Members cxp344 Posted April 26, 2004 Members Share Posted April 26, 2004 Hey everyone, I've been thinking about picking up the EMU Morpheus from ebay based on some of the reviews that I've read from HC and other sources. I am curious, though, if it would even be worth it. The Morpheus is a 1994 product and I already own a more up-to-date EMU XL-7. Is the XL-7 a product of some of the advances found in the Morpheus or is it a different animal altogether? I guess my main question is whether or not I'll really be getting anything new. If anyone has a Morpheus, I'd be glad to hear what you think. Thanks, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheProteus Posted April 26, 2004 Members Share Posted April 26, 2004 The Morpheus may not have the newest samples in it, but it is the only E-Mu synthesizer designed specifically around Z-Plane filters. The waves, the effects, and the whole system is targeted to maximize the ability of Z-Plane. One more thing, the Morpheus has 197 different Z-Plane filter types in it, while the XL-7 has only 15 different types. If you can't find yourself justifying the dosh for a Morpheus, wait until an UltraProteus comes along. It's got about 60% of the samples of the Morpheus, but also packs in the Proteus sound set, and all the Z-Plane filters. I personally own an UltraMorpheus, which is basically a Morpheus modded so it contains both the full Morpheus and UltraProteus sound set, plus some extra goodies. :-) The Morpheus is quite a fun synth, but some find it too cold for their taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aeon Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 TheProteus said:...the Morpheus has 197 different Z-Plane filter types in it, while the XL-7 has only 15 different types. in truth, while the XL-7 has 50 filter types, none of them are true Z-Planes...and the UltraProteus has 288 Z-Planes! in any event, I have an E-mu UltraProteus that I am looking to sell, so if anyone is interested, PM me. cheers, aeon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KrazyKarl Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 I had a morpheus for years. it was my only working synth during much of this time. i didn't use it all that much - i found myself basically just using its sample offset capabilites to make every sound, that was really damn cool though. but then i got a new pc and buzz and the crystal softsynth among others... this completely obsoleted the morpheus and i sold it. but it was really quite cool while i had it and it was a great synth to learn about synthesizers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Array Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spectralab Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 the sample offsets and function generators combined with the z-planes make the Morpheus/Ultra-Proteus the two most interesting synths out of the early-90s ROMpler period, IMO. that said, I recently decided to go modular, and my Morpheus is up for grabs if you're interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheProteus Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 Originally posted by aeon in truth, while the XL-7 has 50 filter types, none of them are true Z-Planes...and the UltraProteus has 288 Z-Planes! in any event, I have an E-mu UltraProteus that I am looking to sell, so if anyone is interested, PM me. cheers, aeon I was just quoting the reference section of my manual, which goes from 0 to 197. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cxp344 Posted April 27, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 Everyone, Thanks so much for the replies. The difference in the number of filters isn't something that I would have considered on my own since I'm still pretty new to synthesis...but I'm so tired of presets that I MUST start making my own sounds. Based on your comments I think that I'm definitely going to look into picking one of these up. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spectralab Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 Originally posted by TheProteus I was just quoting the reference section of my manual, which goes from 0 to 197. :-) and if you re-read the part of aeon's post that you quoted, you'll notice that he was referring to the Ultra-Proteus and not the Morpheus when he said there were 288 z-planes... so just to clarify: Morpheus - has 197 z-planes Ultra-Proteus - has 288 z-planes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff Irok Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 Originally posted by aeon in truth, while the XL-7 has 50 filter types... You beat me to it. The early Proteus 2000-based roms started with only 17, but the most recent upgrades to the OS brings the number up to 50. Sadly, I s'pose that will be all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.