-bit samples, analog filters, variable sample rate - that created a sound impossible to reproduce on any modern device without exact emulation of this specific architecture. 8-bit “dirt” turned out to be more expensive than 16-bit cleanliness.