Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #081 081

Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #081 th_081 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #081

Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #081 th_081 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #081

User Manual: Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #081 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #081

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The Independent News
Magazine for Ensoniq Users

Inthis issue

Chorusing and Flanging Effects on the
SQs - The Plot Thickens

Articles:

Clark Salisbury

I

Q

Welcome to this month's installment of
"Programming The SQ When You Should
Be Looking For A Real Job." So far we've
talked about how to route voices to the effects busses and how to work with the
reverb parameters to customize reverb effects. This time out, let's move on to some
of the other on-board effects.
The SQ includes a number of effects that
are delay-based and, as such, can be approached in very similar ways. Among
these are the chorusing, flanging and rotary
speaker effects. The rotary speaker and
flanger effects are found only in combination with other effects - primarily the
reverb. The chorus, while it is found in
combination with other effects, also presents itself as a single effect - the 8-Voice
Chorus. We'll start out by examining this
effect first.
As I've already mentioned, chorusing is a
delay-based effect, made possible through
the use of delay circuitry. A delay is
generally used to create echo-type effects.
You put a signal into a delay, and what
comes out is generally the same signal, but
the signal has been delayed. If you
later
mix this delayed signal back in with the
original signal, the resulting sound might

-

ISSUENUMBER 81, $2.50

give the impression that the original signal
is echoing. This simple approach yields the
original signal and a single echo. If one
wishes to create the sound of multiple
echoes, one need only route the delayed signal back into the delay itself. This delayed
signal is then again delayed, yielding a
second echo, and since the output of the
delay is routed back to its own input, this
second echo is again delayed, and so on.
The process of routing a delayed signal
back into the delay is referred to as
"regeneration" or "feedback."
If this regenerated signal is routed back into
the delay at full intensity, however, the
echoes will continue to multiply at full
volume until the sound finally becomes a
wash of echoes. This is generally not a very
pleasing effect. For this reason, provision
must be made to attenuate (turn down) the
delayed regenerated signal. The result is a
series of echoes that get progressively
quieter, eventually decaying to silence
a
much more natural-sounding effect. We can
hear this process in action by performing a
few simple adjustments to the SQ's 8-Voice
Chorus.

-

First, select a sound to experiment with.
ROM sound 00, Dynamic Grand, should do
nicely. Press the Edit button, then the Effect
button. If you are not at the top of the effect
menu pages, press button 0 also - you
should be seeing the effect name, 'Concert
Reverb', in the display. Select the effect
name, and use the up/down arrow buttons or
the slider to change it to '8- Voice Chorus' .
We now have a piano sound that's being
processed with a fairly straightforward
chorus effect. Press button 1
you'll find
that chorus rate and depth are both set to 20

-

Chorusing and Flanging on the SQs
Clark Salisbury
DP/4 Specifications
Ensoniq

cover
9

"

(More) "Hidden Waves" on the VFX
Walter Cooper
". 14
Sample Variations
William PonJ

".. 15

Pickin' on EPS Bass Sounds

TomShear

"

17

Reviews:
Le Cover Dust Covers
Steve VincenJ

4

Basement Tapes: G2
Daniel Mandel

6

Jazz Through MIDI
Daniel Mandel

7

Giebler's SQ80VFX
Ed Lecuyer
Ensoniq's

10

,

SC-4 for SQs

Jeff Rhoads

11

"

Ensoniq's VSD-I00l for VFX-sdjSD-l
Jeffery P. Fisher

13

3D Sounds for Samplers
Barbara Ockel

18

Robo Bop for ESQ-l & SQ-80
Brian Rost

19

Regular Stuff:
RandomNotes

3

"

Hypersoniq
Current O.S. """"""""""""""""""""'"
Hard Drives List
"
Classifieds
Hackerpatches
Sam Mims & Jeffrey Rhoads
The Interface

4
30
30
20

HackerBooteeq

31

21
24

"

MARCH,1992

------------

-

we'll be talking about these parameters in a moment. For now,
though, set the Chorus Depth parameter to 0, and press button 2 to
move to the next menu page.

To become proficient with chorusing effects, you should also become familiar with the interaction of the Rate and Depth
parameters. You'll find that these two parameters interact when
you are attempting to arrive at a pleasing chorus effect. Increasing
the depth, for example, may necessitate a corresponding decrease
in the rate, and vice-versa. Also, the overall amount of chorusing
should be taken into account. In the case of the 8-Voice Chorus effect, this is programmed from the first effect menu page - pressing button 0 will take you there. With the multiple effects that
include chorusing, chorus amount is controlled from within the effect menu pages - the parameter for controlling chorus amount
will be presented as "Chorus LeveL"

-

Here we are presented with two parameters
Chorus Center,
which should be set to 20, and Feedback, which should be set to
+00. Select the Chorus Center parameter, and set it to 99. If you
now playa few notes on the keyboard, you'll hear the piano sound
and a single, quick echo. This is because Chorus Center actually
the amount of time between the original sigcontrols delay time
nal and its delayed counterpart. The highest value is 99, so we
have set the delay (which is the basis for the chorusing effect) to
its maximum delay time. The delay is now long enough that we
can hear it as a discrete echo.

-

Flanging is very similar to chorusing - in fact, it is nearly identical. As such, all the parameters that we've talked about in our discussion of chorusing will apply to the flanging effects. The only
real difference between flanging and chorusing is that flanging effects are achieved using shorter delay times than would be used for
chorusing effects. The effect of sweeping these shorter delay times
is easy enough to make apparent by example. Starting with the
same sound, ROM 00 Dynamic Grand, hit the Edit, then the Effect, then the 0 button to move to the rust page of the effect menu.
Select the effect type, and change it to Flanger+Reverb 1
the
flanging effect should be immediately apparent if you listen to a
few notes from the SQ.

Now select the Feedback parameter, and see what different
parameter settings do. You'll find that as you increase or decrease
the value for this parameter from its initial setting of +00, you will
begin to increase the number of repeats from the delay. A setting
of +99 or -99 will give you positive or negative feedback at full
gain, completely unattenuated. The effect will be that the echoing
continues until you change the value for the parameter, select a
new sound, or turn the SQ off.

-

Leave the Chorus center parameter set to 99 and set the Feedback
parameter to a value of +90 for now. Press button I to move back
to the Chorus Rate and Depth page. Chorus rate should still be set
to 20
set Chorus Depth to 99, and playa note. The echoes are
now shifting in pitch
moving up and down in a fairly regular
way as they decay. What's happening here is what sets chorusing
apart from simple delay effects - the delayed portion of the signal
is being modulated. To be more precise, the delay time itself is
being modulated - in this case by a sine wave. The effect is that
delay time is being shortened and lengthened cyclically - as the
delay time gets shorter, the pitch of the delayed signal rises, and as
it gets longer, the pitch of the delayed signal gets lower. Any of
you who have played with the time control and digital, analog, or
tape delays will recognize this effect. The theory is that if you mix
this pitch-shifted version of the signal back with the original signal, the result will sound like more than one voice sounding in
a "chorus" of voices, each one slightly off-pitch from
unison
the others.

-

Now hit button 2 to move to the Flanger Rate and Depth page. Set
Flanger Depth to 00, and hit button 3 to move to the next page. Set
Feedback to +00, and select the Flanger Center parameter. Set it to
00 as well. Now, increment the Flanger Center parameter one
number at a time while repeatedly striking a key on the SQ keyboard. You should hear the sound go through a number of fairly
subtle tonal changes. What is happening is that the signal, having
been very slightly delayed and mixed back with itself, is exhibiting
amplitude changes in a variety of frequencies. When you mix two
identical waves, one slightly delayed from the other, certain frequencies will be amplified and others will be attenuated. This is
because at some points in the two waves' cycles, both waves will
be traveling in the same direction. In this case, adding the waves
together at this point will result in those frequencies being at
greater amplitude than in either wave taken separately. If we use a
sine wave as an example, we find that adding a sine wave with an
amplitude of +10 with another identical sine wave with an
amplitude of +10 will give use a sine wave with an amplitude of
+20.

-

-

Of course, the effect that we've put together here is a bit exaggerated - for most typical chorusing applications we'll want to be
a bit more subtle. For example, try setting the. Chorus Depth
parameter back to a value of 20, and hit button 2 to move back to
the Chorus Center and Feedback page. Try setting the Feedback
parameter to a value of +35 or so. The chorusing will now be quite
a bit more subtle, although there will still be a rather pronounced
"slapback" echo at the beginning of the signal. This heavily
chorused sound, with the slapback echo at the beginning is a
you might want
popular effect among many electric guitarists
to check this out with some of your favorite guitar patches. If the
slapback is bothering you, you can shorten it by adjusting the
Chorus Center parameter
lower values will cause the initial
echo to shorten, finally becoming so short as to be imperceptible
as a separate echo.

At other times, the waves will be traveling in opposite directions
one might be going positive while the other is going negative
(remember, since one wave is delayed from the other, it might still
be moving in a positive direction while the original wave has taken
a turn to the negative). Adding the two waves together at this point
will have the effect of cancelling some or all of the frequencies
out. For example, adding two identical sine waves, one with an
amplitude of +10 and the other with an amplitude of -10 results in
a wave with an amplitude of 0, or no wave at all.

-

-

-

Of course, the waves that we are mixing together in our flanger are
much more complex than sine waves, so this phenomenon of frequencies accentuating and cancelling each other sounds much
more complex. And I should mention that this is not limited to the
both the chorusing and rotary speaker effects will
flanger only
exhibit some of this effect. But the characteristic sound of flanging

The Chorus Center parameter has another use, besides that of introducing a slight echo into the chorused signal, and that is to
"tune" the chorusing effect. Different settings for the Center
parameter yield chorusing effects that seem to be "tuned" higher or
lower in the frequency spectrum.

-

(Continued on page 6)

2

-

Front Panel
included is a sound manual w/performance notes and a biography
of Jeff. The package includes artwork from famed artist, Peter
Max.

RND (J'J'J')
Ensonlq News

SQ Series
SC-6 - 160 Sounds for the SQ series keyboard and rack,
programmed by Eye & I Productions. Includes a sound description sheet. Suggested retail: $99.95.

[Ed. - Last month we mentioned that Ensoniq has become the
authorized distributor of all C-Labproducts and promised more
news this month...]
Yes, it's true - Ensoniq Corp has been appointed the official US
distributor for C-LAB Software. This popular line of Atari software includes Notator, the premier sequencing/notation package
available in the world. Other titles include Creator (sequencing),
Aura (ear-training), Midia (MIDI education and analysis) and
Notator Alpha (educational version of Notator). All current
C-LAB owners will now be serviced by Ensoniq, and updatesl
upgrades are available to OS version 3.1.

SD-IIVFX-SD
VSD-1003, 1004 - 120 sounds per disk, covering a wide
spectrum of styles and sounds. Includes a sound manual w/performance notes. Suggested retail: $19.95 per disk.

Hacker News
Now that we've started adding "Drives Reported to Work by
Readers," to our listing for EPSs, we have to be extra careful
the Burnoulli 44M (removable) that was reported to work does
work, but required special formatting at a computer lab. Don't try
this at home!

-

Errata: In the last issue Pat Finnigan gave a wrong answer to the
question, "Why can't I use the Data Entry Slider as a Timbre
modulator?" The answer he gave described the functionality of
the X-Control modulator, which is the ability of the SQ-l (or any
of our products) to take an external MIDI controller source (such
as a breath controller) and route it into the voice architecture to
change any modulatable parameter.

Third Party News
Radio Ready, who's been selling samples for the EPS, seems to
have a disconnected phone at this point. They may be just
moving or whatever, but, at least till we hear what's going on,
caution is advised before ordering any sounds.

To use the Data Entry Slider as a Timbre modulator you must put
a Sound into a Preset, and then press the Edit Sequence button,
Bank button 7 (Mix), and Screen button 4. While you are on this
screen you can move the Data Entry Slider and your sound will
change.

TRANSONIQ.NET
HELP WITH QUESTIONS

Of course if a sound does not have Timbre implemented as a
modulator of one of the parameters this may still have no effect.
In that case you would have to re-program the sound to take advantage of Timbre as a modulation source. -

All of the individuals listed below are volunteers! Please take
that into consideration when calling. If you get a recording and
leave a message, let 'em know if it's okay to call back collect
(this will greatly increase your chances of getting a return call).

NEW SOUND .RELEASES

ALL ENSONIQGEAR- EnsoniqCustomerService.9:30amto noon,1:15
pm to 6:30 pm EST Monday to Friday. 215-647-3930.

EPS-16 PLUSIEPS
SL-10 thru 13 String Sections

-

These are the long-awaited

SQ-SO QUESTIONS

new

string section samples from the sessions that were held last year
with legendary producer, Phil Ramone. Each volume is dedicated
to a different section of the string orchestra; basses, cellos, violas
and violins, and includes a multi-disk expressive instrument, a
smaller section for workstation sequencing, and various articulations (spiccato, colegno, glisses and more). Sequences were performed by the session arranger, Claude Gaudette (Sig Series).
Each set contains 5 disks and a sound manual w/performance
notes and background on the session. Suggested retail: $39.95.

HARD DRIVES & DRIVE SYSTEM
5818.11 am - 3 pm EST.

-

- Rob

Any 01' time.

Feiner, Cinetunes.

914-963-

EPS!EPS-16+ QUESTIONS - Erech Swanston, Maestro Sounds. 718465-4058. Call anytime. (NY) ITmessage, 24-hr callback.
VFX QUESTIONS - Sam Mims, Syntaur Productions. 818-769-4395. (CA).
10 am to 11 pm PST.

SQ-80 QUESTIONS - Michael Mortilla, 805-966-7252 weekends and after 5
pm Pacific Time.
EPS & EPS-16 PLUS QUESTIONS - Garth Hjelte. Rubber Chicken Software. Pacific Time (WA). Call anytime. ITmessage, 24-hour callback. (206)
467-5668.

SL-14 Solo instruments-Includes
lead trumpet, piccolo, trumpet, flugelhorn, soprano alto and tenor saxes, bassoon and oboe.
Contains 5 disks and a sound manual w/performance notes and
background on the session. Suggested retail: $39.95.
ESS-18 Jeff Lorber Signature Series

- Robert Romano, 607-533-7878.

ESQ-1 AND SQ-SO QUESTIONS - Tom McCaffrey.
830-0241, before 11 pm Eastem Time.

ESQUPA.215-

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

Jeff is one of LA's top

session players and producers, having crafted hits for many artists as well as his own solo career. This 5 disk set features
drums, drum loops, basses, keyboard, pad and lead sounds. Also

EPS!MIRAGE!ESQ!SQ-SOM.U.G. 24-HOUR HOTLINE - 212-4653430. Leave name, number, address. 24-hr Callback.

3

SAMPLING & MOVING SAMPLES
ern Time (N.J.). Call after 6:00 pm.

- Jack

Loesch, (201) 264-3512.

East-

Keyboard Covers For Those Who Would
Rather Pay Someone Else To Do It

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.

Steve Vincent

MIRAGE SAMPLING - Mark Wyar, (216) 323-1205. Eastern time zone
(OH). Calls between 6 pm and 11pm.
Product: Custom keyboard

SQ-! QUESTIONS - Pat Finnigan, 3'17-462-8446.8:00 am to 10:00 pm EST.
ESQ.!, MIDI & COMPUTERS
zone.

- Joe

Slater, (404) 925-7929.

For: Ensoniq keyboards

-

From: Le Cover Company,

Eastern time

II...60188, phone:

dust covers.
among others.
1 North 353 Bloomingdale

Rd, Carol Stream,

1-800-228-DUST.

Price: $24.95 plus $4 sth.

HYPERSONIQ

Question: Do you use protection?

NEW PRODUCTS

The January Hacker contained my easy-to-do-it-yourself instructions on how to make your own dust cover for your keyboard. If you want to practice Safe MIDI and protect your
expensive, sensitive gear from dust, animal effluvia or salivating voyeurs but would rather not mess with fabric stores, glue
guns and seal-a-meals, then check out this item.

Nightwind Sound, ("Eccentric Samples for Mirage and EPS"),
has released Demo Tape Vol. III for the EPS - containing Ancient Greek, Medieval, Ethnic and Industrial Percussion sounds.
$6. For more information contact: Nightwind Sound, 170 Mar
Monte Ave., La Selva, CA 95076.

I will spare you additional horror stories about cats marking
territory and just review the product. The Le Cover dust cover I
have for review fits both my ESQ-l and my EPS perfectly. It is
snug, it won't slip or blow off (for those windy outdoor gigs)
and Le Cover thoughtfully designed cut-outs for the cables
sticking out the back of your board. It is made out of durable
vinyl with a nylon exterior, making it both waterproof and
scratch-resistant. Also important: This is a very classy-looking
cover. I hate to admit it, but next to Le Cover, my home-made
dust cover looks, well, home-made. The Le Cover comes in a
number of snazzy colors; mine is a very rich looking burgundy.
And it does keep the dust off your keyboard.

CHANGEOFADDRESS
Please let us know at least four weeks in advance to avoid missing
any issues. The Post Office really will NOT reliably forward this
type of mail. (Believe us, not them I) We need to know both your
old and your new address. (Issues missed due to late or no
change notification are your own dumb fault - we mailedtheml)

Something is going down at
L.B. Music

The Le Cover Company manufactures custom covers for a wide
variety of electronic equipment, including most well-known
boards, drum machines, mixers and amps. They will also
custom-make a cover for other oddball gear like your sitar/accordion hybrid MIDI controller, according to the dimensions
you send' em.

Get the same quality and services now at a
new lower price! !!

..
.

Now with full documentation
MasterCard and Visa accepted
Toll-free order line (orders only please)
1-800-3LB-MUSIC
1-800-352-6874

.

This is a quality product: low learning curve, well-written
manual (you real hackers can just dive right in and put the
cover on your board without consulting the manual), and it

L. B. Music Sequences

adds class and protection to your studio. Two thumbs up.

P.O. Box 261, Clifton Heights, PA 19018-0261
215-626-8890/215-533-7122 (Technical Support)

IL

n

(VISA

-

Rio: Steve Vincent is a marriage and family therapist with an
addition to MIDI, and is the compiler of the Hacker Compilation Tape.

J

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
12 MONTHLY ISSUES

.

VFX.sd. SD.l/SD.l (w/32 voices) EPS/EPS.16+

us: $23/year. All others: $30Iyear. (Please use International Money
Order, payable in US funds.) Please make payable and mail to:

Korg T-1-2-3. Korg Ol/W. Yamaha SY77
Alesis Data Disk. Proteus
Dedicated Sequencers

TRANSONIO HACKER
1402 SW UPLAND DR., PORTLAND, OR 97221

4

If goodmusicturnsyou on, giveyourselfthe toolsto makeit easier.Callour800 linebelowfor hot newsounds.

Ensoniq
SQ-1/2/R

1m~I1ftf

Disk: S44.98 (Reg.$49.95)RAM: S89.98 (Reg.$99.95)

, MASTERAMCollectionI-Unique

hybridtextures,includinganalogand digital
textures,forallcutting-edgeroc~ pop, newage&:soundtrackapplications."This
collectionisawesome.
Thesesoundsaredrippingwith inspiration11f
themodwheel
controlledabsolutelynothing,thisvolumewouldstillbewortheverypenny.Justbe
warnedthat thisisn't one of thosecollectionsthat offersten differentversionsof

violin. I'm talking imaginationand variety.Asa result(of the programming),a
deeperpersonalityof the SQ-1 is revealecf.II-Transoniq
HocI 1 Unit Presets
> 2 Unit Presets
> 4 Unit Presets
> Config Presets (4 Units plus all the signal routing
parameters)
256k words (512 kbytes) of delay memory
Max delay time per unit: 1.6 seconds
Max single delay time possible (no regeneration): 6.4 seconds

..

..
.

Algorithms
1) Small RoomReverb
2) Large RoomReverb
3) Hall Reverb
4) Small Plate
5) Large Plate
6) Reverse Reverb
7) ReverseReverb2
8) Gated Reverb
9) NonLin Reverb
10)NonLin Reverb 2
11) NonLin Reverb 3
12) MultiTap Delay
13) 3 sec. Delay (2U)
14)Dual Delay
15) EQ-DELAY-LFO
16) Tempo Delay
17) VCFPDistortion
18) Guitar Amp1
19) Guitar Amp 2
20) Guitar Amp 3
21) Speaker Cabinet
22) Tunable Speaker
23) Rotating Speaker

Responds to 6 MIDI channels at the same time
> Each Unit can have its own MIDI channel
> A separate MIDI channel can be used for controller
information
> A separate channel can be used to send Config Preset
program changes
Separate program change mapping tables available per Unit

Responds to the following MIDI controllers for parameter
modulation or effect bypass:
> Controllers #000 - #127
> Pitch bend wheel
> Note number
> Velocity
> Pressure (channel/mono or key/polyphonic)

24) EQPChorusPDDL
25) EQPVibratoPDDL
26) EQPPannerPDDL
27) EQPFlangerPDDL
28) EQPTremoloPDDL
29) PhaserPDDL
30) 8 Voice Chorus
31) Flanger
32) Pitch Shifter
33) FastPitchShift
34) Pitch Shift 2U
35) Pitch ShiftPDDL
36) EQPCompressor
37) Inverse Expander
38) Expander
39) KeyedExpander
40) DePEsser
41) Ducker/Gate
42) Parametric EQ
43) Aural Enhancer
44) Vocoder
45) Sine/Noise Gen

.

Can save/load the following data types as MIDI Sys. Ex.:

> Single Presets
> Bank ofrelated Presets (I, 2,4 Unit or Config)
> System global data
> All data (all Presets plus System global parameters)

Front Panel Controls

.4 input, 4 output knobs
..
.
.12 buttons (Write/Copy, Cancel/Undo, Left Arrow, Right
. 1 Hi-Z input (overrides Input 1 on back panel)
Individual Peak and Signal LEDs for each channel
32 character back-lit LCD display
.2 character LED display w/MIDI indicator
Digital 32 step Data Entry Knob

Arrow, Select, Edit/Compare, System/MIDI, Unit A, Unit
B, Unit C, Unit D, Config)
. Active/Bypassed status LED for each Unit
Power Switch

.

Rear Panel Connections

.

(4) 1/4" Input connectors

.
.
..MIDI
In/Out/Thru
AlC line connector

Input/Output Specifications

...
...
.

(can be grouped

as 2 mono/stereo

pairs)

(4) 1/4" Output connectors (can be grouped as 2 mono/stereo
pairs)
Pedal/Control Voltage input (allows modulation from external
sources, such as the CV pedal)
. Dual/Single foot switch input (for use w/SW-5 or SW-2)

AID - D/A conversion: 16 bit linear
Input Level: -12.5 dBV to +18 dBV
Output Level: +15 dBV maximum
Input impedance: 1 MO
Output impedance: 2.6 kO
Frequency Response: 2 Hz -18 kHz
Dynamic Range: 96dB

9

1

Get Your Transfer Ticket

Punched!

Review:Giebler's SQaOVFX
Ed Lecuyer

For: SQ-80; VFX-sd (or SD-l)

and IBM (or compatible)

with hard drive

and 3-112 inch floppy.
Product: SQ80VFX.
Price: $44.00.
From: Giebler

Enterprises,

8038 Morgan

Road, Liverpool,

NY 13090,

good - but not perfect. There are a few drawbacks:

1. Speed - To do a transfer of a SQ-80 disk containing 5
songstookalmostan hour.Of course,this is muchfaster than
reprogrammingthestuff,but it seemsslow.

(315) 652-5742.

Two months ago my "authorized Ensoniq dealer" was clearing
out VFX-sd's at an unheard of price - a price so low that an
unemployed college student like me could buy one. So there I
was, back in my dorm room, taking off the SQ-80 that I had
befriended years ago off of my synth rack and replacing it with
a lovely VFX-sdII. After sending my SQ-80 to some lucky
new owner in Florida, I wondered if there was any way to
transfer two years worth of SQ-80 sequences into the VFX-sd.
Low and behold, I remembered such an item - Giebler
Enterprises' SQ80VFX program for IBM compatibles; so I
consulted my trusty Hacker collection and ordered the product.

2. When doing a transfer, you have to transfer the whole disk.
An option to tell the program which files you want to transfer
would have been useful. And it would have been cool if the
option were there to format VFX-sd disks.
3. If the program fails during its final step (transferring the
converted file from the hard drive to the VFX-sd disk) due to a
bad sector on the VFX-sd disk, the transfer must be restarted
from scratch

-

the program will not give any sort of error

message "VFX-sd Disk Bad - Use Another" and wait until
you do; instead, the program just hangs in the final step.
Back to the kudos. Some of the program's other features include:

.

Transfer of SQ-80 sequencer files into SMF. (It won't do
SMF to SQ-80 or VFX-sd transfers, however)

Let me start off by saying that Gary Giebler is a master hacker.
Anyone who can completely figure out the disk formats for all
of the Ensoniq synths AND figure out how the SQ-80 and
VFX-sd sequencers store their events deserves a prize. We Ensoniq owners got the prize instead, wonderful software that
takes care of tedious tasks simply and effectively.

. Reads and displays the contents of any Ensoniq disk. (It
won't, however,copy or formatthesedisks, one of his other
programswill)

. The ability to filter whatever controller information that you
. The automatic elimination of two concurrent key-on's that
play on the same note at the same time. I would have preferred

The SQ-80VFX program "says was it does and does what it
says." The user puts their SQ-80 disk into the IBM, Gary's
program displays the files on the disk, you press a key and the
program transfers the SQ-80 files to VFX-sd files.

specify during the transfer.

Just how does it work? Well, first it converts the SQ-80 sequencer file into a Standard MIDI File (SMF) and .stores those
files onto the hard drive. Next, the program converts the Standard MIDI Files into VFX-sd files and puts the results on the
hard drive. Finally the program copies the VFX-sd files from
the hard drive onto a VFX-sd disk.

that this were an option, not a requirement as it sometimes
"picks" the wrong note to remove.
A feature to allow one to take sequencers from file A, and put
them into file B would be useful. When I write my sequences,
I put one song in a disk file, when I write my sequences, I put
one song in a disk file. When I gig, I try to cram as much into
the machine as possible to avoid that nasty dead time between
songs. I'm sure Gary (or Ensoniq) could make this task easier.

So I've got an SQ-80 sequence transferred over to my VFX-sd;
now what do I do? Well, unfortunately you just can't hit
PLAY and expect to hear your favorite sequence magically
reproduce itself. The final step is to remap your sounds so that
what was once DRMSET on your SQ-80 doesn't play ALTOSAX on your VFX-sd. This is, frankly, not all that trivial a
step and I found myself reprogramming certain parts over
again just so it sounded better. Ah, KITCHN-SINK is much
better than DRMSET don't you think?

I realize that a lot of the things that Gary's program doesn't do
that I've mentioned could be done with some of Gary's other
programs. I would have rather paid a little more for this program to have them included. I won't be ordering his Ensoniq
Disk Manager because I don't feel that I need it. But, if he had
charged on extra $10 to include some of that program's features (disk formatting, etc.) into the SQ80VFX transfer program, that would be an extra $10 he would have made from
me. He might be better off combining all his programs and

Now I wish I could end this review right here and say that the
product is perfect and everyone will be very happy with it. It's
10

utilities into one huge program that "every Ensoniq owner
must have" and price it accordingly.
In closing, this program is a must-have for anyone who wants
to transfer SQ-80 sequences to a VFX-sd or into an SMF. I
hope Gary continues to develop useful products like this one
so we can spend less time doing the dirty work
and more
time making music.

-

-

Bio: Ed Lecuyer is studying computer science and sound
recording technology at the University of Massachusetts at
Lowell. He keeps himself busy by disturbing the other people
in his dorm with his music and by blatantly plugging his tapes
in the "Hacker." He hopes that this is not how he will spend
the rest of his life.

Riding the Edge
J eft Rhoads

That's what they've done for "Impression 1," a foreboding,
complex mood (if you're in a minor key) with a slight attack.
But, voice 1 doesn't sustain all the way through. This is especially evident in higher registers. Adjusting an envelope changes this but then you ask yourself if that's a feature or simply
a programming glitch? See what I mean; highly subjective.

For: SQ-1, SQ-1+, SQ-2.
Product: SC-4 Sound card.
Price: $99.95.
From: Ensoniq Corp., 155 Great Valley Parkway,
Accessories

Order Line (800) 553-5151

or contact

Malvem,

PA

19355.

your local Ensoniq

dealer.

There are plenty of odd splits on the SC-4. Some are labeled
as such, some aren't. Among the most interesting are those
that seem to "crossfade" in the middle register. "Split 1" uses
a Breath wave across the entire keyboard with a percussive hit
from C4 down and a Doorbell wave faded into the upper octaves. The result is a swirling metallic sound that's usable and
intriguing. But the same idea or voice is used too often within
a split. "Renaissance 1" uses a heavily modulated String Ensemble for its upper half, "Renaissance 2," an Acoustic
Guitar. They both use Claves and a Crash Cymbal below C#4
in their bottoms with the only apparent difference being gain
levels between the two. This would probably not merit a comment if it just happened here but it happens more than once.
(One could argue that percussion is the logical bottom for
Renaissance 1 and 2 but even that's a bit of a stretch.) Similar
bottom or upper parts show up in more than one split patch
where they seemingly have no place. We're not talking about
Bass/piano type patches either.

After the ideas or soundesigns for the SC-3 were "in the can,"
the marketeers at Ensoniq may have asked some questions
like "What does the SQ Soundcard series need now?" or "The
SC-l, 2 and 3 pretty well cover all the standard bases and then
some, so, what could the average, (possibly) red-blooded
SQ-head be looking for now?" or "Should we reinterpret
things like cellos, guitars, string pads etc, or can we afford to
be, well,... different?"
Enter the SC-4, a decidedly different soundcard that attempts
to answer these questions as well as some that haven't been
asked yet. Once again, Ensoniq has enlisted the help of a third
party
this time, Sound Source Unlimited. Sound Source
Unlimited already offers a Film Textures card for the SQs, as
well as a number of soundtrack patches for other keyboards,
so it might stand to reason that the SC-4 contains many unusual timbres. Expect the unexpected.

-

The SC-4 rides that cutting edge and to a large degree is successful. There are plenty of good robotic and industrial sounds
here. "Industry Job 1," "Musical Industry" and "Percs Plus 3"
all make good use of banging metal and off-harmonics. "Industry Job 1" sounds particularly good when MIDIed to a
tonal instrument like a piano. Although "Robot Noises" is just
a variation of the SQ's Multi-Wave, the really twisted among
us might even try using it in place of a string or brass pad.
Percussive sounds abound on this card. In keeping with the
soundtrack theme, both "Movie Tribe Perc" and "Video Tribe
Perc" will conjure up fresh images of King Kong's Island or
Jamaican breezes. Even some of the better new age timbres
click and clang: "New Age Perc 2" uses fast, high, steel
drums atop a whooshing foundation. Cowbell is added to the

At the first sitting I wasn't real sure about this. Then, I let it
alone for a month and came back to it for another listen. Quite
simply, it sounded much better. It's not without its share of
problems but any card that bases itself on primarily subjective
material will likely reveal as many shortcomings as strong
points.
There are plenty of nice pads here; "Majestic Pad" and
"Freebird" have full, strong orchestral bases with flutish and
bell-like tones at the top. "Harmonica Dreams" works beautifully. It shares a wide-envelope harmonica (courtesy of the
Vocal Ensemble wave) with a swirling backdrop that fades in
after a slight delay. How many of us would have thought of
using Synth Bass and Acoustic Bass waves to create a pad.
11

lower half, causing a more immediate, even sharper attack.
(Again, the splits that work don't really sound like splits.) Try
using this patch for ostinato patterns.
You won't find too many workhorse-type sounds on the SC-4.
Standard keyboard, fretted and horn patches are few and far
between and/or hidden under an off-title. And some of the
basses have very high velocity values. "Muted Bass" and
"Soul Bass" have to be hit rather hard to be heard at full filter.
Why? Not only does this hurt your fingers after a while but
it's hard on the keyboard. Most other recognizable band-type
instruments serve as part of more complex ideas: "Pans &
Brass," "New Aged Piano," "Saxesque" and so on.....

the market. The SC-4 does not attempt to re-invent the basics.
That's okay, some of us like taking chances. But another
reason for wanting to know where the SC-4 "fits" is that there
aren't nearly as many third party sound options available for
SQ's as many of us had hoped there would be by now, though
Ensoniq's certainly taking up some of the slack here. So, each
new soundcard release from the factory is very important to
perspective buyers. Its sounds should probably be tight and
relatively accessible. The SC-4 is most certainly not as accessible, as they say, as its relatives. And, some of its entries
fall short because they sound strained or "rushed." Its good
patches are very good, though. I just wish that some material
had been designed with a little more consistency.

As you might guess a card like the SC-4 contains a lot of
"movie" sounds and effects, many of which might be used to
signal surprise or suspense. (There's even a patch called
"Suspense Hit") These patches are very good and probably
represent one of this card's strongest suits. "China Cityl,"
"Fright Night," "Old Movie," "Erie Tales 1," "Camp Noises,"
"Night Animals" bring to mind those things their titles suggest while still managing to sound clever and musical.

When you listen to the SC-4 for the first time, try to spend a
little time with it. I realize this is sometimes hard to do in the
music store but even a few extra minutes will help you decide
whether or not you can use it. There's lots of unfamiliar
material here so don't do too much fast driving the moment
you get your hands on it. Give yourself some time. Ensoniq
(via Sound Source Unlimited) has provided something a little
different for the SQ, stuff to promote new ideas rather than try
to fit old ones. If you're a composer, playing original
material, doing soundtrack work, or just savor the unusual,
take a listen - carefully.

Now, why is it important to know where the SC-4 fits into the
existing SQ soundcard family? The obvious answer is that this
new card should somehow add to, not copy, what's already on

-

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beyond the 13 effectsthat come with the EPS16 plus. You get four
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Or four stereo bounce delays... you get the idea. This one disk will
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Ensoniq VSD- 100 1 Sounds
SD-l/VFX-sd

for the
Jeffrey P. Fisher

For: VFX/sd, SD-l.
Product: VSD-1001 - 2 banks of 60 sound programs with 20 presets.
Price: $19.95. (Disk.)
From: Ensoniq Corp., 155 Great Valley Parkway, Malvem, PA 19355, or
contact your local Ensoniq dealer.

patches the aftertouch routed to vibrato was somewhat oversensitive. Just a little press and STRING-PAD, for instance, goes
wildly out of tune. And the patch selects oft times subtract
waveforms creating a thinner sound - not necessarily the most
creative or subtle variation.

VSD-1001-8
It's quiet in the house and my wife is still asleep. So, it's headphones, a cup of coffee and the VSD-IOOIprograms.
This is the second disk in Ensoniq's VSD library, with two
banks of 60 programs and 20 presets. Unfortunately, my review
copy of these sounds came sans manual. "Who cares?" you
might thoughtfully inquire. Well, Ensoniq's accompanying
manuals usually are fairly nifty little packages
not yellow
brick roads necessarily, but useful nonetheless. Anyway,
proceeding blindly onward.

-

-

Special Note

VSD-1001-A
These programs are organized nicely: acoustic pianos, electric
pianos, other keyboards, rock guitars, acoustic guitars, basses
(bassi?), organs, sax, trumpets and brass, strings and drum kits.
These are quality patches. There're no surprises here - nothing exotic. These sounds were evidently designed to show how
good the VFX-sd or SD-l can sound. These are probably the
types of sounds you'd use for club dates, wedding bands, home
recordings - any time you need a selection of basic,
Top-Forty-type patches. They are meant to be imitative acoustic sounds and they are. But since the ROM presets (and other
sounds shipped with your keyboard) also do a fine job of
providing good imitative instruments we better see what else
this disk has to offer.

:;

The literature says these are unusual and soundtrack programs.
Got that one right, all right. Some of these are so weird that it's
not all that obvious where to use 'em. There're lots of old
analog sounds using buzzy sawtooths, some "synthy" sounds
circa 1979, and wavestation-type loops. If you've got the time
and inclination to personalize and mold some of these patches
to your own taste it can be quite a learning experience
you'll
really appreciate them. Otherwise, I think you might be using
the VSD-lOOI-A sounds more.

ORCHESTRA-l layers velocity-sensitive percussion sounds on
top of strings. You get different drum waves with every string
note. It's an unusual approach that requires good keyboard control technique. SULTRY-SAX is a mellow horn with a pleasing
delay effect. ROCK-ORGANis properly nasty and distorted for
those Emerson licks, The pianos are fme, especially the electric
pianos. Interestingly, the programmer used a heavily filtered
kick-drum waveform for the mechanical "thump" at the start of
the sound It's a very clever and realistic effect.

These sounds are compatible with both the VFX-sd and the
SD-l. However, certain programs (indicated with an asterisk)
use waveforms and/or effects that are exclusive to the SD-l.
The VSD-I00I-A has 21 (!) such patches. The pianos will use
the Megapiano waveforms (if you have a VFX-sd 2.0) but the
lead guitars need the SD-l 's distortion algorithm to sound
good. And one bass, one vibe, and some string sounds look for
the SD-l 's new waves. VFX-sd owners get the infamous "UNKNOWN" wave cycle.

SD-l users will really appreciate the patches that use the new
waves/effects because the rest of the available library, obviously, doesn't. This compatibility problem is going to haunt
VFX-sd owners with every new sound program release. So
keep in mind that over one-third of these sounds weren't really
designed for your VFX-sd and it may be time to consider
upgrading. Still, on the other hand, two-thirds of the patches
ARE new for the VFX-sd and the price ain't bad and it's not
like there's a huge supply of new sounds from which to choose.
Yeah, be glad there're there but think about upgrading.-

Hearty thanks go to SOUNDPOST
Music in La Grange, [Lfor their assistance in the preparation of this
artic/e.

-

Minor complaints
Acoustic twelve-string guitars have only
four sets of strings tuned in octaves and the remaining two sets
of strings, everything above B4, tuned in unison. This set's
12-STRING-2 doesn't really follow this too closely. Maybe
this is one of those cases where the name of the sound is what
throws you rather than the sound itself. And in some of these

Bio: Jeffrey P. Fisher is a composer
and sound designer for commercials, industrials andfilm.

13

"

..

I

e

av

s"

on the VFX-sd

The Exploration Continues
Walter Cooper
It's early Saturday morning. I'm dressed and walking toward the
home studio. The night before I had been working on my first
volume of sounds for the VFX-sd. Let's see if that xylophone
patch really sounds that good. I call up xylophone 1 on the DX and
compare. Ummmm, I like mine better...am I sure? Yeah, I'm sure.
Okay, check out the sax sound...it's good too. What's next?..
Agogobels?..The wave's there. Why not?
I load my initiate program from disk and begin working. Turning
to page 8-9 of the VFX-sd manual I find the agogobel wave under
percussion wave class. Using voice one and calling up the wave
page I find the agogobel wave on the synth. Since the program is
initialized there is no sound. Umm! Do this to envelope 3 and that
to envelope 1 and so on. I hear something. Sounds like percussion
but very faint...Next step, make a copy of all voice parameters and
copy to voice two. After turning voice two on, the volume is
doubled. The output is reading 99 so I can't boost it farther. Okay,
how about copying all parameters to voice three. Bingo! More
volume... Yeah, the volume slider is not all the way up now. Oops.
I pushed the data slider all the way up. The wave class now reads
Multi-drum. Why not press the wave button and move the data
slider all the way up just to hear each wave as I truck back down to
agogobel?..Okay! The wave now reads (unknown)..(unknown).
Huh? Looks like time to abandon ship. If I press the wave class
button the keyboard will only recalibrate itself. I'll have to start
over again...But what if the wave class comes up after pressing the
button? Okay, press it. The wave reads PERCUS PE. I don't
remember this wave listed. Nope, it's not in the manual.

Version I method. Name the patch "HIDDEN WAVE" or "WALT
COOPER" or something. Save this sound to disk under one program bank. Next, load this program into your Version n. Now follow the Version I steps.
Why "sorta"? Well, I've created patches using my Version I and
loaded them into Version lIs with the following results. On some
instruments the patches worked fine and on others no sound was
produced or was not quite the same. In all instances these waves
appeared on the wave page.
You have an SD-l, you say. Sorry, folks, I've been busy programming and fooling around on my SQ-l and SQ-R. As soon as I can
experiment with the SD-l I'll pass it on. And what about you
original VFX owners? Refer to Travo's method and try using your
data entry slider and cursors to uncover the one wave above and
the four in-between. The waves lie between Room kit wave #141
and the mega piano waves (Version 11).Bio: Walter Cooper is minister of music at his local church, district minister of music for twelve churches, a music teacher and
owns Latter Sound Productions, which markets sounds for Ensoniq
products.

~///~,..,

Samples
for the EPS 16+

This was Christmas, 1991. Since that time the cat has been
released from the bag as it were. Joseph Travo, in the January '92
issue has accessed two of these waves (UNDTUNED and STRING
SO) via a VFX, an SD-l, and a ram cartridge. There are five additional waves and the order of all seven is as follows:
PERCUS PE(148)
UNDTUNED(147)
BREATH(146)
SS-SOUND(145)

..
. HR 16B Drums
SR-16 Drums
Percussion 1+2

SOUND BA(144)
UNDBRASS(143)
STRING SO(142)
(Ed. -Note the run-on names here.]

ONLY

. Akai S-1000 Drums
. Fat Analog

These waves are completely programmable and appear on the
wave page under the Multi-Drum class even though (UNKNOWN)
appears on the voice select page.

$1 O!J°
PER DISK
~

. Strings

. Wall Bass

. AltoSax

. Much More

How does one access these waves? If you have a VFX-sd Version
I, try the following procedure. Using any sound get to the wave
page and select the wave class parameter. Move the data slider all
the way forward. I know, I know, just do it. The wave should read
PERCUS PE. These waves are only accessible via the data slider.
The up cursor will only take you to Room kit wave #141. To enter
the remaining waves simply press the down cursor one increment
at a time. I tried this method on three Version Is without a hitch.

Call or write for
complete list
MasterCard and Visa

Accepted
All Disks contain
Demo sequences
and are extensively
programmed

Okay, you have Version n. The following method works, (sorta).
Find someone with a VFX-sd, Version I. Create a patch using the

14

-'---""----- ------- --- -- -.----------IVIUSIC,
INC.
1280 Terminal Way, Suite 3
Reno, Nevada 89502
(702) 333-5979
FAX (702) 329-0852

Sample Variations
William Pont

I

!

One of the first things I tried out on the VFX-sd was its Multi
Wave and the Transwaves. What a surprise those Transwaves
were to me. One of the biggest sounds on my EPSQ-80 disks is
one called MWSWEEP. Based on an SQ-80 sound this patch
was created by taking a sample of the sawtooth wave with the
resonance filter being modulated by the Mod Wheel. A fast spin
of the wheel and a short sample later yielded the very first physical transwave ever in 1988, but of course I never thought of it
that way. Ensoniq did however and provided keyboard players
with an innovative new technique now known as Dynamic Synthesis. The slow modulation of the transwaves makes the sound
alive with constantly changing timbres. The same, albeit to a
lesser extent, can be said of the Multi Wave. When I decided to
also sample this machine's ROM I thought that by sampling the
Multi Wave my job would be over in a minimum of time. Well,
so much for that theory...

you need a pair of good ears. This particular kind of hacking
can't be done with visual editors at all as it involves subtle changes in the timbral characteristics of a sound and those need to be
heard.

First of all; the MW does not contain all the transwaves (17) and
single waveforms appear to be missing as well. Additionally, not
all the samples play back at unity when playing the MW, resulting in some samples playing at too Iowa playback rate and
others too high. Sampling the MW at 39 kHz produces 3 diskettes of one sample and besides that the MW is too long for even a
fully expanded EPS to handle unless you are satisfied with a
severely reduced sample rate. And the VFX is only a 12 Bit
machine!

Now that you have sampled the Sax make two copies, layer 2
and layer 3. We will presume that you did a neat job of sampling
the first layer (all samples running in numerical order, more on
that in another article).

If you are fortunate enough to own a Dynamic Component
Synth, like a VFX, SQ or SD type keyboard you might want to
check this out. Select a patch, set all parameters to neutral and
once you have a plain vanilla (remember to also remove the effects) select the Saxophone Wave in the wave page. Listen carefully then select Sax-Var. Notice the difference? Amazing isn't
it? What's even more astounding is the fact that you are listening
to exactly the same wave. The difference in timbre is caused by
the different keyboard mapping employed in this variant.
Sax- Var 2 sounds more different still and it, too, is a copy of the
first wave, Saxophone.

Press EDIT. Select layer 2 and underline WS=XX. Playing C2
should yield WS=9. (If it does not you definitely must read that
other article on organizing wavesamples.) On the VFX, select
Sax-Var and make sure that the octave setting is set to 00. Using
those excellent ears, determine the length of the synth's keyboard that the first sax-var sample occupies and make a note of
the last key. On the EPS, press KBD RANGE and set HI=XX to
that value. It is possible that this new setup (layer 2) of the first
sample (actually WS9) completely overlaps the second (WS 10)
but don't panic and don't delete WS 10. In the case of a total
eclipse you will have to go to the EDIT page and find the next
sample manually by pressing the UP or DOWN arrow key until
the display reads WS=10. The importance of keeping samples in
numerical order should now be fairly obvious. Press KBD
RANGE and set LO=XX to the next higher value. Going back to
the VFX, listen to the next stretch of the keyboard and make a
note of the last key of sample 2. Enter this value in the EPS
HI=XX parameter. Do this with the remaining six samples and
presto, you have an exact copy of Sax-Var as it appears on the
VFX. Now treat the third layer in your new instrument the same
way using Sax-Var 2 and you are ready to create some serious
VFXlike Sax sounds. This method is applicable to all of the
VFX sounds that have 'Var' in the name. It saves a bundle of
memory. Both real-time EPS memory as well as disk space.

Forget the Multi Wave; enter separate samples. If you have the
patience to painstakingly sample each raw sound (147 of them)
some of them consisting of up to 16 samples like the Mega Piano
or the Sax, good luck to ya! I did it, though and the result is ten
diskettes stuffed with samples. My eyes have permanent imprints of the ebony and ivory of the keyboard. Not to mention all
that looping....
If you are nuts enough to do what I did then this article is for
you, otherwise get outta here and bug your sound engineer.

.

-

Variants of samples are as the name implies, variations of a
sampled sound. VFX and SQ owners know what this is all about.
They all have seen names like Saxophone, Sax-var and Sax-var
2. Likewise, there is a Guitar and guit-var and there are others.
The timbres of the variants differ distinctly from the original as
a result of keyshifting and Ensoniq accomplishes this with a
method that is normally not recommendedto samplists. Namely,
stretching a sample over a longer or different section of the keyboard than originally intended. It is a way of creating additional
sound waves in a synth's ROM without it costing significant
memoryspace in that ROM.

-

Bio: William Pont runs Phoenix Audio which specializes in
sound re-synthesis. Also a co-founder of the South African user's
group EMMA (Ensoniq Musicians and MIDI Association) which
distributes and maintains all Ensoniq gear in Southern Africa.
Current project: African Sounds. Anyone interested can reach
him at 0112711 (11) 792-5996. You may also write to: Phoenix
Audio, PO Box 68950, Bryanston, 2021 Rep. of South Africa. Or
PO Box 534, Moorpark, CA 93021.

Well, recommendedor not, if manufacturers can do a neat trick
like that, then so can we, sample nerds and nerdettes.
Here is how. First ingredient required is the Master sample(s).
Say we have a saxophone sound consisting of 8 samples. Next,

15

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==t

Why

isEverybody

Alvvays Pickin'

on Me?

Tom Shear
As a former bassist, one of the first sounds I'm apt to check
on a keyboard is, yeah right, its bass sounds. Now, with a
great board like the EPS-16 PLUS, you oughta be able to
get perfect replicas right out of the box, right? Well, not
quite. You see, as a former punk bassist, I have developed
an affinity for fast, steady eighth or sixteenth note basslines,
most easily played with a pick. The problem: When you try
to replicate this on a sampler with most sounds, it just
sounds plain stupid. Luckily, however, this problem is not
without a remedy.

Before we go into how to fix the problem, let's examine
what the problemreally is. First of all, whenplayingany instrumentwith a pick, the player usually uses both upstrokes
and downstrokes. By their nature, these different strokes
have slightly different sounding attacks. Our bass sample
however only has one attack and when you try to play like
Dee-Dee Ramone, the same old attack is being retriggered
over and over in a very unrealistic way. The other problem
is that most bass patches have little or no release to them.
When you pick a note, it "rings" until you either mute it or
play another note. So with this in mind, let's fire up our

keyboard types to play high speed lines without having to
have jackhammers for fingers. But, it still doesn't sound too
good yet.

So, hit EDIT again so that you're on the LYR=1 WS=1
page. Select LAYER 2 for editing and whichever
wavesample you wish to edit first. (I would suggest doing
them in numerical order.) Hit the WAVE button so that
you're on the LOOP MODEpage. Use the right arrow key
to scroll to the SMPLSTARTpage. Scroll over to the number in parenthesis, which should be 00. Hold down the *0
patch select with your left hand and bump this numberup to
any number from 1 through 3. I've found that 1 usually
sounds the best, but after 3 it stops sounding realistic. Of
course, this number will vary depending on how long the
bass sample is, but as a general rule, edit this value just
enough that the the very first part of the attack is
eliminated,resulting in a less "sharp" attack. What we have
done here is to alter the attack of the upstroke without
having to take separate samples for it. Pretty neat, huh?
Now go through the rest of your wavesamplesin LAYER2
and alter them using the same method.

EPSs and get busy!

First, find your favorite picked bass sample. If you don't
have one, you can use a normal (non-slap) bass sound, but
the results won't be quite the same. Use CREATE NEW INSTRUMENT to create a blank instrument template. Next,
use the COpy WAVESAMPLE command to copy the
wavesample(s) of the original bass sound into the new blank
template. This allows you to have the original, unaltered
copy of the bass sound and also makes it easier to program
the patch selects since you don't have to worry about "unprogramming" the old ones. Once you have your new instrument set up basically, CREATE a NEW LAYER and
copy the contents of LAYER 1 into LAYER 2. Now the fun
part begins.

,

Hit EDIT-INSTRUMENT so that you're on the 00 PATCH
page. Edit it so that only LAYER 1 is playing this way.
Next, select the *0 patch select and edit it so that both
LAYER 1 and LAYER 2 are playing when this patch is
selected. Use the right arrow key to get to the KEYDWN
LAYERS page. Edit it so that only LAYER 1 is playing on
the downstroke. Scroll over to the KEYUP LA YERS page
and make sure that only LAYER 2 is playing on the
upstroke. If you play this patch now, you will notice that a
note plays both when you press your finger down on the key
and when you lift it up again. This makes it easier for us

Finally, we need a little ring for our notes, so select
LAYER=1 for editing and hit EDIT- ENV 3. Scroll to the
TIMES page and select the furthest number to the right (the
release time). Now, bump this number up until the note
rings on a little after you release the key. Make sure not to
overdo it, but your ears are probably the best guide here.
Repeat this process for LAYER 2. Press down the *0 patch
selects and there you go! You should have a pretty nice
sounding picked bass simulation. Play some steady eighth
and sixteenth note basslines and listen to how much better it
sounds than the original. Now you may use the other patch
selects to have muted or non-ringing versions of the sound
or do whatever you please.
For those of you who can't get a decent picked bass sound
or who are simply too lazy to try this, I'll offer my version
of this sound to anyone who sends a blank disk and SASE.
My address during the school year is : 255 Small Road,
Syracuse, NY, 13210 and is P.O. Box 271, Lyme, NH
03768 in the summer. Good luck! -

17

~ ~Revievv
Barbara Ockel

trouble doing that as they also provide these sounds on
EPS-16 disks.

For: EPSs/Mirage/all samplers.
Product: CD #1 - Drums and percussion samples.
Price: $5 per disk, $40 for the CD.
From: 3-D Sounds, POBox 114, Station C. Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
N2G 3W9.

The EPS does not sound as good as the CD. But that is to be
expected. The samples are very clean for the most part, looping is pretty good on cymbals, and the loop starts early with
good results, minimizing the memory the sound takes up. A
very important consideration. Rap Drums sound good too,
except on the bass drum there is a very bad click at the end of
the sample. I was able to lessen the click by playing with the
sample end, but couldn't get rid of it entirely. That should be
resampled. None of the wave samples are named. It would
have been nice to know what each sample is, especially when
you start mixing and matching sounds yourself. At least I like
knowing where a sound comes from, just for reference.

What a collection of sounds!

Here I am sitting here in front of my computer, in word
processing mode for a change, with the speakers behind me
playing a collection of samples that, in a way, sounds like a
new age jungle sound track. The bass drums are incredibly
low and full, I suspect they have been equalized, and perhaps
additional processing added. At least in my own sampling efforts from drum machines I have fOund that shaping the
sound to accentuate or sometimes change the characteristic of
the sound produces very defined crisp sounds. If no processing is applied, (an incredible R-8 conga sound just distracted
me, and now those bright, bright bells), the sample is usually
just a somewhat lamer version of the original. Especially
from the standpoint of having many sounds requiring different processing all included in the same same drum kit, it is
most convenient to already have each sample sound the way
it should and only have to add some ambient reverb and a
very slight EQ to the kit.

The R-8 Electronic Kit is excellent, as is the XR-IO Kit, a
very low and very dry

Sample rates in all kits vary, sounds with more highs have
higher sample rates than lower sounds, which makes sense,
but they all seem to be around 30

At the moment I am hearing some drum sounds from the R-8
Power Drums that make my acoustic drums reverberate, now
some great hi-hats, crashes and rides, very clean with good
long decays, now a snare drum that any acoustic rock drummer would be proud of. Now from the same kit some ethnic
drums, plops, cowbells, timbales, high bell and whistle. A
very long explosive sound that sweeps along with a lot of
white noise. Suddenly a loud, long buzzing electronic sound,
would be great for a science fiction movie, or as a background for avant gar de theatre. These sounds jump out at
you, evoke images. I've always found that to be a good
measure of how much I like a sound. If my brain doesn't
respond to it, I have no use for it.

-

45 kHz.

Back to the CD. It contains 57 drum kits. The sheer quantity
is amazing, the sampling quality is uniformly good and a
great deal at only $40. The EPS disks are $5. each, also very
inexpensive. Not all samples from the CD are available on
disk, but many are. 3D Sounds also has a lots of non-drum
synth sounds available on EPS disks, which I suspect would
be worth checking out.
The CD continues to be a listening pleasure. All the "must
have" drum machines are covered, definitely in the R&B/Rap
genre. There are lots of rock, jazz and ethnic drums, although
not much in the very exotic category of the latter. Concluding, I wholeheartedly recommend these products, both are
well made and priced reasonably.-

Now comes the DR-550, any R&B group could be very satisfied with these super-dry sounds. HR-16 is next and here's
my chance for a direct comparison, as I own an HR-16. It was
not really possible to distinguish a difference. One unfortunate feature of the 3D Sounds CD is that the different
drums are not indexed, only each drum kit. You cannot put
the sound in a repeat mode on the CD player to conveniently
set the correct input level for a certain drum you want to
sample. Luckily for us EPS owners 3D Sounds saves us the

Bio: Barbara Ockel has ventured into the world of visual arts
by combining her skills with those of computer animators.
She works on a Mac-based system using Vision and Micromind Director and hopes to add Sound Tools,funds permitting.

18

.....

-

great bunch of rap music sounds

kick, Simmons toms, and very dry everything else. The 3D
Techno Kit, presumably an inhouse compilation of rap music
sounds, is truly outstanding. It is a very pleasurable experience indeed when you can use something just as is and
play. That is definitely the case for this kit.

ROBO BOP
Brian Rost

notes. I suspect most users will stick with doing things in two
bar increments most of the time, as it is less confusing to do so.

For: ESQ-l or SQ-80 and Atari ST computer.
Product: Robo Bop Rhythm Composition
Price: $20 US.
From: Frank Vuotto,

FlO Software,

Program.

Two time signatures are available, 4/4 and 3/4. The 3/4 is
shown as four groups of 3 sixteenth notes each, which is convenient when you are trying to program triplets but confusing
when trying to do a waltz. The first sixteenth note of each
group is shaded to aid in keeping your place on the grid.

P.O. Box 2201, Taos, New Mexico

87571.

What I love about small software companies is that they often
come up with unique products that the larger companies never
think of. Robo Bop is just such a product - a sequencer specialized for programming drum tracks that runs on any Atari ST
computer, in either medium or high resolution.

A click of the left mouse button puts a note onto a grid box, a
click of the right mouse button erases it. You get the default
velocity for the instrument unless you jump down to the'
velocity boxes shown below the grid to select a new value,
which is used until you select another value or another instru-

ESQ-l and SQ-80 users know that sequencing drums from the
keyboard can be a royal pain in the butt. The ESQ-l sequencer
is not well suited for the task, since step editing is crude and
additive overdubbing (i.e., adding new data to an existing
track) is not supported. Robo Bop allows you to program your
parts on a grid, similar to the setup found on many Roland
drum machines, then dump the tweaked tracks over MIDI to the
ESQ-l sequencer. (I should point out here that Robo Bop will
work equally well with any sequencer that supports input from
the MIDI port or can import MIDI type 0 standard files.)

ment. However, itynot
apparent from the grid what the
velocity value for any partieular note is, which can make doing
velocity edits tedious. The velocity boxes default to starting at
10, going up in increments of 10 until reaching 110, then going
up to 11S, 120 and 127. These values can be edited and saved
with your instrument setup as a custom velocity curve.
The bulk of the editing features are accessed by clicking on one
of a series of command boxes running along the left of the
screen. Most are self explanatory, although the brief documentation is clear about all of the functions.

When you boot Robo Bop, you get a default setup for 13 instruments using the standard Roland drum kit mapping (it covers
all the instruments on a TR-SOSexcept the handclaps, one of
the two cowbells and the ride cymbal). A setup file for the Sequential Circuits Drumtraks machine is also provided. You can
edit any setup to taste, including setting the name, MIDI note
number, default volume (velocity) and MIDI channel for each
instrument in the setup. This setup can be named and saved to
disk, so it is easy to have templates for drum kits that you use
often. You may also choose to have one of your custom setups
be the default, simply by naming it DEFAULT. SUP when
saving it to disk. The velocity defaults may be overridden to get
more dynamic control when programming patterns. You also
have a choice of sending a note off immediately after the note
on or prior to the next note on if you would like to trigger
sounds other than percussion. As a "panic" button, hitting the
escape key sends an all notes off (which is of course meaningless to an ESQ-l, but if you have other MIDI boxes in your
setup you may frod it useful).

Up to 32 patterns may be in memory at once, selected by clicking on the appropriate box just below the grid (the patterns are
split into two banks of sixteen). Clicking on a pattern box and
then the PLAY box starts a pattern up, clicking on STOP or
certain editing functions halts the pattern. As an alternative,
hitting the space bar will start and stop playback also.

You can add and delete notes to the pattern while it plays. You
can also scale the velocity of a given instrument via a MIX
function by adding a fixed offset of -127 to +127 to the velocity of each note for that instrument in the pattern. You can
have the mix affect all patterns in memory if you'd like, which
can save time if the snare drum needs to come up in all thirty
two patterns. There is a copy feature which copies one pattern
into another, a quick way of creating a series of small variations on a basic pattern.
Once you have a few patterns finished, you can build them into
sequences of up to 1000 patterns in length. In the sequence
mode, you merely click on a pattern box and that pattern is
added to the sequence and the length counter is incremented.
There are insert and delete commands for fixing up sequences.
This feature makes it possible to build parts which are equal in
length to the sequences into which they will be recorded in the
keyboard's sequencer. You can only save sequences, not in-

The grid always shows two bars but may be defined as half a
bar, a full bar or two bars, with four boxes per bar. If defined as
less than two bars, you may still place notes within the two bar
grid, which causes the bar length setting to be overridden. This
is sort of confusing. You can also shonen one and two bar patterns if you like; the program simply truncates the programmed
19

L

dividual patterns, although creating a sequence of just one pattern allows you to circumvent this problem. When you save to a
disk file, the instrument setup, patterns and sequence ordering
are all saved. You can save the data in a Robo Bop unique format, or as a type 0 standard MIDI file, for porting to other sequencers.

propriate time. While perhaps not the most intuitive way to step
edit melodic parts, it does allow better control of entering
velocity than is possible by step editing on the ESQ-1 sequencer, plus the grid makes it easy to see exactly where you are in
the bar. A setup file is provided with the program as an example, defining a four piece drum kit on MIDI channel 10 and
one octave of notes for a bass line on MIDI channel 2.

Robo Bop makes an interesting distinction between playing and
dumping. Playing sends note data out of the computer's MIDI
port, but no clocks. Dumping a sequence sends out clocks as
well as the note data. Dumps are how sequences are transferred
to the ESQ-1 sequencer. Since Robo Bop does not synch to incoming clocks, you must set SYNC on the CONTROL page to
MIDI CLOCK, both for recording the sequence as well as when
you want to just have your keyboard play along with the drum
tracks as you edit them.

Of course, some things are missing from Robo Bop. First, there
are no complex time signatures. You can splice together bars of
3/4 and 4/4 to create them, though. There is no provision for
subtle time shifting or a "swing" mode as found on some drum
machines. The minimum timing resolution is sixteenth notes,
which may not be enough for some folks. All of these cons
should be weighed against the very low price of this package.
If you would like to be able to sequence your drum parts with a
more friendly step editor than your ESQ-1 provides, Robo Bop
may be just the ticket.

-

One interesting feature of the program is you can use it to sequence melodic parts in step time as well as drums and percussion. Since an instrument setup can specify any note number,
MIDI channel and default velocity you like for the 13 instruments, you can assign the notes of a scale, for instance, and use
the program to step enter parts. You are restricted to a 13 note
window and sixteenth note resolution, however. By using the
mode where a note off is not sent after the note on, the duration
of sustained notes can be programmed by adding a new note
with velocity of 0, which is equivalent to a note off, at the ap-

Bio: Brian Rost spends his evenings either hunched over his
SQ-80 or playing bass with the HUBCAPS, a Boston-based
roots rock band. To unwind during the day he designs computers.

Classifieds
SAMPLES
HOT NEW SAX SAMPLES FOR EPS/16+111 Solo
soprano, alto, tenor, bari and sax sections in true
stereo! Buy individually or as a complete 7 disk set
($69 + $4 sib). Sax demo tape: $4. Complete library
demo tape: $12. Contact K. Thomas, PO Box 174,
Stratford, ON, Canada N5A 6Tl or phone (519)
Z71-7964.
Bob Clearmountain Pro Samples Vol. 1 & 2 sampling CDs. Over 500 studio quality drum, percussion
& bass samples. New: $175, will sell for $100 or
trade for Alesis Micro-EQ, Ensoniq SW-5 footswitch, or VFX & ESQ RAM carts. (708) 4Z7-1615.
SP USERS I 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 EI. 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 GOIt Only $19 plus
$1 postagelbandling. Also, my library of "Lush,"
"X," "DeMiTy,"

"Addy,"

"Turbo"

- $15

each plus $1

postagelbandling or all 5 for $69 INCLUDING
POSTAGEII Bob Spencer, 703 Weatherby Ln.,
Greensboro, NC Z7406.

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: Syntaur
Productions,
11116 Aqua Vista #2, North Hollywood, CA 91602, or call (818) 769-4395.

EQUIPMENT
SQ-80, CV pedsl, sound disks and cartridges, how-to
books and Hackers for the last three years. Excellent
condition.
Stand also available.
$850. (602)
952-9481. Judy.
EPS with 4x Expander & over 200 sound disks for
$1200. Mint condition.
Will pay call, (509)
786-2323, after 6 PM PST. Ask for Cesar.
EPS-16 PLUS/Turbo Keyboard, 106MB SCSI hard
drive, 2 Meg of memory, 1 Meg of Flashbank, disks
and various manuals: $2350. 106 MB SCSI hard
drive, PS and case: $325. Rick, 603-885-0628.

Minimoog, excellent condition, just tuned and
calibrated, only $750 or best offer. Here's your
chance to sample the real thing I Call Chuck at
510-724-0804 for details.

WANTED

Trade sounds by mail. I have over 1,000,000 blk
library I Many killer homemade and PD samples.
Send your list. Craig, PO Box 83164, Los Angeles,
CA 90083. Phone: 213-645-4181.

Wanted: SQ-80 users interested in trading patches.
Also VFX-sd patches available. (708) 427-1615.

SOUND EFFECTS for EPS-16 Plus and EPS, very
high fidelity, ideal for studio and post-production

Wanted: Samples for EPS-16 Plus, sound processing
software for Atari. Kervin Jeseph, c/o Bendtsen, Hej-

20

...

revej 35 2th, 2400 KBH NV, Denmark. Phone: (45)
31101165.

Wanted: Mirage Input Sampling Filter. (510)
652-2016.
Wanted: Yamaha MCS-2; MIDI control station,
working or not. Leslie organ spk. (mod.145). Call
Ed: 912-439-1345.
Wanted: Casio MG510 MIDI guitar (prefer black).
Mine was stolen and I'd like to replace it with one in
good condition. Will pay $350. 616-223-4327, Bob
Higgins, 861 6th Ave., Suite 411, San Diego, CA
92101.
Wanted: VFX-sd and SQ-80 patches for trade. (708)
427-1615.
Wanted: VFX programmers to trade their ORIGINAL VFX PATCHES. (I have 105 HI-FI sounds,
wide variety). No tweaks / copyrighted
sounds
please! Send VFX-SD-l or Alesis DataDisk format
to: Brad Kaufman, 11-26 Saddle River Road, Fair
Lawn, NJ 07410.

SOFTWARE
Midicaster is still available. The way-cool operating
system that turns your Mirage into a very capable
System Exclusive data librarian, a 20,OOO-note sequence player,
a disk copier/formatter,
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

Iywood, CA 91602, (818) 769-4395.

FREE SOUNDS with expander
orders,
EPS/EPS-16+, VFX-sd/SD-l,
SQ-l, SQ-2,
ESQ/SQ-80. EPS-16+ FLASHBANK and Sequencer expansion available. Also expanders for AKAI,
CAS la, ROLAND, PEAVEY, and YAMAHA.
EPSIEPS-16+ Vol. I Sampling Made Easy & Vol.
II Advanced Sampling videos: $30 each or both for
$50. 100 Drum Patterns for EPS/EPS-16+,
VFX-sd/SD-l, SRI6/HRI6: $12. Best Prices.
Wildwood Sounds, 4726 Pebble Creek Terr., Pensacola, FL 32526. Phone: (904) 944-6012, Tony,
after 6 pm.

80 new SQ-l sounds from Mark Clifton. Past
Hackerpatches plus a multitude of solid usable
sounds. CV pedal required. Send $95 for RAM
card or send own card and $15 to: Mark Clifton,
11972 Homeguard Dr., Woodbridge,VA 22192.
60 VFX-sd patches created by Jim Grote. Wide
variety of sounds with complete documentation.
Call for free Information Packet, or send $30 for
VFX-sd disk to: Jim Grote, 3721 Frances Ave.,
Cincinnati, OH 45211. Phone: 513-661-8885.

A lot of songs & styles for Bachmann keyboards.
More than 52 disks plus new ones as they arrive.
Call or write to: C. Sansilvestri, Via Origoni, 9
21020 Barasso (Varese) Italy. Phone: 0332746060.

INSTRUCTION

ESQ & SQ-80

OUT-OF-PRINT

BACK ISSUES

M.U.G. will provide Out-of-Print

Photocopies
of out-of-print
past issues of the
Hacker 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.

-

FREE CLASSIFIEDSI

"The EPS Users Guide" for the original EPS is still
available. Price is $20.00 plus $2.00 for shipping
in USA. Shipping
$6.00 for Canada, $15.00
Europe and $18.00 Australia. Send check or MO to
Gary Dinsmore, 33306 Bonneville Dr., Scappoose,
OR 97056, or call 503-543-2584 for COD costs.

NEW SQ-80 SOUNDS from the Hacker's Sam
Mimsl Sound set 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 programming notes and performance tips, $17.95. Syntaur
Productions, 11116 Aqua Vista #2, North Hol-

materials and postage. M.U.G. Hotline: 212-4653430 or write: G-4 Productions, PO Box 615TH,
Yonkers, NY 10703. Attn: TH Back Issues. Phone:
(212) 465-3430.

issues for cost of

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
word). Unless renewed, freebie ads are removed
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 copyrighted material will not be accepted.

Hackerpatch
By Sam Mims
The Hack

SQ-SO Patch: HHSNAR
by DaveCamp,NewLondon,cr

There are many variations of this sound which you can get by substituting waveforms in OSC 2. Two that I liked were SNARE and
KICK 2, with OCT set to +1. It's nice to have different tunings on
different keys when you do this, but if you prefer constant tuning
across the keyboard, duplicate the KBD2 modulators from oscillators 1 and 3 into OSC 2. With the SNARE substitute waveform,
turning on the AM mode makes a nice drum sound as well; with the
KICK 2 wave, you get popcorn popping. With Dave's original
waves, turning on AM creates an interesting drum/cymbal hybrid.

HIP-HOP SNARE is a "now" sound which has recently migrated
from rap to hip-hop to dance and finally to Top-40. It's tuned constant across the uyboard so that you can split it up or down with
some other sound missing from your trusty beat box.
Sa-80 PROG: HHSNAR

OSC1
OSC2
OSC3

OCT SEMI
-3
0
+3
0
0
0
LEVEL
63
0
63

DCA1

DCA2
DCA 3

FREQ
FILTER I 127

FINE WAVE MOD'1 DEPTH MODI2 DEPTH
0
HI HAT KYBD2 -1
KYBD2 -63
0
METAL 'OFF'
'OFF'
THUMP KYBD
0
2
-1
KYBD2 -63

LFO1
LFO2
LFO3

ENV1
ENV2
ENV3
ENV4

I

OUTPUT
ON
ON
ON

MOD'1
'OFF'
'OFF'
'OFF'

KEYBD
0

Q
0

PAN

-

FREQ RESET

HUMAN

'OFF'

-DEPTH

ENV2
'OFF'

-

+63

MODI2
'OFF'

DEPTH

-

PAN MOD
'OFF'

MODI2

DEPTH

MOD'1
'OFF'

8

63

Bio: Sam Mims is a studio sessionplayer

DEPTH

-

I

and programmer in Los Angeles, and is
uyboardist for Richard Elliot. He owns
Syntaur Productions, a company that
produces music for film and TV and
maruts sounds for Ensoniq keyboards.

DEPTH

L1

WAY

L2 MOD

DELAY

-

~T3

T4

L2

L3

LV

+63

+58

+50

OL

19

+63

+63

+63

40L

23R

SYNC

T1V

T2

L1

MODESI OFF

MONO

GUDE

VC

ENV

OSC

CYC

OFF

OFF

0

OFF

OFF

OFF

ON

SPLIT/LAYER SIL PRG

LAYER LPRG
OFF

-

T1

AM

I

OFF

-

-

FINALVOL

DCA4

BY: Dav. Camp

-

SPLIT

SPRG

TK
Hackerpatch is intended to be a place where patch vendors can show their
wares and musicians can share their goodies and impress their friends.
Patches designated "ESQ-l" will also WOIKon the SQ-80. The reverse is not
always true. Once something's published here, it's free for all. Please don't
submit patches that you know to be minor tweaks on copyrighted commercial patches unless you have permission from the copyright owner. All submitted patches are subject to consideration for mutilation and comments by
Sam MiIns-our resident patch analyst. If you send in a patch, please include
your phone number. Requests for particular patches are also very welcome.

SPLIT KEY

OFF

21

~

'"

..,c ~-

--~~~~-~

~

SD & VFX

Hackerpatch

SD & VFX prog: Flreblrd
By: Jim Grote, Cincinnati, OH
NOTES: TIlls is a sample from the collection of 60 VFX patches that I offer. It is a
potent, authentic orchestra hit, based on the opening "hit" in the fourth movement
of Stravinsky's Firebird Sui/e. It is designed to be played by hitting four octaves at
once (i.e., hit A2, A3, A4, and AS at the same time). I actually used the musical
score of Firebird to design this patch, programming
the different sections of the
orchestra. If you're tired of the standard "rap" sampled orchestra hit, check this one
out.

WAVES

2

3

Strings
StrngSnd
21
Forward
0
0

WoodFlute
BreathSnd
7
Forward
0
0

Orch Hit Rim Snare UnlBrass
TunedPercDrumSnd BrassSnd
17
11
9
Forward Forward Forward
0
2
0
0
0
0

Wood Flute
BreathSnd
0
Forward
0
0

MOD MIXER
SRC-1
SRC-2
SRC-2 Scale
SRC-2 Shape

1

2
.OW
Env1
1.0
Quant 8

3
4
.Off.
Press
4.0
Smoother

5

6
.011*
Env1
1.0
Quant 8

PITCH
Octave
Semitone
Fine
Pitch Table

1
-2
0
+2
System

2
+2
0
+4
System

3
-1
0
+8
System

4
-2
0
+2
System

5
0
0
0
System

6
+2
0
0
System

PITCH MODS
MODSRC
MODAMT
Glide
ENV1
LF01

1
LFO
0
None
0
0

2
Mixer
+50
None
0
+6

3
LFO
0
None
0
0

4
LFO
0
None
0
0

5
LFO
0
None
0
+5

6
Mixer
-61
None
0
+6

FILTER1
Mode
Cutoff
KBD
MODSRC
MODAMT
ENV2

FILTER2
Mode
Cutoff
KBD
MODSRC
MODAMT
ENV2

OUTPUT

5

6

1

2

3-

4-

5-

6-

3LP
111
0
Press
+16
0

3LP
11
+66
.Off.
0
+99

2LP
127
0
Mixer
+21
+99

3LP
111
0
Press
+16
0

3LP
34
+66
LFO
0
+99

3LP
11
+66
.011*
0
+99

1

-2
1HP
0
0
LFO
0
0

3-

4

5-

6-

2LP
127
0
Veloc
+49
0

1HP
0
0
Tlmbr
+65
0

1HP
0
0
LFO
0
0

1HP
0
0
LFO
0
0

1HP
0
0
Tlmbr
+65
0

VOL
MODSRC
MODAMT
KBD Scale

1
99
Press
+7
Zone

~~~L~eY

~Q~~___9~~~___~~gr___~~~~---~~~Q___9~~~__-

Dest Bus
Pan
MODSRC
MODAMT

'Pre-Ga~
Voice Prior
Vel Thresh
LFO
Rate
MODSRC
MODAMT
Level
MODSRC
--~I~~
Waveshape
Restart
Noise SRC RT

FX1
50
LFO
0

2
87
Tlmbr
-86
Zone
FX1
50
LFO
0

3
98
LFO
0
0
FX1
50
Keybd
0

4
99
Press
+7
Zone
FX1
50
LFO
0

5
82
Tlmbr
-64
0
FX1
68
LFO
0

6
65
Tlmbr
-86
Zone
FX1
50
LFO
0

Medium
0

Medium
0

Medium
0

Medium
0

Medium
0

Medium
0

1

2
38
.Off.
0
0
W1+Pr
9
Triangle
Off

3

4

5
38
.Off'
0
0
W1+Pr
~
Triangle
Off

6
38
.Off.
0
0
W1+Pr

On

Off-----

Q-----Triangle
Off

22
",

11
11

.0

11

1

ENV1
Initial
Peak
Break 1
Break 2
Sustain

1

~
2
~
2

~
3
~
3

~
4
4
4

~
5
~
~

~
6
~
~

2
77
0
0
0
0

3

4

5

6
77
0
0
0
0

Attack

13

Decay 1
D~~2
Decay 3
Release

0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

'KBOTrack

O

O----

Vel Curve
Mode
Vel-Level
Vel-Attack

Convx2
Finish
0
0

Convx2
Finish
0
0

1

2
0
99
99
99
99

13---

3
0
99
85
64
59

4

5
0
99
42
28
99

6
0
99
99
99
99

O

O

O

O----

28
32
66
44

32
29
42
48.

28
32
66
44

28
32
66
44

KBOTrack

O---2S

Vel Curve
Mode
Vel-Level
Vel-Attack

Convx2Convx2
Normal Normal
0
46
0
0

ENV3
Initial
Peak
Break 1
Break 2
Sustain
Attack
Decay 1
Decay 2
Decay 3
Release

()rf

On

SELECT VOICE

ENV2
Initial
Peak
Break 1
Break 2
Sustain
Attack
Decay 1
Decay 2
Decay 3
Release

On

~f

- Sam Mims

00
O'

1

Wave
Wave Class
Delay
Direction
Start
Vel Start Mod

4

THE HACK: This is, no doubt, the best orchestra hit I've heard
come out of a VFX. The sound is sort of a split, with one hit on the
top half of the keyboard, and another on the bottom. Individually,
they are nice enough, but pile them together and it's frightening I
The only change I might suggest is to eliminate the sustain of Voice
I; Jim lets the strings hang on after the hit as long as the notes are
held down. To make everything cut off together, change the Sustain
level of ENV 3 to 00.

0

0----

Convx2Convx2
Normal Normal
0
0
0
0

1
99
58
0
0
58

2
99
99
99
99
99

3
99
53
0
0
0

4
99
58
0
0
58

5
99
53
0
0
0

6
99
99
99
99
99

-KBOTrack

0
0
0
O'

O

0
0
20
19.

0
0
0
O'

0
0
0
O'

0
0
0
O'

0
0
20
19.

Vel Curve
Mode
Vel-Level
Vel-Attack

Convx1
Normal
0
0

Convx2Convx1
Finish Finish
0
0
0
0

42

PGM CONTROL
Pitch Table
Bend Range
Delay
Restrike
Glide Time

x4
0
0

EFFECTS (2
Pre-Delay
Early Rell Level
Early Rell Time
Diffusion

25
20
7
76

Off

0---42

O

O

42---40---0----

O

O

O----

Convx1 Convx1 Convx2
Normal Finish Finish
0
0
0
0
0
0

EFFECTS
Effect
Decay
FX1
FX2

(1

EFFECTS(3

Concert Reverb
40
61
25
----

FX2 Mode Nrml Stereo Send
HF Damping
13
LF Decay
+10

PERFORMANCE
Timbre
0
Release
0
Pressure
Key

SQ-l

& 2 Hackerpatch

Jeffrey Rhoads

By: Mark Creed Stansberry, Stow, Ohio

prog: Ethereal

chords. The modwheel drops Voice # I a whole step for a
dramatic detuning effect.

Notes: This patch demonstrates the SQ's ability to produce a
powerful, bigger than life sound. It works great with slow
WAVE
Select Voice
Wave Class
Wave
Delay Time
Wave Direction

1
On
Waveform
Brass Org
0

-

Start Index
MODSCR

-

MODAMT
Restrk Decay

57

PITCH
Octave
Semltone
Fine
ENV1
LFO
MODSCR
MODAMT
KBD Ptch Track
Glide
Glide Time

ENV1
Initial
Peak
Break
Sustain
Attack
Decay 1
Decay 2
Release
Vel-Level
Vel-Attack
Vel Curve
MOde
KBD Track

2
3
On
On
Trans
Inharm
Pulse 1X ClusterLoop
0
0

-

0
Llo
99
57

1
-1

-2
-1

0
-6
-60
+1
Wheel
-50
On
Off
0

0
+6
-1
-1
Off
00
On
Off
0

1

-2
05
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Conv
Norm
0

17
0
0
0
22
0
0
0
0
0
Conv
Norm
0

EffectsProgramming
(To save space, only those
effects utilized are listed. A
complete blank form was
published in Issue #68.)

"
"
"

a.VOICE CHORUS
FX-1
FX-2
Chorus Rate
Chorus Depth
Chorus Center
Feedback
MOD (Dest)
BY (MODSRC)
MODAMT

70
50
13
31
76
+22
FX1-Mlx
Wheel
+10

57

3+1
0
0
0
+4
Off
00
On
Off
0

3-

LFO
LFO Speed
Noise Rate
Level
Delay
MODSRC
Wave
Restart

FILTER
Filter 1
Filter 2
FC 1 Cutoff
ENV2
FC1 KBD
MODSCR
MODAMT
FC2 Cutoff
ENV2
FC2 KBD
FC1MOD-FC2

ENV2
Initial
Peak
Break
Sustain
Attack
Decay 1
Decay 2
Release
Vel-Level
Vel-Attack
Vel Curve
Mode
KBD Track

1

2

3

29
00
99
26

16
00
99
26

31
86
19
26

Pos/Slne
On

Pos/Slne
On

SlnelTrl
ON

-

-

-

1

2

3

2Lo
2Lo
125
99
0
Llo
99
125
99
0
On

2Lo
2Lo
102
99
0
Lfo
25
83
99
0
On

2Lo
2Lo
125
00
-5
Off
00
125
0
-5
Off

1

2

3

00
50
99
99
50
50
40
16
00
00
Conv
Norm
00

00
50
99
20
59
60
24
13
00
00
Conv
Norm
00

-

AMP
Initial
Peak
Break
Sustain
Attack
Decay 1
Decay 2
Release
Vel-Level
Vel-Attack
Vel Curve
Mode
KBD Track

OUTPUT
VOL
Boost
MODSRC
MODAMT
KBD Scale
Key Range
Output Bus
Priority
Pan
Vel window

1

2

3

88
95
99
99
17
30
20
60
00
00
Conv
Norm
00

88
95
99
99
17
30
20
60
00
00
Conv
Norm
00

99
75
50
00
25
35
58
20
46
6
Conv
Norm
00

1

2

3

67
Off

54
Off

86
Off

-

-

-

00
AOAO
FX1
Med
+98
00

00
AOAO
FX1
Med
-98
00

00
AOAO
FX1
Med
00
00

Standard
Sound
Programming

The Hack: Ethereal probably works best when using nice, fat chords. Its
author demonstrates that even unusual patches may derive character from attention to detail: not only does Voice 1 drop a whole step (using the modwheel), it
also jumps just about a minor 3rd upon key release. This provides a sort of
"un-earthly" motion. Though no changes need be made to Ethereal, you can tailor
Voice l's key-release pitch shift by changing the ENV 1 value in that voice's
Pitch section. (Different values will produce different intervals.) Try setting
MODAMT (also in Voice l's Pitch section) to -55. Voice 1 will then fall a perfect
4th with the modwheel. This will yield yet more interesting results, particularly
when using open voicings. If you wish, soften the overall
mix. Go to the Output section for Voices I and 3, and
adjust VOL to 45 and 70 respectively.
Jeffrey Rhoads

SQ-1 & 2 Hackerpatches are published with the same constraints and
understandings as the ESQ, SQ-80, and VFX patches. The hacking
and mutilating part is being handled by Jeffrey Rhoads.

Bio: Jeffrey Rhoads has been a keyboardistlcomposer 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 longsfor city lights.

23

~--~-

-

.-

. .r=_.""","
~

---

-~
._.~-_. ~~

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
reminded to take everything with a grain of salt. Resident answer-man is Clark Salisbury (CS). Letter publication is subject to space considerations.

Dear Hacker,
I am sympathetic with Michael Schmitt's
review of Maestas' "The EPS Sampling
Book" which, fortunately, I did not buy.
Lorenz Rychner with Bobby Maestas has
published the "Ensoniq EPS-16 PLUS
Operations and Sampling Book" which, as
a novice, I found helpful in clarifying the
turgid information in the 16's Musician's
Manual and has been worth the investment
to me.
Can somebody point me to information
(and, hopefully, even review articles) on
editor(s) for the EPS.16 PLUS using an
IBM PC?
Richard Rawson
CS: [73607,3354]
[CS

-

We're starting to get a lot of inquiries

about IBM EPS stufffrom our readers, and
I'm afraid 1 don't have much of a recommendation to make, apart from the fact that
Turtle Beach Softworks put together a well
respected sample editing program which I
haven't seen advertised lately. And if
there's anyone else out there doing IBM
stufffor the EPS and/or EPS-16 PLUS, this
might be a great opportunity for you all to
get afree plug into the Hacker.

[TH - Turtle Beach's SampleVision was
reviewedway back in Issue #55 (January,
1990).J
[Ensoniq - The package from Turtle Beach
(Sample Vision) is currently available and
we recommend it highly to any IBM owners.
Their phone number is (717) 843-6916.J

here seems to be able to see past Atari and
Mac and shy away from anything different.
I use a program called Cakewalk Pro which
I am also very happy with and don't want to
change.
What I would like to do is zone off a certain
amount of the (IBM 40M) HDD for use
with the Ensoniq EPS only but not exclusively as I also use the computer for
Wordperfect and various other things.
Is this possible? Or is it necessary to buy a
separate hard drive?
I look forward to hearing from someone
who knows what's what.
Faithfully,
Russell James
[CS

- Russell,

I'm afraid you can't partition

your hard drive to work both with your IBM

-

and your EPS

it's gotta

be one or the

other. Don'tfeel too bad, though. You can't
do this with Mac, Atari, or Amiga hard
drives either.
If you decide to purchase a second drive,
though, you might want to consider looking
into removable media drives. A removable
media drive would allow you to have different disks or cartridges or whatever formattedfor different machines. For example,
I have an Eltekon 44 meg removable SyQuest drive which I can use with any of
three different devices that support SCSI
data storage. Simply pop in the cartridge
that's formatted for the device in question,
and away you go.J

Hi Hackers:
Dear Hacker,
Living here in Australia, I'm at a bit of a
disadvantage when it comes to a lot of
American products since the support and
communication between users just doesn't
exist here. I am a happy user of both an
ESQ-l and an EPS.

Even though this magazine has less and less
relevance to me, an occasional Mirage and
Soundprocess user, I like to read about
home music making, people discovering accidental bugs, and letters from people
hundreds of miles from their Ensoniq
dealers with bad hardware. I've seen the

I have an EPS with a 2x expander cartridge
and I would like to set up my own library
using my IBM compatible 286 AT. It has a
40 meg HDD which I don't really use and
so want to utilize it as a hard drive. No one

fects. Unfortunately, closed architecture.
Synth manufacturers: We're going to buy
general purpose computers for our synth
and effects needs soon. Get on the ball! Put
your chips on Nubus cards!

DP!4 at AES

-

very nice and smooth

24

"

ef-

are

JHH Lowengard
NY,NY
[CS -I agree that open architecture designs
suit my needs best, too. Unfortunately. this is
not necessarily the case for the majority of
electronic instrument customers. For example, how many musicians do you know
that currently have a place into which they
could plug a Nubus card?J

The Interface,

I totally agree with Mr. Schmitts' review of
the EPS Sampling Book in TH #77. I ordered
and received it a week before Transoniq
Hacker landed in my post. I wish I had
waited. Sniff, sniff. I would like to know if
there's some serious book explaining with
examples how the envelopes work. The
problem is that in low pitch of many
samples, mainly of my own, I can hear a
"click" when I release the key before the
sample ends. I've been working hard with
the envelopes to finally obtain altered
samples far from what they were at the
beginning. It's with sampled low drums and
basses from CD when I hear clearly that
click.
One thing that happens is that my portable
CD player outputs an almost inaudible carrier, a product of its own D/A converters or
maybe that's only high pitched noise inherent in the quality of the final audio stage.
Could it be aliasing produced for this noise
when sampled on the EPS? Does anybody
know of a suitable DIY HF filter/trap?
I'd like to know if TH has ever reviewed
software for the Amiga called Synthia Pro,
that load/save/edit/convert EPS 16+, Sample
Dump Standard, and other samples via MIDI
on the Amiga? Using this program, and here
we go with the Ensoniq questions, the EPS
gets completely boggled, sometimes writing
strange characters. "POWER OFF" is the
only cure. Is there any way to reset the EPS
without switching OFF/ON? I can copy EPS
disks with some Amiga copiers, but can't
look into. How is the EPS disk structure organized? I'd like to optimize EPS disks.
Concerning the O.S., I'd like to have the
"Stop Sequencer First" feature disabled on
new version and new SCSI commands, so
that a hard disk behaves like a monster flop-

;~=~~~~~~~=~1
I
~

I~

I
~~

~
~
~
~

~
~

~

~

~

I

~

~
~

!

~
~

~

~
~

.

'

II

.

~

~

~
=

~
;

Whatever your viewpoint, we have what you're lookin'g for.

*

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ORDERED
BEFORE
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py. Not the kind of CD-ROM it seems to be
now. And for the future, I suggest the RAM
be expandable with standard chips (SIMMs,
DRAMs), or maybe through a SCSI port,
like Amiga's hard disks with memory included. Stereo sample and "Sample Dump
Standard" would be welcome.
The last question: In 20 voice mode, does it
mean that the EPS 16+ can play no more
than 20 "wavesamples" at a time? I have a
guitar instrument, with 8 layers and 1
wavesample sound together. One single
note of guitar INST consumes 8 of the 20
voices. If so, how about a new EPS 32+
with, yes, 32 voices minimum. For now,
what about an EPS rack module player with
3-1/2 floppy, loads of RAM, 8 outputs,
double FIX, 16 instruments, 8 slave tracks...
for $1000 max.
Yours,
Gabriel Diaz
Barcelona, Spain
{CS - There are a number of publications
dealing with synthesis techniques, although
I know of none that deal specifically with
envelopes. Still, you should find a lot of
good information floating around out there

- you

might check out Mix Bookshelf (6400

JAZZ
This truly original approach to
leamingJalZ Improvisation
can be used by players at all levels of ability.
This course features authentic Bebop, Blues,
Modal, Latin and Fusion riffs all professionally
recorded into your sequencer with excellent
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time, working at your QU'" pace and tempo.

.

JAZZ

.
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.

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TIlROUGH

60 professionally

MIDITM INCLUDES:
arranged

solos with rhythm

accompaniment. bass. piano and drums
Wide variety

of popular

jazz standards

and

styles.
Lead sheets for chords and solos are provided. as
well as tips on substitutions, chord voicings.
scales. turnarounds.
walking IxlSs lines, and more!
Beginning.
Program

Intermediate
works

and Advanced

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with any MIDI set up and drum

machine. Ex. Proteus, MI. U220, K4. ete.
Type 1 standard MIDI file fOl1)1at J(>r all
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sequencers.
Ability (0 edit the sequences
arrangemem
and also create
Easy set up. Sequences

imo your own
original jazz songs.

are arranged

in H, 12.

16. and 32 bar phrases, and are transmitted on
4 MIDI channels.
AVAUABLEDATAFORMATS:
Roland MC500/300/MC-50/w30 Kawai Q-HO
Korg T-Series Ale.is MMTH/DataDisk SQ/
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$49.95
VISA

AND

MASTERCARD

ACCEPTED

NEW SOUND MUSIC
P.O. Box 37363 Dept.)1
Oak Park, MI 48237 Phone, (313) 355-3643

Hollis St. #12, Emeryville, CA 94608, (800)
233-9604). Or you might look no further

-

than the April through August issues (#70
#74) ofTH. In those issues you'll find a
detailed explanation of envelopes in the SQ
series of synths

-

and most of that informa-

tion will apply equally to the EPS and
EPS-16 PLUS (not to mention the VFX and
SD-I).
As far as the noise from your CD player,
it's impossible to tell from what you say
whether or not this will adversely affect
your samples. But before you go looking for
plans to build a brick-wall filter for your
EPS-16 PLUS, you might want to try
making a few samples of the same source
material, and experimenting with the filter
built into the EPS-16 PLUS. The input filter
has a pretty steep rolloff, and you can easily set the filter for a number of different
cutoff points, or bypass it completely.
Making a few samples for your CD player
with different filter settings should give you
a pretty clear idea of what the filter's
doing, and if it's providing any help.
As far as the click in the sound goes, I'm
not really sure what the problem could be.
The click could be the result of the envelope(s)

resetting

rather quickly

-

have

you tried changing attack and/or release
times? Some problems with clicks at the end
of a sound can be resolved by setting the
AMP envelope to afairly long release time,
and using the filter envelope to actually
control the sound's final decay. The idea is
that if the filter cutoff point is set pretty
low, you can use an envelope to "close
down" the filter to turn a voice off. Be careful not to set the amp envelope too long,
though, or you might enCOJ4nter some
problems

with voice stealing

-

on this topic in TH, issues #73, #74 ,and
#75 (July through September 1991). I'd
suggest checking the articles out, but you
can also reach Gary at Giebler Enterprises,
8038 Morgan Road, Liverpool, New York,
13090-2009, through which he markets a
program for the IBM PC that will read,
write, and display information from Ensoniq diskettes - see his ad in the Hacker
Booteeq toward the end of this issue.
And by the way - for some time now, Ensoniq has been hard at work trying to get
the legendary "Load Sound While the Sequencer Plays" function. Considering what
this feature will mean to those who want to
have things like sampled sax solos and
background vocals that play along with
their sequences, let's hope they can finish it
up pretty soon.
And the answer to your last question is yes.]
(TH - Synthia Professional was reviewed in
Issue #66 (December,1990).]

Dear Sir/Madam,
I recently bought an SD-l Ensoniq keyboard. Can you please help me with the following information:
1) Where can I get more sounds for my
SD-l1
2) Where can I get some house, dance, and
hiphop drum sequences for my SD-l?
3) Where can I get some sequences (Le.,
pop/rock, '60s, '70s, '80s, etc.) for my
SD-l ?

the EPS

might think that the voices you've filtered
out are-still sounding, since their AMP envelopes are still running through their
release stage.

I also run my SD-l with an AtaTi using
C-Lab's "Creator" sequencing. Which is the
best way to set up the machine?
I look forward to your reply.

While I have had no personal experience
with Synthia Pro, your EPS should not become "boggled" under normal conditions,
whether you are using a computer-based
editor or not. I'd recommend getting in
touch with the Synthia people, and seeing if
they can shed any light on your problems.
You might also want to contact Ensoniq
Customer Service at (215) 647-3930, but
I'd recommend talking to Synthia first.
There is no way to reset the EPS without
powering off.
For information on diskformats for any Ensoniq products, the definitive source is Gary
Giebler, who published a series of articles
26

Thank you,
Brian Holding
Sydney, Australia

-

{CS The first place to go for new sounds
is your local dealer. And if he doesn't stock
a collection of sounds, shame on him! Ensoniq has put a lot of time and effort into
producing large, professional libraries of
sounds for their instruments. The fact that
many dealers see maintaining sound
libraries for the instruments they sell as
more trouble than it's worth is unfortunate
and short sighted.

Still, ifyou want to contactEnsoniqdirectly, they will be happy to send you a catalog
chock full of new sounds and other accessories for any of their products. And if you
find something that interests you, they'll be
happy to sell it to you direct (accessories
and sounds, that is. Sorry, no instrument
sales).
Since sequences created on the VFX-sd are
compatible with the newer SD-I, you
shouldn't have too much trouble locating a
source for this type of material

- just

check

the ads in TH! L. B. Music Sequences,
Triviatoons,andMusicMagicall springto

-

mind as regular TH advertisers but many
other sequence-marketing companies offer
VFX-sd and SD-I sequences.

t

I
6

d
q

Insofar as setting up your SD-I with an outboard sequencer, there are a number of
possible ways to use this configuration. I'd
assume, though, that you wish to use the
SD-l's multi-timbral potential, so you
might want to try something like this: Plug
the Sd-l's MIDI out to the MIDI in of your
computer, and plug the MIDI out of the
computer back to the MIDI in of your SD-I.
Set up a multi-channel sequence in the
SD-I, with bass on one track, piano on
another, drums on another, and so on. Each
of these tracks should have a unique MIDI
channel number, and each should have its
track MIDI status set to either "WCAL" or
"BOTH." Oh - make sure the SD-I is in
"Multi" mode.
Now set one of the SD-I sequencer tracks to
EXT mode on the track MIDI status page this will be you control track. When a track
is in EXT mode, it will send MIDI data, but
not respond to incoming MIDI. Select this
track when you want to play into your computer sequencer, and make any track and
MIDI channel assignments from the computer itself To hear what you're playing,
you'll need to have the computer "echo"
the incoming MIDI information on the correct MIDI channel - you should find this
explained in the owner's manual for "Creator."]
{Ensoniq - We should point out that we
don't sell sounds direct to customers outside of the US. For help with getting sounds
you should contact our distributor Electric
Factory, at 613-480-5988. The current
sounds available are as follows: VPC-1O2,
103,104, 105, IPC-I,2 (all cartridges w/60
Sound Programs each), VSD-IOOO,1001,
1002,1003,1004, ISD-3, ISD-4 (all disks
with 120 Sound Programs each

at your local dealer.]

ing software that works with this board?

Q & A Department:

1) On the SQ.R+, how does the filter frequency cutoff code (000 - 127) translate to
Hz and kHz? To know would help a great
deal in visualizing sounds.
2) It seems like I could fry an egg on the
SQ-R+ after it's been on for a few hours. Is
this normal1 Frying an egg is an exaggeration, but keeping my palm on it for more
than three seconds is painful. Pleasurable
effects can be obtained by sitting on it, but I
can't help but wonder if it will all blow up
one day.

4) I'm not complaining, and I'm sure the
response has been overwhelming for the
Basement Tapes section, BUT my brother
and I sent a tape one week after we saw the
article requesting them and we have not
seen anything yet. Is there some way you
could possibly print a list of tapes you've
received and are planning to review so we
can stop holding our breathl1? We think the
reviews are fair and we like to see what you
guys think of it.

Desperately seeking to be published,
Pascal Jasmin
Toronto, Ontario

Thanks for a great publication, keep it up.

{TH - Even in Toronto, there's got to be a

Mitch Germaine
EPS (and only an EPS) owner and believer,
Northbrook, IL

easierwayto grow a palm.]
{CS -I've passed your request along to Ensoniq. They're checking to see if anyone
back there has a readable chart that translates SQ filter parameter numbers into actual cutoff frequency. And as for your SQ-R
PLUS, it will get hot at times, and it's nothing to be overly concerned about. If you
have the unit in a rack, make sure that
there's a little space around it so that it can
ventilate properly. And if you have a lot of
heat-producing stuff in your rack, it might
not be a bad idea to investigate the possibility of adding a small fan to your system
- all your rack gear will thank you, not just
your SQ-R PLUS.]
(Ensoniq -I) We don't have that information readily available at this time. We'll see
about getting it together for a possible future articlefor the Hacker.]

{CS - There can be some problems
encountered when trying to play back
EPS-I6+ sounds on a standard EPS. The
first thing to check out is filter cutoff. On
the EPS-16+, filter cutoff goes from 0 to

1URN YOUR MIDI
SEQUENCER INTO A
mT SONG WRITING
MACIllNE WITH...
BACKGROUND

I am very pleased to renew my subscription
for the 4th year to your excellent magazine.
Your authors are top notch the best I've
seen in magazines like yours.

-

I have a couple of questions I hope you can
answer.
1) Why do some sounds I've copied from
EPS.16 disks sound "flat" on the original
EPS?

RHYfHM

PATfERNSTM

TIlE MOST COMPLETE SONG WRITING
AID ON TIlE MARKET TODAY!
Now you can play and compose great
sounding music with your midi sequencer
using Background Rhythm Patterns. Our large
library of over 150 rhythm accompaniments
will help turn your songs into exciting and
creative pieces of work. With Background
Rhythm Patterns you can now have the
perfect rhythm track to use to get your ideas
flowing to the top of the charts. A wide
variety of musical styles are featured,
. Patterns arranged for bass, keyboards, drums
and percussion.

.

Dear Hacker,

..
.

.

Program

machine.

works

with any MIDI set up and drum

Chord charts are included.
Excellent for increasing your repertoire

of

original songs to show to publishers and
producers, and also for learning all styles of
music.
Program

also includes

a compilation

of breaks,

intros, endings, and 130 drum patterns
Type 1 standard MIDI format for all computer
sequencers.
AVAIlABLEDATAFORMATS:
Roland MCSOO/300/MC-SO/W30
Kawai Q-HO
KOIll T-Series Alesls MMTS/Data Disk SQ/
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EPS, SQ-80 Macintosh, mM, Atari, Amiga.

$42.95

VISA AND MASTERCARD ACCEJYfED

NEW SOUND MUSIC

- VSD-1O00

actually has over 300 sounds!), and many
demo sequences which should be available

3) Being more of an implementor than a
creator, I would like to see some program
listings in the Hacker that would allow me
to read EPS disks and display the data on
them.

2) I have the SOUND BLASTER MIDI
adapter in my PC. Is there any sample edit-

P.O. Box 37363 Dept.)1
Oak Park, MI 48237 Phone, (313) 355-3643

27

~--

----

r

.

ISO, whereas on the EPS it ranges from 0 to
127. Consequently, if filter cutoff is set
higher than 127, the EPS may have trouble
interpreting the numbers. On the EPS classic, try moving the filter cutoff point all the
way to 0, then back up to a setting that
sounds good.

...~..~

Treat Yours.elf!l

EPS116 PLUS
Samples from K. Thomas

The other problem has to do with the fact
that the EPS-16+ has a new gain boost
parameter. If a programmer uses this
parameter to get a bit more volume out of a
sound, you may have trouble getting the
sound to play back at the correct volume on
the EPS classic. The solution is simply to
check and make sure that the volume for
any wavesample that seems to quiet is
turned up.

Electronic Musician says "Sound Quality: 5 out of5
V"e: 5 outof5"
[EM, Jan. '92]

-

Keyboard Magazine says
"Beautifully recorded... incredibly
smooth... rich... soulful... crisp and
seamlessly multi.sampled. "
[Jim Aikin, Keyboard, Oct. '91]

'--

{TH - Well, as luck would have it, your tape
is the one being reviewed in this very issue.
There was a flood of tapes received when
that announcement first came out. Our expectation is to get to them AU. But at the
rate of one or two per issue, it's going to be
a while before we catch up. Things have
calmed down a little since the initial surge,
but we'll probably still have to adjust our
review rate to match the steady-state inflow
or we'll just get be hinder and behinder.
We're looking into publishing an (occasional) listing of what's pending.]

Dear Transoniq,
Of course, the fact that you may not be listening to the sound played back through the
EPS-16 PLUS's digital effects might have
something to do with it too.

K. Thomas
Box 174
Stratford.ONT.
N5A 6Tl Canada
Phone: 519-271-7964

Giebler - see Gabriel Diaz's letter above,
and check the Hacker Booteeq.]

As far as the SOUND BLASTER thing goes,
I'm afraid I know of nothing that supports
it, but maybe one of our readers has heard
of something. In the meantime, there is a
program that will run on your PC that will
provide the data display functions you're

..J

interested

in

-

it can be ordered from Gary

I currently use the SD-l for my sequence
and song construction, and I really like its
ease of operation. However, it would be
nice if there were a few additional features
that maybe an OS update or an overlay kit
could fix. My suggestions are as follows:
1) Loop Start and Markers - where you
could define a location in a sequence or
song to do a loop style recording anywhere
within a sequence or song.

"The best thing I've heard out of any
.

sequencer. Anywhere. Ever."

- Ji11lJo/msoll,

"

.~

PROFESSIONAL QUALITY
LOW COST
SEQUENCES
FOR
THE EPS/EP5-16 PLUS, SQ-80,
ESQ-1, VFX-sd, SD-1, Roland,
IBM/DOS
TOP 40
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ROCK ('50s, '60s, 70s, '808)
BIG BAND

!
I
~

~

j
;;
1
.~
~

.SJ

1
Gf

~'"

§
;G

Tl'flllsolliq Hackel; Oct. 1991

TRI\l1 ATOONSTM

A collection of act-enhancingsequences,authenticallyrecreated
from America'sbest-lovedTVshows.
LEAVEIT TO BEAVER

PETER GUNN THEME

PERRY MASONTHEME

THREE STOOGESTHEME

JAMESBOND THEME
THEME FROM ROUTE 66

LOONEYTUNES I (BUGS)

FRACTUREDFAIRYTALES

OUR GANGTHEME

LOONEYTUNES II (PORKY)
1WILIGHT ZONE THEME

ALFRED HITCHCOCKTHEME

THE HONEYMOONERS

THEME FROM 2001

I LOVELUCYTHEME

BUIl.WINKLE I

STARTREK THEME

MY FAVORITEMARTIAN

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SUPERMAN(lV SHOW)
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

THE JETSONSTHEME
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TONIGHT SHOWTHEME

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Cboose any 5 sequences for only $49.95
(Or, choose 10 and get 2 FREE.)

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To LISTEN 10 an aulomaledDEMO Call: 215-889-97
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CUSTOMIZEYOUROWNDISK! Toplace an order, call: 215-889-9744
Availableimmediately/or VFX-SD*
(versions1 &2), and the SD-l*
28

-

2) Song Bar/MIDI Counter useful when
copy, append, deleting and inserting events
within a song. For example, when copying
tracks within a song, the display asks you to
define the bars. With the counter you
wouldn't have to use a calculator.

-

3) Improved Song Insert after constructing a sequence to be a song and you're
doing the song recording and you decide
you want to insert a new sequence at the
intro, the song tracks should continue to
play at the original location and not offset
to make the step edits.

-

And for a new product a "sample player
with resample effects feature." One to two
megs standard, expandable to 64 meg using
standard memory chips. 16 bits, 8 outputs
(or 4 stereo), samples recorded on an EPS
and linked via SCSI, 32 note polyphonic,
and pitch vs. time compression/expansion
for more natural key scaling.
And while we're at it, time compression/expansion per wave, 32 voice polyphony, and
direct read/write to the hard disk would be
nice for the EPS-16 Plus too.
Within my production setup I also have an
Amiga 500 that I'm using with an 8-bit

stereo digitizer and sound editor designed
by Aegis and called Audio Master IV. It has
some outstanding specs for a $99 unit such
as 56k sampling rate, 4x oversampling,
pitch vs. time compression/expansion, zoom
and other DSP functions. Well, I gave the
company a call to see if they had a 16-bit
digitizer for Ensoniq samplers, and I was
told that the market for a 16-bit digitizer
and software was not there. I told them that
Ensoniq owners would love to get their
hands on such a system for under $500.
Well, if others in the EPS community are
interested, give a call or write: Oxxi/Aegis,
1339 E 28th St., Long Beach, CA 90806,
phone: 213-427-1227. Support 16-bit sound
editing!

S II OO/S I 000 8 Meg Memory

Card

S II OO/S I 000 2 Meg Memory Card
SIIOO/SIOOO SCSI Interface Card
S950 750K Memory
MPc60

Sincerely,
William A Dean
Dayton,OH

Card

750K Memory

Card

FZI Keyboard I Meg Memory Card

EPS 16 2X Memory Card
EPSI6 Term. SCSI2 Interface

[TH - Now that we've all gotten our assignments...)

EPS 16 112 Meg Flashbank
EPSI6

I Meg Flashbank

EPS 4X Memory Expansion
EPS Term. SCSI2 Interface

[CS - We'll be passing your wish-list on to
Ensoniq.ln the meantime, you might want
to check out Gabriel Diaz's letter above. 1
think he may have stolen some of your
ideas...)

Card

.
Card
Card

VJ'X-SD/SD- I 75K Note Seq Xpndr

SQ-I/SQ-2
58K Note Seq Xpndr
VFX/VFX-SD/SD-I 60/20 RAM Card
ESQ-I 20K Note Seq Xpndr
ESQ-I/M/SQ-80

160 Voice RAM Card

HARD DRIVES
Rack MounV

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~?,

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DIO/ll0/20

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25bD/E
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RAM Card

RAM Card

Roland D70/5,Octopad
II,... RAM Card
Peavey DPM Series Cache Card
Peavey DPM 1/2 Meg Sequencer

TOLL.FREE ORDER LINE
1.800-8-PRO.EPS
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
1-206-467-5668

C-I Computer

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1.5 Meg Memory Card

1-800-832-2737

.
.~

Maartists Incorporated,
2180PleasantHill Rd,
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30136USA
Tel:(404)623-1559
Fax:(404)623-1293

98057-0428

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DMP7

SALES& SUPPORT

. Renton.
@1991

TX802, DXll,

RX517 256 Voice RAM Card

CustomerService:
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SOFTWARE CO.
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DX7-II(FD/D/S),
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DX7/5/1, RX-ll 128 Voice RAM Card

The NEW...

P.O.

$53.95
$53.95
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$229.95
$359.95
$41.95

YAMAHA

Introducing - cleansamplesfor the EPS andthe EPS 16-Plus!We'vebeen in
the EPS sample business for over three years, and we have the experience to
meet your needs! Tough basses, clean guitars, wonderful atmospheric textures with full programming of onboard effects, complete use of external
controllerssuch as mod wheel, footpedal, and Ensoniq's exclusive polyphonic
aftertouchkeyboard! Call for your free catalog - we'll get it out to you within
a couple of days.We accept Mastercard and Visa; please leave on voice mail.

aac

Card

Peavey DPM I Meg Sequencer Memory
Kawai Kllr/m/ll
DC-8 RAM Card

The Leader in 16 bit
EPS Sampling & Programming

-

$119.95
$119.95
$189.95
$239.95
$199.95
$119.95
$99.95
$99.95
$69.95
$59.95
$59.95

Software Co.

29

-'--

~

1-800-338-3635

{Ensoniq - Thanks for the suggestions, but
these ideas are not easily implemented as
an OS update, as they are not part of our
current sequencer structure . We'll definitely
keep them in mind for the future.
New product ideas - and of course you'd
want this all as an update for your current
EPS-I6 PLUS (just kidding)? It all sounds
great to us, now how do we get it to be affordable enough for you Hackers to enjoy?
We'll keep working on it.]

learn new tips, tricks and support products
for the instrument you purchased. S(lunds
like a good thing to us, and we want to keep
it that way. Whether we pack an issue or a
flyer, the support goes on, and the Hacker
goes on.]

Hello TH,
I just wanted to mention two things that
have been a constant source of problems in
my three to four years of working with the
EPS and EPS.16 PLUS.

Dear Hacker Interface,
I'll get straight to my point. In regard to
Transoniq Hacker not being included with
new products - it sucks. It stinks. Including
an issue with new products is by far the best
advertising your magazine, your advertisers, and Ensoniq could ever ask for.
Sincerely,
Mark Schaefer
Pico Rivera, CA

-

{TH We appreciate your springing to our
defense (and we *were* more than a little
concerned at first), but actually, from the
business end of things, it's starting to look
more and more like it really hasn't affected
things all that much. Not to worry.]
[Ensoniq - We still support the Hacker
(that's why you're getting a response), and
as loyal Ensoniq owners and Hacker
readers you still have a chance to be heard
by us, get your questions answered and

Current Ensonlq
EPS
EPS-M
EPS-16 PLUS
MASOS
MIRAGE
ESQ
ESQ-M
SO-SO

2.49
2.49
1.1
2.0
3.2
3.5
1.2
1.S

First, when working on a sequence the GO
TO locator always resets itself to 1 after
you have started recording/overdubbing.
This doesn't help, especially when you are
punching in and trying several times to get
a part right. You make your attempt and
then reject what you played and want to try
again. You hit CANCEL-=OLD, and then
you have to start again (which is usually
deep in the sequence). Big pain. Why not
just leave the GO TO where it is, until you
leave that sequence and move to another?
Ensoniq software engineers

how about it?

Second, (and the biggest pain for me), why
isn't the SONG LOOP = ON or OFF programmable as part of the stored SONG information? I'm sure this was an oversight in
OS design. I should mention that it is not
programmable on the 16 PLUS at all, and
on the original EPS you can do it via a trick
(program the last sequence in the SONG to
LOOP

= OFF, turn

SONG LOOP

and save to disk).

0.5.

VFX
VFX-SD
SQ-1
SQ-R
SQ-1 PLUS
SQ-2
SD-1

I know you are working on future products.
Great! I'll probably buy some. But please,
please! don't forget us owners! Please
support us - we have a hard enough time
making dough and being tempermental
musicians/artists who work only with the
left sides of our brains. Let's see some OS

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 exception of PS Systems, Eltekon, and Frontera whose drives are configured to work specifically with Ensoniq products). Drives not included on
this list may also work just fine. For up-to-date information about specific
drives call Ensoniq Customer Service: 215-647-3930.

MANUFACTURER
Dynatek
Frontera
PS Systems
Eltekon
Rodime
Microtech
PL1
Mass Micro

Back issues are $2.50 each. (Overseas: $3 each.) Issues 1- 9,11,13 23, rt, 29, 30, 35 - 38,68,69, and 70 are no longer available. Subscriptions will be extended an equal number of issues for any issues ordered
that are not available at the time we receive your order. ESQ-l coverage
started with Issue Number 13. SQ-80 coverage started with Number 29,
(although most ESQ-I coverage also applies to the SQ-80). EPS
coverage started with Number 30. (But didn't really get going till Number 35.) VFX coverage got started in Number 48. Permission has been
issues that we no longer have available

= OFF,

Now, Ensoniq, why is this so hard to fix?
Why is it that we have to wait one and a
half to two years for an OS update that fixes
everything, instead of an update that fixes at
least some of the problems while you work
on the understandably harder problems?
You left all the people who wanted to use
the original EPS with a computer sequencer
controlling the patch selects out in the cold
for two years after the EPS came out, just
because of an extremely minor OS glitch,
where you represented the 00 patch as 1 instead of O.Is it not true that only a very few
people work on the EPS OS, so that the
software language is made consistent?
Seems like a 1 to 0 type of fix would take
maybe a day or so.

Tested and Approved Hard Drives for the EPSs
2.1
2.1
1.01
1.02
1.1
1.2
3.00

BACK ISSUES

given to photocopy

-

The funny thing aboutthis seeminglyminor
oversight is how much it affects a touring
musician using the EPS-16 PLUS to play
SONGS every night. Every time I boot up, I
go over to the SONG page, and turn the
LOOP = OFF. Sometimes I forget, or I have
to reboot later or during the show (cause it
crashed - grrr...),and it defaultsto LOOP=
ON, Suddenly my SONGS start over, and I
have to embarrassingly stride over and turn
the sequencer off. I can't tell you how many
times this happens. It's a constant pain. Can
anyone relate?

- check

MODEL
All Models
All Models
All Models
All Models
45plus, 60plus, 100plus, 140plus
R45,N20,N40, NSO,N100, N150
45 Meg Removable
Datapack 45

Drives Reported to Work by Readers
The following drives have been reported to work satisfactorily with
reader's EPS systems. No guarantees - but they'll probably work with
yours. Try to try before you buy.

the

classifieds for people offering them. Reprints in our "Quick and Dirty
Reprint Series" are available: Mirage Operations, for $5, and Mirage
Sample Reviews for $4. Each contains material from the first 17 issues.

Jasmine Direct Drive 100
PowerDrive44
Syquest 555 (removable)

30

Quantum 100M, 210M
Seagate SOM
Tech Data Model60e

HACKER BOOTEEQ

updates. Your machine doesn't work correctly yet. I am dying for the LOAD FILE
EVENT option, too!

We Will Sell Your
Electronic
Music

VFX, VFX-sd,SD-l owners60 sounds, 20 presets, 3 demos,
docwnentation. 'Three volumes.
$40 each. Any two: $75. All three: $110.

Happy Hackingl
Garth Hjelte
Rubber Chicken Software

-------------------..----.....--.........------.......
'.',','."'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.,-"".""""""""""".'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.',',','.',"

,:,'

SQ-l, 2, R, Plus owners-

On the road in Chicago, IL

Volume I: 80 sounds & documentation.
Disks: $50.

{CS -As far as the GO TO thing goes, refer
to Ensoniq's response below.
And you're right about the Song loop function not being programmable. I use the
EPS-16 PLUS for live performance, with
many songs stored as individual sequences
to a hard drive, so I've never used the song
loop function in the same way you do. But 1
can see where you'd like to be able to save
its status along with the song, or at least to
save its default status when saving global
parameters. Oh well- maybe next rev.]

iil1itmfiBIltlj

LATTER SOUND
PRODUCTIONS

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lifRTtJ/.IA~--

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1
~11~~:~:i~1:g~~,:~~,~UF>.~~~~:'B~()rif,IH~1B~

ALL DIGITAL SAMPLES

Read/Write/Format Ensonlq Disks on
IBM-PC's with our Ensoniq Diskette
Manager (EDM)software($22).

We offer the only 16 bit computer
synthesized
samples available for
your EPS or EPS16+."A great idea,
and some great sounds...veryclean...
wildly exotic." -Jim Aikin, Keyboard
July/91. Get a demo disk with seven
complete instruments for $6.00, or
write for our catalog.

{Ensoniq - On units we've tested it on, the
Go To function works fine, it stays at the
last selected Bar no matter how many times
we re-tried a recording pass (either Replace
or Add mode). Have you used the Go To, hit
Stop/Continue to start playing at that
selected bar, and then entered overdub by
pressing Record? We can't find a problem,
give us a call to go over it if this problem
persists for you. Maybe you're doing something different than we are.

EI~idn~fM:01f~~7edW;~ii~~n:...........

Transfer Sequences to and fromStandard
Midi Flies. Each package (VFXSMFfor
VFX-SDand SD-1 or EPSSMF for EPS
and EPS-16+) includes EDM and only
costs $44.
Convert SQ-SO sequences and songs to
VFX-SD or SMF with our SQSOVFX software ($44).

FIRST GENERATION

Giebler Enterprises
8038 Morgan Road
Liverpool, NY 13090
(315) 652-5741

P.o. Box 748
Cocoa, FL 32923

.HOUID BUYinG.AmPII.

As far as updates are concerned, what may
seem like a simple fix in software code can
have an effect on other functions that you
never imagined. That's why we must test
every change we make thoroughly. You just
go in to switch that 0 to a 1 and find that a
disk doesn't load anymore (this is just a
hypothetical example, please don't write
in!) so we don't rush OS changes to market
without being sure they are as bug free as
possible. OS 1.2 for the EPS-16 PWS will
be out shortly. We know you want it now,
but we must be sure it's right.]

CUSTOM

BIIXPln.IYI?

DUST COVERSI

Ensoniq, Korg, Roland, Yamaha...and
much, much more. All covers are a perfect
fit. 4 colors to choose from. Prices begin at
$19.95...no job too bigl
tt\1!.1!. OOW:
-Portable Studio Air Purifiers-

like Ibat. You shouldn't have10 worry
aboot !he price at all. A vasl libmy of affordabl.

We're N,O,T.

samples is whal we've always been about.

ing a libmy

1-800-228-DUST

The Dust Control

AB.OIUTIIY D.Oe

Vlaa

BrochuraaAvallab/a

for !he EPS so yoo can spend your time

making music,

Call Nowfor Comple" Informationat:
MaatarCllrd

JUSI send

os a postcard or letter asking for !he IntroPack and
we1! take care of !he rest. We spend !he time organiz-

Company

NEANDERTHAL

ORGANIZATION

T.

TECHNIQUES
PO Box 12.18

1

NO,Ig:!:DRoad

Hillsboro,

OR 97123

TH,
Can any of you guys tell me what "Error
144" means on my EPS.16 PLUS rack?
How about "Error 056"? My MIDI leads are
okay and there is no loop.

SJEVJEJRJE

16+

Kervin Joseph
Denmark

{Ensoniq

EPS SAMPLES

- Error 144 means that too much

data was sent to the unit

- in your

SOUNDS

AI".I'or:

5-550,5-330, W-30, and Mac, ISp,'dfyl
1:iQ!'-~EL5jLlTIQIm>4 Disks $38

situation,

==:=

CHECK m MID only ALL PRICES SHIPPING INCLUDED
FREE CATALOG CALL 3 1 0.699.0095
C.O.D. ADD 54
MANY NEW DISKS
BEEN MADE

probably too much MIDI data. You might
try taming your controllers, or thinning out
the MIDI data stream wherever possible.]

HAVE

RECENT
LY. GETOUR

From the company that pushes memory
efficiency to the extreme. Write or call
for our all new catalog of sounds
developed for the EPS-16 PLUS.

.

0 'C...

.

CATALOG
OFDISKS':.

.

. . .. '.

-

"",:

SEVERE SOUNDS
P.O.Box 14250, Austin, TX 78761
(512) 388-3808

31

--

--~'-

--

BULK RATE
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 11

TRANSONIQ HACKER
1402 SW UPLAND DR., PORTLAND, OR 97221, (503) 227-6848

SUBSCRIPTION MATERIAL
DATED MATERIAL. TIME VALUE

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

The
Professional's
Choice
. Sampler Memory
. Rackmount SCSI Drives
We make memory products for the Akai S 1000, S 1100, S950
& MPC60, Emu EmaxII, Ensoniq EPS, EPS-16 PLUS &
VFXSD,Dynacord ADS, Roland S770, Yamaha TX16W

andothers.
Our SCSI drive systems hold two CD-ROM, Removable and Fixed hard drives in any combination.
Our commitment to being the best assures you of
the highest quality, reliability and value. Each memory

expander is designed, manufactured and tested to earn

music technology
...

our lifetime warranty. Contact your local music store today.
For your expansion needs, rely on the experts.
Rely on PS Systems. . . the Professional's Choice.

-

ISYSTEMS..

.
products

9265 Activity Road, Suite 102
San Diego, California 92126
(800) 446-8404
(619) 578-1118
FAX(619) 578-8851



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