Emu Proteus /1 (1989)
16 bit Multi Timbral Digital Sound Module

 

First module rompler produced by famous American sampler company EMU.
An affordable collection of bread and butters pop sounds from Emulator III archive.

The proteus series do not have filter, which is now a pretty big miss.

RACKMOUNT MODULE 1 rack unit mainly made out of plastic.
Main panel features a 16 x 2 LCD display, 1 volume knob, 1 data encoder and 4 push buttons.

Rear panel terminal connectors:
- main signal out
- 4 individual outputs (subs with possible external insert)
- Midi interface
- VDE power

 

 

VOICE main core based on a Motorola MC68000 manages up to 32 channels polyphony with six 16 bits PCM56P DAC. A voice is composed by 2 PCM elements samples "primary" and "secondary" with some edit parameters:

- pitch tuning (fine and coarse) - keyzone assignment - start delay - stereo panning - mix level - reverse playback - chorus mode (thicks voice)

WAVETABLE internal 4Mb ROM (8 X rom ICs) 125 PCM waves at 39 kHz / 16 bits resolution.

PCM wavetable contains all kind of sounds samples e.g: piano, string, sax, trumpet, brass, guitar, bass, organs, drums, percussions and basic waveforms (digital, square, harmonics, short-cycled). HEAR piano

 

EXPANSION some different upgrades were available:
- XR: extra RAM adds 192 new slots
- Plus Orchetral extra rom adds 4 MB of orchestral sounds (same found on PROTEUS 2 module)
- Invision Protologic third part board with 4MB extra ROM.

- LEFT - invision protologic quite rare. any more info? write us ! HEAR orchestral SOUND XP

 

PERFORMANCE up to 16 parts with some special functions:

- solo monophonic mode (for OSC1/OSC2/BOTH) - crossfade balance between primary and secondary - pitchbend range (+/- 1 OCT) - 3 footswitch assignable controls (eg: sustain, portamento, hold...) - key velocity control - scale tuning 5 presets (equal, vallotti, just C, 19 tone, gamelan) + 1 user free. HEAR 2 patch layer

LFO a single oscillator (4 shapes: triangle, saw, sinewave and square) for each layer.
Main modulation destinations are:

- LFO 1 amplitude - LFO 2 pitch Modulation can be assigned also to the matrix modulation HEAR LFO

 

MIDI MATRIX: classic fuction routing by EMU, well-known to samplers. Here's a sum-up:

SOURCES	DESTINATIONS
- Velocity - Key Number - Trigger Tempo (Rate) - assignable MIDI A - assignable MIDI B - assignable MIDI C - assignable MIDI D - Pressure - Pitch Wheel - LFO	- Pitch - Accent - Attack - Hold - Decay - Pitch Env. Amount /decay - Panning - Tone - Sample Start - LFO Rate / Amount

 

 

ENVELOPE there are 3 EGS with structure : 4 segments + 2 times, called DAHDSR which standas for: Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, and Release. In addition 4 preset velocity curves.

- EG primary sample amplitude - EG secondary sample amplitude - AUX (assignable) EG can be assigned to the matrix control TIP: Special "Alternate" mode plays the EG forward and then Backward.

 

MIDI full sysex commands and some basic CC controls including: panning, modulation and 4 assignable controllers ABCD (see "matrix" below).

MEMORY:
- 128 ROM patches
- 64 RAM slots
Sounds can be saved only using Midi sysex, no external medias.
Battery replacement: soldered Lithium BR2-3 3V battery (see picture below)

LEFT - Battery replacemen: soldered lithium battery 3V model BR2/3a. - Click to Enlarge pic -

 

MODIFICATION and MAINTENANCE

- DISPLAY dead dark zones on the display like stain - ENCODER: after some times the encoder may go random just clean it with Q-tip and dedicated liquid product.

I attempted to mod it with a circuit bending, but no great results, some exemple audio clips in the DEMO section

 

 

RELATED FAMILY:

	PROTEUS MPS basically a keyboard version with added a DSP EFFECT and external RAM storage.
	PROTEUS 2 different ROM based on orchestral instruments VIDEO
	PROTEUS 3 different ROM based on ethnic worldl instruments VIDEO
	PROCUSSION different ROM based on ethnic worldl instruments
	PROTEUS FX a mix of proteus 1/2 with 8 MB rom VIDEO
	PROTOZOA ROM expansion rom board includes all waves from Proteus 1/2/3 for 2k and 1k machine, including: proteus 2000, B3, XL-1, Orbit 3, Virtuoso and more.

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free and commercial samples set:

EMU proteus VX VST

FREE all samples!

AUDIO DEMO

factory demo performance mix: piano + strings performance mix 2: choir + strings performance mix3: dance (!) performance mix4: ambient piano: stereo piano: kinda rhodes organ: hammond b3 strings: acoustic strings: with choir flute: classic choir: simple harpsichord: Lully Vibraphone ethnic: asia pad: digital

synth: arpeggio synth: harmonics drums: pop kit drums: jungle FX: lfo FX: 8 bits arcade BENDING! 1 BENDING! 2 BENDING! 3 BENDING! 4 BENDING! 5 BENDING! 6 BENDING! 7 BENDING! 8 BENDING! 9

VIDEO SELECTION Demo demo2 Proteus 1 bending