E-mu Emax
line of sound samplers
The Emax was a line of samplers, developed, manufactured, and sold by E-mu Systems from 1986 to 1995. Sold alongside their more expensive Emulator II and III samplers, the Emax line was one of a wave of "affordable" samplers that debuted around the period which also included the Akai S-612, Ensoniq Mirage, Korg DSS-1 and Sequential Prophet 2000.
The name Emax can refer to one of two specific models, the Emax (which was grey), and the Emax II (which was black). The Emax is sometimes referred to as the Emax I or the Emax 1000 to avoid confusion between the two models.
Emax
The original Emax was released in 1986, as a low cost version of the Emulator II. The base model cost $2,995; a rack version was also available for $2,695. Although it was fairly similar to the Emulator II in sampling specifications, the Emax used much more reliable parts, and stored sounds on 3½" floppy disks, as opposed to the more antiquated 5¼" floppy disks that the Emulator used.
Several upgrades were available for the Emax during its lifetime. The Emax HD featured a 20 megabyte hard drive for storing samples. The Emax SE added an additive synthesis engine that let the user create sounds from scratch. The Emax Plus added external SCSI device capability in addition to the other updates.
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