Planet Phatt

The Swing System

Overview Planet Phatt was announced in January 1997, it is a 32 voice multi-timbral sample based synthesizer module that contains a wide selection of bass and synth sounds, from SoCal organ settings to edgy Moog leads and powerful FX noises. The purple Phatt ships with E-mu Systems 'Beats' system, featuring 100 user-editable drum loops stored in memory. These can be synced to MIDI clock, and edited with the built in 'X-Factor' control to produce an unlimited number of new grooves and patterns. All the sounds can be adjusted with filters, modulation and the LFO will MIDI sync.

The Planet Phatt was launched at in January 1997 at the Winter NAMM. It was a direct development of the earlier Orbit module, catching the latest music themes of "phatness". Although now out of production, you can get an enhanced version by buying the Mo'Phatt or Xtreme Lead modules.

"This product swings" claimed a delighted Sean Wilhelmsen, product manager for Planet Phatt at E-mu Systems. "While Orbit the Dance Planet handles straight-ahead, high-energy dance music, we found that the urban, funky, swinging style of music needed a product to call its own - - thus the creation of Planet Phatt."

Expansion The Phatt has 8 MB of 16-bit samples, and it can not be expanded.

Beats Mode First introduced in the Orbit module, BEATS Mode has since been enhanced. BEATS Mode now features 100 drum loops that can be synchronised to their own internal clock or an external MIDI clock. There are twenty-eight user songs and twenty-eight factory songs available. Each user song can have ten events linking beats together. Both songs and beats can be accessed from the front panel or remotely by using MIDI Song Start/Stop and Song Select commands.

Filters The usual 32 6-pole resonant digital filters, which can be morphed from one type of filter to another, are fitted . E-mu Systems have coded up 17 different filters (the most popular from the Morpheus) and stored them in ROM.

Configuration The purple monster implements a classic analog synthesizer - digitally. There are two "oscillators" called Primary and Secondary Instruments. They each can replay any of the 16-bit sampled waveforms. The waveforms are replayed first via a simple low pass tone control, then via the Z-Plane filter, and finally via a digitally controlled amplifier (DCA) and stereo pan. The amplifier is modified by a dedicated AHDSR envelope generator . There are also two independent LFO's, an auxiliary envelope generator (DADHSR), and 2 Function Generators which can be patched into the Instruments, Filters or DCA. There is also portamento, and cross fade between the two Instruments. Up to 8 sounds can be layered on each key.

Verdict The Planet Phatt is an excellent source of bass and mid range sounds, which are one step beyond the usual boring basic module sounds. The Beats feature adds interest, and this is a worthwhile purchase. Don't expect a searing top end, or the flexibility of the later 2000 range.