I’d like to add more hard synths to my home studio and I’m wondering what of these…
I have decided on E-mu Planet Phatt, but I don’t know if maybe I must decide better on E-mu Mo’Phatt, that I have read that is an update of the Planet Phatt… Does it really worth it? I can get the planet phat for 100 € more or less… but the mo’phat around 150 €…
I’ve seen the Turbo Phatt too… but I don´t know if this synth is an update too of the last two… I’d like to decide on one of these three…
and the other options are from E-mu too… they are the Orbit 9090! it happens the same with the Planet Phatt… There is an update that is the Orbit-3… but this synth is difficult to find!!! Does it really worth it too?
The E-MU “Proteus” series hardware are basically all identical, except for the ROM samples and programs they come with. So essentially, if you are going to use the built-in sounds only, the choice is very important. If you however, are going to create your own sounds, the choice becomes a little less important.
I am not a using-the-programs-it-came-with kind of a person myself, so I tend to choose based on capabilities rather than samples and programs. I have to say though that, if you are going to edit on any of these modules, it’s very tedious to do on the unit itself. It is possible of course, but as I said, it can be frustrating.
Capability wise, the units are very capable, but personally I would choose one of the more advanced (read later) modules, since they will have an edge over the older ones in terms of what it can do. This choice is, like I said, because I am interest in making sounds.
The samples on these modules are really very similar. They are of course different, but what I mean is that they are aimed at modern (for THEIR time) music. Progressively, raw material is becoming less important because machines or software can render them incomparable to their origin.
if I was you I would go for the orbit 3 , ive got 2 of the original 9090 v1 sitting in the loft with their launch pad controllers ,the orbit 3 can as far as I know can add (expand) the roms of any other emu module , the same as the proteus 2000 and if I remember rightly the “turbos” are expandable as well ,so what ever way you go you can have what ever modules you like all in one chassis
Personally I feel that the presets that are on EMU modules are plastered all over music from the last 20 years and are easily replicated using a sampler with a little knowledge, yes they are cheap but they are extremely overused and pretty boring, as you can guess I am not a fan of preset romplers, horses for courses I suppose, if you don’t mind using easily reconisable sounds in your productions, go ahead.
There are far better synths out there for not much more money, Yamaha TX81-Z for monster bases and searing leads for example, cheap as chips, extremely programmable (with editor) but they are starting to become collectable so be quick.
One of my favourite hardware synths is the Nord Modular, extremely powerful and complements my 450HP of Eurorack Modular extremely nicely but you are starting to get into 300-500 euros territory there, worth it though.
