E5000 Ultra Rackmount Sampler

Back in 1999, this rackmount beast from E-mu brought Z-plane morphing filters to the masses, letting you twist samples into wild new territories that most samplers of the era could only dream of.

It's a 3U digital sampler workstation with 64 voices of polyphony, stereo audio ins and outs plus a headphone jack, and MIDI in/out/thru via 5-pin DIN for easy DAW integration. Dive into sample editing at 44.1kHz up to 20-bit depth, with smart auto-trim, loop, and place functions that map hits across keys effortlessly—no tedious naming required. Z-plane multimode filters pair with two LFOs, three six-segment envelopes, and a deep mod matrix for patching anything to anything, while the 24-bit stereo effects include time stretch, pitch shift, reverse, and Aphex Aural Exciter. SCSI and ADAT ports handle storage and digital I/O, all navigated via an intuitive folder-style menu on its front panel display.

Owners still swear by its speed and sound design depth in 2021 threads, calling it a hidden gem for vintage rack lovers, though some note the interface feels dated next to modern touchscreens.