Emulator 4 Ultra Series

The Emulator 4 Ultra series was introduced at the 1999 Winter NAMM show (January 99).

An update of the E4X series, the primary hardware difference in the Ultra range was a new 32-bit RISC processor (actually a coldfire processor), which gave much improved processing speed on many operations within the sampler.

The new coldfire processor also allowed the introduction of a completely new feature, "Beat Munger". Beat Munger was a real-time beat-manipulation tool that allowed you to take a sample, analyse it for tempo, and then 'switch on' or 'switch off' certain slices of the loop. The sampler would then reconstitute the remaining parts of the loop in real time (as the loop played back) - which made it a powerful and flexible tool for quickly designing new loops from old ones (even though it couldn't be MIDI-sync'd).

The initial Ultra models were:

E4XT Ultra
Polyphony: 128
RAM: 64MB (expandable to 128)
Hard Drive: 3.2 GB internal HD installed
MIDI: 2 In, 2 Out, 2 Thru
Effects: 24-bit effects installed
Outputs: 8 balanced analogue on TRS (expandable to 16)
Wordclock
AES/EBU I/O
9 CD ROMs supplied in box


E-Synth Ultra
Polyphony: 64 (expandable to 128)
RAM: 16MB (expandable to 128)
Hard Drive: IDE (internal) or SCSI (internal or external) optional
MIDI: 2 In, 2 Out, 2 Thru
Effects: 24-bit effects installed
Outputs: 8 balanced analogue on TRS (expandable to 16)
Wordclock
AES/EBU I/O
9 CD ROMs supplied in box

The E-Synth came with the E-Synth 16MB Sound ROM board installed as standard.

E6400 Ultra
Polyphony: 64 (expandable to 128)
RAM: 16MB (expandable to 128)
Hard Drive: IDE (internal) or SCSI (internal or external) optional
MIDI: 1 In/Out/Thru. (expandable to 2 of each)
Effects: 24-bit effects installed
Outputs: 8 balanced analogue on TRS (expandable to 16)
Wordclock and AES/EBU I/O both an option
9 CD ROMs supplied in box

In late 1999, the lower-end E5000 Ultra was introduced:

E5000 Ultra
Polyphony: 64 (fixed)
RAM: 2MB (expandable to 128)
Hard Drive: IDE (internal) or SCSI (internal or external) optional
MIDI: 1 In/Out/Thru. (expandable to 2 of each)
Effects: 24-bit effects installed
Outputs: 4 balanced analogue on TRS (expandable to 12)
Wordclock and AES/EBU I/O both an option
2 CD ROMs supplied in box

All of these samplers shipped with EOS V4 software (technically EOS V4 Ultra)- and with the release of the Ultra line, the EOS software was split in to two lines, with EOS "Ultra" operating systems for the Ultra hardware, and EOS "Classic" operating systems for the previous Emulator 4 machines.