Working in a new little video demoing the #Ensoniq #ESQ1 vintage #Synthesizer sounds. Here's a small snippet/preview.
Impossible for me not to love this instrument. (As with any true love, you've got to love their flaws, too.)
Stay tuned on my corresponding MakerTube channel: @atkwap
Lustig, wie so beim Experimentieren der #Ensoniq #ESQ1 #Synthesizer ein bisschen wie der Opa eines #Quasimidi #Sirius anfühlt.
Ein Song, der mich als Pubertier enorm angesprochen hat… 1996, #Schwoißfuaß waren nochmal auf Tour, ein letztes großes #Revival nach dem Aus von 1986. Das Album #Rattakarma entstand aus dieser Tour.
Ich muss grinsend an Fleetwood Mac denken, da gibt es eine Parallele: In den 90ern klangen beide Bands (wieder) nach Rockmusik und legten je nochmal ein solides Live-Album vor. (Fleetwod Mac mit „The Dance”, 1997).
In den 80ern hatten beide Bands versucht, den Rock-Sound hinter sich zu lassen und sich einem coolen, eher synth-poppigen Klang zuzuwenden.
In diesem Kontext, der Abkehr von den 70ern und hin zum Sound der 80er, kaufte ein Bandmitglied von Schwoißfuaß den halb-digitalen #Ensoniq #ESQ1 #Synthesizer. Es ist nicht der gleiche, sondern wirklich genau derselbe, der nun hier bei mir steht.
Fixed this #Ensoniq #ESQ1 yesterday. Dragged it to my little studio room today.
I mean… honestly… how can you not love this piece of gear if you're a #synthesizer enthusiast?
It does squeaky digital sounds, it does warm analog fat sounds. It smells like contact spray and it looks like old science fiction stuff.
It is equipped with a kind-of successor of the SIDchip (Commodore 64 sound) as 8bit oscillators, and analog Curtis filters.
With 3 digital waveform oscillators, 3 corresponding DCAs plus 1 master DCA, 3 LFOs and 4 enevlope generators… and all of this × 8 voices, it was a massive synth for 1986, when it was introduced.
The keyboard is a bit sloppy and its responsive action isn't that nice to use. The later ESQ-80 had polyphonic aftertouch – the ESQ-1 can also be programmed to accept pressure/aftertouch control via MIDI. It even has a keyboard split feature.
I'm having fun.
(Some Yamaha REV-X Reverb added in the video.)
I'm so excited!
With the #fedihelp of @RueNahcMohr @kallemp @kevinevans I was able to repair the display in my #Ensoniq #ESQ1 #Synthesizer.
One of the TL4810AN display driver chips was defective. Ebay suggested me an UCN5810AF as an alternative. I checked data sheets and it seemed to match. The UNC was available in Germany, while TL replacements I had ordered are still stuck somewhere in China.
The grain of salt is that after putting together the entire thing, I noticed that one key still is not acting properly. I have to take apart pretty much everything for that at some point…
I also put in new firmware chips I got from Italy via Ebay, now the thing is on version 3.5. Luckily it loads the factory preset if it runs out of battery power, which it did, because I replaced the battery, too.
I found this cartridge that has a little dial and actually is 16 cartridges in one unit… Ebay from the Netherlands. (Imagine not living in the EU… horrible thought.)
So many fancy new vintage sounds!
Die Lötspiele mögen beginnen. Ich fühle mich inkompetent. Let's not brick this shit.
Like #Dexed for the #Yahama #DX7, #SQ8L claims to be #SysEx compatible with the corresponding hardware #synthesizer, the #Ensoniq #ESQ80 or #ESQ1. So this means you can load patches from your 80ties hardware synthesizer into the plugin and vice versa.
Sad story is that #UbuntuStudio 24.04 has lost Dexed for some reason, it comes with #Hexter instead which – on my system – completely fails to show the GUI, so it's even worse than SQ-8L. (I'd love to get Dexed back, even though it looked very confusing, I loved the sound.)
These two are related, because the famous DX7 and the ESQ1/80 were new around the same time, both being very digital (the ESQ1 having analog filters, though). The ESQ1 never made it to the same fame as the DX7 did but both sound like the 80ties.
Jump for joy!
#SQ8L, an #VST #plugin emulator of the #Ensoniq #ESQ80 #Synthesizer running on #UbuntuStudio #Linux 24.04 via #LinVST in #Carla plugin host. Needs #Wine.
All I had to do is wait. The plugin locks up Carla (and probably even Jack) for about half a minute.
So most likely it is trying to do something that ends in a time-out. When opening the GUI a second time, it pops up instantly.
Any idea on how to find out what this old #VSTi from 2008 is waiting for?
Btw., nerds:
$> file SQ8L.dll
SQ8L.dll: PE32 executable (DLL) (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows, 7 sections
Feels a bit like Christmas.
The ESQ-80 basically was an extended/upgraded version of the #ESQ1, with the most obvious feature being a diskette drive in addition to the memory cartridge slot. But also, Ensoniq had changed the dumb old home-organ-style keyboard by one with responsive action and polyphonic aftertouch.
Today I found the Wavetables of the #Ensoniq #ESQ1 #Synthesizer online. Since these are not the same as samples, but rather 8bit mini-snippets, probably with the length of exactly one wave, the entire thing runs on two ROM banks containing 32kb data each.
After a bit of an exhausting week, I could do well with some meditative soldering in my unit, but the spart parts are on the way…
… it sounds cheesy and fun in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sT7rKyjwvQ
I wish I could get this to run… (Screenshot stolen).
#SQ8L is a #plugin emulation of the #Ensoniq #SQ80 #Synthesizer.
Actually it does run a bit, I can play it via MIDI in #Carla, but this very old Windows #VST just crashes as soon as I want to open the GUI. I'm using #LinVST on #UbuntuStudio #Linux 24.04 and whenever a Windows plugin has trouble, it is due to the GUI needing #Wine.
Other elderly 32bit #VSTi plugins do work in my system.
This piece of software has not been updated since June 2008 and you can download it from here: http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/
So now I'll keep on waiting for the spare parts for my #ESQ1 to arrive from China.
It's astonishing that this Ensoniq synth series isn't that popular today, because the sounds are quite unique. Perhaps it is due to the rather ugly user interface.
Or, more likely, it is because people don't want unique synths, they want that Behringer Moog copy and pretend it's somewhen in the 70ties.
Does any #electronics nerd have an idea what could be wrong with this funny old display? #fedihelp
The upper line has some segments that are always on everywhere, like a letter K without the first vertical line.
The second line is missing the lower right half vertical element everywhere.
It should read “ENSONIQ ESQ 1…” and “AND SEQUENCER…”
This is the display board of an #Ensoniq #ESQ1 #synthesizer, the first edition (metal case).
Voltages are all in spec. I tried cold spray on the ICs without an effect and I resoldered some stuff that looked dubious. But still.
Second image shows the chips apparently controlling the display.
So, the #Ensoniq #ESQ1 adventure continues. Turns out that the battery is still okay even, going to replace it anyways. The keys have/had bad contacts, which can be fixed by applying lots of contact cleaning spray containing funny chemicals.
The synthesizer stuff works like a charm apparently, I'd have expected issues there. Also the capacitors look alright.
But now I found out that the display isn't weird, it's broken. Some people in forums say I need to replace the display controller chip, which is out of production…
This might turn out to be a tough one.
The #Ensoniq #ESQ1 I have in the #studio right now (a loaner from my regular occasional production partner) was apparently once submerged due to flooding ( a fact my buddy didn't discover until after he bought it LMAO) and yet it still works flawlessly (after some pretty thorough cleaning -- but not so thorough there isn't still fine silt on some of the keys).
They really did use to build stuff different.
Right now I have, in my possession, a #Roland #MKS50, a #Kawai #K4r and an #Ensoniq #ESQ1 (all synths, in case you don't know). I've got a #Tascam 414 (4-track cassette multitrack recorder), a #Yamaha #REX50 (effects unit, basically an SPX-90 with added distortion algorithms) and an #Alesis #Quadraverb (more effects). All I need is an SR-16 drum machine and I could make an album like it was 1990 again.
