mpc 4k z4 sample compared to emu IV xt or emu 6400 sampler

mpc 4k z4 sample compared to emu IV xt or emu 6400 sampler. How does the z4 sample engine compare to a dedicated sampler like the emu 4xt ultra, or an even better emu 6400 sampler? If you have had both or one and could please share you opinions on which sample sounds better. What features do u miss on the emu's that aren't on the z4 and vice versa. TY Anyone here also have an eventide and can compare the fx to that i would be ty as well

A bit aside, but I'm a HARDCORE ex-E5000 Ultra user, and know the EMU OS inside out, and used to HATE Akai with a passion... but after going through the 2000XL to a 4000, I can see the 4000 is almost as powerful as the EMU, although it lacks the mega-power of all the cording on the EMU, that isn't such a loss, as the EMU's a bit overkill on the chording, and there's workarounds on the 4000 anyway.

The EMU filters always rule though, no matter what, although the 4000 is pretty close (much better than the ultra-lame 2000XL).

I bought the Emulator-X soundcard/soft-sampler package just to make up for the loss of the E5000 though, which is crap, so don't even bother, ever.

ty for the post that was really informative. the only thing i really like about the emu 4xt ultra 6400 is those actual analog filters.... its not the same as Hz sampling its a different medium. Analog is electrons going throuhg a filter not a computer sampling parts of the overall electron stream. At least from what I understand i could be totally incorrect.

Ne1 use and eventide?

I still have my EMU E5000 here, and have to agree with Paul that the Emu and 4k engine are almost equally powerful, except for the fanatic Emu modulation matrix that mimics their good old modular period with patch cords. Fun!

The Emu has great (digital) filters, very warm with tons of character. Not really suitable for modern filter sweeps with lots of resonance, but perfect to color a sample. I tried the 4k filters (only got it a couple of weeks ago), and I was pleasently surprised by them, also very powerful in their own way.

Soundwise I think the Emu is more creamy and mellow sounding, while the 4k is more direct. The filters play a big role in that, but even without filters used in a sound, you still get that warm sound in an Emu. There's some coloring going on there in the Emu.

The Emu has a very high quality sample interpolation technology, meaning that you can pitch down a sample many octaves and still get a good sound without the tons of digital glitchy artifacts that you get from a Yamaha sampler when pitching down 1 octave. I use the Emu for super-slomo effects. Take any sample, pitch it down a lot, and enjoy a new world! The 4k did a good job when I pitched down a sample by 2 octaves, but haven't gone to any extremes yet.

Finally, my Emu has the RFX effects card installed, and it's very nice, producing many different good quality effects. Only the reverbs are so so, the rest is great, imo. But is a bit complex to handle. The 4k effects aren't bad at all, I just went through them yesterday. I was afraid that the reverbs would suck, but they actually sound good when used with values near their presets: short to medium length reverb times. For reverbs with tails > 6 seconds you need something else. The other 4k effects sounded fine as well. Not very dramatic, but very useful.