E-mu Proteus 2000

Price Paid: 140.00 (quid second hand) used

Ease of Use: 10
1.24 is the version i'm using and seems fine.
The presets are a mixed bag overall with basses and piano's comming out on top. Strings are pretty bad though and i'm going to have to re programme this machine for a lot of them. As noted before there are qiute a few patches with pretty fast release times which sound unnatural

Features: 8
great polyphony, midi. Good overall fx, i've heard a lot worse (hello Korg!). I wouldn't bother with rom's, a waste of time. I;d rather use software to sequence.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
overall it's not a bad unit for 140 quid but i wouldn't pay any more for one. Compared with a jv1080 which you can pick up for about 200 qiud or less nowadays, there's no comparison. Th jv wins hands down. But that isn't to say the proteus is bad, far from it.

Reliability: 10
very dependable.Bomb proof build quality, which is nice.....

Customer Support: 7
Never phoned 'em, but the website is good for software downloads and the 'E-Loader'.

Overall Rating: 8
It's an interesting machine, i can get some strange stuff out of it and the onboard sounds do not do it justice. It's quite inspiring in some ways, and irritating in others.

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/20/2004 14:26

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: 10
Pretty straightforard and easy to use.The manual describes a lot about synthesis and really exposed some of the synthesis capabilities that I think are almost hidden the first time you use it.You can layer 4 different sounds together,but you can almost isolate different parts of the envelope,loop the envelope,and the patch cords are great(have the filter freq trigger the LFO rate etc...).It's worth mentioning that there are A LOT of really cool sounding filters in this module-good for instant satisfication.

Features: N/A
2 FX busses as I'm sure has already been mentioned...

expandability is great with the rom boards

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
This is basically an all-in-one sound module.Pretty much whatever sound you want,it'll probably be in here(acoustic/electric gtr/piano/rhodes/percussion/synth/live drums/electronic drums etc etc..),and because of that there's always going to be an area that doen't quite deliver.The presets are at times awful and cringe worthy just listen to the demos!It's never going to be a Virus C,It sounds very General MIDI if you know what I mean? It's had enough sounds to keep me busy for a few months but I only use it to thicken and layer out sounds made elsewhere.At times it sounds dated but this is where the synthesis part and editing patches comes into play,it increases it's life span.But to give it justice,I will always turn to it for a nice piano sound,or to layer lots of percussion,and to use it with a sequencer is great coz it's 16 part multi,and has 2 midi i/o s,so EMU have really taken into consideration the future problem of 3 extra rom boards fitted,effectively having 4 sound modules in one!

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A
I don't think I would replace it.If you made a track just using the proteus sounds then it's going to sound like a demo school project kind of thing.But if you use it as a composition layering tool then it's quite good.Would much rather have a virus c or try the roland JP8000.

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/26/2003 21:35

Price Paid: 700 (€) used

Ease of Use: N/A
I had it only for six months, few years ago. It didn't fit me at all and I didn't use it in any song. I felt it sounded flat. I went thru all 1500 patches and I found only 10 usable sounds Some sounds were very badly looped and you could easily hear it (for some sounds it's mented but other not. I bought it to replacement for JV-1080 I sold (stupid me). I bought Proteus 2k after reading reviews from here and SynthSite.

Features: 10
So all the the specs tempted me to buy P2k (128 poly, tons of filters and patches) and I was totally disappointed when I got it. Now I'm afraid to buy another E-mu synth because 2k sounded so bad. But features and specs are the best of this synth... but that sound.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
I remember the best areas were: electronic pianos, basses and drums. But then I had some other synths to cover basses and so on. Those times my other synths were: Yamaha AN1x, Kurzweil K2000R, Waldorf Microwave XT, Waldorf Microwave I, Waldorf Pulse. I bought P2k for additional strings/pads and some synthy stuff, but it had lame string sounds etc.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 6
I bought Roland JV-1080 back and I'm still using JV (2080 actually). P2k is NOT bad synth, it just didn't fit to my music and I don't usually make own sounds with "preset" synths (not even with my JV, and there is no reason). I make my own sounds with other synths. It's silly to make synth with over 1000 presets you can't even use. But I think there is many of you who likes it so try the synth before buying... There is synths for everyone, this wasn't for me.

Submitted by http://www.kase.fi/panusa at 07/15/2003 02:14

Price Paid: 550.00 (G.B.P.)

Ease of Use: 8
The E-mu proteus 2000 is easy to use,calling up presets is simple with the control wheel!...however too simple to get into the habit of just using the preset sounds "albeit most of them good",and not using the programming functions to create your own sounds. The manual is pretty thick , o.k. and easy enough to understand,but there's a lot of "White coat" nonsense in there than need be!

Features: 8
An impressive 128 voice polyphony,the reverbs and effects are fine enough!,but are a bit limited to how you can use them!,Of course it comes complete with the nice composer sound simm,and you can add a further three. I urge people not to fall into the trap of buying a lot of these sound simms,i bought the protozoa,it's got some great sounds in it,but you are getting a lot of the older proteus module sounds in there as well,and some of the piano sounds are a bit too "casio tone!" for me!. And it's obvious that the latest sound sets are a marked improvement.
There's a pallete of sounds already there between the presets and the option to experiment with the programming functions, it's more than likely you would be able to emulate most of the sounds that come with the additional sound sets anyway,buy them if you must!,but i'm begining to think there not worth the extra cash really!.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Some of the instruments are very realistic sounding,as it's sample based,there is a few turkeys in there as well,like most other things,and probably sounds you wouldn't touch in a million years!. Over all,quite impressive sounding!!. The drum sounds i do like,and the vintage keyboard/hammonds are cool and? too many other sounds too list!. As i said before the reverbs are fine. It seems to react fine with your playing, again there is lots of filters and different ways you can set it up to respond to your different styles of playing.

Reliability: 9
Dont seem to have any trouble with this little beaut!,the only thing i've noticed is if your very fast scanning through the sounds with the wheel,sometimes it jumps to a sound you dont want "if that makes any sense at all" a bit annoying,but it's maybe down to turning the wheel quicker than the machine can process the information!!,Technology eh!!? And i would gig with it no problem,as long as it was racked up in a case of course!

Customer Support: 4
Strangley enough E-mu u.k. are just a stones throw away from me!..i phoned them once,i hate to say this but "Ahem!...they dont sound like they have their act together very well". Although i have never had to phone them with a technical problem,and i hope i never have to!!!

Overall Rating: 8
If it got stolen,i would replace it at some stage hopefully,but with the music i make it wouldn't be a priority,just for that reason only though! and no other.
When i went to check this out,i tried a Korg tr rack "At least i think that's what model it was?" Anyway the Korg was a bit cheaper but sounded like shit!! in comparison to the E-mu!

It has helped out a little bit with the music side of things,as there is a lot of inspiring sounds in there to build with. But used as an extra tool mainly,as apposed to relying on it totaly to make music!

Submitted by Al at 07/03/2003 19:21

Price Paid: 2200 (DM)

Ease of Use: 7
I use software version 1.24
Most of the presets sound awful, but who cares?
Editing is quite simple, following the vocabulary of subtractive synthesis, although I rarely use the full complexity of the machine on all four layers.
The manual is ok, there could have been some more practical examples.
But after 4 years of using the proteus, I got used to a very intuitive way of programming, which gives me the ability to recreate sounds, which are born in my imagination. That´s most important for me.

Features: 8
Polyphony is great
Build in effects are average, prefer external processing
Never expanded it, ´cause i make my own patches
Midi capabilities and their programming are fantastic
Who needs an onboard seq??

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
As told above: Forget about the presets, use them as raw approach to the sound that you want to hear. P2000 worked good for me in D&B, Jazz,Metal,Industrial, Soundtrack and Special Effects

Reliability: 10
Giving the full note. Had never any problems, studio or live.

Customer Support: 10
Communicated with Emu for sponsoring after the release of my first CD. Juggernaut will be on their web page soon. Don´t know about the service, didn´t need any.

Overall Rating: 10
I would steal it back. I wouldn´t want to live without it.
Playing music for 19 years, mainly electric guitars, sax, drums, keys and work with bands and do a solo project with a singer.
Compared to all other synthesizers I tried before, it was a quantum leap. If I would lose my P2000, I would buy a P2500, which has a more intuitive user interface. Other synths I tried: Waldorf XT (which is also a jewel among the modules), Korg (nearly all series from Poly to M1), Access Virus (don´t love it too much), Roland Digital Pianos etc.
The proteus is responsible for everything, which is not done by a guitar, sax or vocals. I also work with a lot of samples and always find the balance with the Proteus. Listen at www.invasionsystems.de.

Submitted by Mario at 06/03/2003 19:00

Price Paid: US $815.00

Ease of Use: 8
Currently using 1.45 Version, w/ the Vintage Keys ROM also installed.
I've only STARTED figuring out how to make use of most of the features
included w/ this module (the manual is very thick!) but anything related to playing live (choosing/editing patches in "real-time", i.e.) is pretty easy, intuitive. Still haven't figured out how to drive two differet patches seperately w/ 2 different keyboard controllers at the same time yet. The manual is DENSE! To be fair to EMU, there's quite a few features that I haven't attempted to use yet (described in detail in the manual).....I bought it for the sounds and the price so I may NEVER use some of this module's features.

Features: 8
Most of the features have been described to death in previous reviews so I'll refrain from repeating them, except for the fact that no one seems to have mentioned how well engineered/constructed the patches are....it's been a while since I bought a NEW piece of equipment and I was well-beyond-pleasantly-suprised to find that most of the patches I use on jobs (Hammonds/Wurlies/Rhodes/Clavs) all have realistic and useful FX built in......by using the mod wheel you can have effective panned vibrato, Leslie, wah and other FX added to the patch being used.
Love the polyphony and ROM headroom. Multi-timbral possibilities will come in handy once I get the "bugs" in this one fixed (see Reliability). Great price for all that it will do. I DO wish that particular patches (that I know, ahead of time, that i'll want to use on a gig) could be found and retrieved faster. It's a bit laborious and "mad-dash" pressing buttons and turning knobs to get to the right patch--LIVE-while your bandmates (not to mention audience members) are all waiting.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
As stated before, I've added the "Vintage Keys" ROM to the factory pre-sets and Orchestral ROM that the unit was shipped w/.
I'm having an absolute BALL playing through all the sounds and am absolutely delighted that such a high % of them are useful, well-conceived and engineered. I'ts nice to be able to add panning vibrato to rhodes sounds, wah to clavs, Leslie to Hammonds, octaves to horn sounds all by moving the mod wheel. I thought the added ROM ("Vintage Keyboards") was a bit pricey but sounds are very good.....I'm not kicking myself for not buying the Clavia Electro now.....a lot of the hammonds have "key click" that's so heavy it sounds like a xylophone was added but it may be possible to dial some of that out by twisting the editing knobs after calling up the patch......still exploring those possibilities.

Reliability: 5
Seems well-built BUT.......I've had it less than a week and it's already goofing on me.....there are 2 midi ports on the back ..A (w/ Midi in/out/thru) and B (Midi in/out)........the module causes my controller to shut down when I connect to the B Midi In(yipes!)....... (Sweetwater Sound) The distributor's tech support says they've been told (by E-mu) that the problem must be my controller (a Studiologic/Fatar SL880)--gosh, there's a surprise. No explanation as to why they think so, they just think so, apparently..... (see customer support below)......so apparently I'll have to send it back at my expense, have them check it out and then....?

Customer Support: 3
E--mu was absolutely hands-down the worst tech support experience I've EVER HAD.....what total ASSHOLES! It's tempting to just return the Proteus for a refund or just buy another brand...there's plenty of them out there......After dealing w/ them and their condescending crap I tried Sweetwater Sound (the distributor, who I bought the Proteus from) and their tech support.......better results...at least they listened to me and are trying to help! The problem is described above in "Reliability".

Overall Rating: N/A
I'll add another review at a later date to described how problems w/ my Proteus were resolved

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/29/2003 15:38

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: N/A

Features: N/A

Expressiveness/Sounds: N/A
I'd like to add something important to the reviews below. There is one HUGE and VERY ANNOYING problem with all Proteus sounds. Almost all of the factory patches HAVE IMMEDIATE ATTACK and DON"T HAVE DECAY. You press a key (no matter what velocity) the sound suddenly jumps on you, you release a key - and the sound dissapears in a milisecond, it just cuts itself. Especially this is unbearable with pads, strings and pianos (well, pianos do have a decay but very short). It is so ANNOYING! Of coarse, you can program those attack and decay times, but I don't think you'll want to do it with 1000 patches! Emu programmers are idiots, sorry!

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/07/2003 05:41

Price Paid: 1690 DM

Ease of Use: 10
Very easy, proteus have realtime knobs for deep and "light"
editing, and sent this parameters to midi out.
Edit-menu is simpy to use,like a nokia mobil-phones, or maybe
Roland jv 880.

Features: 10
128 NOTE POLY, 32 MIDI CH, 6 ANALOG OUTPUTS, DIGITAL OUT,
1024 PRESETS, 18bit D/A...

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
ACOUSTIC PIANOS-7
BASS SOUNDS-10,E-DRUMS 9,ACOUSTIC DRUMS-8,
E-PIANOS, CLAV, ORGANS-9 (AND VERY BAD PIPE ORGAN PRESET)
STRINGS-8
BRASS-10
GYITARS-9
PADS-7 ...ETC
EFX-7

Reliability: 10
EXCELLENT

Customer Support: 8
For Yugoslav-Belgrade dealers (SKY-music)-not bad...

Overall Rating: 10
OK

Submitted by ZOS at 03/05/2003 20:04

Price Paid: US $600 used

Ease of Use: 8
OS 2.26 The presets are overall terrific, except for the acoustic pianos, which are passable in a mix setting. The front panel editing is very easy. It's much less obtuse than Roland equipment that I've owned.

Features: N/A

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Since I've added the "Sounds of the ZR" (primarily for the 'Perfect Piano')and the B3 ROMs, I'm invincible. I'd put up the sound set up against the Triton or Motif.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: 10
The OS 2.26 upgrade is killer! It's added a number of functions that didn't exist before.

Overall Rating: 10

Submitted by jonas at 02/20/2003 14:31

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 9
very easy. right out of the box you get phenominal sounds. editing doesn't look to hard but i don't have that much time so i leave it alone. the
manual is easy to read and helpful but i didn't read it.

Features: N/A

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
i was so impressed with the sounds out of this thing. one of the reasons it sounds so good is that they are sampled sounds. this unit mainly
has lots of pianos, tons of bass guitars, cool sounding REAL DRUMS and odds and ends instruments like that, along with some violin and
viola and cello which is very good too. i used this unit for my classical cd along with cakewalk and it sounded just great.

Reliability: 6
i would use it on a gig if i was into that programming midi stuff.

Customer Support: 9
never dealt with them but their website is very helpful.

Overall Rating: 9
i am a guitarist in a metal band but i use this for composing, as i do classical as well and have my own video production co. it is a
great-sounding unit and i would recommend it highly. this unit is cool since you can add cards to it to get sounds from other E-MU units.
this is the only unit that does this. so instead of buying the virtuoso rack unit for classical for $1000, you can get the 2 cards for it at $300
each and you save money and have all sounds in one unit. really nice. that is what i want to do. i had the virtuoso and loved it.

Submitted by steve at 01/26/2003 21:18

Price Paid: 625 (UK pounds)

Ease of Use: 8
I'm using the latest OS update (1.24 I think). The only real improvement I've noticed being additional functions in the multi set up page. I have to say I have a love hate relationship with this module. I bought it as the mainstay of my set up to do R&B based stuff alongside an MPC and almost immediately regretted not buying the TR-Rack which I'd considered. Unlike Roland and Korg gear I've tried subsequently the EMU sounds really lack sheen and class. Areas where it's strong - bass sounds for instance - are far outweighed by ones where it lacks - pads, strings, drums, crappy percussion. If like me you're thinking of making it the mainstay of your set up sound wise, you'll have your work cut out. Almost out of necessity I've become adept at editing sounds to get them to work better and the ease of doing this is one of the machines plus points. I've not used a patch editor just the control knobs.
The manual is fine and like all other manuals becomes more useful after you've got to know the machine a bit better. This machine is easy to use - its just the overall sounds and functionality that let it down.

Features: 5
The effects as you may have already gathered are one of the biggest draw backs on this machine. They are inflexible and very limited in their application compared to something like a Triton. I actually turn them off and use stuff on my board.
I don't trust that the expasnion sounds will be any better than the stock ones so I haven't investigated that avenue.
One plus for the machine is that it has two sets of midi connections - useful if you use both a computer and a hardware sequencer like myself.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
The instruments are basically a bit crappy and far from realistic, although for some reason the horns are all very good. The piano's and keyboards aren't going to fool anyone. The drums don't have the weight to use for R&B/Hip Hop rather than samples (again unlike the Triton).
However, there are some good sounds if you search them out. The bass sounds are great and the control knobs make it easy to push them into sub territory and using sounds in ways they weren't intended works well.
The machine is OK for R&B/Hip Hop. P Diddy used the Crackly Pop bass patch for Bad Boy For Life (which everyone thought was a sample) whilst Timbaland simply samples the audition patch for the Plexy bass patch for Nas's Owe Me Back.
In the UK this machine is beloved of the UK garage fraternity and the audion patch for the Carlos guitar patch formed the basis for the Masters of Ceremony's Do You Really Like It? as well as numerous So Solid Crew tracks.
I won't bad mouth the effects any more.

Reliability: 3
The power unit went on mine after a year taking with it all my multi patches - this only increased my hateful feelings towards. Me and my POroteus is like a bad marriage!!!!

Customer Support: N/A
Helpful enough

Overall Rating: 5
If it were stolen I wouldn't replace it and I'm a bit wary of other EMU stuff as a result. If I had loads of other gear I wouldn't feel this way. Sure I've doen stuff I'm happy with but I always feel like I'm making the best out of a bad situation with. It just doesn't give you basic things you need like some simple pad or useful FX sounds which can just be so frustrating - too may of the sounds are too overblown. Overall I prefer the stuff on my little handheld Yamaha QY 70. Soon I'll hopefully have a shiney new Triton and me and my Proteus can finally get a divorce.

Submitted by Tony F at 12/19/2002 14:57

Price Paid: £650

Ease of Use: 8
Well I've been using the proteus 2k for over 2 years now (probs longer ;) ) and it is an impressive bit of kit. I'm using the 1.23 software as the 1.24 doesnt appear to warrant anything i need! Its an easy module to use as its a composers box...i.e. the presets sound good. To be honest so far I havent found the need to edit and save sounds of my own but when i have done it has been an easy task. Normally though this has just been ading sustain to notes or altering various flters to clour the sound. Its an easy task to do so and the manual is fantastic. The interface on the module prompts (questions) everything u do so tweaking or saving a sound is intuitive. One intersting feature i did find was the 'audition' feature. It plays a progression of an instrument which allows to hear how that instrument can sound if u were to use it. I'm a bit of a novice to the synth type world and the manual made me feel well at home...the programming chapter made great bedtime reading as my girlfriend knows only too well!!!

Features: 9
Ok I'm still learning and the chances are i wont use the full capabilities of the p2k. I have the the module hooked up to a computer sequencer and my multi-track and i generally use it for the drums, keys, and strings. Bu i do know after owning it a while that there are powerful features. Its easy to layer instruments on top of one another, and believe me u can alter the sound of the instrument within minutes with the various filters and effects. Effects are easy to use but in the setup i use unfortunately (midi) two effects can only be applied. Meaning that the designated effects of the instrument in channel 1 of my sequencer are the effects that will be used in the other instruments which is annoying if u wanna use delays or flanges etc. This is probably standard fair i dunno. Expansion capabilities on the p2k are good though expensive. U can add other rom boards with extra sounds. At the moment i cant afford a plectrum so i doubt i'll be expanding!!!

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
The p2k is what i would call a pick and mix bag of sounds. U get everything u want for all different styles of music. The presets as i said are good....u want a piano u got it no messing around. Before i get onto my main point and shout my ass off what i will say is that i think a lot of the techno/trance/ambient sounds are fairly safe. I for one didnt get a hard on when i heard them straight from the box. For me they didnt want me to create music in that genre which i would have love to have done. Ok maybe tweak and see what u get out of them.
Ok angry time...and the main reason which i'm writing this review and believe me i've been meaning to it for a long time! Basically the drum sounds on the p2k are complete crap. I'm not talking about the techno or dance sounds as they are well catered for, i mean acoustic drums, rock drums, heavy metal drums, pop drums, punk drums! doh! I forgive the fact that arent GM compatable (why i dont know) its just the plain simple fact that there isnt enough variation in the sounds avaialbe particulary in the tom-tom department. Each and every kit has the same boring ass high register toms which may be great when used subtley (did i spell that right?) but there are no low toms. U are left with two different toms on a kit. I write rock music and u cant do without variation in fills and embelishments and they cannot be achieved convincingly with the p2k. I'll go further. The kick drums either sound flat and uninspiring or too plastic and processed, the snares ditto... hi-hats no long sustained crisp open hat sound that will cut above other instruments and make it sound as hough the drummer is really going or it!! :( Crash cymbals are crap with no variation, hitting tin foil with a byro pen achieves the same noise. Yes i know theres an entire set of sounds dedicated to kicks, snares, toms, and cymbals but once again i didnt find anything that i wanted to use. Toms in the upper register and nothing u can really group together, kicks...hmm maybe could be used but the best ones are in the presest kits 4 me!!! and as u know by now i hate 'em. snares boring or too abstract i.e. u wont think about using them. cymbals too many dance types. There arent enough different types of cymbals that could be grouped together in a track to form a kit....u will not find geedy lee in the cymbal bank ;) Honestly i think everyone needs to have options to hand. If u write rock/pop/metal music u need a 20 piece drum kit palltte to hand because u never know what u might need. u need the options and the p2k lacks that. That rant took me two beers to put together!

Reliability: 10
This box is as hard as nails. I have had it for over 2 years now and its never crashed once. Never used it in a gig but the other guys on this site say its fine.

Customer Support: 9
Mailed Emu onc and they replied after about 2 weeks. Good answer to my question and relatively friendly.
I've upgraded the software from the emu site each time the update has become available and its been fine.

Overall Rating: 8
I wouldnt buy the proteus again. Its not what i'm looking for but at the time the quality of the sounds seemed better than the competition such as the roland jv1010? and i preferred the p2k interface to the korg trinity moudule. I've been writing music since i was 8 and i'm 26 now. The p2k is my first foray into the synth/synth module market and to be honest what i use it for could be achieved on an el cheapo sound card. I'm not saying i dont explore what the p2k can do because i do and i know what its capable of. Other gear i own is fairly modest. Fostex digital 16 track, line 6 pod, more black boxes, a few hundred guitars, a sexy trace elliot amp which looks great in the dark when switched on, a marshall which never gets switched on, a drum kit 2 hundred miles north of me, and some mics which i can never be arsed to sing into. My music's at http://www.btinternet.com/~n.black

Submitted by nathan black at 06/23/2002 12:24

Price Paid: US $799

Ease of Use: 9
My version of the Proteus is 1.24. Everything seems to be working tip-top. The presets are phenomenal. Not too many strings but I find them very usable (if you get the Orchestral Rom Vol. 1 you'll be completely set for strings). Drums are disgustingly GOOD. Bass patches up the A$$. There are literally hundreds of bassline sounds. Uprights, synth, all of them are great and very usable. There are some excellent sub-basses but not too many electric bass sounds, but the ones that are there are very cool. I especially like the fretless basses. They sound very realistic and they glide from one note to another very well. It's especially useful to have a lot of basses doing the music I do (trip-hop/downtempo with a little electronic pop and rock mixed in). Good stuff. There are also countless organs... they all sound extremely cool. With a little programming you can get really nice Wurly's and Rhodes patches. Here, this might be easier.. if I break everything down sound by sound---

DRUMS- awesome, any kick or snare you could ever need... the kits in general are quite cool. Mainly geared toward electronic music. Nothing wrong with that.
BASSES- see above, MANY to choose from.
STRINGS- see above-- it might be to your benefit if you invest in the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM.... it's most of the strings from the Virtuoso 2000 but without the $1000 cost of the Virtuoso. And believe me when I say, the Virtuoso's strings are SICK. I haven't heard better strings... not even on a Korg Triton.
PIANOS- most are very cool, but in the low range, they sound sort of phony. But they still sound really good. I'm into Moby-ish piano sounds and the Proteus has a lot of them.
ORGANS- see above
LEADS- phenomenal. screaming 303's, low end rumbles, you name it.. this unit has them all. Juno's, Jupiters, Moog-style.... whatever. Good stuff indeed.
NOISES/FX- pretty cool.... you program this and you'll discover some insane presets. It can do a LOT.
PADS- awesome as well, but as other reviewers have pointed out, a lot of the pads are pre-made chords (you hit one key and it plays a jazz chord)... this isn't a bad thing if you're creative, but it does get in the way of playing your own pad progressions. all of this doesn't matter if you spend a little time programming so the pad patches play one note when you press down on one key.)
GUITARS- excellent! the acoustic guitars are disgusting... they sound so damn REAL! with a little efx, you could really make some amazing stuff. You have to hear them. Very cool.

I haven't used a patch editor yet but I'm sure Sounddiver is a wise investment. Any computer-based editor is a lot faster to get the sounds you want, rather than flipping through a tiny LCD screen.

The manual is very well thought-out. Lots to read. The only thing I don't understand fully is the effects routing... there are many internal effects in the Proteus 2000 and when you use it in multi-mode (MIDI sequencing), it seems like the effects are universal... I just need to figure this out more... I know there's a way to save each preset with its own effect, but.... I don't know. I'm not too into reading manuals. I'd rather be writing music.

Features: 8
The polyphony is 64 voices I think.. or 62. Basically, you have a lot of choices. You can get a fully orchestrated song sequenced with no problems. I've used 24 tracks of MIDI alone, in one of my songs, with a lot of stuff going on (all played by the Proteus) and no problems.

Tons of built-in effects. Reverb, delay, flange, chorus, etc. It's kind of difficult to get the effects working the way you want (see above in the Ease Of Use section).... but it's very versatile and the effects sound GREAT.

The Proteus 2000 can be expanded with three additional ROM chips. One great advantage is it can use something called a Flash ROM, which allows users to write their own patches and save them onto a ROM chip instead of the internal "user" bank. That's cool as hell. If you like programming, and save a lot of your own patches... it's very useful. Or you can just buy the additional ROMs... As I wrote above, the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM is a must-have if you are a strings fan. It runs about $289 as most of the ROMs do (sometimes you can find other ROMs for $199 now... like the Protozoa ROM). They also have the Holy Grail piano ROM which has a really good piano (and many other useful patches)... but for me, all I really need is the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM.

I don't know much about the MIDI capabilities... as I wrote above, I'd rather be writing music than figuring out little cool things that the Proteus can do. I know that the MIDI capabilities are extensive and powerful (as all E-Mu products have been and still are)... if you're a MIDI geek, you'll know what I mean. You can do it all with the Proteus.

No on-board sequencer in the Proteus..... stick to Cakewalk Sonar or something similar and you'll be fine. :)

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
I am pretty picky when it comes to sounds fro ma sound module or synth. I am a big fan of analog (speaking of analog, I highly recommend the Novation K-Station.... for $700 you cannot beat the sounds of that bad boy)........ but I also love the meat-n-potatoes sounds that the Proteus has. It's good to have a good sound module that has every type of sound you could possibly want. The Proteus is that module. I've read that people compare this to the Roland JV-1010.... I've played the JV and the strings are cool and certain other things are, but I don't know... the Proteus 2000 just takes the cake in all areas.

As I wrote above.... the sounds are quite realistic, but there are some bad, crappy ones (as all sound modules have). The basses are phenomenal. Bass guitars and synth basses are extremely important in electronic music (especially drum n bass and downtempo) and you have more than you could ever need.. but that is a good thing. They sound awesome. The brass is pretty damn good, I know that many reviewers said the brass was horrible but no way. There are muted trumpets that sound DAMN CLOSE to the sound of Miles Davis' own trumpet. I haven't heard a better muted trumpet. Not even on the Triton, which I almost was going to buy. The trombones are really cool, too. You can definitely use most of those brass patches. Guitars (acoustic and nylon string and other) are just superb. So clean, beautiful. I love them. The distorted guitars obviously are crap (think Casio) but I mean if you need to play a distorted guitar riff in your songs, then get a guitarist or buy a Les Paul. Synth modules are never good at duplicating distorted guitars. And why should they? It's an unnecessary patch. The drums sound amazing.. so many creative and unique abstract drum sounds and kits.. plus you have your typical acoustic and rock kits.. everything is useable... lo-fi kits, etc. Percussion (latin perc., tambourines, etc.)... everything you need. The kick drums THUMP. They really do. They have some balls. No joke. Snares are excellent as well. If you like drums, you won't be let down by the drum sounds in the Proteus..... moving on to strings... as I wrote above, there are some really cool string sounds.. and solo instruments. They sound quite realistic but the Orchestral Vol. 1 ROM is the way to go if you need realistic, amazing strings. Noises and FX are plenty. Just do a little programming and voila, some weird-ass sounds. Synth leads are awesome, too. TONS. Jupiters, Moog's, Juno's, all kinds of good stuff. Seriously. You can get any sound you want with this unit.

You know what else is awesome? The Proteus can generate a patch randomly... if you are stuck and need a cool new sound, just go into the menu under the "save" section and it has a random patch generator. I've used it, and let me tell you I've gotten some amazing patches with it. I think that feature kicks ass. :)

Oh yeah.... do NOT download the demos on E-mu's website.. it's cheesy new age jazz music for the most part and it just doesn't showcase how cool this module really is. I would recommend either checking out some mp3's of my band at http://beautysconfusion.com (we use the Proteus in all of our songs) or look up "Proteus 2000" in all the search engines and see what you can find there. The demos are not bad but they're not good, either... also, definitely check it out in person at your local music store. Use the "audition" button (it plays a little riff when you go to any preset, and the riffs really showcase how powerful and how good this thing is and sounds) or hook it up via MIDI and go to town. I was sold on it, by only hearing the first 50 patches. :)

Reliability: 10
I think the Proteus is very dependable. I use it in studio-only applications (I don't bring modules to my band's live shows, we use a backing track for a lot of the electronic-based sounds)... the rack is built solid and I think it will hold up in the long run. I owned an Orbit the Dance Planet for years and it gave me no problems at all. E-mu makes solid stuff.

Customer Support: N/A
I haven't dealt with E-mu's customer service. But their website is very informative... they have MP3 downloads of the demos and sounds of pretty much all of their products... it's cool. And on the site, they walk you through the OS upgrade program and how to get your OS version upgraded. Very cool. I think they're a pretty respectable company.

Overall Rating: 10
I would definitely buy the Proteus again if it was lost or stolen. It's worth the price I paid and more.

I've been playing electronic music since about 1997... I really got into techno in Sept. 1998 when I bought a Yamaha CS1x (still my favorite synthesizer... incredibly powerful, that blue beast). And I got heavily into mellow electronic sometime in early 2000 when I first heard Moby's Play (and saw him a few nights before on that TV show Studio Sessions at West 54th). I've also been a huge Portishead fan since 1994 when I first heard Dummy. That's the band that REALLY influenced me and got me into trip-hop and downtempo/chillout)... In the summer of 2001 is when I really got into writing downtempo and trip-hop and formed my band Beauty's Confusion..... and just recently (a few months ago), I got the Proteus, and I've been super happy with it. I'm sure you will be, too.

I love that the Proteus is a very versatile sound module, and it's expandable, too. You get all kinds of basic sounds (the meat-n-potatoes stuff) and you get weird stuff. It's the best of both worlds. There are 4 user banks (that's about 512 user patches), plus 8 Proteus banks (called Composer banks)... that's well over 1000 sounds in this unit... you definitely get your money's worth. Another great thing is, the patches are organized alphabetically. For example, when you're on the bassline section, it would read "bas: Bassline 1" and then "bas: Cool Bass"... that helps a lot. I don't think many other manufacturers organize their patches that way. It's very useful and a cool feature, if you ask me. Plus, as you go through the Proteus banks (the Composer banks), everything goes by category... you have all the basses in one section (turn that jog dial and you're in the basses until you pass them and get to another category).... yet another very useful thing. I hate going through a synth module's sounds only to find a bassline at #5 and then another at #245 and then another at #641. Who has time to waste like that? That's how the Triton is set up. I can't stand that. E-mu put all the categories of sounds right next to each other. Right on.

I compared the Proteus to the JV-1010 and played with the JV for about 15 minutes (and went through every single patch) and I was like "ehh". I played the Triton LE and, as some of the sounds were VERY impressive...... I was like, I'm not paying $1300 for this. I don't need a built-in sequencer because I write my stuff with Cakewalk and soft-synths such as Reason.... I also played the Novation K-Station.... but that was no comparison.... I bought the Novation K-Station, too! :) That thing is awesome if you love techno and oldschool analog sounds. Personally I use the Proteus a little more than the K-Station but I still love them both. Again, it's a matter of taste. I think the Proteus is an amazing piece of gear and well worth looking into. A lot of heart and soul went into designing this thing.

I wish the Proteus had better strings built-in. Those ROMs can get quite expensive. But I invested in the Orchestral Vol. 1, as I think all of you should, too.... if you own a Proteus.

It definitely helps me make music. It doesn't get in the way. Well, most of the time it doesn't. ;)

Anyway... that's about it. I hope all of you reading this check out my band Beauty's Confusion at http://beautysconfusion.com .... fans of Sneaker Pimps, Hooverphonic, Portishead, Esthero, and Zero 7 might like us... check us out, and let me know what you think. :)

Submitted by Skip from Beauty's Confusion (FL, USA) at 03/31/2002 13:14

Price Paid: 1900 (Euros)

Ease of Use: 8
The soundnavigator is easy to search a preset by category. The edition of a preset is complete but sequantial because of the little screen. So, if you wish modify or creat new presets, you MUST buy an editor/librarian. You own Emagic Sounddiver 3 and the repogramming becomes exceptionnaly easy. With such a low price for the Proteus, buying Sounddiver is very reasonable.
The manual is very complete but not available in every language. For Europa, in english and in german I believe.
The real time knobs are for me useless. Once good presets are created, there is no interest to modify them in "real time".
The factory presets are fine but not exceptional. You must reprogram some (strings) to obtain the same quality as with Roland XV and Korg Trinity. But an User presets memory of 512 patches is available for creating.

Features: 8
128 voices ! even with layered and linked patches you have no problem !
The response of the keyboard is modifiable with a choice of 14 velocity curves and with reprogramming the patchcords. So you can make what you wish.
There are 3 expansion slots to add 16M or 32M Rom cards. I have filled my Proteus with Protozoa + Sounds of the ZR76 + Holy Grail Piano. For my needs it is widely enough. But some customers would appreciate more slots. Korg and Roland offer more.
I think that 2 Midi in, 2 Midi Thru, 1 Midi Out and 6 audio outs (but 4 without effects) is sufficient (+ a S/PDIF output which I don't use) for majority of customers.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
The edition and programming possibilities of this module with Sounddiver are infinite. You can transform the "good" factory presets in "fantastic" user presets. If you like creat your own sounds, the Proteus 2000 is the best available deal today. It is cheap and offers 4 banks of 128 presets in Ram (+ the possibility to record on a computer lots of banks with Sounddiver).
The samples are very good, all multisamples, but not enough various. This is a "generalist" module but oriented toward modern music. 1024 factory presets but too much percussions. No solo violin, viola, cello, contrabass, harpsichord, harp, voice.... I play mainly classical music, I am not concerned by Techno, Dance, Rap or other modern grotesque styles. So I had to complete with 3 supplementary cards to find missing samples.
Now I dispose of all sounds for my needs, with more than 2000 factory presets (but too much percussions and basses). However, the following comments concern reprogrammed patches, especially because the samples overloops in multisamples are not convincing in the factory presets.
- Acoustic piano : the best of the world with the Holy Grail Rom and The Perfect Piano in the ZR76 card. Only Roland offers maybe more in the SRX2 card.
- Harpsichord : good, equivalent to Roland,
- Organ : exceptionnal power, only the Korg TR Rack can rivalise,
- Strings : combining all the available samples provides excellent and very various solo or group strings. But the Virtuoso 2000 (after reprogramming) offers more.
- Winds : excellent, except the fact that I can't obtain a good recorder flute.
- Brass : very very good, but I work yet on them.
- Acoustic guitars : magnific !
- Chromatic percussions : very various but better in the Virtuoso 2000.
- Voices : all the factory presets are distorded voices, fortunately the samples are good enough to create real voices and choirs.
- Harps : they are decent but are much better in the Virtuoso.
- Synths & Pads : not very original, Korg's are more beautiful.
- Other instruments : I don't use them.

Some users find the effects insufficient. For my "classical" needs they are perfect.

With 4 layers by preset and the possibility to link 3 presets you can layer up to 12 sounds. It is enough to create exactly the sound you wish once you are experienced with all the programming functions. And it is easier than with any other module !

Reliability: 10
No problem until now. The installation of the supplementary cards is very easy and the communications with my computer and my digital piano with no problem.

Customer Support: 9
Emu answers allways to my emails, within two weeks. They offer regularly free upgrades and send news to registered customers.

Overall Rating: 10
For this price you can't find better (830 Euros alone), except the Roland JV1010 but it offers only 128 user presets, and an used Korg TRrack (alas not expandable).
With 3 supplementary cards, I have 96M of samples, 2176 factory presets and 512 user presets for 1900 Euros (about 1700 $). Not other module offers more.
I shall buy it immediately if stolen.

Submitted by Christian FRERE at 12/09/2001 05:20

Price Paid: £599 (pounds sterling)

Ease of Use: 7
Navigating around the main screen is simple enough to select banks, sounds, channels and adjusting volume/pan. Simple editing via the real time knobs in Omni mode is easy as is saving patches. Things get a bit more involved when you start using multi mode with FX and Patch chords, layers etc…. The manual could set down procedures in a simpler step-by-step way - if you’re a novice (like me), some of the terminology can be a barrier. It takes a while to figure some things out…but eventually it’s worth it.
I sequence mine with a Yamaha QY70 (wot no computer?) using an Evolution MK149 keyboard and synchronised with a Boss BR8 to record on to. This is all amateurish stuff but it gets great results.

Features: 8
I like the real time knobs for quick editing and the Randomize feature is fun and can turn up some interesting results. I only need 16 channels but I’m sure 32 are plenty for most and I’m not going to be testing the 128 polyphony to it’s limits.
If I had a wish, it would be to assign FX individually to each channel. The quality of the 2 banks of FX are great it's just I find the assigning of FX in multi mode very cumbersome.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
After the initial "new toy" euphoria phase wore off, I began to think I'd made a mistake buying it. Some of the instruments - acoustic pianos, strings & bass guitars in particular - didn't sound that great and a lot of the other sounds were very similar. Too many basses! And I also agree with another reviewer about the pads – the majority are in chord format (Why??) and therefore of VERY limited use….E-MU!…I am capable of fingering my own chords thank you!
However, now I'm much more au fait with using layers/FX/filters etc., I think this is a great and versatile module. Like a lot of other people have commented, to get the best out of the P2K you have to edit the sounds.
I still think the acoustic pianos sound naff when sustained but I can live with this (the piano on my friends Korg TR rack is much more realistic)

Reliability: 6
The unit I bought was the 1.21 version. It muted or missed notes, particularly some drum/percussion sounds. This was particularly irritating when sequencing a song. I have heard other people having problems with this version. It then went totally wrong, fading out then boosting back in very loud.
I took it back to get it fixed and they replaced the "main board" with the updated 1.23 version, all under warranty. It now seems to work perfectly…fingers crossed but I feel obliged to mark it down.

Customer Support: N/A
I haven’t bothered them…… yet.

Overall Rating: 9
I sound a bit negative so far but this is really a great value box of tricks. I've been playing for 20 years but mainly just guitar. I wanted an all-round module to improve on the sounds in my QY70. It more than does this. For sounds, I wonder whether I should have gone for the Roland XV3080 but it costs a lot more and doesn’t do everything the P2K does (The acoustic piano wasn’t much better anyway although the pads are). I would replace it if stolen but I'd also take a long hard look at the Roland...it's close.
It's taken my demos from sounding amateurish to nearly pro.
I'm still learning about this unit 6 months on from buying it and the more you find out...the better it gets.

Submitted by Albert at 09/18/2001 07:47

Price Paid: 675 Stg.

Ease of Use: 9
Version 1.23 for mine. This thing is VERY easy to use. Very immediate. Only problems I had were the FX but then I figured that one out. Basically you can route your dry signals to any of the outputs but your wet part will ALWAYS come out of the Main Outs, no matter where you route each particular preset. Still for everything else its very good

Features: 5
The comment I made above about the FX wet signal ALWAYS coming out of the Main Outs means that the FX are pretty much USELESS in Multi mode. . I mean how can you mix if you have the FX for all of the parts coming out of the same two outs. Its ABSURD. As a result I have disabled the FX in multimode. I use outboard FX where necessary. Apart from that (pretty big) gripe, I have no other problems. The functionality and timing are excellent, polyphony loads, it accepts expansion cards (dont have any yet). Fantastic patch cord system which allows you to control anything using everything. It really is useful and very very easy to use. But overall marked down in this category for that stupid FX routing they have. (better to have had no FX and a cheaper unit)

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Organs, Synths, Basses and especially guitars, also drum sounds are EXCELLENT. Very very usable. It never seems to let me down. The guitar sounds are fantastic in my opinion, especially if you play with the controls. My music is mainly deep house and chilled out kind of stuff and the organs and gtrs are fantastic for this. Strings and Brass suck IMO. Special FX are pretty good bleeps and this and that. With some editing you can really make them your own. On the DOWNSIDE, loads of synth stabs and hits which admittedly sound great but lets face it, you know you can't use them. The PADS are unbelievably CRAP. They consist of ready made Jazz Chords, not layered notes so you cant change them. Using one would pretty much dictate the whole key structure of your track/song (What a load of *******!!). But all synths have their good and bad. All you do is use them for the good sounds and get something else for pads or whatever you want (for pads try the Yamaha EX5 - totally amazing). Because of this I give a high rating for sounds

Reliability: 8
So far, not even a sign of a problem but I haven't pushed it

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
Lost or Stolen I would love to replace it again, but there are always new things coming out so I'd check around. I love this thing. Initially I thought it sounded a bit lame and I know alot of people say that, but it is quite an addictive machine and with a small amount of work you can nearly always get that sound you want, especially synths guitars and the Basses are truly amazing. Am going to get the XL card and hopefully Mo Phatt card too. I would be lost without it. Its grown on me so much that I actually submitted areview here which I haven't done for any other piece of kit I own. BUY ONE NOW!!!!

Submitted by Donal O'Sullivan at 09/13/2001 09:21

Price Paid: 750 (£)

Ease of Use: 7
The patches sound great, especially the drums. Editing is tough through the LCD screen but navigation is not too difficult. The manual is certainly thick enough!
If selecting patches through a sequencer (such as Logic), it's a lot easier to use.

Features: 8
Polyphony (128 note) and multimbrality (32 part) are explorary, I'm sure I would never comes close to maxing out. The effects are buried in the menus unfortunately, but they do sound good. It has good expansion too (with ROM Cards) but they are a bit pricy.
The front panel knobs transmit MIDI so automating a performance in simple.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
I would say it is most based towards mainstream music, but thats not surprising considering who is it aimed at. It contains lots of presets (over 1000), and they all sound as good as they could get.

Reliability: 9
It certainly is reliable, in fact the only problem I have had it that one or twice it has gone from Multi mode to Poly mode all by itself but apart from that flawless!

Customer Support: N/A
Havent needed support, yet!

Overall Rating: 9
I would say that for the part of the market it is aimed towards, the Proteus 2000 cannot be beat. It is reasonably priced, well specified and capable of good expansion. Top buy!

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/30/2001 08:48

Price Paid: US $430

Ease of Use: 8
Once you get used to navigating the menu's, it's fairly easy. The new way of searching through sounds though is excellent.

Features: 10
Great features, still haven't come close to using half of them yet.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
The guitars, organs, and basses are superb. The string's, woodwinds, and brass leave a lot to be desired though. The "synth" type sounds and percussion are great as well.

Reliability: 1
I've had a Proteus FX for 4 years, I know someone who's had one for at least 7, and have never heard of it having any problems. I've had my Proteus 2000 for barely 2 years, and it's dead. The Flash memory erased itself, and the unit is dead. It needs a new Flash card, which will take who knows how long to get ordered, and god knows how much. This is an uacceptable problem to have in a unit being marketed to a professional industry. E-mu only offers a 1 year warranty too. I wouldn't trust any of the new line of E-mu products any further than I could throw them. E-mu doesn't make them like they used to.

Customer Support: 1
Their highly skilled staff his trained in the fine art of telling you where your closest authorized repair center is, and sending you there. The closest thing to help I got from the guy was "Yeah, that sound's pretty dead. You should take that to get looked at."

Overall Rating: 4
The sounds in it are either really good, or really bad. Unfortunately, it's about as reliable as a Yugo. 1 Protues 2000 for sale.

Submitted by Derek at 08/15/2001 22:31

Price Paid: US $279.00 ,199.00

Ease of Use: 5
AS this is a review of the P-2000 ROM expansion, the ease of use would probably best be called "Ease of Install". As such the installation of these ROM simms is no harder than installing RAM simms in an E4 sampler. If you've done that before, than this is about as easy. If not, it still is not very hard. If you can use a screw driver than you can do the hardest part, namely getting the cover off! You must be careful of the little plastic tabs that hold the simm in place. Orientation of the simm is shown in the little booklet that comes with each ROM. There is usually one already in place (or two in a Virtuoso), so you can orientate it the same way.

Features: 6
I am reviewing two ROMS here, namely the Sounds of the ZR, and Protozoa. The ZR has about as much diversity as the Protozoa, but twice as much memory (32 as opposed to 16 megs in the Protozoa). However, this diversity is weighted more towards rock and pop, whereas the Protozoa is comprised of almost the exact soundsets of the original Proteus 1, 2, and 3. The Protozoa sounds will be very familiar to you even if you never owned a Proteus, as they have been used in countless productions and filmscores over the years. The ZR sounds are a different case. They will probably be much less familiar, even if you owned Ensoniq equipment before. The main strength of these ROMS is for layering and for replacing lame samples in both the Proteus 2000 and Virtuoso 2000, the last one being the module that can benefit the most. I have wound up installing both in my V-2000, where they work very, very well to replace some of the lackluster wind and brass samples, and for layers to get much more convincing brass and woodwind ensembles. You will, of course, have to program these yourself.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
tz' Pipe organ presets from the old Proteus modules just aren't going to fool anybody nowadays, when you have little GM boxes that sound more convincing.
Electric and acoustic guitars? I think the ZR distortion guitars are pretty good, and for some reason sound more authentic than Rolands when placed in a track. The acoustic programs in both ROMs are really not up to the current standards, but are usable.
I should mention that in the case of the Protozoa ROM the orginal presets have been carefully approximated and that includes bypassing of all filters and not making full use of the chorusing parameters or the FX, but some have basic effects made to sound like the old Proteus FX module. The ZR ROM on the other hand makes use of everything the Proteus-2000 has to offer, but if your familiar with Ensoniqs effects, you'll notice that EMU still has a long way to go toward building quality effects (Why don't they try to incorporate the Ensoniq DP chips in there own modules?).

Reliability: 10
Well, if you install them properly and don't break off a little tab on the simm slot, you should'nt ever experience a problem. Don't waste your money having EMU sevice dept install these for you. If you are at ALL competent, you should be able to do this in less than an hour

Customer Support: 8
EMU has a support staff that is no better or worse than many, many other manufactures. E-mail will get you faster action. They have many nice, courteous people working there, but some loose their patience with what they think are dumb/obvious questions. So do many other companies!

Overall Rating: 7
I feel that I can rate these ROMs fairly highly. If you are looking to add stunning new sounds to your Proteus 2000 series module, than you will be greatly dissapointed. I bought mine specifically to augment and replace lame samples in my Virtuoso 2000. I really wish that EMU had not dropped the ball and fumbled with the orchestral samples in the V-2000, forcing me to spend alot more money just to get myself excited about using this module. I have been doing extensive programming with the V-2000 stock samples and the samples from these two ROMs and I feel I have now a fun module to use in serious orchestral mock-ups along side my E4k sampler and extensive sound library.
I feel also that anyone doing jazz or pop could benefit from the ZR ROM alone, especially if you are on a tight budget. The drum sounds are pretty punchy, but the ones in the Proteus 2000 are anyway. If you want to add pop and rock sounds to a V-2000 and augment the orchestral sounds, than the ZR would be the best choice, even though the oboe and flute arent' strong, and the english horn is absolutely DREADFUL!
The Protozoa is a logical choice for any of the modules, though I wish one didn't have to waste a simm slot on only 16 megs. Maybe they should have charged more and included the Vintage synth sounds or maybe the Proformance piano. I have worked with my old Proteus modules (I had all three)quite alot over the years and sold them all to buy the ROMs. I am definitely NOT sorry. The 2000 series can do much to bring these sounds up to date. EMU gives a small demonstration of this in the Protozoa ROM by providing a single bank which uses samples from all three Proteus modules, with the advanced sound editing possible in the 2000 series. This ROM is fairly inexpensive, and it shows off the groundbreaking nature of the Proteus modules when they were introduced about 12 years ago.
The ZR ROM is probably justified if not only for it's excellent piano which is better in some regards than Roland's Session piano. I think this ROM would go well with the B-3 module or even the World module.
Its interesting to note that EMU produced a complete Proteus 123 soundset years ago in the Ultraproteus module. I used to own one and I remember being hugely dissapointed when I heard what they had done to all those classic samples! I guess they needed the room to fit the Proformance Piano in, though only the loud layer was included. The most criminal thing they did then was to make short lifeless loops out of the woodwinds and some of the brass, much as what was apparently done with the new V-2000 soundset! I was able to tinker with the Ultraproteus and make some great sounds with it, but I was pleasantly suprised to hear the old familiar Proteus samples sounding again like they did way back when! To my ears, they left them untouched from their original state.
To conclude, I'll say that though Roland has far and away the most extensive collection of ROM boards available by ANY manufacturer, and many of them are excellent, EMU has made a decent start in supporting their new modules, which was not usually the case with them in the past. I hope they continue with this new direction, and I look forward to the Advanced orchestra and other ROMs due out soon

Submitted by Phil Chance at 03/05/2001 18:11

Price Paid: US $699.00

Ease of Use: 10
Upgraded to Ver. 1.11 which added 12th order filters and many more useful features. The presets sound great but the plus is expansion. I have installed the Techno ROM by Rob Papen and he has posted additional extension presets on his website to load into user bank 2 which is duplicated in the Composer ROM. Editing is a breeze with the front panel knobs and the manual is very useful. Additional updates are available at E-MU's website.

Features: 9
Expansion...expansion...expansion!! Operating System updates are posted frequently and the 3 extra slots for more ROM's are great. You can also download free sounds when available which is a nice feature.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
The only useless sounds that I have found have been in the sound effects bank. The scratches and noises don't really belong on a module of this quality.

Reliability: 10
Very dependable. I purchased it on E-MU's reputation.

Customer Support: 9
Customer support is great. Responses have been within a reasonable time frame.

Overall Rating: 10
I definately would buy it again if something were to happen. I have been playing for 11 years(self taught)and also own an E-MU Launchpad, XL-1, Korg 01/wfd, M1, Roland D-50 and Juno-1. The P2K was my first module and has just blown me away. It fits in well with my other gear and has made a nice addition to my home studio.

Submitted by Mark McQuay at 01/30/2001 05:39

Price Paid: US $799

Ease of Use: 9
THIS IS THE MOST SIMPLE SOUND MODULE OUT THERE! IF YOU ARE THE TYPE WHO DOES NOT WANT TO SACRIFICE CREATIVE TIME TO FIGURE OUT YOUR KEYBOARD THEN THIS IS THE ONE 4 YOU.
I still have the original software version installed. The reason I purchased this unit is because I needed something that was easy to use while programming (as not to waste creative time).
I hate keyboards that have a complicated interface. It also saves all your settings for recall later or on another P2k BEAT THAT!

Features: 9
THE MAIN REASON YOU WANT THIS KEYBOARD MODULE IS BECAUSE IT IS EXPANDABLE!
It has 4 slots for sound ROMs and I predict that in addition to the retail ROMs that are on the market there will some rouge sound programmers that will create and sell ROMs on the internet (Yes, You can create sound ROMs for this unit)
There is no sequencer but you must keep in mind it is a sound module (works great with the AKAI MPC series)
The OS is upgradable too!... new features can be downloaded from the internet.
Built in effects are okay but not impressive and hard to manage (if you have outboard gear then don't worry)

Expressiveness/Sounds: N/A
Out the box Piano sounds have about three winners. The rest are thin and uninteresting. The electric pianos are okay. Organs are a waste of time but the expansion ROMS promise better detail and "natural feel" ...luckily I didn't buy it for pianos!!!
The BASS SOUNDS are good and plenty, Drum kits have hard stiff kicks and 32 midi channels more than compensates for the ability to create custom kits. PRC banks are good (oh yeah everything is categorized)
THE GOOD PART IS THAT SOUNDS CAN BE TWEAKED TO GET WHAT YO WANT! -my proteus didn't come with a decent rhodes...but with a little playing around you can make something that will make you feel very good. A good synthesis can make this a powerful tool.

Reliability: 9
It always turns on...
although... this original OS has midi locks sometimes when using the repeat key function on my MPC 2k. Other that that just power cycle the unit (your settings will save in a multi program)

Customer Support: N/A
never had to call 'em

Overall Rating: 9
Definitely the budgey alternative to a lot of the leading sound modules out there. With two $300-400 expansions and a creative mind for effects and filters you can work smarter and not harder.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/20/2000 14:57

Price Paid: US $640.00

Ease of Use: 9
Man, I love this thing! Some say the presets are little dull. Well, I'll tell you a little secret. Those buttons and knobs will make just about any preset come to life. Editing was easy after I spent a few hours (3 or 4) acclimating myself to the architecture (my first E-mu purchase). It was worth it! Look, a few fellow musicians that I know had heard the Proteus in the music store. They hated it. After hearing the sounds coming out of mine they asked if they could use it to record with. These guys have everything from Tritons to Jupiters. And much more experience with synths than I have. A testament to its ease of use.

Features: 10
128 voices! Decent 24-bit effects! Expandable! 32 midi channels! For the price it's almost unbelievable.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
I find the drum kits, basses, synths and electric pianos to be the most musical of the instruments. However, with tweaking just about any of the presets can become useful. Initially I thought the unit sounded thin and sterile, but the editing capabilities fattened up the sounds I needed.

Reliability: 10
The Proteus is very, very reliable. I've done sessions where I needed to run the thing literally for days (27 hours continuous). Not even so much as a phantom midi gremlin.

Customer Support: N/A
I have not had to deal with customer support.

Overall Rating: 9
I'd definitely replace my Proteus. I've been playing (bass, keys) for 16 years. I have a Roland VS1680, Ensoniq ASR10, Dell 4100 (733) running LOgic Gold, Ibanez SR890 bass and RT350 guitar (a cheapie that sounds amazing) and lots of other stuff.

Submitted by Randy Savage at 12/19/2000 21:47

Price Paid: US $699

Ease of Use: 5
Using v1.10 of the OS. The P2000 is relatively easy to use, but the FX patch cord setup is a nightmare when using it in multi mode. I have yet to be able to get the FX processors to respond to any controller messages... this after considerable help from Emu support.

Features: 5
Great polyphony. Having 32 MIDI channels is a plus, and having SP/DIF output is a definite plus. Again, the FX are very difficult to configure in multi mode and rather inflexible. The doc on this subject is very cryptic and sometimes just flat out in error. There are extensive editing capabilities, but I really can't comment on that too much not having had a chance to get into it yet. I'm really hoping for SoundDiver support soon so I can do it all from the PC.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
The piano sounds are pretty lame. The orchestral sounds are a bit cheesy too, but there are a dozen or so that really shine in that area. The percussion is fairly weak overall. The bass sounds and the synth sounds are the strength of this module. I wouldn't want to be stuck with this as my only synth, but as a supplemental unit, it is really great.

Reliability: 3
My first unit died after 3 days. I took it back and immediately got a replacement that has been functioning perfectly for more than a year. But it has never been moved or even touched physically very much at all... it just sits in the rack.

Customer Support: 7
Emu has decent customer support. You can eventually even talk to a human being. It's not the best support department I've dealt with, but it's a long way from the worst.

Overall Rating: 2
I wouldn't buy this unit, or any other synthesizer ever again. Now that I have my DAW machine running GigaStudio, paying any money at all for any kind of dedicated hardware synth or digital recorder is a pure waste of money. If I had the $700 I spent on this thing, I'd buy the Quantum Leap Brass Giga Library.

Submitted by Timothy Martin at 04/17/2000 15:07

Price Paid: US $1000

Ease of Use: 10
OS 1.10.

Presets are ok, sound is quite warm and full. lot's of patches I don't need and some that I need are not there.

Editing is fine, that is if you have worked with other proteuses or proteuses like boxes. A patch editor makes always a difference, as there are gazillions of parameters, but you can always tweak the sound with the dedicated front knobs (and save the changes) or really quickly go in edit mode and modify stuff.

Manual is great as usual, a la EMU.

Features: 9
poliphony is big, 32 midi channels are nice to have (personally I don't use them all). SPDIF is another nice to have. Multisetups in a rack are not common, but they are there. Ability to sync everything to MIDI clock (including envelopes) is a great plus. And additional cards can be added (haven't done it yet).... some other stuff I might have forgot.
You cannot create your own drumkits

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
All the stuff is fine. some stuff shines.

Personally I think there's lot of junk in the basic ROM that comes with the unit, I don't need sounds of somebody going yeah yeah, aha aha, guitars going plink twank. Anyway some people do, when this is the only machine. The ROM that ships with the machine is mainly geared toward contemporary dance stuff (I think they took waves from vintage keys, Orbit, Planet Phatt mainly).

There's lot of single cycle waveforms from all around the synth world which is very nice.

Onboard effects are ok, personally I use outboard gear most of the time anyway.

Finally after a year some new ROMs are coming out to fill up the weak spots of the P2000, orchestral sounds and piano sounds.

Reliability: 10
it's well built,
My proteus 1XR needed one small repair this year after, 10 years of great work.....

I use it live with no back up. I don't really get this question... if the machine explodes I will use anything available to make noise until the end of the gig, shit happens.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
I own and I have owned lots of stuff...
if I need "that" sound I turn to the P2k (usually basses, pads, and some of the percussive stuff).
I don't expect any synth to sound like the real thing. ever. (I used to in the time of pure analog)-I just want my ears to be pleased.

Submitted by Riccardo at 03/21/2000 04:21

Price Paid: US $700.

Ease of Use: 8
v1.05
some excellent presets; some pretty bad. the piano's a disappointment; thin, edgy; great basses, great drums. mostly intuitive, fx setup took me a bit (using it solely multitimbral)

Features: 8
i already know i need the piano module; has anyone heard it? mostly, though, great features, easy to setup multi's...

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
the piano sucks; overall the sounds are good, sometimes a bit thin...
i bought this for a project where i needed "meat & potatoes" sounds, so i'm somewhat disappointed BUT: i mostly do hip-hop and can't wait to run with the drumkits, basses, fx..

Reliability: N/A
too soon to tell

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
overall, a winner; i'm tempted to do an all-proteus record using the digital out...
use it with a roland xp60, which, expanded, has a great piano, strings.
the proteus is thinner, but cleaner (by a mile), and great definition.
i bought it instead of a jv2080; i'm happy with that decision.

Submitted by Anonymous at 02/26/2000 16:54

Price Paid: US $750

Ease of Use: 8
I'm using version 1.05.
The presets are excellent in some regards questionable in others. the acoustic pianos are too thin, the electric are great. Organs are passable but there too many bass patches.

Features: 10
128 voice polyphony is terrific. Efeects are good but don't through out you outboard gear. Needs rotary speaker algor. Expansion is easy with four intrnal slots. No sequencer.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
As said before, the sounds are for the most part excellent.
It works well for all genres. Emu didn't spend a lot of money on effects but made up forit in other ways.
I use a master controller with 16 velocity curves so velocity is no problem.

Reliability: 10
It's very dependable, I am on the road with it and it is as reliable as any of my other synths.
I don't depend on any one box to do it all. I have a Voce V3, Kurzweil piano module, fully loaded JV 1080, and the Proteus.

Customer Support: 8
The company was somewhat helpful but doesn't have an 800 number.

Overall Rating: 10
I would definitely replace it.
I have been playing professionaly for over 30 years.
I love everything about it except it defaults to midi channel 1 on startup.
It really adds to my rig, theres nothing I can't duplicate in regards to sounds.

Submitted by Steve Campito at 01/25/2000 17:08

Price Paid: US $700+

Ease of Use: 8
Quite easy to use, considering the small display. I use K2500 (stuffed) and Trinity at my day job, so I consider that I can even stand the user interface on the p2k tribute to it's intelligent design and sensible ergonomics.

Features: 10
To quote Will Smith - "Damn!" Expansion, midi capabilities are fabulous. I haven't yet figured how to dial in per-midi-channel fx settings, but not a major problem for live performance.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
I found at least as many useable sounds "out of the box" as I did with both the Kurzweil K2500 and the Korg Trinity. Extremely playable, very decent fx. Missed a leslie fx first, than realized that the cross-fading thing worked just fine for gigs, saved me from locking up one of the two fx processors on leslie algorithm. Very impressed with brass, rhodes, woodwinds, strings (with a few noticeable loop points - gotta sell those expander sound sets!) fabulous bari saxes, rippin' b-3's! First gig was with trio - bass, drums, and me with QS-6 & Casio strap-on driving P2K. Playing everything from "Cream" by Prince to "Soul Man", and modern R&B/Funk/Rap. Unit made me look (and sound) damn good!

Reliability: 10
Could use this thing to pound nails, and it would still work. Backup? We don't need no steenking backup! (said with appropriate accent)

Customer Support: N/A
n/a

Overall Rating: 10
I'd re-purchase in a heartbeat. Been playing professionally for 28 years. Personally own Alesis QS-6, Casio Strap-on. At my day job, I use K2500 (completely stuffed) and Trinity. The P2K was a fabulous value, stands up (and would complement) my two flagship axes, and I think that the 4 knobs (3pages deep) that give you control to 12 parameters is very cool, would work very elegantly with K2500's sliders.

Submitted by Daryl at 01/01/2000 14:51

Price Paid: US $800 out the door

Ease of Use: 9
I didn't think that it would be this easy to use this module. I'm currently using version 1.003. But pretty much as soon as I got it out of the box I was producing. I just had to make a few adjustments in the Master/Main menu and I was on my way, wich by the way was explained very easily in the manual. The Multi-Mode is very easy to use. A friend of mine was already producing a track within' 15 mins. The only draw back that I can see with the use is that you can't cursor up and down. Only left to right.

Features: 9
Features are great! You have 4 real time controlers that you can use to tweak the sounds. So tweak away. You have 3 extra slots (4 all together) to expand more sounds. I can't wait to get more sounds. It's a bummer that there aren't a lot just yet. 128 voice polyphony? Well hey. . . i don't think you'll have to worry about voice drops. and you have 32 channels to produce with.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
The sounds I have to say are hmm. .. .very good. Depending on what you are looking for. For R&B/Hip-Hop or maybe even pop, the sounds are great. These are the sounds you are looking for. I know I was. I'd have to give this a 9. But as for strings, brass(most of them, but there are some really nice ones), basically live acoustic/orchestra type sounds, it isn't as good as I'd like it to be. So in this arena i'm left wanting more. But with the new expansion slots my opinion may change.

Reliability: N/A
I haven't had the machine more than a week. So i can't honestly tell you how reliable it is. I'll let ya know later on

Customer Support: 7
Never had to use it yet. Actually I called to ask a quick question once, and they picked up within 3 rings. That was cool. .No long wait. And when the guy picked up, he was cool.

Overall Rating: 9
If this was lost or stolen I would purchase another one. This is the best buy for it's price that I've seen. It's very easy to use, and the sounds are really good. Again for the live acoustic sounds, it could be better, but nothing sucked on the machine. I've compared this machine to the Roland JV 1080 & 2080 and I bought this because it was cheaper and the sounds are much newer. The Roland modules have been out for years, and there sounds are getting dated. Unless you program your own. But the strings especially are better on the Roland boards IMO. But the PROTEUS 2000 is definately a great buy. Go out and check it out for yourself. I think you'll like it.

Submitted by Ro at 12/30/1999 08:48

Price Paid: US $780

Ease of Use: 8
Once you get thew hang of it, the E-mu interface is intuitive and convenient. I use cubase, but prefer doing as much editing as possible from the box itself. A simple "edit" button allows you to tinker with the presets and the "Master" button allows make changes for the entire machine. Simple things like changing the velocity curves or setting the knobs to transmit are really easy to do and helpful when getting started ( I had to change the velocity curves right away so that I could get the keyboards to sound right. Also, the laytou of the presets is really helpful. This thing has a ton of sounds, so its really helpuf that its setup in a way that you can find what your looking for. I read the manual from cover to cover beofre using the synth (a had a long flight). It helps a ton, and has some good textbook style info on LFOs, etc. I ran into some trouble with the effects section. It didn;t make much sense to me at first. There is one master effects setting that land in a preset. If you want different wet/dry ratio then you have to direct them out of the other outputs ("subs") in the back (I hope you have some mixer channels free!). Though this works, it seems a little weak for such a powerful machine. My less powerful Korg X5D allows you to change ratio of effects on each channel and still go out the master output.

Features: 10
This is and extremely powerful machine for the money. You can do a ton with it. It funtions both as a sample base synth and a virtual analog synth. The effects sound ok but not awesome (also, see above). Four expansion slots should come in handy as starts making E-mu making more boards. 32 channels of MIDI is a really nice thing to have.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
The sound is quite good. All sounds are serviceable, but some are better than others. I was surprised to find that I like the the synth sounds better than the orchestral ones (compares to the original proteus). However, the Prtozoa expansion board takes care of that. The pads are really nice and the electric keyboards are really good. The pianos are surpsingly good. There are plenty of drums to choose from, though some of the samples dropped off a bit quick. The real time contorller knobs are great for techno/dance stuff (or even adding some science to guitar driven stuff). In all, there are enougn winning sounds to make this thing work quite well. Also, if you get in and start creating presets, the possibilities are endless.

Reliability: N/A
I have had no problems.

Customer Support: 9
I called them once for some help with the effects. For the most part they seemed pretty nice and had answers to my qestions (still, I have yet to find customer service as good as Mackie!)

Overall Rating: 9
I was choosing betweent he JV 1080 and the TR Rack. For less money I got a great souding powerful machine that can be used on many levels. I expect this machine to keep me busy for quite some time. I can't wait for more expansion boards.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/29/1999 12:17

Price Paid: US $799

Ease of Use: 8
I "bought" one from GC recently, it came with OS 1.05, which is the latest. The OS can be updated via internet by the user, which is becoming more standard these days (Access! Waldorf!!) and is a welcome trend. The presets are not the strength of this machine, but thanks to the front panel knobs you can access 12 parameters nearly instantly. I found editing the patches to be quite straight-forwar, considering the two-line interface, and was able to get around the machine fairly quickly without having to crack the manual. The first thing I usually check outon a synth is the piano patches, and I was quite dismayed with preset #1, which is supposedly the showcase piano for this synth. The upper octave fades into nothingness, and the lower octave sounds extremely looped and fake. more aboout this stuff in "sounds."

Features: 8
Polyphony is an astounding 128 voices. 32 MIDI channels, very nice! The effects are quite good for a box this inexpensive, and were readily tweakable. There was some noise introduced with the effects, maybe a little more than necessary, but I was able to tweak them out. The board will accept four expansion cards as they become available from EMU, and because you can use an EMU IV sampler to burn your own ROM, it gives you the astounding advantage of putting your own custom sounds (up to 32 megs!) into the machine. I love that! One major bummer- the first Piano ROM expansion from EMU and Q-Arts, the "Holy Grail" piano, is only a 16meg ROM chip. If you have the capabilities to place a 32 Meg piano into a synth, why not do it???????

Expressiveness/Sounds: 4
Piano sounds- HORRIBLE. Flat, lifeless, non-existant upper octave, looped lower octave, and the overall volume of the piano sample seems to be kinda low. Lots of obvious loop points and sample mapping splits. VERY DISSAPPOINTING. Also sub-optimal: the strings are thin and strangely out of tune. The brass is fairly good (no french horn?) and the winds are very good. Hammonds and electric pianos are surprisingly good. Basses are varied and extremely good (too many popped and slapped, though), and the drums are EXCELLENT! (Better than the EMU Procussion by a long stretch) Only minor flaw- no GM drumkits for you GM people. As far as not being able to construct kits, the obvious workaround is to use several of those 32 midi channels and construct your kit o'dreams that way. So what if you use 8 channels for drums, you still have 24 to work with! Also extremely good- many synth sounds, with a wide range of classic synth emulations, done very well. You can do nice portamento leads. The arpeggiated "bpm" presets are extremely fun!

But the overall sound of the Proteus, to my ears, is kind of thin and edgy. Maybe that's great for cutting thru a mix, but I would rather have all those frequencies and take them out with EQ at the mixing board than to have this vaguely cold, unsatisfying sound straight from the synth. I also am extremely bummed about the pianos, a huge step backward for EMU (I have a Korg SG-Rack to compare it to, it doesn't come anywhere near it- the Korg is much more bold, vibrant, has a singing sustain, etc. and they do this with about 15megs of memory dedicated to three piano samples!) My big fear here is that EMU put in a whole bunch of sounds ranging from bad to some excellent, but to get the really satisfying sounds you will have to spring for the expansion boards. I haven;t heard the "Holy grail" piano yet, but I wouldn't buy the Proteus without it. You'll probably want the orchestral ROM too, my understanding is that it will be 64 megs across two boards.

Reliability: N/A
I have a EMU Procussion which has given me 8 years of uninterrupted service, I would imagine the Proteus would have similar quality, but it is only conjecture on my part.

Customer Support: N/A
Never contacted EMU. There is a Proteus mailing list, and EMU maintains a presence on it. I think it's great when a synth company gives you access to their personnel, or when one of their people makes the effort to participate in mailing-lists regarding their products.

Overall Rating: 5
The Proteus is a fantastic idea for an incredible price, but for me the most important consideration is the sound, especially pianos (I do a lot of solo piano playing, and have years of acoustic playing to compare it to) and the Proteus just wasn't to my taste. It is definitely a great product with lots of expansion possibilities, but I urge you to really spend some time with it (preferably in your home/studio/practice area) and really listen to it to see if it fits your needs. I am looking for a unit with excellent piano, drum and "bread-and-butter" sounds that could be used as a foundation for my VA synths, and was really hoping the Proteus would work for me, but unfortunately I ended up returning it. I will probably go with a sampler so that I can have the sounds I am specifically looking for.

Submitted by MLC at 12/24/1999 08:10

Price Paid: US $799.00

Ease of Use: 8
I'm never been much of a techie, but I found this unit fairly easy to navagate.

Features: 10
The 128 polyphony was a very attractive feature.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Extremely realistic. Probably a little long in the bass voices and could use more linguring synth sounds. I hate when a string patch comes to a quick ending when the key is let up. Other then that, the sounds are great.

Reliability: 10
So bad experiences yet.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
I wanted a professional sound and the Proteus delivered. Has a bit of a hard edge but I didn't want the muddy Korg sound.

Submitted by Paul at 11/30/1999 13:23

Price Paid: US $799

Ease of Use: 10
For a small LED this is a breeze to use. I updated to version 1.04 by downloading the OS from EMU's site, it installed flawlessly. The presets on this are very good in my opinion, the drums are slightly better than my Alesis DM5, but are less editable.

The manual could not be any easier, as a matter of fact it is so easy that it is boring to me because I'm an advanced user. I will rate it according to ease though which is a 10.

Features: 10
128 voices of polyphony, no keyboard although there are many velocity maps that can be adjusted.

Yes there are some very nice effects, although they were slightly noisy in version 1.03 but when I upgraded to 1.04 the noise went away.
The effects sound very good and are comparable to my DP/4.

This synth is probabbly the most expandable synth to date (1999) 128 megs of rom total can be installed, the only comparable synth would be a Roland JX series board.

This unit has more MIDI capabilites than I can say in one sentence. The knobs transmit midi as well as the riffs. (this must be set up in master) Full sysex implementation.

There really isn't an onboard sequencer, but there are plenty of "Riffs" which allow a user to preview a sound without a keyboard. The riffs may be usable when recorded into an external sequencer. The riffs are a brease to use, I have to read the manual to see if I can load up my own riffs.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
The sounds are top notch, I compared the P2k to every other Rom based synth (and an e6400 sampler) and I came to the conclusion that EMU is the best. The Roland board had a lot of great sounds but the sound quality of the Roland just sounded muddy and washy to me. I cannont determine if there are any really bad sounds on the unit. Everything is more than satisfactory in my book.

This synth can fit every musical style out there. I listened to some demos on the web that were very bad so I wasn't expecting it to be good for the types of music that I make. I do industrial, trance, techno, ambient and sometimes noise. I was in conflict as to whether or not to get the Proteus 2000 or the Audity 2000 for a while, because the Audity's demos are killer. The only difference between the Proteus and the Audity are that the Audity has an arpegiator for every channel and it has 12th order filters. Also the Audity has a lot more techno/synth sounds and not too many pads and strings.

I got the Proteus because there are going to be plenty of ROMS to add to it in the future, the Audity looks a lot less promising in that department.

Yes, the Proteus is very responsive to velocity and aftertouch.

Reliability: 10
I bet if I dropped this out of a second story window it would survive.

I would feel very safe using the Proteus without a backup. I would definetly have a couple of keyboard controllers though, because that is what would break most likely, as an added bonus the Proteus has 2 midi inputs, so 2 controller keyboards would be ideal.

Customer Support: 10
I sent EMU an email before the holidays and they got right back to me. Right now it's the holiday season and I sent them an email and I have gotten no response, but that is to be expected for the holidays. They are probabbly on vacation. Overall I would give them a 10 because of their previous speedy email response.

I don't have anything to say about their phone response though, I've never called them.

Overall Rating: 10
I would replace this synth in a second if lost. It is definitely worth what I paid for it, every penny.

I have been using synths for almost 10 years now. I own an Ensoniq DP/4, Matrix-1000, Yamaha FS1r, Novation Bassstation, Roland Alpha Juno-1, Zoom 1204, Boss SE-50, Alesis DM5, a Roland Drum Pad, Alesis Quadraverb GT, Mackie LM-3204, Digidesign Audiomedia III, Sound Blaster Live!, Cubase Audio XT, and a Mark of the Unicorn Midi Express XT.

I have owned previously an Ensoniq EPS-16+, a Kurzweil K2000, an Emu Vintage Keys, a Moog Liberation, an Octave Cat, Syndrums, and a Korg Poly-800.

The Proteus is great because it contains so many sounds that it makes my head spin. I also dislike the fact that there are so many sounds to choose from because I can't make a decision on what sound to use, but that's a good thing. :-)

I compared this to an Emu Audity, a Roland XP-30, a Yamaha CS2x, and an Alesis Qsr/6.1. I took a long time deciding if I wanted the Audity or the Proteus and came to the conclusion that the Proteus is more expandable and has better sounds and more polyphony. Although it has less filters.

The Audity and Proteus have nearly the same architecture, they both have Patch Cords, the Proteus has more LFOs. They both have alot of midi sync options such as time based envelopes etc. The Audity has an arpegiator for each channel, the Proteus has something called Riffs but I think only one can play at a time. I have to check the manual for this info.

I'd like to see the Proteus 2000 be able to store samples via Smart Media cards like the Roland XP-30 and Yamaha CS6x uses. I would even be happy to buy a 32 meg internal flash rom for sample storage. I'm sure they could implement this in software.

This synth will keep me happy for a long time to come.

Submitted by pawL stevenZ at 11/26/1999 22:35

Price Paid: US $769

Ease of Use: 9
I love this box! I have it hooked up to a PC (emagic's logic audio) and a Kurzweil PC88 controller. Without using the sequencer it's a breeze to find nice presets. The first few pages of the manual gets you right into it. Tweaking sounds has never been easier. Using the computer sequencer you can access everything, the two midi ins are awesome for 32 parts playing at once.

Features: 9

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7

Reliability: 9

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8

Submitted by Mark Mazurek at 11/20/1999 19:10

Price Paid: US $900.00

Ease of Use: 7
Very easy to use. The manual is decent which is a hell of a step up
from must synth manuals. (i.e. Roland) While the LCD is small it still shows enough
data to make editing easy.

Features: 8
You can read about most of the technical aspects at emu.com. When I had mine no expansion cards were available. I think there 3 or 4 out now. Lots of voices (128)

Expressiveness/Sounds: 4
Here's where I had a problem with the Proteus 2000. When I checked it out at the store I really was impressed buy the presets.
When I got the thing home and really spent some time with it the sounds became less impressive. IMHO the sound is cold. The orchestral string samples are flat out awful. I did love the bass sounds and most of the drum kits. One thing about editing the drum kits. You can't take individual sounds and add them together to make up your own kits. This to me was a real disapointment. You can take groups of 4 differnet banks and add them together but not individual sounds. This all boils down to no custom drum kits. The onboard effects were quite good. The proteus 2000 has 8 knobs that control things like reverb depth, adsr, etc. It's nice to be able totweak a sound without having to scroll through numerous software pages. The Proteus 2000 is probably best suited for dance music. I don't think it emulates real sounds (i.e. strings, brass) very well.

Reliability: 9
I've owned Emu stuff before and have never had any problems.

Customer Support: 10
Their tech people are very kind and answered all of my questions promptly. I'm actually impressed with most music hardware support people. Try getting support on a Windows NT problem. Everybody just blame on either the software or the hardware depending on who your calling.

Overall Rating: 5
I ended up trading the Proteus 2000 for a Roland JV-1010 and an expansion card. I did lose money on the deal but such is life. The main reason I took the Proteus back was the sound. I know there's plenty of people who will say that this thing is under a grand and offers a ton of sounds etc. but it all boils down to personal taste. The Proteus was too cold and thin for my tastes. I currently own a Roland XP-80 with the Orchestral II and BAss and Drums expansion cards, a Roland JV-1010, and a Korg NS5R. I will be getting a sampler soon. Either an Emu ESI4000 or the Ensoniq ASRX Pro. The Proteus 2000 is really an amazing machine just not my cup o' tea.

Submitted by Darren Pasdernick at 10/09/1999 11:53

Price Paid: US $760.00

Ease of Use: 7
Software 1.02. The least impressive aspect of this module are the presets, more on that later. In terms of editing patches the P2k is almost as simple as it's older siblings. I say almost because there are many features in this box that weren't in a Proteus 1/2/3 et al. The manual is decent but doesn't have a very good flow. I like that it's ring bound, it's easier to keep it open and not have pages fly out.

Features: 8
128 notes of polyphony, 32mb of sample data with 3 expansion slots that can hold up to 32mb additional sample ROM. There are nice features in this unit like a software upgradable operating system, patch demos in context, easy user interface...in other words a Proteus that has modern technology. What's particularly nice and why I chose the P2k over a JV1080 is the leapfrog technology. Although the Proteus 2000 has a sample playback engine it also has several interesting features like 17 Z Plane filters that range from resonant emulations to 6 pole exotic configurations that completely change the timbre of any given sample. Korg users, think 01/W waveshaping with more control. The effects processing section is good and flexible. The addition of realtime controls on the module are a real bonus. Sure most of us will use controllers or sequencers to address the filter sweeps and other programmable controls but it's nice to have none the less. This box has two seperate midi in and outs for 32 channels of midi, a nice touch, also the digital out is a good feature that many studio folks will love. The outputs are clean without being too digital. In all features are the Proteus 2000's biggest selling point. One last thing...I had some negative feelings about the Proteus series. I thought this would be yet another souped up Proteus with the same old samples and limited prgramability. I'm pleased to be wrong.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Out of the box the presets range from uninspiring to excellent. There is no real stinker to be found. For my tastes there are far too many basses, organs and piano patches especially in ROM. The discussion on horns/brass has been somewhat negative but I like them. I also enjoy the orchestral and wind timbres. There are a lot of piano, bass and organ presets and again for my tastes too many in sample memory but not so bad as to be a negative. For the programmer there is a lot to work with in the standard feature set. I like creating pads with multiple zones so it is a real bonus that E-MU saw fit to make each patch capable of using 4 samples at a time, something their comptetitors have done for years. What is particularly good is how you can access the filter system with each sample enabling very expressive patches that can emulate both realistic or synthesized timbres, a real strong point. Price has something to do with any purchase and what you compare units to. In the case of the P2k the competitors were Roland's JV1080 the Korg Trinity and NS1/R modules, the Alesis QSR and E-MU's own Audity 2000. In a perfect world I would have bought the Audity as it is an awesome concept synth. The problem with it is eventual, and probably soon, oblivion. It's not general purpose enough for the meat and potato bunch, there is a point to this, hang on. The JV1080 is a good synth but I felt that from a feature standpoint the Proteus 2000 had more to offer including a useable piano. The Trinity rack is very good but not expandable and a few hundred more expensive. Forget about the NS1/R, if you like the sounds and don't mind the lack of resonant filters it might be useful but to me it's more of the same six year old technology. The QSR is interesting and the only module not more expensive in the comparison but it lacks the filter options. If the Audity wasn't headed down the road of the Morpheus or other cool keyboards like the Kawai K5000S I would have considered it. As it stands it's $250 more than the Proteus 2000 and in theory the sample data can be added to the P2k leaving only a onboard multitimbral arppegiator. Between that and the eventual blow out of these machines (every music dealer I spoke with said the Audity was a cool unit but they weren't selling and didn't intend to restock) I felt the Proteus 2000 was a better choice. It sounds great and although some have expressed not being interested in programming that is one of the synth's strong points. In situations where presets are crucial I'd agree this might not be the right module for those unwilling to program although I'm holding off on things until I see the expansion SIMMS. There are already a bunch of E4 users creating libraries to be burned. That makes the Proteus a worthy synth, getting a bunch of good samples out of the box is a plus.

Reliability: 8
I've used or worked with E-MU products for years. The only one to need repair was in a university computer music lab where it was used 16 hours a day by some people that whipped the patch knobs of a Proteus 2. Although that failed the synth was able to sequence pefectly. The Proteus 2000 seems well constructed. I expect it will be working well for years. I know several people still using Proteus 1's and 2's with no problems.

Customer Support: 7
So far decent but not great. When calling sales support about new sample ROM it was less than helpful. On a technical question I couldn't get through but the tech called back the same day and was very helpful.

Overall Rating: 9
If something happened I'd buy it again. Although I would check on other synths. The market is getting interesting. No matter what if someone asked me what to buy in the $1000 range I'd have no problem suggesting the P2k. I'm using a Kawai K5000S, a real sales dog but one of the most expressive synths I've ever used. I have been able to program timbres that are complimentary to the K5k and more importantly that stand up well against it's incredible output quality. Initally I didn't care all that much for the Proteus 2000 because of the glut of bass, piano and organ presets but after digging in a bit there is so much more in this synth. If only there were an option for a built in arpeggiator this would be one of the ultimate syths for me, who knows, maybe with an OS upgrade?... If you're looking for a synth that does a bit of everything listen to this synth. If you like creating your own patches check it out. Now E-MU, get in gear and set up a serious sechedule for ROM sample updates.

Submitted by Bruce Satinover at 05/28/1999 20:07

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 10
pre-sets shme-sets, this unit has over 1,000. Plus space for 500 user patches. On its measly 32 MEG ROM there are 900 samples of waves and instruments. HOW THE USER PROGRAMS THIS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. Three additional ROM slots allow UPGRADING. Editing patches-a breeze, piece-of-cake. Excellent user friendliness, realtime edit knobs.

Features: 10

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10

Customer Support: 10

Overall Rating: 10
As I mentioned in an earlier review, this unit can emulate ANY sythesizer, electronic or electric keyboard PERFECTLY! Just learn how to program! Presets are very comprehensive, from electric pianos of every make, to killer Hammond B-3 sounds. This unit practically DOES-IT-ALL! It is easier to list what it doesn't do (few words).

Submitted by Zone of Silence at 04/27/1999 16:39

Price Paid: US $799.

Ease of Use: 10
presets sound good, however Emu stuffed a lot of samples on the 32Meg rom card. I'm looking forward to the upcoming expansion rom (32 meg grand piano, orchestral-promised to be really great, proteus 1,2 &3, orbit, phatt planet, and third party rom cards). The programmability is the 2000's strong point. Easy to follow Moog style patchcord flow (and any modulation destination can be patched to any modulation source-the permutations are staggering) also patchcords are controllable 0-100%. Manual is easy to understand.

Features: 10
128 note polyphony--Talk about FAT, whew! Great effects-large variety of reverbs, auto pan, delay, flange, etc. Accepts 3 32meg rom expansion boards.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
Its packed stock 32 meg rom samples cover something for everybody yet weak in certain categories ( I would have liked to see more and better orchestral strings, much more ethnic percussion-I have yet to see any company with decent authentic ethnic drums etc. Has GREAT flute, sax, 12-string guitar, accoustic bass, good pianos, AND emulates almost every electric & electronic keyboard PERFECTLY!!!

Customer Support: 10
Friendly, helpful, even in handling a couple of my dumb questions.

Overall Rating: 10
I compared this with korg Trinity rack, Korg N series, Roland 2080, Yamaha newest rack, where I spent hours with each one. The proteus right out of the box blows away the competition in sound quality, ease of use, versatility, and programmability (500 user program slots). Reviews that Ive read here that put it down puzzle me. I started with Moog stuff 18years ago, and can program better sounds with my proteus.

Submitted by Zone of Silence at 04/22/1999 16:52

Price Paid: US $1200

Ease of Use: 2
It seems that others are blown away by the Proteus 2000 module, but I have tested the synth for a couple of days, and I am very disappointed. I think E-mu have done the same mistake as other manufacturers of multi purpose sample playback synths: They are trying to stuff the memory with as many sounds as possible, forgetting that it is not the size (RAM, voices or number of sounds) that counts, but how the instrument sounds! I have been using different synths for fifteen years, and I find the P2K boring, artificial and pale. Only a few sounds stands out, the rest have all been heard and played (better) on other synths.

Features: 8
Of course the features are great, just like having a big mouth but very little to say...

Expressiveness/Sounds: 4
The realistic sounds are not good, but some electronic (for hip hop and techno) are. The acoustic or electric pianos are expressive or rich, and the trumpets and horns are terrible. Some percussion sounds are ok, but what kills them are the effect unit which I think sounds harsh and cold. Most of the sounds on the module will only work (for me) when the reverb/chorus is turned off. A plus is the knobs which can alter the shape of the sounds, though.

Reliability: 9
My experience with E-mu products is that they are solid built.

Customer Support: 8
Good enough, I guess.

Overall Rating: 3
I would not buy this module, but instead spend my money on the Korg TR-Rack or Roland JV-1010. Or, if you are after real expressiveness in a synth, try the Access VIRUS or (if you can find one) an analgue Roland Jupiter 6 or 8, or an Oberheim Matrix 6, 12 or Expander - now, that's what I call synthesizers!

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/19/1999 11:49

Price Paid: US $749

Ease of Use: 10
The p 2000 is very easy to use right out of the box. The patch finder system is a great feature. Plus the real time controlers are a synch to switch. Plus the audition button really high lights the patches potential.

Features: 10
128 note poly, two effects processors, 32 part multitimbral, read the other reviews for more deatail on features. One thing no one has mentioned is the effects send output and return imput. It lets you route an individual sound to its own out jack then where you can use an external effects processor, and then sends the new signal back to the synth to be mixed via midi controller
One other really cool feature no one has mentioned so far, is Randomize it just randomly creates patches with completly random settings the coolest feature on the synth. It comes up with some great things but some lame ones too!

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Personlly after using a Roland JV-2080, I am just blown away. This unit makes Roland sounds look rather weak. Great for dance music, It also has really great FM synth sounds an Emu specialty

Reliability: N/A
No one gigs with out a back up.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't needed it to

Overall Rating: 10
Great module useful for anyone! If you are looking for something to base your studio around this is the thing!

Submitted by Mathew Halpern at 04/11/1999 19:51

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 10
128 voice, 24 patchcords per layer, 4 layers per voice, 17 morph filters, 3 6 step envelope generators, 900+ wave/instument samples, 32 meg expandable to 128. Out of the box this is a great sounding proteus, with so much programmability . I can't wait for emu to release the rom sound upgrades. this is THE synth I,ve been waiting for and dreaming about.

Submitted by zino at 04/05/1999 18:21

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: N/A
Seemed good to me.

Features: 9
This synth is huge. incredible ang for the buck, assuming you're ok with amatuer sound (see below).

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
I spent 45 minutes with this in a store, limiting myself to presets. I am a composer, not a synthesist, so I "buy" rather than create my sounds. This makes me a wanker in some ways, but I know tone reaonably well. I defer to the judgement of others about what you can do with this synth once you start to edit. HOWEVER, I had hoped that this synth might work alongside my Roland JV-1080, but no way. IMHO, every sound I heard was below the standard set by the JV. Even the SALESMEN, who knew I already had a JV said "fuhgetabowtit!". Therefore I would strongly urge buyers to consider this as a huge, versatile synth that sounds generally like a sound canvas, X5DR, or QSR, but with hipper patches. I have a QS6 as a controller and for backup. The quality of sounds of the 2000 seemed comparable. Great for the money, but uninspiring. All emulative sounds were lacking, to my ears. Big disappointment.

Overall Rating: N/A
GREAT amateur or semi-pro synth (at least as far as presets go). Not for emulations.

Submitted by Anonymous at 01/26/1999 08:40

Price Paid: SEK 10000

Ease of Use: 9
The module has a very nice interface, even though the display is quite small. Most presets sounds very good although a few are a bit extrem effectwise. The presets are easy to edit with the "Realtime-knobs" (thats a really nice idea). Most of the sounds work fine out of the box though.
I have had some problem to make it work with cakewalk, since i could not find an instrument definition file. The program/bank changes is not working as i want it to (I am workgin on that though).
And the other problem is that the stop button (all notes off) also resets the effects controllers (the sound becomes "muffled"'until l you reselect the patch). This is true with cubase aswell. I think there is a workaround for this, but I havn't had that problem before.

Features: 9
This box is feature packed. The module has 32MB on board samplememory (about 1000 presets) and can be expanded to 128MB. I use the SPDIF interface to connect the keyboard to my soundcard. Those were the two main reasons why I got it, but is has plenty of other nice features as well (such as dual midi interface). See the homepage (http://www.emu.com) for more info.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
I think most of sounds are great. There is plenty of cool pads, basses, rhodes, leads and effects. There a big slection of drums. Many presets are a bit unusual, which I think is great. Many sounds are suitable for RNB, Dance or any other modern sounding music. The sounds are very "up to date" and there is still plenty of room for expansion.
The pianos/strings/brasses etc is a bit lame, but I havn't tried any other better sounding module/synth in this price range though. They work, but I wouldn't buy it if I primarily was looking for accousic type of sounds (there may be upgrades with better sounds later though).

Reliability: 9
I would never go on stage without some kind of backup I think. But generally EMU products are reliable.

Customer Support: N/A
Havn't tried that yet, but I've heard they are great.

Overall Rating: 9
If I had to select just a few keyboards/modules to use this woul be one of them. digital out. I can have 128 MB of samples in one module with digital output! Then I would add a sampler to this setup (for pianos, strings, brass and drums).
I compared the proteus with the ROLAND JV2080, but the sounds were not as cool as in the proteus. And the JV did not have a digital out. I could not find any other module with the same price/performance ratio as this baby.

Submitted by Joakim Lundberg at 01/21/1999 03:10

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 10
Firmware version 1.02 No patch-editor software available--yet. E-MU is hard to beat in the ease-of-use department. Right out of the box, it's ready to blast 128 voices on 32 channels, multitimbral. As many drum kits as you please, on ANY channels (as opposed to some modules that allow ONE kit on channel 10 ONLY – what the heck is that?!) The new sound browser/librarian and audition button are GREAT and super-useful, like Roland JV2080, but IMO quite a bit nicer. It has 1024 stock presets, well suited to just about any (mostly western pop) genre, so you can usually find a sound that's good enough to stick right in your sequence and let fly. The front-panel interface is excellent—well thought out and logical. Could've had a larger display, but heck, ya can't have everything! The manual is decent--very "plain english" with lots of illustrations & diagrams.

Features: 10
Check out E-MU's website for the specs—they're very impressive, and no hollow boasting; this thing has twice as much of virtually everything as any other module out there! It is a true and sophisticated digital modular synth. It packs MIDI-syncable LFO's, resonant filters, 2 independent stereo FX processors, 4 assignable realtime controller knobs that transmit MIDI (killer feature!) and almost any parameter can be routed to control almost any other parameter. The potential boggles the mind! It has 3 internal expansion slots (32MB each) for a max. 128 meg of sound ROM. (no expansions available as of this writing, but I'm told they are coming literally any day now...) 3 sets of stereo output jacks and SPDIF also. Since it supports 32 channels, there are two sets of MIDI ports (2 in, 2 thru, 1 out). It uses a newer, faster 32 bit processor, so it handles dense sequences without time lag problems.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
I agree largely with the other reviewers. You get lots of everything (but very few ethnic sounds). Most of the sounds range from "very good" to "mind-blowingly beautiful", although E-MU's sound designers could have spent a little more time on the presets – they're good, but many could be improved with a little tweaking. The pianos are absolutely superb (both acoustic and electric), the basses are fat and powerful, the numerous Synth and Pad sounds are...mind-blowingly beautiful! Strings are rich and clean, and even the vocal-type sounds are surprisingly tasteful and usable. There are many, many drum kits, of all flavors, many of them are excellent. If you are familiar with Orbit / Planet Phatt, this module contains most of the best stuff from both of those. In fact, it's phatter than Phatt and more versatile than Orbit! Each sound can have 4 layers (compared to 2 for Orbit/Phatt) ...and there are only a few sounds that are downright awful: some of the horns suck, and it would be a challenge to use them at all - but then again, I find almost all synths' horns pretty dreadful. I could also do without those dumb "vinyl slip" noises and orchestra hits, but there are only a few.

Reliability: 10
I trust E-MU products – they're built like army tanks. I have gigged with E-MU gear without backups, never a hiccup.

Customer Support: 9
Never had a problem with 'em. They answer their phones. Gotta love that!

Overall Rating: 10
All this for $800? For all you get at this price, you'd have to be a serious jerk to criticize this synth very harshly. Maximum bang-for-the-buck. A perfect first module for the novice who's graduating from PC soundcards. If I had to choose only one module, this would be it, without question. It makes me want to write more music! I'm gonna trade in my Orbit toward expansion sounds for this synth!

Submitted by Andy Hutson at 01/21/1999 00:18

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 10
This is version 1.02 software (?). The presets are WICKED great right out of the box. You could EASILY, EASILY produce an entire hiphop CD with the presets alone. For pop music, they are OUTSTANDING. To my knowledge, no patch editor yet. Sounds are fairly easy to program. The manual reads like collateral. Very superficial. The interface is great except for the tiny display.

Features: 10
Polyphony is a whopping 128 voices, not to mention there are a & b MIDI ports giving you 32 MIDI channel capability. It's a BEAST. It has effects and they are --to my ear GREAT. Only thing is, one global effect per multi :( However, there are 17 filters in this bad dawg with 4 real time controller knobs on the panel. It kicks major A$$ in this dept. This baby can be expanded to 128 MB ram. Apparently E4 owners can make samples for it too.. along with those which EMU are coming out with.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
All instruments are realistic. There is no junk in this machine. I kid you not, the pianos are the best I have heard on a synth box, PERIOD. They ROCK. This box is geared for pop music, IMO. It contains a LOT (probably 75%) of the stuff in the Phatt and a lot of stuff from the Orbitt as well. Oh and then the basses... MY GAAAAWD. The basses are OFF THE HOOK. Attn: rap, dance, techno, etc producers: THE BASSES ARE OFF THE HOOK. UNBELIEVABLE fatness. Congrats to the EMU sound design team. WOW. The epianos are great, the strings are VERY cool, sweet pads, FANTASTIC hiphop kits, nice horns, etc etc etc. Love it.

Reliability: N/A
It's an EMU. Of course you can depend on it. Would never use it, or anything, without backup at a gig.

Customer Support: 10
EMU is great.. one of the best support-oriented companies in the game. LOVE 'EM!!!

Overall Rating: 10
I LOVE THIS BOX. It is the PERFECT comapnion to my Kurzweil K2000. To boot, it will only run you $800 new so you just can't go wrong for all the features and great sounds. Particularly for guys just getting started, this is the PERFECT All-in-one BOX FOR POP MUSIC.

Submitted by Bruhman at 01/12/1999 23:48

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: 10
Ease of use is outstanding. The enhanced sound browsing idea is late for EMU synths that have needed something like this for a long time. This GREATLY increases the usabililty of the synth, especially since it has about 1000 presets. What I really like is that it includes the MIDI bank switch numbers right on the little screen to help you with sequencing. This is a GREAT detail which shows that the EMU people are really thinking. However, a measely two-line display has always been aggravating to me, so I can't give this unit a "10" -- but it does deserve an "8" ON THE OTHER HAND, the "Audition" button goes MUCH FURTHER than any other audition button I've ever seen -- it actually plays a little sequence for each patch so you can hear the sound in a musical context this makes the Proteus a 10+ in my book!

Features: 10
Features galore -- just visit the EMU website to get the details -- 128 voices, 32 MB onboard ROM, expandable up to 128 MB!!!!!!!! SPDIF digital output, two MIDI ports, great resonant filters......for what? How much was this thing? For the year 1998 this is very impressive for this price.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
Sounds are very good, but lack the depth of the rest of the instrument. The patches really don't live up to the potential of the synth. There are many, many, many patches, but the sound design was not as deep as I had hoped. Fortunately this is a REAL synth with a HUGE amount of sample possibilities, so you I'm sure I'll get a lot out of it, espcecially by editing. The knobs really add to the expressiveness, and of course the upgradability of the synth more than compensates for EMU's lack of great sound-design. The bulk of the patches don't sound as good to my ears as, say, the Trinity Rack (TR-Rack), but the fact I can have 128 MB of samples and incredible polyphony, and edit this baby till I die is WELLLLLL worth the price. This synth makes a great complimentary synth -- but there's nothing shockingly "new" to add to your audio-world -- Just MORE, MORE, MORE, and for me I expect it will fill in when I run out of my favorite sounds from other synths. It beats the QSR, MU100R, N5, etc. any day of the week, but it lacks a bit of the warmth of some higher-end Roland and Korg gear. Overall, however, the value is incredible, and I'd still pick it over a Roland piece if I had to choose only one synth.
Note: Surprising number of synth patches, which it handles very well with the great filters.

Reliability: 10
EMU -- it should last forever. Still got that old Proteus 1 in your rack?

Customer Support: 10
Talked to them today to find out when the extra ROMs are coming out. Got through in 30 seconds. They put my name on a list and said they'd call me when some ROMs are out.

Overall Rating: 10
In an ideal rig for me, I'd want a variety of modern (and not-so modern) synths that cover a wide range of sounds. This would fit in very well. If I had to pick just a few synths, this one would also be in there. The simple fact that it is SOOOOOOO expandable --- INCREDIBLY expandable -- in fact you can make your own ROMs with the upcoming Emu UltraSamplers coming out -- this is a no-brainer. In theory you'll even be able to buy ROMs made by other people (anyone need a new business idea?) So if you don't like the great 32MB it comes with, the price is so affordable, just buy more patches. This synth is fabulous. Everyone will play catch-up now. It's missing the raw FX power that some Yamaha and Korg gear has, but it more than makes up for it in a dozen other ways.

Submitted by JDurham at 01/04/1999 16:16