Emu Proteus /3 (1991)
16 bit Multi Timbral Digital Sound Module

 

Third and last module from the rompler Proteus series.

Follows-up successor from Proteus 1 with same characteristics but different wavetable.

 

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
- VDC power.

 

 

VOICE main core based on a Motorola MC 68000 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 (it thicks voice).

 

WAVETABLE internal 4Mb ROM (8 X rom ICs) 125 PCM waves at 39 kHz / 16 bits resolution.
PCM wavetable is focused on world ethnics instruments e.g. mizmar, bagpipe, bandoleon, santur, dulcimer, gaman, flutes, udu, digeridoo, kalimba but also a bunch of basic waveforms (digital, square, harmonics, short-cycled). Full instrument list, organized by world continent-

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.

invision protologic

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.

 

LFO 2 delayed modulators (shapes: sin, triangle, saw, square and random) for pitch with variable amount and random fluctuation.

 

ENVELOPE there are 3 EGS (structure : 4 segments + 2 times, called DAHDSR which standas for: Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, and Release). Special "Alternate" mode plays the EG forward and then Backward.
- EG primary sample amplitude
- EG secondary sample amplitude
- AUX (assignable) EG can be assigned to the matrix control (see below)
In addition 4 preset velocity curves.

 

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

MATRIX the "real-time control" allows some special modulation routings:

Sources:	Destinations:
modulation wheel bender Midi Control A/B/C/D key pressure LFO1 LFO2 EG AUX key note	Pitch osc1/osc2/both volume osc1/osc2/both all EG segments osc1/osc2/both LFO 1 amount /rate LFO 2 amount /rate panning osc1/osc2/both sample start osc1/osc2/both

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)

 

 

MAINTENANCE 2 common issues:
- DISPLAY: is not uncommon to split dead black zones on the display.
- ENCODER: after some times the encoder may go berserk just clean it with Q-tip and dedicated liquid product.

Display seems to get dark in some corners	Encoder simply skips values and needs cleaning

 

RELATED FAMILY:

PROTEUS 1 same machine with different ROM based on various POP instruments VIDEO PROTEUS 2 same machine with different ROM based on orchestral instruments VIDEO PROCUSSION QUITE same machine with 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:

	name	price	demo
	EMU proteus VX VST	FREE all samples!	n/a
	- digitalsoundfactory -Cakewalk	commercial	n/a

AUDIO DEMO

	factory demo
	we have just a few demo for now, if you want to contribute, UPLOAD your proteus 2 sounds

 

VIDEO CLIP SELECTION   Demo demo2