I had a lot of fun making a 30 minute shoout-out between these very different, but yet so similar samplers of the 80s.
I'm a big 80s synth-pop buff and I've wanted these for years as they are very uncommon in Norway where I live and they were also priced very high here back in the day. I went for the Akai range instead.
Now I have them in my studio and I compare them by sampling my Juno 6 and evaluate the results. Among other things. Check it out and comment on which one you prefer and why. Thanks!

Great video, thanks for making this.
It was very interesting hearing both these machines side by side.
They both sounded great sampling the Juno, and the transposition is very musical.
In the nineties I had a few Emax’s, and then got an Emax 2.
At the time, the Emax 2 was super expensive, and was considered a far superior machine, as it was all about higher resolution with samplers back then.
You can clearly hear the 2 sounds more “hifi”, especially on the top end. But the Emax sounds much “fuller” in the mids and lows.

So it’s interesting how things change. These days it’s easy to get perfect sampling in Daws, so the original Emax would be much more desirable, as it has a lot more character.

Thanks!

I agree completely with what you say. The 1 has a richer sound, but the 2 has a more glossy top. They both have merits and they both fit my sound perfectly for different reasons. Best to have both!

Id take the Emax 2 any day,. Simply due to more RAM.

The Emax 2 sounds anything like pristine. Yes if the contrast is an Emax (1) fair enough. But it has its own sound.

Id also take a cleaner sounding sampler. If I want a analogue filters I just run it through an analogue filter. If I want more grit sample to cassette to sample to cassete rinse and repeat. Overdrive desk etc etc. Try getting the Emax 1 to sound less dirty.

Yes I get in in these days of infinite everything your probs just tickling the use of your emax. Its 1% of your woring methods For me Its the only way to get Audio into my music. I despise DAWs and such. Too infinite. So I guess in anyone's but my own situation I could see why others would prefer the 1.

However back in the day no one would have taken a 1 over a 2.

Early 90's I made a record mostly with Vinyl collages and layers made on on the II, using the hip hop technique to make very not hip hop music Keyboard version, with live instruments, songs and a great great singer musician(Berry- Ex the band Minaimal Compact that was very big in Europe's new wave scene). This was the first Israeli pop rock album made in the technique of collaging, layering and then playing a bunch of live unedited real instruments including full rhythm section, performed on top tile the Mac II, running Cubase Midi( now Audio on the computer then) synched to 2" via SMPTE. This Record to this day wins almost every poll is the most groundbreaking record made in Israel. So for me Emax II gave the power to let my imagination, which was pretty wild for a then 21yo, run free and nit be bounded to expensive studio time.Emax is A good old Friend and sounds so good.

HOWEVER- I then moved to NY(94) and Bought a S-3000XL right before joining David Byrne's Band only to discover the most Crucial and so so important difference between the Akai and the EMU.

Its not about the sound Ita about the fact that all changes you do in Akai, from changing Sample Start/End point, Loop start/end/Position to Filter changes to everything other than Renders, Are NOT requiring retriggering in. Akai, in other words you change and hear the change as it plays. On the EMU you have to RETRIGGER from the beginning of the sample to hear the change. This is a night and day difference, way more importnmat to me than the sound, as I do believe the EMU sounds in a way better. I wish EMU had the architecture a bi different to offer what Akai offered in this Department.