The E-mu Drumulator arrived as a genuinely affordable digital drum computer that put studio-quality, digitally recorded drum sounds into a compact and programmable box. Priced far below earlier digital rhythm machines, the E-mu Drumulator let musicians create complete rhythm tracks with individual patterns and songs, and made complex programming straightforward through its computer-assisted workflow.
Enhanced programmability allowed per-note loudness control for lively, human-sounding parts, while assignable play buttons, accents and performance features made arranging flexible and fast. E-mu quickly expanded the concept into the E-mu Drumulator System, adding the Pad Programmer for real-time playing via pads with inputs for external controllers and trigger outputs for driving synthesisers or sequencers, and the Graphic Rhythm Composer, an Apple II-based editor that used the E-mu Drumulator’s computer interface to create, link and store rhythm patterns on floppy disks.
E-mu also offered user-installable sound options, including a crash cymbal chip to replace the standard ride, and a route to custom sound chips using a computer and EPROM programmer. The result was a machine that brought premium digital drum production to a far wider audience, influenced countless mid-1980s records with its punchy sampled kit, and established E-mu as a key innovator by proving that powerful digital rhythm tools could be both programmable and attainable.
Features
- Affordable digital drum computer with studio-quality sampled drum sounds
- Per-note loudness control for more lifelike, dynamic grooves
- Pattern and song creation with sections that can repeat and be cued via footswitch
- Assignable play buttons, accents and performance features to speed up arranging
- Pad Programmer for real-time playing, external controller inputs and trigger outputs for synthesisers, sequencers or other drum machines
- Graphic Rhythm Composer Apple II software for on-screen pattern editing, linking and disk storage
- User-installable crash cymbal chip option and pathway to custom sound chips
- Designed to integrate easily in live and studio setups at a fraction of previous digital drum costs