[looper's] OT: E-Mu Audity

[goddard.duncan@mtvne.com]

Title: [looper's] OT: E-Mu Audity

>>Personally even at $299 I do not believe that the
Audity 2K is a good buy because you really need to
upgrade it to the Extreme status to gain the needed OS
improvements. When this upgrade was introduced two
years ago Emu offered it for a special price of $150
but I doubt it is that cheap today,if indeed it is
even available.  Be aware that the upgrade requires
sending the Audity 2K back to Emu as it must be done
at the factory.<<

hmm.... well, first, many apologies for returning to this way-off-topic-thread, but this simply isn't true. my a2k, an end-of-line bargain, was (in my view) well worth the £400-some I paid for it and already had the latest software/firmware/whatever needed to support the 32/64 voice polyphony by distributing hardware resources according to what filter types were selected.

the upgrade board was rom sounds only and had no effect on the operating system, but even an unexpanded audity represents a potential bargain for anyone looking for a huge range of analogue synth sounds with more modulation permutations than you can throw big sticks at, 4 stereo pairs, built in effects, full midi control over as many parameters as you want.... all in a 1U box. the expansion rom has doubled it's value for me. use it with a drehbank or a couple of pocket controllers and it becomes a huge multitimbral modular synth.

and I'm pretty sure that the original (32>64 + more filter types) software upgrade was possible using sysex. perhaps dr k is referring to a much earlier version of the same box when he describes the motherboard update required- in any case, buyers should check the software version.

in short, e-mu aren't interested in supporting the audity in any form unless you make a nuisance of yourself, like I did. but at a fraction of it's original price and with the cost of "real" analogue synths still crazy, even an unexpanded and unenhanced a2k is worth a listen. mark "mad fiddler" is right- it beats the supernova for sound and versatility, + it takes up less room and doesn't spaz out when you connect a qy70 to it. (you can't reassign controller numbers in either of the latter). I don't even use the arpeggiators...

duncan/r.m.i.

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