I have one of the first 10 released ( #5, I believe) on my desktop right now. Playing with it as we speak. Compliments of EMU. 8-)

I believe its launch is right around the corner.

I have tested it on a few machines, not Mac though. A few different Core 2 running XP pro. Its really nice, sound great! Most of the sounds are killer, However, I'm not overly blown away from the Grand Piano yet. Like most sampled piano's, they lack in the mid range area. The bottom and top are very nice.

Their Beat Shop, Xtreme Lead X and X Producer libraries are really nice. Much cleaner than their older sounds.

I haven't had time to mess with the sampler, but it looks very nice.

I'm using the CME UF 80 as the controller. Works pretty good so far.

There are a few bugs but looks like simple tweaks. Sorry I can't add more on it at the moment. Its definitely very nice.

(y)

audiokid, thanks for the info much appreciated , the grand piano situation is not a problem as i am using a Korg Oasys as my main keyboard. It is them Emu filters amongst other things
that i am after also all that the X3 has to offer. You have summed it up in economical terms it sounds great...have fun
with it... thanks again , fingers crossed it hits the UK anytime soon

I read in their newsletter I think that said was released and shipping in the USA and is on a boat on the way to UK stores. I would think that you should be able to special order it from you local dealer.

It's those of us X2 users that are waiting for the X3 upgrade to be available. Can't wait to give that 64-bit engine a workout.

Ya, the grand piano is ok. I was also expecting more. But the optional 7GB Steinway Piano (Platinum 88) is killer and worth the price. It comes in three banks 7GB, 1GB 200MB so you can still use it with it other samples.

AG,

is that optional 7GB Steinway Piano, EMU's? Whats the price?
I would be interested in that. I'm looking for the best acoustic piano library I can find.

Has anyone here used http://www.synthogy.com/ ?

I found the library and price, here:
http://www.emu.com/products/category.asp?category=526&subcategory=527
Good to know its worth having.

MAN, been messing with the beat section of this beast. Whoa! I am really happy. This is such a cool addition to my library.

Highly recommend.

E-MU finally got the Emulator X3 upgrade posted on their website. Got mine a few days ago. I also got the Steinway library. Killer. Multi-layer on every note. So beautiful, lush and grand sounding.

With Emulator X3 I now have a great 64-bit VSTi to use with Cubase 5 and Sonar 8 64-bit versions.

I'm digging the MIDI tempo export feature. Rather than the pain in the ass of trying to match MIDI to audio, I import whole song into X3 and let it spit out a MIDI tempo map that follows the audio. Too fricken cool.

And the new Extractor feature is much more than the karaoke effect, which is cool in it's self and worked great for a few Beatle tracks I threw at it. I found it very useful to extract all audio but the low freq to figure out a bass part I was trying to learn.

And the ability to beat match samples, loops or whole songs, is a great way to do mashing like the Beatles Love CD that has all various mashed arrangements. Now I can do that kind of thing as well. Again, to fricken cool.

+1 Highly Recommended.