E-MU XL-7... Good stuff?

[Diantre]

Hi everyone,

There is an E-MU XL-7 listed locally on Kijiji for 300$. I produce/play live, mainly dubstep, dnb, bassy stuff with creepy atmospheres. Is that a good buy? I already have an MPC 1000 and EMX.

I'd like to get the opinion of people who have used it, as it's pretty obscure it seems.

[paugui]

I have one and I like it a lot.

It's not hard to use and the sounds are good enough, I'd say.

As a plus, you can expand it with more EMU ROMs, from the Proteus 2000 series.

[viewingstuff]

my fav command station vids for demonstrating using live, last one is me btw : )





for live use and beat making it rocks. for programming and creating an entire song in detail it's maybe not as good as an mpc. mine has some bugs in song mode and crashes sometimes but the interface is so far ahead of it's time no one ever stopped to think of duplicating it. i mean it's got pads AND track mute buttons and you can record an entire song and edit and arrange tracks without ever pressing stop. why nobody has bothered to include 16 track mute buttons along with pads and a no-stop work flow is seriously beyond me. don't forget the 16 assignable knobs and synthesis/rompler capabilities

edit: if anyone does decide to make track mute buttons on their drum machine use rubber buttons like maschine or mmt8 because the command station buttons go bad after a while and start sticking plus they make that clicking sound when you press them

[DJ ALX]

If you play your phrases and dont sample then its a good choise.

lots and lots of different sound to choose from and you can tweak them too.

i have the MP7 with the Mo Phatt ROM, Xtreme Lead Rom, and Composer Rom.

[Reptil]

Yep it's nice. Easy to program, not so amused with OS 2.0, maybe I'll go back, 1.8 was good. knobs still ok don't stick here.
Oh I also have an MPC1000 and they make a good pair. both thight timing, no issues whatsoever.
It's not THAT obscure. EMU was pretty big in studio gear for quite some time.

[ChristianRock]

I wonder what it would be like to have a PX7 MP7 or XL7, controlling a Korg Electribe ES-X or maybe an MC-808 now that it can process samples without a computer. Sounds very tasty.

Of course the Command Station + MPC1000 like in Reptil's setup sounds mighty awesome too.

[Reptil]

plus an ES-1 korg for the lofi beats

[KryoShift]

I don't have a Command Station, but I do have it's rack-mounted brother, the Proteus 2000. I'm a big fan of E-Mu's sample/ROMpler tech.

I'm still sorely tempted to get a Command Station and load it with XL-7, MP-7, Protean Drums (from PX-7), and Beat Garden ROMs.

[crufty]

Xl7 is great

Decent supersaw which i found surprising

I have problems with patches not sticking in patterns and i have yet to get cutoffs to stick. I am sure this is operator error though. My headphone jack is noisy (buzzzz) And i have issues with fx and bass in that too much bass and the fx clicks. Workflow is well thought out and the xox programming is awesome.

All quibbles are minor and i would sorely miss mine if it were to break.

[viewingstuff]

Originally Posted by crufty

I have problems with patches not sticking in patterns

this recently started happening to me also, was fine for the first few years. i hope it's something i changed in the multisetup

[viewingstuff]

Originally Posted by Reptil

not so amused with OS 2.0, maybe I'll go back, 1.8 was good

care to elabourate on this reptil?

[Crawling Wind]

What kind of problems did you have w/2.0?

Originally Posted by Reptil

Yep it's nice. Easy to program, not so amused with OS 2.0, maybe I'll go back, 1.8 was good. knobs still ok don't stick here.
Oh I also have an MPC1000 and they make a good pair. both thight timing, no issues whatsoever.
It's not THAT obscure. EMU was pretty big in studio gear for quite some time.

[dialecticmusic]

I have used the PX7 (the silver one with the drum ROM, also have the XL7, Beat Garden, and Siedlaczek Orchestra ROMs) since 2003. The issue that some people are having with the cutoff frequencies etc. not saving with the patterns is because those settings are saved with the patch, not the pattern. It is best to save new versions of patches for each pattern, because it is really easy to overwrite patches, or inadvertently tweak a patch used for another pattern...

[Reptil]

Originally Posted by Crawling Wind

What kind of problems did you have w/2.0?

Not a problem as in "bug" at all. The MP7 has been one of the most stable machines in the shed. OS 2.0 introduces all kinds of extra features, that can be accessible with holding tap etc. Also some straightfroward extra's of 1.8 got moved or don't exist anymore. I put some painters tape with pointers (sribbles) on it to remember where everything went because I was using it alongside a dj set. Suddenly it had LAYERS OF MENUS WITH MULTIPLE BUTTON ACCESS... and the shallow depth of being able to program it without diving into "secret keycombinations" was the strenght of it.
So check out the manual additions. To make a choice. It's an optional upgrade is all I'm saying.

One other thing about that. Bring a compressor! the EMU is too clean to compete with the compressed and distorted drums and synths of records.
with that compressor (In my case a VCA type, I wanted a fast one (Urei 7110), it's lovely on stage.
I also wanted to put my Mytek DAC on the SPDIF output but before I actually could do that the DAC died on me.
I'll try it when it comes back from repairs.

Originally Posted by dialecticmusic

I have used the PX7 (the silver one with the drum ROM, also have the XL7, Beat Garden, and Siedlaczek Orchestra ROMs) since 2003. The issue that some people are having with the cutoff frequencies etc. not saving with the patterns is because those settings are saved with the patch, not the pattern. It is best to save new versions of patches for each pattern, because it is really easy to overwrite patches, or inadvertently tweak a patch used for another pattern...

yes thumbsup
you can both save things in new patches and in new patterns (which make up a song and are 16track deep (one whole funchtion page with all the bells and whistles) It's save and load structure is simple and great.

I don't know why but that Beat Garden messed up settings in the preset menu of the 16 encoders. (first page of that)
Suddenly some knob that had always been release is now lfo rate.
This gave me a headache.
I have some other ROMs coming, and will exchange them and report back.
This is another "feature" mind you, not a bug.

As those two things are sorted it's going to be a "new" machine.

[Pschelfh]

I have an MP-7 with MP, XL, Composer and TSCY rom.

The TSCY is worth hunting down, nice samples and very well programmed!

Peter.

[viewingstuff]

Originally Posted by dialecticmusic

It is best to save new versions of patches for each pattern, because it is really easy to overwrite patches, or inadvertently tweak a patch used for another pattern...

it must be my machine then. two years with it recalling patches correctly and now it is forgetting to load unaltered factory presets as well as the default blank preset(in that case it loads up the factory preset originally on that track instead of the blank preset). strange thing is it will forget to load the blank default presets when i load the pattern after turning on the machine, but if i recall the saved pattern after that it will remember.

if i have four tracks set to blank default preset and save the pattern, when i recall it later after restarting the machine i reset the first track back to the blank preset and the rest will reset automatically. the rest that were also supposed to contain the blank preset that is. i should try and go back to some of my old patterns to see if they still load correctly. also, it hasn't defragmented in a while and i think there's a manual way to do it.

edit: in the addendum for 2.0 they've added the manual option to defrag, although it won't let you do it if there is more than 100k bytes of compacted memory remaining, which i just found out : )

[Retrofreak]

Yeah, they're good, but get even better when you stick other sound roms in them

[Diantre]

Ahah I guess it was stupid to post this here, minutes after it was gone. Great thread tho!

@Reptil: I already use a RNC1773 on my master out and it does an outstanding job. Even producer friends have a hard time knowing what is a track and what is live.

[viewingstuff]

from the command station faq:

-Why do my Patterns not play back correctly after I save them?


There are a few things that could lead to this, and most of them are unfortunately user errors, not bugs. Here's some things to tryout, or remember for next time you're writing. First of all, if you press Stop three times or hold PLAY then press STOP, it resets the channel settings for that Pattern, so your Pan, Volume, and Preset assignments may revert to their saved status as originally recorded in the Pattern. This does not include recorded Pattern data, such as Notes or CC's. Second, loading a Multisetup will override these same settings, and if you save your Pattern before playing it, the Multisetups channel settings will be saved to Pattern, instead of the correct values you wanted. Additionally, make sure your Pattern is done saving before you power off. Finally, be aware that Patterns will not store data such as Preset assignments, FX Send amounts, etc for those Tracks that don't have any MIDI information recorded to them.


i knew it had something to do with multisetups!

[crufty]

Thanks for link...explains headphone hum, nice!

[cdog]

I used to have an XL7, but for whatever reason I ended up not using it as much as my trio of Electribe mkIIs... even though Im sure its more powerful and probably better sounding. I never totally got my head around the interface. The pads feel nice. Its really, really yellow man. So theres that.

[dialecticmusic]

They are great sequencers, and the synth engine is very good also. The arpeggiators are the best I've ever used, very musical, deep to program, and easy to tweak in real time. It's always been a solid box for me, I love the fact that it uses standard MIDI files (makes it easy to send sequences back and forth to the computer). I've been using it as my main sequencer for 8 years now, and I still find new depths to it all the time...

[tonevision]

Originally Posted by Diantre

Hi everyone,

There is an E-MU XL-7 listed locally on Kijiji for 300$. I produce/play live, mainly dubstep, dnb, bassy stuff with creepy atmospheres. Is that a good buy? I already have an MPC 1000 and EMX.

I'd like to get the opinion of people who have used it, as it's pretty obscure it seems.

E-mu XL1-XL7 is very complex and useful if u know what u need and what u do.

[ASICE]

I have two EMU Command Stations... The PX-7 and MP-7... both fully loaded with expansion sounds.



I just can't seem to sell these machines. The sequencer is super easy and you can edit most of the sounds. They're just dope machines.

Sometimes I'll sit at my Motif es for a hour and come up with nothing... but I can sit at one of my Command Stations and within 10 minute I have a song. It's like the sounds on their just make song idea's jump out at me. It's like I could play the same notes on my Motif and not hear anything, but on the Command Station those notes sound a little "funkier"... and that's when the idea's start flowing.

So a lot of times what I'll do is start a beat on the Command Station... then when I think I have something worth while I'll try to recreate it on the Motif using the Motif sounds and any sound I can't recreate I'll just sample from the Command Station into the motif es and Bam!... now I have the same song with better sounds.

With this method It always seems like I come up with music that I would have never thought of if I used the Motif es by it's self. I can make bangers on the Motif es by it's self... but when I add sounds from the Command Stations it's like the perfect mix.

I think it's the pad layout of the Command Station that makes me play things in a certain way.

PS: If EMU would have put samplers in the Command Stations and added maybe 16 more tracks and changed a few things I'd take one of those over a MPC 1000 any day.

[Reptil]

you could control (part of) the MPC-1000 through the interface of this EMU, through midi of course. (See Viewingstuff's video)
Also, changing the CC number is easy on the EMU and it's possible to save with a pattern.

Diantre good to hear the RNC is working out for you. I never tried it, it's rare here.

Thanks Viewingstuff, for the link.
I think you can make a sort workaround shuffle, by quantising different notes differently.

I sort of like the clicking sound. no sticky buttons. It's been in the studio, mostly.

[Visible Cow]

I've been considering one of these solely for the sequencer. So is it easy to hook up an external keyboard and record in real-time? Is it intuitive?

I don't mind difficult interfaces (love the Dx7) but I'd rather not have a sequencer that's too hard to navigate.

[lilita]

I want one of these bastids. They pop up on CL every now and then.

[ASICE]

*How do I use my own samples in the Command Station? What kind of E-Mu sampler do I need?*

The only way to use your own sounds is by burning them to an E-Mu Flash ROM via an E-Mu hardware sampler. Currently, you will need an E-Mu “Ultra” sampler in order to burn Flash ROMs for use in the Command Stations, there is no other way to do it.

Has anyone tried this... and how difficult is it to find blank roms?

[Reptil]

I found an editor prodatum - official homepage

Don't know if I'll use this much myself, programming this beasty is easy.

and another video showing what it can do

[slippast]

Awesome link & video Reptil! Thanks