E-MU XL-7 Loop Noodle (Synthesis on a groove box ?)

Published on Mar 31, 2018 100 Things I Do

"There was a time where almost everyone manufacture had a Groove box in their line. At first they started out as a way to give people access to classic Roland sounds of the 808's 909's 303's and Juno and Jupiters. Over time they became a lot more complex. Close to the end of the era they were almost complete studios in a box. The E-mu XL 7 uses Emu's Command station form factor with the ability to add and use the sounds of the desktop models via Flash rom. Up to 4 different modules can be installed at any time. Most of the final range of romplers that came from EMU were made available in ROM format. Mine contains the Xtreme Lead + Proteus ROM's.

Interestingly besides just having samples of other instruments and sounds the XL-7 also comes with the normal building blocks of Sine, Saw, Square and Triangle waves. While not quite a virtual analog it has the complete flexibility to create and manipulate patches like any other synth. Also included are the famous E-mu Z-Plane filters first seen in the Morpheus! All in all I would put this in the same league as the JD-800!

Interestingly besides just having samples of other instruments the XL-7 also comes with the normal building blocks of Sine, Saw, Square and Triangle waves. While not quite a virtual analog it has the complete flexability to create and manipulate patches like any other synth. Also included are the famous E-mu Z-Plane filters first seen in the Morpheus!"