From Juergen.Haible@zfe.siemens.de Mon May 30 11:36:30 1994 Date: Mon, 30 May 94 13:36:00 PDT From: "Haible J. ZFE BT SE 51" To: Peter Cassidy Cc: 'analogue' Subject: ESQ-1 opinions >Do you >have any info/opinions on the ESQ-1 ?? Just curious .. before I take the >plunge and buy one !!! Thanks ! Yes, I recommend to buy one. Pro's: 8 voice Multi Mode 3 DCO's, 4 ADSR's, 3 LFO's per voice Vast modulation routings, incl. panorama Same analogue filter chip as in Prophet VS Sync and Ring modulation Wonderful Pad sounds. If you add a Multi-FX you will beat any modern JD-/JV- etc. in this. Very easy to program. Immediate access to each page with its own button . Nice Keyboard feeling (similar to D-50; far better than cheap "modern" Keyboards) A lot of small details in the user interface you'd be astonished of and you'll miss in other synths afterwards ... Con's: No aftertouch (only via MIDI) Ensoniq has the worst technical support of all (as far as I know): You don't get any schematics. Even your local authorized Ensoniq dealer won't get them!! As Ensoniq was far ahead of many other manufacturers in MIDI when the ESQ-1 came out, not everything is 100% compatibel (only 99%). Just my opinions. JH. From pgl@draco.bison.mb.ca Mon Sep 12 10:37:47 1994 Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 19:56:00 +0100 From: Paul Linton To: Mike Perkowitz Cc: analogue heaven Subject: Re: ESQ-1 and SQ-80 (mostly ESQ) On Tue, 30 Aug 1994, Mike Perkowitz wrote: > someone with an ESQ: i know most of the modulatable things let you choose > the mod source and amount.. how many things allow more than one mod > source? All modulation destinations can have at least two modulation sources. Oscillators 1, 2, and 3 and amplifiers 1, 2 and 3 have two modulation sources each. They can range from LFO's to velocity to keyboard tracking to external controlers. > can you do it with filter cutoff? The low-pass filter has 3 modulation sources. One for filter cut-off and one for resonance. The third is keyboard filter tracking, which is comparable to the keyboard control voltage of most analog synths. > what else can you mod? Amplifier 4, for stereo panning, and amplifier 2 with oscillator 1, for AM. > what about midi continuous controllers.. Yup. Here's a list of all the mod sources with the SQ-80: LFO 1, 2, 3. There are 4 waves for the LFOs: triangle, square, saw, and noise. The square wave only goes in a positive direction; the triangle, sawtooth and noise waves go positive and negative. ENV 1, 2, 3 and 4. Your basic ADSR envelopes. There is a second release for simulated reverb. Envelope levels can be positive or negative. Envelopes can be modulated by velocity as well as keyboard scaling. VEL Velocity is a modulation source that only goes positive. VEL is linear velocity. VEL-X Exponential velocity. KYBD Keyboard tracking from MIDI key 0 to 127. KYBD 2 Keybaord tracking with a both a negative and positive curve. The break-point is E above Middle C, I believe. WHEEL Modulation wheel. I won't bother explaining this one. PEDAL Voltage control foot pedal. Same effects as the mod wheel. XCTRL External controler (MIDI only). PRESS Aftertouch. There are two types: key pressure (or poly pressure) and channel pressure (or mono pressure). That's about it. If you've got any other questions, send 'em my way. Oh yeah, keep in mind I've got an SQ-80. The ESQ-1 won't have the aftertouch for a mod source, the rest should be the same. A good effects unit with EQ can really bring out a lot in the SQ-80's patches. Keep that in mind when you're listening to it. TTYL. .-------------..-----------------------..----------------------------. | Paul Linton || pgl@draco.bison.mb.ca || The "Global Village" Idiot | `-------------'`-----------------------'`----------------------------' From pgl@draco.bison.mb.ca Fri Sep 2 00:00:46 1994 Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 19:56:00 +0100 From: Paul Linton To: Mike Perkowitz Cc: analogue heaven Subject: Re: ESQ-1 and SQ-80 (mostly ESQ) On Tue, 30 Aug 1994, Mike Perkowitz wrote: > someone with an ESQ: i know most of the modulatable things let you choose > the mod source and amount.. how many things allow more than one mod > source? All modulation destinations can have at least two modulation sources. Oscillators 1, 2, and 3 and amplifiers 1, 2 and 3 have two modulation sources each. They can range from LFO's to velocity to keyboard tracking to external controlers. > can you do it with filter cutoff? The low-pass filter has 3 modulation sources. One for filter cut-off and one for resonance. The third is keyboard filter tracking, which is comparable to the keyboard control voltage of most analog synths. > what else can you mod? Amplifier 4, for stereo panning, and amplifier 2 with oscillator 1, for AM. > what about midi continuous controllers.. Yup. Here's a list of all the mod sources with the SQ-80: LFO 1, 2, 3. There are 4 waves for the LFOs: triangle, square, saw, and noise. The square wave only goes in a positive direction; the triangle, sawtooth and noise waves go positive and negative. ENV 1, 2, 3 and 4. Your basic ADSR envelopes. There is a second release for simulated reverb. Envelope levels can be positive or negative. Envelopes can be modulated by velocity as well as keyboard scaling. VEL Velocity is a modulation source that only goes positive. VEL is linear velocity. VEL-X Exponential velocity. KYBD Keyboard tracking from MIDI key 0 to 127. KYBD 2 Keybaord tracking with a both a negative and positive curve. The break-point is E above Middle C, I believe. WHEEL Modulation wheel. I won't bother explaining this one. PEDAL Voltage control foot pedal. Same effects as the mod wheel. XCTRL External controler (MIDI only). PRESS Aftertouch. There are two types: key pressure (or poly pressure) and channel pressure (or mono pressure). That's about it. If you've got any other questions, send 'em my way. Oh yeah, keep in mind I've got an SQ-80. The ESQ-1 won't have the aftertouch for a mod source, the rest should be the same. A good effects unit with EQ can really bring out a lot in the SQ-80's patches. Keep that in mind when you're listening to it. TTYL. .-------------..-----------------------..----------------------------. | Paul Linton || pgl@draco.bison.mb.ca || The "Global Village" Idiot | `-------------'`-----------------------'`----------------------------'