E-mu Vintage Keys Plus

Price Paid: US $1100

Ease of Use: 9
Editing is easy and fast considering you use only three or four bottoms.

Features: 9
Polyphony (32, 16 with chorus) is good. It's easy and flexible to link sounds. The possibilities of virtual patching are great, it's close to OB Matrix.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
Mellotrons are great. Some pads and strings from Oberheim and Memorymoog too. The Moog 55 Rez sound is a killer.
I have to differ with people who loves the Hammond...
Yes, some patches sound very good. But Emu didn't used enough memory so the sample changes each 7 keys... and the timbral characteristics of the sound are very very different. Not seriously usable. After years of frustation I changed to a VA organ.
Pianos are not good enough in this times. Have you listen to the Nord Electro?
MiniMoog is very very thin sounding.
I bought VINTAGE KEYS. What about all these guitars, drums, saxes, trumpets and basses?. Emu, you should have use all this memory to store each note of the B-3.

Reliability: 10
No problem at all.

Customer Support: 8
They answer me by mail when I had a question.

Overall Rating: 10
It's my mellotron. Also I use it for some Oberheim and MemoryMoog strings and pads. I would seach for a used unit if stolen only for the Mellotron sounds.

Submitted by Oscar at 12/19/2002 05:31

Price Paid: 2300 (DM)

Ease of Use: 8
very easy to use
The presetsounds are great, there are 512 of them.
Editing patches is quite simple but you have to push buttons very often. A patch editor should make a difference.
The manual is ok

Features: 7
The polyphoy is 32, and itīs quick I donīt have many problems with it. It has no Effects which is really sad. Also there are no Expansion capabilities.
The Midifunctions are very good. You can switch every channel on or off, switch the programm changes on and of per channel and many more!
It has noc sequencer

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
Realistic are the mellotronsounds. Not only violins but also flutes and especially choirs. They really sound like "Selling England by the pound" from Genesis. The E-Pianos (Wurlitzer, several Rhodes, DX) are very good. The Vox organ just sounds like "Light my fire". The synthesizersounds sound too digital in my opinion. Some presets are good (Soft Synth IS the introduction of Shine on your crazy diamond". But theres noway to get an real Oberheim sound or something like that. The Prophet 5 sounds like plastic. The B3 Organs are good, ítīs better to have these lesliesamples than having absolutely no leslie.
Itīs made to get these beautiful sounds out that you need for progressive and psychedelic Rock from the late 60s and early 70s. If you want to play genesis, Pink Floyd, Doors, Yes and so on, youīll have the right synth with that.
Itīs absolutely non-static, because the modulation-capablities are almost like the Matrix 6. You can edit in many ways, have your own Envelopes, Modulators and so on, you can even edit samplestartpoints.
It receives monophonic pressure and velocity, you can adress several controllers.

Reliability: 10
Absolutely reliable!
Yes I would gig without a backup

Customer Support: N/A
I didnīt need any customer support

Overall Rating: 10
If it was stolen? good question. It gives me a lot of sounds I often need. But many of them could be better. I have analoge synthesizers today. Many new synthesizer have Vintagecards. But most of them have not these fabolous Mellotron and Wurlitzersounds (really like supertramp). I donīt know, I would compare some other models. But I like it a lot.
I play for 15 Years now, I own an Yamaha SY-22, Oberheim Matrix 6$, Roland JX8P, Alesis SR-16, Kurzweil MicroPiano and some others.
I love that it has the Sounds that I love for the Music I love. Itīs great for a gig especially with several outputs and disabling midichannels. Itīs sad that it hasnīt any effects and the filters are too soft. The Filters from Morpheus would fit very good. Iīd prefer also a Performance mode.
At that time there wasnīt anything to compare. It was the first revival synth. Later, the roland stuff came out, but either in a uneditable rackmodul or in cards for expensive Synths.
Yes it helps me making music for it always have good sounds for keyboarders espeacially live.

If anyone got sounds for it, I'd love to hear from.

Submitted by Torben at 03/17/2002 12:18

Price Paid: US $276

Ease of Use: 8
Presets are pretty good, and not much tweaking is needed. It is pretty straight forward.

Features: 10
Not many features, just 500+ sampled patches which is what I needed.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
I love the sounds on this thing. My favorites are (in order) the Hammond B3 thru a Leslie, the Wurlitzer electric piano, the various Rhodes electric pianos, and all the old synth sounds such as the Moogs, the ARPs, etc. The acoustic piano is OK and could be better, but I did not need this unit for that.

Reliability: 9
It seems to be simple and trouble-free.

Customer Support: N/A
Never needed to call the company.

Overall Rating: 10
I think I practically stole mine. I don't think I would appreciate the regular Vintage Keys model as opposed to the VK+ model that I bought. The Classic Keys by Emu is probably about the same. I would definitely replace this unit. It's a keeper!

Submitted by Robert Dye at 02/21/2002 15:16

Price Paid: US $550

Ease of Use: 7
The presets sound great. They only need a tiny bit of tweaking. I've recorded 3 CDs and gigged for years with these presets. There's 512 presets, so you should be able to find something usable in there. I love the Melotron patches, the combo organ sounds (Vox and Farfisa), and the weird effects.

Editing patches is time consuming and slow. There's a little lcd and there's a lot of button pushes. The matrix modualtion is very deep.

The manual is fine. Very clear about every feature, with tutorials.

Features: 9
16 notes polyphony-I don't use a sequencer so I don't need any more.

No built in effects. I never use effects so this isn't a problem. Some of the sounds have reverb on them.

No expansion capabilities because this is the expanded version.

This is a module. It accepts after touch velocity etc. Only accepts 4 CC controllers at a time.

No onboard sequencer.

Very deep, very expressive matrix modulation. Powerful synthesizer.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
The presets sound great. I use the Vox organ for everything. The clavinet is great. The piano sounds a little weird soloed, but sounds great live and recorded. I play in a garage band and the Vintage Keys is perfect. For any type of old rock and roll this is the synth. In fact, this is the only box you need to play just about anything. Yes I am raving, but this box is good. Only 14 bit samples. This might bother some people. A lot of the organ samples have Leslie on them, which makes them useless, because the Leslie changes speed from note to note. This is not just a sample playback module. This box is capable of serious sound manipulation. I came up with a flute synthesizer hybrid quickly using the tutorial then tweaking the sound a little. I love it and use it constantly. The drum sounds are okay-the 909 sounds are really cool and with layering you can lay out a very gonzo drum kit. You can individually tune every note is you are nuts enough. Many different types of tuning including Gamelon tuning and 19 note octaves. What you do with them, I have no idea, but if you want them, they're there.

Reliability: 9
I've taken this box out for years w/ no problems ever. Never take a back up. Can't afford a back up.

Customer Support: N/A
Never used.

Overall Rating: N/A
This is a versatile, good sounding box. If you've already got a keyboard, this all you need. If this were lost or stolen, I would cry because I don't have any backup for the millions of sounds I've made. I would definitely replace it.

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/27/2001 06:15

Price Paid: US $500

Ease of Use: 9
If you re a preset guy, it's great.You can see useful parameters on the small LCD.But if you want to programme your own it takes time but nothing complex.

Features: 7
32 poly is good for 90's but not for today.But you can solve that by shifting with your sequencer.No FX...crap.Some samples recorded with reverb.And 2 filters which sound ok. I expected more compared with my Morpheus.6 outputs which you can't find in other manifacturers newer synths and outputs are clean and powerful.Also you can programme your own scales.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
Tons of waveforms.Most of the pad/lead sounds need editing.The sounds are sharp in solo but great in a session.Great organs,strings,choir and a small drum bank but powerful.Also excellent flute.

Reliability: 10
Mine is 9 years old without any problem

Customer Support: N/A
I did not need

Overall Rating: 8
If it was stolen, I would buy a new model like XL-1.I also have Morpheus,Drumstation,JV-80,Pulse and vintage keys is my main module for my music.You can really get old school sound with it.Keeping it for its flute and organs.Not a great synth but still powerful

Submitted by Aykut Sahlanan at 08/11/2001 08:33

Price Paid: 250 (Ģ) used

Ease of Use: 9
My second hand vintage keys plus is my first sound module, and I find it very easy to use. Admittedly, I don't do a lot of editing because the presets are what I bought it for, but when I did experiment with creating my own sounds the manual was invaluable, if a little technically minded.

Features: 7
The polyphony depends on the sound you're using, so some of the bigger Moog samples with filters and reverb cut into the 32 note maximum. It doesn't have space for extra cards or more memory, but for Ģ250, it has quite enough on board as far as I can see.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
I've enjoyed using the presets, most of which sound very authentic. Some of acoustic pianos are a bit weak, but I guess that's because they're supposed to sound like vintage synth versions of acoustic pianos. The hammonds, the rhodes and the mellotron sounds are superb. A shame that some of the analogue synth sounds aren't more tweakable, but then I'm sure I've heard many of these presets as they come on records by Primal Scream and the Dust Brothers. Not many effects either, but the fact that individual sounds can be routed to their own inputs means that there's plenty of room for applying effects later. Some of the sounds react brilliantly to changes in velocity, meaning that some very expressive lead lines can be squeezed out of the box.

Reliability: N/A
I've only had it for a few weeks, but it seems fairly sturdy to my inexpert eye.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
I'd certainly buy a vintage keys again, as it seems to meet all my requirements and hasn't disappointed me yet. I love the way that, whenever I turn it on and spin to one of the presets, something about the sound inspires a tune. Onboard effects would be a bonus, but as a source of purely usable samples that sound as if they've been lifted from the grooves of an old vinyl lp, it could not suit me more.

Submitted by Ray at 03/26/2001 05:14

Price Paid: US $500 used

Ease of Use: 9
Software Rev. 2

Presets are decent but the original patches for the Vintage Keys are better (and available for free from their webpage).

Manual is OK. Editing is easy

Features: 8
Vintage sounds - great.

Pianos - huh? You mean there was a piano sound on there somewhere? I know it SAID they were piano sounds but they sure didn't sound anything like any pianos that cost over 50 dollars I've seen.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
See above...

Reliability: 10
VERY reliable.

Customer Support: 1
They SUCK!!!! I have called 5 times for 5 different things and had to leave VM every time. I NEVER GOT CALLED BACK. THIS REASON AND THIS REASON ALONE will keep me from ever buying another EMU product!

Taking all these categories into reason, KORG is the best way to go. Great sounds. Best features. Great Tech Support.

Have you heard the Triton?

I would give a 0 for this category but it isn't an option

Overall Rating: 6
To be honest, nearly every vintage patch (Moogs, Hammonds, Wurlitzers, etc) I can get pretty damn good on my old DW-8000 (Korg). In fact, the DW sounds more authentic on many things like ALL organs and analog leads. A sampler player will always sound like a sampler player. I like the VK+ but was dissapointed that it wasn't better. Buying this made me realize how great my DW-8000 is. It's the next best thing to a vintage analog instrument (would be better if it hand all the knobs and sliders but I don't use those live much anyway).

If you ever need support from EMU, forget it. They blow.

Submitted by MikEy at 10/24/2000 13:01

Price Paid: US $800

Ease of Use: 9
Sample playback single rack unit, laid out like the other E-mu rackmounts (Proteus, Orbit, etc.) VK+ has 16 megabytes (VK has 8) of 16-bit samples of pianos, E-pianos, organs, clavinets, pianets, analog synths, and Mellotron/Chamberlins, TR-809-909 drumkits, etc. Also included are snippets of assorted weird sounds like tape hiss, etc. Up to 8 sounds per key can be programmed, and patches can be linked to 3 other patches in layers or in non-overlapping regions. VK+ has 256 ROM presets and 256 RAM presets. 5 front panel buttons, one Data wheel (with detentes), headphone jack, volume knob, two line backlit LCD screen. Back panel has MIDI in/out/thru jacks, and three sets of stereo outs (two subout pairs and one Mains out pair.) No %#@& wall wort on this one; it has a detachable three prong AC cord.
Presets: Nice B3 organs, acceptable selection of accoustic pianos. Rhodes are a little weak, but the Wurlitzers make up for it, and both sound good subliminally layered with other samples. Glad to see the DX E-piano is now a vintage sound! (although it's more expressive on my DX7.) A plethora of sweepy pads, stabs, bass sounds (electric and Moog types) and long extended ambient/atmospheric sounds. The strings are very good, and the Mellotron flute and string sounds are also very good. Some say they are too clean, but these are people who enjoy threading 36 tapes into a mellotron. I would recommend the 4 preset disks available from E-mu. You can bargain them down to about $20 a disk, if you're nice to them. 64 patches per disk, and the first two are probably the best. The only other patch vendor I've found is Pro-Rec, and they want $40 per bank. Haven't tried theirs.
Editing: Follows the same operating system as the rest of the Proteus line (i.e. very easy to use, although you're stuck with two cursor buttons and a data wheel.) Fortunately the data wheel is velocity sensitive, so if you give it a good twirl it will stop at the bottom (or top) of the range. I was able to find an X-oR profile for it, which makes it much less labor-intensive.)
Manual: Easy to understand, and written in a clear manner.

Features: 10
Polyphony: 32-note, although using chorus cuts it in half, and each patch can be linked with up to 3 other presets, further cutting into polyphony.
Effects: No built-in effects, except chorusing. However, using the two LFO's you can get some nice tremolo and echo effects. Furthermore, several of the Moog presets have incredible release times (under mod wheel control), which give it a nice reverby feel. It should also be noted that the VK/VK+ have 3 sets of stereo outs, two subouts and the main outs. Using insert plugs, you can have up to 4 outboard effects (1 per out). Outputs are programmable per patch (so your guitar patches can go to subout 1 (L, R, or L+R) where you've got a fuzzbox hooked up.)
Expansion: None (after upgrading from VK to VK+, which is a no-brainer if you remember to ground yourself when the instructions tell you to.)
MIDI capabilities: Full MIDI, 16 channel multitimbral, aftertouch and breath controller responsive. I really rediscovered many of the presets after I started using a DX7 as a controller for the VK+, since I didn't have aftertouch before. Velocity maps are included, so you can select for particular controller or player styles. Also, patch mapping is a nice feature, so you can access preset 512 without bank change messages.
Sequencer: None, except for the demo sequences in ROM.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
The organs are good, the strings great (especially for pads and layered with pianos, or used to fill out analog sounds), and the accoustic and electric pianos are acceptable. The accoustic pianos sometimes sound a little thin, though, and the Rhodes is fairly ordinary. The Wurlitzer samples are good, and the analog sounds are excellent. Obviously they aren't as flexible as something with 50,000 knobs, but you can have 4 realtime continuous controllers mapped to just about any parameter (filter cutoff, LFO depth or speed, envelope parameters, instrument layers, etc.)
Reacts well to velocity and aftertouch, and recognizes breath controller messages, unlike many other rack modules.
I can seen this fitting in very well in rock or dance music. I read that the keyboardist in No Doubt toured with only a Classic Keys and whatever controller was available, and the VK is also by other artists (the Eagles, etc.) I think this is a real workhorse synth.

Reliability: 10
Solid, like all E-mu gear. I don't gig, but I'd trust it, as long as you protect it from low-grade house power. I've used it for two years now, and it has never hiccuped or glitched.

Customer Support: 10
I've called and had nice experiences every time. I visited E-mu when I was home in Santa Cruz, and talked at length with the people while they duped the preset disks for me.
I upgraded it myself, but it was a no-brainer, and the instructions were excellent. They even included an IC puller in the upgrade package.

Overall Rating: 9
I'd buy it again, but it's not THE BEST for Tone-wheel freaks, since you're limited to switching between layers of samples with slow and fast Leslie, which is OK but not as authentic as Voce's SPIN simulator. I purchased it mainly for the B3 and analog samples, and I haven't been disappointed. If you want analog flavor/spice without the headaches of analog gear (out of tune, non-MIDI, expensive, heavy and awkward, unreliable, etc.) then this is worth checking out. The Classic Keys came out about a year after I bought the VK+, but it doesn't have the subouts or the realtime resonant filters (digital) of the VK+, so I'm probably happier with this anyway.

Submitted by Anonymous at 03/15/1997 21:04