Orbit 3

128 Voice Super Synth

Overview Rob Papens electronica and dance sounds proved very popular as an add in sample ROM for the Proteus 1000/2000 range of modules. And it is indeed excellent ! So in late 2001 E-mu decided to launch a module dedicated to the talents of Rob, with 2 sample ROM's in a maxed out Proteus 2000 - welcome to the ORBIT-3!

The Orbit-3 has the Beat Garden and Techno Synth Construction Yard ROM's - which are available separately. Why Orbit-3 ? Well there is the original Orbit module from 1996, then a few months later E-mu upgraded the OS to make a Version 2 Orbit.

Sean Wilhelmsen, Director of Product Planning. "The combination of Rob Papen's soundset and E-mu's legendary synthesis and filter technologies makes Orbit-3 one of the most powerful and flexible dance synths ever created".

Expansion The Orbit-3 has 2 ROM slots free for further expansion. Each slot can take a 32 MB ROM, either a factory sound set or a Flash ROM with sounds created in an Emulator Ultra.

Filters The Orbit-3 has the usual 50 Z-plane 14-pole digital filters some of which are extracted from the 197 filter types that were created for the Morpheus. There are a wide range of filters from traditional analog, to formants and flange/phaser. If you use some of the more complex filters your voice polphony will reduce by a half.

Configuration There are four "oscillators" called Instruments, Layers 1 - 4. They each can replay any of the 16-bit sampled waveforms, which are connected to the Z-plane filter, and then a digitally controlled amplifier(DCA) and stereo pan.

There are 2 envelope generators (one for the filter, and one for the DCA), plus a third assignable envelope generator. There are also two independent LFO's per layer, each with 17 different waveforms and they can sync to MIDI clock. Then there is a full modular patch cord facility to enable control of any of the 64 destinations, with any of the 64 sources.

Effects The Orbit-3 has a dual 24-bit effects set up, with 76 types of basic effects. Very useful, but not a substitute for a dedicated unit.

Technical The Orbit-3 is a standard Proteus 2000 module, with a very fast (17 MIPS) 32-bit Motorola ColdFire micro-processor running at 33MHz, a few special E-mu Systems chips for the 64 voices, and the infamous Dave Rossum digital filter "G" chip. This form factor also has 4 slots of 72-pin SIMM, two are factory fitted with sample ROM's, the other two are blank for user upgrades. The main stereo DAC's are 20-bits, playing 16-bit samples.

Verdict The Orbit-3 packs some amazing new samples into a familiar and powerful format. Well worth checking out !

Diagnostics Diagnostics Mode The Orbit 3 has a full range of internal diagnostics, but beware they can cause speaker damage and the initilization routine is one way. To enter diagnostics mode, power on with both cursor keys held down. There are 19 modes, which test out all the various components inside the Proteus 2000. To re-initialilize and ERASE all user data, select Diagnostic 18 and press enter. Kapow !