The EPC 9 features state-of-the-art technology. It includes an additional amplification range for large currents, new hardware filters and an improved headstage design to reduce noise levels. The most significant advance is the adjustment and control of the amplifier at the software level. This provides the tools necessary to perform virtually every patch clamp experiment. This also allows for the simplification and automation of experimental procedures and gives enormous flexibility for future extensions.

The versatility of the EPC 9 makes it useful in many research areas besides the classical fields like single-channel and whole-cell measurements. It is also an ideal instrument for loose-patch experiments, capacitance measurements, recordings from plant cells and organelles, and studying reconstituted ion channels in artificial membranes.

The EPC 9 patch clamp amplifier combined with a computer and the PULSE software is equivalent to a fully equipped set-up which includes a patch clamp amplifier, a digital storage oscilloscope, a variable analog filter, a sophisticated pulse generator, and a full featured data acquisition and analysis system.