Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #077 077

Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #077 th_077 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #077

User Manual: Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #077 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #077

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Iransoiiq

Programming the SQ-1: Taming

Transwaves

J

Welcome back! Well, I guess it wasn't real

ly you that were gone for the last two

months, it was me. Been a busy little beaver

out here in the great Pacific Northwest.

Busy, busy, busy. That's me, all right.

So. Where were we, now? Ah yes — we've

looked at a lot of stuff in the old SQ. We've

checked out the waves, LFO's, envelopes,

filters, amplifiers, envelopes — covered a

lot of ground. So far it's been pretty much

your standard synthesizer stuff, though.

Now it's about time to start getting into the

interesting stuff that makes the SQ unique.

We begin this month by looking at the

Transwaves.

Transwaves are an Ensoniq innovation, and

are a response to a problem that has sur

faced with the advent of digital synthesizers

that rely primarily on wavetables for their

raw data — namely that sounds created by

playing back digital wavetables can seem

rather static. One of the things that makes

acoustic instruments so pleasing is that the

waveform produced by acoustic instruments

is evolutionary — generally, acoustic waves

are constantly changing — as the sound

Hacker

The Independent News

Magazine for Ensoniq Users

Clark Salisbury

moves through its stages, its harmonics in

teract in complex ways, producing an

ever-changing timbre.

T h e t r a n s w a v e s d i f f e r f r o m t h e o t h e r w a v e s

contained within the SQ in that they are not

really just a single looped wave, but rather a

series of different, but closely related,

waves in which the loop can be freely

moved through the wave. The effect is that

the wave sounds different depending on

where the loop is placed. If it happens to be

placed in an area of the wave that contains a

lot of high frequency information, the wave

will soimd bright. If the loop is placed in an

a r e a o f t h e w a v e t h a t d o e s n o t c o n t a i n a s

much high frequency information, the wave

will sound darker. And if it's m oved from

o n e l o c a t i o n t o t h e o t h e r w h i l e t h e w a v e i s

playing, it will go from bright to dark, or

vice-versa. For example, if we were to digi

tally sample the word "dayo" we could loop

the entire word to produce "dayodayo-

dayo..." If we use brackets to indicate the

loop, we could show the same thing in this

way: [dayo].

Suppose then we loop just the "a": d[a]yo.

The resulting sound would be "daaaaaa..."

Or if we looped just the "o" (day[o]), we'd

get "dayoooooo..."

Now let's say that we can control the start

point of the sample. We could indicate the

start point using the symbol in this

case, setting the start point to the begirming

of our sample could be shown in this way:

>dayo. We could then produce sounds such

as "ayoooo...," (d>ay[o]), "ayyyy...,"

I n t h i s i s s u e

Articles:

The SQ-1: Taming Transwaves

Clark Salisbury Cover

VFX-sd/SD-1 Tips

J e f f r e y F i s h e r 1 5

VFX-sd & SD-1 Sequencer File Formats

G a r y G i e b l e r 1 6

Reverberating Around on the ESQ-1

K i r k S i i n k a r d 1 8

Reviews:

Signature Series — EPSs

Scott Leonard 7

Basement Tapes: Greaser/Nurminen

Daniel Mandel 9

Ensoniq's SC-3 — SQ-1 & SQ-2

J e f f r e y R h o a d s 1 1

Music Labs Sequences — EPSs

Bryce Inman 12

The EPS Sampling Book

Michael Schmltt 14

Regular Stuff:

Random Notes 3

Hypersoniq 3

E n s o n i q T o u r D a t e s 2 1

Hackerpatches

Sam Mims & J effre y Rh o ads 2 2

Classifieds 25

The Interface 26

H a c k e r B o o t e e q 3 1

C u r r e n t O . S 3 1

H a r d D r i v e s L i s t 3 1

ISSUE NUMBER 77, $2.50 NOVEMBER, 1991

(d>a[y]o), "yoooo...," (da>y[o]), and so on. And finally, if we

could move the loop while the sound was playing, we could

produce things like "dayooyadayooyad...," (>[d]ayo), and

"ayyaayyaayyaay...," (d>[a]yo) by moving the loop back and forth,

or things like "dddaaayyyooo,"(>[d]ayo), and "yyyyyaaaaa...,"

(d>[a]yo), by moving the loop slowly in one direction or the other.

This is much like what happens with the transwaves. Instead of

using the collection of sounds that make up the word "dayo,"

though, each transwave is actually a collection of many similar

waves that have been linked together. If you listen to a loop of any

one of these individual waves, the resulting sound is somewhat

static. But move the loop through the transwave, and the various

waves it contains blend one into the next in much the same way

that individual frames in a movie blend together to form a moving

image.

So how is the loop moved through the transwave? Well, it can be

manually set to any point in the transwave using the "start index"

parameter. This not only sets the transwave to start playing from

the point selected, but also places the loop at that point. In other

words, setting the "start index" for the word "dayo" to "a,"

(d[a]yo), will produce the sound "aaaa..." But to actually move the

loop through the transwave, we'll need to apply a modulator, such

as an LFO or envelope. Let's try it out.

Start by selecting ROM program 04, 'Today's Organ." First, let's

set the effect to something more-or-less generic — perhaps the

"Concert Reverb" would be a good choice. Hit "Edit," then "Ef

fect," then the "0" button, and use the data slider or "Yes/No" but

tons to change the effect from "Phaser+Reverb" to "Concert

REVERB." Now we need to select voicel for editing. Hit the

"Wave" and then the "0" button to move to the "SelectV OIC E"

page. Solo voicel by selecting it and hitting the "Up/Yes" button

— the display should be showing something like this:

"SelectVOICE:ONE

SOLO OFF OFF."

Now hit button "1" to move to the "Wave" page. Select "WAVE

FORM" and hit "Up/Yes" twice to select the "TRANSWAVE"

waveclass. The display should now be showing

"Wave=TRANSWAVE

FORMANT-X."

Hit the "3" button — this takes us to the page wh«e we can set the

start index and mod source and dqrth for tliis|i!^etdar transwave.

S e l e c t t h e " S t a r t I n d e x " p a r a m e t e r, a n d s l i d e r w h i l e

playing something on the keyboard. As ywi^Kove die data slider

up, you'll hear the sound get thinner. Note that you can leave this

parameter set to any value you like, and use the resulting wave in

whatever sound you're trying to create. The really interesting stuff,

though, occurs when you dynamically modulate the start index (ac

tually, you'll be modulating both the start point and the loop loca

tion) with an LFO, envelope, or other modulator. Let's try using an

LFO to hear an example of this.

First, set the "Start Index" back to "00."Now srt^'Mod=" to "LFO

* + 99" — y o u sho uld al rea dy be affe r. t o f L FO

modulation on the start index, liiinil'iiiiw<iiS^H|l *

Head over to the LFO menu (hit "LFO"). First, let's slow the LFO

rate down a bit. Hit the "0" button, and change LFO rate from its

cunent value of "29" to something like "20." Hit the "1" button to

move to the next page. From here let's set LFO level to, say, "65,"

and "Dlay" (delay) to "GO." It should become obvious by now that

the LFO is modulating not only the transwave start index, but the

pitch of the wave as well. Let's do away with the pitch mod for

now — hit the "Pitch" bu tt on, then butt on "1 ." Se t the "LFO="

parameter to "+00" (it should currently be showing a value of

"+04"). This will eliminate the rather seasick-sounding vibrato.

Now head back to the LFO menu (hit the "LFO" button), and let's

try some different LFO waveshapes. Press the "2" button to move

to the LFO wave page — the wave used happens to be the trusty

"Triangle" wave. As it so happens, the triangle wave is probably

not really the best choice for a modulator in this application, since

it has both positive and negative movement. You see, we've set the

start index of the transwave to "00," the lowest possible number.

When the triangle wave moves in a positive direction, of course, it

moves the start index of the transwave higher, resulting in the

sweeping effect you should be hearing. When it moves in a nega

tive direction, however, the transwave seems to stop sweeping.

This is because the transwave can't be modulated any lower than

"00," even though the triangle wave produced by the LFO is

moving in that direction. So a better choice for the LFO wave

would probably be either of the positive-only waves, the

" P O S - S I N E " o r t h e " P O S - T R I " — e i t h e r o f t h e s e w a v e s w i l l

modulate the transwave start index with positive numbers only.

Give each of them a listen — they produce subtly different effects.

To my ear, the "POS-SINE" produces the smoothest sweep, so

l e t ' s u s e t h i s w a v e f o r n o w.

At this point, you might want to listen to some of the other

transwaves, to get a feel for how each of them sounds when being

modulated in this way. Head back over to the "Wave" menu and

hit the "1" button. From here you can easily select the wave (in

this case the "Formant-X" wave), and use the up/down buttons to

step through the other available transwaves. Once you've finished,

set the wave to "Pulse 1-X." We're going to use this wave to

re-create a popular analog synthesizer string sound based on "pulse

width modulation."

Back in the good old days, any analog synthesizer worth its salt in

cluded at least one pulse wave with a modulatable duty-cycle. A

Pulse Waves

-TLTLTL

50^ Duty cycle

_I1_ILJ1_

10^ Duty cycle

(Continued on page 5)

2

Front Panel

RND

Hacker News

Since our very first issue one of the things that has helped make

the Hacker a viable magazine has been Ensoniq's willingness

to include sample copies with every keyboard that they ship.

Recently Ensoniq decided to stop including sample issues with

keyboards.

Ensoniq still sees the Hacker as a valuable resource and will

continue to provide us with news and technical support and to

respond to questions, problems, and suggestions that show up

in the Interface. Ensoniq has also agreed to include with each

instrument a flyer (provided by us) describing the Hacker and

making our pitch. We're presently developing a way for us to

include brief descriptions, listings, or small ads from our adver

tisers. If we do a good enough job on the flyer our circulation

will also be unaffected. (Actually, a flyer might soften the

somewhat intimidating first impression that the Hacker some

times makes.) However, at this point, the long-range effects of

Ensoniq's decision are mostly unknown.

As always, suggestions, feedback, and money-saving tips are

extremely welcome — stay tuned.

* * *

Not only that! But we sure could use some SQ-1 & 2 and VFX

& SD-1 Hackerpatches. Instant near-fame! We would also like

to see some more writers join the ranks — particularly on these

newer instruments. If you've got some new gear, please don't

be shy. Newer readers may not be aware of it but just about all

of our current writers originally showed up just innocently

wishing to subscribe...

Oops — In last month's review of Sound Source Unlimited's

Masteram 64 we gave the wrong zip code for Sound Source.

However, they've changed their address since then anyway.

The correct address is: 2985 E. Hillcrest Dr., Suite A, Westlake

Village, CA 91362.

TRANSONIQ-NET

HELP WITH QUESTIONS

All of t he indi vid ual s l ist ed be lo w ar e v olu nte ers l P lea se ta ke

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EPS/EPS-16-i- QUESTIONS — Erech Swanston, Maestro Sounds. 718-

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VFX QUESTIONS —Sam Mims.Syntaur Productions. 818-769-4395. (CA).

10 am to 11 pm PST.

SEQUENCING — Larry Church, Danlar Music, 503-692-3663. Call anytime.

SQ-80 QUESTIONS — Michael MoitiUa, 805-966-7252 weekends and after

5 pm Pacific Time.

EPS & EPS-16 PLUS QUESTIONS — Garth Hjelte. Rubber Chicken Soft

ware. Pacific Time (WA). Call anytime. If message, 24-hour callback. (206)

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ESQ-1 AND SQ-80 QUESTIONS — Tom McCaffrey. ESQUPA. 215-

830-0241, before 11 pm Eastern Time.

ESQ-1 QUESTIONS — Jim Johnson, (503) 684-0942. 8 am to 5 pm Pacific

Time (OR).

EPS/MIRAGE/ESQ/SQ-80 M.U.G. 24-HOUR HOTLINE — 212-465-

3430. Leave name, number, address. 24-hr Callback.

SAMPLING & MOVING SAMPLES — "Mr. Wavesample" — Jack

Loesch, (201) 264-3512. Eastern Time (N.J.). Call after 6:00 pm.

MIDI USERS — Eric Baragar, Canadian MIDI Users Group, (613) 392-6296

during business hours. Eastern Time (Toronto, ONT) or call MIDILINE BBS

at (613) 966-6823 24 hours.

MIRAGE SAMPLING — Mark Wyar, (216) 323-1205. Eastern time zone

(OH). Calls between 6 pm and 11 pm.

SQ-1 QUESTIONS — Pat Finnigan, 317-357-3225. 8:00 am to 10:00 pm

EST.

ESQ-1, MIDI & COMPUTERS — Joe Slater, (404) 925-7929. Eastern time

zone.

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Taming Transwaves (Continued from page 2)

pulse wave with a 50% duty cycle (high 50% of the time, and low

the other 50%) could also be called a "square" wave — that's be

cause it looked square when viewed on an oscilloscope (diagram).

T h i s w a v e s o u n d s m u c h l i k e t h e " P u l s e 1 - X " w a v e w i t h n o

modulation and its start index set to "00." To hear this sound, set

LFO modulation and start index both to "00" — your display

s h o u l d l o o k l i k e t h i s ;

" S t a r t I n d e x = 0 0

Mod=LFO * +00."

A 10% duty cycle, on the other hand, means that the pulse wave is

high 10% of the time, and low the other 90%. If you now set the

start index for the "Pulse 1-X" wave to "99," you should hear

something very close to this sound.

To create more animated sounds, a modulator would often be ap

plied to the pulse wave, much as we have done here with the ap

plication of a bit of LFO modulation. The resulting sounds were

used in many different kinds of "patches," one of which is a

string-ensemble simulation that has come to be associated with this

technique of "pulse width modulation."

Now to get back on track — set the start index once again to "00,"

and LFO mod amount to "+99." Now let's tweak the filter a bit.

Hit the "Filter" button, and then button "1." From here we can ad-

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5

just the cutoff point of filterl — let's set it for something like "80"

— since filterl is set up for 3-pole low-pass operation, this should

mellow the sound out nicely. Notice, though, that the high notes

seem a bit too mellowed out — let's check the status of the key

board tracking parameter. Hit button "2," and you'll find that, sure

enough, keyboard tracking is set to "+00" — the filter is not track

ing the keyboard at all. Let's try setting the "FCl Keyboard"

parameter to something like "+26" — this sounds pleasing to my

ear, anyway.

Now let's move to the "Amp" menu, and apply a string-type

default envelope. Hit the "Amp" button, then button "3." Hit the

"Enter" button, scroll up until you reach the "SLOW STRING"

default envelope, and hit the "Enter" button again to apply the en

velope. And for the finishing touch, hit the "Effect" button, then

the "0" button, and scroll up until you reach the "CHORUS+

REVERB" effect. And there you have it — "pulse width modula

tion strings." For a bigger sound, you might want to try using two

voices, with each using the "Pulse 1-X" transwave, but with slight

ly different settings for start index and LFO rate on each, and

slightly detuned from each other. Or you might want use the voice

we've just created, and add another voice based on the "STRING

ENSEMBLE" wave, to create a hybrid analog synth/sampled

string section sound. At any rate, if you want to keep this sound,

save it now before we move on.

All saved? Good. Let's get back to the transwaves — there's some

other stuff you can do with them that I'd like to be checking out.

We'll use our new string sound as the starting point for are next

foray into transwave territory. Head back to the "Wave" menu, and

press button "1" to move to the "Wave" page. What we're going to

attempt is to simulate another classic analog-type sound, a

high-resonance filter sweep. For this sotmd, we can use any of the

"resonant" transwaves, "RESONANT 1-X," "RESONANT 2-X,"

"RESONANT 3-X," or "RESONANT 4-X." Each of these waves

has a sound similar to that of an analog wave being routed through

an analog filter with the resonance (or "Q" as it is sometimes

called) set fairly high. The higher numbered resonant waves simu

late higher resonance settings — as well as being somewhat dif

ferent from one another timbrally. For our experiments, let's use

the "RES ONA NT 3-X " w ave.

First, let's try simulating a "filter sweep" using this wave. As you

might guess, this can be accomplished by applying an envelope to

modulate the "start index" of the wave. Hit the "3" button and

select the mod parameter — it should currently be set to "LFO."

Change this to "ENV2," and leave the amount of modulation set to

"+99." The display should be showing this:

"Start Index = 00

Mod=ENV2*+99."

Now let's use ENV2 to create our "filter sweep." Head over to the

ENV2 "defaults" page, and hit "Enter." Let's try the "Ramp

Down" envelope — scroll until you see it in the display, and hit

"Enter." Play a few notes to get a feel for the effect — a slow,

resonant downward filter sweep. Let's try speeding it up a touch

— hit the "0" button to move to the envelope programming page.

You should find the envelope set to begin at a level of 99, move at

a time of 10 to the next level, which is also 99, then move at a time

of 62 to a level of CO, the level at which it stays. We can speed up

the effect of this envelope simply by reducing time2, the time it

takes to go from level2 (99) to level3 (GO). Let's change the value

of time2 then from "62" to something like "32" — this speeds up

our filter sweep rather significantly. Now let's adjust the "Amp"

envelope to something a bit more appropriate for the sound we're

after here. First, press the "Amp," then the "3" button, and hit

"Enter." Let's start with the "PIANO DECAY" envelope — scroll

to it, and press "Enter" once again. Now hit the "0" button to move

to the envelope programming page — I want to make a couple of

minor adjustments to the basic "piano" envelope.

First, I'd like this sound to be a bit more clavinet-like. One thing

we can do to give a bit more of this kind of character is to shorten

up the envelope's release time — otherwise known as "time4."

Currently it's set to a value of "30" — let's change this to a value

of "06." This, as you will recall, will cause the sound to decay

more quickly once the key has been released. Next, let's lessen the

effect that velocity has on the volume of the sound. Press button

"1," and take the value for "LevV" down from "19" to "13."

Now let's brighten the filter up a bit. Hit the "Filter" button, then

the "1" button, and increase the "FCl Cutoff" (filter cutoff)

parameter from "80" to "127" — full open. By now we should

have a pretty respectable analog synth simulation. It might be in

teresting, though, to check back in with the transwave and see

what other adjustments might be made there. So hit the "Wave"

and then the "3" button to move back to the "Start Index" page.

From here, we can adjust the depth of the "filter sweep" simply by

adjusting the "ENV2" mod amount. Try setting ENV2 mod to

something like "+36" to get a feel for this — now the envelope

doesn't sweep quite as "high" in the transwave. While you're at it,

you might try setting the start index to something higher than "00"

— try "48," for example. Now the "filter sweep" doesn't end up

going quite as dark as it did originally — that's because the

transwave doesn't come back to a start index of "00" anymore, but

to the brighter-sounding start index at "48." And as long as you're

at it, you can reverse the "filter sweep" direction entirely by set

ting the transwave start index to "99," and the Env2 mod amount

to "-99." Or you might try other modulators all together — you

could set the start index back to "00," and use "WHEEL" (the

modwheel) to modulate it. Try starting with a mod amount of

"+99" — this will allow you to control the "filter sweep" from the

modwheel, for those classic "wah-wah" type effects.

Be sure to check out some of these techniques with the other

transwaves, too. And if you find a sound you like, be sure to check

it out with some of the other effects available in the digital

processing section — the addition of a bit of chorusing, flanging

or phase-shifting might be a nice touch. And I'll see you back here

next time for more programming and other digital hijinks. b

Bio: Clark Salisbury is a partner in the MIDI Connection, a

Portland-based consulting firm. He has been actively Involved In

the composition, performance, and recording of electronic music

for over 7 years and Is now producing his own pop-oriented com

positions. His favorite color Is chrome.

6

In Search of Hip

Sounds...

Review: Signature Series Sound Library,

The System ESS-14

Scott Leonard

For: EPS-16 Plus. EPS and EPS-M.

Product: Signature Series Sound Library, The System ESS-14.

Price: $39.95 - 5 disk set.

From: Ensoniq Corp., 155 Great VaUey Pkwy, Malvern, PA 19355.

You ever listen to a new song on the radio and say to yourself,

"Where did they get that awesome snare drum sound?" Well,

Ensoniq is leading the search. The Signature Series Library

con tai ns som e of the bes t s oun ds avai la ble for the EPS/ 16 +.

The sounds in this review are from Signature Series new

comers, David Frank and Michael Murphy, better known as

The System. These two are highly respected songwriters, per

formers, and producers.

There has been a lot of controversy the last year or so concern

ing the legalities of sampling from records without the consent

of the copyright holder. This library represents a first for

sampled sounds. Some sounds were sampled directly from The

System's master tapes. So the sounds are not only cleaner, but

they're (I suppose) "legaller." This is a giant step for Ensoniq

and sampling in general, and I hope to see more of this in the

future.

There are 5 disks in this library and the sounds aren't organized

in any obviously logical fashion. I believe they did this in order

to cram as many sounds on a disk as possible. So here are the

sounds represented in a more organized fashion, along with my

comments. Since most of you are original EPS owners, I'll

comment on how the sounds work in both the 16+ and original

EPS.

SYSTEM KITS - 13 98 bl ocks - Great d rum ki t. The k icks a nd

snares are big and processed just right. The horn and noise hits

are very useful. This instrument is large, but I was able to

create 400-500 block kits by deleting unused wavesamples. The

sounds are not dependent on the effects, so original EPS users

can make use of these sounds with very little modification.

DRUM LOOP - 479 blocks - This is a drum pattern sampled

from the master tape and looped. I liked the groove but found it

difficult to use with sequencing. Synchronizing the sequencer

to the loop was the problem, and changing the tempo also

means changing the pitch of the sample. A nice sound, but I

doubt I'll use it. No effects used here, so original EPS users can

easily scam on this one.

S Y S T E M H I T S a n d SY S T E M HI T S H - 5 3 0 a n d 2 1 4 b l o c k s

- A strong collection of hip orchestral, hom, and sax hits. I had

a great time using these sounds along with a nice dance or soul

groove. Fine on the original EPS as well.

SYS B O N US 2 - 1 3 7 8 bl o c k s - AW ES O M E ! ! T h i s in s t r u m e n t

is definitely my favorite. It contains some of Mic Murphy's

vocal phrases sampled straight from their master tapes. These

sounds are super clean, real useful. My personal favorite is

"DUNG-CHICKY-DUN-DUN-DA-DUN-DUN-DOO-DOO."

SYS SYN BS-1 thru 6 - 32-307 blocks - Great Moog style

basses. The documentation says the sounds were created using

a Mini-Moog and a Yamaha TX81Z, a hot combination for bass

soimds. You get the warm, fat sound from the Moog, but the

crisp attack and punch from the TX81Z. The chorus effect used

on the sounds helped a lot so break out the effects for the

original EPS.

SYSTEM SYNTH - 799 blocks - A nice fat synth-brass sound

with useful variations in the patch-selects like a warm sustain

ing pad and a hard sampled brass. I felt this sound depended a

fair amount on the effects and sounded sort of dry on the

original EPS. If you have signal processing, use it for this one.

S Y S B E L L a n d S Y S B E L B I N G - 1 0 3 0 a n d 2 7 1 b l o c k s -

Nice FM synth-type bell sounds. They cut through a mix real

well. I didn't care for the SYS BEL BING as much because it

seemed to cut off — no sustain. I tried to loop this sound to get

more sustain without too much success. Both work well in the

original EPS, but the reverb in the 16+ gave a real polished

sound.

My only major complaint here has to do with the demos. In

order to use the demos, you must have a memory expander.

Luckily I have one and the demos sound great. Maybe,

however, they should have included a small demo for people

with non-expanded machines. Oh well, you wanted the ex

pander anyway, right??

Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of these sounds.

They're clean and punchy and the price is right. Most of the

modulators were put to good and tasteful use. If you are look

ing for great rap/soul/pop sounds, this collection should be in

your library. The documentation is excellent, as with all En

soniq products. And as always, listen to the soimds if possible

before you buy. m

Overall, I was very impressed with

the quality of these sounds. They're

clean and punchy and the price is

right.

7

Hey Hackers: if you've been looking for some cutting-edge

for any of your digital musical instruments, including your

gear, then check out these holiday specials on ALL our soundhanks!

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Disk $44.96 (Reg. $49.95) RAM: $89.96 (Reg. $99.95)

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Disk: S48.97 (teg. W.95) 2§%0nr

• Samplers & Synthesizers—Tltese sounds range from popular digital and analog

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to motion picture souridtrack type textures. Many new sounds and pedal FX not

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good, with fine dynamic qualities. The quality of the sounds, and the descriptive

nature of the names, made working with this collection quite pleasant. Indeed,

many of the sounds bring forth memories of instruments I've known and loved."

—Electronic Musidan, July 1990 (VI01)

FORMATS: Voice Card • Macintosh • IBM/MS-DOS • Atari ST • Aiesis Data Disk

Yamaha Q • Yamaha QX3 • Roland MC500 • Kasvai Q80 • Koig DFl • Koij T Series MDR

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• Acoustic/Electric Collection—fijch of these five disks has a multi layer sampb

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• Famous Synths n (Digital)—This contemporary collection of digital synth patches

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HACKER BASEMENT TAPES

Dan's Eospital Phgsician

Oreaser/Nurminen

Daniel Mandel

Group: Greaser

Contact Info: Jim Greaser, 216 Walnut St., Roversford, PA 19468.

Group: Nurminen

Contact Info: Paul Nurminen, 304 West Oak Ave., El Sequndo, CA 90245.

Equipment Used:

Greaser

EPS

Alesis Quadraverb

Tas cam Po rta O ne

Gibson SG

Yamaha 12 string

Cry Baby Wah

MXR Distortion

Nurminen

EPS w/2x expander

A l e s i s H R - 1 6

Yamaha PSS-680

Tascam Porta 05

"Cheesy" Realistic Mixer

Teac V-570 Mastering deck

Casio SK-200 (in the closet)

For this article I've been listening to two different tapes by two

different groups that I've put into the same category. It's not a

category like Rock or Pop. It's not a musical category at all.

It's a situational category.

The situation is that of the musical hobbyist. Maybe they've

had a taste of professionalism. Maybe they are on the verge of

a record deal. The following are some of the comments they

wrote in to explain their situations:

Jim Greaser: "This tape has about 40 minutes of tunes, all of

which were primarily composed on the EPS. I don't sing, I'm

not a lyricist, so they're all basically instrumentals. The intent

I'm not sure of except that I'm basically a top ten type of guy.

You know, 3-4 minute song with an intro, verse, chorus, and

out. I can picture some of the tunes as backing for movies, com

mercials, and, with a good lyricist, a potential sing song.

"Tm your basic "former musician" who played six years

professionally, ended up with a day job and still went back to

buying the latest equipment and sat at home at night to air out

my head. Thus I must have about a hundred tunes in all in

various finished and unfinished conditions.

"My equipment list is short (Note: after his equipment list he

writes, "This is all I can afford!") / basically compose on the

EPS and dump down to a Tascam Porta One 4-track on two

tracks. Then I throw a lead on top or use the other two tracks

to record guitar (my real instrument). The EPS made me a

keyboardist. That's about it."

Paul Nurminen: "I am very thankful for this opportunity to get

some of my music heard by someone other than myself. I have

been playing around with keyboards since about 1987. Before

this time, I was a DJ (private parties, school dances and such),

which by the way, was what got me interested in creating my

own music. Anyway, I decided to go out and buy my first key

board, a Casio SK-200, and began to write my own music.

Then I acquired a Tascam Porta 05 which improved my ability

to get my ideas across, but I was running out of sounds. I

bought another keyboard, a Yamaha PSS-680. Then along

came the Alesis HR-16.1 loved it, except for the fact that my

synths were missing something...POWER! Well, I finally settled

on the Ensoniq EPS.

"After reading the manuals about 500 times, I really got into

my new toy! The ideas just kept coming, and I just couldn't be

stopped. Later, however, I realized that I had all these tapes of

ideas and songs and sounds, yet no one to hear them.

"I guess I should tell you where I'm going with all of this. I

hope to be able to make a comfortable living off this hobby of

mine, but right now I just don't have the time or $$$ to aggres

sively pursue it."

Now to the music!

Jim Greaser's tape, VARIOUS SELECTIONS and MORE,

starts off with a song with a good rhythmic base. Very dance-

able with a moving keyboard part. The lead voice is well

played and fits in almost every way, BUT — it is one of those

sax patches that just doesn't do it for me. I know it's a sax

patch, a fairly good one. But I know it's not a sax playing. This

sax/non-sax lead is followed by a rhythm break and then enters

the WAH. Very exciting guitar work! This takes the song

somewhere. It's a little musical escape and then a return to the

theme. At the end of the piece Jim uses a piano sound layered

with a string sound that compliment each other perfectly.

The next song was slower, more moody. This time the sax/no

sax lead came off as a bit more realistic. The notes were held

out longer. I think I personally would have put a wetter reverb

on the sax/no sax. There is one passage, however, where Jim

played a very un-sax like phrase. There is a nice shimmeryness

to this softg; the way the cymbals were used.

Jim has definitely listened to a lot of top 40. His rhythms are all

very danceable. He knows how to set up a groove and reduce it

to its elements, or highlight and emphasize the most interesting

parts. Overall he has captured a very full sound using brass

strings, a variety of keyboard sounds. He plays a fine rhythm

9

and lead guitar. The mixes are all well done. Each voice is

where it should be, and even though you might expect that Jim

would pump up his leads over the rest, he didn't.

One of the songs begins with a very swooping intro. This was a

very exciting intro element to use, but the problem was in the

sample itself. I could hear where it looped — and having never

owned an EPS I'm not sure how easy it is to rework your

samples, but it would be worth the effort.

In summary, for Jim's tape I would have to give a thumb's

down to the sax lead. His playing is fine, his phrasing is great.

If he picked a patch that was more listenable I would have en

joyed this tape a lot more. I would also say more, more, more

guitar! I think that Jim's guitar — his real instrument — is

what puts Jim's signature on these times. They really make this

collection tasty. But the guitar leads are too few. Show off!!

Let me hear your guitar instead of the sax/no sax sound.

Paul's tape had four songs on it. And overall it had a more

analog approach. Maybe it is Paul's history with some of the

earlier pre-MIDI keyboards that influenced his sound choices.

The first song has a synth-bass patch playing opposite a

bell-like keyboard patch. The drums (I'm guessing from the

Alesis) are fairly dry. After the song begins, there's not much

change. Instruments drop out and a string part adds in, but for

the most part there is not a lot altered to capture one's interest.

The second song has another analog type patch that sets up the

chord progression. The drums sound dry and processed, which

give this song a very tight dimension. What helps to spread it

out is the string leads which are also synthy. There is some sort

of ominous pulsing sound in the background which also adds

character to this piece. Overall the sounds are thin. There is

some interesting stereo placement and movement. Here when

the main instruments drop out and all we are left with is the ini

tial keyboard sound, the break is effective and refreshing. As an

outro Paul chooses the string leads which stand out in contrast

against the other sounds and the return of the ominous pulsing

sound for a very strong, classical feel.

The third song begins with an airy vocal patch and, this time, a

"rap" approach to the dmm sounds. All of these tend to be very

sequency. I can almost divide up the sequences into parts and

talk about them separately. The vocal patch that is used is

fuller. This song sounds bigger than the previous two. There is

not a lot of movement in the base voice, however it is very

thick and helps to add to the sound. In the middle of the song,

brass is added. This is definitely the kick that this song needed!

The sections, or sequences here, are pretty long.

The last song is very different. Paul describes it as "entirely

made up of Depeche Mode samples." There is a heartbeat of a

bass drum. There is a cricketoid percussion popping in every

once in a while. The bass patch bubbles up from the bottom,

very wet. Somewhere in there is a backward patch that shoops

into itself. As the song progresses there is a metallic pipe sound

that accompanies a crashing boom. All of which seems a rather

long intro for what follows. A horn/sax patch that plays the

first hook I've heard so far. Then our buddy the cricket starts to

perform a sort of scratch/scale to his heart's content. This is

followed by some vocal snatches from Depeche Mode. To me,

what Paul did on this last piece was the most interesting work

on the tape.

Overall as I listen to Paul's tape I get the feeling that these are

the backing tracks for... something. I am not left humming any

hooks or any melodies. I am definitely not of the opinion that

everyone should write a hook that any yuppie can learn in three

minutes, however a "hook" is a tool that draws the listeners' in

terest.

I am fairly certain that most of us out there (yeah, me too) are

hobbyists on one level or another. I would encourage these

guys to keep it up. If you aren't a vocalist, find someone who

is. For those of us with the luxury to have a home studio, we

should exploit it to its fullest and keep on recording as much

and as often as we can. I just hope that

this kind of feedback is helpful for

your next project! ■■

Bio: Daniel Mandel is a songwriter,

sound designer, and has sold pro

audio and keyboard equipment and

produced demo tapes for local bands.

O.K., O.K....You Talked Us Into It!

We've been happily specializing In the EPS

series for 2-1 /2 years now. But you weren't

happy with that. You kept calling us about

t h i s V F X - S D a n d S D - 1 s t u f f .

So

We finally gave in. We got an SD-1 and we're busily

converting our performance sequences to both the

S D - 1 a n d V F X - S D f o r m a t s . A N D Y O U W E R E R I G H T I

The "SD 's sound GREAT! [But we still love the EPS]

AUDITION US!

206-536-8637 features an EPS AND an SD-1 playing a

variety of sequences. Leave your address at the beep

and we'll send you the full story on Music Labs products

505 Broadway Suite 211

Tacoma, Washington 98402

206-272-7352

Fax 206-627-5429

Visa and Master Card Accepted

ENSONIQ, EPS, SD-1 and VFX-SD are trademarks of ENSONIQ Corp

10

Review:

E n s o n i q ' s S C - 3 S o u n d c a r d Jeffrey Rhoads

For: SQ-1.SQ-1+, SQ-2.

Product: SC-3 Soundcard.

Price: S99.95.

From: Ensoniq Corp., 155 Great Valley Parkway, Malvern, PA 19355.

Accessories Order Line (800) 553-5151 or your local Ensoniq dealer.

When you decide to purchase a ROM Card for your synth, what

characteristics should that library have? If you play many

clubs, affairs and concerts the card should probably house an

assortment of reasonable emulations; "copycats," if you will

(strings, keyboards, pads, lead sounds and the like.) This may

be particularly important if you're playing club dates or private

a f f a i r s t h a t c a l l f o r c o v e r t u n e s .

There are those of of us, though, who prefer to avoid the joys

of club dates and weddings, provided we can afford to. We in

stead pursue session work, teaching, composing, soundtrack

work and the like. Often, we're looking for bold, different even

odd tones in the mix.

The problem is that ROM Cards have become very specific;

this is your basic "Rock Card," behold the "Jazz Card," feast

your ears on this "Scary Textures Card" and so forth. Yes, it's

nice to have a choice, but after spending more than a few francs

on the animal, who can afford to feed it all that? What if we

play out and compose? (NO, the dog's NOT for sale.)

Ensoniq seeks to answer our questions with its new ROM in

stallment for the SQ series, the SC-3. This card has a split per

sonality. Side A has neatly organized banks of Everything

You'll Need On The Gig. Side B tempts our darker and more

inquisitive side with moody bursts and sounds Mother Told Us

Never To Use. So how does the SC-3 sound?

The first bank on Side A contains a fairly predictable and very

competent group of strings. The string pads are full and drip

ping in reverb. "Really Strings," is a mildly muted pad with a

fast velocity and attack. It's probably best suited for passages

that require a quick unison string run. The mod wheel adjusts

the brightness while timbre(!) controls reverb. It would be un

fair not to mention that the elusive timbre controller is imple

mented in practically every patch on this card. Those mods

assigned to timbre are (cleverly) secondary to the more perfor

mance- oriented changes given to the mod wheel. With a secon

dary controller, each sound is afforded more color and motion.

Bravo.

If you like the strains of John-Luc Ponty or Michael Urbaniak,

"Fusion Violin" may do them justice. It sounds better than

some other solo strings in the bank because it is unabashedly

electric with plenty of flange.

The second bank is the obligatory Vox Vocal bank. It seems

that now every card has to have one, so there is really nothing

very earth-shattering here. Maybe it's time to resist the tempta

tion to include more than one or two of these behemoths in a

collection. These "voxes" would seem, now, to function better

as a small part in a non-vocal idea.

The next 3 banks represent brass, saxophones (and harmonicas)

and woodwinds respectively. There are a couple of very good

stabs in each section. "Large Brass," a punchy electro-brass

stab with more than enough attack, will fill out most any blues

arrangement in need of back-up. "Muted Trumpet," is the best

representation of same you're likely to hear from any Ensoniq

synthesizer. It is likely to become a classic for the SQ. Miles

On A Foggy Day. (Yes, this sound is reminiscent of the T1

Muted Trumpet we hear Michael Wolff beat into submission

every-other Arsenio Hall show.)

"Cajun Saxes," provides a very effective sax section. Although

this patch sounds good all by itself, it really hits the mark when

MED led up to even a less than perfect brass sound. (I used "Big

City Brass" on the Proteus 1.) "Blues Harp" is a good try but,

alas, not quite so effective. It just sounds too contrived. The at

tempt here is directed towards that "Harp-in-the-Bullet-to-a-

Fender Twin" feel. But even good harp players (with real har

monicas) sometimes have trouble with that one. Thanks for

trying, though.

The next bank is devoted entirely to Woodwinds. Yes, there's a

nice collection here, but you may question (as did I) the need

for more than one flute or "wood group."

Banks 5 and 6 are set aside for keys and guitar. "Hammond-

ish," embodies the slow rotor, now-it's-far-now-it's-close ef

fect we want from a Leslie and it comes complete with key-

click. And although it is tagged "Classic Guitar" it lilts thru the

jazzy "My Romance" with greater ease than does its sister

patch, "Jazz Guitar." These banks, again, contain other good,

facsimile sounds. However, as is the case with other ROMs

I've used, two full banks of this kind of material seems to be

somewhat of a stretch.

Side A's final bank finishes strong in the Bass and Drum

department. "Electric Bass" is just that, simple, electric and

clean. It should do quite nicely as a staple-studio low end. And

"8 String Bass" is a full bodied 2 octaves above the root sound

that will bring more life to Funk and Fusion Grooves. The

"Drums" on this card are ENTIRE KITS. This is great for those

players who sequence a lot and can never seem find enough

variety in drum sounds.

Rather than look at Side B bank by bank, we're probably best

served by looking at a few highlights. Given the more "eso-

11

teric" appeal of most of this side, these sounds aren't subject to

tight organization, although, the last bank is reserved for Splits.

Generally speaking, this second side of the SC-3 does what it's

supposed to do; stir the creative spirit.

"Alienn Pad," uses the Inharmonic Cluster Loop as its pad

waveform, while "Alien" is brought to life with a Synth Pluck.

"Alieim Pad" is cold and spooky and could easily act as a sub

stitute for "normal" pads. The "alien" can be controlled with

timbre. "Electraglide" is striking as a demonstrator for the

multi-wave. (And it's key mapped in Drum Mode.) Also try

"Slow Wave" f or a new twist on "Dar k Shado ws."

"Oscar's Trashcan" provides an answer for those of us asking

"Why can't I find a dirty percussioninstrument?" Comprised of

rack bell and cowbell waves, it can be inserted in Latin rhythms

instead of timbales.

The most interesting effect patch on this card is "Fly-By" be

cause that's precisely what it does. It begins with a phasey

whoosh generated by the noise loop. Then the transwave Air-

force divebombs overhead with startling accuracy. The planes

seem to come from a distance when reversing the mod wheel.

"India" works because it sounds like its title; experiment with

diminished scales while holding a low 5th. This soimd will also

double as a string pad.

Side B finishes with a very tasty set of splits. "Clav + Syn-

Bass," "Synth + Bass" and "Vibes + Bass" are fresh, clean al

ternatives to the usual Pianos + Bass. These splits work for the

composer who doesn't want to be bothered with finding bass

sounds or even assigning MIDI channels. They're also very

handy in some live performance situations.

The SC-3 was programmed by Andrew Schlesinger and the

Hacker's own Clark Salisbury. Clark's been the Hacker's resi

dent answerman for a while now and he's been writing an ex

cellent "how-to" series for the SQ-1. His expertise with the SQ

is well served by many of the stronger moments on the SC-3.

The only caveat I have with the SC-3 is not with the design of

the individual sotmds. Rather, I wonder why certain sounds are

so similar to one another and why some banks contain the

sounds they do. This is particularly true for side A. I wonder

about the need for the sheer number of woodwinds and guitars,

for example. Some will see what I view as a slight overkill on

Side A as simply a way to cover multiple bases, a device to

allow the musician to program rather than tweak. Ensoniq

might have considered, though, letting the more interesting side

B o f t h e S C - 3 b l e e d i n t o s i d e A .

The SC-3's a worthwhile investment. Side B is a lotsa fun and

experimental, yet with many practical uses. And the use of

timbre as a controller earns points of praise. So, whether you're

timing 40 minute sets or chasing SMPTE, this card may suit

your needs, h

And thanks go to Kip of Medley Music in Bryn Mawr, PA for

his special assistance.

R e v i e w : M u s i c L a b s S e q u e n c e s

Bryce Inman

For: EPS family (also available for the VFX-SD and the SD-1 — not

reviewed here.)

Product: Sequences.

Price: $15 per song (buy 6 and get the 7th free).

From: Music Labs, 505 Broadway, Suite 211, Tacoma, Washington

98402. phone: 206-272-7352.

Why do I need Music Labs?

So, there you are — you just got your first big break. You've

signed a contract to do a week of gigs at the local Hop-til-U-

Drop club, when it hits you — you don't have an act!!! Don't

panic...Music Labs may be the solution to your problem.

Music Labs has developed a large catalog of sequences for the

EPS family of keyboards with the following philosophy in

mind: They want to make it possible for a person with no more

than an EPS and a 2X expander to do an entire performance

with little or no loading from disks while on stage.

How do they do this? Thought you'd never ask.

About the instruments...

T o e l i m i n a t e t h e n e e d t o l o a d i n s t r u m e n t s i n t h e m i d d l e o f a

performance, they design all of their sequences around the

same group of instruments. When you purchase your first se

quences from them. Music Labs includes their "Setup Disk"

which contains all of the sounds you'll need for all their se

quences. The sounds are saved as a bank, so it only takes the

press of a couple of buttons to load everything. When the Bank

is loaded, your EPS will look something like this: Instrument 1

is left empty for moving things aroimd or adding an extra sound

of your own. Instrument 2 has a piano (the patch buttons bring

up an organ or an electric piano). Instrument 3 contains four

synth pads. Instrument 4 is strings. Instrument 5 has various

brass sounds. Instrument 6 is guitar. Instrument 7 has four bas

ses and Instrument 8 is drums.

About the sequences...

Each of Music Labs' songs is recorded as a single sequence, so

you can have several songs loaded into the EPS's memory at

the same time. The obvious advantage to this is that you can

have an entire set of songs loaded before you start your set. As

12

a result, you won't have to access a single disk while perform

ing. In addition, you can chain all of the sequences together in

Song mode. Once you've done this, all you have to do is push

"Play" once and you can go through an entire set without

touching the EPS again.

There is at least one drawback to this method, however. Since a

majority of the sequences use patch selects, you might not hear

the correct soimds if you start the EPS playing in the middle of

a sequence. While this isn't a problem in performance (unless

you're on a roll and your audience begs you to do that last

chorus of "The Beer Barrel Polka" one more time) this makes

it a bit awkward for rehearsal. Although Music Labs provides a

chart for each song indicating the location of each chorus, verse

and bridge within the sequence, practicing with the track exact

ly as it is meant to sound requires starting from the beginning

each time.

While the sequences that are available cover a variety of styles,

they lean most heavily towards dance music. The list of titles I

received (which isn't the most recent one since they are con

tinually updating their list to keep up with the latest jams) con

tains over 100 Pop/Rock titles compared to 10 Country titles

and 7 Standards (Chattanooga Choo Choo, etc.). (There's even

a Milli Vanilli song on the list. I detect a subtle irony here: If

you were to perform with this sequence, you would be pretend

ing Milli Vanilli pretending to be Milli Vanilli.)

In their literature, the people at Music Labs state that they try

to stay as close to the original version of these songs as poss

ible. I must admit that my musical tastes veered away from the

radio several years ago, so I can't vouch for most of the songs I

heard. The ones I do know, however, are pretty darned close to

the originals or as close as you'd expect from a decent band

playing the nightclub circuit. The dance sequences tend to

sound a lot better than the standards. For example: Although

"What's New" is pretty faithful to the Linda Ronstadt/Nelson

Riddle arrangement, it comes off sounding somewhat flat. The

dance stuff, by contrast, is usually pretty hot — especially the

percussion. To be fair, I'm sure that a

lot of this has to do with the nature of

the instrumentation of these contrast

ing styles. Since Dance music is

generally recorded and performed with

e l e c t r o n i c i n s t r u m e n t s , i t ' s m u c h

easier to reproduce this sound than it

is to emulate songs that are recorded

primarily with acoustic instruments.

This has been one of the great challen

ges for all musicians involved with

electronic instruments since the time a synthesizer beeped its

first beep.

Is there anything else?

If you don't know anything about the EPS and all you want to

do is load the sequences and play them, the materials included

with the sequences from Music Labs give you step-by-step in

structions for doing this. To help you navigate your way

through the sequences, each song is accompanied by a chart

that includes the time of the song, the starting measure of each

verse, chorus, etc. and a list of which tracks are in use.

If you want to customize the tracks to your own individual

needs. Music Labs provides information about how to go about

accomplishing this.

The most basic change you might want to make is to substitute

your own favorite sounds for those which Music Labs includes

with their sequences. If you have a 4X expander you will cer

tainly want to replace the piano (the weakest of all the sounds;

but hey — have you ever heard a good piano sample that didn't

take up a ton of memory?) and strings and brass. While the

sounds contained on their setup disk are certainly usable, I

found that the overall sound of the sequences was improved by

substituting sounds of a better quality. No big surprise there.

Another option would be to MIDI some of the sounds to other

keyboards or modules to further enhance the sound or to free

up voices so you can play along with the sequences. Since the

drum kit Music Labs provides follows Roland key assignments,

you can MIDI the drums to your favorite drum machine.

Music Labs' sequences are designed to provide all of the in

strumentation for each song — all you need to add is the vo

cals. If want to play along with the sequences, you could delete

the keyboard track (or drums or guitar or whatever instrument

you play) and play along with the rest of the instruments. If

later on you add another member to your act, you could delete

that instrument also. Of course, the reverse would also be true:

if a member of your group has to miss a performance, all you

have to do is put the missing part back into the sequence.

Might I make a suggestion?

About the only thing I can think of that Music Labs might do to

improve their product would be to

provide printed music with their se

quences. I know that this would in

volve more work and expense (I don't

say this flippantly...music publishing

is what I do for a living) but it seems

to me that this would be a very useful

addition to their product. I suppose

that a lack of printed music isn't that

important if you just plan to sing

along with the sequences — it

wouldn't be too hard to get the lyrics from a recording by the

original artist (I would assume that you would order songs you

already know anyway); it seems to me, however, that if you

wish to play along with these songs, this might prove to be a

more difficult task. Even for those people who are able to

figure out the music just by listening to it, I think that the

availability of printed music would be considered a valuable

asset.

I was pleasantly surprised at

the diversity of sounds that

they've been able to pro

duce... The overall quality of

the sequences is very good.

13

In my opinion...

When I first saw that Music Labs' sequences were all pro

grammed around the same group of instruments, I figured

they'd all sound pretty much alike. I must admit, however, that

I was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of sounds that

they've been able to produce within this context.

The overall quality of the sequences is very good. The heart of

Dance music is the beat set down by the percussion and Music

Labs has done an excellent job here. E you were to get on stage

with tracks that sounded like they were programmed on a

cheapo drum machine, you'd get justifiably snickered at. That's

not the case here — even the wallflowers will be tapping their

t o e s o n c e t h e b e a t k i c k s i n .

As they used to say on American

Bandstand, I'd give it a 92 — it's got

a good beat and it's easy to dance to!

Music Labs also supplies sequences

for the VFX -S D and the SD-1. b

Bio: Bry ce Inman is a free-lance

music editor and arranger for Word,

Inc. in Irving, TX. Although he has

decided to make Texas his permanent

home, he refuses to say "y'all" or

"fixin'

Revie w : The E P S Sa m p l i ng B o o k

Michael L. Schmitt

For: EPS.

Product: The EPS Sampling Book by Bobby Maestas - 155 pages spiral

bound.

Price: $21.95+ $2.50 s/h.

From: Mix Bookshelf, 6400 Hollis Street #12, Emeryville, CA 94608,

phone: 1-800-233-9604.

I was really excited to see this book advertised in the Mix

Bookshelf catalog. It was supposedly designed to start at the

entry level and work the novice up to sampling, complex

looping and editing. Great — at long last a good "do it your

self book on sampling.

Unfortunately, it was a serious disappointment. This book

caters only to the novice. In fact it is so basic it never gets

past the information contained in the two manuals that come

with the EPS! The first 70 or so pages aren't even about sam

pling. They are about how to load sounds, performance

presets, hooking the EPS to a mixer etc... all basic info con

ta in e d i n t h e M us i ci an ' s M an u al .

I skipped this part and went straight to the chapter entitled

"Prepare to Sample." The first lesson covers setting the vu

meter and how to change the sampling rate. The tricky ques

tion of what sampling rate to use is brought up, but the only

advice given is to choose a sampling rate twice as high as the

highest frequency of the sound you wish to sample. That's it!

E a chart had been given displaying different instruments and

their highest frequencies, along with recommended rates, this

advice would be at least a little helpful. But no such chart is

given and since this is supposed to be a beginner's book,

anyone who would buy it probably isn't going to know what

the highest frequency of their sample instrument is, so this ad

vice is useless.

The next couple of chapters cover sampling bottles, was-

tepaper baskets, etc... which is all ftm but everyone has done

these things before, and usually within minutes of buying

their EPS, and certainly no one has had to tell them to. Among

sampler owners, this type of behavior is instinctive.

Two more chapters go on to describe how to use a multi-track

recorder with an EPS. The book recommends putting the

straight sound on one channel, mixing a delayed channel with

it, then sampling it. Big deal. What people need to know is

how to set seamless loop points and then edit the sample to

turn it into a useful instrument. Unfortunately only 14 pages

are given to actual instruction on loops, and most of these are

mere descriptions of loop points and auto looping. Only four

pages are given to advanced looping functions such as cross

fade loops, bidirectional x-fade, etc... and these are only

descriptions with no elaboration on how they should be used.

And that's it! There's not even any mention of envelopes, fil

ters, or LEG. In fact the most advanced subject covered is

layer glide mode and how to set up a legato layer. (For those

who don't know how see Layer Glide mode under the chapter

"Layer Parameters" of the EPS Advanced Applications

Guide.) Everything in this book is contained in the EPS

manuals. The only person who might get some use out of it is

someone who bought a used EPS without manuals, but they

can be piuchased from Ensoniq for $7.95 each. The EPS Sam

pling Book is $21.95! And, surprisingly, it's published by Mix

Bookshelf, which in all fairness does publish some terrific

books on music.

Thumbs down for The EPS Sampling Book, h

Bio: Michael L. Schmitt studies classical guitar and composi

tion at Indiana University. He also writes for and plays MIDI

guitar in Bestiality Killed the Cat, a high-tech industrial

dance band of very questionable virtue.

14

V F X - S D / S D - 1 T i p s — S i x P a i r s a n d

a Spare

I bring to these hallowed pages my own list of a dozen tips,

gleaned from experience, that you can use to get more from

yoiu VFX-SD/SD-1. You'll probably notice that these are all

sequence/performance tips. Well, with over 1000 sounds in

my library, I don't really do much voice programming — only

tweaking.

Making music is my business, so running the sequencer,

mixing, and getting good, solid tracks down fast is my most

important concern. These tips are the result of my trying to

make the hardware as transparent as possible so it doesn't get

in the way of what it is really all about: creativity.

1. SAVE OFTEN. I know it's been said many times, many

ways, but save often! Keep a scratch disk in the drive and

save as you work. You can organize your best songs and se

quences later.

When naming a file, put a number in the first position, e.g.

IROCK. When saving to the scratch disc, just hit one key

(with keyboard naming enabled, of course) to name subse

quent versions: 2R0CK, 3R0CK, etc. This way you won't be

deleting the old versions. You will save the different versions

that reflect the song's progress and can always go back to ear

lier ideas.

When the final version is down, give it a name for life and

save it to your main disk. And don't forget to make a back up

of your main disks. When the scratch disk is full, either erase

it and start over or file it for extra protection. This same pro

cedure applies to sound/preset design. If you are like me, you

tweak by ear and never write anything down. By taking a

quick minute to save, you will have a reference to return to as

the sound takes shape. Often version 4 is better than version

17, if only you could remember that VGA setting...

2. BE CAREFUL when you save 30 seq/song files. If the

music you have created is in Banks 0-4 and you save banks

5-9, and there just happens to be nothing in Banks 5-9 you

save the nothing. And if you decide to delete your old file in

the process and replace it with new changes, you will write

"nothing" over the top of "something." 1 speak from ex

perience and it is why I highly advocate tip number one.

3. WHEN YOU SAVE 30 or 60 seq/song files, always save

the programs too. It is hard to remember what sounds go

Jeffrey P. Fisher

with what sequences. And it is a waste of time trying to find

them.

I have a sequence that I have no idea what sounds it originally

used. I've been close, but never exactly right. But I'm sure the

sounds are on a disk somewhere...

4. IF YOU HAVE an extra track (and voices to match),

copy a comp track to a blank track location. Next, give the

copied track a different patch or variation of the first. Use the

shift function and move the copied track ahead in time by a

few clocks. Pan the two tracks hard left and right and the

comp track will spread out in stereo very nicely. The amount

of clocks depends on the song tempo and the subtlety of the

effect you are after.

Try it with brass stabs, electric piano sounds, and strings. You

can, of course, assign the copied/shifted track to MIDI and

send it to an external sound generator.

5. PLAY REPEAT ECHOES in time with the music on the

track or a separate track. Follow the tempo and fade the

repeat echoes through velocity, MIDI volume controller 7, or

mixdown volume (and pan!).

Try it with woodblock, tamboiorine, or those infamous brass

stabs —just about any percussive sound works. You get a

digital delay, in perfect time, without having to use an internal

or external effects processor.

6. DON'T RUN EVERYTHING through the same effect —

even if it's a multi-effect. Make the bass line dry, make the

kick dry, route some sounds through one effect; others

through both, and get some variety in your musical life. Make

sure you check the volume of dry versus wet tracks. If the

bass is dry and everything else is wet, the bass will be over

powering, so back off on the volume a bit.

7. BE CAREFUL NOT to have too many voices set to

CNTL in a dynamic effect. Otherwise, conflicting controller

information will go to the effect and create some weird, im-

predictable results. See Tip Number Eight.

8. SET MUTIPLE VOICES to CNTL in a dynamic effect.

15

You can get some strange and wonderful results that might be

musically useful. See Tip Number Seven.

9. USE THE AUX OUTS. (See Tip Number Six.) Try the

bass and kick drum to one AUX out (using pan and effects

routing) and process it at the board to get the bottom end real

ly happening. Send the snare out the other AUX for additional

beefing up with EQ and external reverb.

You may need to have the kick, snare, and bass on separate

tracks to have this kind of control, but you do get 24 tracks —

the Beatles only needed four for Sgt. Pepper. Sometimes I

will rout a guitar voice through the AUX and run the signal

through stomp boxes or (eek!) to a guitar combo amp and

mike it up. Let's face it — it's the only way to get that sound.

10. USE THE MASTER KEYBOARD functions to control

your entire rig. Set up the VFX-SD and other components in

your system so that selecting a preset or sequence will con

figure your whole system. It takes a while to organize all

those patches, effects programs, et al, but it is well worth the

extra effort. You will ultimately save a lot of time by having

everything organized. It does wonders toward enhancing your

creativity.

Don't you just hate it when the hardware gets in the way? As

an extra plus, it will really impress yoiu friends (and clients!)

when one button changes everything.

11. BE EXTRA CAREFUL when deleting bars from a se

quence or when deleting a song step. These are the only

changes that you can not audition. Make the change and those

precious musical moments are gone forever. See Tip Number

One.

12. DOUBLE CHECK the edit tracks=song or sequence

when preparing mixdown volume and/or pan. You want to

mixdown the correct sequence/song track. Even though you

can audition the change, you don't want to waste your time

doing it over.

BAKER'S DOZEN. Sometimes it is just plain easier to use

M I D I v o l u m e c o n t r o l l e r 7 t h a n m i x d o w n v o l u m e . P e r s o n a l

ly, I play more naturally with the volume pedal, but then

again, I'm really a guitarist who happens to play keys, too. mi

Ensoniq VFX-SD and SD-1

S e q u e n c e r F i l e F o r m a t s

Gary Giebler

In my last article, I described the diskette formats for each of

the Ensoniq keyboards. This month and next I will discuss the

format of the sequencer files for the VFX-SD and SD-1

keyboards. This information can be used to write special pur

pose editing programs such as a utility to change the notes on a

track from one drum machine to another. I put that feature into

my VFX-SD programs to allow me to transfer drum mapping to

the VFX-SD drums when I get a standard MIDI file which has

Yamaha or Roland drum tracks. If computer programming isn't

your specialty, several programs discussed in this article are

currently available from Giebler Enterprises.

VFX-SD and SD-1 Sequencer File Types

The VFX-SD and SD-1 can store sequences and songs on dis

kettes in several ways. An individual sequence or song can be

stored in a One-Seq/Song File. Thirty sequences or songs

(Banks 0-4 or Banks 5-9) can be stored together in a file with

or without programs (sounds). All sixty sequences or songs can

be stored in a file with or without programs. When storing

programs in a thirty seq/song file, the user can elect to store

thirty or sixty programs along with the sequences. To deter

mine the file type, refer to my article on Ensoniq Diskette For

mats in the July 1991 Hacker.

One Seq/Song File Format

Location Contents

0 0 0 - 1 8 7 S e q u e n c e H e a d e r ( S e e b e l o w f o r f o r m a t )

1 8 8 - 5 1 1 U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

5 1 2 - 5 7 5 S e q u e n c e D a t a O f f s e t s ( S e e b e l o w f o r f o r m a t )

5 7 6 - X X X S e q u e n c e T r a c k D a t a

X X X - z z z U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

Thirty Seq/Song File Format (No Programs)

Location Contents

0000 - 5639 Sequence Headers for 30 sequences

5 6 3 0 - 6 1 4 3 U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

6 1 4 4 - x x x x S e q u e n c e D a t a - O f f s e t s & T r a c k D a t a f o r

defined seqs

x x x x - z z z z U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

Thirty Seq/Song File Format (30 Programs)

Location Contents

0000 - 5639 Sequence Headers for 30 sequences

5630 - 6143 Unused (Remainder of block filled with 00)

6 1 4 4 - 2 2 0 4 3 3 0 P r o g r a m s ( 5 3 0 b y t e s e a c h )

16

22044 - 22527 Unused (Remainder of block filled with 00)

2 2 5 2 8 - x x x x x S e q u e n c e D a t a - O f f s e t s s , T r a c k D a t a f o r

defined seqs

x x x x x - z z z z z U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

Thirty Seq/Song File Format (60 Programs)

Location

0000

5630

6144

Contents

5639 Sequence Headers for 30 sequences

6 1 4 3 U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

3 7 9 4 3 6 0 P r o g r a m s ( 5 3 0 B y t e s e a c h - m i x e d

together)

3 8 3 9 9 U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

x x x x x S e q u e n c e D a t a - O f f s e t s & T r a c k D a t a f o r

defined seqs

x x x x x - z z z z z U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

37944

38400

Sixty Seq/Song File Format (No Programs)

Location Contents

00000 - 11279 Sequence Headers for 60 sequences

1 1 2 8 0 - 1 1 2 8 1 C u r r e n t S e l e c t e d S e q u e n c e N u m b e r

1 1 2 8 2 - 1 1 2 8 5 S u m o f A l l S e q u e n c e D a t a S i z e s + F C ( h e x )

1 1 2 8 6 - 1 1 3 0 0 G l o b a l S e q u e n c e r I n f o r m a t i o n

1 1 3 0 1 - 1 1 7 7 5 U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

1 1 7 7 6 - x x x x x S e q u e n c e D a t a - O f f s e t s i T r a c k D a t a f o r

defined seqs

x x x x x - z z z z z U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

Sixty Seq/Song Fiie Format (60 Programs)

Location Contents

00000 - 11279 Sequence Headers for 60 sequences

1 1 2 8 0 - 1 1 2 8 1 C u r r e n t S e l e c t e d S e q u e n c e N u m b e r

1 1 2 8 2 - 1 1 2 8 5 S u m o f A l l S e q u e n c e D a t a S i z e s + F C ( h e x )

1 1 2 8 6 - 1 1 3 0 0 G l o b a l S e q u e n c e r I n f o r m a t i o n

1 1 3 0 1 - 1 1 7 7 5 U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

1 1 7 7 6 - 4 3 5 7 5 6 0 P r o g r a m s ( 5 3 0 B y t e s e a c h - m i x e d

together)

43576 - 44031 Unused (Remainder of block filled with 00)

4 4 0 3 2 - x x x x x S e q u e n c e D a t a - O f f s e t s & T r a c k D a t a f o r

defined seqs

x x x x x - z z z z z U n u s e d ( R e m a i n d e r o f b l o c k fi l l e d w i t h 0 0 )

The thirty and sixty sequence files always store all of the se

quence headers (30 or 60 respectively), but only the defined se

quences have their offsets and track data stored. For example, if

sequences 3, 5, and 10 are the only defined sequences, and they

are stored as a thirty sequence file, sequence 3 track data would

be stored first, followed by sequence 5 and then sequence 10.

The offsets and track data for each sequence would start at the

begirming of the next block in the file, so the remainder of the

last block of each sequence would be filled with 00. Each

defined sequence takes at least one block of disk space, so a 60

sequence file with all sequences defined can be rather large

even if the sequences don't contain any notes! The global se

quencer information in the sixty sequence files contains most

of the values from the Sequencer Control Pages and the Click

Page. Contact Giebler Enterprises if you need the format of the

global information.

VFX-SD and SD-1 Sequence Header Format

B y t e s D e fi n i t i o n

0 0 O r i g i n a l S e q u e n c e L o c a t i o n ( 0 0 - 5 9 ) ( F F h i f S e q

Undefined)

0 1 F l a g s : | ? ? I ? ? I ? ? I F x | C k R c | C k O n I L o o p l S o n g I

( S o n g = 1 i f S o n g ) ( F x = 0 i f S o n g s E f f e c t s =

02-12

13

14-15

16

17

18-21

22-25

26

27

28-38

39-49

50-60

61-71

72-82

83-93

94-104

105-115

116-126

127-137

138-148

149-159

160

161-171

172-182

183-185

186

187

Seq)

C k R c = C l i c k d u r i n g R e c o r d O n l y , C k O n = C l i c k O n

? ? = r e s e r v e d f o r f u t u r e u s e , c u r r e n t l y s e t = 1

S e q u e n c e N a m e - 1 1 b y t e s ( I f S o n g , B y t e 0 2 = 5 )

M S B s e t i f c o r r e s p o n d i n g t r a c k i s n o t m u t e d a n d

contains data

U n u s e d N a m e B y t e ( 0 0 o r 2 0 t i e x ) M S B = m u t e f o r

t r a c k 1 2

S e q u e n c e L e n g t h ( M e a s u r e s o r B a r s )

U p p e r T i m e S i g n a t u r e ( 1 - 9 9 )

L o w e r T i m e S i g n a t u r e ( 0 = 1 , 1 = 2 , 2 = 4 , 3 = 8 , 4 = 1 6 ,

5=32, 6=64)

P u n c h I n L o c a t i o n ( i n t i c k s ) E d i t S t a r t P o i n t

P u n c h O u t L o c a t i o n ( i n t i c k s ) E d i t S t o p P o i n t

Tempo

N u m b e r o f S o n g S t e p s ( F F h I f N o t S o n g )

T r a c k 1 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 2 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 3 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 4 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 5 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 6 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 7 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 8 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 9 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 1 0 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 1 1 P a r a m e t e r s

T r a c k 1 2 P a r a m e t e r s

C u r r e n t S e l e c t e d T r a c k N u m b e r

C u r r e n t L a y e r e d T r a c k N u m b e r s

Sequence Effect Parameters

Size of Sequence Data Section

M a j o r R e v . o f O p e r a t i n g S y s t e m u s e d t o w r i t e fi l e

M i n o r R e v . o f O p e r a t i n g S y s t e m u s e d t o w r i t e fi l e

Tr a c k P a r a m e t e r s a n d E f f e c t P a r a m e t e r s a r e d e fi n e d i n th e

owner's manuals for the keyboards, so I won't spend time

covering them.

VFX-SD and SD-1 Sequence Track Offsets

size of Seq start T r k 0 Start T r k 1 Start T r k 2

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Start T r k 3 Start T r k 4 Start T r k 5 Start T r k 6

CO 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Start T r k 7 Start T r k 8 Start T r k 9 Start TrklO

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Start Trkll Start Trkl2 Multl - T r k Song Track

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Size of Seq is the total number of bytes of memory used for the

sequence data including the track offsets. Track Offsets (Start

of Track) are from the start of the sequence offsets and point to

the start of track data for each track. If the sequence is a song.

Song Track points to the start of the song track data. The

Multi-Track offset is not used in the disk files. It is only used

in the internal keyboard memory. Ensoniq defines track 0 as the

conductor track which currently contains only Clock events.

Hopefully, tempo and time signature changes will be added in

t h e n e a r f u t u r e , h

Conclusion next month.

Bio: Gary Giebler is the Manager of Computer Engineering for

Eagle Comtronics - a cable TV manufacturer. Gary owns and

runs Giebler Enterprises where he produces computer soft

ware, records, tapes, and compact disks. Gary still has over

800 copies of his first album in his bedroom closet.

17

Around on the ESQ-1

ESQ reverberation has been mentioned in articles and

patches to varying degrees in past issues of this illustrious

magazine, but I thought that there was a need for a more

in-depth look at it with experimental patches. The informa

tion here is intended mainly for the ESQs because they don't

have the second release option like the SQ-80, but it can

used equally well on both types, and even on the VFXs and

similar synths. There are only three practical ways that I can

think of to do this effect on the ESQ: You can use an out

board effects processor, you can play the ESQ in a rever

berant room, or you can use the envelope release times in

certain specific ways. The first two methods sound the best,

but they are not what this article is about, so forget about

t h em f o r no w.

When thinking about a reverberant sound, consider it in two

parts — the original sound component and the reverberant

component. This latter part usually comes in just after the

original sound starts and sustains for a while after the

original sound stops. In most situations, the reverb com

ponent is much quieter than the original sound, and may not

K i r k S l i n k a r d

be heard at all when the original sound is happening. When it

does come through, though, it tends to add mostly to the

midranges and sounds like a complex chorusing. Although

for the ESQ patches here, we will primarily be adding the

sustain part to the end of the original sound. But there's more

than one way to skin a patch.

Longer Release

About the simplest way to make a regular patch seem more

reverberant is to increase the release time on the amplifier's

envelope(s). This method has been used as long as there have

been synthesizers, but be warned: This is often not very

realistic at all. There are cases, however, in which this tech

nique can be used for a somewhat adequate reverberation

simulation. Check out "VOCALS" (below) for an example.

This simulates a big choir in a large reverberant hall. In a

real-life case like this, the direct sound of the choir would be

heard from some significant distance, and the hall's rever

beration becomes a major part of the choir's sound. So when

the choir stops singing, the reverberation dies away with a

SQ-80 PROG: VOCALS BY: Kirk Slinkard

OCT SEMI FINE WAVE M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

OSCI -1 00VOICEl LF02 + 1 OFF

080 2 0 3 4V0ICE2 LF02 -1 LFOl -62

0SC3 0 0 0V0ICE2 LF03 + 2 LFOl -50

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

DCA1

DCA2

DCA3

55

54

56

ON OFF

ON OFF

ON OFF

OFF

OFF

OFF

FILTER

FREQ Q KEYBD M0D#1 DEPTH MOD« DEPTH

1 60 3 0 VEL + 7 OFF 1

F I N A L V O L P A N P A N M O D DEPTH

DCA4 1 " 8 K B D 2 + 63 1

LF01

LF0 2

LF0 3

FREO R E S E T H U M A N W A V L i DEUY L2 MOD

0

18

19

ON OFF

OFF ON

OFF ON

SQR

TRI

TRI

63

10

10

0

0

0

0 O F F

0 O F F

0 O F F

ENV1

ENV2

ENV3

ENV4

L1 L2 L3 LV T1V T1 T2 T3 T4 TK

+ 6 3 + 6 3 + 6 3 1 9 26 26 0 0 40 0

SYNC A M M O N O GLIDE vc E N V O S C C Y C

MODESI OFF OFF OFF 0OFF OFF OFF OFF 1

SPLIT/LAYER S/LPRG UYER LPRG SPLIT SPRG SPUTKEY

1 OFF OFF OFF

SQ-80 PROGiREVRBI. BY: Kirk Slinkard

OSCI

OSC 2

OSC 3

OCT SEMI FINE W AV E M 0 D # 1 D E P T H M0D#2 DEPTH

0 0 0 OCT+5 OFF OFF

DCA1

DCA2

DCA3

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

0 O N

OFF

OFF

ENVI +21 ENV4 +42

FILTER 1

FREQ 0 KEYBD M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

1 1 2 7 0 0 OFF OFF 1

FINAL VOL PAN PAN MOD DEPTH

DCA4 1 1 6 3 8 OFF 1

FREQ RESET H U M A N W A V L I D E L A Y L 2 M O D

LFOl

LF0 2

LF0 3

-

- - ; ;

ENVI

E N V 2

E N V 3

ENV 4

L1 L2 L3 L V T 1 V T1 T2 T3 T4 TK

+63 +63 +63

+ 6 3 + 6 3 + 6 3

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0 0

0 5 0 0

M0DES|

S Y N C A M M O N O G L I D E v c E N V OSC CYC

OFF OFF OFF 0 OFF OFF OFF OFF 1

SPLIT/LAYER S/LPRG LAYER LPRG SPLIT SPRG SPUTKEY

1 OFF OFF OFF 1

18

r

SQ-80 PROG: REVRB2. BY:K]rfcSllr^rd

OCT SEMI FINE W AV E M 0 D # 1 D E P T H M0D#2 DEPTH

0SC1

0SC2

0SC3

0

-1

0

0 0

11 30

0 2

OCT+5 LFOl

OCT+5 LFOl

OCT+5 LFOl

+1

+1

+1

OFF

OFF

OFF

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

DCA1

DCA 2

DCA 3

0

0

0

ON

ON

ON

ENVl +21

ENVl +19

ENVl +18

ENV4

ENV4

ENV4

+35

+ 3 3

+32

FREQ Q KEYBD M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

FILTER 127 0 0 OFF OFF 1

FINAL VOL PAN PAN MOD DEPTH

DCA 4 1 " 0ENVl + 63

FREQ RESET H U M A N W A V L 1 DELAY L2 MOD

LF01

LF0 2

LF0 3

25 OFF OFF TRI 000 WHEEL

L1 L2 L3 L V T 1 V T1 T2 T3 T4 TK

ENV1

ENV2

ENV3

ENV4

+ 6 3

+ 6 3

+63 +63

+63 +63

0 0

0 0

0

0

0

0

0 0 1

0 5 0

0

0

S Y N C A M M O N O G U D E VC ENV OSC CYC

MODES] OFF OFF OFF 0 OFF OFF OFF OFF 1

SPUT/LAYER S/LPRG UYER L PRG SPUT SPRG SPUT KEY

1 OFF OFF OFF 1

SQ-80 PR0G;REVRB3. BY:KlrkSlinkard

OCT SEMI FINE W A V E M 0 D # 1 D E P T H M 0 D # 2 D E P T H

0SC1

OSC 2

OSC 3

0

-1

0

0

U

0

0

30

2

OCT+5 LFOl +1

OCT+5 LFOl +1

OCT+5 LFOl +1

OFF

OFF

OFF

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

DCA1

DCA 2

DCA 3

0

0

0

ON

ON

ON

ENVl +23

ENV2 +21

ENV2 +2 0

ENV4

ENV3

ENV3

+ 3 3

+ 31

+ 30

FREQ 0KEYBD M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

FILTER 11 8 0 0 ENV4 +63 ENVl + 55 1

FINAL VOL PAN PAN MOD DEPTH

DCA 4 i1 " 0ENVl +63 1

FREQ RESET H U M A N W A V L I DEUY L2 MOD

LF01

LF0 2

LF0 3

25 OFF OFF TRI 0 00 WHEEL

L1 L2 L3 L V T 1 V T 1 T2 T3 T4 TK

ENV1

ENV 2

ENV 3

ENV 4

+ 63

0

0

+ 63

+ 63

+ 63

+ 6 3

+ 6 3

+ 63

+ 63

+ 63

+ 63

0 0 0

0 0 1 1

0 0 1 1

0 0 0

0 0

2 0

2 0

0 0

0

0

53

53

0

0

0

0

S Y N C A M M O N O G L I D E V C E N V O S C C Y C

MODES 1 OFF OFF OFF 0 OFF OFF OFF OFF 1

SPLIT/UYER S/LPRG UYER LPRG SPLIT SPRG SPLIT KEY

1 OFF O F F - O F F

tone very much like the sound of the choir when it is singing.

Also, there is not much of an immediate drop in volume

when the original sound stops at the beginning of the rever

beration decay, so that all of this basically just adds a smooth

decay to the choir's original sound. So the "VOCALS" patch

just takes a basic choir sound and adds a little longer decay

time at envelope 4 which controls DC A 4. The more com

plex the parts you play, the more realistic this patch sounds.

If you just play one note or chord though, the limitations of

this kind of approach really become obvious. The end result

is not the best possible reverberation effect you've ever

heard, so how can we improve it?

Combining Envelopes

A little more sophisticated way to simulate reverberation is

to use two envelope generators with different release times,

one for the original volume envelope and one for the rever

berant decay, then adding them together. This gives an im

mediate drop in volume at the end of the original sound,

which is a more common situation in real life. Usually you

would be closer to the original sound source, giving it much

more volume than the reflected sound. Fortunately, the ear

lier Ensoniq synths' voice structures permit this technique to

be easily used. The experimental patch "REVRBl." uses en

velope 1 turned up one-third at DCA 1 to give the basic

volume envelope to the organ sound of oscillator 1 (2 and 3

are turned off). Envelope 4 has the reverb decay time and is

turned up two-thirds at DCA 1 to combine with envelope 1.1

used envelope 4 here in stead of 2 or 3, because this way the

final DCA 4 is automatically adjusted to have the proper sus

tain so that it won't cut off the reverb decay. This combina

tion of envelopes works basically like the SQ-80's second

release option in its envelopes. So listen to the "REVRBl."

patch, you can hear a reverb effect, but it sounds really dull

and flat. So what can we do to make it better?

Chorusing And Stereo

For the "REVRB2." patch, I have added the other two oscil

lators with the same waveform, but detuned a little for a

chorusing effect. This chorusing carries over to the rever

beration decay and gives it a much more natural randomness

and richness. Listen to both "REVRBl." and REVRB2." and

you can really hear the difference the chorusing makes in the

realism of the reverberant sustain. Chorusing is actually very

closely related to reverberation in that they are both delay ef

fects. In fact, reverb could be described as a complex chorus

ing effect with sustain. This patch is a more finished patch

and includes a vibrato activated by the mod wheel. In this

situation, the vibrato also affects the reverberation. I'll leave

it up to you whether this sounds good or bad — I'm un

decided. "REVRB2." also uses a stereo effect. Envelope 1,

the basic sound envelope, is applied to the pan parameter

which is set to zero, or all the way to the left to give the main

sound a central location in the pan while the envelope is on.

19

and then the reverb decay is heard off to the left as envelope

1 turns off. The reverb effect is starting to sound pretty good

here, but we can make it sound just a little more natural.

Not So Bright

The reverb decay in "REVRB2." sounds really bright, and

because of this loses some of the natural quality that it could

have. It really doesn't sound like a real-life reverberation.

Generally speaking, actual reverberation will lose its high

frequency components first as they get absorbed by various

soft materials in a room, leaving the reverberation sounding

less bright than the original sound. The VFXs and other SQs

include a parameter in some of their reverberations called

"high-frequency damping" to simulate this, but for the ESQs,

we'll have to do something in the filter. The "REVRB3."

patch combines envelopes 1 and 4 with the frequency

parameter in the filter (note that the amounts of all these

should add up to a total of 127 or less, because this is the

maximum allowable modulation in the filter). This way, the

reverberation isn't as bright as the main part of the sound.

And because envelope 4 is used, the reverb loses even more

brightness as it decays to zero. This makes for a very

natural-sounding reverberation.

Pre-Delay

When you were listening to "REVRB3." you may have

noticed a sort of slapback echo sound at the beginning of the

notes. This is actually a simulation of the reverberation

pre-delay. This simulates the way you would hear the

original sound briefly by itself before the reverberation kicks

in. This is something else for which the VFXs and other SQs

have a parameter in some of their reverb effects. In this

patch, oscillators two and three use envelopes two and three

in their DCAs to delay the start of their sound. Envelopes

two and three are the same as one and four except that two

and three have a delay at their beginning that is controlled by

times one and two. T1 controls how long the envelopes rest

at zero before they come in and T2 controls how slowly they

kick in. This pre-delay effect is kind of subtle, but you might

find that it helps to fool most people into thinking that you

are playing through an effects processor. On the negative

side, this effect isn't heard on short staccato notes, where it

is most dramatic on external effects units. You actually have

quite an advantage here over the SQ-80's second release, be

cause the things you have complete control over include:

1. Relative volume of reverb to original sound.

(Relative levels of envelopes 4 and 1, or 3 and 2, at DCAs 1

through 3, also total volume of oscillators 2 and 3)

(Envelope 4 release time)

3. Reverb brightness.

(Filter freq. setting)

4. How much brightness the reverb looses as it decays.

(How much envelope 4 is used in filter modulation)

5. Reverberation pre-delay.

(Envelopes 2 and 3 T1 and T2)

6. Chorusing intensity

(Oscillators 2 and 3 detuning amounts)

Epilogue

This technique of simulating reverberation might sound a lit

tle different for each waveform. The reverb decay part of the

sound takes on the personality of the waveform that it was

made from, sometimes more than it would with a reverb

processor or natural reverberation. You might find that some

waveforms might need the filter to be set a little lower or

higher in frequency during the reverb decay to sound as

realistic. Individually adjusting the different reverb

parameters for each patch in a sequence or song can be fun

because you can get each separate patch to have a reverbera

tion sound different from all the others, giving an illusion of

different distances, or even different environments to each

instrument.

If you can get a hold of Issue #37, check out C. R. Fischer's

article on reverberation (and other delay effects) for a slight

ly different approach that uses the FORMANT waves. Back

in Issue #43, Sam Mims discussed how to create an echo ef

fect and said "We'll cover some simple tricks this time, and

get on to more complicated delays and reverb effects some

other time." This is the real reason that I did this article. I

had been waiting for Sam's next installment, and finally the

suspense became so unbearable that I wrote my own. Hey

Sam, don't think that this article gets you off the hook, I'm

still waiting for what you have to say on the subject.

As for the rest of you, may you reverberate long and prosper,

and I'll mod you later, h

Bio: Kirk Slinkard hangs out near Denver and plays synth.

His favorite color is ultraviolet. Author's picture:

0

*-1.*

_y\_

2. Reverb decay time.

20

Ensoniq November & December '91 Seminar Schedule

ALABAMA

1 1 / 5 M u s i c A l l e y B i r m i n g h a m

12/3 Arts Music Shop Inc. Montgomery

CALIFORNIA

11/6 American Music Company Fresno

11/13 Gelb Music

FLORIDA

11/12 Magic Audio Inc.

11/13 Music Arts Enterprises

11/14 Sabine Music

GEORGIA

11/26 Atlanta Discount Music

IDAHO

11/7 Welch Music

ILLINOIS

11/13 C. V. Lloyde Music Ctr.

11/14 Music Shoppe Inc.

11/18 Byassee Keyboard Co.

11/18 Soundpost

11/19 Gand Music and Sound

INDIANA

11/12 Far Out Music

11/14 Opus 1 Music

KENTUCKY

11/13 Willcutt Guitar Shoppe

MASSACHUSETTS

11/13 Union Music

MICHIGAN

12/3 Marshall Music

12/4 Music Box Studios Inc.

12/5 Amoldt Williams

Redwood Qty

Orlando

Ft. Lauderdale

Gainesville

Atlanta

Boise

Champaign

Normal

Marion

La Grange

Northfield

Jefferson ville

Evansville

Lexington

Worcester

Lansing

Ml Clemens

Canton

MINNESOTA

11/7 Knut Koupee Music Stores Minneapolis

MISSISSIPPI

11/7 Morrison Bros. Jackson

12/5 Mississippi Music Inc. Biloxi

(205) 988-3688

(205) 271-2787

(209) 221-0233

(415) 365-8878

(407) 649-6402

(305) 581-2203

(904) 373-6396

(404) 457-3400

(208) 322-4777

(217)352-7031

(309) 452-7436

(618) 993-8562

(708) 352-3338

(708) 446-4263

(812) 282-1122

(812) 464-2909

(606) 276-2713

(508) 753-3702

(517) 337-9700

(313) 263-1994

(313) 453-6586

(612) 870-1400

(601)352-0135

(601) 388-6547

11 / 1 9 M c M u r r a y M u s i c S t . L o u i s

1 2 / 3 S o u n d s G r e a t S p r i n g fi e l d

NEW HAMPSHIRE

11/12 Daddy's Junky Music Salem

NEW JERSEY

11/21 Long&McQuade Parsippany

12/3 Rondo Music Union

NEW YORK

11 / 5 O n l y G u i t a r S h o p Q i f t o n P a r k

11/ 6 Pea te's Mu sic H ouse In c. Utica

11 / 7 H o u s e o f G u i t a r s R o c h e s t e r

1 1 / 1 9 A l t o M u s i c M i d d l e t o w n

1 1 / 2 0 A l t o M u s i c M o u s e y

1 1 / 2 1 A l t o M u s i c M i d d l e t o w n

OHIO

11/5

11/6

11/7

11/19

11/20

New York Music Shop Inc.

Coyle Music

Absolute Music

Buddy Rogers Music

C.A. House Company Inc.

OKLAHOMA

11/13 Del City Music & Supply

11/21 Music Sound World

PENNSYLVANIA

11/25 Medley Music

11 /26 Dave Phillips Music

12/3 Stephen Nicholas Music

12/12 Osiecki Brothers Music

TENNESSEE

11/19 Broadway Sound

11/21 Music Man Country

TEXAS

1115 Randy's Music Mart

VIRGINIA

12/5 Virginia Music Co.

WEST VIRGINIA

11/21 0. B. Fawley Music Co.

Boardman

Columbus

Fairbom

Cincinnati

St. Clairsville

Del Qty

Tulsa

Bryn Mawr

WhitehaU

Lancaster

Erie

KnoxviUe

Nashville

Amarillo

Richmond

(314)428-8600

(417) 883-4543

(603)893-4420

(201)335-1148

(908) 687-2250

(518)371-1232

(315)735-8563

(716) 544-3500

(914)692-6922

(914)352-6275

(914) 692-6922

(216)758-4705

(614) 885-2729

(513) 878-4896

(513)793-0022

(614)695-5929

(405)677-8777

(918) 664-2555

(215) 527-3090

(215) 264-5000

(717)569-8100

(814)453-6565

(615) 637-1644

(615)833-7000

(806)358-0131

(804) 282-4261

Morgantown (304) 292-3352

MISSOURI

11/14 Big Dudes Music City Kansas City (816) 931-4638

21

E S O & S Q - 8 0 H a o k e r p a t o h

By Sam Mims

Hackerpatch is intended to be a place where patch vendors can show then-

wares and musicians can share their goodies and impress their friends.

Patches designated "ESQ-1" will also work on the SQ-80. The reverse is not

always true. Once something's published here, it's free for aU. Please don't

submit patches that you know to be minor tweaks on copyrighted commer-

cid patches unless you have permission from the copyright owner. All sub

mitted patches are subject to consideration for mutilation and corrunents by

Sam Mims-our resident patch analyst. If you send in a patch, please include

your phone number. Requests for particular patches are also very welcome.

ESQ Patch: POLISI

by Claudio Sansilvestri, Barasso, Italy

This is a sound that I developed by changing the parameters of the

ESQ-1 while the sequencer was playing disco house sequences. I've

used it almost as a drum fill, playing 32 nd notes, or for fast staccato

lines, such as playing arpeggios in octaves. Try also simulating

brass hits with chords.

The Hack

This is a very nice sound, except that it dies in the upper register.

The problem is that the filter frequency is set so low that the higher

pitches are being cut out. To get around this, I set the KEYED

pwameter on the FILTER page to 22. This brightened the sound sig

nificantly, which I liked. If you want it as dark as the original, ad

just the depth of the ENV 3 modulator to around zero. To get a little

more stereo motion, I went to the LEO 3 page and changed the

PREQ to 04 and DELAY to 08. Note the excellent reverb effect

acheived by setting T4 of ENV to its maximum value, then limiting

the release with T4 of ENV 3, which controls the filter.

SQ-80 Patch: BRASH

by P. T. Brown II, Myrtle Beach, SC

This is a modified brass sound, which I have used often.

The Hack

BRASTT is more of a realistic horn section than a synth brass

sound. There is a subtle sforzando built in via ENV 3 modulating

the filter. If you need the sound to cut through a bit more, try raising

the filter cutoff FREQuency to 39 or so. One other subtle change I

made was to set T1V of ENV 3 to 05; this gives a sharper attack

when notes are played hard. As a final tweak, I added a bit of spa

ciousness by using KBD2 as the PAN MOD (DCA 4 page) with a

depth of -1-30.

ESQ owners can substitute SAW waves for the BRASS waveforms,

and get a different but usable sound. For more of a synth brass

\ * sound, turn SYNC on, and apply a bit of

filter resonance. For a cheesy synth brass,

t u r n A M o n .

Bio: Sam Mims is a studio session player

and programmer in Los Angeles, and is

keyboardist for Richard Elliot. He owns

Syntaur Productions, a company that

produces music for film and TV and

markets sounds for Ensoniq keyboards.

ESQ-1 PROG:POUSI BY: Claudio Sansilvestri

0SC1

OSC 2

OSC 3

OCT SEMI FINE W AV E M 0 D # 1 D E P T H M0D#2 DEPTH

0 0

0 0

0 0

0

4

8

SAW ENVI +2

SAW ENVI +6

SAW ENVI -1

*OFF*

•OFF*

*OFF*

DCA1

DCA 2

DCA 3

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

0 O N

0 O N

0 O N

ENV2

ENV2

ENV2

+ 63

+ 63

+ 63

ENV3

ENV3

ENV3

+ 40

+ 40

+40

FREQ Q KEYBD M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

FILIbH 1 0 2 0ENV3 +36 *OFF« 1

FINAL VOL PAN PAN MOD DEPTH

DCA 4 1 52 8LF03 + 63 n

LF01

LF0 2

LF0 3

FREQ RESET H U M A N W A V L I DEUY L2 MOD

1 O F F OFF TRI 0 63 63 *OFF«

ENVI

ENV 2

E N V 3

ENV 4

LI L2 L3 L V T 1 V T1 T2 T3 T4 TK

+ 6 3 0

+63 +63

+63 +56

+63 +63

0

+ 6 3

0

+ 6 3

0 0

0 0

0 1

0 0

5

0

0

0

10

63

63

63

0

63

63

63

0

0

45

63

0

9

0

0

MODES|

SYNC AMI MONO GLIDE VC ENV OSC CYC

OFF OFF OFF 0 ON OFF OFF OFF 1

SPUT/UYER S/LPRG LAYER LPRG SPLIT SPRG SPLIT KEY

1 OFF -OFF OFF 1

SQ-80 PROG: BRASTT BY: P. T. Brown II

0SC1

0SC2

0SC3

OCT SEMI FINE WAVE M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

0 0 0BRASS LF03 +3 LFOl + 8

-1 03BRASS •OFF* LFOl + 8

003SAW ENVI -1 LFOl + 1

DCA1

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

63 ON *OFF* *OFF*

DCA 2 63 ON A O F F * *OFF*

DCA 3 63 ON •OFF* •OFF*

FILTER 1

FREQ Q KEYBD M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

1 3 3 0 2 6 ENV3 + 3 7 •OFF*

DCA 4 Fh

FINAL VOL PAN PAN MOD DEPTH

F R E Q R E S E T H U M A N W AV L I D E L AY L 2 M O D

LFOl 27 OFF OFF TRI 000WHEEL

LF0 2

LF0 3 19 OFF ON TRI 013•OFF*

ENVI

LI L2 L3 LV TIV T1 T2 T3 T4 TK

+ 63 -63 0OL 0 8 8 069

ENV 2

E N V 3 + 59 -20 063L 0740 20 11 21

E N V 4 + 63 + 5 9 + 5 5 lOL 0 0 20 63 25 0

SYNC AM MONO GUDE VC ENV OSC CYC

MODES] OFF OFF OFF 4 ON oJT ON

SPUT/LAYER S/LPRG LAYER LPRG SPUT S PRO SPUT KEY

O F F - O F F - O F F - ~

22

S D & V F X H a c k e r p a t c h

SD & VFX Prog: D HEAVENS By: Walter Cooper, Latter Sound Productions

NOTES: D HEAVENS is one of the ethereal sounds from Latter Sound's Volume I col

lection. Moving the mod wheel forward brightens the sound. Play a chord and sustain it,

then press patch select *0 and repeat the chord: you will hear the horns come in nicely.

THE HACK: This patch sounds great for doing soundtrack work. I found the initial at

tack of the notes to wiggle a bit too much in pitch, so for voices 1 and 3,1 turned the

LFO amounts (Pitch Mod page) to -1 and +1 respectively. The other voices work fine

once these are toned down a bit. The other thing I did was sacrifice the 0* patch select

— barely distinguishable from the 00 patch — for a setting that plays only voice 2. This

WAVES 6

M

Wave Strings Marimba Vocal Pad Strings Vocal X Unl Brass

Wave Class StrngSnd TunedPercBreathSnd StrngSnd T ranswave BrassSnd

Delay 00 0 0 0 0

Start 099 99 099 0

Vel Start Mod 0 0 0 0 0

Mod Scr ENV2

Mod Amt -99

CD MIXER 1 2 3 4 5 6

SRC-1 Press LFO Press •Off* LFO •Off*

SRC-2 ENV1 ENV2 ENV1 Noise Noise ENV1

SRC-2 Scale 2.0 0.1 2.0 0.1 0.1 1.0

Shape LateRise Smoother LateRise Smoother Smoother QuikRIse

ITCH 1 2 3 4 5 6

Octave +1 0+1 000

Semitone 0 00000

Fine +6 -4 -8 -4 +4 -a

Pitch Table System System System System System System

ITCH MODS 123456

MODSRC Mixer LFO Mixer LFO LFO Mixer

MODAMT 0 0 0 0 0 0

Glide None None None None None None

ENV1 000000

LF01 -2 0+3 +1 0+3

I LT ER 1 12 3 4 5 6

Mode 2LP 3LP 3LP 2LP 3LP 2LP

Cutoff 72 61 72 70 072

KBD +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8

MODSCR Wheel Wheel Wheel Wheel Wheel Wheel

MODAMT +22 +17 +22 +22 +17 +22

ENV2 +35 +35 +35 +35 +99 +35

ILTER 2 1234 5 6

Mode 2LP 1LP IMP 2LP 1LP 2LP

Cutoff 87 93 093 93 87

KBD +13 +13 +13 +13 +13 + 13

MODSCR Pr+VI Pr+VI TImbr Pr+VI Pr+VI LFO

MODAMT +34 +34 +77 +34 +34 +28

ENV2 +19 +19 +19 +19 +19 + 19

)UTPUT 12345 6

VOL 99 99 99 67 99 99

MODSRC •Off* •Off* •Off* LFO •Off* •Off*

MODAMT 000+4 00

KBD Scale 00000 0

LO/Hl_Ke_y_ AO/AO AO/AO AO/AO AO/AO AO/AO A#4/A#4

best Bus fxT ~ FXl ""fYI ■"fxi"'" " f x i " "fxi

Pan 20 20 71 50 80 50

MODSRC Mixer Mixer Mixer Mixer Mixer Mixer

MODAMT +30 +30 +30 +15 -30 +30

Pre-Gain Off Off Off On Off Off

Voice Prior Medium High Medium Medium High Medium

Vel Thresh 00000 0

FO 12 3 4 5 6

Rate 22 17 22 33 17 16

MODSRC Pedal •Off* Wheel Press •Off* •Off*

MODAMT +30 0+30 +10 00

Level 14 99 14 23 99 42

MODSRC Mixer Mixer Mixer Wl+Pr Mixer Wheel

Del§y^ _56 _0 56 __4J ._0 _56

Waveshape Sine Sine Sine Sine Sine Pos/Slne

Restart Off Off Off On Off Off

Noise SRC RT 47 21

is a beautifully haunting sound using the Marimba waveform, yet en

veloped to sound like a crystal wine glass being rubbed.

Thanks to Latter Sound for releasing the patch to public domain.

- Sam Mims

SELECT VOICE

00 H2 456

0* D2 45®

*0 1234) i

** 11 2 s 41 5 6

NVI 12 3 4 5 6

Initial 99 99 99

Peak 50 50 50

B r e a k 1 32 32 32

B r e a k 2 0 0 0

Sustain 0099

Attack 18 18 15

Decay 1 17 17 23

Decay 2 39 39 39

Decay 3 18 18 18

Release 99 99 25

KBD Track 0 0 0

VelCurve QuIkRs QuIkRs QuIkRs

Mode Finish Finish Repeat

Vel-Level 0 0 0

Vel-Attack 000

;nv2 123 456

Initial 000 0 0 0

Peak 36 36 36 36 50 36

B r e a k 1 46 46 46 46 99 46

B r e a k 2 36 36 36 36 36 36

Sustain 36 36 36 84 89 36

Attack 46 46 46 46 46 46

Decay 1 30 30 30 30 30 30

Decay 2 31 31 31 31 31 31

Decay 3 37 37 37 37 37 37

Release 57* 57* 57* 57* -57:__ 57*

KBD Track 888 888

Vel Curve Cnvxl Cnvxl Cnvxl Cnvxl Cnvxl Cnvxl

Mode NormI NormI NormI NormI Repeat NormI

Vel-Level 26 26 26 26 26 26

Vel-Attack 41 41 41 41 19 41

;nv3 123456

Initial 55 18 55 37 55 55

Peak 65 65 65 65 65 65

B r e a k 1 90 90 90 90 90 90

B r e a k 2 99 99 99 99 99 99

Sustain 86 92 86 86 92 86

Attack 16 16 16 16 16 16

Decay 1 16 16 16 16 16 16

Decay 2 31 31 31 31 31 31

Decay 3 47 47 47 47 47 47

Release 60* 61* 60* 60* 61* 58*

KBD Track 10 10 10 10 10 10

Vel Curve Linear Cnvx2 Linear Linear Cnvx2 Linear

Mode NormI NormI NormI NormI NormI NormI

Vel-Level 26 26 26 26 26 26

Vel-Attack 58 58 58 58 58 58

P G M C O N T R O L

Pitch Table Off

Bend Range ••

Delay Xl

Restrike 49

Glide Time 0

EFFECTS (1)

Effect C h o r u s & R e v e r b 2

Decay 50

FXI Mix 50

FX2MIX 25

E F F E C T S ( 2 )

EFFECTS (3)

Rate 17

Depth 51

Delay 250

Rate Mod +99

Depth Mod -6

Mix 50

Waveshape Sine

ModScr Timbre

HF Cut Off

PERFORMANCE

Timbre 0

Release 0

Pressure Key

23

S Q - 1 & 2 H a c k e r p a t o h Jeffrey Rhoads

Prog: Zoot Suit By: Yours truly (Jeffrey Rhoads)

Notes: Sometimes horns are used in a tune to give it punch or

even to make it sound more "modern." But many current

hom-section charts (synthesized or not) are still rooted in the Big

Bands of the *40s. Older arrangements are sometimes given a

whole new slant by substituting synth brass for real horns (e.g.,

Extensions by Manhattan Transfer). But many synthesized "sec

tions" sound contrived and not very acoustic in character. Rather

than fight this tendancy, I chose to roll with it.

WAVE 1LFO

Select Voice On On On

Wave Class Waveform Brass Tuned Perc

Wave Sawtooth Trump Var Synth Pluck

Delay Time 000 000 000

Wave Direction Forward Forward

Start Index 28 00

MODSGR Off Off

MODAIvn" 00 00

Restrk Decay 00 00 00

1

PITCH

Effects Programming

(To save space, only those

effects utilized are listed. A

complete blank form was

published in Issue #68.)

CONCERT REVERB

FX-1 34

FX-2 44

Decay Time 48

Diffusion 72

Detune Rate 38

Detune Depth 26

HF Damping 66

HF Bandwidth 53

LF Decay +10

rviOD (Dest)

BY (IvIODSRC) Mod Pedal

MODAMT 99

Octave -1 -1 +0

Semitone 00 00 00

Fine -02 -03 00

ENV1 +05 +02 +02

LFO 00 +02 00

MODSCR Veloc Veloc Off

MODAMT +03 +04 00

KBD Ptch Track On On On

Glide Off Off Off

Glide Time 00 00 00

iNVl 1 2 3

Initial 05 99 15

Peak 51 00 00

Break 20 00 00

Sustain 22 00 00

Attack 10 14 31

Decay 1 14 99 00

Decay 2 27 99 73

Release 99 99 45

Vel-Level 72 26 13

Vel-Attack 72 19 13

Vel Curve Quikrise Quikrise Linear

Mode Normal Normal Normal

KBD Track 00 00 00

LFO Speed 37 31 44

Noise Rate 00 00 00

Level 00 21 17

Delay 00 00 00

MODSRC Wheel Wheel Wheel

Wave TrI Pos/Trl TrI

Restart Oh On On

ILTER 12 3

Fi l t e r 1 2Lo 2Lo 2Lo

F i l t e r 2 2Lo 2Lo 2Lo

FC1 Cutoff 033 095 127

E N V 2 69 40 89

FC1 KBD 12 16 00

MODSCR Wheel Wheel Off

MODAMT 15 54 00

FC2 Cutoff 057 066 076

ENV2 36 35 61

FC2 KBD 00 00 00

FC1MOD-FC2 On On On

:nv2 1 2 3

Initial 76 15 99

Peak 29 88 99

Break 76 62 99

Sustain 29 27 99

Attack 23 17 63

Decay 1 51 59 18

Decay 2 83 66 65

Release 32 35 10

Vel-Level 19 19 00

Vel-Attack 06 19 00

Vel Curve Quikrise Quikrise

Mode Normal Normal Normal

KBD Track 70 26 00

MP 12 3

Initial 90 40 95

Peak 94 99 99

Break 99 99 99

Sustain 88 99 18

Attack 00 00 23

Decay 1 00 52 32

Decay 2 79 68 99

Release 28 24 10

Vel-Level 72 26 53

Vel-Attack 72 26 33

Vel Curve Quikrise Quikrise Convex

Mode Normal Normal Normal

KBD Track 00 42 00

lUTPUT 123

VOL 86 78 67

Boost On Oh On

MODSRC ENV1 Keybd LFO

MODAMT 07 03 -05

KBD Scale -18 00 +45

Key Range C2-C7 C2-C7 C2-C7

Output Bus FX2 FX1 FX1

Priority Medium High Low

Pan +28 00 -28

Vel window 000 000 000

Standard

Sound

Programming

The Hack: Voice 1, Sawtooth, uses Veloc and Env 1 & 2 for A) a slight post-

attack pitch shift and B) a swell over effect. Voice 2, Trump Variation, provides a

more mellow base, using a bit of LFO (mod wheel) for animation only. A detune ef

fect between these two voices is achieved with Veloc Mod in the Pitch Section. Voice

3 adds the metalic click. In addition to increasing LFO, the mod wheel opens the Filter

for Voices 1 & 2. (Push the mod wheel up a third to one-half.) Zoot Suit is probably

best suited (?) for fat, full voicings. This patch may evoke memories of Prophet 5 and

O B X b r a s s .

Jeffrey Rhoads

Bio: Jeffrey Rhoads has been a keyboardist/composer on the

Philadelphia Jazz and R + B scene for a period of time

resembling forever. He has an interest in cinema and has

developed some film courses. Jeff still believes in magic and

longs for city lights.

SQ-1 & 2 Hackerpatches are published with the same constraints and understand

ings as the ESQ, SQ-80, and VFX patches. The hacking and mutilating part is

being handled by Jeffrey Rhoads.

24

Classifieds

SAMPLES

ECCENTRIC SAMPLES for Mirage and EPS. Eth

nic and Ancient Greek instruments; Harry Patch

creations; Industrial Percussion; Proteus 2; DX21;

Synclavier and more. Mirage demo cassette: $3.

EPS demo cassette; $6. Demo tapes include disk

list. For lists alone, send SASE to: Jim Newton,

NIGHTWIND Sound, 170 Mar Monte Ave., La

Selva, CA 95076. (No layered synths. Electric

Piano or Basses. Enough, alreadyll)

Trade sounds by mail. I have over 1,000,000 blk

library! Many killer Homemade and PD samples.

Send your list. Craig, PC Box 83164, LA, CA

90083.(213) 645-4181.

SOUND EFFECTS for EPS-16 Plus and EPS, very

high fidelity, ideal for studio and post-production

work. All effects are original digital recordings

sampled at 16 bit, 44.6 kHz, with mono and stereo

patch selects. Disks are $5.95 each, or $5.45 each

for six or more. Send SASE for free listing to: Syn-

taur Productions, 11116 Aqua Vista #2, North Hol

lywood, CA 91602, or call (818) 769-4395.

SP USERS! My new disk - "Keyboard" - contains

over 100 sounds on it including such classics as

Fender Rhodes Bass with Vox Organ (Doors), Red

Rubber Ball Organ, Nasty B-3 sounds, bunches of

different El. Pianos, some futuristic sounds, nice

Ml and SY77 emulations, etc. Also, like all my

disks,includes my runtime version of SP operating

system. Just boot up with my disk and GO! I Only

$19 plus $1 postage/handling. Also, my library of

"Lush," "X," "DeMiTy," "Addy," "Turbo" - $15

each plus $1 postage/handling or all 5 for $69 IN

CLUDING POSTAGE!! Bob Spencer, 703

Weatherby Ln., Greensboro, NC 27406.

Mirage samples: Plus moving wavesamples all

over. 7 soimds in one bank, much more. Listings:

$1.00. Demo tape: $6.00 (includes listings). Mr.

Wavesample, 162 Maple Place, Keyport, NJ 07735.

908-264-3512. Make checks payable to Jack C.

Loesch.

EQUIPMENT

Ensoniq EPS-16+ keyboard. 2 Meg memory

w/SCSI, output expander, 1-Meg Flashbank & CV

pedal. $3500 new - $2500 firm. 44 Meg removable

drive - $450. Tascam 38 8-track, low hours: $1450.

Atari Stacy laptop w/20 Meg drive, flightcase,

MIDI software: $1600. Yamaha RX5 drum

machine: $400. Yamaha MEP-4: $250. (908)

222-1227.

EPS-2X Expander. $50 or best offer. Call Mike at

(206) 473-3156. 5409 57th St., Ct. W. Apt. 9,

Tacoma, WA 98467.

KURZWEIL KIOOOSE Keyboard. 76 notes, after-

touch, multi-timbral, layers, splits, built-in effects.

Super 16-bit Steinways, strings, etc. Like new,

studio use only. Sacrifice $1575 + shipping. (815)

398-4475 (Mike).

For Sal e : V F X sd with Vers i o n 2 R O M. Ex cel l e nt

condition - home use only. Complete with all

documentation, original packaging, and disk w/

1000 patches. $1400 or best offer. Must sell. (303)

449-9306.

Mirage DSK-1 keyboard with Soundprocess soft

ware, many disks, and Alesis MMT-8 sequencer, all

exc el len t c ond it ion , m ak e off er. Jim (30 4)

727-7332.

Mint condition SQ-80 with 2 caruidges, 2 manuals,

1500 sounds. $795. Will ship. Call Frank (Atlanta)

404-631-0432.

Fo r S a l e : Ya m ah a R X5 dr u m ma c hi n e wi t h r o c k

waveform card. Awesome! $450. Wanted: Korg

EX8000 synthesizer. Call (908) 389-2197.

Sho wr oom use onl y; EPS -M : $1 50 0. A lso ,

VFXsd2: $1950. Kurzweil AX: $1100. Roland Oc-

tapad 2: $500. And last but not least, EPS with 4X:

$1300. Call Rick at Stage Sound, Roanoke VA.

(703) 342-2040.

XMAS Special - Free EPS Video, 10 Disc, or

2000 digital samples with Expander orders. EPS,

EPS-16 PLUS, TX16W, AKAl. Best prices.

Guaranteed. MC/Visa. VFX, SQl cartridges and

memory expansion. Free Shipping. Wildwood

Sounds, 4726 Pebble Creek, Pensacola, FL 32526.

Phone: (904) 944-6012, Tony, after 6 pm.

WANTED

Wa n t e d : VF X pr o g r amm e r s to t ra d e th e i r

ORIGINAL VFX PATCHES. (1 have 95 HI-FI

sounds, wide variety). No tweaks / copyrighted

sounds please! Send VFX-SD-1 or Alesis DataDisk

format to: Brad Kaufman, 11-26 Saddle River

Road, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410.

SOFTWARE

Read and Write Ensoniq Diskettes on IBM-PC's.

Order our Ensoniq Diskette Manager (EDM) soft

ware for only $22. Transfer Sequences to/from

Sta nda rd Midi Fil es (SMF ). Each pac kag e

(VFX-SD/SD-1 or EPS/EPS-16+) includes EDM

and costs $44. Convert SQ-80 sequences and songs

to VFX-SD or SMF using our SQ80VFX software

($44). Giebler Enterprises, 8038 Morgan Road,

Liverpool, New York 13090 (315) 652-5741.

Midicaster is still available. The way-cool operat

ing system that turns your Mirage into a very

capable System Exclusive data librarian, a

20,000-note sequence player, a disk copier/format

ter, and wave-draw synthesizer is still available for

a limited time. For more information, or to order,

contact Tim Martin, 1510 S 5th W, Missoula, MT

59801. Phone: 406-542-0280 And thank you for

your support.

PATCHES/SOUNDS

ESQ-1 sound library for sale. Original data casset

tes and cartridges including: Voice Crystal, Heaven,

P a t c h w o r k s , C e s i u m , Te c h n o s i s , M u s i c B a n k ,

Leister, Soimd Hound, Still Voice, and others. Over

2000 great patches in all. First $150 takes it.

401-431-2963.

N E W S Q - 8 0 S O U N D S f r o m t h e H a c k e r ' s S a m

Mims! Soundset 4 takes full advantage of the

SQ-80's unique waveforms, and brings "hidden

waveforms" to the SQ-80 for the first time. Forty

patches on disk, with 22-page booklet of program

ming notes and performance tips, $17.95. Syntaur

Productions, 11116 Aqua Vista #2, North Hol

lywood, CA 91602, (818) 769-4395.

Soundsource Patchwell - a collection of 40 of the

best soimds created for the ESQ-1. These patches

were created on this synthesizer over 4 years of

recording and playing live. They are patches you

ca n u se . F or d a ta c a ss e t t e se n d $1 0 t o Tr av i s

Parker, Soundsource Patehwell, 17322 Stafford

Circle, Yorba Linda, CA 92686 or call (714)

524-0597.

3D SOUNDS. EPS/16P1US, TX16W, Mirage,

S10/220/MKS-100, S-50/330/550/770/W-30,

FZ-1/10 & S-900. only $5 per disk. Demo Disk $3.

1200 Sound Drum Sample CD - only $6! VFX-SD:

40 hot new patches, only $61 P.O. Box 114, Station

C, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, N2G 3W9.

100 fr ee VF X -SD / S D l D rum Pa ttern s wit h 120

Exciting VFX-SD/SDl sounds. Satisfaction

Guaranteed. $25. EPS, EPS-16-H 100 DRUM PAT

TERNS along with a set of SR16 Drums: $12. 100

Dr um Patt erns V FX-S D/SD l, HR16 o r SR16: $ 12.

2000 Digital Samples on 2 XLlllOO cassetts,

DBX/D oiby B/ C - Tl, DPM3, Ml, D5 0, DX ,

Moog: $25. EPS Sampling Made Easy Video, 2

hr, 2 disc & 90 min Sound Tape: $25. Free Ship

ping. Wildwood Soimds, 4726 Pebble Creek Terr.,

Pensacola, FL 32526. Phone: 904-944-6012, Tony,

after 6 pm.

60 VFX-SD patches created by Jim Grote. Wide

variety. Documentation included. See my article

"Sawtooth Tips" in Dec '90. Call for free Informa

ti on Pack et, o r se nd: $ 30.0 0 fo r VFX-S D di sk to

J i m G r o t e , 3 7 2 1 F r a n c e s A v e . , C i n c i n n a t i , O H

45211.(513) 661-8885.

INSTRUCTION

VF X- sd TAL KI NG OWN ER 'S MA NU AL (t m)

PLUS disk produced for Ensoniq. The manual "you

don't need to read" to understand your VFX-sd in

timately. 113 minute comprehensive cassette ex

plains applications and capabilities while your

h a n d s op e r a t e i t s c o n t r o l s . S e n d $ 1 5 . 0 0

check/money order; includes P/H/Tx to: Talking

Owner's Manuals-VFX 21405 Brookhurst, Hun

tington Beach, CA 92646.

B A C K I S S U E S

64, yes 64! Transoniq Hacker back issues.

Originals, not copies. Only $100 obo! Steve,

916-369-6444.

O U T - O F - P R I N T B A C K I S S U E S

M.U.G. will provide Out-of-Print issues for cost of

materials and postage. M.U.G. Hotline: 212-465-

3430 or write: G-4 Productions, PO Box 615TH,

Yonkers, NY 10703. Attn: TH Back Issues. Phone:

(212) 465-3430.

Photocopies of out-of-print past issues of the Hack

er can be obtained by calling Jack Loesch, 201-

264-3512 after 6 pm EST.

Folks in the New York City area can get copies of

unavailable back issues of the Hacker - call Jordan

Scott, 212-995-0989.

F R E E C L A S S I F I E D S !

Well,—within limits. We're offering free classified

advertising (up to 40 words) to all subscribers for

your sampled sounds or patches. Additional words,

or ads for other products or services, are 25 cents

per word per issue (BOLD type; 45 cents per

wo rd). Unles s re newed , freebi e ad s are remove d

after 2 issues. While you're welcome to resell

copyrighted sounds and programs that you no

longer have any use for, ads for copies of copy

righted material will not be accepted.

25

The Interface

Letters for The Interface may be sent to any of the following addresses:

U.S. Mail - The Interface, Transoniq Hacker, 1402 SW Upland Dr., Portland, OR 97221

Electronic mail - GEnie Network: TRANSONIQ, CompuServe: 73260,3353, PAN: TRANSONIQ, Internet (via CS): 73260.3353@compuserve.com.

This is probably one of the most open forums in the music industry. Letter writers are asked to please keep the vitriol to a minimum. Readers are

reminded to take everything with a grain of salt. Resident answer-man is Qark SaEsbury (CS). Letter publication is subject to space considerations.

The Interface:

Can you give me the pin-out (also referred

to as a pinning chart) of a SCSI System

Cable? This is the cable that goes from the

EPS to a SCSI hard drive; one end has a

DB - 25 co n ne c to r a n d t h e o t h e r e n d h a s a 5 0

pin "telco" connector. I'm trying to trouble-

shoot a ground-loop noise problem with my

system. By referring to the SCSI Cable

pin-out chart on page 498 of "The Winn

Rosch Hardware Bible" (Brady Books,

19 89 ), th er e s ee ms t o b e a n e x ce ss iv e

amount of ground pins with this standard.

I'm using an original EPS on stage with a

4x memory expansion unit manufactured by

PS Systems, and a PS Systems SCSI inter

face adaptor. I have a PS Systems 44 MByte

removable hard drive. For audio, I connect

the "mono" output of the EPS to a TOA

KD-3 Keyboard Amp. The problem is when

I plug the hard drive in, I get a tremendous

amount of audio noise. I can eliminate a

portion of the noisy signal by putting a

3-prong to 2-prong A.C. adaptor on the

TOA A.C. power cord. However, this does

not eliminate the noise completely, and as

you probably know, it is an unsafe condi

tion, because the A.C. third-pin safety

ground on the TOA amp is defeated.

Any help would be appreciated.

Also, here's some other information to pass

along to anyone thinking about adding a

hard drive to their system. If I try to load

sounds from the hard drive while I play the

keyboard, the sound that I'm playing will

"sustain" while the new sound file is load

ing. According to Ensoniq, this is due to the

way the EPS is shuffling memory. The bot

tom line is, don't expect to be able to play a

funky, staccato bass riff while loading a

bank of sounds for your next tune at the

same time.

One final point, since adding the hard drive,

the EPS will have a tendency to crash and

lock-u" as the memory limits are pushed to

the maximum. For example, if the internal

memory of the EPS is nearly full with such

sound files as a large string section, piano,

drum kit, and horns, and I try to load

another large file, sometimes I'll get the

"delete more" message but the EPS locks-

up meaning it won't respond to any button

pushing, and I have to reboot.

Ric Cicchinelli

CompuServe [73327,132]

Massillon, OH

[CS - Unfortunately, the pin-out informa

tion you seek is not published and available

to the mortal man. However, some users

have reported positive results by lifting the

ground on the hard drive. Also, Pro-Co

makes an accessory that may be of some

help - an isolation transformer for the

audio signal. You plug your audio cable

into it and it isolates the ground from the

audio signal. You may also want to contact

Ensoniq customer service (215-647-3930) -

they may be able to help you trouble-shoot

the problem.

The crashes and lock-up' you are ex

periencing when loading large sounds is not

normal. Best guess is that it's related to a

problem with a RAM chip, or perhaps a

problem occurred when the SCSI hardware

was installed. In either case, you'll need to

be in touch with PS Systems for service in

these areas.]

[Ensoniq - Most hard drives have switching

power supplies, which can generate a lot of

digital noise and hum when their earth

ground is connected to their signal ground.

Ground-lifting the hard drive with a

3-to-2-prong adapter can work quite well.

Note that as long as the EPS remains

grounded, this does not create an "unsafe"

condition, as there is still an earth ground

return via the EPS.

Regarding Load While Play functions, if

you push the technology to the maximum

you can always expect some shuffling to

take place. Load While Play uses Direct

Memory Access (DMA), which steals time

from the main processor. The more data you

load, the more time is taken from the main

processor, and eventually you will hit

limits.]

Transoniq Hacker,

Say, how practical would it be to reprint ar

ticl e s fr o m som e of th e m ore an cien t iss u e s ?

There is some great stuff back there that

most of us would never get to see otherwise.

Also, what i s the latest news ab out t he

Hackerpatch?

Here are some questions for Ensoniq:

1. When I first turn on my VFX-sd version

2, the disk drive activates and looks like it is

searching for some secret instructions. What

is going on here?

2. Why does the "PIPE ORGAN" wave

s o u n d d i s t o r t e d o n a b o u t t h e l o w e r o n e - t h i r d

of the keyboard? I heard this on a SQ-1 plus

also.

3. Do you think that there would be a place

in the market for a $5,000.00 monster En

soniq synth?

4. How about a rack-mount SQ-80?

So Ensoniq, as long as I've got you here,

here is my wish list for future synthesizer

features:

1. A global section that includes not only the

effects processor, but an LEO (this would be

great for organ vibratos and electric piano

tremolos, etc.), a balanced modulator, and a

preamp for external signals.

2. A vo i ce str u ct u r e tha t h a s a t l e as t tw o o s

cillators per voice with A.M. and sync func

tions like the ESQs and SQ-80, with one

oscillator available as an assignable mod

ulator.

3. Modulatable start and finish points for all

the waves and samples. (Did I hear about a

sampler that does this?) This would be an in

credibly powerful synthesis tool!

4. Craig Anderton's MULTIPLE IDENTITY

F I LT E R w h i c h u s e s a s t a n d a r d fi l t e r I . C . i n

an extremely versatile way.

5 . A l l m o d u l a t o r s w o u l d c o v e r t h e e n t i r e

modulation range of whatever they are mod

ulating.

6 . T h e r e t u r n o f t h e " K E Y B O A R D 2 " m o d u

lator from the ESQs and SQ-80.

7. New single-wave samples of Hammond

organs, and heavy metal guitar loops.

So thanks for listening and keep up the good

work.

Your subscriber.

K i r k S U n k a r d

26

Lakewood, CO

[CS - Unfortunately, reprinting specific ar

ticles from back issues is not real practical.

Entire back issues can be ordered, though,

as well as collections of articles relating to

Mirage operations and Mirage disk reviews

- check the box labeled "Back Issues" for

more info. As for your other questions:

1) The disk drive is not seeking any instruc

tions in particular; it's just checking to see

if a disk is inserted or not. This is so that,

for example, when you hit the 'Load' button

t h e V F X - s d w i l l k n o w w h e t h e r t o l o a d t h e

directory from whatever disk might be in

serted or whether to display the message

"Disk Drive Not Ready" message.

2) The pipe organ wave is not distorted in

the lower ranges. The pipe organ wave is

multi-sampled, and as with a real pipe

organ, the lower notes provide many more

harmonics than the higher ones. What you

are hearing in the lower ranges is a sample

of a real pipe organ with all the stops pull

ed out - a very big and admittedly some

what gritty sound.

3) My understanding is that Ensoniq's

philosophy and business strategy has al

ways been to build products that most

musicians would find affordable. In today's

market, products costing in the $5000 and

up range are considered expensive, and no

matter how good they are, do not sell in suf

ficient quantity to Justify the R & D re

quired for a company like Ensoniq to

produce them. I think Ensoniq prefers to

create an affordable platform from which

the user can expand, as his budget permits.

For example, the combination of an SD-1

w i t h a r a c k m o u n t E P S - 1 6 P L U S r e t a i l s a t

around $5000, and provides a very power

ful music-production environment. And bet

ter yet, you don't have to buy it all in one

chunk.

4) Seeing as how the SQ-80 has been out of

production for a few years now, I don't

think it likely that you'll see a rack-mount

SQ-80 anytime real soon.

For the most part, your suggestions seem

like good ones to me. And yes, you have

heard about a sampler with modulatable

start points, loop position, loop start and

end points, and loop length - it's called the

"EPS-16 PLUS."]

[Ensoniq - Regarding the $5000 unit, we

are not specifically opposed to a higher

price point product and would consider it if

it can enhance the current product line we

offer. We do focus on creating instruments

that the majority of the public can afford

and chose to be sure that we are providing

that type of product to the best of our

abilities. What the future holds - we'll

never say never!]

Dear Clark,

A bit of advice on sampling: I'm still stuck

on my old EPS but this goes for all samp

lers. Over a number of years I've read a

good deal (books and magazine articles, in

cluding TH) on sampling but I don't recall

reading anywhere this one important fact on

controlling the sample input level: Just like

analog tape recording, always record at the

highest level short of any clipping. Once a

sample has been taken, there is no way to

increase the signal-to-noise ratio unless you

know that there is noise (hiss, for example)

at a particular frequency range and reduce

that frequency range through equalization.

Using the NORMALIZE GAIN command

on the EPS will increase the total signal that

you have recorded, including the noise (i.e.

inaccuracies in the sound signal). It's like

enlarging a photograph - you'll never see

details that were not present in the negative.

It's easy to demonstrate this. Find an ap

propriate sound on a CD or tape. Sample it

at the highest level below clipping. (On the

EPS an "AMP" light flashes whenever any

clipping occurs. I assume this takes place

when a little subprogram finds two or more

m a x i m u m l e v e l s o r t w o o r m o r e m i n i m u m

levels next to each other.) Just to be sure

this sample is at maximum possible

strength, use the NORMALIZE GAIN com

mand, Next, sample the same sound at a

MUCH lower level. Bring it up to the same

strength as your first sample with NOR

MALIZE GAIN. Compare the sound quality

of the two samples.

I'm sorry if I've bored those of you who

have already figured this out but it bothers

me that I haven't seen this in print before.

Good Sampling!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Whitcomb

Long Beach, CA

[CS - You bring up a good point, Jonathan

- normalizing will not salvage a noisy

sample. Always try to sample at the maxi

mum level possible before clipping.]

DearTH,

T h e b e s t s o f t w a r e a v a i l a b l e s o f a r f o r t h e

EPS and other Ensoniq instruments is Gary

Giebler's Ensoniq Disk Manager and

EPSSMF. The price is right and Gary even

walked me through one process I didn't un

derstand. This is part of what Ensoniq

promised us for over a year in O.S. 2.5.

Ensoniq, when will 2.5 be out? And how

a b o u t B A C K U P f o r t h e h a r d d i s k ?

TH - your mag is great.

The old piano player,

J i m M c D o n a l d

Fayetteville, AR

[CS - Ensoniq is currently in the testing

phase for OS 2.5 for the EPS. In the mean

time, they have released OS 2.49 (available

through your local dealer or direct from

Ensoniq) which addresses most of the issues

that were scheduled for release with OS 2.5.

The one thing not not included in OS 2.49 is

the hard-disk backup software - for this,

you'll have to wait for OS 25.]

Dear Transoniq Hacker,

I have two questions concerning my EPS

running on O.S. 2.40.

When I play back a song which has song-

tracks, these songtracks seem to slow down

in comparison to the sequencer tracks.

(When I look on event-edit, every note is in

the right place, so everything is recorded

perfectly.)

When I "mixdown" a song (with no song-

tracks, only based on sequences) my EPS

has problems doing the volume changes.

When I do volume changes on only one

track, everything goes just fine. But when I

try to make changes on multiple tracks my

EPS cra s h es on th e fo urt h or fift h tr a c k.

Is something wrong with my EPS or do they

all do this?

Yours faithfully,

Johan Tyvaert

Roeselare, Belgium

[CS - There's probably something wrong

with your EPS. Song tracks should play

back in sync with sequences, and inputting

mixdown volume changes should not cause

your unit to crash. It's probably time to get

in touch with your nearest service center.]

[Ensoniq - It is also possible that your O.S.

disk somehow got corrupted. You might try

Treat Yourself!!

EPS/16 PLUS

Samples from K. Thomas

"Keith has proven to be one of the

true masters of the art of sampling."

[TH review, June '91]

Keyboard Magazine says —

"Beautifully recorded... incredibly

smooth... rich... soulful... crisp and

seamlessly multi-sampled."

[Jitn Aiken, Keyboard, Oct. '91]

Demo Package (includes tape,

disk, and catalog) .... $12.00

K. Thomas

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PROFESSIONAL QUALITY

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again with a new!fresh disk from your

dealer.]

To whom it may concern:

I'm using a sample editing program called

"Samplemaker VI.52" on an Atari 1040

STE. Virtual Sounds Inc. developed the

program and Dr. T's marketed it. The pro

gram has since been discontinued.

This version supports the Ensoniq EPS. I'm

having problems getting a sample from the

EPS into the computer for editing,. Every

time I try to upload a sample into Sample-

maker I get an "Error $0004, Function $06,

Second rev in error" message in my dialog

box.

I have no problems downloading a sample

I've created in Samplemaker to the EPS, so

I must have things hooked up correctly. I'm

also using a very small sample to experi

ment with (24 blocks) in case memory

space was a factor.

I called Dr. T's and they were also per

plexed by the problem. Is anyone out there

using this combination that could enlighten

me concerning this problem?

Sincerely,

J a m e s R o s a n d

Port Angeles, WA

(206) 457-0545

[CS - I have no experience with this par

ticular program. Perhaps one of our

readers might have some insight?]

[Ensoniq - We've heard of the program but

never actually worked with it. Here's a

possible problem: The EPS could be send

ing data to the program faster than the pro

gram can handle it (hence the problem with

the second reception error). If this is the

case, it would be the software developer's

responsibility to adjust the reception

timing.]

D e a r T H :

It would be a money-saving favor to EPS

users if Ensoniq could test some affordable

h a r d a n d r e m o v a b l e d r i v e s i n a d d i t i o n t o

t h o s e l i s t e d i n T H - s u c h a s t h e d r i v e s o f

companies advertising in the back of Mac

User or Mac World magazines. For

example, one can find a SyQuest 44 Mb

removable for $400 (which I'm interested in

buying) and most of these companies have

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28

Turn your EPS or EPS-16 Plus Into a

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29

SOUND DEVnOPMENT

The MOST Complete

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excellent reputations. I have been trying to

find out WHAT is tested and what may go

wrong if I bought a removable from one of

these companies. I am not interested in fea

tures such as shock-mounting, universal

power, etc. I called Ensoniq and I was told

that an untested drive MAY work just fine

and that these products have not been tested

simply because they have not been tested.

Since damage by third-party products is a

big issue in the warranty literature and the

$200 - $400 price difference is rather sig

nificant for most of us, I think drives of

companies such as APS, Mac Land, and

Aurora should be tested as well.

On another point, I strongly believe that En

soniq products deserve better-written and

user friendly manuals. I don't want to play

the unauthorized reviewer here and name

specific items, but I would like to warn

users about hastily-put-together third-party

books sold for a lot of money, taking ad

vantage of the manuals' weaknesses. It

would save some people from getting

ripped-off if TH could have brief reviews of

these books.

Thank you and best wishes,

Semih Firincioglu

New York, NY

[CS - While Ensoniq does try to test any of

the hard drives that come its way, it does

not have the resources to support an ongo

ing, aggressive testing program. However,

we've (Ensoniq and the Hacker) come up

with an idea that might be of use to those of

you considering making the purchase of a

hard drive, and it is this:

SPECIAL OFFER

If you have any experience with the EPS or

EPS-16 PLUS and a hard drive, let us know

what that experience is. What drive(s) work

or don't work for you? Drop us a line and

let us know - it doesn't have to be anything

fancy, just something like "I've been using

a ROVCO 80 for 8 months now, without a

problem," or "I tried the Hoovier 40, and

couldn't get it to work." And be sure to let

us know what you're using it with - is it an

EPS, or an EPS-16 PLUS? Are you using

the Ensoniq SCSI hardware, or another

manufacturers' ? And any other pertinent

details. And that's all there is to it.

For our part, when we've received a suffi

cient number of responses, we'll collate and

publish the results - along with any inter

esting anecdotes that might crop up. And

we'll throw all the contributors' names into

a dumpster and draw one - the lucky win

ner will receive a free set of Ensoniq Signa

ture Series sounds (your choice - compli

ments of Ensoniq) and one of the highly

coveted Transoniq Hacker tee-shirts (com

pliments ofTH). Along with the knowledge

that you'll be helping to make mass-storage

a safer place for countless generations of

Ensoniq users. So keep those cards and let

ters coming, folks, and watch these pages

for updates!]

[Ensoniq - We try very hard to write clear,

easy-to-understand manuals for all of our

products, and we have been commended for

achieving those same results. But we realize

that any effort can always be improved

upon, and given the time, resources and

complexity of a product we strive to keep

improving. It would be more helpful to us

for Hacker-ites to offer tangible sugges

tions, rather than general commentary. We

do listen.]

[TH - A review of one of these third-party

manuals may be found in this very issue.]

Greetings TH, fellow hackers.

I have a suggestion and some questions.

The suggestion is for future OS updates on

the EPS-16 Plus. When 1 am dealing with

the alpha-numeric display and writing in

strument names 1 think that it would be

more efficient to have 'A" appear when the

Data-SUder ("Mr Knob," history of the term

eagerly requested) is all the way down and

"0" with the data-slider all the way up. As

Mr Knob is slid up the display would

progress: ABC...XYZ',.*M234567890.1 al

ways find myself wading through the num

bers and symbols before I get to the letters.

If you follow the above convention we

could locate A and 0 quickly (at the ex

tremes of the data slider movement) as good

reference points for the letters and numbers.

Questions, 1) Can you tell us what all the

new commands are for on the Analog Test

page? 2) Where does the algorithm for the

FX chip reside? As I understand it the data

that is loaded into the FX chip may be

divided into two categories a) the parameter

data (the stored values for the user-access

ible parameters of the algorithm) and b) the

algorithm itself (the program/code that ac

tually makes the chip produce the noises).

When we load and store FX programs to

and from disk are we just transferring the

parameter data that then calls up the FX al

gorithm from ROM or does the actual soft

ware that drives the chip go with it? In

other words, is it possible for Ensoniq to

release a disk just full of FX algorithms, not

just tweaks on the ROM FX but completely

new FX, i.e., "Pitch shifter," "Multi-tap-

delay," "Resonator," etc. that require soft

ware not already in the EPS FX ROM?

Regards,

Scott Fisher [scott@wapsy.uwa.oz]

PH:(09) 380 3574.

Department of Psychology

University of Western Australia

Nedlands, 6009, Perth, W.A.

[CS -In the original layout for the ESQ-I,

where all the various components were first

diagrammed, the data entry slider was

labeled "Mr. Knob" (primarily because one

of the guys at Ensoniq was having a little

fun). The term stuck, with engineers and

designers using this somewhat less-than-

technical appellation when referring to the

slider. The name finally became immortal

ized when Mr. Knob made it into the analog

test pages of the original EPS.

The new commands that show up in the

EPS-16 PLUS are all related to tests for the

ESP chip - the chip that's responsible for

the digital on-board effects in the EPS-16

PLUS. If you decide to mess with any of

these tests, proceed with caution. The

analog tests really are not meant to be of

any use to the end user and aren't really

even supposed to be visible to him!her. It is

possible to crash your EPS when monkeying

around with this stuff. And while it is not

possible to damage your unit, it is possible

to cause it to send tremendous amounts of

signal to its audio outs, and this might not

be too healthy for your sound system - or

your ears, for that matter.

The algorithm for the ESP chip resides in

ROM, but it is also saved to disk (along

with the parameter data) when you save an

effect, and is re-loaded when you load the

effect. Therefore, it is possible for entirely

new effects algorithms to be loaded from

disk, thus adding new capabilities to the

signal processing section of your EPS-16

PLUS. Ensoniq assures us that they can and

will release new effects algorithms for the

EPS-16 PLUS in the future. And with all the

development they've been doing on the new

DP/4 processor, they must have at least a

few new algorithms laying around back at

the factory.]

30

*

CURRENT ENSONIQ O.S.

EPS 2.49 VFX 2.1

EPS-M 2.49 VFX-SD 2.1

EPS-16 PLUS 1.1 SQ-1 1.01

MASOS 2.0 SQ-R 1.02

MIRAGE 3.2 SQ-1 PLUS 1.1

ESQ 3.5 SQ-2 1.2

ESQ-M 1.2 SD-1 3.00

SQ-80 1.8

Tested and Approved Hard Drives for the EPSs

Note; The drives listed below are known to be compatible with the EPS and

EPS-16 PLUS at the time of testing. Changes In firmware or hardware by

drive manufacturers may make later versions Incompatible (with the excep

tion of PS Systems, Eltskon, and Frontera whose drives are configured to

work specifically with Ensonlq products). Drives rrof Included on this list may

also work just fine. For up-to-date Information about specific drives call En

sonlq Customer Service: 215-647-3930.

MANUFACTURER MODEL

Frontera All Models

P S S y s t e m s A l l M o d e l s

Eltekon All Models

Rodlme 45plus, 60plus, lOOplus, 140plus

Microtech R45, N20, N40, N80, N100, N150

PL1 45 Meg Removable

M a s s M i c r o D a t a p a c k 4 5

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Transfer Sequences to and from Standard

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31

TRANSONIC HACKER

1402 SW UPLAND DR., PORTLAND. OR 97221, (503) 227-6848

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B U L K R A T E

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SUBSCRIPTION MATERIAL

D AT E D M AT E R I A L - T I M E VA L U E

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In U S f u n ds .

Transoniq Hacker is the independent user's news magazine for Ensoniq

products. Transoniq Hacker is not affiiiated in any way with Ensoniq Corp.

Ensoniq and the names of their various products are registered trademarks of

the Ensoniq Corp. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not

necessariiy reflect those of the publisher or Ensoniq Corp. Printed in the

United States.

The

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