E-mu Proteus | The Module EVERYONE wanted!

[@rhkavli]

The original Proteus was the brainchild of Byron Sheppard, a personal friend of mine. It was the product that saved E-mu from an early bankruptcy.

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks for sharing ;-)

[@rhkavli]

@@SeraphimArchives If you have a LinkedIn account, it's listed on his resume. Dave and partial Scott got all the glory at E-mu. And Dave Rossum sure was a ingenious guy. But there where a few other people there who pulled a significant weight there too.

[@ASH-ou4cg]

If this is really the case, then thank God for that. If they had went under early, we never would have had their great modules of the mid 90's (Orbit, etc), or any of their incredible Samplers in the E Series.

[@oculusnomadslosttribe5672]

Nice!!!😀 Glad your partner had the vision...lots of great music has been made with that bad boy...old school🧐💯

[@fmagic2000able]

I don't suppose your friend could come up with another brainchild to start a revived E-mu company to bring back some of that vintage ear candy and tech goodies?

[@Supremeteamcaptain]

I’m 23 years old and last year purchased a Proteus 2000 and a Mo’Phatt. Producers my age have never heard of E-Mu. Even tho I produce modern Hip-Hop/RnB which is dominated by VST’s, E-Mu sounds are in every single of my tracks. The sounds not only sound so much fun, they are so crisp and fit in every mix perfectly. The editing might seem tedious to most, but it’s actually really intuitive. I will never give up my modules. Just wish the ROMs weren’t so damn expensive !!

[@annother3350]

Editing the synth via Midiquest is a bit more fun. Visual editing on a pc

[@Supremeteamcaptain]

Ann Other yes but since I started at age 13, I’ve gone basically ten years using exclusively the computer. The screens on these modules are a brief but welcome change of scenery and experience for me lol

[@annother3350]

@@Supremeteamcaptain ok man. But bear in mind the main jogwheel on these e-mu synths are the weak spot and are prone to failure after a certain amount of time. It happened to a Morpheus I used to own

[@ivansoto9723]

Funny. I'm 23 now and I'm in the same exact position. Hip-hop/RnB producer. There is just something special about the sound of all these romplers. Especially the pads. Made me want to make ambient music. Purchased a Korg 01W/FD and it's great. Looking at the JD-990 now. Oh man, I can afford it. But I just don't think $1,100 is worth it though.

[@zorliss]

Where did you get the Proteus 2000?

[@jml19221]

Proteus was the thing to use for multimedia music in those days. I did so many radio jingles with it. Songs were so easily mixed when done with the Proteus. Every sound sat well in the mix. Thanks for the memories!!

[@liorsilverstein9802]

you made a living out of the proteus uh?

[@DonnDeVoreMusic]

the 90's nostalgia is strong in this unit... I got to know this module in the college MIDI lab quite well. loved it.

[@bronney]

It's crazy how nostalgic I get watching your channel. I am one of those dudes who's too poor to buy keyboard magazine so I read them in the library. Every single synths from the 90s you put up here meant something to me. It reminds me how poor I was lol. Later, when everything nowadays becomes soft-synths, I've never looked back. I still have my Roland D-10 with me but that's it. The E-MUs in the old days, I remember, it meant sampling to me. I don't know why, but E-MU meant sampling. Always lovely hearing you play, sir.

[@EspenKraft]

Many thanks! :) btw, I read a lot of magazines in the library too. ;-)

[@user-nu7xx7pc1d]

yes! I read all the guitar and synth magazines in the public library. 😂😂😂

[@markfish8403]

@@EspenKraft You are pompous and annoying, you will see how many agree in the next couple weeks. Bye bye 👋

[@AndersEngerJensen]

6:02 Dire Straits! Yeah buddy, straight to my 80s rock heart! :D And for those wondering why he has two Proteus/1, it's because the first one I sent him was a Protologic expanded one, but it doesn't boot up and is generally beyond what any of us can repair. I got this one in hopes of transferring the Protologic expansion to the working one, but it requires a lot of soldering and moving chips, changing resistors and connectors. So "Vanilla" version it is for now. ;)

[@apislapis]

Do you know if that organ sound was used on Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman? Shorten those note lengths and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were.

[@EspenKraft]

Wasn't that the M1? I think Synthmania did a video on that once.

[@AndersEngerJensen]

apislapis Yes, as Espen said. It’s the M1, but the Proteus sounds pretty close too. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXLUYWelrreIb5o

[@markchristopher2signal2]

apislapis M1 by Kong yeah? I have le software and I play le riff

[@broklee]

I thought Protologic was a drop in upgrade board along with its eprom chips

[@NordiusOfficial]

#Espen Kraft Fun fact, this module was the one Josh Mancell used for scoring both PlayStation classics Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter. He used the Proteus 1-3. I own the Proteus 2000 and that was used on a ton of games like Spyro 3 and Ratchet and Clank. ^^ Those Z-Plane filters man! 👌🏻

One of the first sounds he played got me thinking of crash bandicoot! 🤪

[@NordiusOfficial]

Kristian Blåsol 3 has the Crash 3 Orchestra.

[@birdy369]

Nothing pleases me more than finding out what is responsible for each and every noise and tune in music I like

[@themiraculous0447]

I absolutely love the marimba on this thing. It's actually the same patch that was used in the original crash bandicoot games too!

[@LittleRichard1988]

So do I, shame it's not included on the Proteus 2.

[@peterj.9713]

Oh ,yes. The Proteus Series was very popular at begin of the 90s ,too. I remember the Vintage Keys was also a huge success when it came out. I never had one of them ,but when i purchased an ESI 4000 Sampler ,i also got the Protozoa CD-Rom with al of the Sounds from the Proteus Series. Very useful sounds for that type of music. Thanks for showing and the Informations about it

[@jessihawkins9116]

the oberheim matrix has a lot of vintage keyboard sounds

[@apislapis]

Your demo does an excellent job of illustrating why this was a much sought after module. Thanks Espen.

[@gresmaqauski8504]

Si, Gratsi Espen! [ Mi 🍆 + Your sweet 🕳 = 🏅🚬🖤 ] Much Appreciated! -Michelangelo

[@EspenKraft]

Awesome, thanks! :)

[@EspenKraft]

Gracias!

[@mu_zines]

The Proteus, together with the Roland U110*, are really the dawn of the "rompler" term used in a derogative sense (ie, sample-based modules with limited editability, as opposed to true synth engines with filters etc). But we all needed boxes of sounds for our sequencing setups, and more polyphony, and the Proteus at the time hit a sweet spot, and really helped save Emu during that period, if you listen to some of Dave Rossum's stories. * There were others, but these two were the most popular ones that kind of defined the category.

[@EspenKraft]

Yes, to fulle appreciate these one needs to take into consideration the time when these were introduced. Of course the specs are dated and many of the sounds won't cater for what is now called "synthwave", nor were they meant to of course. ;-) but that doesn't mean the sounds aren't usable. Most of them still are imo.

[@Roboprogs]

We had one of those Roland modules in the lab/studio at my college in the late 80s, along with a DX7ii. Loved it, especially after having only a semi modular mono analog synth the first semester. I guess the analog synth fetish is not for me 😁

[@Netm8kr]

Good stuff, I own what has been called the EMUseum. The entire 2000 set, and more. I luv them all. ✌🏾👍🏾

[@farticusmaximusOG]

Where is it? Im interested!

[@rhill109]

Cool. I’ve never thought of collecting that series. My music partner probably had them all at one point. He sold them all when Emu released the CD ROM set. All the sounds were there but having the individual modules was way better and useful.

[@markchristopher2signal2]

I had the Emu Orbit 9090 . My first romper. The Xtreme or XL7 is what I lusted in 2000

[@RayBellis]

I have many of the P2000 series. If you need firmware updates, please visit my site emu.tools/ where there's a WebMIDI based firmware updater that runs direct within various web browsers (Chrome recommended).

[@RaymondCastile]

I got a Proteus as soon as it came out. I couldn’t believe such a thing existed. My “setup” was a D50, M1, Proteus, Dx21, going through a Boss 16 track mixer, then out one bass speaker (because I did not yet comprehend different types of speakers and stereo monitors). Later I got a pair of Alesia monitors and a Quadraverb. I thought I was hitting the big time with so much gear.

[@EspenKraft]

It was a nice setup for the time. ;-)

[@djformalin]

Raymond Castile ......good old days 🎼

[@bernardogui3933]

Raymond Castile great set up at the time!

[@mehmetbagcan4904]

The pianos and choirs from this little machine still sounds usable nowdays. I'm impressed.

[@fender1000100]

Theyve never been bettered. So theyll always be the standard. The machine they came from the Emulator three. Use to cost as much as a decent car. It was one of the GODS of 80s synth pop.

[@Steedonline]

I absolutely love my Proteus 1,.it's a brilliant little piece of synth, I use it a lot these days 👍

[@dusthillresident]

0:20 this bass sound was sampled and used in a lot of Super Nintendo games.

[@paulartola9536]

Wonderful video, Espen. Proteus3/World in the studio here. Sequencing it using VCV-Rack virtual modular. You can teach an old dawg a new trick!

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks Paul! :)

[@barcodezombies4862]

The Rugrats intro and quite a few others used the Proteus1 , sound of so many childhoods came from that box . The mid files for them can be found without too much digging . I only found this out after I’d brought a module for cheap from a pawnshop. The flexibility of the audio routing and layering is crazy once you start to explore it

[@DrGargani]

love your demo song at the beginning, a great groove! As Always, Espen, you have a great video.....When I bought this unit many moons ago, the main reason I got it was because of it's guitar sounds which were ahead of their time back then....

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks! :)

[@thomasmatthews8873]

I was at producer Hannon Lane's home studio in Richmond, Virginia back in 1992. He had the Proteus 1 & 2. He and another musician had reconstructed one of my songs using a bunch of Proteus sounds. The original sounds I used were from a Yamaha DX 100. I wasn't happy with the chord structure changes but I did find the new sounds delightful.

[@patrizio7]

Got my hands on a cheap Pro/Cussion module a few weeks back. All the drums from the Emulator 3 some of which are surprisingly useable. You can edit and stack samples for big percussion. Good to hunt for these little gems while still cheap.

[@TheGuitartwanger]

The Pro/cussion had some fantastic sounds - my only issue when I used to have one was for some reason these units used to exhibit quite a bit of MIDI latency , which strangely( and luckily) the Proteus 1, 2 and 3 didn’t have.

[@Roboprogs]

Strongly considered buying one of these, from eBay or the like, 4 years ago when I was getting back into electronic music. I ended up going down the software route instead, at least at first just to arrange MIDI files. As you’ve shown, Espen, this is a nice bit of kit. I did buy the samples for some of these from Digital Sound Factory, who has the rights to the ROMs, apparently. I still sometimes use these sounds in NI’s sample player in my laptop and the soundfont player on my iPad.

[@Roboprogs]

In particular, there are a number of nice, General MIDI compatible, drum kits, which Native Instruments’ Kontakt library sorely lacks. NI has nice drums, but they aren’t GM compatible. Proteus is.

[@LittleRichard1988]

I have come very close to buying a Proteus 2 a few times in the past but changed my mind at the last minute ( I very nearly bought a Proteus 1 Plus Orchestral in 2019 ). But I have just ordered a Proteus 2 and it's on the way. Until now I was using Proteus 1 and 2 instruments in DSK Virtuoso, Drumwavy by Synthway plus Mixcraft's Acoustica instruments sampled some of it's sounds from the Proteus 1 and 2. I did also buy the Proteus 2 soundfont but it doesn't have the Whistlin Joe sound. I'm not sure weather or not to buy the Proteus 1 since I mainly want it for it's marimba sound. Drumwavy samples the marimba sound pretty close.

[@brainhamster]

always been a fan of the emu marimba and 'ooh' vox sounds...they're synthetic, but they always cut through a mix so well.

[@NLind]

Have a Proreus/1 +Orchestral and love it, part of my current setup.

[@impulseproman]

Proteus 2000 still in my setup

[@sammyretro3902]

Loving the sounds on 10:00 mins feeling Goldie intros ♥️

[@user-lj3tg4nk3e]

I still have my Proteus 1, Proteus 2 Orchestral & Proteus 3 World. They still sound great and seem to last forever.

[@parasiteunit]

I've got all those libraries in my E5000. They're great aren't they?

[@Paul_Y_T]

Great video as always - thanks! I think this planted a seed in my mind as I stumbled across a decent priced ultra proteus the other day which has this goodness plus the really interesting z-plane filters.

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

I definitely like the Proteus 3; it has a lot of obscure instruments so its very useful for making world music or soundtracks. I'd say its still useful.

[@Black_Agent_Seattle]

I recently bought a Proteus 1, Proteus 2 XR Orchestral, and a ProCussion all for $60 in a 4u Rack case. Not a bad haul =o]

[@EspenKraft]

Nice deal!

[@danielortizdecaracas]

I love this sound module, I have four, 1,2,3 and P2K, these sounds through plugins are cool yet

[@TommyVarekai]

Just bought these for Kontakt, bundle of 5 E-mu modules, love em, super cheap too

[@Roboprogs]

DSF bundle(s), right?

[@biggrime]

I did the samething for dimension pro vst. In cakewalk sonar. I also had the protues x with the e-me soundcard. Tremendous deal

[@bluematrix5001]

Tommy, where did u buy it

[@Roboprogs]

Blue Matrix - try this link www.digitalsoundfactory.com/product-category/format/kontakt/

[@Perceval17]

Thanks ! I have both Proteus 1, FX, Emax 1 and ESI-32, never had the time to use them but the possibilities are damn' good.

[@forcedopinion1]

I really wish I hadn’t sold mine. I love the choirs on it. They were all like $40 units when I bought the Proteus 1/2/3 and Pro/Cussion. I have the others still but got rid of the 1 for reasons I don’t even remember anymore. I have a video on my channel of the Proteus 1 doing a John Carpenter style track if anyone wants to check it out.

[@wphmusic]

Proteus 1 & 3 were responsible for pretty much everything I recorded in the 90s. The breadth of sounds for the price was amazing at the time.

[@irradix213]

Nice, that's where I started in someone else's studio in '96, and I guess I need one now

[@Digiphex]

That woody xylophone, sounds very Depeche.

[@cvader7]

That piano a 4:16 is still usable, I mean in modern production applications..So rich in character! 10: 16... Those string beds are awesome!!! Wow! I sure need an emulation of this Emulator. ! Many thanks for sharing Espen

[@EspenKraft]

Cheers!

[@fender1000100]

Most of the sounds are usuable. A classic sound doesnt get old. Music has gone downhill today. Nothing touches the 80s. That was the ultimate era for synth based pop. And our man here keeps reminding us of that.

[@cvader7]

@@fender1000100 4real

[@XavierRadix]

Fantastic vid about a equally fantastic sampler! That demo song you did though, so groovy! Love it. I immediately started jamming along on guitar, because it's so funky.

[@EspenKraft]

Sweet man! The arrangement does leave room for additional sounds. ;-)

[@cjpmugsr999]

Still have mine. My favorite patches were the B3 patch and the Hall Strings. Lots of really good tones and I still hear them pop up in commercials.

[@CoolDudeClem]

Every time I watch one of these videos I'm transported back to the 80's! Wish I could go back there but still have KZbin and the Internet.

[@EspenKraft]

Sweet!

[@heinzvoll7798]

Cool machine, never had one. Back then I got myself a Roland U-220, basically also a "rompler" type of instrument with some programmability and excellent sampled sounds. Its voice and choir sounds pretty much beat all competition and knocked the Korg M1 off its throne in that field.

[@EspenKraft]

Yes, the U-220 is excellent :)

[@davetbassbos]

I have the VX software version, which I believe has a lot of the same sounds, When you use it for everything in the song, including drums you have an instant polished 80s track and there are some fun weird sounds buried in there also

[@kaitlyn__L]

I love how many of these sounds were just straight resampled into so many N64 games. (And a few SNES ones.) The lower fidelity alters the character a bit of course, but almost every one of these pad sounds reminded me of the system. A lot of the stabs and choirs were too. I don’t blame them of course, they’re great sounds. Sometimes they even just took them from sample library CDs to be cheap about it, since they were being re-sampled into various sound engines anyway. But IIRC Rare had actual Proteus modules. Plus of course almost every movie and TV score from the 90s and early 00s had these sounds somewhere! But I feel the other comments discussed that already ;)

[@georgedanova5679]

As always, great video. I've always preferred the Emu samples and was considering selling my Proteus 1 recently because it wasn't getting too much use. After watching this, I'm inspired to do some more 80s/90s sounding beats.

[@EspenKraft]

Don't sell it! ;-)

[@keithmitchell3916]

Had the Proteus 1 and 2500. Now got and use their 'Vintage Pro' module which to me is their best one...love it!

[@SG-sk3kt]

Fun fact: This sound module was used in seasons 3-7 of Thomas the Tank Engine

[@GabePickles3837]

Actually, that’s the Proteus 2.

[@exoticcar5482]

@@GabePickles3837 The Proteus 2 is the Orchestral model from this overall lineup of products this video's about

[@GabePickles3837]

UPDATE: Never mind. Just found out that TTTE also used the Proteus 1 and 2000.

[@GabePickles3837]

FUN FACT: They also used the Prophet 2000 sampler, Yamaha Grand Piano, Yamaha RX5 drum module, and Rickenbacker bass guitar.

[@PolaBurrr]

i love the strings on it .. used it a lot

[@NLind]

Totally agree. They were used in Final Fantasy VIII and some tracks in IX. And the snare at 6:40 was used in FFV (Probably the EIII) and some Bally/Williams pinball tables.

[@LittleRichard1988]

One of my favorite sounds is the marimba, the Proteus 1 and 2 modules are also known for having realistic flute sounds. The strings were also outstanding for that time and it was incredible that you could get this sort of sound quality out of a 1U module. DSK Music used a few Proteus 1 and 2 sounds in VSTs like Virtuoso, Mixcraft's Acoustica instruments sampled a few sounds from the Proteus 1 and 2 plus Synthway's Drumwavy used mainly selected Proteus 2 sounds plus Drumwavy includes the Proteus 1's marimba which is solely why I bought it. I think Roland were better when it came to things like pianos, basses and saxophones.

[@Roboprogs]

I think the X-Files theme uses one of those for the whistle sound.

[@LittleRichard1988]

That's correct, in fact it's the Proteus 2's "Whistling Joe" patch.

[@jasonsartain4529]

The gods must have overheard me. Just a few days ago, a friend and I were discussing the old Roland JV 1080s (and the subsequent other racks and workstations). I had said that while it would be fun to have those sounds again, I don’t know that I’d use them, but I still really want a Proteus sometimes. You just made it more difficult for me to resist buying one haha

[@EspenKraft]

Haha .. Cool!

[@mrdali67]

Just get any newer Roland module. Half of the Integra is the whole JV library wich is where the sounds from also the U-110/220 was taken. 32 years has gone and roland still uses 30+ year old samples to fill half the Integra-7. But they also were quite a good library back then, but kinda cheapish with todays standards of non looped full length 24bit 48khz stereo samples. But nothing bad said of the Integra. All the newer stuff in it is actually great for bread and butter sounds, and really many musicians don't really spend a lot of times programming own sounds. They just want something that sounds nice right OTB.

[@mrdali67]

I admit I was always much more to the Japanes sound. I never really was that much into the american sounds back then. Really many of those American sampler/rompler sounds sounded more raw and unfinnished, where eg. Roland and Yamaha sounded more polished. Its kinda the same with many of todays "arranger" keyboards. when you compare eg. any of the European arrangers like Ketron, with Korg and Yamaha .. there is a world of difference, and Yamaha always had that more "finnished mix " sound with lots of effects and reverb, where the others are great too .. there is some more "intimisity of eg a Korg arranger. The sounds are more dry and more in your face, where the Yamaha's to some sound too polished and are more souped into all kind of effects. The Yamaha sound like eg a Bigband in a big venue where the Korgs sound like a Jazz quartet in a little smoky Jazz club. But still in my ears, Yamaha is ways ahead of the competition in the quality and ease of use with there advanced SA2 sounds wich can quite easy be mastered by even beginners and intermediate players to sound like a pro. No need to fiddle around with 10-20 key switches to switch between the different articulations like in a Kontakt instrument. You eg. just play a sixth or seventh and the sound automaticly switches to a slide up/down dependent on the sound type

[@amplifier2]

@@mrdali67 I actually recorded a soprano sax from the Integra (SuperNatural mode) the other day. All of my professional music friends thought it was a real one.

[@neilloughran4437]

I bought this back in the day when it came out... don't remember that snare... but the one I remember was some clangy thing.. lack of filter limited it,, but for me was my first "piano" as such,,, loved that Heaven patch and the choir.

[@neilloughran4437]

Ah yes Mythical Pad at 10 mins....

[@Azfun6]

I still have my Proteus and Planet Earth.....great sounding modules and easy to set up and control. I love them both.

[@luiscronon5493]

I still own one, my first synthesizer. Lovely memories trying all sounds. Later came an Oberheim Xpander (older), then a Yamaha SY99, Kawai K5000S. Still have them all

[@FridayEveryday]

I actually bought a sound card in 1991 from TurtleBeach called MultiSound which had the E-mu Proteus 1/XR onbaord!!! It was a all-in-one pci soundcard with audio in/out and midi/in out all in studio quality. Very capable and powerful package i 1991 and I really liked the sound of the E-mu Proteus 1/XR. btw. great video Mr. Kraft 👌

[@FrankDawsonTV]

I still have my MultiSound. I loved this card to bits. Sadly, I don't have an old PC to put it in anymore.

[@erwinj3438]

It was one of the first sound modules i bought. I remeber it like it was yesterday. When i bought it, it just came out, and was the last one in the shop. The guy behind me wanted one too. It was Ben Liebrand. famous mixer (they call them DJ's now ;-) ) He wanted my module, but i took it home. I loved this module. later i bougth the E-mu Proteus 2 orchestral. also a great module. But what i missed in these modules, were the effects. I bought the Proteus FX later. My brother still have my other Proteus module's. Now that i have seen your video, i want to play with them again. Thanks for your nice reviews Espen!

[@EspenKraft]

Cool story, thanks Erwin! :)

[@totodrumscoatza]

En los 90's tuve la experiencia de ver a un grupo con dos módulos próteus y quede maravillado de sus sonidos únicos .... gracias excelente video saludos desde Coatzacoalcos Veracruz México.....

[@DalekEnclave123]

I own one of the newer Emu Proteus models that is the FX, which is basically a enhanced emu proteus 1 with EFX and also have many sounds from the Emu Proteus 1, Proteus 2, MPS into one package. It does have 2 banks of 256 patches that can be saved and replaced via Edit i think. They are sorta like harder to find sometimes compare to it previous models but the prices are not so expensive through, i bought mines for 140 USD. Overall i love the demo of the emu proteus 1 you did here.

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks! They did come in many different forms through those years. Some have them all, some have one or a couple. ;-)

[@DalekEnclave123]

@@EspenKraft Yeah, my FX in terms of Polyphony and Multitimbral is not very different from the older models, through at least the battery is not soldered compare to the previous models. Switching out the battery is pretty simple and easy. They are great and cheap modules in my opinion.

[@derekbaker3279]

E-mu really knew how to get nice sounds from digital filters, but are the digital filters in the various Proteus models identical, or do some sound more analog-ish or more 'retro' than others? I have read that the Ultra-Proteus does not sound as good as the others, but I'd like to get your opinion re: various Proteus models. Thanks!

[@DalekEnclave123]

@@derekbaker3279 A lot of the sounds i heard in the FX are actually identical to the ones i heard in Proteus 1 and 2, also MPS, through it does have digital filters.

[@annother3350]

@@derekbaker3279 The Morpheus had ALL the z-plane filters. the little brother and sister racks had much less but still z-plane

[@tomblaze2]

I rock a Proteus FX in my studio - great ROMpler for sure - still recording with it in 2020

[@fender1000100]

Still the best sound module of all time.as far as I'm concerned. Just the choir and string piano sounds made it worth the money. Instant PSBs and ART OF NOISE with one of these gems.

[@von-fur-wegen-gegenolli9196]

I was so often tempted to buy one of these on Ebay. 😆

[@locutz]

as a hobbyist i'd love to have one of these i'll have loads of fun

[@computer_toucher]

So incredibly wonderfully heavy and full strings on that Terminator theme

[@BrianRRenfro]

I put in a bid on a 2XR a few days ago and then I see this...I just hope no one gets any ideas before the auction ends :)

[@ANSWERTHECALLOFJESUSCHRIST]

As the owner of an E-MU Proteus Custom with the Protozoa ROM, I appreciate this video! Beautiful intro song!

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks! :D

[@scottcupp8129]

I got one of these when they first came out in 89 and I LOVED it. I still wish I had mine today. I might need to find me another one!!

[@johnoneill2148]

Yep, I got one. First time I could afford samples. Hours of fun with the module. 64 voice I thin...16 part multi- really broke the boundaries. Sold it about 10 years ago as the samples even though 16 bit were so hackneyed by everyone including computer sound cards

[@hakonsoreide]

Flott video. Lydmodulen låter mye mer 80-talls enn jeg hadde forventet av et produkt sluppet i 1989, men siden den var en salgssuksess, så tyder jo det på at den allikevel ikke kom for seint på markedet. Mange lyder er helt perfekte for nåtidens retro synth-pop.

[@EspenKraft]

Takk så mye! Ja, jeg syns den holder i massevis fortsatt! :)

[@skimoto444]

Your song and sound is great! And I can feel your love to Emu's proteus. (I bought it.)

[@EspenKraft]

Cheers!

[@lundsweden]

Its amazing how they could cram all those sounds into 4mb and yet they still sound pretty good! How they managed to get the piano to sound that good, must have been some magic involved? I agree that some of the original Emulator II sounds are better, richer, but not a bad little module. They are just so cheap now, you can pick them up for just about nothing!

[@brmbkl]

I agree, to me the piano and organ sounds still hold up (and not in a retro way, like the choir aahs). I don't know but they do.

[@IvarFritjofHansen]

was a really good rack modul love the pads strings and piano sound in it.

[@McTroyd]

I have a Proteus/1+ Orchestral. A customer was throwing away a pile of old sound hardware; I offered to take the equipment for e-cycling. Glad I had a look through the hardware before I e-cycled it! It remains the only "professional" grade synth I own. I had to loan a MIDI controller from my father-in-law to test and operate it.

[@LittleRichard1988]

A very lucky find! I would love to own that module but unfortunately space is something I have to consider but I do have other Roland sound modules including a JV-1080. I can't believe someone would throw a working sound module away.

[@McTroyd]

@@LittleRichard1988 The 3V SRAM battery was dead. That was all that was wrong with it. I couldn't believe it either.

[@LittleRichard1988]

@@McTroyd It sounds like the dead battery was replaced before it even had a chance to explode. Dead batteries can explode and destroy the internal circuitry if they are not removed or replaced.

[@McTroyd]

@@LittleRichard1988 Quite correct. I've been burned by that before. As soon as it became apparent the SRAM presets were corrupted, I went looking.

[@KozmykJ]

I bought the EMU Soundfont Packs back in the 90s. When I moved to thus new place I stumbled upon them once more. Studio One uses an SF2 format for Presence it's ROMplersizer plugin. Of course, these days, they're more layered and across less keys per sample than they were 25 years ago but it was nice to see that sf2 was still a 'Thing'. And you're right we all wanted one and/or their rack sampler; was it the ESi -32 that was the first of those ?

[@EspenKraft]

The Emax was also released in rack form. ;-)

[@EgoShredder]

Now that is a synth with soooooo many satisfying and instantly usable sounds. I've long wanted to get the 2 Orchestral version but might have to add #1 to that list!

[@ricoF71]

I always wanted to get /1 yet ended owning /2 instead! Lol!

[@juno6]

Great review! I got mine for free when I bought my Akai S612. I never even turned it on. I will soon after this review! thanx!

[@EspenKraft]

Cool. Do it! Thanks :)

[@budfoon]

Still have my Proteus 2000 with its slots full of orchestral, vintage & world cards - and i occasionally move the expansion cards to my PK-6. So many nice sounds - even in 2020. Often fills a need i can't meet with anything else - like last year when i needed a good sitar - and i found three different ones among its patches.

[@ChrisScribs]

I used to have one of these and I really miss it 😔

[@DaveDaves]

Very nice! Can't remember if I'd seen this when I made/posted my Proteus /1 demo. I only had the module for a few months, you seem to have a lot more experience with it...

[@EspenKraft]

I just had this module on loan for a few days, but I remember them from when they were released in the late 80s. ;-)

[@djformalin]

Thx Espen....nostalgic & nice video 🎼

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks! :)

[@StevenClements]

My first muliti-timberal box. Definitely needed effects but what they packed into that 1U sample wise was ground breaking at the time. 🥰

[@DynamicRockers]

@7:10 this piano + strings patch was all over the place in the 90s. Nice review! thx

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks!

[@jakeperl5857]

Ah, fond memories of a lot of sequencing with this unit. Mine had the ProtoLogic expansion. If I recall, the only thing lacking, for my taste, were the electric bass patches, but I had those well-covered with the Roland Bass Legends rack unit. Along with an Alesis D4, Yamaha DX-7, and Roland D-50. Great times.

[@EspenKraft]

Great times indeed. ;-)

[@soulflower8687]

That harpsi patch at 9 mins is great, and that Kraft made pad is very nice. the Proteus 1 definitely sounds better than the later Proteus iterations. Something about this box is just classic and nice.

[@AFK7Music]

ah, there are those orchestral strings Nobuo Uematsu and many other composers used in many games and animation of the 90s/00s!

[@MarshalArnold]

Percussion sounds awesome on this!

[@rogerfelez7478]

Completely true! That's why I own a Proteus 1, the heart of my live rig is the Proteus 2 though, combined with a Kurzweil K2000R

[@DrGargani]

mine still works great and is part of my home rig...nice choice of sounds, some of them very unique....

[@EspenKraft]

It sure is nice.

[@alobosk]

I had the Proteus 2. The strings are still today the most powerful I've ever used.

[@VasiliyDanStar]

Music in the beginning is cool. I would like to listen to it longer.

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks!

[@maccagrabme]

That track sounds similar to the early 80s electrofunk hiphop, like it. Love these Emu modules they have a strong punchy sound and tons of useful percussion and drums and the sounds might be basic but they work so well in a track, the piano and strings are perfect for 80s music in general and that early 90s era like Soul2Soul and even up to late 90s UK Garage so quite versatile. I use the Proteus 2000s with Emulator X software which is one of my favourite vsts.

[@tommym6248]

I picked up a Proteus 2500 about 6 years ago. Guess I should keep it. 😁

[@PCoyte]

Very nostalgic to see this - It's inspired me to get my EMU Morpheus out of the cupboard!

[@EspenKraft]

Excellent! :)

[@liljons6753]

@@EspenKraft what did the squence the sound to back then? And is this what boy bands had in their songs...?

[@saturnosinanillos]

Great video! .... I still have one! Proteus 1 Plus Orchestral!!

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks!

[@erichkohl9317]

Oh wow ... that "bell" kind of sound at 8:30 sounds exactly like something that was used in one of my favorite documentaries, "The KGB, The Computer, And Me."

[@kylew706]

That intro jam was fantastic 👏🏼 I aspire to have your level of 80’s skill one day

[@EspenKraft]

Cheers!

[@Aetila]

I wanted the "Morpheus" instead with hyper-super "Z-plane filters", lol.

[@robstrancecollection]

I picked one up on eBay about 10 years ago for only $150 . It’s pretty awesome man, I’m dreading the day it goes out on me 😬 it’s almost 30 years old.

[@joorchampi3346]

Moepheus is simply amaaaaazing for pads, new age, lo-fi......

[@tomblaze2]

That synth rock still brings the heat - listen to percussion layers on Megan the Stallion/Beyoncé’s 2020 US Billboard Hit - ‘Savage’

[@andrewb2700]

I used to have this module but now I got the 2000. The boy band "Take That" from UK relies on this module in their first album.

[@KeisariEurobeat]

Wow, those choirs, organs and strings... Just wow...

[@audioartisan]

Great video Espen. I actually still have an offspring of this module. The Ultraproteus, which had the best of the Proteus 1, 2, and 3 modules along with the proformance piano module stereo piano sample. Really a shame that E-MU went out of business right along with Ensoniq. Those were the digital ROMpler glory years for sure :)

[@ricoF71]

Proformance Piano Module is fantastic! I love that small rack with awesome sounds!

[@EspenKraft]

Thanks man! :)

[@RayBellis]

They didn’t go out of business - they got bought but then the new owners (Creative) lost interest in the instrument business.

[@donaldfreeman3433]

Emu has a great library of sounds & features !!!

[@chriss2295]

I remember having to buy the proteus at all costs. Haha. Who would of thought it would be a VST one day. Amazing. Nice work!

[@vtcabbit]

underrated little device