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Proteus 1
: Rock & Pop
 Overview
The Proteus 1 was released in 1989 as the first synthesizer module that E-mu
Systems had ever produced. It contained 32 voices of multi-timbral samples,
coupled to a basic synthesizer sound architecture. The sounds for the Proteus
came directly from the EIII library (with a bit of sample rate changing), and
includes pianos, organs, strings, horns, guitars, basses and drums.
Laid Back The Proteus sound is laid back, and today does not stand up
too well - unless you want a Phil Collins late 80's sound! To save costs the
case is plastic rather than metal, and the Darth Vader looks are something you
love or hate. E-mu Systems could not make enough of these modules in the first
year of production, resulting in frustrating delays for customers. The Proteus
was a massive hit for the first few years, with lots of sales and aftermarket
products.
XR The XR model has additional RAM for storing another 192 user presets.
E-mu shipped these models with 128 new presets, and duplicated 64 ROM presets in
RAM.
Expansion The base model could be upgraded with an additional 4MB of
orchestral samples from the Proteus 2, making it a Proteus 1 Plus Orchestral.
The ROM chips sat on a daughterboard and E-mu provided 128 new ROM presets as
well.
Presets The base model has 192 presets (64 of which are user
programmable), whilst the XR has 384 presets. E-mu Systems went on to create a
library of presets and sold them in sets of 64 as SysEx downloads on floppy
diskette.
Filters & Effects There are none (to expensive to include!), even though
the necessary digital filter chip had been implemented in the Emax II - it was
too expensive to use in the Proteus.
LCD The Protueus uses a standard green 16 x 2 LCD display, augmented by a
MIDI activity LED, and LED's for Master, Edit Menu, Preset, and Home.
Front Panel Controls The Proteus 1 has the standard set of early Proteus
controls, which are: Power Switch, Master Menu Select Button, Edit Menu Select
Button, Home/Enter Button, Cursor Controls, Data Entry Control, and a rotary
Volume Control.
Waveforms There are 125 waveforms are the heart of this module, ranging
from Piano, Strings, Voices to Guitars, Bass and Drums.
Configuration The Proteus module implements part of 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 a
digitally controlled amplifier(DCA) and stereo pan. The amplifier is modified by
a dedicated envelope generator.
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