The E-mu Proteus was a range of digital sound modules and keyboards manufactured by E-mu Systems in the late twentieth century.
Video E-mu Proteus
History
E-mu Systems came to prominence in the early 1980s with their relatively affordable Emulator sampler, and subsequently pioneered sample-based synthesis technology with the Proteus range. Unlike the true synthesiser, sample-based equipment does not derive its raw sounds from electronic oscillators but from recorded sounds held in read-only memory (ROM) chips. These sounds may then be layered, filtered, modulated by low frequency oscillation and shaped by envelopes. However, unlike a true sampler, such devices do not allow the user to record sounds but instead offer a range of factory sounds suitable for any given use. This type of sound production dominated electronic music production for several years in the late 20th century. The exclusive license for re-formatting and managing historical E-MU Proteus sound content has been acquired by Digital Sound Factory.
Maps E-mu Proteus
Models
The Proteus range was developed into several models, some differing from each other only by the sound banks they contained, which were optimised for different purposes. However, since most allowed four ROM chips to be mounted, and these chips were available separately, real differences might be simply cosmetic. The available ROM chips included the Composer, a work-horse set of sounds useful for popular music production, three orchestral ROMs, the Vintage Keys collection of electric organs, pianos and classic synthesisers, a chip dedicated to the Hammond organ and a drum ROM as well as the Orbit and Mo-Phatt collections, aimed at dance and urban genres and the Xtreme Lead, optimised for monophonic synthesiser soloing.
Though the Proteus was mainly known as a keyboardless MIDI sound module, E-mu also marketed the Proteus MPS (Master Performance System), a 61-key keyboard version of the Proteus module.
Proteus 2000
The Proteus 2000 released in 1999 was a 1U rack sound module based on Audity 2000 released in 1998. It contained many "bread and butter" sounds, among just over a thousand waves utilising 32 megabytes of ROM. It featured up to 128 voice polyphony and 32-part multi-timbrality. It could be expanded with slots for three additional sound ROM cards. A cheaper Proteus 1000 model was also introduced with the same soundset and ROM but only 64 voice polyphony and fewer individual sound outputs.
Proteus 2500
This 4U rack model was designed to function as a rack-mounted, front-panel-programmable sound source. It was equipped with sixteen multi-function pads and the same number of programmable knobs and had an onboard sequencer.
Command Station
In 2001 the Proteus line of modules was repackaged in the form of a line of tabletop units, the XL7 and MP7 Command Stations, broadly similar to the rack-mounted 2500 in features but featuring touch-sensitive pads suitable for recording drum patterns.
MK-6/PK-6/Halo
In 2001-2002, E-mu/Ensoniq released a trio of entry-level keyboards, essentially the keyboard versions of the Proteus 2500 module. The E-mu MK-6, XK-6, PK-6 and Ensoniq Halo featured the same 61-key keyboard and controls layout, but slightly different soundset.
Software Editor
prodatum is a cross-platform software editor for the Proteus 1000/2000, Command Stations and keyboard versions. prodatum is free software.
Proteum is a free Windows software editor for Proteus and Command Stations.
OS Updates
Since Creative withdrew their provision of historical OS updates and manuals for most of the older E-Mu gear sometime around August 2011, many of these files have been made available elsewhere, such as Synth Gear Docs Archive and the E-Mu Legacy Archive.
Notable users
The following artists have used an E-mu Proteus series sampler in their recordings.
- Allen Bohbot (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock, Proteus 2 Orchestral and Proteus 3 World for Extreme Dinosaurs)
- Alex Matthias (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock, Proteus 2 Orchestral, Proteus 3 World And Morphius for Jo Alex Studios Films and Tv Programs Starting with Playdays (Jo Alex Studios)
- American Public Television (Used the Proteus 2 Orchestral snare drum (snare drum and rim shot sounds) MIDI keys from the Percussion 1 patch (Patch #58) for their second logo (1994-1999), with the same tune used for their third logo (1999-2010) and fourth logo (2008-2011))
- Andrew McCrorie-Shand (Famous for using Proteus 2 Orchestral for utilizing the snare drum (snare drum, snare roll, rim shot and rim click sounds) and piatti MIDI keys from the Percussion 1 patch (Patch #58) for Teletubbies and also used it for an earlier Ragdoll Productions series, Tots TV.)
- Andrew Belling (Andy Belling) (Music Director who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Disney Sing-Along Songs)
- Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra (Both composers have used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Sega CD and Playstation versions of Mickey Mania's score and the PC version of Toy Story)
- Andy Paley (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for some music scores in some episodes of Spongebob Squarepants and Camp Lazlo)
- Audio Network (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Infinite One patch (Patch #86) in some scores for a Vice Media documentary, Age of Consent)
- Barron Abramovitch (Music engineer who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Saban Entertainment adaptation of Jungle Tales anime)
- Barry Hirschberg (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral)
- Bill Weisbach (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral and 2000 in the Baby Einstein video and music series)
- Bob Mothersbaugh (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Rugrats.)
- Bob Golden (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral for Lamb Chop's Play Along)
- Bob Singleton (Famously known for have using Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral, who served as music director for Barney and the Backyard Gang and Barney & Friends from 1990-2000, using instrument patches such as Piccolo (Patch #25) and Percussion 1 (Patch #58) from Proteus 2)
- Boomerang (Used the Proteus 2 Orchestral snare drum (snare drum, snare roll, rim shot and rim click sounds) and piatti MIDI keys from the Percussion 1 patch (Patch #58) for the Boomerang Saturdays/19__ Edition Theme bumpers)
- Bradley Joseph (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral)
- Bruce Roberts (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys)
- Bruce Zimmerman (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Video series and Richard Scarry's Best Videos Ever!)
- Dan Sawyer (Used Proteus 2 for Doug & PB&J Otter)
- Dave Kinnoin (Used Proteus 2 for the North American release of The Adventures of Spot.)
- David W. Shaw (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Cyberchase)
- Del Casher (Composed for seven episodes of Kablam! with Proteus 2 Orchestral being one of the sound modules used for the Life with Loopy segments)
- Dennis C. Brown (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the final three seasons of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series from 1994-1996)
- Dennis Scott (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral)
- Diana B. (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys)
- Don Buczynski (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral for original musical projects online for listening)
- Eric Serra (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Infinite One patch (Patch #86) to make a deep low octave sound effect for the Goldeneye film)
- Fred Newman (Used Proteus 2 for Doug)
- Gary Lionelli (Used Proteus 2 for Tom & Jerry Kids)
- Gary Stadler
- Guy Moon (Used Proteus 2)
- Haim Saban (as Kussa Mahchi)
- Harold Faltermeyer (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Asterix Conquers America)
- Hayden Whiting (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Caillou)
- Hiroyuki Kouzu (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the 1996 Fire Emblem OVA)
- Howard Goodall (Used some patches from the Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Mr. Bean TV series)
- Ing. Victor Arcos (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral to compose the score for La Rueda de la Fortuna from 1995-1997)
- Jay Ferguson (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for 14 episodes of Tales from the Crypt)
- Jeff Fisher (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to score 48 episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?)
- Jeremy Wakefield (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral)
- Jerry Grant (Used samples from Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Secret World of Alex Mack's score for Seasons 2-4)
- Jim Lang (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for some episodes Hey Arnold!, despite he composed for all 100 episodes)
- Jimmy Hammer (Used Proteus 2 for the North American release of The Adventures of Spot)
- Joe Phillips (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock for Barney & Friends from 1997-2000)
- John Coda (Used samples from Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Secret World of Alex Mack's theme song and composed for Season 1)
- John Du Prez (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to compose some scores for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III)
- John Napier (Composed for seven episodes of Kablam! with Proteus 2 Orchestral being one of the sound modules used for the Life with Loopy segments)
- John Zuker (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to score music for 13 episodes of Sonic SatAM, SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, one episode of What-A-Cartoon! show, being The Powerpuff Girls short, Crime 101 and Life with Louie)
- Jonathan Wolff (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral for Yo Yogi!)
- Junior Campbell (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to score Seasons 3 through 7 of Thomas & Friends with later seasons also including Proteus 2000. He also score Thomas story segments from Season 2 through Family Specials of Shining Time Station, and the spin off TV series, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales.)
- Kenneth Burgomaster (Music engineer who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Saban Entertainment licensed content)
- Kick Production (Music composing studio that has used Proteus 2 Orchestral for several production works)
- Kyle Justin (Used the Star (Patch #113) and Infinite One (Patch #86) instruments from Proteus 2 Orchestral for A Nightmare on Elm Street episode on The Angry Video Game Nerd series)
- Laurent Petitgirard (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Busy World of Richard Scarry)
- Mark Mothersbaugh (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Rugrats)
- Mark Simon (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad)
- Mark Snow (Perhaps the most famous of all composers that used Proteus 2 Orchestral. He was known for utilizing the Whistl'n Joe instrument patch (Patch #125) for The X-Files theme)
- Matt Muhoberac (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral) *Michael Crowther (Pond5 artist) (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for some music tracks)
- Michael Lloyd (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral for Kidsongs from 1990 till 1993)
- Mike O'Donnell (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to score Seasons 3 through 7 of Thomas & Friends with later seasons also including Proteus 2000. He also score Thomas story segments from Season 2 through Family Specials of Shining Time Station, and the spin off TV series, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales.)
- Mike Watts (Composer and Orchestrator who has used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Battletoads pilot)
- Milan Kymlicka (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Busy World of Richard Scarry)
- Motoaki Takenouchi (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Shining Force CD)
- Murray McFadden (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to compose for 87 episodes of Captain Planet and the Planeteers and the Battletoads pilot.)
- Nathan McCree (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Tomb Raider 2's score)
- Nathan Wang (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock, Proteus 2 Orchestral and Proteus 3 World for Eek! Stravaganza's score (which includes Eek! The Cat and The Terrible Thunderlizards) and the grand finale of Tales from the Crypt episode, "The Third Pig")
- Nicolas Carr
- No Doubt (Used Proteus 2000 for the 2001 song, Hey Baby)
- Noriyuki Iwadare (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Lunar: The Silver Star's score)
- Paul Brier (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for utilizing the snare drum (snare drum and snare roll) MIDI keys from the Percussion 1 patch (Patch #58) for the song, "Everyone Has Strengths To Be Proud Of" from the Cathy Bollinger album, My Turn, Your Turn)
- Paul Ray (Music engineer who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Saban Entertainment adaptation of Jungle Tales anime, as well as other Saban Entertainment licensed content)
- Paul Robb (One of the founding members of the synthpop-freestyle band Information Society, who has used the entire E-mu Proteus library for his music recordings)
- Pete Levin (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley video series)
- Pet Shop Boys (Used various Proteus sound modules for their music scores)
- Pure West (Canadian music department studio who used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock, Proteus 2 Orchestral and Proteus 3 World for some productions.)
- Peter Lurye (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral to score for The Magic School Bus and even wrote the show's theme song, performed by Little Richard)
- Randall Crissman (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron's score)
- Reed Robbins (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog)
- Rich DeRosa (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Richard Scarry's Best Sing-Along Mother Goose Video Ever! using patches of the string section, piccolo, flute, oboe, and bassoon)
- Richard Bellis (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the IT miniseries)
- Richard Friedman (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Disney Sing Along Songs starting in 1992 as well as Proteus 3 World for later releases of the series)
- Ron Wasserman (Music engineer who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the Saban Entertainment adaptation of Jungle Tales anime, as well as other Saban Entertainment licensed content)
- Rowland Lee (Used on Proteus 2 Orchestral for 64 Zoo Lane)
- Sage Guyton
- Shuki Levy (Music engineer who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Saban Entertainment licensed content)
- Sony Wonder (Their second logo's music score was composed on Proteus 2 Orchestral)
- Susumu Hirasawa (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for some of his music albums)
- Steve Belfer
- Steve Pecile (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Cyberchase)
- Stephen Rucker (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock, Proteus 2 Orchestral and Proteus 3 World for Captain Planet and the Planeteers from 1991-1996)
- Sylvester Levay (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for "Food for Thought" from Tales from the Crypt)
- Tom Worrall (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Tom & Jerry Kids)
- Tommy Barbarella (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral during his time at the Diamonds and Pearls Tour of The New Power Generation from 1991-1996, as part of Prince's backing band)
- Tomohiko Fukuoka (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for scoring Arc the Lad III's soundtrack)
- Tony Banks (Used Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral)
- Tony Salerno (Music producer for one episode, who used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the first episode of Bibleman in 1995)
- Tsuyoshi Sekito (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Brave Fencer Musashi's score)
- Winifred Phillips (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory video game)
- Yuusuke Kohzu (Used Proteus 2 Orchestral for the 1996 Fire Emblem OVA)
References
- "Product History". E-MU Systems. Archived from the original on 2011-08-09.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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