E-mu Virtuoso 2000

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: 1
Are you joking? BIG BIG BIG BIG Disapointment!!!!!!!! I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Virtuoso and it was the worst orch module out there. Don't buy it!!!! Nothing sounds realistic or even good for than matter. I would hear "honk and squeeeeeek" o a general midi sound card. Buy 2 Jv1010's and get yourself orch 1 and 2 for about the same price...

Features: 1
What good are the features if it doesn't include any usable sounds?

Expressiveness/Sounds: 1
Horrific!!!! It's really that back!!!!! Thumbs up for tuba and harp... and big thumbs down for EVERYTHING else... No usable string, winds, brass, but some perc. is o.k... I programmed it for 2 weeks and gave up... Not one out of the box usefull sound!!! Don't dare buy this if you have any ambitions as a classical musician...

Reliability: N/A
Worked fine...

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 1
Get yourself 2 jv-1010's with orch 1 and 2 for about the same price for a much more realistic orchestra... Stay fa from this module... I wouldn't pa $99.99 for it... Emu.....What were you thinking? Your proteus 2 keyboard and module years ago was Fantastic!!!!! It even has usefull sounds on it today... What happened to the Virtuoso?

Submitted by composer at 06/20/2001 23:32

Price Paid: US $750 used

Ease of Use: 8
The Proteus 2000 hardware, operating system, and maual are excellent. Many of the presets stink, because the samples are really surpisingly bad.

Features: 10
128 voices. 32 midi channels. As I said above, hardware is great.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 1
This is extremely dissapointing. I am shocked that Emu would sell a module with such poor sounds. Some of the sounds are just embarassing, including most of the wind and brass sounds. Some of the string and percussion samples are ok, a few good. Harp, non-pitched percussion, solo pizz. stand out as the best ones. But I consider all of the following unusable, and many don't even sound like the instrument they are supposed to be:

trumpet, trombone, horn, xylophone, flute, alto flute, pic., oboe, english horn, clarinet.

Reliability: 10
I'm sure the hardware is completely reliable.

Customer Support: 7
Emu tech support in general has always been very good.

Overall Rating: 5
Its hard to give this module an overall rating. The hardware is fantastic. A single-space module that has 32 midi channels, 128 voices, excellent filters and effects, and great modulation routing controls.

But the samples they put in this box are just terrible compaired to the best 16bit orchestral samples out there today. Some of them sound worse then sample players made over 10 years ago. Emu really screwed up, because if they put in genuinely good samples this would be a fantastic product. But I am thinking of selling it because I can't use most of the samples.

Submitted by rs at 05/27/2001 16:33

Price Paid: US $999.00

Ease of Use: 5
This latest, and unfortunately not greatest, release of the Proteii family is a shock to this boy's system. The presets are less than stellar and in some instances, particularly the winds, are scary. I heard that the samples were recorded in a stone church in Seattle. It sounds like it. If you're doing a gig/album that requires strings and winds that are peaky in the 500 - 1000KHz range and have no life, here's your source. To be fair, editing patches is extremely easy and a few of the tones in this box ARE more than adequate. The manual is effective and helpful in most instances.

Features: 8
Polyphony... no problem here! The built-in FX are ok...if you've got good outboard FX units, don't mess with the built-in - with the exception of some of the custom specialty preset fx. Editing capabilites are extensive and easy to comprehend. Most without the manual. EMU stayed fairly consistent with their editing architecture. Good features here.... Just a number of plastic, scratchy "orchestral" sounds, sad to say.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 4
After heavily utilizing a Proteus 1, 2, 3 and FX in my studio for a number of years... and then a Proteus 2000 for a while, I was chomping at the bit ready to work with my new Virtuoso. Boy was I disappointed! In being a studio engineer for almost 20 years, my requirements for good presets and ease of editing was paramount. This box has a phenomenal amount of tweaking capabilites, but when two thirds of the samples sound like they were recorded with a Shure Sm58 in a bus station, no amount of tweaking will bring home the bacon. My first night, while incorporating the Virtuoso into a mix, I spent 1 1/2 hours tweaking in search of a believable oboe. I scratched my head in disbelief. It just wasn't there. I wound up using the Protozoa Proteus 1/2/3 expansion card in the Proteus 2000 (Proteus 2 oboe). Ahhhhhhhh.....now THAT's what an oboe sounds like!.... screw the Virtuoso. I MUST say that the harp, tymp, and a few other percussion presets were extremely fine, as well as some of the brass - trumpet and tuba in particular.

Reliability: 10
In my 11 years of working with Proteii, I have yet to experience any kind of breakdown or intermittent problem.

Customer Support: N/A
Never had to give the guys a call.

Overall Rating: 4
This unit won't be stolen because I shipped it post haste right back to whence it cameth. I went out and bought a Kurzweil K-2000 with all the trimmings. Although it wound up costing me twice as much as the Virtuoso, the K-2000 delivers faithful reproduction and I don't have to make excuses to justify it's existence.

Submitted by Barry K. Krueger at 02/09/2001 22:40

Price Paid: US $999.00

Ease of Use: 9
Emu has a very good reputation of building user interfaces that work quite well given a tiny LCD. Once you get use to it, you may not want to use editing software. You can be up and running with this unit in no time. Producing good orchestra may tax your patience though. Spend alot of time with this unit, and you will find it can be fun.

Features: 7
With 128 voices, you might think this unit has the orchestra covered, but you will have to layer sounds to get anything close to the orchestra. The reverbs have been tweaked to work with the sounds in this module, and the use of even high quality outboard reverbs will bring out a problem with this unit's sound: The brass and winds sound muddy/boomy in the lower midrange when more than a little reverb is applied. This could be because the loops in the samples just sit there when you sustain a sound like french horn. The loops should really have been longer so the sounds have a little animation for sustained passages. Also, I've concluded that all woodwind samples should be taken with medium vibrato and sharp attacks, which can be adjusted to suit with emu's excellent envelopes and filters. The programming that emu claims makes the trombones realistic really doesn't, but it helps.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
Okay, does it sound like an orchestra? In a word, no. Did you think it would? My first impression in listening to the factory demos on emu's website, just before the unit was released, was just how much they sounded like Wendy Carlos' Digital Moonscapes album from over 16 years ago! And she didn't even use sampling! I had thought that we had come further in that amount of time. But this is not really a bad thing. You CAN get very good results with this unit, but you will have to program. In fact, my advice is to start programming imediatly, as emu's factory programs are rather ridiculous. I suppose they were obligated to make use of those front panel knobs, which really aren't of any practical use to an orchestral arranger. I also must say again that emu chose to make the loops too short for the brass, in particular. Without any movement in the tone, the loops just sit there buzzing. I think they should have forgot the multi-dynamic samples, and used the memory space for really strong sustains at a solid forte. The excellent filters can be programmed to simulate the change in tone at the quieter dynamics. I have had the unit for a few months now, I bought one of the first to come out, and have spent the last three months programming. I've found that you can get suprisingly good results programming if you are familiar with how the real instruments should sound. The Strings are quite good and you can even program a decent sordino with the filters. The woodwinds are certainly the best sounds in the box, but you will spend alot of time creating convincing vibratos, but don't give up! The brass, again, could have much better, and you cannot compare them to A sample library. But even though there are no section samples, if emu had made the loops long, you could have layered them. It would work even better if they had more than one instrument of each type sampled. This would have allowed you to layer, without worrying about the flanging sounds that occur when two identical loops play against each other. You can get around this too somewhat by using the samples in the ZR-76 ROM, and layering them with the Virtuoso stock sounds.
The other problem with some of the samples, is that they are not bright enough, particularly the pizzicatos! I like more pluck and character in these kind of sounds, which can be adjusted with programming. The harp on the other hand is terrific! At last, emu has given us harp that you can actually gliss with! Too many other harp samples have to much pluck in the attack, which makes glisses sound too phony, even comical. In a real harp, you don't hear the individual attacks like that in a gliss or arpeggio.
The percussion is outstanding for a module. I wish they had spent the same degree of care on the brass.
The solo strings are not too bad for a module, and they are quite useful for layering with the string sections for an espressivo effect.
It is not really realistic to expect emu to include much in the way of playing techniques for the various intruments, and this points at the problem in using modules for realistic orchestral simulations: you just cannot beat a good assortment of CD-ROMS and a good sampler, such as emu's own E4 Ultra.
Having said that, I do wish that emu had shot the wad and dedicated all 128 MB to the soundset. Then they could have included brass sections and mutes, and alternate woodwinds with toungued attacks. I also wish they could have included soft strings with a little bow noise, similar to the very excellent Siedlaczk full section strings in the original ORCHESTRA CD-ROM, now paired down and available in the Roland Orchestral II expansion card. These were among the most realistic strings ever sampled, and have actually fooled several well trained ears I have played them for!
I really think emu has shot themselves in the foot by offering this unit with such wimpy voice programming, with unrealistic things like lfo panning! Since when do the mem

Reliability: 10
No complaints here, emu has always built a solid product, and this one is no exception! Be careful when installing SIMMS though, as the little plastic tabs can break so easily.

Customer Support: 5
I have found emu to be no worse in this regard than many other companies. I suggest emailing them if you need faster action. They sometimes give conflicting info, depending on who you talk to and when! They are getting better about this though.

Overall Rating: 8
I feel I must take points off the rating because of the brass loops. They are very smooth, but too short. I also think some of the woodwinds sounded better in the Proteus 2! I miss that great english horn. I would have enjoyed the strings more if they had a little expressive swell to them. I like the down bows, but it would have been neat if they had UP bows as well. I have tinkered the brass into fairly useable instuments, but Roland still has more realism in their Orchestra I and II cards. I also like the woodwinds now, particularly the bassoons. I pretty much like the percussion for sounding so Hi-Fi. I love the harp. You must try glisses with it.
I like more balls in the Piatti and Timps, and the Tubulars could be better but they sound much better than Proteus 2. The solo strings sound good layered, and have decent attacks. My advice is to add the Sounds of the ZR ROM as soon as possible, to get alternate brass samples to layer with (the French Horn Section is one of the best you can get in a module, and the Solo Horn is better than the Virtuoso stock horn sample). I also look forward to adding the Advanced Orchestra ROM when it becomes available.
So does eight times the memory of a Proteus 2 equal eight times the realism? I wish it did. I remember thinking that it was amazing that emu squeezed the whole orchestra into eight megs. 64 MB sounds like a whole lot in comparison, but I guess you really can't do the orchestra justice on anything less than 128 MB. I have an 'Orchestra' that I load into my E4 comprised of Samples from all the libraries that are available, and it works well towards creating a convincing sound. The Virtuoso works along side to fill in the gaps, as does my JV-1010 and JV-880. But you know, you can do quite well with just the modules, and I have done that on quick projects.
Would I buy it again? Before I programmed my own sounds for it, I would have said no, but now, I don't think I will part with it. It resides in my rack right above my Proteus 2, another synth I won't part with for a long time. Buy the Virtuoso and be prepared to do some heavy programming, and you won't really be dissapointed. It is definitly worth the price, if you need it. If you own Roland modules, then you may want to pass if your on a tight budget. You will miss the contrabassoon and flutes though.

Submitted by Philip N. Chance at 01/30/2001 16:21

Price Paid: US $999

Ease of Use: 9
It plugged and played with my Cakewalk no problem. However, finding an instrument definition is proven to be challenging. A particularly cool feature is the ability to audition sounds, and changes the sounds while auditioning. This has been helpful to me for finding the right sound.

Features: 8
The features are good (see above), and pretty much just what I expected. I'm a plug and play guy, I don't like getting into the guts of the system: when I want a sound, I want a sound! So I haven't used all of the whammo knobs on the left side.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
The sounds are pretty good. Not having a sampler other than my soundblaster, I was quite happy with having 16 channels of instruments I can deal with. Although compared to a real orchestra, there's a lot of work to do if you want to make this pass as one.

Reliability: 10
No problems so far. My PC has been MUCH less reliable, but then I suppose that's a given...

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had to try it yet, knock wood...

Overall Rating: 10
I'm definately glad I added this to my studio. As a budding composer and grad student, I need something with instant feedback to test my compositions. This definately fits the bill...

Submitted by Kev at 01/21/2001 16:40

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: 4
The manual is excellent, and I'm speaking as one who has written dozens of manual myself. Why they didn't give the person credit is a crime. There are a few flaws in the manual, but this can most likely be blamed on last-minute OS or design changes (again, I speak from experience).

The V2000 sports E-mu's now ubiquitous tiny display, only slightly larger than that found in its first generation Protei family of a decade ago. Hey, E-mu. It’s the year 2000 (check the name on the synth, if you’ve forgotten). That display is toooooo small! When I look at my Mac's two monitors, one 20 inch, the other 17, liberally sprinkled with open windows, programs, dialogs, etc., and then look at E-mu's guppy-sized readout, I find it totally lacking, nay, in the age of modern, cheap computers, down-right insulting.

A computer program is the only way to go and I can’t imagine that between E-mu’s 2000 family, enough of the inner workings aren’t similar enough they can’t make and include (or sell) an editor librarian for Macs and PCs. I e-mailed this suggestion to E-mu, mentioning that Alesis, for one, includes a third-party Mac E/L with its synths. E-mu finally responded that, to put it bluntly, they could care less; I might be willing to pay for one, but that doesn’t mean anyone else would (imagine the marketing muscle that must have gone into that foolish reply). Heck, they don’t even supply patch lists in text format, and considering there are hundreds of patches, this mean you either type them in yourself or wait for a third-party developer to supply them. The manual alone would give this synth’s rating a “9” here, but the lack of supported E/L software, not to mention E-mu’s tardy and tart reply, lower this.

Features: 8
Out of the box, this is 128 note, single-rack machine, with a slick-silver and black face, four real-time control knobs, headphone jack, nice-sized data wheel, and a smattering of buttons. Round back you have MIDI In/Out/Thru, another set of MIDI In/Out so you can use this on 32 channels, Digital connection, as well as 6 stereo pairs. The V2000 comes with a healthy 64 megs or samples and room to add more of E-m’s growing library or ROM upgrades for everything from organ, dance, world, to entire other synths like the ZR76. Unfortunately, I can’t find where or how adding these cards is supposed to be done which makes me nervous I have to have E-mu do it (unlike how sister Ensoniq handled its cards). Lots of filtering and effects options, but if you know E-mu’s other 2000 series, you know pretty much what this can do.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
OK, this is why anyone buys a synth: sound. My current roster includes an E-mu Proteus 2 (that’s their first all-orchestral box), a Korg 03R/W with Orchestra card (see a pattern?), Alesis QSR with Sanctuary and Latin cards, an Ensoniq MR Rack, Kurzweil PCmx, and BitHeadz Unity and Retro software. What I was hoping from the V2000 was instant orchestral gratification (or IOG). I was half ecstatic and half disappointed.

First, the strings are delicious, though, as in real life, the Violas get the short end of the bow. You’ve got your marcato, legato, pizzicato, spiccato, tremolos, for session and solo strings, with many of the velocity faded patches being particularly impressive. Jeté, muted, sul ponticello, or col legno? Nope. Nor are there successive up or down bows for that Psycho effect.

Percussion also is a stand out. Considering the specs on this synth, it’s not surprising how icy clear these sound. Plenty of tuned and untuned percussion with a nice array of rolls and oddities, including anvil and metal sheet (for thunder effects), the last two not living up to their names, but maybe if someone comes out with E/L software (there’s that suggestion again), I can fix this. Timpani are sufficiently muscular, though many possibilities weren’t included in terms of sticks. The rolls are oddly laid-out on the keyboard and some individual timp samples are louder than others.

What’s missing in the hitting and striking area? Nail files across cymbals and gongs, and bowed vibraphone, admittedly not meat and potatoes, are not unheard of effects and are missed.

I’ll group all the winds together and say they’re just about OK. The tuba is the best I’ve heard! As for everything else, they lack, in a word, “character.” This is not to say they’re “bad,” but they just seem cold, not in the same league as the strings. It’s nice to know they squeezed in an alto flute (not mentioned in the brochure), but it just doesn’t have the personality of the Alto Flute in the old Proteus 2, even though that was not based on and actual alto-flute waveform. All is not lost, though, as the wind sounds are beginning to grow on me more than when I first played them.

Since the V2000 is sold as a tool for both symphonic and scoring jobs, the winds particularly let me down here. I know there’s only so much that can be squeezed into 64 megs, but imagine John Barry or Jerry Goldsmith doing without flutter-tongued flutes, let alone bass flutes. Where are the brass mutes (I must have hand-muted horns)? Brass shakes and other effects? Nary a one. And all the above mentioned omissions from strings and percussion. Of course, E-mu could include these on a new card, but none of this has been mentioned. A completer orchestral set would make this a phenomenal, as opposed to a merely very good, tool. Heck, include saxes and sax effects while you’re at it.

Reliability: N/A
The first one I played was at Sam Ash. It didn't work and had just come out of the box. Mine has worked fine.

Customer Support: 5
E-mu is a mixed bag when it comes to this and some folks, as you may have read
in other synth critiques found them awful. For the most part, it's a very nice group
of hard working individuals, but there are a few bad apples who should be trained, re-trained until they
understand the words "customer service."

Overall Rating: 7
I'm glad I got it. It is not the be-all, end-all of orchestral modules,
but it is the best one out there, at least as clean and clear as Korg's
latest and far more affordable than Roland's. Compared to having to rely
on a sampler (or two or three) and a library of coasters, the V2000 does a
pretty good job in the bang-for-the buck department. I'd get it again (but I'm
keeping the Proteus 2).

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/15/2000 12:45

Price Paid: 900 (£)

Ease of Use: 9
Just like the Proteus 2000, this is pretty easy to use. The sounds on-board can easily be placed in the Proteus which makes me wonder why they made it at all though. Very good manual.

Features: 10
Excellent polyphony, great filters and ok reverbs. For convenience this is a very likeable and well programmed intrument. It works perfectly with my SY99.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
Well, this is where it falls down for me. I'm sorry but it doesn't sound much like an orchestra, and I work with them a fair amount as both conductor and composer. Sure in the background it can give a very rough approximation but I have to use my sample library sounds (Vitous, EastWest etc) to produce the real stuff. There are no brass ensembles (I'm hoping Emu release them on a seperate ROM) and an awful lot of the instruments may sound good in isolation but just blend in to an electronic collage when used in large chamber or orchestral part writing (forget dovetailing those horns, they just mesh uncomfortably). They're around the same standard as the JV1080 - functional and helpful for sketching but not for real Hollywood or symphonic scores. Even with careful midi programming the real effect doesn't travel. The percussion is, having said all this, very good.

Reliability: 10
So far, so good

Customer Support: 10
Emu have excellent customer service.

Overall Rating: 8
My principle reason for buying this machine is to cover up whenever my gigastudio runs out of notes!. In this regard, it performs admirably, especially when time is short and I need to thicken out the woodwind or brass a little. If this instrument is supposed to replicate an orchestra for you then DON'T buy it. It is not up to the task. Get a real sampler or virtual sampler instead and get the best orchestral sample cds instead (Vitous, EastWest & Kirk Hunter strings, Xsample double reed etc). I would like to emphasise that I'm not at all cynical about this instrument. I am happy with it because it does what I hoped it would.

Submitted by Trev at 12/03/2000 09:16

Price Paid: US $999

Ease of Use: N/A

Features: 10
128 Voice Polyphony
32 Midi Channels (2 midi ports)
Built in Effects are easy to use and not bad for built in Synth effects. An outboard effects processor yields better results.
Full midi capabilities.
No sequencer.
2 Expansion slots

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
This module is called a "Virtual Orchestra". The sound quality is superb. I wish it had a tad more gain on the outputs.
The factory presets themselves are quite good, but you can edit them very effectively.
The flute, piccolo and Oboe are probably the weakest samples, but the flute is definitely better than the Roland Orchestral board's flute.
The Proteus sound engine is spectacular in my opinion regarding sound editing.
The effects aren't bad, they just aren't the best quality necessary for orchestral sounds.
The whole architecture of the proteus machines is quite brilliant in my opinion.

Reliability: 10
I haven't had it long, but I do own other Emu gear. They are always solid products.

Customer Support: 10
I've not had to call support on this product, but when I've contacted them regarding my Esynth, they have been very prompt and helpful.

Overall Rating: 10
I primarily write orchestral scores. I bought this machine to give me some polyphony while working out parts, but I have used the sounds from the machine in some final mixes. I was pleasantly surprised at the usability of the V2K.

Submitted by Guy at 11/27/2000 10:46