The strings section had mixable
contrabass, cello and violins with variable attack and decay and
the obligatory chorus unit for the rich ensemble effect.
The organ offered variable footages at 16', 8', 4' and
2' with variable attack and decay whilst the brass section offered
trombone and trumpet. Of course, none of these sounds were 'realistic'
but there were plenty of controls and facilities to coax some sonic
mileage out of this trio of sounds.
There was an LFO that could be used to sweep the apparently
fiercely resonant, self-oscillating filter and all the sections
could be mixed and balanced - even split across the keyboard range
- and so, in that respect, the EM-25 was not unlike the Moog Opus,
Korg Trident and other such keyboards. To the left was a performance
section with a pitchbend lever that appears to have been lifted
directly from Roland's 'bender' design!
The outstanding sound from the sections was the strings
and I am extremely lucky to have this donation from Piotr Salewski
in Poland who has carefully multi-sampled his own EM-25.
These are long, generous samples taken at C and G of
every octave and I am very grateful to Piotr for taking the time
to supply samples from this exceptionally rare instrument.
If you want a fascinating insight into the surprisingly
prolific Russian home-grown synth market, you must visit this Russian
on-line synth museum here. |
