E-mu Proteus 2500

Price Paid: US $485 ?/ new

Ease of Use: 10
software version 1.31 2001/ running with 2000xp home edition .
real sounding presets,very usable.no dissapointment's
editing the patches is almost as quick and easy as sneezing.the patch
editor is a sophisticated selector, indicating in plain english,the
status of the application. making note's of interesting setting's,
while running thru several original song's, can speed up the process,
of putting song's together, having the different sounds adjusted
to suit the need. but pre-editing them and saving them is easy,
once you've gotten your hands onto the knobs, and given them a few twists.the edditing section, is very flexible,yet logical,once a
person has become familiar with it.to put it into a phrase:
(you work with it) as for the manual,it has a wealth of information
that you will be able to reference over time, as your appreciation,
and depth of usage expands.it seems to be very complete, except for
people who are interested in making use of the USB port.it is hard
to find it in this book.the tiny dribble of information you are
rewarded with is hardly worth the trouble to look up,being that it
is one of the "features" mentioned in an advertisement.also, it is hard not to notice the absence of any instructions of accessing the
unit to install more memory.

Features: N/A
the polyphony can be modified and manipulated to suit the musician.
the stereo sounds are lush,and the pre- amp section seems to have a
nice headroom, and quiet operation in and of itself.the built in effects are good enough to stand on their own in a realistic and
very usefull way.
there are probably enough good sound's that came with the unit, that
it may be one heck of a long time before I shell out the money for
another snap in memory strip.there is a whole shipload of midi option's, probably it's more likely that there have been none left
out.as I've accessed (Ithink) nearly every option on it, just to
find out what a person could do with it.I have my proteus slaved to
my Esq-1 . the signals from the proteus run my software program
and I can send the files via midi , to and from any piece of gear.
it can record the aftertouch and virtualy everything I do reliably.
it can be programmed to use another sequencer or midi device as a
so called "SLAVE" the drums are quite good as is the brass.you can
select sounds (such as percussion) and program them to be triggered by an external instrument.say like a trigger from a drum kit,or from
an electronic keyboard with midi capability's .

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
as far as I can tell,all of the instruments that should sound real,do.when I hear a comment about a sound not being very good,
I try to reserve my thought's untill I know first hand.it is true
that certain instruments must be played a certain way, in order to convey their individual differences.with this having been said,the
person making the comment should know full well,the instrument in
question,and at least have a working knowledge of their property's.
the instruments in and of themselfs can be said to be startlingly
realistic.for the most part, it does'nt present much of a problem,
but you must bear in mind,that if you try to play a trumpet sound
like you would a piano,then the sound you are making, will definatly
be lacking in the authenticity department. having spent hundered's
of hours learning what this thing can do, here's an honest example
of what I would say to be true about the sounds in this gear, in
general.(and I've heard plenty of keyboards) ..............

......when playing the hammond B3,I've had to pull the headphones
off of my head,and listen to the dead speakers in the room,because
my brain was telling me that the floor under my chair was shaking
when I start hitting the low notes. of course the speakers were dead
because the amplifier was off. but the sound was so incredible,I
actually doubted my own better judgement. there are many other sounds
that are equally impressive,or breathtaking.but the one thing I can
really appreciate as a musician, is that the sounds are real sounds.

the effects are very well engineered, and thoughtfully provided.
while you are playing, the effects track as well as you want them to.
if some affect does'nt track too well, it would be time to adjust
the effect to better match the style of playing. with this gear, it
is very easy to accomplish.0f course it comes with familiarity.when
playing something that has plenty of stucatto,and then something very soft and then very loud and boistrouse, the program responds
in a natural and predictable way, as it should. of course I find it
easy to go from playing my Esq-1 straight over to the steinway,and
whipping out some funky jazz typ song. however, just recently, I
was showing a few guys some keyboard composistion's and began to
play this one guy's brand new korg.the darned thing kept pushing my
fingers back up ! ! ! even the steinway does'nt do that ! ! !
so there definately are a few things to bear in mind. if you are
connecting this thing up to some kind of a keyboard to use as a triggering device, then make darned sure that you can make the thing
play the sounds in a realistic way,otherwise an advanced civilization
won't even be able to help you. as for static,it does have some wierd
sounds on it that some people might classify as "static"
but seriously folks, you can beat on kettle drums and taper them off
into a bloody civilwar sunset, and follow that up with a subtle and
quiet interlude of solitary trumpet playing. bringing more and more velocity untill you hit a platou or threshold of good old fashioned
rocknroll. the whole time,sounding exceptional.

Reliability: 10
it would be prudent to have two of them in case one got damaged, but so far, in the two years I've owned it, I would use it in a gig, and
have already decided that it will go with me on the stage regardless,
from the reliable service it has given so far, I'm ready to do that

Customer Support: 2
very courteouse,not really supportive,seemingly concerned.
they think I installed the Eloader without first reading the instructions, because the usb is'nt working,and never has.they
suggest that I did something wrong. well first of all, I read
the owners manual from front to back, before I ever tried to
do anything with it. I've tried over and over to get to thbottom of
the problem, and it has costed me a lot of time and frustration.
but I can't help it, I want the usb port to function.I went out and bought the cable for it right off the bat.Im still hoping that some day , I will become victoriouse with this usb issue. they claim that thousands of people have installed the usb cables successfully. I say,well perhaps this is so, but how would they have any way of knowing. after all,I never got a friendly Email from them telling me that they knoticed that while scanning my computer files, they found
that there were a few dozen failed attempts at installing the program
for the usb function. seems awfully strange that they seem to have just dropped the 2500 like a hot potato. reminds me of the Edsel.

Overall Rating: 10
if it were lost or stolen,I might never get another one, as I just
happened to get some extra money from extra work I'd done,and the bills were all paid up, and also, musicians friend had a terrific sale on this piece of gear.making it just within my grasp.been playing since about 11 1/2 years old.other gear I own is two 4 channel-Teac 3340s's a Teac 7030 GSL half track mastering deck,
a Teac test tone oscillator to-122A digital processing gear a behringer model T1953 tube ultragain mike pre-amp set of peavey fh-1
low frequencey enclosures-pair of 1522hc drivers(peavey) a cs-800
power amp (peavey) behrenger 1124-p feedback destroyer pro. -1-ESQ-1
sequencer keyboard. brand new computer with 200xp home edition.
audigy platinum 5.1 /tascam cdrw700. furman headphone distribution amp./rockman xp 100/w midipedal./yamaha accoustic guitar./bruno ventura electric 12 string./ electra univox violin electric bass./
peavey tnt-150 Bass amp./epiphone less paul 6 string electric for lead& rythem. two teac A-4010s's for "automated" midi gear in the studio.(midi data storage)akai xE8 drum expander/ midi streamer/
bbe sonic maximzer/alesis midiverb 2/ 360 systems midi patcher/
alesis midiverb 3/fostex line mixer model 2016/alesis 3630 compressor limiter with gate/proteus2500/soney recording amplifiersra-3/yamaha natural sound cassette deck kx - 500 u /
pioneer ct- f 800 cassette deck/optonica rt-6006 cassette deck./it does help quite a bit.I did'nt want to go out and get the next
popular keyboard of the year. I wanted to get something that would integrate nicely into my existing gear,where I would get some new
powerfull sounds, and perhaps also be inspired by those new sounds.
and inspired I am ! I wish it had a blue or turquoise display like my ensoniq keyboard. the green is so depressing to me.it would sure look a whole lot better. if I could get it changed I probably would save up the money just to change the ugly green to a blue one.also, I'd get a factory technician in here to help me get this blasted usb
thing figured out.I'd have the headphone jack on its own volume control, seperate from the line out volume.the tinny metal front wood be upgraded to a 1/8th inch thick aluminum front with the same graffic's& same colours too.

Submitted by Tom Lockwood at 12/14/2003 04:10

Price Paid: US $1200

Ease of Use: 9
I'm running 1.18. I have the turbo version which comes with World and Phatt, I sent the Orchestra card back for a refund, not becaue of quality, but because I already had plenty of coverage there. The presets are just OK, but not inspiring. However, I previewed the unit by toggling through the samples. They ARE spectacular. Multisamples, great range, nice and full timbre, very realistic. Editing is intuitive, and I use the front panel, not software on a computer. The manual is not for the faint of heart, but it is helpful.

Features: 10
Polyphony is a dream- 128. Effects are scanty, but very solid sounding. Expansion is totally covered with room for 4 cards, including the native sound set (I think its called composer). Essentially, you can pull the entire sound set out and install any sounds you want with the cards you burn on their sampler series. Midi is well implemented. I haven't tried to use the sequencer, but what a plus to have one! For crying out loud! 128 voices and a sequencer for under a grand!

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
The piano is my favorite. I have the prosonus samples, I have the Roland JV pianos, I have the old PROFORMANCE module, I have a bunch of sampled pianos with my Roland S750. I have some good pianos, even a cool piano on my Ensoniq TS10. And this one is the best. The prosonus vibrates out more realistically, but with nowhere near the bite. The Roland JV pianos have the bite, but immediatelyl resolve into a sine wave. This piano is balanced up and down the board and works great in a mix, as do all the samples. The presets don't show off the samples, you must dig into it and out will pop some very realistic stuff. It works for every conceivable music form except bluegrass. The polyphony lets it really speak and sing. Well, not actually do either, but musically, you know what I mean. The basic sound card is LOADED with great sounds, the World board is the best available to date for eclectic trans-cultural sounds, and the Phatt card is just that, phatt, and a lot of it. Basses are covered (that's a joke, but its also true), organs are very nice, including an extremely nice sampled leslie controled by the mod wheel, electric pianos and wurlies are very gritty and true. Drums are plentiful and well sampled, but are pre-mapped only, so to get a set you like up and down the board, you have to map out zones and use different multisampled kits. But the sound architecture lets you do it, using a feature called "links" which lets you zone in any 3 patches on the unit, which is very cool. The world has a quirky bagpipe (called something else) which has tons of character. Again, presets don't tell you the story here, you must work to get your own patches, but the unit will definitely reward you, unless your great love is synth sounds. This is not a Wavestation. My favorite synth was the old Ensoniq 8 voice ESQ1. Not that you care.My

Reliability: N/A
Don't know yet. My Proteus 2 still sounds great and works like a champion- I suppose this will too.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
I love this unit. I like Rolands sounds, but they are idiosycratic. I like the Ensoniq sounds, but they are limited. I did an entire track with just this unit, and it sounded like real music to me, without anyones trademark sound. EQ is not needed to bring anything up to modernity. I've been playing since I was 6 and I'll be 50 soon. My favorite piece of gear is my old Roland sampler, and then comes my TS10, but this is right there with number three, my Super JV, and maybe is edging the JV out. I liked the Motif sounds very much, but got this unit because of the samples and the polyphony and more straightforward interface.

Submitted by Alan Robertson at 06/25/2003 18:13

Price Paid: US $700.00

Ease of Use: 7
The unit is very basic. This unit reminds me of the soundfont tones found on the soundblaster live soundcard. The volume and the velocity rate needs to be full. Not a good module for live playing.Studio Ok.

Features: 5
Polyphony is great. It does not recieve aftertouch messages. The effects are not easy to use. The onboard sequencer is good enough. Clearly not a module for Caribbean based music.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 4
the samples on this instrument are mediocre. They lack substance. The Pianos and Brass are not good.lots of drum presets with slight variations however they can't be edited individually.

Reliability: 5
Dependable in a studio. Not good for gigging unless sequences are primarily used. Screen and availability for speedy changes are not possible.

Customer Support: 5
never called for support.

Overall Rating: 4
If it got stolen It would have to be a favour to me. I have been playing for 20 years. I own the xp50/80/ technics wsa1. Dx7 original, Trinity, o1w.

Submitted by Windrie Cox at 06/10/2003 13:14

Price Paid: US $700

Ease of Use: 10
This rack synth is a beauty.Simple to use and straightforward. I am using version 1.31 i paid 700 bucks for it and think is worth that and more.

Features: 10
the polyphony is massive. i never run out of voices and you can layer 32 arpeggiators at once. the fx are very smooth and detailed the ability to install a total of 4 expansion roms is awesome but a little pricey i think is 300 bucks for each board.it also has 6 outputs in the back so u can use ext fx. 16 on board controllers and track selection buttons make it all come together.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
I got the x lead expansion board that spews out all sorts of analog noises and rythms and are perfect for industrial which is what i make plus you can program your own sounds in no time just by looking at it. 24 bit dac proccessing! help me say sweeeet!

Reliability: 10
mine works like a wonder. hope it stays that way.

Customer Support: 10
i called the with questions on the tempo delay feature and they were friendly fast and knowledgeable and helped me through.

Overall Rating: 10
If it breaks or gets stolen i`d run to the shop and buy it again. its the type of gear that u must have and keep.

Submitted by REINHARDT at 11/16/2002 14:01

Price Paid: US $700

Ease of Use: 6
Software Version 1.31
I found about a dozen patches that really stood out to me, the rest were somewhat medicore.
Seems fairly easy to edit patches, however I didn't have much of a change to get into it . My PCI -based sound card (Audiophile 2496) doesn't work with Mac's FreeMIDI preset patchlists for the Proteus 2500, so I was planning on using an external USB Midi interface)
Manual seems real good, but it seemed to me alot of things didn't mesh, making reading it discouraging.

Features: 9
128 polyphony is great.
Didn't get into the effects.
Expandle modules are a bit pricy.
Has all the Midi capabilities I'd ever need.
Has on onboard sequencer, but I didn't use it.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
Most stock presets aren't too impressive, but they're all fully editable giving you endless possibilities.
Probably best for modern hiphop, rap, trance, dance, soundtrack work.

Reliability: 2
Here's where I had my problems: The first unit I got was defective, I sent it back for another one which lasted two weeks (one day up and running with an external sequencer) before it died on me. I'm giving up on these so I don't stike out!

Customer Support: 10
Helpful in telling me what I already knew, that there was no hope!

Overall Rating: 5
I think it's worth the $700 provided it's going to work.
Seems like a great buy due to it's flexibility and options, but it's probably more useful to someone planning on using the on-board sequencer.
Big pluses are the ability to create original patches, 128 polyphony, and individual knobs for each parameter.
It would be nice if it had a USB port .
I wish I had more time to get into this unit but the two I used had other ideas.

Submitted by Anonymous at 11/15/2002 15:29

Price Paid: US $575

Ease of Use: 10
I think this depends on if you are using the sequencer, since I use Logic it makes things a lot easier. Editing patches is straight forward but the screen is quite small consdering the 4 rack size. The manual is good enough so far.

Features: 9
I think that for a module/sequencer this has a complete feature set. Granted it is not as complete as Triton,Motif, Fantom but goes well with any of them.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
I think most of the sounds on this are very good and if you can't find what you want just get a rom. Good drums and like i said roms have many more.

Reliability: N/A
Dependble but it's in a rack.

Customer Support: 7
i think their website sucks. Havent called them ever.

Overall Rating: 10
I got it at guitar center and it was open so it was so cheap, if it was stolen I would cry but sinc i don't use the sequencer I would probably try to find one used. This is a great pallate of sounds provided you have another synth to help out on the sounds that suck. I personally think it's piano is better than the motif's. For the money this is a badass uit, plus it looks so cool.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/05/2002 15:39

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 8
I'm using software version 1.31. Presets to my ears sound very good. Very good B3 sounds and strings. The only real "bad" presets are the choir pads. Editing is pretty simple considering the small display. I was able to tweak existing presets and create my own sounds without looking at the manual. The manual is very thick and covers everything well with one exception: I can't seem to find how to delete a pattern from the sequencer. I've found a workaround by deleting each individual track in the pattern, but there must be an easier way...

Features: 10
This is where the P2500 shines. It's a 4 space rack unit so there's a lot of real estate to play with. The 16 knobs give you plenty of real-time control over the sounds. The 16-track sequencer is great and very easy to use. 128-note polyphony is also great. Effects are adequate. It has slots for 3 expansion ROMs. SuperBeats mode is cool, but geared towards hip-hop/R&B type music - not what I play.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
As I said the only really poor sounds on the P2500 are the choir pad sounds. Pianos are adequate in a mix - probably not too good for solo use. Strings are very warm and lush. Basses are excellent and lots to choose from. Organs are geared to the B3 side of things - there are no pipe organ presets. This is a very good "bread-n-butter" synth and fits many genres of music.

Reliability: 10
So far in the 3 months I've had it, this unit has been 100% reliable. I would and do gig with it.

Customer Support: 10
The P2500 I bought came with the wrong factory CD-ROM. I called them up and they immediately sent out the correct one - no charge.

Overall Rating: 9
This has been a great addition to my rig. You won't find anything with this amount of features for the money. The only thing that might be nice is an on-board floppy drive. It's not always handy to have the P2500 connected to my PC to transfer sounds and MIDI files. I would definitely purchase this again.

Submitted by Joel at 09/26/2002 09:07