E-mu Drumulator

{{Short description|Drum machine model}}

thumb

E-mu Drumulator is a sample-based drum machine by E-mu Systems. Introduced in 1983 at a price of $995 USD, the Drumulator was the first programmable drum machine with built-in samples for under $1,000,{{cite book |last1=Vail |first1=Mark |title=Vintage Synthesizers |date=1993 |publisher=Miller Freeman Book |location=San Francisco, California, USA |isbn=0-87930-275-5 |page=24}} resulting in sales of over 10,000 units over two years.{{cite web |last1=Keeble |first1=Rob |title=30 Years Of Emu |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/30-years-emu |website=Sound On Sound |publisher=SOS Publications Group |access-date=29 March 2021}} The Drumulator was the predecessor of the E-mu SP-12.

The Drumulator utilizes 8-bit samples for 12 sounds, including SSM analog filters. It was widely used in early 1980s in synth-pop and Italo disco productions. In 1984, Digidrums released special EPROMs for the Drumulator, which included the Rock Drums set used on Tears for Fears' hit "Shout" and on "Beastie Groove" for Beastie Boys by Rick Rubin.

Notable users

class="wikitable"

!Year

!scope="col" style="width:100pt;" | Artist

!Album

!Songs

rowspan="5" | 1983

| Cocteau Twins

Head over Heels"My Love Paramour"
Cocteau TwinsSunburst and Snowblind
Depeche ModeConstruction Time Again"Everything Counts", "Love, in Itself"
Keith LeBlanc"Malcolm X: No Sell Out"
Valerie Dore"The Night", "Get Closer"
rowspan="6" | 1984

| Camel

Stationary Traveller"Vopo's"
Fun Fun"Color My Love"
Howard JonesHuman's Lib
Kenny LogginsFootloose"Footloose"
RockwellSomebody's Watching Me"Somebody's Watching Me"
Carol Jiani"Touch and Go Lover"
1984

|Cocteau Twins

Treasure{{cite web |url=http://www.robinguthrie.com/interviews/equipment-notes.php |title=Equipment Notes |first=Robin |last=Guthrie |work=Robin Guthrie |type=official website |access-date=2013-07-13 |archive-date=2020-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111201153/http://www.robinguthrie.com/interviews/equipment-notes.php |url-status=dead }}
rowspan="5" | 1985

| Bad Boys Blue

"Hot Girls, Bad Boys"
Game TheoryReal Nighttime"She'll Be a Verb"
Lou ReedOST White Nights"My Love is Chemical"
Tears for FearsSongs from the Big Chair"Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
Front 242No Comment
rowspan="3" | 1986

| Nu Shooz

"I Can't Wait"
Big BlackAtomizer
IlaiyaraajaPunnagai Mannan
rowspan="2" |1987

| Big Black

Songs About Fucking
Depeche ModeMusic for the Masses"Never Let Me Down Again"
1991

|Teenage Fanclub

|Bandwagonesque

|"Is This Music?"

2001

|Liars

|They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top

|"Mr Your On Fire Mr", "Tumbling Walls Buried Me in the Debris", "We Live NE of Compton"

|Ultravox

|

|

References

{{reflist}}