MIDI Target Manufacturer(s): E-MU Systems
E-MU released a crap load of Romplers back in the late 90s early 2000s. The Proteus range, Orbit, Mo Phatt etc. All were far more than just "romplers". You see the entire range was essentially built upon E-mus brilliant EOS operating system, and all had the classical Z-Plane filter algorithm (in various forms) running under them along with LFOs, Envelopes etc etc. This made them synthesisers in their own right, and they actually helped define (along with the Emu sampler range) the sound of Hip/Hop and R&B around that period. Its not hard to go through the presets on the Planet Phatt or Proteus etc and instantly recognise a sound used in a hit from that time. This essentially makes them unique, as just getting hold of the samples alone doesnt mean they sound the same. The EOS operating system is colouring it also. I have all the Emu range in Kontakt format, and I can confirm that although they are great samples, and can be used brilliantly in NI Kontakt, they dont sound the same as the Synth itself.
Using this panel, you essentially never have to touch the synth again, simply turn it on, plug in a midi cable and forget the tiny front screen for ever. To use it in Beat's mode, you still have to manually put the Planet Phat into this mode, (no sysex for this) but it's a simple button combination press. There is a "song" function in beats mode that lets you chain beats together, I never really use it, but there is no Sysex for this functionality.
I leave the synth mainly in Multi Mode, and it then becomes a 16 channel multitimbral sound engine with a full mixer implemented. In this mode, you have to "Select" the Channel Number you want to edit, by hitting the corresponding Channel Number button, this simply sets the channel all editing will be focused to for the E-OS. Obviously make sure its "Enabled" also. This simply turns the track off so it wont receive midi on that channel number, if you have another synth in your studio using that channel of coarse. Going to the Global section and selecting Mono, Omni or Poly puts it back into a single channel mode and the Global midi Channel number defines the channel.
If you leave the synth in Multi Mode, once you select a channel, the bigger Preset changer in global mode (has the preset names also) actually works and selects that channels sound, so you don't "have" to use the preset selector in the mixer section, but if you need to keep track of what sound is where, I left 16 preset selectors there just for that. (This is also the same for the Volume and Pan controls)
Sorry about the purple/pinks UI but that was the theme colour for the synth.
Cheers
Brett
