# E-mu Emulator and the first samplers, from floppy disk to 16-bit

> The E-mu Emulator explained: how a sampler works, the 1981 Emulator, the 8-bit Emulator II, the 16-bit Emulator III and EIV, with prices and specs.

Canonical: https://sstsynths.com/emulator-samplers
Updated: 2026-10-31

The E-mu Emulator was a line of sampling keyboards that stored sounds on floppy disks, built by E-mu Systems from 1981 to 2002. The first model brought sampling under US$10,000, the eight-bit Emulator II of 1984 became a studio fixture, and the Emulator III went 16-bit stereo.

## What a sampler does

A sampler records sounds and plays them back from a keyboard or another trigger. One recording can be shifted in pitch to play scales and chords, so a single violin note can cover several keys. Each recording is mapped to a range of keys called a **keyzone**; the set of zones is a **keymap**. A short sample can be *looped* — a section repeated between two points — so it sustains as long as the key is held, and a loop crossfade hides the join.

Before digital samplers, keyboards such as the Mellotron played sounds recorded on tape. The first digital sampling was done around 1969 on a minicomputer system at a London studio. The first commercially available sampling synthesizer, the Computer Music Melodian, appeared in 1976, and the Fairlight CMI of 1979 was the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer — recording at 8-bit depth and 8 to 24 kHz, and starting at about US$30,000.

## The Emulator (1981): sampling on a floppy disk

E-mu Systems was founded in 1971 to make microprocessor chips, digital scanning keyboards and other components; its keyboard design was used in the [Prophet-5](/prophet-5). In 1979 its founders saw the Fairlight CMI and the Linn LM-1 drum machine at a convention and set out to build a cheaper sampling keyboard. They first considered selling the design to Sequential Circuits, but when Sequential stopped paying royalties for the keyboard, E-mu released the Emulator itself in 1981.

The Emulator sampled sounds, saved them to 5¼-inch floppy disks and played them from the keyboard, so owners could build a library disk by disk, share it or buy ready-made sound disks. It was a basic eight-bit sampler with a simple filter and a single loop, and the first units had no amplifier envelope. It came as a two-voice model (only one sold), a four-voice and an eight-voice model. The keyboard was split, with one sample on each half; to play one sound across the whole keyboard, the same sound had to be loaded into both sides. About 500 were sold before it was discontinued in early 1984.

## Emulator II (1984): the eight-bit classic

**E-mu Emulator II specifications**

| Feature | Details |
| --- | --- |
| Sampling | 8-bit with companding converters (a µ-255 scheme), 27.7 kHz sample rate |
| Voices | 8, playable as 8 separate parts |
| Memory | 512 kB to 1 MB |
| Filter | SSM 24 dB-per-octave resonant analog low-pass filters on the outputs |
| Keyboard | 61 keys with velocity and aftertouch; pitch-bend and modulation wheels |
| Connections | MIDI |
| Price (1984) | US$7,995, or US$9,995 for the plus model with more sample memory |
| Upgrades | A second floppy drive, a 20 MB hard drive and a 512K memory expansion |

Despite its price, the Emulator II was considered good value next to the Fairlight CMI Series II, whose basic model cost US$30,000. Its companding converters, variable sample rate and analog filter stages give it a sound of its own, which is why its eight-bit samples are still sought out — and why it was heard on many film scores of the 1980s.

## Emulator III and the EIV: 16-bit and beyond

The **Emulator III** followed in 1987 and was made until 1991, with a rack version from 1988. It held 4 or 8 MB and stored 16-bit, 44 kHz stereo samples, the quality of the most advanced professional equipment of the day, with quieter outputs and more reliable CEM filter chips. But it cost US$12,695 (4 MB) or US$15,195 (8 MB) when Akai, Ensoniq and Casio were selling samplers for under US$2,000, and it sold far less well than its predecessors.

The **Emulator IV** series (1994) introduced the Emulator Operating System (EOS): a rack sampler with 128 voices and up to 128 MB of memory. Variants followed — the e64 (1995), the E4K keyboard (1996), the E4X Turbo (1997) and the E-Synth with sound ROMs — and the final Ultra models of 1999 culminated in the E4 Platinum. The series was discontinued in 2002.

## The Emulator among other early samplers

**Sampler milestones, 1976–1988**

| Year | Instrument | Why it matters |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1976 | Computer Music Melodian | First commercially available sampling synthesizer (12-bit, up to 22 kHz) |
| 1979 | Fairlight CMI | First polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer; from about US$30,000 |
| 1980 | Linn LM-1 | First drum machine with digital samples of real drums |
| 1981 | E-mu Emulator | Floppy-disk libraries, under US$10,000 |
| 1984 | E-mu Emulator II | 8 voices, MIDI, analog filters; US$7,995 |
| 1985–1986 | Ensoniq Mirage, E-mu Emax | Sampling keyboards under US$2,000 |
| 1987 | E-mu Emulator III | 16-bit, 44 kHz stereo |
| 1987 | E-mu SP-1200 | A percussion sampler that popularised sampling in hip-hop |
| 1988 | Akai MPC60 | Pads and sequencer; became the most influential sampler in hip-hop |

## Working with a vintage sampler

1. **Copy the disks first.** A vintage sampler's sounds live on floppy disks or a small hard drive; work from copies so an ageing disk or drive cannot take the only original with it.
2. **Count the memory.** Memory was the main limit. Sampling one piano note on every few keys at several loudness levels quickly runs into megabytes, which is why early samplers relied on short, looped samples and lower sample rates.
3. **Check the keyboard split.** An original Emulator holds one sample per half of the keyboard; plan the mapping before the session.
4. **Sync over MIDI.** The Emulator II and later models have MIDI; the original does not.

> **Why early samples sound the way they do** Low bit depth and sample rate limit the detail of a recording; pitching a sample far from its original note changes its tone and speed. Those artefacts, once limitations, are now part of the appeal of eight-bit samplers.

## Frequently asked questions

### What was the first sampler?

The first commercially available sampling synthesizer was the Computer Music Melodian of 1976; the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer was the Fairlight CMI of 1979. E-mu's Emulator of 1981 was among the first samplers widely used by musicians because it cost far less.

### What sample rate does the E-mu Emulator II use?

The Emulator II records 8-bit samples at 27.7 kHz, using companding digital-to-analog converters for better fidelity than plain 8-bit audio, and runs them through analog 24 dB low-pass filters.

### How much did the E-mu Emulator II cost?

US$7,995 in 1984, or US$9,995 for the plus model with extra sample memory. The basic Fairlight CMI Series II cost US$30,000.