Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:19:41 -0500 (EST) From: David Talento To: "Jeremy R. Lane" Cc: analogue@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: sq-80 (long) On Mon, 30 Mar 1998, Jeremy R. Lane wrote: > remember me? > I was asking about the ensoniq sq-80. well, i picked it > up for $250. was that a good deal? No. it was horrible. Take it back immediately and pay the extra $250 that these things usually get and are fully worth. > 'net information has been sorely lacking so that's why i keep pestering > you guys. i have worked mainly with simple analogs so a board like this > is somewhat mystifying. if there are any sq-80 users out there, any > tips or tricks you could share would be greatly appreciated. First of all congrats on getting a great piece and a great price. Don't be overwhelmed by all the architecture. What i did to learn on it was to download some patches from the 'net and/or just use wqhat was in it. take a sound you kinda link and then explore changing something a little at a time. Start with the DCOs and change a waveform on one of them. What does it do? Then change another (you have three) and see where that takes you. mess with the octave settings, and such. there's a lot ot do in each section so spend a little time on one area before moving to the next. probably the most confusing is the envelopes (although there is a nice diagram there on the front pannel). I'd save that for the last look. Mess with the DCOs, DCAs, Filter, and hit up a few mod routings. Keep it simple, try routing stuff to the mod wheel or polyphonic aftertouch for starters to see what actaully is happening. Then you'll be more confident in moving on. if you're familiar with analogs then you may want to set all the DCOs to a simple square wave and see what else is going on in the patch since you knwo what a square wvae through a resonant filter sounds like. i developed some of my most complex sounds starting like this and then changing the wave fors and screwing with the LFOs after i had almost completed the sound. a-*maze*-ing stuff.. The Music Machines SQ80 link was down for some reason but here's a taste from the ESQ VS sq80 link: Keyboard - 61 note weighted-action keyboard with velocity and polyphonic aftertouch - Programmable split point - Sound layering on either or both halves of keyboard - Polyphonic or mono glide (ie. portamento) Voice architecture - 8-voice polytimbral - 3 Oscillators per voice (8-bit digital waves) - Hard sync and Ring (AM) modulation - 3 LFOs per voice (Saw, Triangle, Square, and Random) - 4 EGs (Complex ADSRs with simulated reverb and velocity modulation) - Programable panning - 4-pole low-pass analog filter with variable resonance - 15 modulation sources similar to matrix modulation There are 75 multi-sampled and synthetic waveform, transient attacks and inharmonic loops. They range from standard analog waves like triangle, sine, and pulse (no PWM though) to piano, voice, formant waves, strings, etc. None of the acoustic samples are very realistic. They do provide interesting harmonics for strange sounds, though. Also there's the transient attack waves like pluck, bowing and so on. You use these with the regular waveforms for a type of L/A synthesis. The ESQ-1 is basically the same machine, except that it doesn't have aftertouch on the keyboard, a disk drive, MIDI thru, and it has only 32 digtal waveforms. Both machines are great for programming. There are 15 modulation sources, which can modulation things like filter resonance, panning, and so on. The LFOs can modulate each other or an LFO can modulate itself, this will give you and idea of what it can do. They both have a decent sequencer (for their time). Full MIDI support as well. The OS is pretty decent, it has a big 80 character display like most of Ensoniq's stuff. Pros: A beast in the programing department. Fat sounds (although it's tough to get beefy Moog-style bass out if it). The large display and OS make it easy to program. Good for analog, PPG and Waldrorf type-sounds. Portamento and mono mode. 8-part multi-timbral. Cons: The SQ-80's keyboard is pretty bad, IMO. The digital waves are a tad rough sounding so it's hard to get silky smooth pads for example. No unison mode (tough to do with this kind of synth). Only one stereo out. Finally Syntauyr productions sells manuals. you may want one and since they're pretty hefty copy costs would probably be the same as a new one. (800) 334-1288 last i checked. enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- HELP WANTED PRODUCTIONS - Http://www.voicenet.com/~legion "Bringing you the best in Organic Electronic music since we started..." Home of the Unusual Instrument and Recording Gallery with pictures and info of Tube recorders, Omnichords, weird guitars, Casios, and more.