Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #151 Th 151

-

Ensoniq

to

be

Acquired

by

Creative

Technology

Acquisition

Focuses

on

New

OEM

Opportunities

Malvern, P

A,

December 10, 1997 - Ensoniq,

a world leader in audio technology, today an-

nounced that is has entered into

an

agreement

to

be

acquired

by

Creative Technology Ltd.

(NASDAQ: CREAF). Creative, based in Sin-

gapore,

is

the world's leading provider

of

mul-

timedia technology for the personal computer.

This strategic acquisition will enable Ensoniq

and Creative to extend their reach

in

the

pcr

audio segment

of

the PC OEM and PC mother-

board markets. Creative's corporate head-

quarters and primary manufacturing a

re

based

in

Singapore, with sales, distribution and re-

search and development being carried out

though

an

extensive, global network

of

sub-

sidiaries located in North America, Europe,

Asia and Africa. Ensoniq

is

a key innovator

in

the design and development

of

pcr

audio

microchip technology and has strong brand

recognition associated with its line

of

elec-

tronic musical instruments.

"We are extremely pleased to

be

joining forces

with Creative," said Albert Charpentier, presi-

dent

of

Ensoniq. "This merger allows

us

to

further continue our focus on the OEM audio

business -an area where

we

have already

made major inroads, including

the

introduction

of

AudioPCr(tm)

earlier this year. Creative's

vast resources and its global distribution net-

work will allow us

to

best leverage our tech-

nologies and expand our goals

of

providing

high-quality products and strong support to

our customers at the most cost-competitive

price points."

Ensoniq also provides Creative with other

technologies that are highly complementary to

Creative's recently announced Environmental

Audio(tm)

technology and its future Sound

ISSUE

NUMBER

151,

$2.50

Blaster

Live!(tm)

product. line.

"This acquisition

is

a win for both companies

and

it's

a major win for our current and future

customers!" said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman

and chief executive officer

of

Creative.

"Ensoniq sells

to

a number

of

OEM customers

including Hewlett-Packard and Gateway.

Ensoniq's success with its

pcr

audio solutions

fits perfectly with Creative's current and

fu

-

ture product plans

in

both

the

OEM and retail

marketplaces.

We

are very excited about the

great people, products and technologies that

Ensoniq brings and the opportunities this

merger presents.

Ensoniq's musical instrument division will

benefit from Creative's dedication to high-end

audio products," said Charpentier. Since its in-

ception, Ensoniq has been a leader

in

the pro-

fessional musical instrument market, providing

high quality keyboards, effects processors, and

digital recording systems. "Ensoniq has long

enjoyed a strong reputation

as

a company that

brings innovative ideas to music keyboards

and other musical products

at

great prices,"

said Sim.

Per the acquisition, which

was

signed on Tues-

day, December 9, 1997, Creative will pay up

to

US$77 million

in

cash for Ensoniq. The

closing

of

the transaction

is

subject to the

receipt

of

regulatory approval.

The acquisition

is

not expected

to

have any

negative impact on Ensoniq's operations. All

executives and staff will stay

in

place and con-

tinue

to

operate from the Malvern, Pa. facility.

Founded

in

1982, Ensoniq Corporation

is

a

leading producer

of

audio and sound technol-

ogy products. Well-known

in

the professional

music industry for

15

years for its production

of

keyboards, synthesizers, effects processors,

The

Independent

Newsletter

for

Ensoniq

Users

In

This

Issue ...

Articles:

Enson

iq

Acquisition

Ensoniq .......

..

...................................... cover

Teaching

an

Old Sampler New Tricks

Tom Shear ................................................. 4

The Mysterious MIDI Mapper

Bob Lang ................................................... 5

Ensoniq, MACs & CDs

Mike Jennings ..............

..

............................ 7

Hacker Reprint

How Sounds Work -Part

2:

Strings

Mark Clifton .............................................. 7

Reviews:

Rubber Chicken's Disk Tools

Pat Finnigan ..........................

..

.................. 3

Regular

Stuff:

Random Notes ........................................... 2

Hypersoniq

..

.............................................. 2

The Interface ..............

..

............................. 9

Classifieds ............ ........................

..

.........

14

Hacker Booteeq ........

..

.............................

15

and digital recording systems. Ensoniq's cus-

tom

IC

design expertise has made the com-

pany a technology and manufacturing leader

in

sound solutions for OEMs. Ensoniq's

rcs

may

be

iound

in

PCs, arcade games, karaoke

machines, and amusement park rides.

Ensoniq's

AudioPCr(tm)

sound boards are fea-

tured

in

many

of

the top OEM PC systems in-

cluding: Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Micron,

Quantex, and DEC. Ensoniq

is

located

in

Mal-

vern, Pa. and employs about 200 people.

JANUARY,

1998

\

The

Independent

Newsletter

for

Ensoniq

Users

by

Creative

Technology

Amci-==

Acquisition

Focuses

on

New

OEM

Opportunities

Malvern,

PA,

December

10,

1997

—

Ensoniq,

a

world

leader

in

audio

technology,

today

an-

nounced

that

is

has

entered

into

an

agreement

to

be

acquired

by

Creative

Technology

Ltd.

(NASDAQ:

CREAF).

Creative,

based

in

Sin-

gapore,

is

the

world’s

leading

provider

of

mul-

timedia

technology

for

the

personal

computer.

This

strategic

acquisition

will

enable

Ensoniq

and

Creative

to

extend

their

reach

in

the

PCI

audio

segment

of

the

PC

OEM

and

PC

mother-

board

markets.

Creative’s

corporate

head-

quarters

and

primary

manufacturing

are

based

in

Singapore,

with

sales,

distribution

and

re-

search

and

development

being

carried

out

though

an

extensive,

global

network

of

sub-

sidiaries

located

in

North

America,

Europe,

Asia

and

Africa.

Ensoniq

is

a

key

innovator

in

the

design

and

development

of

PCI

audio

microchip

technology

and

has

strong

brand

recognition

associated

with

its

line

of

elec-

tronic

musical

instruments.

“We

are

extremely

pleased

to

be

joining

forces

with

Creative,”

said

Albert

Charpentier,

presi-

dent

of

Ensoniq.

“This

merger

allows

us

to

further

continue

our

focus

on

the

OEM

audio

business

—

an

area

where

we

have

already

made

major

inroads,

including

the

introduction

of

AudioPCI(‘"‘)

earlier

this

year.

Creative’s

vast

resources

and

its

global

distribution

net-

work

will

allow

us

to

best

leverage

our

tech-

nologies

and

expand

our

goals

of

providing

high-quality

products

and

strong

support

to

our

customers

at

the

most

cost-competitive

price

points.”

Ensoniq

also

provides

Creative

with

other

technologies

that

are

highly

complementary

to

Creative’s

recently

announced

Environmental

Audio("“)

technology

and

its

future

Sound

Blaster

Live!("“)

product.

line.

“This

acquisition

is

a

win

for

both

companies

and

it’s

a

major

win

for

our

current

and

future

customers!”

said

Sim

Wong

Hoo,

chairman

and

chief

executive

officer

of

Creative.

“Ensoniq

sells

to

a

number

of

OEM

customers

including

Hewlett-Packard

and

Gateway.

Ensoniq’s

success

with

its

PCI

audio

solutions

fits

perfectly

with

Creative’s

current

and

fu-

ture

product

plans

in

both

the

OEM

and

retail

marketplaces.

We

are

very

excited

about

the

great

people,

products

and

technologies

that

Ensoniq

brings

and

the

opportunities

this

merger

presents.

Ensoniq’s

musical

instrument

division

will

beneﬁt

from

Creative’s

dedication

to

high-end

audio

products,”

said

Charpentier.

Since

its

in-

ception,

Ensoniq

has

been

a

leader

in

the

pro-

fessional

musical

instrument

market,

providing

high

quality

keyboards,

effects

processors,

and

digital

recording

systems.

“Ensoniq

has

long

enjoyed

a

strong

reputation

as

a

company

that

brings

innovative

ideas

to

music

keyboards

and

other

musical

products

at

great

prices,”

said

Sim.

Per

the

acquisition,

which

was

signed

on

Tues-

day,

December

9,

I997,

Creative

will

pay

up

to

US$77

million

in

cash

for

Ensoniq.

The

closing

of

the

transaction

is

subject

to

the

receipt

of

regulatory

approval.

The

acquisition

is

not

expected

to

have

any

negative

impact

on

Ensoniq’s

operations.

All

executives

and

staff

will

stay

in

place

and

con-

tinue

to

operate

from

the

Malvem,

Pa.

facility.

Founded

in

1982,

Ensoniq

Corporation

is

a

leading

producer

of

audio

and

sound

technol-

ogy

products.

Well-known

in

the

professional

music

industry

for

15

years

for

its

production

of

keyboards,

synthesizers,

effects

processors,

Ensoniq

Acquisition

‘

Ensoniq

.............................................

..

cover

Teaching

an

Old

Sampler

New

Tricks

Tom

Shear

....................................

.........

..

4

The

Mysterious

MIDI

Mapper

‘

Bob

Lang

.................................................

.. 5

Ensoniq,

MACs

&

CDs

Mike

Jennings

..........................................

..

7

Hacker

Reprint

How

Sounds

Work

—Part

2:

Strings

I

Mark

Clifton

............................................

..

7

Reviews:

Rubber

Chicken’s

Disk

Tools

T

Pat

Finnigan

............................................

..

3

Regular

Stuff:

Random

Notes

.........................................

..

Hypersoniq

........................................

..

The

Interface

...........................................

..

Classifieds

.............................................

..

Hacker

Booteeq

...........................

..

-L’-}iE\¢~l~>

k

_

Ensoniq

to

be

Acquired

'

and

digital

recording

systems.

Ensoniq’s

cus-

tom

IC

design

expertise

has

made

the

com-

pany

a

technology

and

manufacturing

leader

in

sound

solutions

for

OEMs.

Ensoniq’s

ICs

may

be

found

in

PCs,

arcade

games,

karaoke

machines,

and

amusement

park

rides.

Ensoniq’s

Audi0PCI("“)

sound

boards

are

fea-

tured

in

many

of

the

top

OEM

PC

systems

in-

cluding:

Gateway,

Hewlett-Packard,

Micron,

Quantex,

and

DEC.

Ensoniq

is

located

in

Mal-

vern,

Pa.

and

employs

about

200

people.

(c)

1997

Ensoniq

Corp.

I

ISSUE

NUMBER

i5i,$2.50

if

T

if

T

if

JANUARY,

ma

o

Front

Panel

RND

(IiI)

Ensoniq

News

Yet more interesting times -the big news

is

on

the

cover. Again, we'll

be

following this

situation

as

it unfolds. For right now,

it

looks

like potentially pretty good news for En-

soniq's keyboard fans.

Hacker

News

We're still doing a little tweaking on the

Hacker layout. Hopefully, this issue's Inter-

face will

be

slightly easier to read and the

front section will have a little bit more article

material.

Basement tapes news ... Correction:

In

Issue

#148 Steve made a reference

to

Roshan and

Shivani's music label

as

"Copy Cat Music."

Of course, what

he

really meant was "Cosmic

Cat Music." No hidden meanings here -just

plain

01

' typing faster than you're thinking.

And one

of

our long-time Basement regulars

-the Bros. Ryan sends the following: "We

regret

to

announce the dissolution

of

The

Bros. Ryan due to lack

of

patronage."

Third

Party

News

We'd like to welcome a new advertiser -

AudioWrx, provider

of

"memory conscious

multisamples." Check out their ad

in

the

Booteeq, and check out their free demo files

on their web site.

Hypersoniq -New

Products

Syntaur Productions

Releases New ESQ-IISQ-80 Sounds

In

response to the large numbers

of

Ensoniq

ESQ-l and SQ-80 synths still

in

the hands

of

~ti.c.se

'.SIIS

IlIr

IllItlrllllit

If.;P1II1I1I1

OPTI-CASE, like the great pyramids, built to last and protect.

Now available direct from factory (except in current dealer

areas) our

fullline

of

ATA cases Category I and II

Models available for all Ensoniq

keyboards and racks!

working musicians, Syntaur Productions has

released a brand new set

of

patches for these

decade-old workhorse synths. Since many

of

these keyboards are landing

in

the hands

of

hip-hop and rap artists, Syntaur's Soundset 5'

has taken a heavy slant toward those genres,

including a multitude

of

deep and low synth

basses, funky worm-type sounds, wah-wah

sounds, and more. Also included are the most

requested additions to the ESQ

's

sound

library: acoustic and electric pianos, organs,

and some drum sounds, such

as

lR-808

kick,

snare, and cowbell. The new Soundset was

programmed

by

Sam Mims.

Soundset 5

is

available from Syntaur Produc-

tions, 500

W.

Prairie Ave., Eagle Lake, TX

77434; call (409) 234-2700 or (800) 334-

1288. The set

of

40

new sounds costs $19.95,

and

is

available

in

a variety

of

disk formats.

Mention the (TH) code number 839 when inquiring

to

receive our special factory direct pricing.

Shown: 4-space

rack

with EPS-16 PLUS module,

2-space rack, Eagle-I VFX-sd case

CALL US AT 1-800-637-6635

8:00 am to 4:30

pm

CT, Mon. -Fri.

We

accept: COD, Visa, Mastercard, American Express.

Dealer

Inquiries

Welcome!

TItE

OpTiMUM

PROTECTioN

-

IN

OPTI-CASE • 1175 CR

481

West, Henderson, TX 75654 •

FAX:

903-657-6030

2

"I

RND

(lit)

Yet

more

interesting

times

—

the

big

news

is

on the

cover.

Again,

we’ll

be

following

this

situation

as

it

unfolds.

For

right

now,

it

looks

like

potentially

pretty

good

news

for

En-

soniq’s

keyboard

fans.

Hacker

News

We’re

still

doing

a

little

tweaking

on

the

Hacker

layout.

Hopefully,

this

issue’s

Inter-

face

will

be

slightly

easier

to

read

and

the

front

section

will

have

a

little

bit

more

article

material.

Basement

tapes

news...

Correction:

In

Issue

#148

Steve

made

a

reference

to

Roshan

and

Shivani’s

music

label

as

“Copy

Cat

Music.”

Of

course,

what

he

really

meant

was

“Cosmic

Cat

Music.”

No

hidden

meanings

here

-—

just

_

plain

ol’

typing

faster

than

you’re

thinking.

And

one

of

our

long-time

Basement

regulars

—

the

Bros.

Ryan

sends

the

following:

“We

regret

to

announce

the

dissolution

of

The

Bros.

Ryan

due

to

lack

of

patronage.”

Third

Party

News

We’d

like

to

welcome

a

new

advertiser

-

AudioWrx,

provider

of

“memory

conscious

multisamples.”

Check

out

their

ad

in

the

Booteeq,

and

check

out

their

free

demo

files

on

their

web site.

Hypersoniq

—

New

Products

Syntaur

Productions

Releases

New

ESQ-I/SQ-80

Sounds

In

response

to

the

large

numbers

of

Ensoniq

ESQ-1

and

SQ-80

synths

still

in

the

hands

of

Front

Panel.

i

-

working

musicians,

Syntaur

Productions

has

released

a

brand

new

set

of

patches

for

these

decade-old

workhorse

synths.

Since

many

of

these

keyboards

are

landing

in

the

hands

of

hip-hop

and

rap

artists,

Syntaur’s

Soundset

5

has

taken

a

heavy

slant

toward

those

genres,

including

a

multitude

of

deep

and

low

synth

basses,

funky

worm-type

sounds,

wah-wah

sounds,

and

more.

Also

included

are

the

most

requested

additions

to

the

ESQ’s

sound

library:

acoustic

and

electric

pianos,

organs,

and

some

drum

sounds,

such

as

TR-808

kick,

snare,

and

cowbell.

The

new

Soundset

was

programmed

by

Sam

Mims.

Soundset

5

is

available

from

Syntaur

Produc-

tions,

500

W.

Prairie

Ave.,

Eagle

Lake,

TX

77434;

call

(409)

234-2700

or

(800)

334-

1288.

The

set

of

40

new

sounds

costs

$19.95,

and

is

available

in

a

variety

of

disk

formats.

I-Iecfrarrir

iqvrjrment

OPTI-CASE,

like

the

great

pyramids,

built

to

last

and

protect.

.

Now

available

direct

from

factory

(except

in

current

dealer

areas)

our

full

line

of

ATA

cases

Category

I

and

II

Models

available

for

all

Ensoniq

keyboards

and

racks!

Mention

the

(TH)

code

number

839

when

inquiring

to

receive

our

special

factory

direct

pricing.

CALL

US

AT

1-800-637-6635

Ulltl

C358

(use:

for

,

.1

1

W1

8:00

am

to

4:30

pm

CT,

Mon.

-

Fri.

We

accept:

COD,

Visa,

Mastercard,

American

Express.

Dealer

Inquiries

Welcome!

OPTI-CASE

-

1175

CR

481

West

Henderson

TX

75654

-

FAX:

903-657-6030

-

fl

-7---W

77

I

W

_

_____

——

’

1

13

"

Shown:

4-space

rack

with

EPS-16

PLUS

module,

2-space

rack,

Eagle-I

VFX-sd

case

The

Optimum

in

Pnorecrion

2

——‘

Where

the

Rubber

Meets

the

Road

...

Ensoniq Disk Tools for Windows

Product:

Ensoniq

Disk

Tools

for

Windows.

For:

EPS/

16+/

ASRlrack variants,

TS

series.

Price:

$59.95

& shipping.

From:

Rubber Chicken Software,

714

5th

Street

SE,

Willmar,

MN

56201,

Phone:

320.235.9798 (voice).

Well, gang,

we

finally get our hands

on

what

has been in the works for probably the past

year.

All

the veteran loopers have prowled

the net and siphoned off all the shareware

utilities for wave conversion, disk building,

parameter editors, etc. We've surfed the wee

hours waiting for the traffic

to

subside

before

we

logged on and forked over all that

dough

to

our local ISP-types, and still

we

lack a unified app

to

do all the myriad things

our Malvern loopy-boxes are capable

of

(and put

us

through). We're forced

to

work

at the floppy level and fragment our SCSI

drives editing and replacing files on our ar-

rays. That is, until the emergence of this

long-awaited application.

At long last Rubber Chicken Software has

released Ensoniq Disk Tools, which,

to

date,

represents the MOST complete set

of

unified

utilities for the PC platform. Conceived

from Sound Vert 1.03 (one

of

those

*.wav-to-Ensoniq shareware utils

we

pulled

down from some obscure site at 4:45

in

the

morning), this app is, at twice the price, a

MUST -HAVE for any Ensoniq sampling

owner.

Let's

dig into this before

we

get

ahead of ourselves

..

.

The

Roses

Disk Tools runs fine on Windows 3.1, 3.11

(WFW) or 95. It's actually capable of edit-

ing parameters directly from disk (no load-

ing into the sampler, editing, and resaving to

disk).

TS

owners, rejoice:

no

more "edit"

files are generated. It will format EPS/

16+/

ASR

floppies. Where the program real-

ly shines

is

in

its SCSI disk management

utilities ...

Backup and restore commands don't write

disk images; they write a file-by-file copy

from host drive

to

destination drive. Conse-

quently, backing

up

from one drive and

re

-

storing

to

another defragments the target

Pat Finnigan

drive. This may not sound like a big deal,

but in addition

to

getting defragged, since

the backup is individual files in individual

directories, you can move both files and

directories around with ease, an operation

impossible with many backup utilities.

Don't

expect your macros

to

work properly

after you've moved them around

..

.

Formats and writes an appropriate Ensoniq

OS

to

SCSI drives! This may not seem like

much, but consider the ramifications -now

that

we

have the tools to format SCSI drives

without attaching them

to

a Malvern box,

we

can, at long last, ditch the floppy drive and

replace it with a SCSI drive!

No

more ca-

bling a SCSI drive to your 16+ or

ASR!

I've

personally pulled the floppy from

my

ASR

and dropped

in

a Syquest

135

cartridge

drive, and talk about convenience! Zip

drives plop right in without a hitch. Garth

even has drives and kits to

do

exactly this.

At long last, we're on an even hardware keel

with Emulators. And with ZIP drive prices

(bare) falling below $100 (after Iomega

Rebate), we're, like, there, dude

..

.

EDT

handles single-and multi-wave conver-

sions (VERY handy when doing a multi-

sampled instrument) and can batch the

process. Very cool. Then you can assign

wavesamples to key ranges with a simple

click and drag. Well done, Garth. A Bank

Builder is included which allows custom

banks to be created without connection to a

Malvern box. Real time saver.

The

Thorns

Won't run under Windows NT 3.51 or 4.0

(4.0's Hardware Abstraction Layer doesn't

allow disk ROM BIOS calls). Can't specify

loop points in *.wav files, only 0

to

100%

of

total wave.

Won't

run on an Apple PC Com -

patibility card (same as the

NT

issue).

Doesn't come with Giebler's Ensoniq Disk

Extractor (to write *.eft

TS

images

to

flop-

py) -must be a licensing thing. Garth does

point out the URL

to

download the file, so

minor point. {Ed. -Disk Tools now sup-

ports

EDT

and

EFT

files (these are TS files)

fully.} Doesn't open *.ede, *.eda, *.gkh, *.ins

and other Giebler-type files automatically -

you'll have to manually "associate" the file

3

with the app from the "Open With"

95

dialog box. Only gotta

do

this once, so

another minor point.

It

will convert one file

format

to

another without doing this from

the "Convert

to

File Image" dialog box, so

use this instead.

Interface and dialog boxes are typical

VB

(Visual Basic) layout. Would've liked a

larger work area and typeboxes, but that's

only because I use a 20" Trinitron and have

astigmatism. Not a true "Sample Editor" -

a "Sample Parameter Editor"

is

more ac-

curate. Autoexec.bat and config.sys files

must be edited if using IDE and ATAPI

CDROM drives (about 98%

of

all

PC's

util-

ize these types

of

CD-ROM drives). Not a

big edit for experienced PC users, but

downright scary for rookie PC'ers. To

RCS's credit, a detailed explanation

is

given

with step-by-step instructions, but an

automated batch file

to

run this would've

been friendlier.

..

The

Deal

This

is

the absolute "biggest-bang-for-

your-buck" software on this blue ball. It re-

quires your computer to run Windows

3.1

or

95. Anyone using an

ASRlI6+

with hard

drives will definitely want

to

use the SCSI

features

of

the

program. It's a tribute

to

RCS's

fairness that you could buy 5 copies

of

Disk Tools for what a SCSI controller

card for your PC will cost

to

manage your

ASR/16+ hard drives. (Oops, and your TS

hard drives.)

EDT

s roses FAR and ABOVE

outweigh its thoms, as there's nothing

remotely close

to

it at this price range ...

This is not Alchemy or Sound Forge:

it's

not

going

to

give you shaded menu bars and

colorful radio buttons and twisty-knob icons

to

fiddle with. And it's not going

to

set you

back $500+ beans, either. What it will do

is

clear the fog between your PC and your En-

soniq sampler and allow free communication

between the two.

EDT

is

"Terje's EPSm

Mac editor for the PC crowd." And

to

RCS's

credit, the program never crashed. In a

VB

WIN

95

environment, this is sterling. Not

one freeze or blue screen of death ...

Documentation

is

good, and the inclusion

of

a tutorial for the most common operations is

most welcome. And

the

support

is

tremen-

dous: I received

no

less than three updates

to

EDT

during the course of this review.

RCS plans

to

add further

TS

support to the

program as well, so I don't feel comfortable

reviewing this

as

a finished product. Just

like Ensoniq O.S.'s,

EDT

is

a constantly

evolving application that will only get better

and offer more features as it

is

updated.

r

1

I

l

1

I.

1:

Pl

l

J4

r

i

r

Where

the

Rubber

Meets

the

Rood...

Ensoniq

Disk

Tools

for

Windows

Product:

Ensoniq

Disk

Tools

for

Windows.

For:

EPS/16+/ASR/rack

variants,

TS

series.

Price:

$59.95

&

shipping.

From:

Rubber

Chicken

Software,

714

5th

Street

SE,

Willmar,

MN

56201,

Phone:

320.235.9798

(voice).

Well,

gang,

we

finally

get

our

hands

on

what

has

been

in

the

works

for

probably

the

past

year.

All

the

veteran

loopers

have

prowled

the

net

and

siphoned

off

all

the

shareware

utilities

for

wave

conversion,

disk

building,

parameter

editors,

etc.

We’ve

surfed

the

wee

hours

waiting

for

the

traffic

to

subside

before

we

logged

on

and

forked

over

all

that

dough

to

our

local

ISP-types,

and

still

we

lack

a

unified

app

to

do

all

the

myriad

things

our

Malvem

loopy-boxes

are

capable

of

(and

put

us

through).

We’re

forced

to

work

at

the

ﬂoppy

level

and

fragment

our

SCSI

drives

editing

and

replacing

files

on

our

ar-

rays.

That

is,

until

the

emergence

of

this

long-awaited

application.

At

long

last

Rubber

Chicken

Software

has

released

Ensoniq

Disk

Tools,

which,

to

date,

represents

the

MOST

complete

set

of

unified

utilities

for

the

PC

platform.

Conceived

from

SoundVert

1.03

(one

of

those

*.wav-to-Ensoniq

shareware

utils

we

pulled

down

from

some

obscure

site

at

4:45

in

the

morning),

this

app

is,

at

twice

the

price,

a

MUST-

HAVE

for

any

Ensoniq

sampling

owner.

Let’s

dig

into

this

before

we

get

ahead

of

ourselves...

The

Roses

Disk

Tools

runs

fine

on

Windows

3.1,

3.11

(WFW)

or

95.

It’s

actually

capable

of

edit-

ing

parameters

directly

from

disk

(no

load-

ing

into

the

sampler,

editing,

and

resaving

to

disk).

TS

owners,

rejoice:

no

more

“edit”

files

are

generated.

It

will

fonnat

EPS/

16+/ASR

ﬂoppies.

Where

the

program

real-

ly

shines

is

in

its

SCSI

disk

management

utilities...

Backup

and

restore

commands

don’t

write

disk

images;

they

write

a

file-by-file

copy

from

host

drive

to

destination

drive.

Conse-

quently,

backing

up

from

one

drive

and

re-

storing

to

another

defragments

the

target

Pat

F

innigan

drive.

This

may

not

sound

like

a

big

deal,

but

in

addition

to

getting

defragged,

since

the

backup

is

individual

files

in

individual

directories,

you

can

move

both

files

and

directories

around

with

ease,

an

operation

impossible

with

many

backup

utilities.

Don’t

expect

your

macros

to

work

properly

after

you’ve

moved

them

around...

Formats

and

writes

an

appropriate

Ensoniq

OS

to

SCSI

drives!

This

may

not

seem

like

much,

but

consider

the

ramifications

—

now

that

we

have

the

tools

to

format

SCSI

drives

without

attaching

them

to

a

Malvem

box,

we

can,

at

long

last,

ditch

the

ﬂoppy

drive

and

replace

it

with

a

SCSI

drive!

No

more

ca-

bling

a

SCSI

drive

to

your

16+

or

ASR!

I’ve

personally

pulled

the

ﬂoppy

from

my

ASR

and

dropped

in

a

Syquest

135

cartridge

drive,

and

talk

about

convenience!

Zip

drives

plop

right

in

without

a

hitch.

Garth

even

has

drives

and

kits

to do

exactly

this.

At

long

last,

we’re

on

an

even

hardware

keel

with

Emulators.

And

with

ZIP

drive

prices

(bare)

falling

below

$100

(after

Iomega

Rebate),

we’re,

like,

there,

dude...

EDT

handles

single-

and

multi-wave

conver-

sions

(VERY

handy

when

doing

a

multi-

sampled

instrument)

and

can

batch

the

process.

Very

cool.

Then

you

can

assign

wavesamples

to

key

ranges

with

a

simple

click

and

drag.

Well

done,

Garth.

A

Bank

Builder

is

included

which

allows

custom

banks

to

be

created

without

connection

to

a

Malvem

box.

Real

time

saver.

The

Thorns

Won’t

run

under

Windows

NT

3.51

or

4.0

(4.0’s

Hardware

Abstraction Layer

doesn’t

allow

disk

ROM

BIOS

calls).

Can’t

specify

loop

points

in

*.wav

files,

only

0

to

100%

of

total

wave.

Won’t

run

on

an

Apple

PC

Com-

patibility

card

(same

as

the

NT

issue).

Doesn’t

come

with

Giebler’s

Ensoniq

Disk

Extractor

(to

write

*.eft

TS

images

to

ﬂop-

py)

—-

must

be

a

licensing

thing.

Garth

does

point

out

the

URL

to

download

the

file,

so

minor

point.

[Ed.

—

Disk

Tools

now

sup-

ports

EDT

and

EFT

ﬁles

(these

are

TS

ﬁles)

fully.

]

Doesn’t

open

*.ede,

*.eda,

*.gkh,

*.ins

and

other

Giebler-type

files

automatically

—

you’l1

have

to

manually

“associate”

the

file

3

with

the

app

from

the

“Open

With”

95

dialog

box.

Only

gotta

do

this

once,

so

another

minor

point.

It

will

convert

one

file

format

to

another

without

doing

this

from

the

“Convert

to

File

Image”

dialog

box,

so

use

this

instead.

Interface

and

dialog

boxes

are

typical

VB

(Visual

Basic)

layout.

Would’ve

liked

a

larger

work

area

and

typeboxes,

but

that’s

only

because

I

use

a

20”

Trinitron

and

have

astigmatism.

Not

a

true

“Sample

Editor”

--

a

“Sample

Parameter

Editor”

is

more

ac-

curate.

Autoexec.bat

and

config.sys

files

must

be

edited

if

using

IDE

and

ATAPI

CDROM

drives

(about

98%

of

all

PC’s

util-

ize

these

types

of

CD-ROM

drives).

Not

a

big

edit

for

experienced

PC

users,

but

downright

scary

for

rookie

PC’ers.

To

RCS’s

credit,

a

detailed

explanation

is

given

with

step-by-step

instructions,

but

an

automated

batch

file

to

run

this

would’ve

been

friendlier...

The

Deol

This

is

the

absolute

“biggest-bang-for-

your-buck”

software

on

this

blue

ball.

It

re-

quires

your

computer

to

run

Windows

3.1

or

95.

Anyone

using

an

ASR/16+

with

hard

drives

will

definitely

want

to

use

the

SCSI

features

of

the

program.

It’s

a

tribute

to

RCS’s

fairness

that

you

could

buy

5

copies

of

Disk

Tools

for

what

a

SCSI

controller

card

for

your

PC

will

cost

to

manage

your

ASR/16+

hard

drives.

(Oops,

and

your

TS

hard

drives.)

EDT’s

roses

FAR

and

ABOVE

outweigh

its

thorns,

as

there’s

nothing

remotely

close

to

it

at

this

price

range...

This

is

not

Alchemy

or

Sound

Forge:

it’s

not

going

to

give

you

shaded

menu

bars

and

colorful

radio

buttons

and

twisty-knob

icons

to

fiddle

with.

And

it’s

not

going

to

set

you

back

$500+

beans,

either.

What

it

will

do

is

clear

the

fog

between

your

PC

and

your

En-

soniq

sampler

and

allow

free

communication

between

the

two.

EDT

is

“Terje’s

EPSm

Mac

editor

for

the

PC

crowd.”

And

to

RCS’s

credit,

the

program

never

crashed.

In

a

VB

WIN

95

environment,

this

is

sterling.

Not

one

freeze

or

blue

screen

of

death...

Documentation

is

good,

and

the

inclusion

of

a

tutorial

for

the

most

common

operations

is

most

welcome.

And

the

support

is

tremen-

dous:

1

received

no

less

than

three

updates

to

EDT

during

the

course

of

this

review.

RCS

plans

to

add

further

TS

support

to

the

program

as

well,

so

I

don’t

feel

comfortable

reviewing

this

as

a

finished

product.

Just

like

Ensoniq

O.S.’s,

EDT

is

a

constantly

evolving

application

that

will

only

get

better

and

offer

more

features

as

it

is

updated.

And, as Garth points out, upgrades are free

to registered owners for life. If that's not a

closer, you probably gripe about having

to

rub yourself daily with an alkali substance.

And although this program isn't "squeaky

clean," RCS's operation and support

of

this

program certainly are. So what you'

ll

give

up

in

whistles and bells

is

more than offset

by

the level

of

support you're gonna get

from these guys. Remember, RCS suppo

rts

Ensoniq gear exclusively. They aren 't get-

ti

ng

pulled around

by

supporting any other

manufacturer. All resources are devoted

to

Ensoniq gear only.

That's

why

this program is a winne

r.

..

Bio: Pat's not having much luck leading a

normal life. Pat's wife recently had a baby

boy. During all the hoopla she claims she

vaguely recalls receiving SysEx messages

from him, but that was months ago.

Teaching

an

Old

Sampler

Nevv

Tricks

When sampling first appeared on the scene

people were so in awe

of

it, so floored, that

you didn't have to do much aside from

throwing some sampled sounds into your

mix

to

impress people. The novelty of

the

whole thing was almost enough to keep lis-

teners interested. However, the listening

public is a fickle lot, and what was once

considered high tech and groundbreaking

is

now tired and cliched. The bottom line?

Simply using a drum loop "as

is

" doesn't cut

it anymore. What

to

do? Drum loops sound

great, but you want

to

do something dif-

ferent. .. something that

is

going

to

stand out

from the crowd. This month,

we

'

ll

look at a

few tricks that can help you do just that.

One

of

my

favorite tricks

is

to

divide a loop

into several equal-sized chunks. This simple

action

is

an extremely useful trick in several

ways. I accidentally discovered it because I

wanted

to

use a loop

in

a song, but, since

live drummers aren't quite as strict as a

se

-

quencer timing-wise, part

of

the loop would

drift out of time with the rest

of

the sequen-

ces.

My

solution? I made four copies of the

wavesample, mapped each one right next

to

the other (and adjusting the ROOT KEY on

the PITCH page so that all the loops played

at the correct tempo), and then, on

the

EDIT -W A VESAMPLE page, I went in and

adjusted the SAMPLE START and SAM-

PLE ends so that the beat was

now

divided

into four pieces. Wavesamples 1 and 3 were

the downbeats and 2 and 4 were the upbeats.

Now, I could go

in

and trigger the samples,

(I

-2-3-

4)

so that the beat was recreated, but

now

by

quantizing it, my timing error was

corrected.

Tom Shear

However, this trick

is

also useful

in

a much

more exciting way

..

. now I wasn't restricted

to

the loop as it was played originally ...

since I had the beat divided into four parts, I

could vary which parts played when, while

maintaining the original funky feel. I could

play fills with the snare or have the snare

drop out entirely. So many possibilities!

Of

course, this

is

only the most simple way

of

doing this.

If

you choose to, you can divide

it into as many parts as

you

want

to.

Simply

take the total size

of

your wa

ve

sample (

th

at

big number

to

the left

of

the SAMPLE END

percentage) and divide that number

by

the

number

of

chunks you wa

nt

to

divide your

loop into. The resulting number will be the

size of each chunk and will tell you how

much you must increment the SAMPLE

ST

AR

T and END parameters for each

chunk. Obviously, the more chunks you

chop your beat into, more possibilities be-

come open

to

you in terms

of

varying your

beats. The truly hardcore sample heads

among you may even choose

to

do

what En-

soniq did on a few

of

their drum loop disks,

and isolate each individual hit in a beat and

map it across the keyboard for even more

possibilities.

Another favorite trick

is

to

feed loops or

drums through the Waveboy Resonant Filter

disk. If you own an EPS-

16+

or ASR-JO and

you DON'T have this disk, you are missing

out on what

is

probably one of the coolest

add-ons available for your sampler. I

don't

know where along the line engineers who

worked for musical instrument manufac-

turers decided resonance wasn't needed any-

more, but I sincerely hope all the people

4

involved in that decision were taken out

back and promptly shot (with squirt guns, of

course

).

Although resonance is generally as-

sociated with spacey synth sweeps and

funky bass sounds, it can really add a unique

sound

to

drum loops.

Here, you have several options. The on

ly

real key is that you want your filter FREQ

val

ue

set fairly low

..

. most likely all the

way.

Yo

u can then set your MOD SRC to

whatever you choose, and boost the amount

of

modulation all the way up

to

+99.

Probab

ly

the most flexible source is the

MOD WHEEL. By assigning this as your

sou

rc

e, you have a huge amount

of

control

over

ho

w the loop

is

affected. You can do a

slow, smooth sweep

..

. you can slowly move

the filter from open

to

closed ... you can

boost the modwheel only on the down-

beats ... the possibilities are staggering. And,

by experimenting with different resonance

and ENVELOPE value

s,

you can really

manipulate things into pretty wild territory.

Even better

is

when you actually play a

drum beat

by

hand on your favorite drum kit

sample .

..

now you can assign VELOCITY as

a modulation source and you can hear some

really strange, really funky rhythms. I use

this one all the time.

These are just a couple ways you can give

your drum loops a more interesting and uni-

que sound. There are obviously tons more,

but a guy's gotta have a couple of his own

tricks, you know?

Bio: Tom Shear

was the mu

ch

-

talked about

"sixth Spice

Girl" -"Old

Spice

."

Call For Writers!

In spite

of

their current god-like status,

writers for the Hacker were once mere

mortals -just like you!

If

you're

noodling around with Ensoniq gear,

you too can join their elite ran

ks

.

We're

always looking for new writers,

and yes, there is actual payment

involved.

If

you're

toying with an idea

for an article, how about giving

Editrix Jane a call at 1-503-227-6848

and listening

to

her soothing words

of

encouragement?

l

L

I

I1

And,

as

Garth

points

out,

upgrades

are

free

to

registered

owners

for

life.

If

that’s

not

a

closer,

you

probably

gripe

about

having

to

rub

yourself

daily

with

an

alkali

substance.

And

although

this

program

isn’t

“squeaky

clean,”

RCS’s

operation

and

support

of

this

program

certainly

are.

So

what

you’ll

give

up

in

whistles

and

bells

is

more

than

offset

by

the

level

of

support

you’re

gonna

get

from

these

guys.

Remember,

RCS

supports

Ensoniq

gear

exclusively.

They

aren’t

get-

ting

pulled

around

by

supporting

any

other

manufacturer.

All

resources

are

devoted

to

Ensoniq

gear

only.

T

hat’s

why

this

program

is

a

winner...

Bio:

Pat’s

not

having

much

luck

leading

a

normal

life.

Pat’s

wife

recently

had

a

baby

boy.

During

all

the

hoopla

she

claims

she

vaguely

recalls

receiving

SysEx

messages

from

him,

but

that

was

months

ago.

Teaching

an

Ola

Sampler

New

Tricks

When

sampling

first

appeared

on

the

scene

people

were

so

in

awe

of

it,

so

ﬂoored,

that

you

didn’t

have

to

do

much

aside

from

throwing

some

sampled

sounds

into

your

mix

to

impress

people.

The

novelty

of

the

whole

thing

was

almost

enough

to

keep

lis-

teners

interested.

However,

the

listening

public

is

a

fickle

lot,

and

what

was

once

considered

high

tech

and

groundbreaking

is

now

tired

and

cliched.

The

bottom

line?

Simply

using

a

drum

loop

“as

is”

doesn’t

cut

it

anymore.

What

to

do?

Drum

loops

sound

great,

but

you

want

to

do

something

dif-

ferent...

something

that

is

going

to

stand

out

from

the

crowd.

This

month,

we’ll

look

at

a

few

tricks

that

can

help

you

do

just

that.

One

of

my

favorite

tricks

is

to

divide

a

loop

into

several

equal-sized

chunks.

This

simple

action

is

an

extremely

useful

trick

in

several

ways.

I

accidentally

discovered

it

because

I

wanted

to

use

a

loop

in

a

song,

but,

since

live

drummers

aren’t

quite

as

strict

as

a

se-

quencer

timing-wise,

part

of

the

loop

would

drift

out

of

time

with

the

rest

of

the

sequen-

ces.

My

solution?

I

made

four

copies

of

the

wavesample,

mapped

each

one

right

the

other

(and

adjusting

the

ROOT

KEY

on

the

PITCH

page

so

that

all

the

loops

played

at

the

correct

tempo),

and

then,

on

the

EDIT-WAVESAMPLE

page,

I

went

in

and

adjusted

the

SAMPLE

START

and

SAM-

PLE

ends

so

that

the

beat

was

now

divided

into

four

pieces.

Wavesamples

1

and

3

were

the

downbeats

and

2 and

4

were

the

upbeats.

Now,

I

could

go

in

and

trigger

the

samples,

(1-2-3-4)

so

that

the

beat

was

recreated,

but

now

by

quantizing

it,

my

timing

error

was

corrected.

Tom

Shear

However,

this

trick

is

also

useful

in

a

much

more

exciting

way...

now

I

wasn’t

restricted

to

the

loop

as

it

was

played

originally...

since

I

had

the

beat

divided

into

four

parts,

I

could

vary

which

parts

played

when,

while

maintaining

the

original

funky

feel.

I

could

play

fills

with

the

snare

or

have

the

snare

drop

out

entirely.

So

many

possibilities!

Of

course,

this

is

only

the

most

simple

way

of

doing

this.

If

you

choose

to,

you

can

divide

it

into

as

many

parts

as

you

want

to.

Simply

take

the

total

size

of

your

wavesample

(that

big

number

to

the

left

of

the

SAMPLE

END

percentage)

and

divide

that

number

by

the

number

of

chunks

you

want

to

divide

your

loop

into.

The

resulting

number

will

be

the

size

of

each

chunk

and

will

tell

you

how

much

you

must

increment

the

SAMPLE

START

and

END

parameters

for

each

chunk.

Obviously,

the

more

chunks

you

chop

your

beat

into,

more

possibilities

be-

come

open

to

you

in

l6l‘1TlS

of

varying

your

beats.

The

truly

hardcore

sample

heads

among

you

may

even

choose

to do

what

En-

soniq

did

on

a

few

of

their

drum

loop

disks,

and

isolate

each

individual

hit

in

a

beat

and

map

it

across

the

keyboard

for

even

more

possibilities.

Another

favorite

trick

is

to

feed

loops

or

drums

through

the

Waveboy

Resonant

Filter

disk.

If

you

own

an

EPS-16+

or

ASR-10

and

you

DON’T

have

this

disk,

you

are

missing

out

on

what

is

probably

one

of

the

coolest

add-ons

available

for

your

sampler.

I

don’t

know

where

along

the

line

engineers

who

worked

for

musical

instrument

manufac-

turers

decided

resonance

wasn’t

needed

any-

more,

but

I

sincerely

hope

all

the

people

4

involved

in

that

decision

were

taken

out

back

and

promptly

shot

(with

squirt

guns,

of

course).

Although

resonance

is

generally

as-

sociated

with

spacey

synth

sweeps

and

funky

bass

sounds,

it

can

really

add

a

unique

sound

to

drum

loops.

Here,

you

have

several

options.

The

only

real

key

is

that

you

want

your

filter

FREQ

value

set

fairly

low...

most

likely

all

the

way.

You

can

then

set

your

MOD

SRC

to

whatever

you

choose,

and

boost

the

amount

of

modulation

all

the

way

up

to

+99.

Probably

the

most

ﬂexible

source

is

the

MOD

WHEEL.

By

assigning

this

as

your

source,

you

have

a

huge

amount

of

control

over

how

the

loop

is

affected.

You

can

do

a

slow,

smooth

sweep...

you

can

slowly

move

the

filter

from

open

to

closed...

you

can

boost

the

modwheel

only

on

the

down-

beats...

the

possibilities

are

staggering.

And,

by

experimenting

with

different

resonance

and

ENVELOPE

values,

you

can

really

manipulate

things

into

pretty

wild

territory.

Even

better

is

when

you

actually

play

a

drum

beat

by

hand

on

your

favorite

drum

kit

sample...

now

you

can

assign

VELOCITY

as

a

modulation

source

and

you

can

hear

some

really

strange,

really

funky

rhythms.

I

use

this

one

all

the

time.

These

are

just

a

couple

ways

you

can

give

your

drum

loops

a

more

interesting

and

uni-

que

sound.

There

are

obviously

tons

more,

but

a

guy’s

gotta

have

a

couple

of

his

own

tricks,

you

know‘?

_

Bio:

Tom

Shear

was

the

much-

talked

about

“sixth

Spice

Girl”

—

“Old

Spice.”

Call

For

Writers!

I

In

spite

of

their

current

god-like

status,

writers

for

the

Hacker

were

once

mere

I

mortals

-

just

like

you!

If

you’re

noodling

around

with

Ensoniq

gear,

you

too

can

join

their

elite

ranks.

We’re

always

looking

for

new

writers,

and

yes,

there

is

actual

payment

involved.

If

you’re

toying

with

an

idea

for

an

article,

how

about

giving

Editrix

Jane

a

call

at

1-503-227-6848

and

listening

to

her

soothing

words

of

I

encouragement?

l

Jmiéiiifé-it

_'-ii

4

l

—_..__.i,'..__-._.

I

WAVEBOY

PLUG·INS

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COMPRESSOR

YourASR·lO becomes a high-end digital

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This

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to

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digital noise

in

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sqUlshing

situations. Only

in

digital can

you

get

true

"instant"

attack

time, which can control

the

fastest

transients.

Great

on

internal

sounds,

for

re-sampling, and

for

processing

external

inputs. A must-have tool

for

recording, mixing, and mastering. Also

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TEMPO

SYNC'D

DELAYS

GET

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BEA

11

Delay times locked

to

the

Sequencer

Tempo!

The

SYNCD

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effect

lets you specify

delay

times

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CLOCKS

instead

of

milliseconds. When

you

change

the

tempo, all

the

delays

stay

syncronized. S

impl

e,

but

telTibly

effecti

for

all kinds

of

music.

Four

taps

with level, pan, feedback, and

delay

up

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480

docks

(5

quarter

notes.)

(Sorry,

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clocks.) Both 30KHz and 44KHz sample

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EPS-16 PLUS:

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SONIQ DEMOLITION

Destroy audio. On purpose. Most

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These impose serious damage. Sound

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The

SONIQ

DEMOliTION DISK

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drastically

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GRAIN STORM, PITCH-WARP and

LO-

FIDEliTY. Works exclusively on

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Ensoniq ASR-I0 and EPS-16

PLUS

.

Kicking

on

sounds,

on

sequences,

on

audio-

in

(even on

the

16

PLUS)

and

for

re-

sampling. The unique and powerful

transformations

of

granular synthesis

alone make

this

disk a'must-have

for

any

composer

of

sonic landscape.

May

be

hazardous. Use

in

a

well

ventilated area.

All

three

effects

just

$39.95

reat yourself to the best, Send

heck or Money Order

To:

AVEBOY Industries

P.O.

Box

33, Paoli, PA 19301

USA.

ISA/MC accecpted.

PA

residents

dd

6% sales tax; Overseas

add

6.

shipping. tel: 610-251-9562

ax:

610-408-8078

The

Mysterious

MIDI

Mapper

Bob Lang

Wouldn't

be

great if

Screen

#1

Win,

3.1

Control Panel

and

Midi Map er

Ensoniq synthesizers

conformed to the gen-

eral MIDI standard in-

strument layout? The

general MIDI standard

defines each patch

thusly -Harpsichord

is

always patch #6,

Acoustic Bass

is

#32,

Trumpet

is

#56, etc.

The general MIDI stan-

dard allows musicians

to exchange MIDI files

Elle

.Qp1:tDna

~Indow

!:!elp

,Settings

Help

III

A\

, B

~

Cob

F_

p""

Mouse

Desktcc)

..

~

•

Il!fl

£

Keyboatd

Prrtlllt

lriornalional

DaialTmo

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a

~

Driven;

Sound

DSDUHO

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....

386

E""'"=I

........

~

....

~

...•...

:

......

.

.......

..

with others that used

different synthesizers

and have the song

sound similar

on

each

synthesizer.

Of

course

you could copy the

sounds around

in

your

Ensoniq memory until

t:n'I

l&.tiJ

MusicPtognr

.......

~

Ill!l

you had the general MIDI instrument layout,

but that

is

rather time consuming!

For all

of

you

using IBM compatible personal

computers with synthesizers that do not con-

form to the general MIDI standard for instru-

ment and drum layouts, help has arrived. Part

of

the general MIDI standard for instrument

layout

is

shown

in

Table 1 and the standard

for drums in shown in Table

2.

The general

MIDI standard is great for exchanging MIDI

".MID" files with others that do not use the

same brand synthesizer.

Synthesizers that con-

form to the MIDI in-

strument standard will

all play MIDI files that

conform to the standard

so that they sound ap-

proximately the same. I

say approximately be-

cause the reason one

chose the X synthesizer

was because

of

its ex-

cellent grand piano

sound so the file will

not sound the same on

a Y synthesizer, but at

least it will

be

using

the grand piano sound.

Of

course one could

copy the sounds around

in memory until the

5

synthesizer conformed to the MIDI standard

instrument layout, but what a pain! There

is

a

much easier way.

If

you

are using Windows

3.1

or later, you al-

ready have

it!

The trick

is

a little icon buried

in

the Windows Control Panel called the

MIDI Mapper

as

shown in Screen #1. The

MIDI Mapper works

by

setting itself between

the WINDOWS sequencing program like

CAKEWALK or MUSICTIME and the MIDI

output device like an MPU401 card or Sound-

WAVEBOY

|_

.

‘U

C

G7

Z

CD

YourfA5R-10

becomes

a

high.-end

digital

compressor,

with

this

new

Waveboy

plug-in

effect.

This

stereo

compressor

limiter

ha

adjustable

attack,

decay,

threshold,

and

ratio,

plus

a

noise-gate

function

to

control

digital

noise

in

more

extreme

squashing

situations.

Only

in

digital

can

you

get

true

"instant"

attack

time,

which

can

control

the

fastest

transients.

Great

on

internal

sounds,

for

re-sampling,

and

for

processing

external

inputs.

A

must-have

tool

for

recording,

mixing,

and

mastering.

Also

works

on

the

EPS-16.

PLUS

(with

mono

audio-in)

$49.95

to

the

Sequencer

Tempo!

The

SYNCD

DELAY

effect

lets

you

specify

delay

times

in

CLOCKS

instead

of

milliseconds.

When

you

change

the

tempo,

all

the

delays

stay

syncroni

zed.

Simple,

but

terribly

effecti

for

all

kinds

of

music.

Four

taps

with

level,

pan,

feedback,

and

delay

up

to

480

clocks

(5

quarter

notes.)

(Sorry,

it

doesn't

sync

to

incoming

MIDI

clocks.)

Both

30KH-z

and

44l(Hz

sample

rate

versions

are

included.

For

ASR-

10

EPS-16

PLUS:

$49.95

Destroy

audio.

On

purpose.

Most

effects

try

to

make

things

sound

a

little

better.

These

impose

serious

-damage.

Sound

comes

out

twisted,

mangled,

or

completely

demolished.

But

in

a

good

way.

The

SONIQ

DEMOLITION

DISK

offers

three

drastically

new

effect

algorithms:

GRAIN

STORM,

PITCH-WARP

and

LO-

FEDELITY.

Works

exclusively

on

the

Ensoniq

ASR-10

and

EPS-16

PLUS.

Kicking

on

sounds,

on

sequences,

on

audio-

in

(even

on

the

16

PLUS)

and

for

re-

sampling.

The

unique

and

powerful

transformations

of

granular

synthesis

alone

make

this

disk

amust-have

for

any

composer

of

sonic

landscape.

May

be

hazardous.

Use

in

a

well

ventilated

area

All

three

effects

just

$39.95

reat

yourself

to

the

best,

Send

heck

or

Money

Order

To:

AVEBOY

Industries

P.O.

Box

33,

Paoll,

PA

19301

USA.

ISA/MC

acceopted.

PA

residents

dd

6%

sales

tax;

Overseas

add

6.

shipping.

tel:

610-251-9562

ax:

610-408-8078

.

The

Mysterious

MIDI

Mapper

Bob

Lang

Wouldn’t

be

great

if

i

E“S°“i‘1

SY“‘“°SiZ“=‘s

Screen

#1

Win»

3.1

Control

Panel

and

Midi

Ma

er

conformed

to

the

gen-

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

eral

MIDI

standard

1n-

5

Elle

Qpﬂons

was-aw

ﬂelp

strument

layout?

The

I

:

I

iii

I

:

general

MIDI

standard

,

-

5'

""5

5"’

;

‘

,

:

'

Y

:

deﬁnes

each

patch

1

5

%

ﬁg’

a

3

i

l

Ci’

FCITB

PMS

MG-ISQ

DOSKIQ

H

_...

is

always

patch

#6,

L

i

lag‘

D’

I

_ _

Keyboard

Printer:

Acoustic

Bass

rs

#32,

F-2]

EZQ

@

;

Tmmpct

ls

#56’

etc‘

E

slim

Sljﬂd

osouuo

Soup

ass

Erhmoed

1

The

general

MIDI

stan-

I

=

1

dard

allows

musicians

‘5"w‘“’*‘**‘“

W3“

"

“I

‘

“

‘es

.1

e_._.

to

exchange

MIDI

files

‘

=

with

others

that

used

,

_

_ _

_

_ _

__

different

synthesizers

l

and

have

the

song

l

"‘“”°P'°°""‘

“‘""‘

"I"

.

sound

similar

on

each

=

.

-

.

E

I

Desorption.

2

synthesizer.

Of

course

=

H

.

Tod‘

Gm‘

¢

.

*

=

we

2

-

.~-

—

you

could

copy

the

l

:

I

sounds

around

in

your

_______________________________________________________________________________

-9

Ensoniq

memory

until

i

I

is

you

had

the

general

MIDI

instrument

layout,

synthesizer

conformed

to

the

MIDI

standard

but

that

is

rather

time

consuming!

instrument

layout,

but

what

a

pain!

There

is

a

much

easier

way.

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QB.-ﬂehlaw

C>£=rl4

For

all

of

you

using

IBM

compatible

personal

computers

with

synthesizers

that

do

not

con-

form

to

the

general

MIDI

standard

for

instru-

ment

and

drum

layouts,

help

has

arrived.

Part

of

the

general

MIDI

standard

for

instrument

layout

is

shown

in

Table

1

and

the

standard

for

dnlms

in

shown

in

Table

2.

The

general

MIDI

standard

is

great

for

exchanging

MIDI

“.MID”

files with

others

that

do

not

use

the

same

brand

synthesizer.

If

you

are

using

Windows

3.1

or

later,

you

al-

ready

have

it!

The

trick

is

a

little

icon

buried

in

the

Windows

Control

Panel

called

the

MIDI

Mapper

as

shown

in

Screen

#1.

The

MIDI

Mapper

works

by

setting

itself

between

the

WINDOWS

sequencing

program

like

CAKEWALK

or

MUSICTIME

and

the

MIDI

output

device

like

an

MPU401

card

or

Sound-

Synthesizers

that

con-

Screen

#2

Ensoniq

MIDI

Setup

fonn

to

ma

MIDI

in_

_.

-.-.-.-.--.--.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.-.;.;.-.-.--.-----

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Instrument Map

.tID

I

Patch

o

1

2

3

4

6

1

8

9

10

II

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

Instrument

Sound

Acoustic Grand Piano

Bright Acoustic Piano

Electric Grand Piano

Honky-tonk Piano

Rhodes Piano

Chorused Piano

Harpsichord

Clavinet Chromatic

Celesta

Glockenspiel

Music

Box

Vibraphone

Marimba

Xylophone

Tubular Bells

Dulcimer

Hammond Organ

Percussive Organ

Rock Organ

Church Organ

Reed Organ

Accordion

Harmonica

Tango Accordion

Acoustic Guitar (nylon)

Acoustic Guitar (steel)

Electric Guitar

Uazz)

Electric Guitar (clean)

Electric Guitar (muted)

Overdriven Guitar

Distortion Guitar

Guitar Harmonics

Acoustic

BassI

Electric Bass (finger)

Electric Bass (pick)

Fretless Bass

Slap

Bass

I

Slap

Bass

2

Synth Bass I

Synth Bass 2

Violin

Viola

Cello

Contrabass

Tremolo Strings

Pizzicato Strings

K.elJt.1aoNarne

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Multimedia

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s

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card

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output.

Whenever

one

sends a program change

command

or

other

MIDI

command

to be mapped, the

MIDI

Mapper

intercepts

it

and changes

it

to

the new

program

change

before sending to

the MIDI

output

device.

The

MIDI

Mapper

allows one to do five

types

of

mapping: Channel, Port, Patch,

Key

and Volume.

But

before one

can

use the

MIDI

Mapper, it

must

be configured.

The

first thing to

do

is create a Setup. In this

case

the

Setup

is called

ENSONIQ

is created

for

an

Ensoniq

SQ-2

synthesizer and is

shown

in

Screen

#2.

The

Setup defines the

channel

mapping

and the hardware the

MIDI

Mapper

will

output

information to.

It

also

41

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Ensoniq

SQ-2

only

receives

on

8 channels only 8 are

defined

in the setup file. The

Ensoniq

is

con-

nected to the MPX

PC

MIDI card,

but

there

may

be

other devices

on

your

computer

to

connect

to the MIDI Mapper.

For

example,

another

SQ-2

could be

connected

to the

Proaudio

MIDI output

on

the

other

eight

channels.

The

second

thing to set

up

is the patch maps.

In

Screen

#2

a patch

map

called

ENSQROM

is referenced.

Screen

#3

shows

how

the

ensQrom

patch

map

is

set

up.

Each

of

the 128

general MIDI standard sound patches is

mapped

to a sound patch

on

the Ensoniq.

For

Table

2-

General MIDI Drum Map

MIDI

Drum

MIDI

Drum

Key

Sound

Key

Sound

35

Acoustic Bass

Drum

59

Ride

Cymbal 2

36

Bass

Drum

#1

60

High

Bongo

37

Side Stick

61

Low

Bongo

38

Acoustic Snare

62

Mute

High Conga

39

Hand Clap

63

Open High Conga

40

Electric Snare

64

Low

Conga

41

Low

Floor

Tom

65

High Timbale

42

Closed High Hat

66

Low

Timbale

43

High Floor

Tom

67

High Agogo

44

Pedal High Hat

68

Low

Agogo

45

Low

Tom

69

Cabasa

46

Open High Hat

70

Maracas

47

LowlMidTom

71

Short Whistle

48

HighlMid

Tom

72

Long

Whistle

49

Crash Cymbal 1

73

Short Guiro

50

High

Tom

74

Long

Guiro

51

Ride Cymbal 1

75

Claves

52

Chinese Cymbal

76

High

Wood

Block

53

Ride Cymbal 77

Low

Wood Block

54

Tambourine

78

Mute

Cuica

55

Splash Cymbal

79

Open Cuica

56

Cowbell

80

Mute

Triangle

57

Crash Cymbal 2

81

Open Triangle

58

Vibraslap

6

i

—

'-

L

Screen

#3

MIDI

Patch

Ma

e

for

SQ-2

ROM

Sounds

;

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SQ-2

Dﬂlms

.

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General

MID!

lrstrument

Map

MIDI

Patch

0

l

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9

10

ll

12

13

14

15

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17

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19

20

21

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24

25

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28

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31

V

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39

--

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43

44

45

6-1»

Instrument

Sound

Acoustic

Grand

Piano

Bright

Acoustic

Piano

Electric

Grand

Piano

Honky-tonk

Piano

Rhodes

Piano

Chorusecl

Piano

Harpsichord

Clavinet

Chromatic

Celeste

Glockenspiel

Music

Box

Vibraphone

Marimba

Xylophone

Tubular

Bells

Dulcimer

I-Iammond

Organ

Percuss-ive

Organ

Rock

Organ

Church

Organ

Reed

Organ

Accorclion

Harmonica

Tango

Accordion

Acoustic

Guitar

(nylon)

Acoustic

-Guitar

(steel)

.Ele¢ltric

Guitar

(jazz)

Electric

Guitar

(clean)

Eiectric

Guitar"

(muted)

Over-driven.

Guitar

_

Distortion

Guitar

Harmonics

Acoustic

Bass-I

..

Electric‘

Bass

(finger)

Electric

Bass

(p-ick)

Fretless

Bass

slap

Bass

I

Slap

Bass

2

Synth

Bass

1

Sy-nth

Bass

2

Viol-in

Vic-la

Cello

Contra-bass

Tremolo

Strings

P'izzie-ate

.String.s

.

I

!I

I

blaster

card

with

MIDI

output.

Whenever

one

sends

a

program

change

command

or

other

MIDI

command

to

be

mapped,

the

MIDI

Mapper

intercepts

it

and

changes

it

to

the

new

program

change

before

sending

to

the

MIDI

output

device.

The

MIDI

Mapper

allows

one

to

do

five

types

of

mapping:

Channel,

Port,

Patch,

Key

and

Volume.

But

before

one

can

use

the

MIDI

Mapper,

it

must

be

configured.

The

first

thing

to

do

is

create

a

Setup.

In

this

case

the

Setup

is

called

ENSONIQ

is

created

for

an

Ensoniq

SQ-2

synthesizer

and

is

shown

in

Screen

#2.

The

Setup

defines

the

channel

mapping

and

the

hardware

the

MIDI

Mapper

will

output

information

to.

It

also

defines

the

name

of

the

patch

setup

that

will

be

used

for

each

channel.

Since

the

Ensoniq

SQ-2

only

receives

on

8

channels

only

8

are

defined

in

the

setup

file.

The

Ensoniq

is

con-

nected

to

the

MPX

PC

MIDI

card,

but

there

may

be

other

devices

on

your

computer

to

connect

to

the

MIDI

Mapper.

For

example,

another

SQ-2

could

be

connected

to

the

Proaudio

MIDI

output

on

the

other

eight

channels.

The

second

thing

to

set

up

is

the

patch

maps.

In

Screen

#2

a

patch

map

called

ENSQROM

is

referenced.

Screen

#3

shows

how

the

ensQrom

patch

map

is

set

up.

Each

of

the

128

general

MIDI

standard

sound

patches

is

mapped

to

a

sound

patch

on

the

Ensoniq.

For

.

I...

Table

2

—

MIDI

Key

Drum

Sound

35

Acoustic

Bass

Drum

36

Bass

Drum

#1

37

Side

Stick

33

Acoustic

Snare

39"

Hand

Ciap

40

_

Electric

Snare

41

Low

Floor

Tom

-

_

42

Closed

High

I-lat

43

'1-Iigh

Floor

Tom

44

Pedal

High

Hat

45

Low

Torn

-46

Open

High

Hat

-47'

LowfM'id

Tom

48

Higliihdid

Tom

A

49

Crash

Cymbal

I

'

50

High.

Tom

I

-

SI

Ride

Cy-mbai

1

l

'

52

H

Chinese

Cymbal-

=

.

53

Ride

Tambourine

514

I

S_plash-Gyinbal

Cow-bell

-

_ _

Crash

Cymbal

Vibra-slap

.53.

I

General

MIDI

Drum

Map

MIDI

Key

59

Drum

.

Sound.

Ride

Cymbal

2

60

High

Bongo

61

Low

Bongo

62

Mate

High

Conga

63

Open

High

Conga

64

Low

Conga

'

65

High

Tirnbale

66

Low

Timbale

6'7

High

Agogo

68

Low

Agogo

69

Cabasa

-

70

Maracas.

.

'71

72

'

Long

Whistle

73

Short

Ga-ire

.

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Long

Guiro

,

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Claves

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Low

Wood

Block

-

79'

Open

Cuica

4

80

Mute

Triangle

_

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81

Open

Triangle

-

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High

Wood

Block

p

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6

_

.._.._..__-_..___._?,i_-

.

_

....

_

example general MIDI standard sound patch

for music box

is

10

which

is

mapped to patch

76 (new bell) on the Ensoniq SQ-2 ROM

sounds.

In

ad

dition, the music box

is

also

mapped

to

play notes one octave higher and

one half

as

loud

on

the Ensoniq SQ-

2.

You

just have

to

try to find the best match for the

general MIDI standard sound.

Finally the last type

of

MIDI mapping

is

the

key mapping.

In

Screen #3

we

saw the use of

the + 1 octave key mapping. One may set

up

other key mapping

as

well. Key mapping

is

especially useful

in

defining a standard drum

set. Screen

#4

shows how the general MIDI

standard drum layout can

be

mapped into the

drum map

of

the SQ-2. A new key map called

ensqdrum was set up and would

be

refer-

enced on Screen #3 for sound patch #126

(MIDI standard Drums) on channel

16

which

would

be

mapped

to

Ensoniq sound patch

#81 (Top Forty Drum Kit). Thus when drums

were assigned to instrument patch #126 play-

ing

key

#39 (MIDI

standard hand clap) in

the software sequen-

cer, the MIDI mapper

will cause the Ensoniq

to

use instrument

patch

#81

and play

note #96 (SQ-2 hand

clap).

CAKEWAlK

SEQUENCER

Channel 16. Pa1ch 126. Key

39

Figure 1 MIDI Mapper

Transformations for Drum

Example

WINDOWS

MIDI Mapper

Software

Channel 8, Pa1ch

81.

Key 39

This transformation

is

shown schematically

in Figure 1. TO ENSONIQ KEYBOARD

Channel 8. Patch

81

. Key 96

Once the MIDI Setups,

Patch Maps, and Key Maps are configured,

then

go

into the WINDOWS sequencer pro-

gram and set the MIDI output device

to

the

Microsoft MIDI Mapper. This will force

ou

t-

put from the sequencer through the MIDI

Mapper. Do not try

to

use the MIDI Mapper

and the hardware port at the same time or

you

will get a "device in use" error message.

That's all there

is

to it and now your syn-

thesizer conforms

to

the proposed general

MIDI standard for instrument layout!

Bio: Bob Lang

is

an engineer and freelance

writer trying

to

get the word out on MIDI,

music and computers

to

the masses.

Ensoniql

MACs

&

CDs

ROM utility. I use the fast drive inside my

computer for multimedia etc. The other drive

is

an

old slow Apple CD-ROM drive that I

got cheaply. I use FWB Software's CD-ROM

ToolKit ($79,

http://www.fwb.com/ci/pr/

cdCpr.html)

as

a replacement for

the

Apple

CD-ROM driver. This software lists all

of

the

CD-ROM drives and burners on

my

system,

and allows

me

to

enable or disable whichever

ones I want.

I've seen a few questions about this

in

past

Hackers, but never happened to catch if

anyone ever printed the definitive answer.

Just

in

case,

I'm

sharing mine.

As

many

of

you

Mac users know, Macs are

pretty aggressive about identifying and at-

tempting

to

"mount" CD-ROMs

as

soon

as

they're inserted.

This

is

pretty obnoxious when

you

have an

Ensoniq box, a CD, and a Mac on the same

SCSI bus.

You

try

to

insert a Mega-Super-

Duper Monster Sample Library into the

CD-ROM drive, and the Mac asks

you

if you

want to format it (!?) or eject it.

So

to

use an EPS

CD

on a system like this,

you are forced

to

disable the default Apple

CD-ROM driver and restart the Mac. Then,

to

use it for Mac or audio stuff,

you

have

to

reinstall the driver and restart, agai

n.

I hate restarting the Mac. The faster your

Mac, it seems, the longer it takes to restar

t.

The Proper Way, Alas

The proper way

to

deal with this would

be

for Ensoniq (or Terje or Barry -I'll pay for

it!) to write a "Foreign File Access" module.

These modules work with Apple's Foreign

File Access extension, and they are what al-

lows Macs to

so

gracefully mount audio CD's

and CD-ROMs

in

non-Mac file formats. This

Mike Jennings

would

be

a cool trick, to

be

able

to

directly

access the data from the Mac desktop for

editing, translation, disk management, etc.

But even if all

it

did was make the Mac ig-

nore it, that would

be

great, too, because the

disk utility I use (EPSm, http://fysmac04.-

uio.no/eps.html) can access the CD anyway.

The Expensive

Way

In the meantime, I have made do with two

CD-ROM drives and an off-the-shelf CD-

So I enable the CD-ROM drive

in

my

com-

puter and leave the older external drive "

off"

(unchecked). This way, the Mac ignores any-

thing inserted into the external CD-ROM

drive and lets

me

use just the internal

as

a

Mac drive.

Hacker

Reinitialization -SQ/KS/KT/E-Prime

Ho\Y

Sounds

Work

Part

2:

Strings

Th

is

is the second part in a series

of

articles

ai

med at

the

intermediate

SQ

-family (KSI

KT/E-Prime) programmer who

is

familiar

wi

th

basic sound design techniques (a grad-

uate, one might say,

of

the Clark Salisbury

School

of

SQ), but may be unfamiliar with

some

of

the

lesser known tricks that can spice

up sounds and make them more realistic.

Each month I'll present a useful, real-world

sound patch that uses special techniques (like

realistic vibratos or wind instrument pitch

blips) that can

be

applied

to

other sounds.

7

Mark Clifton

And in true Clifton ian fashion, I'll attempt to

explain exactly how those techniques do what

they do. These articles will focus mainly on

imitations

of

acoustic instruments.

If

you're

more into esoteric synthesized textures, check

out Jack Stephen Tolin's "Wave Mutilation

10

1" series, which contains some

of

the most

demented methods

of

destroying waveforms

ever

to

spring from the mind

of

a psych

major.

For this month,

we

'll look at the patch "Low

example

general

MIDI

standard

sound

patch

for

music

box

is

10

which

is

mapped

to

patch

76

(new

bell)

on

the

Ensoniq

SQ-2

ROM

sounds.

In

addition,

the

music

box

is

also

mapped

to

play

notes

one

octave

higher

and

one

half

as

loud

on

the

Ensoniq

SQ-2.

You

just

have

to

try

to

find

the

best

match

for

the

general

MIDI

standard

sound.

Finally

the

last

type

of

MIDI

mapping

is

the

key

mapping.

In

Screen

#3

we

saw

the

use

of

the

+1

octave

key

mapping.

One

may

set

up

other

key

mapping

as

well.

Key

mapping

is

especially

useful

in

defining

a

standard

drum

set.

Screen

#4

shows

how

the

general

MIDI

standard

drum

layout

can

be

mapped

into

the

drum

map

of

the

SQ-2.

A

new

key

map

called

ensqdrum

was

set

up

and

would

be

refer-

enced

on

Screen

#3

for

sound

patch

#126

(MIDI

standard

Drums)

on

channel

16

which

would

be

mapped

to

Ensoniq

sound

patch

#81

(Top

Forty

Drum

Kit).

Thus

when

drums

were

assigned

to

instrument

patch

#126

play-

ing

key

#39

(MIDI

standard

hand

clap)

in

the

software

sequen-

cer,

the

MIDI

mapper

will

cause

the

Ensoniq

I

PATCH

MAP

wmoowg

I

to

use

instrument

I

°"$‘l'°"‘

Channel

s,

Patch

126,

Key

as

I

g£:v';“r:PP°'

patch

#81

and

play

CAKEWALK

ssoueucsn

SETUP

MN,

Figure

1

mot

Mapper

I

Channel

16,

Patch

126,

Key

39

ensomq

l

Exrilﬂsftffnalloni

F0!‘

Dﬂﬂﬂ

i

amp

e

_

___

'

'7

"

'nr

Q-

note

#96

(SQ-2

hand

‘

~

Kgwmap

f

°laP)-

cnannet

s.

eaten

31,

Key

as

msqdmm

I

This

transformation

is

shown

schematically

‘III

-

TO

ENSONIQ

KEYBOARD

"1

F‘g“r°

1'

I

Channel

a.

Patch

at.

Key

as

___

V

I

_

Once

the

MIDI

Setups,

Patch

Maps,

and

Key

Maps

are

configured,

then

go

into

the

WINDOWS

sequencer

pro-

gram

and

set

the

MIDI

output

device

to

the

Microsoft

MIDI

Mapper.

This

will

force

out-

put

from

the

sequencer

through

the

MIDI

Mapper.

Do

not

try

to

use

the

MIDI

Mapper

and

the

hardware

port

at

the

same

time

or

you

will

get

a

“device

in

use”

error

message.

That’s

all

there

is

to

it

and

now

your

syn-

thesizer

conforms

to

the

proposed

general

MIDI

standard

for

instrument

layout!

Bio:

Bob

Lang

is

an

engineer

and

freelance

writer

trying

to

get

the

word

out

on

MIDI,

music

and

computers

to

the

masses.

Ensoniq,

l\/lACs

&

CDs

I’ve

seen

a

few

questions

about

this

in

past

Hackers,

but

never

happened

to

catch

if

anyone

ever

printed

the

definitive

answer.

Just

in

case,

I’m

sharing

mine.

As

many

of

you

Mac

users

know,

Macs

are

pretty

aggressive

about

identifying

and

at-

tempting

to

“mount”

CD-ROMs

as

soon

as

they’re

inserted.

This

is

pretty

obnoxious

when

you

have

an

Ensoniq

box,

a

CD,

and

a

Mac

on

the

same

SCSI

bus.

You

try

to

insert

a

Mega-Super-

Duper

Monster

Sample

Library

into

the

CD-ROM

drive,

and

the

Mac

asks

you

if

you

want

to

format

it

(!?)

or

eject

it.

So

to

use

an

EPS

CD

on

a

system

like

this,

you

are

forced

to

disable

the

default

Apple

CD-ROM

driver

and

restart

the

Mac.

Then,

to

use

it

for

Mac

or

audio

stuff,

you

have

to

reinstall

the

driver

and

restart,

again.

I

hate

restarting

the

Mac.

The

faster

your

Mac,

it

seems,

the

longer

it

takes

to

restart.

The

Proper

Woy,

Alos

The

proper

way

to

deal

with

this

would

be

for

Ensoniq

(or

Terje

or

Barry

-—

I’ll

pay

for

it!)

to

write

a

“Foreign

File

Access”

module.

These

modules

work

with

Apple’s

Foreign

File

Access

extension,

and

they

are

what

al-

lows

Macs

to

so

gracefully

mount

audio

CD’s

and

CD-ROMs

in

non-Mac

file

formats.

This

Mike

Jennings

would

be

a

cool

trick,

to

be

able

to

directly

access

the

data

from

the

Mac

desktop

for

editing,

translation,

disk

management,

etc.

But

even

if

all

it

did

was

make

the

Mac

ig-

nore

it,

that

would

be

great,

too,

because

the

disk

utility

I

use

(EPSm,

http://fysmac04.-

uio.no/eps.html)

can

access

the

CD

anyway.

The

Expensive

Way

In

the

meantime,

I

have

made

do

with

two

CD-ROM

drives

and an

off-the-shelf

CD-

ROM

utility.

I

use

the

fast

drive

inside

my

computer

for

multimedia

etc.

The

other

drive

is

an

old

slow

Apple

CD-ROM

drive

that

I

got

cheaply.

I

use

FWB

Software’s

CD-ROM

ToolKit

($79,

http://www.fwb.com/ci/pr/

cdt_pr.html)

as

a

replacement

for

the

Apple

CD-ROM

driver.

This

software

lists

all

of

the

CD-ROM

drives

and

bumers

on

my

system,

and

allows

me

to

enable

or

disable

whichever

ones

I

want.

So

I

enable

the

CD-ROM

drive

in

my

com-

puter

and

leave

the

older

external

drive

“off”

(unchecked).

This

way,

the

Mac

ignores

any-

thing

inserted

into

the

external

CD-ROM

drive

and

lets

me

use

just

the

internal

as

a

Mac

drive.

Hooker

Reinitiolizcrtion

—

SQ/KS/KT/E-Prime

How

Sounds

Work

Port

2:

Strings

This

is

the

second

part

in

a

series

of

articles

aimed

at

the

intermediate

SQ-family

(KS/

KT/E-Prime)

programmer

who

is

familiar

with

basic

sound

design

techniques

(a

grad-

uate,

one

might

say,

of

the

Clark

Salisbury

School

of

SQ),

but

may

be

unfamiliar

with

some

of

the

lesser

known

tricks

that

can

spice

up

sounds

and

make

them

more

realistic.

Each

month

I’ll

present

a

useful,

real-world

sound

patch

that

uses

special

techniques

(like

realistic

vibratos

or

wind

instrument

pitch

blips)

that

can

be

applied

to

other

sounds.

7

Mark

Clifton

And

in

true

Cliftonian

fashion,

I’ll

attempt

to

explain

exactly

how

those

techniques

do

what

they

do.

These

articles

will

focus

mainly

on

imitations

of

acoustic

instruments.

If

you’re

more

into

esoteric

synthesized

textures,

check

out

Jack

Stephen

Tolin’s

“Wave

Mutilation

lOl”

series,

which

contains

some

of

the

most

demented

methods

of

destroying

waveforms

ever

to

spring

from

the

mind

of

a

psych

major.

For

this

month,

we’ll

look

at

the

patch

“Low

Strings." This

is

a patch that I created for

Latter Sounds because I was

in

need

of

a full,

rich-sounding low string (Double Bass and

Cello) section.

The String Ensemble waveform

is

good raw

material for most string sounds, but it has a

major flaw in the lower range. The waveform

is multisampled, that is it is made up

of

several different wavesamples mapped across

the keyboard. This particular waveform ap-

pears to have been made up

of

three separate

samples. The uppermost one sounds like a

violin section. This sample is mapped

to

F#5

and all keys above it. The next sample adds

what sounds like violas and maybe cellos and

is matched ve

ry

nicely to the wavesample

above it so that there

is

very little change in

timbre when you play between them. The

sample extends from F5 downward

to

G3. On

the rest

of

the keys below it

is

the double

bass sample. And that's where the problem

begins.

To start, solo the String Ensemble waveform

by itself with no fancy modulation. Start

playing a chromatic scale downward starting

from C4. Sounds nice, huh? A very usable

mid- and

lo

w-range string sound. That is,

until you hit F#3 and wham!, the double bass

sample happens. Just try playing a musical

phrase between the two wavesamples and

yo

u'll soon find out that

it's

like impossible

to create a smooth sound with that bass

sample pounding on the low notes. Now

do

n'

t get me wrong -both samples are good

and usable.

It's

just that the difference in

SQ/KS/KT/E' Prog: Low Strings·

WAVE 2 3 LFO

Se

l

ect

Voice

On On On

LFO

Speed

Wave Class Expan String

String

Noise

Rate

Wave ViolaSect StringEns

String

Ens

Level

Delay

Time

000 000

000

Delay

Wave

Direction

Forward

MODSRC

Start

Index

00

12

Wave

".1OD

SCR

Off

Veloc

Restart

MODAMT

-09

Restrk

Decay

26

FILTER

Filter

1

PITCH 2 3

Filter

2

Octave

-1 -2

+0

FCI

Cutoff

Sem

itone

+00 -04

+04

ENV2

Fine

+00

+28

-24

FC1

KBD

ENV1

+00

-99

+99

MODSCR

LFO

+02 +02

+02

MODAMT

MODSCR

Off

011

FC2

Cutoff

MODAMT

ENV2

KBD

Ptch

Track

On On

On

FC

2

KBD

sound between them can

be

rather jarring. I

knew that there was

no

way I could get a

smooth low string with that kind

of

timbral

gap in the middle.

What I needed was a way

to

remap the two

wavesamples so that they overlapped, thus

blending the sounds and allowing each sec-

tion to play through its full natural range,

which extends well past the ranges that the

samples are mapped

in.

And although the

SQ

doesn't allow you to remap the samples

within a waveform it does allow you to shift

wavesamples into different note ranges.

When you tune a waveform on the SQ-!

(using Oscillator Tuning page), the samples it

contains are shifted to a new note range to

cause the change

in

pitch. In other words,

if

a

waveform

is

tuned an octave higher than the

original pitch, the key ranges

of

the wave-

samples will shift downward so that they are

mapped an octave lower. Instead

of

bending

the pitch

of

the wavesamples, the SQ just

moves them all

to

a different location_ This is

done

to

keep the sound consistent and pre-

vent some

of

the weird sonic artifacts that

can creep in when the pitch is bent too

seve

rely_

When a modulator, however, is applied to

pitch

(o

n the Pitch Mods page) it will bend

the pitch without shifting the wavesamples.

This

is

done by altering the sample rate

of

the

wavesample so that

yo

u can bend the sound

as high or low

as

you want without intruding

into the key range

of

another sample.

By:

Mark Clifton

AMP

Initial

67

Peak

99

2 3

38 36 37

40

40 40

24 24

24

59 59 59

Off

Off Off

Triangle

SinefT

ri

SinefTri

On On On

Bre

ak

92

Sust

ain

84

Attack

21

De

cay

1

75

Decay

2

66

Release

30

Vel-Level

26

Vel-Attack

13

Vel

Curve

Conve

x

2 3

Mode

Normal

KBDTrack

+00

2Lo

2La

2Lo

022 022

022 OUTPUT

+70 +70

+70

VOL

70

-

29

-29

Boost

On

LFO LFO

LFO

MODSRC

LFO

+11 +11 +11

MODAMT

+04

036 039 036

KBD

Scale

+00

+46 +46 +46

Key

Range

+36 +36 +36

Output

Bus

FX1

Using these princip

le

s,

I tuned the sounds so

that they cove

re

d the key range that I wanted

them

to

and then used an envelope to bend

the pitch into tune.

If

you'll take a look at

Oscillator two

of

"Low Strings*" you'll see

how I tuned the lower double bass sample

until it covered the range from C2 (the lowest

note on the

SQ-l

keyboard) to A#5. Since

this put the sound massively out

of

tune, I

used Envelope I with the Fine tuning para-

meter

to

bend the pitch until it was in tune.

This took some tweaking to get it right, but

not bad, considering. Then I scaled the sound

(on the Keyboard Scale/Range page) so that

it faded out in the upper register where some

noisy artifacts start

to

appear as a result

of

the pitch bending.

The technique is basically the same for Oscil-

lator three except that I used different tuning

values

in

order

to

isolate the viola/cello

sample. When both oscillators are played

together you get seamlessly overlapping bass

and cello sounds that play smoothly up the

keyboard. Oscillator one was put in to cover

up some

of

the sonic artifacts resulting from

the bending

of

the pitch and also

to

add more

fullness and consistency. This particular

patch was created

on

an SQ-32 Voice. The

"Viola Sect" waveform is not available on

the plain bread-and-butter SQ-! but you can

still get a nice realistic sound by replacing

this waveform with the "String Ensemble"

wave.

This technique can also be seen used in the

patches "Tarkus" (TH #86) and "Sabre Saw"

(#66) by Jim Grote and in

"Sam's Piano" (#64) by

2

67

99

92

84

21

75

66

30

26

13

Co

n

vex

Normal

+00

2

74

On

Off

-

99

A4#-C7

FX1

3

67

99

92

84

21

75

66

30

26

13

Con

vex

Normal

+00

3

70

On

Off

+65

C2-D4#

F

X1

Sam Mims. All three are

VFXlSD-! Hackerpatches

but they transfer nicely

into an SQ-

!.

Have fun

shifting those wavesam-

pIes. But always remember

this -

if

you have a dog,

don't shift them too high.

Trust me, I found out by

accident how much good

01'

Flem hates beat fre-

quencies.

Glide

011

Off

FC

IMOD-FC2

On

Priority

M

ed

Med Med

Glide

Time

00

ENVl

2 3 ENV2

Initial

00

Initial

Peak

00 00

Peak

Break

00 00

Break

Sustain

99

Sustain

Attack

00

Attack

Decay

1

99 99

Decay

1

Decay

2

99 99

Decay

2

Release

99

Release

Vel-Level

00 00

Vel-Level

Vel-Attack

00 00

Vel-Attack

Vel

Curve

Linear

Vel

Curve

Mode

Normal

Mode

KBD Track +00

+00

KBDTrack

2 3

56

56 56

99

86 86 86

72 72

72

08 08 08

61

61 61

87 87 87

77

46 46 46

06 06

06

Convex Convex Convex

Normal Normal

Normal

+00

8

Pa n

Vel

window

HALL

REVERB

FX-1

FX

-2

Deca

y

Time

Diffusion

Delune

Rate

Detune

Depth

HF

Damping

HF

Bandwidth

LF

Decay

MOD

(Dest)

BY

(MODSRC)

MODAMT

+00

+28

-28

>000 >000 >000

45 (Note:

Modwheel

25

increases

reverb.)

38

54

36

14

46

99

+11

FX1-Mi

x

Modwheel

+99

Bio: Mark Clifton is a

player and composer

of

Jazz. New Age. Orchestral

and Rap (yes. Rap!) music

and an aspiring Cyberpunk

writer who also wouldn't

mind going into sound

design or film scoring. His

favorite color is the in-

finite. star-speckled black-

ness

of

space.

Strings.”

This

is

a

patch

that

I

created

for

Latter

Sounds

because

I

was

in

need

of

a

full,

rich-sounding

low

string

(Double

Bass

and

Cello)

section.

The

String

Ensemble

waveform

is

good

raw

material

for

most

string

sounds,

but

it

has

a

major

flaw

in

the

lower

range.

The

waveform

is

multisampled,

that

is

it

is

made

up

of

several

different

wavesamples

mapped

across

the

keyboard.

This

particular

waveform

ap-

pears

to

have

been

made

up

of

three

separate

samples.

The

uppermost

one

sounds

like

a

violin

section.

This

sample

is

mapped

to

F#5

and

all

keys

above

it.

The

adds

what

sounds

like

violas

and

maybe

cellos

and

is

matched

very

nicely

to

the

wavesample

above

it

so

that

there

is

very

little

change

in

timbre

when

you

play

between

them.

The

sample

extends

from

F5

downward

to

G3.

On

the

rest

of

the

keys

below

it

is

the

double

bass

sample.

And

that’s

where

the

problem

begins.

To

start,

solo

the

String

Ensemble

waveform

by

itself

with

no

fancy

modulation.

Start

playing

a

chromatic

scale

downward

starting

from

C4.

Sounds

nice,

huh?

A

very

usable

mid-

and

low-range

string

sound.

That

is,

until

you

hit

F#3

and

whaml,

the

double

bass

sample

happens.

Just

try

playing

a

musical

phrase

between

the

two

wavesamples

and

you’ll

soon

find

out

that

it’s

like

impossible

to

create

a

smooth

sound

with

that

bass

sample

pounding

on

the

low

notes.

Now

don’t

get

me

wrong

-—

both

samples

are

good

and

usable.

It’s

just

that

the

difference

in

sound

between

them

can

be

rather

jarring.

I

knew

that

there

was

no

way

I

could

get

a

smooth

low

string

with

that

kind

of

timbral

gap

in

the

middle.

What

I

needed

was

a

way

to

remap

the

two

wavesamples

so

that

they

overlapped,

thus

blending

the

sounds

and

allowing

each

sec-

tion

to

play

through

its

full

natural

range,

which

extends

well

past

the

ranges

that

the

samples

are

mapped

in.

And

although

the

SQ

doesn’t

allow

you

to

remap

the

samples

within

a

waveform

it

does

allow

you

to

shift

wavesamples

into

different

note

ranges.

When

you

tune

a

waveform

on

the

SQ-1

(using

Oscillator

Tuning

page),

the

samples

it

contains

are

shifted

to

a

new

note

range

to

cause

the

change

in

pitch.

In

other

words,

if

a

waveform

is

tuned

an

octave

higher

than

the

original

pitch,

the

key

ranges

of

the

wave-

samples

will

shift

downward

so

that

they

are

mapped

an

octave

lower.

Instead

of

bending

the

pitch

of

the

wavesamples,

the

SQ

just

moves

them

all

to

a

different

location.

This

is

done

to

keep

the

sound

consistent

and

pre-

vent

some

of

the

weird

sonic

artifacts

that

can

creep

in

when

the

pitch

is

bent

too

severely.

When

a

modulator,

however,

is

applied

to

pitch

(on

the

Pitch

Mods

page)

it

will

bend

the

pitch

without

shifting

the

wavesamples.

This

is

done

by

altering

the

sample

rate

of

the

wavesample

so

that

you

can

bend

the

sound

as

high

or

low

as

you

want

without

intruding

into

the

key

range

of

another

sample.

Using

these

principles,

I

tuned

the

sounds

so

that

they

covered

the

key

range

that

I

wanted

them

to

and

then

used

an

envelope

to

bend

the

pitch

into

tune.

If

you’ll

take

a

look

at

Oscillator

two

of

“Low

Strings*”

you’ll

see

how

I

tuned

the

lower

double

bass

sample

until

it

covered

the

range

from

C2

(the

lowest

note

on

the

SQ-l

keyboard)

to

A#5.

Since

this

put

the

sound

massively

out

of

tune,

I

used

Envelope

1

with

the

Fine

tuning

para-

meter

to

bend

the

pitch

until

it

was

in

tune.

This

took

some

tweaking

to get

it

right,

but

not

bad,

considering.

Then

I

scaled

the

sound

(on

the

Keyboard

Scale/Range

page)

so

that

it

faded out

in

the

upper

register

where

some

noisy

artifacts

start

to

appear

as

a

result

of

the

pitch

bending.

The

technique

is

basically

the

same

for

Oscil-

lator

three

except

that

I

used

different

tuning

values

in

order

to

isolate

the

viola/cello

sample.

When

both

oscillators

are

played

together

you

get

seamlessly

overlapping

bass

and

cello

sounds

that

play

smoothly

up

the

keyboard.

Oscillator

one

was

put

in

to

cover

up

some

of

the

sonic

artifacts

resulting

from

the

bending

of

the

pitch

and

also

to

add

more

fullness

and

consistency.

This

particular

patch

was

created

on

an

SQ-32

Voice.

The

“Viola

Sect”

waveform

is

not

available

on

the

plain

bread-and-butter

SQ-l

but

you

can

still

get

a

nice

realistic

sound

by

replacing

this

waveform

with

the

“String

Ensemble”

wave.

This

technique

can

also

be

seen

used

in

the

patches

“Tarkus”

(TI-I

#86)

and

“Sabre

Saw”

(#66)

by

Jim

Grote

and

in

SQIKSIKTIE’

Prog:

Low

Strings*

wave

1

a

By:

Mark

Cliﬁon

AMP

1

“Sam’s

Piano”

(#64)

by

2 3

Sam

Mims.

All

three

are

ll

Initial

67

Peak

99

Break

92

1

2

Sustain

84

67

VFX/SD-1

Hackerpatches

99

r

92

_

but

they

transfer

nicely

84

1

Select

Voice

Wave

Class

Wave

Delay

Time

Wave

Direction

Start

index

MODSCR

MODAMT

Restrk

Decay

PITCH

On

Expan

Vlolasect

000

Forward

00

Olf

26

1

2

On

String

StringEns

000

Forward

1

2

Veloc

-09

26

2

On

String

StringEns

000

Forward

12

Veloc

-09

26

3

Octave

Semitone

Fine

ENV1

LFO

MODSCR

MODAMT

KBD

Ptch

Track

Glide

Time

-1

+00

+02

Off

On

Off

00

-2

-04

+28

-99

+02

Off

On

Off

00

+0

+04

-24

+99

+02

Off

On

Off

00

ENV1

1

2

3

LFO

Speed

Noise

Rate

Level

Delay

MODSRC

Wave

Restart

38

40

24

59

Off

Triangle

On

36

40

24

59

Off

SinelTri

On

3

37

40

24

59

on

Sineffri

On

FILTER

1

2 3

Filter

1

Filter

2

FC1

Cutoff

ENV

2

FC1

KBD

MODSCR

MODAMT

FC2

Cutoff

ENV2

FC2

KBD

2Lo

2

Lo

022

+70

-29

LFO

+1

1

036

+46

+36

FC1

MOD-FC2

On

2L0

21.0

022

+70

-29

LFO

+1

1

039

+46

+36

On

2Lo

2L0

i

022

+70

L

-29

LFO

+1

1

036

+46

+36

,

On

‘

ENV2

1

2

-

3

Initial

Peak

Break

Sustain

Attack

Decay

1

Decay

2

Release

Vel-Level

Vel-Attack

Vel

Curve

Mode

KBD

Track

-

00

99

00

99

00

Linear

Normal

+00

00

99

00

99

00

Linear

Normal

Initial

Peak

Break

Sustain

Attack

Decay

1

Decay

2

Release

Vel-Level

Vel-Attack

Vel

Curve

M

d

56

99

86

72

08

61

87

77

46

06

Convex

Normal

56

99

86

72

08

61

87

77

46

06

Convex

Normal

56

99

66

72

08

61

87

77

46

06

Convex

Normal

,

Attack

Decay

1

Decay

2

Release

VeI—Level

VeI—Attack

Vel

Curve

Mode

KBD

Track

21

75

66

30

26

1

3

Convex

Normal

+00

21

75

66

30

26

13

Convex

Normal

+00

21

75

66

30

26

13

Convex

Normal

+00

O

UTPUT

1

2

VOL

Boost

MODSRC

MODAMT

KBD

Scale

Key

Range

Output

Bus

Priority

Pan

Vel

window

70

On

LFO

+04

+00

FX1

Med

+00

>000

74

On

Off

-99

A4-#-C7

FX1

Med

+28

>000

3-.

70

On

Off

+65

C2—D4#

FX1

Med

-28

>000

H

ALL

REVERB

FX-1

FX-2

Decay

Time

Diffusion

Detune

Ftate

Detune

Depth

HF

Damping

HF

Bandwidth

LF

Decay

MOD

(Desi)

BY

rmoosncy

45

25

38

54

36

1

4

46

Q9

+1

1

FX1-Mix

(Note:

Modwheel

increases

reverb.)

°

9

Modwheel

,

_

i°°

KBD

T'?‘?"

-

i°°

*°° *°°

-

MODAMT

+99

favorite

color

ls

the

tn-

?

l

7

W.

_

__

if

__

T

T‘?

l

i

8

into

an

SQ-l.

Have

fun

shifting

those

wavesam-

ples.

But

always

remember

this

—

if

you

have

a

dog,

don’t

shift

them

too

high.

Trust

me,

I

found

out

by

accident

how

much

good

ol’

Flem

hates

beat

fre-

quencies.

Bio:

Mark

Clifton

is

a

player

and

composer

of

Jazz,

New

Age,

Orchestral

and

Rap

(yes,

Rap!)

music

and

an

aspiring

Cyberpunk

writer

who

also

wouldn't

mind

going

into

sound

design

or

ﬁlm

scoring.

His

ﬁnite,

star-speckled

black-

ness

of

space.

n-i-—-

———

—-

‘

77

7"

A

I

l

I

l

Ii“-

_n_

I

l

_

______

_

-

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

-Internet: interface@transoniq.com. In

many

cases

a

quick

answer

can

be

obtained

by

posting

to

our

interactive,

on-line

Interface

at

9ur

Web

site

(http://www.transoniq.com/interface.html)

or

calling

Ensoniq

CS

at

610-647-3930.

This

is probably

one

of

the

most

open

forums

in

the music industry.

Letter

writers

are

asked

to please

keep

the vitriol

to

a

minimum.

Readers

are

reminded to

take

everything with a

grain

of

salt.

Resident

answer-man is

Pat

Finnigan

(PF)

.

Letter

publication

in

the

printed version

of

TH is

subject

to

space

considerations.

Hello everyone,

I've recently downloaded a demo FX library for the ASR

that was originally distributed, I believe,

by

Prosoniq.

It

is

dated '94. I enjoyed the effects immensely and wanted to

purchase them. The readme file included with the

download said to contact Frederic Schelling.

I've

tried

with

no

response. I also e-mailed Prosoniq and they in-

formed

me

that they had no products for the ASR.

I wrote Garth at Rubber Chicken to see

if

he had any

ideas and

he

explained that these effects were no longer

available because

of

possible issues

of

copyright infringe-

ment on the behalf

of

Waveboy and/or Ensoniq.

Some

of

these effects sound very cool and

I'd

love

to

be

having

at

them on

my

ASR keyboard

as

well

as

rack unit.

I own all

of

the Waveboy effects and would hate to see

anybody's rights infringed upon. So please, with the best

intentions,

if

anyone purchased these effects when they

were available please contact me to see if we could work

something out.

Sincerely,

Luis Resto

Iresto@earthlink.net

[PF -Luis: Duly noted and posted. Readers?}

[TH -We're not really clear here on just exactly what

your situation would be with regard to copyrights. I don't

believe there

was

any sort

of

"recall"

of

product that

was

shipped,

so

if

you find someone who,

in

good faith, simply

purchased a product and now is willing

to

resell it

to

you,

probably

no

one

is going

to

come after you.

On

the other

hand ...

·you·

know what the history

of

this little item is -

and

if

someone wanted

to

make an issue

of

it, they cer-

tainly could. Probably the best thing you could

do

is

to

give ot' Waveboy a call and just explain the whole deal

and see what they say.}

[Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) -I agree. Sounds like a

good answer.}

[Garth (chickenEPS@willmar.com) -Actually, all we

knolV

for sure is that they aren't available anymore be-

cause they stopped being distributed. For a full story,

check our RCS web site -www.soundcentral.com/-chick·

eneps/prosoniq.html.

In

a nutshell, there were copies

of

Waveboy's effects, but there were also 16-Plus effects-

type versions for some ASR effects (could have been very

useful for 16-Plus owners), and some other combinations

of

reverb effects.}

[TH -And

in

case anyone has doubts about the actual

piracy involved here, we've just had a note from someone

who'd rather remain nameless that quite a discussion on

. this whole sorry tale (complete with some interesling

comparison lest results) can be found at

Ihe

Oakland ar·

chives. Check out the link on our "Related Sites" page.}

TH-

I have

an

EPS, SCSI, and an extremely old 64MB

Winchester Hard Drive that still works, but sometimes

gets confused. I therefore bought a used DAC/Syquest

44MB

MO

drive which worked for a while but suddenly

refused

to

co-operate and now sits here useless.

I notice that the EPS SCSI board has a 24-pin connector,

my

Winchester Hard Drive and the Syquest have 50 pins,

and a standard

PC

SCSI Hard Drive has 39/40.

Is

it

poss-

ible to use PC SCSI drives with the EPS and

if

so, do you

have a wiring diagram

to

do this? Also, do you have a

wiring diagram for the SyquestlWinchester type buss? I

bought the EPS and Winchester used about

IS

years ago,

and they came with a hand-wired 25-pin '

D'

connector to

50-pin SCSI connector.

It

has never been totally reliable

and I wonder

if

it is because the wiring is a bit iffy.

I currently have V 2.35 on floppy,

4X

Expander, SCSI

and 8-outs.

Is

my

as

worth upgrading?

Any information or pointers

to

other sites would

be

great-

1y

appreciated.

Thanks,

Gareth Magennis

gareth@datman.demon.

co.uK

[PF -Gareth:

You

MUST upgrade the

O.S.

to

2.49: it's

SOOO far supe

ri

or

to

earlier spins it's a given.

The

other

issue

is

your ROM version. Ensure it's 2.40.

If

not, call

Ensoniq and request the 2.40 ROM's. As I've said before,

O.S.

2.49 with ROM

V.

2.40 allows you

to

boot from SCSI

lD #0, use SCSI drives 1 Gb and larger, and allows selec-

table interleave when formatting (which

is

a load time

saver) .

..

SCSI is SCSI, whether it's a PC, a

Mac,

a NeXT, a DEC,

whatever. There are different SCSI protocols (SCSll,

SCS12,

SCSI3, differential, etc.) but the EPS performs

famously with SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 50-pin devices. A stan-

dard

PC

IDE drive has 40 pins -this is not a SCSI device.

As cheap

as

SCSI drives are nowadays,

I'd

bag something

in

the 160-750 Mb range. As Mac computers use SCSI

drives that are almost 100% EPS-compatible, any pull

from a Mac

LCll

and above

is

an

ideal candidate.

If

you're used to working with a 60

MB

Winchester drive,

I'll GIVE you a Seagate STl096

5-114"

65

Mb

SCSI drive

for shipping. but you'll get more bang for your buck bag-

gin a 250-500Mb drive from a local source. As

the

smal-

lest capacity new SCSI drive

is

2.1

Gb, it's WAY overkill

for

an

EPS.

Yes,

I've experienced the very same problems with a cus-

tom

cable from the DB-25 port on the EPS

to

a 50-pin

Centronics connector. As il turns out, the EPS SCSI ex-

pander

is

NOT internally terminated. What this means

is

you'll need to terminate the SCSI adapter with a DB-25 to

DB-25 terminator at the back

of

the EPS,

as

well

as

the

SCSI hard drive (remember, any SCSI chain must be ter-

minated at its beginning and its end). Usually, SCSI hard

drives ship with a series

of

2 or 3 terminating resistor

packs

on

the drive controller (usually orange or black

resistor packs near the ribbon connector).

But yes, ditch both the Winchester

HD

and the Syquest,

bag a used 160 Mb or larger hard drive, check your ter-

minaiion, and gel ready

to

rock. Don'l be self-conscious

about your EPS; in my humble opinion, that's the best

sampling keyboard for the bucks you could ever buy (or

can still pick

up

used). With the SCSI expander and the

OEX-B, that's as rocking a box

as

the $5500 new

Emulators. Everybody thought the Kurzweil 250 was the

hotbox when the EPS was introduced: w

ith

21-voice

polyphony (compared

to

the Kurzy's

1O-note

polyphony),

a lotal

of

10

outpuls with the

OEX-B

(equalling the Kur-

zy's optional output board), it's

no

wonder Kurzweil was

purchased

by

Young Chang.

No

need

to

defend your box -it speaks for itself 10 years

later, and still outmeasures all but the most esoteric

of

9

new samplers. Keep us posted on your progress ... }

Hello all.

I've been reading away silently for years, and pUlling

my

head above the parapet now with a serious problem. I

recently upgraded

my

electronic piano from a Yamaha

PF-1500 to the newer P-150. One feature

of

this

is

the

built-in amp and speakers, which makes for quick play.

Unfortunately, I

am

suffering very obtrusive digital noise

sounds whenever I play the

SQ-l

+ through the piano

speakers. The noise

is

not there when the SQ-I + plays

through another amp, and also the noise

is

not there at the

SQ-I + headphone socket. Before blaming the piano, note

that other instruments play fine through it.

My

thought

is

that there

is

a missing/broken ground con-

nection in the back

of

the SQ-I+, and I

am

going to open

up

the back when I get a chance.

My

question is: has any-

one had this problem (and solved it)? Does anyone know

already which blob

of

solder

to

touch

up?

I note that the SQ-I +

is

earthed (grounded) through its

mains lead, unlike those other instruments which sound

okay with the piano. The other amp

is

also earthed, while

the Yamaha piano is not. I don't know if that is related to

the problem. There was

no

difference when I discon-

nected the mains earth lead from the

SQ-l+

.

Looking forward to any comments.

John Gray,

Glasgow, Scotland

JJGray@compuserve.com

[PF -JG:

What

you've going on

is

a gain structure

anomaly -the SQ-l is sending out a

hOlier

signal at times

than the PF·1500 can handle. BTW, what's the purpose

of

routing the SQ-]'s outputs into

an

electric piano, any-

way? Besides, the possibilities

of

ground loops

in

your

configuration

is

more than suspect

to

cause the "buzz"

you're experiencing ...

Ground

is

a relative term:

is

this chassis ground, earth

ground, digital ground, analog ground, what "ground"

are we referencing? Typical config

is

to

lift the grounds

on

the input (keyboard instruments) which

mayor

may

not have a ground lead allached on the mains connector.

Then

the amp

is

grounded, hopefully earthed. But get all

your inputs summed at a central source. Don't try to plug

one keyboard's outputs into another unless you've

gOI

all

those low-Z luxuries

of

lifting the ground, inverting the

phase, grounding either side

of

the mains to center, etc.

The

issue here is not only the grounds, or the fact that

you're tying analog outputs

of

one keyboard

to

another,

it's the ground potential

of

ALL the pieces with respect

to

one another.

This

is key.

It

won't mean much now, but

you'll hear it again. And Again. And Again ...

Sum

ALL outputs

to

a CENTRAL source, ensure Central is

grounded (earthed) and can switch on two ways (the

dual-position "ON" switch

10

ensure you're effective

reversing the "hot" leads WITH RESPECT

TO

one

another), and

low

-Z your stuff

if

possible. Low-Z

stuff

is

a

balanced (not hot or ground) 3-wire signal that

is

equal

across BOTH signal lines, AND shielded by a third

ground lead being referenced

to

chassis ground (which

should NOW be earth).

Given these "complexities," you should be able

to

diag-

I

Lettersifor.

ha.-gent

to-any

.ot-‘the

following

I

-.

- -

_

'

U.S..

Mail

-

The

‘Hacker,

140.2:

SW

Upland:

P=Io1‘ttland.,

OR.

97221

I

-

_

;

El_eetron:ie

mail.

.-'i,n;g;=rae.e@-transoiiiq.com,

in

rn_any--e_a_sesI;.a_:..quie-k

answer

-can

be

obtained

by

sting,

to

our

interactive,

on--line

Interface

atpur

site-

.

fhtftpzllw-w:W.ti="anSQuiqteemlihterliaee-.html)-or

-calling

Ensoniq

at

-61-ii)-647-393It).

--

'

o_ne.-

oft-Ihe=

most-open‘-Iforums

in

the

music

in_dustry_._

Letter

writers

are

asked

to

please

keep

the

vitriol

-to

Ia

Readers

.areIremindeId-to

take-

eveiythlin-g_

of

01“-I

"sa1t;"RhSidIent

.answIer-Iht-an-

is

Pat

FiI1.rtigan.'-(PF).

Letter

publication

in

the

printed

version

of

is

so-bj__ectI

to

space

considerations.

-

_

Hello

everyone,

I’ve

recently

downloaded

a

demo

FX

library

for

the

ASR

that

was

originally

distributed,

I

believe,

by

Prosoniq.

It

is

dated

’94.

I

enjoyed

the

effects

immensely

and

wanted

to

purchase

them.

The

readme

file

included

with

the

download

said

to

contact

Frederic

Schelling.

I’ve

tried

with

no

response.

I

also

e-mailed

Prosoniq

and

they

in-

formed

me

that

they

had

no

products

for

the

ASR.

I

wrote

Garth

at

Rubber

Chicken

to

see

if

he

had

any

ideas

and

he

explained

that

these

effects

were

no

longer

available

because

of

possible

issues

of

copyright

infringe-

ment

on

the

behalf

of

Waveboy

and/or

Ensoniq.

Some

of

these

effects

sound

very

cool

and

Pd

love

to

be

having

at

them

on

my

ASR

keyboard

as

well

as

rack

unit.

I

own

all

of

the

Waveboy

effects

and

would

hate

to

see

anybody’s

rights

infringed

upon.

So

please,

with

the

best

intentions,

if

anyone

purchased

these

effects

when

they

were

available

please

contact

me

to

see

if

we

could

work

something

out.

Sincerely,

Luis

Resto

lresto@earthlink.net

[PF

-

Luis:

Duly

noted

and

posted.

Reaa'ers?]

[

TH

—

We’re

not

really

clear

here

on

just

exactly

what

your

situation

would

be

with

regard

to

copyrights.

I

don’!

believe

there

was

any

sort

of

“recall”

of

product

that

was

shipped,

so

if

you

ﬁnd

someone

who,

in

good

faith,

simply

purchased

a

product

and

now

is

willing

to

resell

it

to

you,

probably

no

one

is

going

to

come

after

you.

On

the

other

hand...

*you*

know

what

the

history

of

this

little

item

is

—

and

if

someone

wanted

to

make

an

issue

of

it,

they

cer-

tainly

could.

Probably

the

best

thing

you

could

do

is

to

give

ol’

Waveboy

a

call

and

just

explain

the

whole

deal

and

see

what

they

say.]

[Eric

Montgomery

(Ensoniq)

-

I

agree.

Sounds

like

a

good

answer.

]

[Garth

(chickenEPS@willmar.com)

-

Actually,

all

we

know

for

sure

is

that

they

aren’t

available

anymore

be-

cause

they

stopped

being

distributed.

For

a

full

story,

check

our

RCS

web

site

—

wwwsoundcentral.com/~chick-

eneps/prosoniqluml.

In

a

nutshell,

there

were

copies

of

War/eboy’s

ejfccts,

but

there

were

also

I6-Plus

effects-

lype

versions

for

some

ASR

effects

(could

have

been

very

useful

for

I

6-Plus

owners),

and

some

other

combinations

of

reverb

effects.]

[TH

-

And

in

case

anyone

has

doubts

about

the

actual

piracy

involved

here,

we’ve

just

had

a

note

from

someone

who'd

rather

remain

nameless

that

quite

a

discussion

on

this

whole

sorry

tale

(complete

with

some

interesting

comparison

test

results)

can

be

found

at

the

Oakland

ar-

chives.

Check

out

the

link

on

our

“Related

Sites”

page.)

TI-I_

I

have

an

EPS,

SCSI,

and

an

extremely

old

64MB

Winchester

Hard

Drive

that

still

works,

but

sometimes

gets

confused.

I

therefore

bought

a

used

DAC/Syquest

44MB

MO

drive

which

worked

for

a

while

but

suddenly

refused

to

co-operate

and

now

sits

here

useless.

I

notice

that

the

EPS

SCSI

board

has

a

24-pin

connector,

my

Winchester

Hard

Drive

and

the

Syquest

have

50

pins,

and

a

standard

PC

SCSI

Hard

Drive

has

39/40.

Is

it

poss-

ible

to

use

PC

SCSI

drives

with

the

EPS

and

if

so,

do

you

have

a

wiring

diagram

to

do

this?

Also,

do

you

have

a

wiring

diagram

for

the

Syquest/Winchester

type

buss?

I

bought

the

EPS

and

Winchester

used

about

15

years

ago,

and

they

came

with

a

hand-wired

25-pin

‘D’

connector

to

50-pin

SCSI

connector.

It

has

never

been

totally

reliable

and

I

wonder

if

it

is

because

the

wiring

is

a

bit

iffy.

I

currently

have

V

2.35

on

ﬂoppy,

4X

Expander,

SCSI

and

8-outs.

Is

my

OS

worth

upgrading?

Any

information

or

pointers

to

other

sites

would

be

great-

ly

appreciated.

Thanks,

Gareth

Magennis

gareth@datman.demon.co.uk

[PF

—

Gareth:

You

MUST

upgrade

the

O.S.

to

2.49:

it’s

SO00

for

superior

to

earlier

spins

it’s

a

given.

The

other

issue

is

your

ROM

version.

Ensure

it's

2.40.

If

not,

call

Ensoniq

and

request

the

2.40

ROM

’s.

As

I

’

ve

said

before,

0.5.

2.49

with

ROM

V.

2.40

allows

you

to

boot

from

SCSI

ID

#0,

use

SCSI

drives

1

Gb

and

larger,

and

allows

selec-

table

interleave

when

formaulng

(which

is

a

load

time

saver)...

SCSI

is

SCSI,

whether

it’s

a

PC,

a

Mac,

a

NeXT,

a

DEC,

whatever.

There

are

different

SCSI

protocols

(SCSII,

SCSI2, SCSI3,

diﬂerential,

etc.)

but

the

EPS

performs

famously

with

SCSI-1

or

SCSI-2

50-pin

devices.

A

stan-

dard

PC

IDE

drive

has

40

pins

-

this

is

not

a

SCSI

device.

As

cheap

as

SCSI

drives

are

nowadays,

I'd

bag

something

in

the

I60-750

Mb

range.

As

Mac

computers

use

SCSI

drives

that

are

almost

100%

EPS-compatible,

any

pull

from

a

Mac

LCII

and

above

is

an

ideal

candidate.

If

you're

used

to

working

with

a

60

MB

Winchester

drive,

I'll

GIVE

you

a

Seagate

STI096

5

-I/4”

65

Mb

SCSI

drive

for

shipping.

but

you’ll

get

more

bang

for

your

buck

bag-

gin

a

250-500Mb

drive

from

a

local

source.

As

the

smal-

lest

capacity

new

SCSI

drive

is

2.1

Gb,

it’s

WAY

overkill

for

an

EPS.

Yes,

I’ve

experienced

the

very

some

problems

with

a

cus-

tom

cable

ﬁom

the

DB-25

port

on the

EPS

to

a

50-pin

Centronics

connector.

As

it

turns

out, the

EPS

SCSI

ex-

pander

is

NOT

internally

terminated.

What

this

means

is

you’ll

need

to

terminate

the

SCSI

adapter

with

a

DB-25

to

DB-25

terminator

at

the

back

of

the

EPS,

as

well

as

the

SCSI

hard

drive

(remember,

any

SCSI

chain

must

be

ter-

minated

at

its

beginning

and

its

end).

Usually,

SCSI

hard

drives

ship

with

a

series

of

2

or

3

terminating

resistor

packs

on

the

drive

controller

(usually

orange

or

black

resistor

packs

near

the

ribbon

connector).

But

yes,

ditch

both

the

Winchester

HD

and

the

Syquest,

bag

a

used

I

60

Mb

or

larger

hard

drive,

check

your

ter-

mination,

and

get

ready

to

rock.

Don’!

be

self-conscious

about

your

EPS;

in

my

humble

opinion,

that's

the

best

sampling

keyboard

for

the

bucks

you

could

ever

buy

(or

can

still

pick

up

used).

With

the

SCSI

expander

and

the

OEX-8,

that’s

as

rocking

a

box

as

the $5500

new

Emulators.

Everybody

thought

the

Kurzweil

250

was

the

horbox

when

the

EPS

was

introduced:

with

21-voice

polyphony

(compared

to the

Kurzy’s

I0-note

polyphony),

a

total

of

I0

outputs

with

the

OEX-8

(equalling

the

Kur-

zy’s

optional

output

board),

it’s

no

wonder

Kurzweil

was

purchased

by

Young

Chang.

No

need

to

defend

your

box

-

it

speaks

for

itself

10

years

later,

and

still

outmeasures

all

but

the

most

esoteric

of

9

new

samplers.

Keep

us

posted

on

your

progress...

]

Hello

all.

I’ve

been

reading

away

silently

for

years,

and

putting

my

head

above

the

parapet

now

with

a

serious

problem.

I

recently

upgraded

my

electronic

piano

from

a

Yamaha

PF-I500

to

the

newer

P-150.

One

feature

of

this

is

the

built-in

amp

and

speakers,

which

makes

for

quick

play.

Unfortunately,

I

am

suffering

very

obtrusive

digital

noise

sounds

whenever

I

play

the

SQ-1+

through

the

piano

speakers.

The

noise

is

not

there

when

the

SQ-1+

plays

through

another

amp,

and

also

the

noise

is

not

there

at

the

SQ-1+

headphone

socket.

Before

blaming

the

piano,

note

that

other

instruments

play

fine

through

it.

My

thought

is

that

there

is

a

missing/broken

ground

con-

nection

in

the

back

of

the

SQ-1+,

and

I

am

going

to

open

up the

back

when

I

get

a

chance.

My

question

is:

has

any-

one

had

this

problem

(and

solved

it)?

Does

anyone

know

already

which

blob

of

solder

to

touch

up‘?

I

note

that

the

SQ-1+

is

earthed

(grounded)

through

its

mains

lead,

unlike

those

other

instruments

which

sound

okay

with

the

piano.

The

other

amp

is

also

earthed,

while

the

Yamaha

piano

is

not.

I

don’t

know

if

that

is

the

problem.

There

was

no

difference

when

I

discon-

nected

the

mains

earth

lead

from

the

SQ-1+.

Looking

forward

to

any

comments.

John

Gray,

I

Glasgow,

Scotland

JJGray@compuserve.com

[PF

-

JG:

What

you’ve

going

on

is

a

gain

structure

anomaly

-

the

SQ-I

is

sending

out

a

hotter

signal

at

times

than

the

PF-I500

can

handle.

BTW,

whafs

the

purpose

of

routing

the

SQ-I’s

outputs

into

an

electric

piano,

any-

way?

Besides,

the

possibilities

of

ground

loops

in

your

conﬁguration

is

more

than

suspect

to

cause

the

“buzz”

you’re

experiencing...

Ground

is

a

relative

term:

is

this

chassis

ground,

earth

ground,

digital

ground,

analog

ground,

what

“ground”

are

we

referencing?

Typical

conﬁg

is

to

lift

the

grounds

on

the

input

(keyboard

instruments)

which

may

or

may

not

have

a

ground

lead

attached

on

the

mains

connector.

Then

the

amp

is

grounded,

hopefully

earthed.

But

get

all

your

inputs

summed

at

a

central

source.

Don’t

try

to

plug

one

keyboards

outputs

into

another

unless

you’ve

got

all

those

low-Z

luxuries

of

liﬁing

the

ground,

inverting

the

phase,

grounding

either

side

of

the

mains

to

center,

etc.

The

issue

here

is

not

only

the

grounds,

or

the

fact

that

you’re

lying

analog

outputs

of

one

keyboard

to

another,

it’s

the

ground

potential

of

ALL

the

pieces

with

respect

to

one

another.

This

is

key.

It

won’:

mean

much

now,

but

you’ll

hear

it

again.

And

Again.

And

Again...

Sum

ALL

outputs

to

a

CENTRAL

source,

ensure

Central

is

grounded

(earthed)

and

can

switch

on

two

ways

(the

dual-position

“ON”

switch

to

ensure

you’re

effective

reversing

the

“hot”

leads

WITH

RESPECT

TO

one

another),

and

low-Z

your

stujj‘

if

possible.

‘Low-Z

stuﬁ

is

a

balanced

(not

hot

or

ground)

3-wire

signal

that

is

equal

across

BOTH

signal

lines,

AND

shielded

by

a

third

ground

lead

being

referenced

to

chassis

ground

(which

should

NOW

be

earth

).

Given

these

“complexities,”

you

should

be

able

to

diag-

nose the "Buzz" problem, reconfigure/reconnect all the

components

in

your system to "earth" ground potential,

and isolate your signal lines and signal ground from

"chassis" ground" and

to

"earth" ground.

If

this sounds altogether too mystifying, bag "The

So

und

Reinforcement Handbook" from Yamaha by Hal Leonard

(HL 005(0964). It's $34.95 (US), but it's a veritable com-

pendium

of

professional audio in around

415

pages. All

truths are espoused

in

this book ... J

[TH -An earlier version

of

this leller with some rather

colorful language appeared on the web for a short time.

Bill has since said that, while the feelings were sincere

(and he's feeling MUCH beller now, having expressed

them) that they didn't really serve much purpose being

posted.J

Hi,

Let me preface my comments by stating that the Hacker is

great, I subscribed to

it

for the past three or so years and

have received great advice and knowledge.

I went to the music store here in Vegas to order an ex-

pander for my MR-76 and the dealer informed me that

Ensoniq was going to drop the MR-76 series and faze it

ouI. He said that the new head

or

president

of

Ensoniq

was quoted saying that he wanted the company

to

only

sell keyboards in the 1200 to 1600 dollar range and any-

thing more expensive was something he

didn't

want En-

soniq to be involved in the future.

I started with the EPS and then the EPS Plus, then the

ASR-

IO.

I even bought a TS-12 and when Ensoniq stop-

ped development on that I bought 3 MR-76's to be used

by me and

by

the Circus Circus Hotel where one has been

used 14 hours a day for the past year without a maj

or

hitch.

Ensoniq changes direction like a fart in the wind. Instead

of

developing the ASR-IO they bring out a new model X

that

is

useless to ASR-IO owners. I finally gave up on that

and bought a Kurtzwell 2500 rs that can read any zip

drive, has built-in sounds, and offers

128

megs

of

RAM

for samples. Why couldn't Ensoniq do the same? This

2500

rs

makes the ASR-

IO

look like a mickey mouse

watch against a Rolex.

Still, I bought an MR-76 with the hope that they would

improve some things. Maybe a SCSI port. Naaa. Maybe

more memory. Naaa. Maybe concentrate

on

one thing for

once and develop

it

to its potential. NAAA.

Well, all I can say

is

I'm history, as far

as

Ensoniq

is

con-

cerned, and

I'll

be preaching this sermon to anyone who

asks.

I wish you good luck, Hacker. But you'll probably be

replaced with a Japanese manual.

Bill Callanan, Las Vegas, Nevada

BCallan369@aol.com

[TH -Well, thanks for the kind words about the Hacker ...

It's pretty hard

to

put much

of

a positive spin on Ensoniq

dropping

the

MR

keyboards ... but I

do

have to say that I

think this

is

really being driven by the marketplace. There

are scads

of

keyboards coming out

of

everywhere. It

reminds me

of

the the

01'

"Hi-fi amplifier market" -there

used

to

be these lillie niches where some quality manufac-

turer could make something pretty special and survive

just fine.

Then

the technology got to the point where, hey,

they ALL sound great. Now, perfectly fine amps are being

cranked out by the shipload and they're really a com-

modity item. Ensoniq can not survive

in

a commodity

market-they're

just not the size that that requires.

We're still trying to figure out where this puts the Hacker.

We're certainly going

to

keep covering these crillers for

as

long

as

there's interest -hey,

we

still print Mirage and

ESQ articles when we get 'em -but we've also got

to

match our long-range plans with the market. (When's the

last time you picked

up

a copy

of

High Fidelity maga-

zine?) Right now, we're still not sure what Ensoniq's

plans are. From what we hear, the company itself

is

very

healthy -thanks mostly

to

their soundcards. They may

find some new niche

in

the keyboard market. Or not.

We'll all know more as the next few months unfold. Inter-

esting times ... J

[PF -Bill:

I,

too,

am

depressed at the 180 Ensoniq has

turned. By the same token, it just makes those older

keyboards that much more valuable (or worthless,

depending on which side

of

the tracks you're standing).

I'm gelling pulled both ways: there's nothing easier and

friendlier

to

use than the Ensoniq interface, but

as

Eric

points out, companies like Roland, Korg, Yamaha, etc

..

have caught

up

to the same level and functionality

(as

you've

discovered

with

your

Kurzy) while

at

the same

time driving the cost down

to

the point where Ensoniq

couldn't compete. I've heard they're migrating into the

$1

K-$I.5K market, too,

so

we'll have

to

see ...

But that doesn't mean all my Ensoniq gear

is

now worth-

less. I still wouldn't trade it for any

of

the

new

stuff

out

there. And you CAN get

an

expansion board from just

about any Ensoniq dealers out there -my dealer has

34

sets

of

all the cards in stock. It still hurts though, doesn't

it

..

. J

[VonKrogh@ao1.com (Derek) -

Ijust

gotta say

it!

May Ensoniq do whatever has to be done

to

stay alive

in

such a hard yet small market (except from that soundcard

thing perhaps).

I'd

really hate to see such an innovative

company disappear and make place for the Akai 4500xxl

deluxe with quick-access-to-pre-defined-sample-Iength

functions.

Still, if they're healthy, why do they behave so ... nerv-

ous?? Why

is

the ASR-X a completely redesigned techno-

dj-tool for the European market with about a quarter

of

the functions

of

6-year-old ASR-

IO?

Is

it

true that the

programmers

of

the old models left Ensoniq? And

if

so,

why

is

that??

I have no idea how Ensoniq products sell in the USA but

they've never been very big in Europe to

my

knowledge,

so I wonder what the ASR-X is meant to

be.

I understand

that developing hardware

is

much more expensive than

things like the audio pci, but then why give up hope with

existing models so quickly, even risking reputation

as

fx

specialist? (You can read

it

in every second review -"The

onboard effects sound great, no wonder as Ensoniq has a

long tradition in ...... )

Now they're even taking risks at PARIS which

is

ob-

viously one

of

Ensoniq's biggest hopes - I plan to buy

it

the day they remember to ship some over to Europe. But

now

I'm

being told that

it

has no MID!!! In times with

low price software from Emagic or Steinberg, all having

at least some sort

of

eq

or

pseudo dsp performance, who

would buy a software without MIDI for such a price, even

if

they give you 10 hardware controls for free?

I'm really upset about this one as I completely focused on

buying PARIS this year and getting rid

of

syncingsequen-

cigrecordingmixing chaos, now

I'm

being told that PARIS

will somewhat sync to external MIDI software -yeah,

somewhat!

Still,

I'm

hoping that after getting rid

of

most

of

their

products Ensoniq will now really focus on PARIS, make

some money, and in thirty years we'll have the ASR-

IO+

:-)

I'd

really like that! What do you say?]

[PF -Derek: All I can say

is

that it appears Ensoniq

is

belling the farm

on

Paris. And without a MIDI sequencing

environment (like Cakewalk Pro Audio or Digital Per-

former/Studio Vision Pro),

no

SMPTE striping or reading

(like Cakewalk Pro Audio or Digital Performer/Studio

Vision Pro), and

no

audible audio scrub features (like

Cakewalk Pro Audio or Digital Performer/Studio Vision

10

Pro), they might

as

well drop the "P" from PARIS,

be

-

cause without the above features, U's anything BUT a

professional solution ... J

[TH -There may be something we're missing here

..

.

The

Hacker

is

going to be covering more on PARIS and hope-

fully some

of

these issues will be addressed.J

[TRWEBBS@aol.com (Tim Roche) -

Hi

Hackers. I may

be

off

-base on this, but here goes ... Flame me

if

you must.

I'm

all for change and moving ahead and "Vision" and all

of

that crap, but

"If

it ain't broke, why

fix

it?"

I'm

refer-

ring to the ability to make KB's that are "light years"

ahead

of

anything else in its class.

I'm

also

of

the opinion

that it's "Paris" that has hurt Ensoniq, not the "Market for

KBs." Ensoniq has been SO successful in the last 12+

years, doing what they do best... keyboards. Well, "Paris"

is

now over budget, (and in my opinion) over priced, and

way behind schedule. Given that, I think it's "Paris" that

should get the AXE, not the MR's.

I feel that what Ensoniq does not need

to

do to "stay

alive" right now,

is

to do what they're doing right now .

..

and that is to drive their "loyal" customers (and newbiet.

as well), away by confusing the daylights out

of

'em. KB

Customers got them where they are today,

by

buying the

products. Sure, they're GREAT products ... but not

if

nobody bought them.

In

years past, Ensoniq had been the

one, single "constant" in the musical instrument market.

MAKE IT BETTER... "They" asked

us

what "we"

wanted, and then they "gave" it

to

us. Nobody else did

that. What more could we have asked for? Well, it does

appear that they're abandoning ship,

as

well

as-

that

philosophy ... I just

can't

believe it. Pinch me ... and tell me

"

It

ain't So!"

And btw, if they're gonna have a website, they should iry

to keep

it

at least semi-current.

It

might help amid all this

unnecessary confusion. All I know about Ensoniq's future

plans, I get from reading this here Hacker. I just visited

Ensoniq's web site, and still nothing

is

mentioned about

any

of

what

I've

been reading here,

or

about stopping

KB

production.

I'm

left with the impression that they tried to

do this behind

our

backs, and

we

just happened to find out

about it, and now we're a little bit mad. Well,

if

I'm

wrong, then what the heck gives? Ensoniq's still saying

on their website, that the MR's current

O.S

. is 2.10, and

it's not.

It's

2.11. I know it's not an earth-shattering up-

grade, just a maintenance revision, but that'S not the

point.

If

there is such a Drastic change in the way Ensoniq

plays the game now .

..

then why all the questions? Why all

the secrets? And most important, Why all this confusion?

Lately, my local (ever so friendly!) Ensoniq dealer gets

Ensoniq's news from me well in advance

of

any news

(if

any) he ever gets from Ensoniq.

He

asks me what the cur-

rent

OS

is? I haven't seen a factory rep in town in over a

year, and

it

didn't used to be that way. I remember when I

informed my dealer I wanted to purchase the Flash sample

option, he knew nothing about it... (price, or availability),

and yup!, my dealer only found out from me what's been

going on at Ensoniq recently. That just ain't right.

Just my opinion on this very disturbing thread ...

Now, having said all that,

I'm

still

in

agreement that ANY

Ensoniq KB

is

better that its relative competition, and

I'm

still a happy camper with my Mirage, ESQ-I, and now

outdated MR. However, if Ensoniq continues their new-

found "blind to the loyal customer" attitude, then that

scenario will very easily do an about-face. There won't

BE

anymore Ensoniq KB's, and we'll all be playing

Korgs again in no time, and Ensoniq will have gone back

in time, only this time, selling recording equipment

in

some far

off

3rd world country!

Sorry, I

can't

afford Paris right now, I already bought an

MR, and wanted an ASR, but am now

re

-thinking

my

position. So,

I'm

with Bill on this one. Ensoniq's CEO

needs to step back and think just what the heck they're

doing to us.

I

L

nose

the

“Buzz”

problem,

reconﬁgurelreconnect

all

the

components

in

your

system

to

“earth”

ground

potential,

and

isolate

your

signal

lines

and

signal

ground

jrom

“chassis”

ground"

and

to

“earth”

ground.

If

this

sounds

altogether

too

mystifying,

bag

“The

Sound

Reinforcement

Handbook”

from

Yamaha

by

Hal

Leonard

(HL

00500964).

It’s

$34.95

(US),

but

it’s

a

veritable

com-

pendium

of

professional

audio

in

around

415

pages.

All

truths

are

espoused

in

this

book...]

[TH

—

An

earlier

version

of

this

letter

with

some

rather

colorful

language

appeared

on

the

web

for

a

short

time.

Bill

has

since

said

that,

while

the

feelings

were

sincere

(and

he’s

feeling

MUCH

better

now,

having

expressed

them)

that

they

didn't

really

serve much

purpose

being

posted.)

Hi,

Let

me

preface

my

comments

by

stating

that

the

Hacker

is

great,

I

subscribed

to

it

for

the

past

three

or

so

years

and

have

received

great

advice

and

knowledge.

I

went

to

the

music

store

here

in

Vegas

to

order

an

ex-

pander

for

my

MR-76

and

the

dealer

informed

me

that

Ensoniq

was

going

to

drop

the

MR-76

series

and

faze

it

out.

He

said

that

the

new

head

or

president

of

Ensoniq

was

quoted

saying

that

he

wanted

the

company

to

only

sell

keyboards

in

the

1200

to

1600

dollar

range

and

any-

thing

more

expensive

was

something

he

didn't

want

En-

soniq

to

be

involved

in

the

future.

I

started

with

the

EPS

and

then

the

EPS

Plus,

then

the

ASR-10.

I

even

bought

a

TS-12

and

when

Ensoniq

stop-

ped

development

on

that

I

bought

3

MR-76’s

to

be

used

by

me

and

by

the

Circus

Hotel

where

one

has

been

used

14

hours

a

day

for

the

past

year

without

a

major

hitch.

Ensoniq

changes

direction

like

a

fan

in

the

wind.

Instead

of

developing

the

ASR-I0

they

bring

out

a

new

model

X

that

is

useless

to

ASR-l0

owners.

I

finally

gave

up on that

and

bought

a

Kurtzwell

2500

rs

that

can

read

any

zip

drive,

has

built-in

sounds,

and

offers

128

megs

of

RAM

for

samples.

Why

couldn’t

Ensoniq

do

the

same?

This

2500

rs

makes

the

ASR-10

look

like

a

mickey

mouse

watch

against

a

Rolex.

Still,

I

bought

an

MR-76

with

the

hope

that

they

would

improve

some

things.

Maybe

a

SCSI

port.

Naaa.

Maybe

more

memory.

Naaa.

Maybe

concentrate

on

one

thing

for

once

and

develop

it

to

its

potential.

NAAA.

Well,

all

I

can

say

is

I’m

history,

as

far

as

Ensoniq

is

con-

cerned,

and

I'll

be

preaching

this

sermon

to

anyone

who

asks.

I

wish

you

good

luck,

Hacker.

But

you’ll

probably

be

replaced

with

a

Japanese

manual.

Bill

Callanan,

Las

Vegas,

Nevada

BCallan369@aol.com

[

TH

-

Well,

thanks

for

the

kind

words

about

the

Hacker...

It’s

pretty

hard

to

put

much

of

a

positive

spin

on

Ensoniq

dropping

the

MR

keyboards...

but

I

do

have

to

say

that

I

think

this

is

really

being

driven

by

the

marketplace.

There

are

scads

of

keyboards

coming

out

of

everywhere.

It

reminds

me

of

the

ol'

“Hi-ﬁ

ampliﬁer

market”

—

there

used

to

be

these

little

niches

where

some

quality

manufac-

turer

could

make

something

pretty

special

and

survive

just

ﬁne.

Then

the

technology

got

to

the

point

where,

hey,

they

ALL

sound

great.

Now,

perfectly

ﬁne

amps

are

being

cranked

out

by

the

shipload

and

they’re

really

a

com-

modity

item.

Ensoniq

can

not

survive

in

a

commodity

market

—

they’re

just

not

the

size

that

requires.

We’

re

still

trying

to

ﬁgure

out

where

this

puts

the

Hacker.

We’re

certainly

going

to

keep

covering

these

critters

for

as

long

as

there’s

interest

—

hey,

we

still

print

Mirage

and

ESQ

articles

when

we

get

‘em

-

but

we've

also

got

to

match

our

long-range

plans

with

the

market.

(When’s

the

last

time

you

picked

up

a

copy

of

High

Fidelity

maga-

zine?)

Right

now,

we're

still

not

sure

what

Ensoniq’s

plans

are.

From

what

we

hear,

the

company

itself

is

very

healthy

—

thanks

mostly

to

their

soundcards.

They

may

ﬁnd

some

new

niche

in

the

keyboard

market.

Or

not.

We'll

all

know

more

as

the

months

unfold.

Inter-

esting

times...]

[PF

—

Bill:

I,

too,

am

depressed

at

the

I80

Ensoniq

has

turned.

By

the

same

token,

it

just

makes

those

older

keyboards

that

much

more

valuable

(or

worthless,

depending

on

which

side

of

the

tracks

you’re

standing).

l’m

getting

pulled

both

ways:

there’s

nothing

easier

and

friendlier

to

use

than

the

Ensoniq

interface,

but

as

Eric

points

out,

companies

like

Roland,

Korg,

Yamaha,

etc.,

have

caught

up

to

the

same

level

and

functionality

(as

you've

discovered

with

your

Kurzy)

while

at

the

some

time

driving

the

cost

down

to

the

point

where

Ensoniq

couldn't

compete.

I’ve

heard

they’re

migrating

into

the

$1K-$1.5K

market,

too,

so

we’ll

have

to

see...

But

that

doesn’t

mean

all

my

Ensoniq

gear

is

now

worth-

less.

I

still

wouldn't

trade

it

for

any

of

the

new

stuff

out

there.

And

you

CAN

get

an

expansion

board

from

just

about

any

Ensoniq

dealers

out

there

—

my

dealer

has

3-4

sets

of

all

the

cards

in

stock.

It

still

hurts

though,

doesn't

ll...

]

[VonKrogh@aol.com

(Derek)

—

I

just

gotta

say

it!

May

Ensoniq

do

whatever

has

to

be

done

to

stay

alive

in

such

a

hard

yet

small

market

(except

from

that

soundcard

thing

perhaps).

I’d

really

hate

to

see

such

an

innovative

company

disappear

and

make

place

for

the

Akai

4500xxl

deluxe

with

quick-access-to-pre-defined-sample-length

functions.

Still,

if

they’re

healthy,

why

do

they

behave

so...

nerv-

ous??

Why

is

the

ASR-X

a

completely

redesigned

techno-

dj-tool

for

the

European

market

with

about

a

quarter

of

the

functions

of

6-year-old

ASR-10?

Is

it

true

that

the

programmers

of

the

old

models

left

Ensoniq?

And

if

so,

why

is

that??

I

have

no

idea

how

Ensoniq

products

sell

in

the

USA

but

they’ve

never

been

very

big

in

Europe

to

my

knowledge,

so

I

wonder

what

the

ASR-X

is

meant

to

be.

I

understand

that

developing

hardware

is

much

more

expensive

than

things

like

the

audio

pci,

but

then

why

give

up hope

with

existing

models

so

quickly,

even

risking

reputation

as

fx

specialist?

(You

can

read

it

in

every

second

review

—

“The

onboard

effects

sound

great,

no

wonder

as

Ensoniq

has

a

long

tradition

in....”)

Now

they’re

even

taking

risks

at

PARIS

which

is

ob-

viously

one

of

Ensoniq’s

biggest

hopes

—

I

plan

to

buy

it

the

day

they

remember

to

ship

some

over

to

Europe.

But

now

I’m

being

told

that

it

has

no

MIDI!!

In

times

with

low

price

software

from

Emagic

or

Steinberg,

all

having

at

least

some

sort

of

eq

or

pseudo

dsp

performance,

who

would

buy

a

software

without

MIDI

for

such

a

price,

even

if

they

give

you

10

hardware

controls

for

free?

I’m

really

upset

about

this

one

as

I

completely

focused

on

buying

PARIS

this

year

and

getting

rid

of

syncingsequen-

cigrecordingmixing

chaos,

now

I’m

being

told

that

PARIS

will

somewhat

sync

to

extemal

MIDI

software

—

yeah,

somewhat!

Still,

I’m

hoping

that

after

getting

rid

of

most

of

their

products

Ensoniq

will

now

really

focus

on

PARIS,

make

some

money,

and

in

thirty

years

we’ll

have

the

ASR-10+

:-)

I’d

really

like

that!

What

do

you

say?]

[PF

—-

Derek:

All

I

can

say

is

that

it

appears

Ensoniq

is

betting

the

farm

on

Paris.

And

without

a

MIDI

sequencing

environment

(like

Cakewalk

Pro

Audio

or

Digital

Per-

former/Studio

Vision

Pro),

no

SMPTE

striping

or

reading

(like

Cakewalk

Pro

Audio

or

Digital

Performer/Studio

Vision

Pro),

and

no

audible

audio

scrub

features

(like

Cakewalk

Pro

Audio

or

Digital

Performer/Studio

Vision

10

Pro),

they

might

as

well

drop

the

“P”

from

PARIS,

be-

cause

without

the

above

features,

it’s

anything

BUT

a

professional

solution...]

[TH

-

There

may

be

something

we’re

missing

here...

The

Hacker

is

going

to

be

covering

more

on

PARIS

and

hope-

ﬁtlly

some

of

these

issues

will

be

addressed.

]

[TRWEBBS@aol.com

(Tim

Roche)

—

Hi

Hackers.

I

may

be

off-base

on

this,

but

here

goes...

Flame

me

if

you

must.

I’m

all

for

change

and

moving

ahead

and

“Vision”

and

all

of

that

crap,

but

“If

it

ain’t

broke,

why

fix

it?”

I’m

refer-

ring

to

the

ability

to

make

KB’s

that

are

“light

years”

ahead

of

anything

else

in

its

class.

I'm

also

of

the

opinion

that

it’s

“Paris”

that

has

hurt

Ensoniq,

not

the

“Market

for

KBs.”

Ensoniq

has

been

SO

successful

in

the

last

12+

years,

doing

what

they

do

best...

keyboards.

Well,

“Paris”

is

now

over

budget,

(and

in

my

opinion)

over

priced,

and

way

behind

schedule.

Given

that,

I

think

it’s

“Paris”

that

should

get the

AXE,

not

the

MR’s.

I

feel

that

what

Ensoniq

does

not

need

to

do

to

“stay

alive”

right

now,

is

to

do

what

they’re

doing

right

now...

and

that

is

to

drive

their

“loyal”

customers

(and

newbies

as

well),

away

by

confusing

the

daylights

out

of

’em.

KB

Customers

got

them

where

they

are

today,

by

buying

the

products.

Sure,

they’re

GREAT

products...

but not

if

nobody

bought

them.

In

years

past,

Ensoniq

had

been

the

one,

single

“constant”

in

the

musical

instrument

market.

MAKE

IT

BETTER...

“They”

asked

us

what

“we”

wanted,

and

then

they

“gave”

it

to

us.

Nobody

else

did

that.

What

more

could

we

have

asked

for‘?

Well,

it

does

appear

that

they’re

abandoning

ship,

as

well

as»

that

philosophy...

I

just

can’t

believe

it.

Pinch

me...and

tell

me

“It

ain’t

So!”

And

btw,

if

they’re

gonna

have

a

website,

they

should

try

to

keep

it

at

least

semi-current.

It

might

help

amid

all

this

unnecessary

confusion.

All

I

know

about

Ensoniq’s

future

plans,

I

get

from

reading

this

here

Hacker.

I

just

visited

Ensoniq’s

web

site,

and

still

nothing

is

mentioned

about

any

of

what

I’ve

been

reading

here,

or

about

stopping

KB

production.

I’m

left

with

the

impression

that

they

tried

to

do

this

behind

our

backs,

and

we

just

happened

to

find

out

about

it,

and

now

we’re

a

little

bit

mad.

Well,

if

I'm

wrong,

then

what

the

heck

gives?

Ensoniq’s

still

saying

on

their

website,

that

the

MR’s

current

0.S.

is

2.10,

and

it’s

not.

It’s

2.11.

I

know

it’s

not

an

earth-shattering

up-

grade,

just

a

maintenance

revision,

but

that’s

not

the

point.

If

there

is

such

a

Drastic

change

in

the

way

Ensoniq

plays

the

game

now...

then

why

all

the

questions?

Why all

the

secrets?

And

most

important,

Why all

this

confusion?

Lately,

my

local

(ever

so

friendly!)

Ensoniq

dealer

gets

Ensoniq’s

news

from

me

well

in

advance

of

any

news

(if

any)

he

ever

gets

from

Ensoniq.

He

asks

me

what

the

cur-

rent

OS

is?

I

haven’t

seen

a

factory

rep

in

town

in

over

a

year,

and

it

didn’t

used

to

be

that

way.

I

remember

when

I

informed

my

dealer

I

wanted

to

purchase

the

Flash

sample

option,

he

knew

nothing

about

it...

(price,

or

availability),

and

yupl,

my

dealer

only

found

out

from

me

what’s

been

going

on

at

Ensoniq

recently.

That

just

ain’t

right.

Just

my

opinion

on

this

very

disturbing

thread...

Now,

having

said

all

that,

I'm

still

in

agreement

that

ANY

Ensoniq

KB

is

better

that

its

relative

competition,

and

I'm

still

a

happy

camper

with

my

Mirage,

ESQ-l,

and

now

outdated

MR.

However,

if

Ensoniq

continues

their

new-

found

“blind

to

the

loyal

customer”

attitude,

then

that

scenario

will

very

easily

do

an

about-face.

There

won’t

BE

anymore

Ensoniq

KB’s,

and

we’ll

all

be

playing

Korgs

again

in

no

time,

and

Ensoniq

will

have

gone

back

in

time,

only

this

time,

selling

recording

equipment

in

some

far

off

3rd

world

country!

Sorry,

I

can’t

afford

Paris

right

now,

I

already

bought

an

MR,

and

wanted

an

ASR,

but

am

now

re-thinking

my

position.

So,

I’m

with

Bill

on

this

one.

Ensoniq’s

CEO

needs

to

step

back

and

think

just

what

the

heck

they’re

doing

to

us.

Like I said before,

"If

it

ain't broke, why fix it?" I'm

NOT slamming Ensoniq ... they're doing

it

themselves

.]

[PF

-Tim: I happen

to

agree with you

on

all

of

your

points. I certainly hope PARIS works out ... ]

[L

Vandenberg (ljvdb3@ucr.campus.mci.net) -Ensoniq's

failure to push ahead with keyboard technology

in

lieu

of

Paris is disappointing, given how impressive, how ad-

mirable, their product offerings have been during the last

ten years. The Ensoniq interface has been unbeatable.

Beyond the great boards, I have come to appreciate the

Ensoniq effects devices. The latest, the

DP

Pro,

is

ab-

solutely excellent. Now I am told that the company "is

no

longer in the effects business." This

is

a real shame. The

DP

Pro is, in my view,

as

good as Lexicon, or better.

Clearly, huge investments

of

time, talent and money have

gone into developing and producing these products, and

clearly Ensoniq has a loyal musician customer base. The

question

is:

is

the new management team

at

Ensoniq a

visionary one prophesying a wholly integrated digital

fu-

ture,

or

a bunch

of

nattering fools who have squandered

their past, missed their opportunities, alienated their cus-

tomers and sullied their future? Somebody said that

keyboards have become commodities and that Ensoniq

can't compete, that soundcards have kept the company

healthy. What

is

more

of

a commodity than a soundcard?

Long term viability there

is

pretty dubious. I have put

many thousands into Ensoniq gear and will continue

to

support the company. I may purchase Paris. But there are

many choices Ensoniq has made in the past couple

of

years that have made me question my loyalty.]

[TH -Soundcards can certainly be a commodity -but

they're a LOT easier for a small company to produce

in

large enough quantities to stay

in

the game. It's not just

simply what

is

a commodity and what isn't -numerous

factors determine just how much "girth" a company has

to have before they have a chance with a particular com-

modity. Technology can sometimes give a small company

enough

of

an

edge to have a shot -but

if

the technology

matures across the board ...

And, it's not

'certain'

that Ensoniq

is

leaving the key-

board market -they're evaluating their place

in

it.

We'll

have more news as we find out. And -we'll have more

info on PARIS

as

we

find out ... let's not get too carried

away before anyone's even had their hands on one.]

[Rick Lerch (mongoose@ptd.net) -So you'll know, and I

don't know how up-to-date this

is

for you guys, but I

e-mailed Ensoniq about quitting keyboards. I was kind,

'really. On

IIIIS,

I got a response from Bert Neikirk, En-

soniq Technical Support, stating that "While some

products have been discontinued,

we're

not getting out

of

the keyboard business!"

Does this do anything for ya?]

[PF -This just

in:

The latesl version

of

Paris software

now supports SMPTE lime code. Olher fealures soon 10

come are more tracks, more plug-ins, more features, more

FX,

etc. AND they are working on the Audio Scrub fea-

tures.

So

I hereby recant my earlier posting, and

pronounce PARIS a true professional non-linear DAR

in-

deed. After placing Ensoniq

in

harm's

way

by judging

their new book by a beta cover I have done disserv

ic

e not

only

to

prospective customers, but to the individuals

who

are working those 14-16 hour days in Malvern fighting

the good fight.

So

it's premature 10 say thai PARIS

doesn't offer

Ihis

or offer

Ihal

as

it's still evolving. After

all, Pro Tools

/Ook

two years

/0

get straight ...

And Ensoniq IS listening

to

owner inpul:

Ihe

question

here

is

"What direction

is

the keyboard market moving?"

So

I hereby ask Malvern to re-release the TS-series here

in

the slales. It's still the most inluitive, easiest 10 learn,

powerful waverable/sample player every designed. And

with the terrabYles

of

Ihe

Malvern sampling library,

nOlh-

ing else even comes close. I'll even take it with the Rus-

sian character

set

...

My

apologies

to

all parties for these misunderstandings.

Hopefully, any omissions have been corrected and added

10 the PARIS thread. Craig Anderton's review

of

PARIS

here

in

the Hacker should prove

to

be

a VERY interesting

read. BTW, your subscription

IS

current, isn't it?]

[Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) -It

is

good

Ihal

Ihere

are

loyal customers out there. I feel that there is a lot

of

very

intense rumor

out

there also. I think rumor sIems from not

knowing.

The

''['

II

jusl make

up

somelhing and lell my

friends and enemies

Ihal

il

is

Irue" allilude seems

10

be

Ihe

right thing to

do

when you are discouraged or upset,

but

as

we

can see, one person (it took a LOT

of

courage

and integrity I might add) had

to

relracl his stalement.

Let's try and remember that even though

we

care, big

business is big business. There are guys here who put

in

15

hour days to get features added

to

products and there

are guys who spend

as

much time figuring out what new

products should be made, guys answering calls and

e-mail and many other things. It takes time

to

decide what

is going to work

and

what is

nOI.

The best thing is 10

be

palient and wait for real answers.

I heard people saying that the products they already own

are now garbage because Ensoniq

no

longer makes them

or stopped making somelhing. Some people are saying the

same thing about their ESQs they own because

of

the

MR

situation. What? This doe not make sense. Make music

and have fun! Let the business people

do

Ihe

business and

we

should be making music and having fun!

Someone said

Ihe

K word. They make great products just

like Ensoniq does.

He

also has spent a very large sum

of

money for Ihat Kurz and must be a genius because it has a

high learning curve.

We

all like different features and dif-

ferent sounds.

We

all have different uses for our products

too.

No

one can please everyone and

we

seem

to

be at

an

interesting crossroads.

Let's

ride

it out

and

see

what

we

get. Until then, enjoy the products you own and learn

more about them and upcomming ones. That is what the

Hacker

is

for. There will be more artic/es

on

MR

or ASR

family and definetly on Paris. Take a deep breath and

say ...... Aaaensoniq -whatever will

be

will be.]

TH-

I recently got my ASR·IO stolen ... However, as I

am

not

getting a new one I will be now building a system around

a computer along with a couple rack mount synths. using

this Cakewalk program and possibly Samplecell.

Is

there a system enabling me

to

use my (ASR-IOs)

sounds and sequence data (that was NOT stolen)? Are the

ASR-IO files (seq) Standard MIDI files?

Jon

at

firstjon@hotmail.com

[PF -Jon: With the recent developments we've seen so

far,

Ihis

is

probably the first

of

a slew

of

queslions ad-

dressing

Ihe

same issue. 1 know Gary Giebler's ASR-SMF

converter wililranslate ASR-format sequences

inlO

SMFs

and vice versa. It'll set you back about $40, but that's

pretty cheap considering the man-hours you've spent as-

sembling your sequences ...

As

far

as

a PC app that'll translate ASR sounds into

"wav

files, AWAVE'li

do

it, Rubber Chicken's Ensoniq

Disk Tools'

do

it.

Point your browser

to

www.sound-

central.com. You'll find all kinds

of

info

to

help you on

this quest. The ASR does NOT write

an

SMF

to

disk -it

uses its own proprietary file format.]

Dear Hacker,

Is

there a way

of

fitting a fixed hard drive inside the

ASR·lO rack? [ hear IBM drives are recommended. I

have used Syquest

270's

with some luck and some

problems. JAZ drives won't work.

Now I need something stable for the road gigs.

11

Thanks a lot,

Soren

K.

Jensen

sound-v@inet.uni-c.dk

[PF -Soren: See Rubber Chicken's homepage at hllp:/!

www.soundcentral.com/-chickeneps. They've got a retro-

fit Zip kit available for $250

US

that fits into the floppy

drive bay.

The

only issue is thai you've got 10 have En-

soniq Disk Tools and a PC

to

format the Zip Carts. Check

that URLfor delails ... ]

Yo!

I have an ASR·IO (running O.S. 3.53) that I have daisy

chained via SCSI to a Zip drive and a CD-ROM pur-

chased from Ensoniq about a year ago.

I

am

experiencing the following problem ...

Zip drive and CC-ROM work intermittently ... Sometimes

I can boot from the Zip drive. sometimes

lean

't

... Some-

times I can pull sounds from the CD_ROM, other times I

get a error message saying "disk not installed

or

disk not

responding ..... I have changed SCSI addresses (staying

above #3, but not

#7).

I have made sure that I am properly

terminated. During my experimentation, I have swapped

each

of

the devices to the "end

of

the daisy chain" and

terminating accordingly. The Zip drive has a termination

switch and with the CD-ROM I am terminating externally.

The CD-ROM drive

is

very hot to the touch, I called En-

soniq and they said this was normal.

Are the SCSI cables bad? How can I ascertain that I am

not having Zip compatibility problems?

Is

the temperature

of

the CD-ROM too hot?

Any help much appreciated ...

Dave Cruikshank

DCruikshank@avoice.com

[PF -DCruikshank: I've never known CDROM drives

to

get thaI hot, but depending on what brand, type and other

assorted info, Ensoniq is probably right here (jeez, they

should know, shouldn't they?).

I've never trusted "active" termination or other lermina-

lion solutions other

Ihan

a terminating resistor block con-

nected

to

the end

of

a SCSI chain. Many SCSI drives have

a "termination enable" jumper that connects termination

to

the drive. However, every drive I used with my ASR

(and my Mac) that uses this type

of

termination has given

me problems, data read errors, or simply locks

up

a

machine.

Are you sure the CDROM drive isn't internally ter-

minated? Open

it

up

and take a peek just

to

be sure there

aren't any resistor packs inserted near the 50-pin connec-

tor.

If

there aren't any, connect the external terminator to

ii, leave

il

camped

OUI

at

ID

#4 (to keep "Direct-Dialing"

of

CD

navigalion enabled), and connect the Zip drive be-

tween the ASR and your CDROM drive at an

ID

between

o and 3.

I've had very good luck running a Syquest 135 at

ID

#0

and a CDROM at

lD

#4.]

Hi,

Do you have any recommendations for a good book/video

tutorial on the ASR·lO effects/sound conditioning? The

manual that came with the ASR-IO is okay, but not clear

enough on how

to

fully utilize things like compression

and tweakage

of

effects parameters.

Thanks.

Andy Dokmanovich

Livonia

adokmano@ford.com

[PF -Andy: There was a set

of

VHS

tapes for the ASR

from Covert Videos featuring Rick Parent demystifying

Like

I

said

before,

“If

it

ain’t

broke,

why

fix

it?”

I’m

NOT

slamming

Ensoniq...

they’re

doing

it

themselves.]

[PF

—

Tim:

I

happen

to

agree

with

you

on

all

of

your

points.

I

certainly

hope

PARIS

works

out...

]

[L

Vandenberg

(ljvdb3@ucr.campus.mci.net)

—

Ensoniq’s

failure

to

push

ahead

with

keyboard

technology

in lieu

of

Paris

is

disappointing,

given

how

impressive,

how

ad-

mirable,

their

product

offerings

have

been

during

the

last

ten

years.

The

Ensoniq

interface

has

been

unbeatable.

Beyond

the

great

boards,

I

have

come

to

appreciate

the

Ensoniq

effects

devices.

The

latest,

the

DP

Pro,

is

ab-

solutely

excellent.

Now

I

am

told

that

the

company

“is

no

longer

in

the

effects

business.”

This

is

a

real

shame.

The

DP

Pro

is,

in

my

view,

as

good

as

Lexicon,

or

better.

Clearly,

huge

investments

of

time,

talent

and

money

have

gone

into

developing

and

producing

these

products,

and

clearly

Ensoniq

has

a

loyal

musician

customer

base.

The

question

is:

is

the

new

management

team

at

Ensoniq

a

visionary

one

prophesying

a

wholly

integrated

digital

fu-

ture,

or

a

bunch

of

nattering

fools

who

have

squandered

their

past,

missed

their

opportunities,

alienated

their

cus-

tomers

and

sullied

their

future?

Somebody

said

that

keyboards

have

become

commodities

and

that

Ensoniq

can’t

compete,

that

soundcards

have

kept

the

company

healthy.

What

is

more

of

a

commodity

than

a

soundcard‘?

Long

term

viability

there

is

pretty

dubious.

I

have

put

many

thousands

into

Ensoniq

gear

and

will

continue

to

support

the

company.

I

may

purchase

Paris.

But

there

are

many

choices

Ensoniq

has

made

in

the

past

couple

of

years

that

have

made

me

question

my

loyalty.]

[TH

—

Soundcards

can

certainly

be a

commodity

—

but

they’re

a

LOT

easier

for

a

small

company

to

produce

in

large

enough

quantities

to

stay

in

the

game.

It’s

not

just

simply

what

is

a

commodity

and

what

isn’t

—

numerous

factors

determine

just

how

much

“girth”

a

company

has

to

have

before

they

have

a

chance

with

a

particular

com-

modity.

Technology

can

sometimes

give

a

small

company

enough

of

an

edge

to

have

a

shot

—

but

if

the

technology

matures

across

the

board...

And,

it’s

not

*cert‘ain*

that

Ensoniq

is

leaving

the

key-

board

market

—

they’re

evaluating

their

place

in it.

We’ll

have

more

news

as

we

ﬁnd

out.

And

—

we’ll

have

more

info

on

PARIS

as

we

ﬁnd

out...

let’s

not

get too

carried

away

before

anyone’s

even

had

their

hands

on

one.

]

[Rick

Lerch

(mongoose@ptd.net)

—

So

you’ll

know,

and

I

don’t

know

how

up-to-date

this

is

for

you

guys,

but

I

e-mailed

Ensoniq

about

quitting

keyboards.

I

was

kind,

really.

On

11/18,

I

got

a

response

from

Bert

Neikirk,

En-

soniq

Technical

Support,

stating

that

“While

some

products

have

been

discontinued,

we’re

not

getting

out

of

the

keyboard

business!”

Does

this

do

anything

for

ya‘?]

[PF

-

This

just

in:

The

latest

version

of

Paris

software

now

supports

SMPTE

time

code.

Other

features

soon

to

come

are

more

tracks,

more

plug-ins,

more

features,

more

FX,

etc.

AND

they

are

working

on the

Audio

Scrub

fea-

tures.

So

I

hereby

recant

my

earlier

posting,

and

pronounce

PARIS

a

true

professional

non-linear

DAR

in-

deed.

After

placing

Ensoniq

in

harm’s

way

by

judging

their

new

book

by

a

beta

cover

I

have

done

disservice

not

only

to

prospective

customers,

but

to

the

individuals

who

are

working

those

14-I6

hour

days

in

Malvern

ﬁghting

the

good

ﬁght.

So

it’s

premature

to

say

that

PARIS

doesn’t

offer

this

or

oﬁer

that

as

it’s

still

evolving.

After

all,

Pro

Tools

took

two

years

to

get

straight...

And

Ensoniq

IS

listening

to

owner

input:

the

question

here

is

“What

direction

is

the

keyboard

market

moving?”

So

l

hereby

ask

Malvem

to

re-release

the

TS—series

here

in

the

states.

It’s

still

the

most

intuitive,

easiest

to

learn,

powerful

wavetable/sample

player

every

designed.

And

with

the

terrabytes

of

the

Malvem

sampling

library,

noth-

ing

else

even

comes

close.

I’

ll

even

take

it

with

the

Rus-

sian

character

set...

My

apologies

to

all

parties

for

these

misunderstandings.

Hopefully,

any

omissions

have

been

corrected

and

added

to the

PARIS

thread.

Craig

Anderton’s

review

of

PARIS

here

in

the

Hacker

should

prove

to

be

a

VERY

interesting

read.

BTW,

your

subscription

IS

current,

isn’t

it?

]

[Eric

Montgomery

(Ensoniq)

-

It

is

good

that

there

are

loyal

customers

out

there.

I

feel

that

there

is

a

lot

of

very

intense

rumor

out

there

also.

I

think

rumor

stems

from

not

knowing.

The

“I’ll

just

make

up

something

and

tell

my

friends

and

enemies

that

it

is

true"

attitude

seems

to

be

the

right

thing

to

do

when

you

are

discouraged

or

upset,

but

as

we

can

see,

one

person

(it

took

a

LOT

of

courage

and

integrity

I

might

add)

had

to

retract

his

statement.

Let"s

try

and

remember

that

even

though

we

care,

big

business

is

big

business.

There

are

guys

here

who

put

in

15

hour

days

to

get

features

added

to

products

and

there

are

guys

who

spend

as

much

time

ﬁguring

out

what

new

products

should

be

made,

guys

answering

calls

and

e-mail

and

many

other

things.

It

takes

time

to

decide

what

is

going

to

work

and

what

is

not.

The

best

thing

is

to

be

patient

and

wait

for

real

answers.

I

heard

people

saying

that

the

products

they

already

own

are

now

garbage

because

Ensoniq

no

longer

makes

them

or

stopped

making

something.

Some

people

are

saying

the

same

thing

about

their

ESQs

they

own

because

of

the

MR

situation.

What?

This

doe

not

make

sense.

Make

music

and

have

fun!

Let

the

business

people

do

the

business

and

we

should

be

making

music

and

having

fun!

Someone

said

the

K

word.

They

make

great

products

just

like

Ensoniq

does.

He

also

has

spent

a

very

large

sum

of

money

for

that

Kurz

and

must

be

a

genius

because

it

has

a

high

learning

curve.

We

all

like

dijferent

features

and

dif-

ferent

sounds.

We

all

have

different

uses

for

our

products

too.

No

one

can

please

everyone

and

we

seem

to

be

at

an

interesting

crossroads.

Let’s

ride

it

out

and

see

what

we

get.

Until

then,

enjoy

the

products

you

own

and

learn

more

about

them

and

upcomming

ones.

That

is

what

the

Hacker

is

for.

There

will

be

more

articles

on

MR

or

ASR

family

and

deﬁnetly

on

Paris.

Take

a

deep

breath

and

say

....

..Aaaensoniq

-

whatever

will

be

will

be.

]

TH-

I

recently

got

my

ASR-10

stolen...

However,

as

I

am

not

getting

a

new

one

I

will

be

now

building

a

system

around

a

computer

along

with

a

couple

rack

mount

synths,

using

this

Cakewalk

program

and

possibly

Samplecell.

Is

there

a

system

enabling

me

to

use

my

(ASR-10s)

sounds

and

sequence

data

(that

was

NOT

stolen)?

Are

the

ASR-10

files

(seq)

Standard

MIDI

ﬁles?

Jon

at

ﬁrstjon@hotmail.com

[PF

—

Jon:

With

the

recent

developments

we’ve

seen

so

far,

this

is

probably

the

ﬁrst

of

a

slew

of

questions

ad-

dressing

the

same

issue.

I

know

Gary

Giebler’s

ASR-SMF

converter

will

translate

ASR-format

sequences

into

SMFs

and

vice

versa.

It’ll

set

you

back

about

$40,

but

that’s

pretty

cheap

considering

the

man-hours

you've

spent

as-

sembling

your

sequences...

As

far

as

a

PC

app

that"ll

translate

ASR

sounds

into

*.wav

ﬁles,

AWAVE’ll

do

it,

Rubber

Chicken’s

Ensoniq

Disk

Tools’

do

it.

Point

your

browser

to

www.sound-

central.com.

You’ll

ﬁnd

all

kinds

of

info

to

help

you

on

this

quest.

The

ASR

does

NOT

write

an

SMF

to

disk

-

it

uses

its

own

proprietary

ﬁle

format.

]

Dear

Hacker,

Is

there

a

way

of

fitting

a

ﬁxed

hard

drive

inside

the

ASR-10

rack‘?

I

hear

IBM

drives

are

recommended.

I

have

used

Syquest

270’s

with

some

luck

and

some

problems.

JAZ

drives

won’t

work.

Now

I

need

something

stable

for

the

road

gigs.

1

Thanks

a

lot,

Soren

K.

Jensen

sound-v@inet.uni-c.dk

[PF

—

Soren:

See

Rubber

Chicken’s

homepage

at

http://

www.soundcentral.com/~chickeneps.

They've

got

a

retro-

ﬁt

Zip

kit

available

for

$250

US

that

ﬁts

into

the

ﬂoppy

drive

bay.

The

only

issue

is

that

you've

got

to

have

En-

soniq

Disk

Tools

and

a

PC

to

format

the

Zip

Carts.

Check

that

URL

for

details...

]

Yo!

I

have

an

ASR-10

(running

O.S.

3.53)

that

I

have

daisy

chained

via

SCSI

to

a

Zip

drive

and

a

CD-ROM

pur-

chased

from

Ensoniq

about

a

year

ago.

I

am

experiencing

the

following

problem...

Zip

drive

and

CC-ROM

work

intermittently...

Sometimes

I

can

boot

from

the

Zip

drive,

sometimes

I

can’t...

Some-

times

I

can

pull

sounds

from

the

CD_ROM,

other

times

I

get

a

error

message

saying

“disk

not

installed

or disk

not

responding...”

I

have

changed

SCSI

addresses

(staying

above

#3,

but

not

#7).

I

have

made

sure

that

I

am

properly

terminated.

During

my

experimentation,

I

have

swapped

each

of

the

devices

to

the

“end

of

the

daisy

chain”

and

terminating

accordingly.

The

Zip

drive

has

a

termination

switch

and

with

the

CD-ROM

I

am

terminating

externally.

The

CD-ROM

drive

is

very

hot

to

the

touch,

I

called

En-

soniq

and

they

said

this

was

normal.

Are

the

SCSI

cables

bad?

How

can

I

ascertain

that

I

am

not

having

Zip

compatibility

problems?

Is

the

temperature

of

the

CD-ROM

too

hot?

Any

help

much

appreciated...

Dave

Cruikshank

DCruikshank@av0ice.com

[PF

-

DCruikshank:

I

’ve

never

known

CDROM

drives

to

get

that

hot,

but

depending

on

what

brand,

type

and

other

assorted

info,

Ensoniq

is

probably

right

here

(jeez,

they

should

know,

shouldn’t

they?

).

I’ve

never

trusted

“active”

termination

or

other

termina-

tion

solutions

other

than

a

terminating

resistor

block

con-

nected

to

the

end

of

a

SCSI

chain.

Many

SCSI

drives

have

a

“termination

enable”

jumper

that

connects

termination

to

the

drive.

However,

every

drive

I

used

with

my

ASR

(and

my

Mac)

that

uses

this

type

of

termination

has

given

me

problems,

data

read

errors,

or

simply

locks

up

a

machine.

Are

you

sure

the

CDROM

drive

isn’t

internally

ter-

minated?

Open

it

up

and

take

a

peek

just

to

be

sure

there

aren’t

any

resistor

packs

inserted

near

the

50-pin

connec-

tor.

If

there

aren’t

any,

connect

the

external

terminator

to

it,

leave

it

camped

out

at

ID

#4

(to

keep

“Direct-Dialing”

of

CD

navigation

enabled),

and

connect

the

Zip

drive

be-

tween

the

ASR

and

your

CDROM

drive

at

an

ID

between

0 and

3.

I’ve

had

very

good

luck

running

a

Syquest

I35

at

ID

#0

and

a

CDROM

at

ID

#4.]

Hi,

Do

you

have

any

recommendations

for

a

good

booklvideo

tutorial

on the

ASR-10

effectslsound

conditioning?

The

manual

that

came

with

the

ASR-10

is

okay,

but

not

clear

enough

on

how

to

fully

utilize

things

like

compression

and

tweakage

of

effects

parameters.

Thanks.

Andy

Dokmanovich

Livonia

adokmano@ford.com

[PF

-

Andy:

There

was

a

set

of

VHS

tapes

for

the

ASR

from

Covert

Videos

featuring

Rick

Parent

demystijying

Ihe ASR-JO. I don't know

if

they're still available or not,

bllt check some

of

the back issues for their ad-

dress/phone/etc.J

[TH

-We've h

ad

a LOT

of

requests for those old Covert

tapes over the years. Unfortunately, the

two

folks running

Covert went their separate ways and you just can't get

Ihem

anymore. Rubber Chicken was going to try

to

carry

Ihem,

but I think they gave

up

in frustration. Probably the

only hope would

be

that your

le

tter might trigger

so

meone

10

sell you their old set.J

[Garth (chickenEPS@Willmar.com) -You're from

Livonia? (ha) -the EPS/ASR Sampler Guide first printing

is almost ready for delivery -it's

an

application guide

that goes further than the manual, at least for applying to

musical situations. Check with RCS for more info.

En

-

soniq also makes a video that might be helpful, too.J

Hi there,

I'm

looking for an ASR-X mailing list so I could contact

other users

of

this newcomer. Could you please give me

some tips?

Thank you, Balint Udvarhelyi, Budapest, Hungary

balincudvarhelyi@non-hp-hungary-oml.om.hp.com

[PF -Balint: That's a good question -there's

an

MR

group at http://www.rain.org/-msavard/index.htm. but I

haven't heard

of

an

X-group: readers?J

[TR -And don't forget the

01'

Hacker's going

to

start

covering more on the X's

as

it ramps

up.

We

got a bit

of

a

late start

On

this criller 'cause Ensoniq accidently left our

flyer out

of

the X box -but

we

should be catching

up

shortly. Garth has a whole little series

of

X-articles

in

process.J

Hi,

I would like to inform Atari users that Zero.x from

Soundpool works very well with the ASR·IO. I often use

it with my Falcon without problems for SCSI dumps, for

sample editing, cutting a drum loop in a set

of

samples

you can map

in

the ASR, and it creates a MIDI File so

you can change the tempo (as recycle) load from samplers

or

Atari disk before sending

to

the ASR. Nice and inex-

pensive!

Of

course, I have questions.

-Can the ASR use and format the jazz canridge?

-What's the maximum size for a SCSI drive?

-

Is

there an Atari utility that defrags the ASR hard drive

with backup and directory printing?

-

Do

I dream?

P.S. I

don't

really like the new closed architecture

of

En-

soniq: not very compatible, no new FX, no software de-

velopment.

Pierre Gasmi

Grenoble, France

[PF -Pierre: In order:

(A) Only

if

it was manufactured before 1997. Otherwise,

no

.

(B)

9.1

Gb: Micropolis makes one that big,

as

does

Seagate. Actually, Seagate has just released a 23 Gigabite

whopper, the ST42345JN. I don't think any Ensoniq key-

board will "time Out" while formatting this beast, but as

it could probably take a few hours, I'm sure you'll time

out before your Ensoniq does.

At

$1100 bare, I think it's

overkill, but hey, some folks might enjoy trying to

navigate around

mAT

many nested directories.

(C) Not that I'm aware of.

..

(D) Only

if

you sleep ...

Hope this helps!J

To

the Interface,

Great mag guys, especially this section

at

the back.

I've

been an ASR-IO user for about four years now and

quite

en

joy the challenges/creativity

it

offers. But, the

suppon Ensoniq users get

in

Australia

is

shocking.

Tbe

local rep

is

Electric Factory and the list

of

their

messups

is

long.

In

addition to the lack

of

OS

copies and OS

manuals, what

is

frequently heard

is

- "

No

one is

here

right now," "Can we call you back?" "We have to order

it

in" etc. I finally had the money to get

an

ASR

CD

ROM..

the CDR4 Archives was being sold here through

the

offi-

cial Ensoniq rep for A$399!, which was also the price

they forced their retailers

to

sell it for. I ordered one from

EASTWEST Australia for A$139" Which is what

it

should be as Ensoniq designed it as a budget CD. A warn-

ing to Australian musicians -Ensoniq gear is hot

bin

don't

take the word

of

its

local rep as gospel. Please, En-

soniq, monitor the performance

of

your "sole

a

ge

nts.~

Maybe

we'd

buy more gear.

Some technical questions:

l.

I seem to have memory problems on a near empty SY-

QUEST 270 MEG

can

when recording vocals. That

is

,

when recording a (punched) 3rd take

of

the second chorus

I sometimes get a time delay

of

approximately a quarter

note when overdubbing a final chorus (punched in).

2. Any hints on speeding up the ASR processor to keep

strict rhythm from a Mac sequencer? It seems I can only

go a few instruments on the ASR (with polyphony and

memory) before the processor starts choking and a good

dance track has to be reworked with the other R ..... equip-

ment in the rack. The usual tricks are adhered to -rhythm

on top tracks

1-2,3,4,

etc. and the shonest possible MIDI

leads, Maybe it's the Mac? Any hints to speed that up

without spencling more money?

Thanks,

George Zocratos

Melbourne, Australia

[PF -Gr

eg:

Yeah,

I've

hea

rd that EVERYTHING down

under is expensive, but

$399

for a CD is pushing the en-

velope a

bi

t 1

00

far (IMHO). Adua/ly I'm surprised

you're gelling

thaI

level

of

pajOT11U1JlCt!

from your Sy-

quest

270

-Ensoniq doesn't recommend

ANY

rem

ov

able

media for DiskTrack

s.

I'd bel you

if

you change those

SCSI buffer settings you

mi

ght have a bit

bmer

luck. but

I'd

hesitate to guarantee

an

y results unless you're using a

vacuum-sealed canister for ATRK recording ...

And yes, I've had the same problem with the ASR sequen-

cer. The CPU

is

SOOOO busy paging 16 Mb

of

memory

around, interpolating key events to MIDI channels, pick-

ing

stuff

out

of

the loaded wavetable, DSP'ing FX, etc

..

.

What you can

do

to

lighten the load on the ASR

is

to turn

DiskTracks

OFF.

That'll

win

you back a few spare clock

cycles, Check your instruments

to

see exactly HOW many

waves are being triggered when you press a key. Check

the instruments

10

make sure Ihey aren't being peeked and

poked as a Preset. Shutting

off

DiskTracks will really help

while you're sequencing. Once you've got the tracks

down, you can turn ATRKs back on

do

DiskTracks, but

get the groove down before you

do

thaI.}

TH-

Is

my VFX-SD able to read General MIDI

or

Standard

MIDI?

BRIDENSTINE@prodigy.net

[PF -Bridenstine: Nope -the VFXsd writes its sequence

files

in

Ensoniq format, which isn't

an

SMF.

HOWEVER,

12

Gary Giebler has a $40 utility that will convert from VFX

to

SMF and vice-versa. Garth Hjelte

of

Rubber Chicken

Software also sells

01'

Gary's

wa

reS. Ping him at http://

www.soundcentral.com/-chickenepsfor the details ... J

TH-

My

band

is

having trouble with our EPS.

After loacling samples into

tho;

keyboard, there are times

wben the sampler completely freezes up, produces odd

{ones,

or

th

e sustain pedal stops working.

Could this be a problem with the CPU?

If

it

needed to be

cbangcd, how much would that be, and would

it

be worth

iI

jasl

to

upgrade to something more versatile, such

as

the

EP'S-16+?

l..eI_

know

if

there are any dealers who specialize in the

older

prodnds

such as these.

~

Ted

{PF -Ted;

s-.ds

like your EPS

is

displaying the

in

-

fo-

-~

bag.

Yo

ur EPS keyboard mechanism

is

~

ill

.-

halves -

Ihe

COnnector

Ihat joins

Ihese

tra

j'OftDl

oxidizedlcorrodedlintermittenl.

What to

do

is

....

.,.,.,

EPS

10

your FRIENDLY

En-

soniq

Sen'ia

Cet!uT

aIId

ltavL

life

tech install the "hard-

wire"

JU

(

...

lridJ Te.tl>es the connector and hardwires

across

Ihe

ke)board haJ,es)._.

If

th

is

a time seMiti"e

isslU,

)OW can clean

the

connec-

tor yourself

by

popping the EPS's hood (this lakes

an

allen wrench

to

remove the 4 screws hol

din

g the top cover

down )

an

d removing the keyboa

rd.

Using a zero residue

cleaner, spray that connector in

Ihe

middle

of

the key-

board mechan

is

m until it's clean and free

of

grit, grime,

whatever.

You

mi

ght even wiggle it a bit just

to

ensure

you've wiped the contacts cle

an.

Th

e danger here (as

another reader discovered)

is

ensuring you don't acciden-

tally reallach the keyboard and place a screw thru

Ihe

ribbon connector that connects the keyboard

to

Ihe

logic

board ...

If

you'

re

the leasl bit fainl

of

heart about doing this your-

self, take it to your dealer for the "hardwire" fix.

If

you

make a mistake and nuke your trusty EPS, nobody

can

fix

it,

as

repair parts and replacement logic boards are

NLA

... J

TH-

I love my TS-

IO.

I love the TH Magazine. Issues remain-

ing:4 -scare

me"!

Re: TS-IO

RAM

UPGRADE.

I'm

shopping for two 30-pin, 4-MB, non-parity SIMMS

chips. 60ns or 70ns

or

what? I have upgraded memory on

several PCs. So,

I'm

going to give it a try here! I think I

only have 4MB

of

RAM and only '1 Bank

of

Samples, But

how can I be sure? How easy

is

it to access to the RAM in

the

TS

-

IO?

Will the TS-

IO

recognize the new RAM

automatically?

How do I conven . wav files to a sample I can load into

my

TS

-

IO,

via 3.5" floppy? Rubber Chicken, Giebler, or

what? I want to record

this.

wav file on my PC then con-

ven

it

to a sample that I can load into my TS-l 0 and have

a Fat Sample to play live ...

What soundcard would I use

to

get the best sample out

of

my

PC?

Is

there a software package that would help?

Thinking about the digital music workstation + SCSI RlW

CD

to

bum own CDs

..

. Well, if I buy a SCSI RlW CD,

can I use my IBM PC instead

of

the digital music

workstation? Are SCSI CDs slower than the ESDI CDs?

the

ASR-10.

I

don't

know

if

they’re

still

available

or

not,

but

check

some

of

the

back

issues

for

their

ad-

dress/phone/etc.]

[TH

—

We've

had

a

LOT

of

requests

for

those

old

Covert

tapes

over

the

years.

Unfortunately,

the

two

folks

running

Covert

went

their

separate

ways

and

you

just

can't

get

them

anymore.

Rubber

Chicken

was

going

to

try

to

carry

them,

but

I

think

they

gave

up

in

frustration.

Probably

the

only

hope

would

be

that

your

letter

might

trigger

someone

to

sell

you

their

old

set.

]

{Garth

(chickenEPS@willmar.com)

—

You're

from

Livonia?

(ha)

-

the

EPS/ASR

Sampler

Guide

ﬁrst

printing

is

almost

ready

for

delivery

—

it’s

an

application

guide

that

goes

ﬁirther

than

the

manual,

at

least

for

applying

to

musical

situations.

Check

with

RCS

for

more

info.

En-

soniq

also

makes

a

video

that

might

be

helpﬁtl,

too.]

Hi

there,

I'm

looking

for

an

ASR-X

mailing

list

so

I

could

contact

other

users

of

this

newcomer.

Could

you

please

give

me

some

tips?

Thank

you,

Balint

Udvarhelyi,

Budapest,

Hungary

balint_udvarhelyi@non-hp-hungary-om

l

.om.hp.com

[PF

—

Balint:

T

hat’s

a

good

question

—

there’s

an

MR

group

at

http://www.rain.org/~msavard/index.htm,

but

I

haven’!

heard

of

an

X

-group:

readers?]

[

TH

—

And

don’t

forget

the

ol’

Hacker's

going

to

start

covering

more

on

the

X's

as

it

ramps

up.

We

got

a

bit

of

a

late

start

on

this

critter

’cause

Ensoniq

accidently

leﬁ

our

ﬂyer

out

of

the

X

box

—

but

we

should

be

catching

up

shortly.

Garth

has

a

whole

little

series

of

X-articles

in

process.

]

Hi,

I

would

like

to

inform

Atari

users

that

Zero.x

from

Soundpool

works

vety

well

with

the

ASR-10.

I

often

use

it

with

my

Falcon

without

problems

for

SCSI

dumps,

for

sample

editing,

cutting

a

drum

loop

in

a

set

of

samples

you

can

map

in

the

ASR,

and

it

creates

a

MIDI

File

so

you

can

change

the

tempo

(as

recycle)

load

from

samplers

or

Atari

disk

before

sending

to

the

ASR.

Nice

and

inex-

pensive!

Of

course,

I

have

questions.

-

Can

the

ASR

use

and

format

the

jazz

cartridge?

-

What's

the

maximum

size

for

a

SCSI

drive?

-

Is

there

an

Atari

utility

that

defrags

the

ASR

hard

drive

with

backup

and

Archives

was

being

sold

here

through

the

offi-

cial

Ensoniq

rep

for

AS3991,

which

was

also

the

price

they

forced

their

retailers

to

sell

it

for.

I

ordered

one

from

EASTWEST

Australia

for

A$l39!!

Which

is

what

it

should

be

as

Ensoniq

designed

it

as

a

budget

CD.

A

warn-

ing

to

Australian

musicians

—

Ensoniq

gear

is

hot

bu

don't

take

the

word

of

its

local

rep

as

gospel.

Please,

En-

soniq,

monitor

the

performance

of

your

“sole

agents.”

Maybe

we'd

buy

more

gear.

Some

technical

questions:

l.

I

seem

to

have

memory

problems

on

a

near

empty

SY-

QUEST

270

MEG

cart

when

recording

vocals.

That

is,

when

recording

a

(punched)

3rd

take

of

the

second

chorus

I

sometimes

get

a

time

delay

of

approximately

a

quarter

note

when

overdubbing

a

final

chorus

(punched

in).

2.

Any

hints

on

speeding

up

the

ASR

processor

to

keep

strict

rhythm

from

a

Mac

sequencer?

It

seems

I

can

only

go

a

few

instruments

on

the

ASR

(with

polyphony

and

memory)

before

the

processor

starts

choking

and

a

good

dance

track

has

to

be

reworked

with

the

other

equip-

ment

in

the

rack.

The

usual

tricks

are

adhered

to

—

rhythm

on

top

tracks

l-2,

3,

4,

etc.

and

the

shortest

possible

MIDI

leads.

Maybe

it’s

the

Mac?

Any

hints

to

speed

that

up

without

spending

more

money?

Thanks,

George

Zocratos

Melbourne,

Australia

[PF

-

Greg:

Yeah,

I’ve

heard

that

EVERYTHING

down

under

is

expensive,

but

$399

for

a

CD

is

pushing

the

en-

velope

a

bit

too

far

(IMHO).

Actually

I'm

surprised

you’re

getting

that

level

of

perjbrmance

from

your

Sy-

quest

270

—

Ensoniq

doesn't

recommend

ANY

ranovable

media

for

DiskTracks.

I

’d

bet

you

if

you

change

those

SCSI

buﬂer

settings

you

might

have

a

bit

better

luck,

but

I'd

hesitate

to

guarantee

any

results

unless

you're

using

a

vacuum-sealed

canister

for

ATRK

recording...

And

yes,

I've

had

the

same

problem

with

the

ASR

sequen-

cer.

The

CPU

is

S0000

busy

paging

16

Mb

of

memory

around,

interpolating

key

events

to

MIDI

channels,

pick-

ing

stuff

out

of

the

loaded

wavetable,

DSP'ing

FX,

etc...

What

you

can

do

to

lighten

the

load

on

the

ASR

is

to

turn

DiskTracks

OFF.

That'll

win

you

back

a

few

spare

clock

cycles.

Check

your

instruments

to

see

exactly

HOW

many

waves

are

being

triggered

when

you

press

a

key.

Check

the

instruments

to

make

sure

they

aren’t

being

peeked

and

poked

as

a

Preset.

Shutting

o_ﬁ‘DiskTracks

will

really

help

while

you’re

sequencing.

Once

you've

got

the

tracks

down,

you

can

turn

ATRKs

back

on do

DiskTracks,

but

get

the

groove

down

before

you

do

that.

]

1"]-]._.

Is

my

VFX-SD

able

to

read

General

MIDI

or

Standard

MIDI?

BRIDENS'I'INE@prodigy.net

[PF

-

Bridenstine:

Nope

-

the

VFXsd

writes

its

sequence

ﬁles

in

Ensoniq

format,

which

isn’t

an

SMF.

HOWEVER,

12

Gary

Giebler

has

a

$40

utility

that

will

convert

ﬁom

VFX

to

SMF

and

vice-versa.

Garth

Hjelte

of

Rubber

Chicken

Software

also

sells

ol’

Gary's

wareS.

Ping

him

at http://

www.soundcentral.com/—-chickeneps

for

the

details...]

TH

_

My

band

is

having

trouble

with

our

EPS.

After

loading

samples

into

the

keyboard,

there

are

times

when

the

sampler

completely

freezes

up,

produces

odd

tones,

or

the

sustain

pedal

stops

working.

Could

this

be

a

problem

with

the

CPU?

If

it

needed

to

be

changed,

how

much

would

that

be,

and

would

it

be

worth

‘n

just

to

upgrade

to

something

more

versatile,

such

as

the

EPS-16+?

Let

me

know

if

there

are

any

dealers

who

specialize

in

the

ohbqrodncts

such

as

these.

‘links,

Ted

Fir-|kBmdXXX

[PF

-

Ted."

Sounds

like

your

EPS

is

displaying

the

in-

ﬁnnocs

‘keyionnf

bug.

Your

EPS

keyboard

mechanism

is

aatuﬁcmred

in

two

halva

—

the

connector

that

joins

these

halves

has

gotta

oxidized/corroded/intermittent.

What

to

do

is

to

take

your

EPS

to

your

FRIENDLY

En-

soniq

Service

Center

and

have

the

tech

install

the

“hard-

wire"

ﬁx

(which

removes

the

connector

and

hardwires

across

the

keyboard

halves)...

If

this

is

a

time

sensitive

issue.

you

can

clean

the

connec-

tor

yourself

by

popping

the

EPS’

s

hood

(this

takes

an

allen

wrench

to

remove

the

4

screws

holding

the

top

cover

down)

and

removing

the

keyboard.

Using

a

zero

residue

cleaner,

spray

that

connector

in

the

middle

of

the

key-

board

mechanism

until

it’s

clean

and

ﬁ'ee

of

grit,

grime,

whatever.

You

might

even

wiggle

it

a

bit

just

to

ensure

you've

wiped

the

contacts

clean.

The

danger

here

(as

another

reader

discovered)

is

ensuring

you

don't

acciden-

tally

reattach

the

keyboard

and

place

a

screw

thru

the

ribbon

connector

that

connects

the

keyboard

to

the

logic

board...

If

you're

the

least

bit

faint

of

heart

about

doing

this

your-

self} take

it

to

your

dealer

for

the

“hardwire”

ﬁx.

If

you

make

a

mistake

and

nuke

your

trusty

EPS,

nobody

can

ﬁx

it,

as

repair

parts

and

replacement

logic

boards

are

NLA...]

TH-

I

love

my

TS-10.

I

love

the

TH

Magazine.

Issues

remain-

ing:4-

scare

me!!!

Re:

TS-IO

RAM

UPGRADE.

I'm

shopping

for

two

30-pin,

4-MB,

non-parity

SIMMS

chips.

60ns

or

70ns

or

what?

I

have

upgraded

memory

on

several

PCs.

So,

I'm

going

to

give

it

a

try

here!

I

think

I

only

have

4MB

of

RAM

and

only

1

Bank

of

Samples,

But

how

can

I

be

sme?

How

easy

is

it

to

access

to

the

RAM

in

the

TS-10?

Will

the

TS-10

recognize

the

new

RAM

automatically?

How

do

I

convert

.wav

ﬁles

to

a

sample

I

can

load

into

my

TS-10,

via

3.5"

floppy?

Rubber

Chicken,

Giebler,

or

what?

I

want

to

record

this

.wav

ﬁle

on

my

PC

then

con-

vert

it

to

a

sample

that

I

can

load

into

my

TS-l0

and

have

a

Fat

Sample

to

play

live...

What

soundcard

would

I

use

to

get

the

best

sample

out

of

my

PC?

Is

there

a

software

package

that

would

help?

Thinking

about

the

digital

music

workstation

+

SCSI

R/W

CD

to

burn

own

CDs...

Well,

if

I

buy

a

SCSI

R/W

CD,

can

I

use

my

IBM

PC

instead

of

the

digital

music

workstation?

Are

SCSI

CDs

slower

than

the

ESDI

CDs?

_

__

7___

_

H.

-I

_____

What are the rates for the Cyber Subscriptions to the

Transoniq Hacker?

Thanks,

Irnani4321@aol.com

(PF

-Imani:

Answers, in

order-

(A) It doesn't matter. As long as they're 80ns or faster,

either will perform well. See http://www.ensoniq.

com

/

htmll0006.htmfor details.

(B)

4

Mb

is approximately 7900 free blocks: check your

TS

to

see how many free blocks it reports. The ASR has

jumpers to select I Mb or 4

Mb

SIMMS, I don't know]

if

the

TS

has these jumpers as well.

You

can remove the

SIMM cover underneath the

TS

to see

if

it has jumper

·selects as

well

...

(C) I've had very good luck doing this with Awave, al-

though RCS's Ensoniq Disk Tools is the caddilac for

doing this

if

you're running WIN95.

The

issue here is

looping a *.wav file,

as

the TS has

NO

editing functions

to

loop with

..

.

(D)

WAY too subjective

to

answer. Creative Labs,

En

-

soniq, Roland, Yamaha, EVERYBODY's got a soundcard

that professes to be better than the next guy's. I won't

even

go

there

--

I see the flames already ...

(E)

Yes,

if

your PC has a SCSI interface.

If

not, you'll

need to add one

to

do

this.

(F)

SCSI is the fastest data xfer spec available (until the

world embraces FireWire) ... The issue here is not which

is faster, SCSI or ESDI, but rather, which

CD

RIW

is

com-

patible with BOTH your

PC

and your

TS

-

IO.

Check out

htlp:/!www.soundcentral.com/-chickeneps for details

on

which CD-R' s are compatible.

(G) Considerably less than $1000. See Jane & Eric on

this (The Hacker's editrix/editor).]

(TH -$20/year.]

(Imani4321@aol.com -

PF:

Way

to

go

. Good Job &

Thank You.)

(PF

-Imani:

You

got it!]

Hi!

I have an Ensoniq

EPS

with the 4x expander memory

cartridge.

My

problem

is

that I

can't

get the VU-meter to

read the input signal, and in average the input-signal is

very low.

I've

got audio input from "line-out" from dj-

mixers and the result was very low audio, then I switched

the cable to headphones-out. the sound was better but still

no movement on the display. I have spoken to Swedish

service technicians, but they

don't

have a clue what could

be wrong. Do I really have to change the motherboard?

Please need your help,

Patrik Pettersson

Patrik.Pettersson@swipnet.se

(PF -Patrik: First, ensure you're running OS

V.

2.49 and

ROMware

V.

2.40.

Then

check the "MiC/Line" switch

(a

software switch documented in the Musician's Manual

in

the Sample Modes). It may be set to "Line" rather than

"Mic."

If

your EPS still samples at a low level. you may

need to clean or otherwise change the "Audio In" phone

jack. It might be a defective input opamp

as

well, but

either requires a technician. As the EPS logic board

is

NLA,

any Authorized Ensoniq Service Center should have

the EPS schematics now and

can

repair this for

you

with

little difficulty. But

if

you can find a replacement mother-

board, sure, that's the fastest way to repair your EPS.]

Hi,

I am still the proud owner

of

a TS-12. I have one teeny

weeny problem with the OS that I hope you are able to

solve.

I.

When I first bought the TS three years ago, I was able

to input alphabetical letters and numbers using the key-

board. But I did a system re-boot a few months later and

the keyboard ceased operating as a "typewriter." I know

this is only a small problem but does

it

mean that my key-

board

is

"losing its memory???" Can I fix it with the

touch

of

a button? There is nothing in the manual that

suggests this is possible.

2. I currently have about 500 GBP to spend on a sampler

that I can use along side the TS-12. I currently transfer

*.wav files from my PC using Rubber Chickens fantastic

Disk Tools, but the quality

of

recording isn't too hot

(Using an SB-16Pro). So what are my options? I know

that there are few samplers that will transfer straight into

my TS-12. I probably

can't

get a used ASR-IO for that

kind

of

price. So what shall I buy? An old EPS? A high

quality soundcard?

Or

just a cheap sampler made by

somebody else ... ?? I can get a high spec used ESI-32 over

here in England for about 600 GBP.

Cheers for your help.

I'm

sorry to hear about this turn-

around by Ensoniq. I still haven't found a keyboard to

beat the TS-12 for all-round performance. Top hole!

Andrew Ogden

Manchester, ENGLAND.

A.J.Ogden@civils.salford.ac.uk

(PF -Andrew: Keyboard naming

is

an

option that

is

set

in

the "Master" pages.

If

you've reinitialized the unit. this

parameter defaults to "off." Switch it back on and your

keyboard will become a typewriter again.

And actually,

I'd

recommend the SCSI interface option

and a compatible CD-ROM for your

TS.

This gives you

access to all the Ensoniq CDROM library (THE most

comprehensive

in

the industry). As you are probably

aware, the

TS

directly reads ASR/EPSIl6+ sample disks,

so you'll have more than enough sounds

to

ping into your

TS.

Ensure you've popped

two

4

Mb

30 pin SIMMS into

the TS

so

you can load

8Mb

of

extra samples into it.

The beauty

of

this solution

is

that you won't have to

wrestle with either sampling thru your Soundblaster any-

more, and you won't have

to

worry about looping sounds:

Ensoniq has already done this in a sterling library that

far exceeds any other sampler library on this blue ball.

And the SCSI interface for the

TS

is

still available.

Just

my

$.02 worth, but for around

half

of

what you have

to spend, you can purchase the CDROM, SCSI interface

and RAM, and still have change

to

bag a few

CDs

from

Ensoniq's library

to

give your

TS

some fresh new

sounds ... }

TH-

I have been trying to locate someone to service my En-

soniq in the Tacoma, W A area. Can you direct me to the

nearest service

in

my area?

BHarris407@aol.com

(PF -BHarris: As

in

Paula's request, you'd have to con-

tact Ensoniq directly at 610.647.3930 for that informa-

tion.]

(TH -We've asked Ensoniq

10

please add this type

of

info

to

their web page -or send it

to

us

so

we

can add it

to

ours.)

(Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) -

Use

the following

URL

at

our website and you

can

find a service center nearest you:

hllp://www.ensoniq.com/mid/servlist.htm.]

Love the Transoniq Hacker!

13

I want to convert a .wav file created

on

my PC to a

sample my TS-IO can read. Then I want to save this

sample to a 3.5" floppy which my TS-

IO

can also read.

Then I want to load this sample into my TS-IO via the

TS-IO's 3.5" floppy drive.

Well, so much for what I want to do, here is what

I've

done:

I'm

sure I got Awave to convert a .wav file to an .efe file.

The .efe file

is

the Ensoniq EPS family instrument file.

But my TS-IO will not recognize this .efe (EPS) file on

the floppy.

I should be able to play an EPS sample on the TS-IO,

right?

Irnani4321@aol.com

(PF -Imani: Any sample file with

an

' .efe extension is

an

Ensoniq sample file, but

in

PC format.

You

need to con-

vert this *.efe into

an

*ede

(Ensoniq Disk Exlractor) for-

mat to make a loadable file

of

it.

Good'

01

Gary Giebler

has these utilities

(he

wrote them years ago)

as

does

RCS

..

.

Typically, most Ensoniq files

up

on the

web

are

'.ede

files. Check out http://www.soundcentral.coml-chick-

eneps for a listing

of

what shareware/freeware utilities

will

do

this for you,

as

well

as

the real deal from Giebler

Enterprises.]

Hi,

I use

my

ASR

to help learn certain solos. I usually assign

the sample to middle C, and then play it back I octave

lower to learn il. However, the pitfalls are: the severe

drop in pitch

as

well as the severe drop

in

speed. Does

anyone know

of

a way to tweak the

ASR

parameters

sol

maintain the original pitch while slowing down the sam-

ple?

OR -does anyone know

of

a simple windows-based

utility

or

program that has this ability? Our voice mail

at

work has this ability and I would imagine

it's

out there

somewhere.

I've

seen the $150 boxes for sale in various

music catalogs that digitally sample a solo and allow pitCh

and speed manipulation, but that's a last resort.

THANKS, looking forward to hearing back from anyone.

Andy Dokmanovich (adokmano)

Go Steelers!

Livonia

adokmano@ford.com

(PF -Andy:

You

don't need any computer stuff to

do

this.

The ASR has a function called "Time Compression/Ex-

pansion) that'll

do

precisely what you're trying

to

do.

Refer to ppg. 182-183

in

the ASR Musician's Manual for

the details ... }

Dear

sirs:

I recently got

an

Ensoniq EPS sampler, dated 06116/88.

It

has a 2x memory expander installed, and

is

in fair condi-

tion. I was hoping I could ask a few questions

of

you.

I)

I believe the disk drive may be worn out

or

almost so,

because

of

intermittent operation. Can disk drives for the

EPS still be obtained, and

is

a computer 3.5" drive com-

patible with the EPS?

2) Are the

4x

memory expanders still available for the

EPS, and if so,

do

you know where, and how much?

3)

I'm

having trouble getting my EPS to read disks I've

tried to create on

my

PC using various EPS utilities I've

found around the nel. Can you tell me the format

parameters (heads, tracks, sectors, etc.) the EPS uses?

4)

The manual I got with the sampler has pages 5, 6, 7 and

What

are

the

rates

for

the

Cyber

Subscriptions

to

the

Transoniq

H

acker‘?

Thanks,

Imani432

l@aol.com

[PF

—

Irnani:

Answers,

in

order

—

(A)

It

doesn't

matter.

As

long

as

they’re

80ns

or

faster,

either

will

perform

well.

See

http:l/www.ensoniq.com/

htmll0006.htm

for

details.

(B)

4

Mb

is

approximately

7900

free

blocks:

check

your

TS

to

see

how

many

free

blocks

it

reports.

The

ASR

has

jumpers

to

select

1

Mb

or

4

Mb

SIMMS,

I

don’:

know

if

the

TS

has

these

jumpers

as

well.

You

can

remove

the

SIMM

cover

underneath

the

TS

to

see

if

it

has

jumper

-selects

as

well...

(C)

I’ve

had

very

good

luck

doing

this

with

Awave,

al-

though

RCS's

Ensoniq

Disk

Tools

is

the

caddilac

for

doing

this

if

you're

running

WIN95.

The

issue

here

is

looping

a

*.wov

ﬁle,

as

the

TS

has

NO

editing

ﬁmctions

to

loop

with...

(D)

WAY

too

subjective

to

answer.

Creative

Labs,

En-

soniq,

Roland,

Yamaha,

El/ERYBODY’s

got

a

soundcard

that

professes

to

be

better

than

the

I

won't

even

go

there

--

I

see

the

ﬂames

already...

(E)

Yes,

if

your

PC

has

a

SCSI

interface.

If

not,

you’ll

need

to

add

one

to

do

this.

(F)

SCSI

is

the

fastest

data

xfer

spec

available

(until

the

world

embraces

FireWire)...

The

issue

here

is

not

which

is

faster,

SCSI

or

ESDI,

but

rather,

which

CD

RIW

is

com-

patible

with

BOTH

your

PC

and

your

TS-I0.

Check

out

http:/lwww.soundcentral.com/~chickeneps

for

details

on

which

CD-R's

are

compatible.

(G)

Considerably

less

than

$1000.

See

Jane

&

Eric

on

this

(The

Hacker's

editrix/edi

tor).

]

[TH

-

$20/year.]

[Imani4321@aol.com

-

PF:

Way

to

go.

Good

Job

&

Thank

You.

]

[PF

—

Imani:

You

got

it!

]

Hi!

I

have

an

Ensoniq

EPS

with

the

4x

expander

memory

cartridge.

My

problem

is

that

I

can't

get the

VU-meter

to

read

the

input

signal,

and

in

average

the

input-signal

is

very

low.

I've

got

audio

input

from

“line-out”

from

dj-

mixers

and

the

result

was

very

low

audio,

then

I

switched

the

cable

to

headphones-out,

the

sound

was

better

but

still

no

movement

on

the

display.

I

have

spoken

to

Swedish

service

technicians,

but

they

don’t

have

a

clue

what

could

be

wrong.

Do

I

really

have

to

change

the

motherboard?

Please

need

your

help,

Patrik

Pettersson

Patrik.Pettersson@swipnet.se

[PF

-

Patrik:

First,

ensure

you're

running

OS

V.

2.49

and

ROMware

V.

2.40.

Then

check

the

“Mic/Line"

switch

(a

software

switch

documented

in

the

Musician's

Manual

in

the

Sample

Modes).

It

may

be

set

to

“Line”

rather

than

“Mic.”

If

your

EPS

still

samples

at

a

low

level,

you

may

need

to

clean

or

otherwise

change

the

“Audio

In"

phone

jack.

It

might

be

a

defective

input

opomp

as

well,

but

either

requires

a

technician.

As

the

EPS

logic

board

is

NLA,

any

Authorized

Ensoniq

Service

Center

should

have

the

EPS

schematics

now

and

can

repair

this

for

you

with

little

difﬁculty.

But

if

you

can

ﬁnd

a

replacement

mother-

board,

sure,

that’s

the

fastest

way

to

repair

your

EPS.]

Hi,

I

am

still

the

proud

owner

of

a

TS-12.

I

have

one

teeny

weeny

problem

with

the

OS

that

I

hope

you

are

able

to

solve.

l.

When

I

first

bought

the

TS

three

years

ago,

I

was

able

to

input

alphabetical

letters

and

numbers

using

the

key-

board.

But

I

did

a

system

re—boot

a

few

months

later

and

the

keyboard

ceased

operating

as

a

“typewriter.”

I

know

this

is

only

a

small

problem

but

does

it

mean

that

my

key-

board

is

“losing

its

memory???"

Can

I

ﬁx

it

with

the

touch

of

a

button?

There

is

nothing

in

the

manual

that

suggests

this

is

possible.

2.

I

currently

have

about

500

GBP

to

spend

on

a

sampler

that

I

can

use

along

side

the

TS-12.

I

currently

transfer

*.wav

files

from

my

PC

using

Rubber

Chickens

fantastic

Disk

Tools,

but

the

quality

of

recording

isn’t

too hot

(Using

an

SB-l6Pro).

So

what

are

my

options?

I

know

that

there

are

few

samplers

that

will

transfer

straight

into

my

TS-12.

I

probably

can’t

get

a

used

ASR-10

for

that

kind

of

price.

So

what

shall

I

buy?

An

old

EPS?

A

high

quality

soundcard?

Or

just

a

cheap

sampler

made

by

somebody

else...‘?‘?

I

can

get

a

high

spec

used

ESI-32

over

here

in

England

for

about

600

GBP.

Cheers

for

your

help.

I'm

sorry

to

hear

about

this

turn-

around

by

Ensoniq.

I

still

haven’t

found

a

keyboard

to

beat

the

TS-l2

for

all-round

performance.

Top

hole!

Andrew

Ogden

Manchester,

ENGLAND.

A.J.Ogden@civils.sa]ford.ac.uk

[PF

-

Andrew:

Keyboard

naming

is

an

option

that

is

set

in

the

“Master”

pages.

If

you've

reinitialized

the

unit,

this

parameter

defaults

to

“ojfﬁ"

Switch

it

back

on

and

your

keyboard

will

become

a

typewriter

again.

And

actually,

I'd

recommend

the

SCSI

interface

option

and

a

compatible

CD-ROM

for

your

TS.

This

gives

you

access

to

all

the

Ensoniq

CDROM

library

(THE

most

comprehensive

in

the

industry).

As

you

are

probably

aware,

the

TS

directly

reads

ASRlEPSl16+

sample

disks,

so

you'll

have

more

than

enough

sounds

to

ping

into

your

TS.

Ensure

you've

popped

two

4

Mb

30

SIMMS

into

the

TS

so

you

can

load

8Mb

of

extra

samples

into

it.

The

beauty

of

this

solution

is

that

you

won't

have

to

wrestle

with

either

sampling

thru

your

Soundblaster

any-

more,

and

you

won't

have

to

worry

about

looping

sounds:

Ensoniq

has

already

done

this

in

a

sterling

library

that

for

exceeds

any

other

sampler

library

on

this

blue

ball.

And

the

SCSI

interface

for

the

TS

is

still

available.

Just

my

$.02

worth,

but

for

around

half

of

what

you

have

to

spend,

you

can

purchase

the

CDROM,

SCSI

interface

and

RAM,

and

still

have

change

to bog a

few

CDs

from

Ensoniq’s

library

to

give

your

TS

some

ﬂesh

new

sounds...

]

-

TH-

I

have

been

trying

to

locate

someone

to

service

my

En-

soniq

in

the

Tacoma,

WA

area.

Can

you

direct

me

to

the

nearest

service

in

my

area‘?

BHarris407@aol.com

[PF

-

BHarris:

As

in

Paula's

request,

you'd

have

to

con-

tact

Ensoniq

directly

at

610.647.3930

for

that

informa-

tion.]

[TH

—

We've

asked

Ensoniq

to

please

add

this

type

of

info

to

their

web

page

—

or

send

it

to

us so

we

can

add

it

to

ours.

]

[Eric

Montgomery

(Ensoniq)

-

Use

the

following

URL

at

our

website

and

you

can

ﬁnd

a

service

center

nearest

you:

http://www.ensoniq.com/mid/servlist.htm.]

Love

the

Transoniq

Hacker!

13

-i

-

7 7 7

7-;,_---—

I

want

to

convert

a

.wav

file

created

on

my

PC

to

a

sample

my

TS-10

can

read.

Then

I

want

to

save

this

sample

to

a

3.5"

floppy

which

my

TS-10

can

also

read.

Then

I

want

to

load

this

sample

into

my

TS-10

via

the

TS-l0’s

3.5"

ﬂoppy

drive.

Well,

so

much

for

what

I

want

to

do,

here

is

what

I've

done:

I'm

sure

I

got

Awave

to

convert

a

.wav

file

to

an

.efe

file.

The

.efe

file

is

the

Ensoniq

EPS

family

instrument

file.

But

my

TS-10

will

not

recognize

this

.efe

(EPS)

file

on

the

floppy.

I

should

be

able

to

play

an

EPS

sample

on the

TS-10,

right?

Imani432

l@aol.com

[PF

-

Imani:

Any

sample

ﬁle

with

an

*.efe

extension

is

an

Ensoniq

sample

ﬁle,

but

in

PC

format.

You

need

to

con-

vert

this

*.efe

into

an

*.ede

(Ensoniq

Disk

Extractor)

for-

mat

to

make

a

loadable

ﬁle

of

it.

Good

’ol

Gary

Giebler

has

these

utilities

(he

wrote

them

years

ago)

as

does

RCS...

Typically,

most

Ensoniq

ﬁles

up on

the

web

are

*.ede

ﬁles.

Check

out

http://wwwsoundcentral.com/~chick-

eneps

for

a

listing

of

what

sharewarelfreeware

utilities

will

do

this

for

you,

as

well

as

the

real

deal

from

Giebler

Enterprises.

]

Hi,

I

use

my

ASR

to

help

learn

certain

solos.

I

usually

assign

the

sample

to

middle

C,

and

then

play

it

back

1

octave

lower

to

learn

it.

However,

the

pitfalls

are:

the

severe

drop

in

pitch

as

well

as

the

severe

drop

in

speed.

Does

anyone

know

of

a

way

to

tweak

the

ASR

parameters

so

I

maintain

the

original

pitch

while

slowing

down

the

sam-

ple?

OR

—

does

anyone

know

of

a

simple

windows-based

utility

or

program

that

has

this

ability?

Our

voice

mail

at

work

has

this

ability

and

I

would

imagine

it’s

out

there

somewhere.

I've

seen

the

$150

boxes

for

sale

in

various

music

catalogs

that

digitally

sample

a

solo

and

allow

pitch

and

speed

manipulation,

but

that's

a

last

resort.

THANKS,

looking

forward

to

hearing

back

from

anyone.

Andy

Dokmanovich

(adokmano)

Go

Steelers!

Livonia

adokmano@ford.com

[PF

-

Andy:

You

don’t

need

any

computer

stuﬁ

to

do

this.

The

ASR

has

a

ﬁtnction

called

“Time

Compression/E»

pansion)

that’ll

do

precisely

what

you’re

trying

to do.

Refer

to

ppg.

182-183

in

the

ASR

Musician's

Manual

for

the

details...]

Dear

sirs

:

I

recently

got

an

Ensoniq

EPS

sampler,

dated

06/

16/88.

It

has

a

2x

memory

expander

installed,

and

is

in

fair

condi-

tion.

I

was

hoping

I

could

ask

a

few

questions

of

you.

l)

I

believe

the

disk

drive

may

be

worn

out

or

almost

so,

because

of

intermittent

operation.

Can

disk

drives

for

the

EPS

still

be

obtained,

and

is

a

computer

3.5"

drive

com-

patible

with

the

EPS?

2)

Are

the

4x

memory

expanders

still

available

for

the

EPS,

and

if

so,

do

you

know

where,

and

how

much?

3)

I'm

having

trouble

getting

my

EPS

to

read

disks

I’ve

tried

to

create

on

my

PC

using

various

EPS

utilities

I’ve

found

around

the

net.

Can

you

tell

me

the

format

parameters

(heads,

tracks,

sectors,

etc.)

the

EPS

uses?

4)

The

manual

I

got

with

the

sampler

has

pages

5,

6,

7

and

8 twice

in

a row, and then goes to page

13

and so on (no

pages 9,

10,

11

and

12).

Are corrected manuals, or pages

9-

12,

available, and if so, do you know where and

how

much?

Thank you and regards.

Fritz Uhle

fritz@primary.net

[PF -

Fr

i

tz:

(1)

9

of

10 problems on

an

EPS disk drive

revolve around the power connector on the back

of

the

drive. I'm not saying that's the case with yours, but if's

suspect

of

every older 800k diskette drive in an Ensoniq.

Ensuring the power and data connector are good, clean-

ing the heads with a zero residue cleaner and a 3

112"

diskette cleaner are about

all

you can do.

If

the drive is truly bad/defective after you've checked the

above, a company called Teczam repairs floppy disk

drives. Contact Rubber Chicken Software

as

well at

http://www.soundcentral.com/-chickeneps: lotsa good

links there ...

(2) Good luck. People have been trying for the past 5

years

to

get their hands on a

4X

for the EPS -they're

NLA. Not even the 3rd party channel has these anymore ...

(3) Check with www.giebler.com: Gary Giebler wrote the

book

on

that

..

.

(4)

You

should contact http://www.jatsnake.com/syntaur:

they are the sole purveyors

of

original manuals for the

EPS

(as

well

as

all the older pre-1989 Ensoniq gear).

Good luck

in

your search!,

TH -

A letter or so back

in

the Interface someone suggested a

save for Ensoniq that they should take VERY seriously:

Begin making TS·IOII2s again. The ability

to

load

samples, the killer sequencer and the overall ease

of

use

makes this a wonderful choice even today. Updates

in

the

OS really wouldn't be that costly and the price would

be

competitive -get it close to 2k and you'll have a hit -yet

again. Really! One

of

the biggest complaints I've heard

from the Ensoniq loyal was that with the TS-IO reading

samples

was

built

in.

With the

MR

it

was

an

expensi

ve

option?! Oh, that

was

a smooth move. (Sort

of

the same

flak they took when they went from the SQ-80 with disk

and sequencer to the original VFX.) Anywho ... The tool-

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

Ensoniq

TS

-12

For

Sale,

$1500.

8

meg

update,

case,

Library

(including

some

great

analogue

samples).

Great

shape,

mostly

studio

use.

Wayne

Thompson,

(503)

286

-

6389.

synsin@spiritone

.-

com

MR

-

76

workstation.

Two

expansion

boards,

Dance,

Sample

BPS

.

16-Track

sequencer,

drum

machine,

Idea

Pad.

Excellent

condition.

Asking

$1900

.

Phone:

512-707-1080.

Ensoniq

TS-IO.

Absolute

mint

condition,

home

use

only,

OS

3 (w/

General

MIDI)

. In

origin

al

box

, all

manuals

included

. $ 1

200

. J

oe,

931-647

-

4827,

jrowand@sprynet.com.

SOUNDS

For

EPS/EPSI6+/ASRITS.

SLT

I

to

5,

10

disk

sets:

$65

each.

ESS

I

to

6 & 10, 3

disk

Signature

ing

is

still available and the customer base still exists

as

well. With prices dropping

in

memory, hard drives and

CD-ROMS , upgrading the TS-IO would

be

inexpensive.

Build it (again) and they will come.

RobertoRom@aol.com

[PF -Roberto:

Yes,

I said that, and yes,

I'd

buy one right

now

if

it were available here in the states (the only ones

manufactured are for Russian export only). Gotta used

one?]

[RobertoRom@aol.com -

['

d buy one too! I've been look-

i

ng

for a used one myself. Another thing

to

add

to

the

"really ticked people off" list was the loss

of

the patch

select buttons. Lots

of

power, killer sequencer, flexible

outputs, sampling ability, upgradeable, hard disk ac

ces

s,

with an OS upgrade that would recognize

WA

V

ji

les,

you'd have a winner. Come on people, l

et

your voices be

heard!

The

MR was too far

of

a departure

an

d just

too

much. Look

in

the market, Malvern! A moderately priced,

solid board that can be used

as

a workstation and for

road use is still needed

in

the market. As for the "we're

going

to

make keyboards in the $1200

to

$1600 marke

t.

"

Uh

, wi

th

a few updates wouldn't

tha

t be calle

d,

oh well,

uh,

how about ... SQ-l, SQ-R and

SQ-

2? Talk

/0

your

dealers boys. They felt the loss

of

the

SQ

series was a big

mistake. What professional level keyboard even

ca

me

close for the price?! So ... check it out ... see the deale

r/

customer reaction and get the lines back and running.,

[Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) -I suppose

we

have to wait

and see

..

. ]

Hi,

I recently had a SCSI board installed and I'm not sure that

this problem occurred exactly

at

the same time, but I

believe it did.

My

ASR sends a volume control message

somewhere

ill

the vicinity

of

55. I didn't realize this at

first and wondered what the problem with the volume

was. When I tried to run the

ASR

via MIDI from Notator,

the volume control change that the

ASR

sent was obvious

on the A TARI sequencer. If I try to

use

the

ASR

as

a con-

troller, then I have this problem with all 8

ASR

instru-

ments. If I use another instrument

as

the controller, then I

only have this probl

em

on the selected

ASR

instrument.

The data coming from the ASR is continuous

and

there-

fore takes precedence over

an

y MIDI message that I

might put

in

.

Clossifieds

Series

se

ts:

$35

each.

AS

-7

Baldwin

Piano

5

disk

set

for

ASRlTS:

$35

.

Sample

Bank

CD

Roms

for

ASRlPC:

$40.

For

ASRI

ASRX:

Ultimate

CD

Rom

:

$90.

State

of

the

Art

Natural

Akai

CD

Rom:

$90

.

Steve

Stevens

Guitar

Akai

CD

Rom:

$135.

Contact:

Boris

Korol

(613)

228

-

9846

or

ema

il:

korol@nortel.ca.

Fo

ur

unopene

d

Ensoniq

CD

-

ROMS

for

sale:

CD

Rs

#11

(k

e

yb

o

ar

d),

#12

(drums)

,

#13

(pe

r

cussion),

and

#15

(

L,A.

Riot

#1).

All

for

#

320

.

Call

Mike,

805

-

492

-0

22

4.

Clean

custom

drum

licks for

your

E

PS

-16+.

d

rums

from

OIlW,

SP

- 1

200

,

D4

,

SPD

-8,

R

ola

nd-

Boss

(TR

-

909,

DR

-660,

TR-626,

XP-50,

DR-

22

0

A,

CR

-l

OOO,

etc.

),

Yamaha

QY-20,

K2

0()()

,

Simmons,

and

oth

ers

.

Various

formats

available

.

P.

O.

Box

2072,

N

orfolk,

VA

23501.

757-

489

- 87

83,

gkee

pe

r@b

ellatlantic.net.

14

Needless

to

say this

is

quite frustrating, since I can't use

the

ASR

at all without the computer, the keyboard itself

is

useless, and using MIDI I

am

limited to 7 instruments on

the ASR

..

or one with a volume

of

55

... not

to

mention

the extra stream

of

MIDI data generated!

My

fear

is

that I

will need another SCSI board (this

is

already the third

one!). I'm beginning to wish I never .had the SCSI in-

stalled since I've experienced nothing but problems since.

Please tell

me

there

is

some easy reinitialization Irick that

will fix this problem.

Thanks for your assistance!

Peggy Madden

pj@madtrax.com

[PF -Peggy: Does the ASR send out these CC#7 level 55

messages when NOT connected to the computer?

On

the

ASR,

do

you have your track volume levels

in

the sequen-

cer set

to

55?

Or

do

you possibly have your Song Tracks

set to level 55 ?

Or

is

the sequence that's doing this selling

a

IL

track levels to 55? Since you note that another con-

troller connected only plays the track back at 55, this im-

plies that your instrument/track levels are set to 55. Does

it

de

monstrate this problem when NOT connected

to

the

computer? What controller

is

the Data Entry slider

mapped

to

in

the Master pages? Bet if's #7: change that

an

d see w

ha

t happens.

Does it

do

this with or without a foot volume controller

connected?

Try

a factory disk or sequence like "Time Bomb" just

to

see

if

your ASR still sends out those CC#7 55 levels. This

sounds more like a data/computer issue than an ASR

issue, but anything

is

possible.

Check

to

make sure you're running the most current ver-

sion

of

the ASR OS ( V.3.53) and the most current ROMs

(V. 1.5), 'cause this problem sounds more like software

than hardware.

Keep

us

posted,

as

I've NEVER heard

of

this problem

before. 1 use

an

ASR-JO,

16

Mb/CDROM/SyquestJ35/2

Gb

SCSI dri

ve,

and I've never experienced

th

is ... ,

[Peggy Madden (peggy@together.net) -PF ... Thank you,

thank you, thank you!!!! I had inadvertentLy plugged the

sustain pedal into the

CV

input and never ever thought to

look there. Sometimes simplicity

is

the key! I wish I had

asked this question months ago

as

it's been quite an ag-

gravation! Any

way

the problem

is

solved and I am very

happy

..

:-)

..

pj]

OUT-OF-PRINT BACK ISSUES

M.U.G.

will

provide

Out

-

of

-

Print

issues

for

cost

of

materials

and

postage.

Write:

G-4

Productions,

PO

Box

615TH,

Yo

nkers,

NY

10703.

Attn:

TH

Back

Issues.

* * *

Folks

in

the

New

York

City

area

can

get

cop

i

es

of

unavailable

back

issues

of

the

Hacker

-

call

Jordan

Scott,

718

-

983

-

2400.

FREE CLASSIFIEDS!

Well

-

within

limits.

We

'

re

offering

free

clas

sifi-

ed

advertising

(up

to

40

words)

for

your

sa

mpl

ed

sounds

or

patches.

Additional

word

s,

or

ads

f

or

other

products

or

services,

are

$0.251

word

per

issue

(BOLD

type: $0.45/word).

Unless

renew

ed,

freebie

ads are

removed

after

2

issu

es.

W

hile

you're

welcome

to

rese

ll

copyrighted

soun

ds

and

programs

that

you

no

l

onger

have

any

us

e for,

ads

for

copies

of

copyright

ed

mate

.rial will

no

t be

ac

-

cepted.

Sorry

-

we

can

't

(w

e

won'!!)

tak

e

ad

dic·

tation

over

the

ph

one!

8

twice

in

a

row,

and

then

goes

to

page

13

and

so

on

(no

pages

9,

10,

ll

and

12).

Are

corrected

manuals,

or

pages

9-12,

available,

and

if

so,

do

you

know

where

and

how

much‘?

Thank

you

and

regards.

Fritz

Uhlc

fritz@primary.net

[PF

—

Fritz:

(1)

9

of

10

problems

on

an

EPS

disk

drive

revolve

around

the

power

connector

on the

back

of

the

drive.

I’m

not

saying

that’s

the

case

with

yours,

but

it’s

suspect

of

every

older

800k

diskette

drive

in

an

Ensoniq.

Ensuring

the

power

and

data

connector

are

good,

clean-

ing

the

heads

with

a

zero

residue

cleaner

and

a 3

1/2”

diskette

cleaner

are

about

all

you

can

do.

If

the

drive

is

truly

bad/defective

after

you’ve

checked

the

above,

a

company

called

Teczam

repairs

ﬂoppy

disk

drives.

Contact

Rubber

Chicken

Software

as

well

at

http://www.soundcentral.com/~chickeneps:

lotsa

good

links

there...

(2)

Good

luck.

People

have

been

trying

for

the

past

5

years

to

get

their

hands

on

a

4X

for

the

EPS

—

they’re

NLA.

Not

even

the

3rd

party

channel

has

these

anymore...

(3)

Check

with

www.giebler.com:

Gary

Giebler

wrote

the

book

on

that...

(4)

You

should

contact

http://wwwfatsnake.com/syntaur:

they

are

the

sole

purveyors

of

original

manuals

for

the

EPS

(as

well

as

all

the

older

pre-1989

Ensoniq

gear).

Good

luck

in

your

search!

]

TH-

A

letter

or

so

back

in

the

Interface

someone

suggested

a

save

for

Ensoniq

that

they

should

take

VERY

seriously:

Begin

making

TS-l0ll2s

again.

The

ability

to

load

samples,

the

killer

sequencer

and

the

overall

ease

of

use

makes

this

a

wonderful

choice

even

today.

Updates

in

the

OS

really

wouldn’t

be

that

costly

and

the

price

would

be

competitive

—

get

it

close

to

2k

and

you’ll

have

a

hit

—

yet

again.

Really!

One

of

the

biggest

complaints

I’ve

heard

from

the

Ensoniq

loyal

was

that

with

the

TS-10

reading

samples

was

built

in.

With

the

MR

it

was

an

expensive

option?!

Oh,

that

was

a

smooth

move.

(Sort

of

the

same

ﬂak

they

took

when

they

went

from

the

SQ-80

with

disk

and

sequencer

to

the

original

VFX.)

Anywho...The

tool-

ing

is

still

available

and

the

customer

base

still

exists

as

well.

With

prices

dropping

in

memory,

hard

drives

and

CD-ROMS,

upgrading

the

TS-10

would

be

inexpensive.

Build

it

(again)

and

they

will

come.

RobertoRom@aol.c0m

[PF

—

Roberto:

Yes,

I

said

that,

and

yes,

I

’d

buy

one

right

now

if

it

were

available

here

in

the

states

(the

only

ones

manufactured

are

for

Russian

export

only).

Gotta

used

one?]

[RobertoRom@aol.com

-

I

’d

buy

one

too!

I

’ve

been

look-

ing

for

a

used

one

myself

Another

thing

to

add

to the

“really

ticked

people

off’

list

was

the

loss

of

the

patch

select

buttons.

Lots

of

power,

killer

sequencer,

ﬂexible

outputs,

sampling

ability,

upgradeable,

hard

disk

access,

with

an

OS

upgrade

that

would

recognize

WAV

ﬁles.

you’d

have

a

winner.

Come

on

people,

let

your

voices

be

heard!

The

MR

was

too

far

of

a

departure

and

just

too

much.

Look

in

the

market,

Malvem!

A

moderately

priced.

solid

board

that

can

be

used

as

a

workstation

and

for

road

use

is

still

needed

in

the

market.

As

for

the

“we’re

going

to

make

keyboards

in

the

$1200

to

$1600

market.

"

Uh,

with

a

few

updates

wouldn’t

that

be

called,

oh

well,

uh,

how

about...

SQ-1,

SQ-R

and

SQ-2?

Talk

to

your

dealers

boys.

They

felt

the

loss

of

the

SQ

series

was

a

big

mistake.

What

professional

level

keyboard

even

came

close

for

the

price?!

So...

check

it

out...

see

the

dealer!

customer

reaction

and

get

the

lines

back

and

running.

]

[Eric

Montgomery

(Ensoniq)

-

I

suppose

we

have

to

wait

and

see...]

Hi,

I

recently

had

a

SCSI

board

installed

and

I’m

not

sure

that

this

problem

occurred

exactly

at

the

same

time,

but

I

believe

it

did.

My

ASR

sends

a

volume

control

message

somewhere

in

the

vicinity

of

55.

I

didn’t

realize

this

at

first

and

wondered

what

the

problem

with

the

volume

was.

When

I

tried

to

run

the

ASR

via

MIDI

from

Notator,

the

volume

control

change

that

the

ASR

sent

was

obvious

on

the

ATARI

sequencer.

If

I

try

to

use

the

ASR

as

a

con-

troller,

then

I

have

this

problem

with

all

8

ASR

instru-

ments.

If

I

use

another

instrument

as

the

controller,

thenl

only

have

this

problem

on the

selected

ASR

instrument.

The

data

coming

from

the

ASR

is

continuous

and

there-

fore

takes

precedence

over

any

MIDI

message

that

I

might

put

in.

Needless

to

say

this

is

quite

frustrating,

since

I

can’t

use

the

ASR

at

all

without

the

computer,

the

keyboard

itself

is

useless,

and

using

MIDI

I

am

limited

to

7

instruments

on

the

ASR

..

or

one

with

a

volume

of

55...

not

to

mention

the

extra

stream

of

MIDI

data

generated!

My

fear

is

that

I

will

need

another

SCSI

board

(this

i's

‘already

the

third

onel).

I’m

beginning

to

wish

I

never

had

the

SCSI

in-

stalled

since

I’ve

experienced

nothing

but

problems

since.

Please

tell

me

there

is

some

easy

reinitialization

trick

that

will

fix

this

problem.

Thanks

for

your

assistance!

Peggy

Madden

pj@madtrax.com

[PF

—

Peggy:

Does

the

ASR

send

out

these

CC#7

level

55

messages

when

NOT

connected

to

the

computer?

On

the

ASR,

do

you

have

your

track

volume

levels

in

the

sequen-

cer

set

to

55

?

Or

do

you

possibly

have

your

Song

Tracks

set

to

level

55?

Or

is

the

sequence

that’s

doing

this

setting

all

track

levels

to

55?

Since

you

note

that

another

con-

troller

connected

only

plays

the

track

back

at

55,

this

im-

plies

that

your

instrument/track

levels

are

set

to 55.

Does

it

demonstrate

this

problem

when

NOT

connected

to the

computer?

What

controller

is

the

Data

Entry

slider

mapped

to

in

the

Master

pages?

Bet

it’s

#7:

change

that

and

see

what

happens.

Does

it

do

this

with

or

without

a

foot

volume

controller

connected?

Try

a

factory

disk

or

sequence

like

“Time

Bomb”

just

to

see

if

your

ASR

still

sends

out

those

CC#7

55

levels.

This

sounds

more

like

a

datalcomputer

issue

than

an

ASR

issue,

but

anything

is

possible.

Check

to

make

sure

you’re

running

the

most

current

ver-

sion

of

the

ASR

OS

(

V3.53)

and

the

most

current

ROMs

(V.

1.5),

’cause

this

problem

sounds

more

like

software

than

hardware.

Keep

us

posted,

as

I’ve

NEVER

heard

of

this

problem

before.

I

use

an

ASR-10,

16

Mb/C'DROMlSyquest135/2

Gb

SCSI

drive,

and

I’ve

never

experienced

this...

]

[Peggy

Madden

(peggy@together.net)

—

PF...

Thank

you,

thank

you,

thank

you!!!!

I

had

inadvertently

plugged

the

sustain

pedal

into

the

CV

input

and

never

ever

thought

to

look

there.

Sometimes

simplicity

is

the

key!

I

wish

I

had

asked

this

question

months

ago

as

it’s

been

quite

an

ag-

gravation!

Anyway

the

problem

is

solved

and

I

am

very

happy

..

2-)

..

pj]

HARDWAREISOFTWARE

Ensoniq

TS-12

For

Sale.

$1500.

8

meg

update,

case,

Library

(including

some

great

analogue

samples).

Great

shape,

mostly

studio

use.

Wayne

Thompson,

(503)

286-6389.

synsin@spiritone.-

com

MR-76

workstation.

Two

expansion

boards,

Dance,

Sample

BPS.

16-Track

sequencer,

drum

machine,

Idea

Pad.

Excellent

condition.

Asking

$1900.

Phone:

512-707-1080.

Ensoniq

TS-l0.

Absolute

mint

condition,

home

use

only,

OS

3

(w/General

MIDI).

In

original

box,

all

manuals

included.

$1200.

Joe,

93

1-647-4827,

jrowand@

sprynet.com.

SOUNDS

F01‘

EPS/EPSl6+/ASR/TS.

SLT

l

to

5,

l0

disk

sets:

$65

each.

ESS

l

to

6

&

10,

3

disk

Signature

_

-.t_,_,_,._

..

m

Series

sets:

$35

each.

AS-7

Baldwin

Piano

5

disk

set

for

ASR/TS:

$35.

Sample

Bank

CD

Roms

for

ASR/PC:

$40.

For

ASR/ASRX:

Ultimate

CD

Rom:

$90.

State

of

the

Art

Natural

Akai

CD

Rom:

$90.

Steve

Stevens

Guitar

Akai

CD

Rom:

$135.

Contact:

Boris

Korol

(613)

228-9846

or

email:

korol@norte1.ca.

Four

unopened

Ensoniq

CD-ROMS

for

sale:

CDRs

#11

(keyboard),

#12

(drums),

#13

(percussion),

and

#15

(L.A.

Riot

#1).

All

for

#320.

Call

Mike,

805-492-0224.

Clean

custom

drum

licks

for

your

EPS-16+.

drums

from

OIXW,

SP-1200,

D4,

SPD-8,

Roland-Boss

(TR—909,

DR-660,

TR-626,

XP-50,

DR-220A,

CR-1000,

etc.),

Yamaha

QY-20,

K2000,

Simmons,

and

others.

Various

formats

available.

P.O.

Box

2072,

Norfolk,

VA

23501.

757-489-

8783,

gkeeper@bellatlantic.net.

14

OUT-OF-PRINT

BACK

ISSUES

M.U.G.

will

provide

Out-of-Print

issues

for

cost

of

materials

and

postage.

Write:

G-4

Productions,

PO

Box

6l5TH,

Yonkers,

NY

10703.

Attn:

TH

Back

Issues.

***

Folks

in

the

New

York

City

area

can

get

copies

of

unavailable

back

issues

of

the

Hacker

—

call

Jordan

Scott,

718-

983-2400.

FREE

CLASSIFIEDS!

Well

-

within

limits.

We’re

offering

free

classiﬁ-

ed

advertising

(up

to

40

words)

for

your

sampled

sounds

or

patches.

Additional

words,

or

ads

for

other

products

or

services,

are

$0.25!

word

per

issue

(BOLD

type:

$0.45/

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

ac-

cepted.

Sorry

-

we

can’t

[we

won't!)

take

ad

dic-

tation

over

the

phone!

it

it-§

HACKER BOOTEEQ

ICinda

like

a

CD-ROM

-

on

a

;3.5"

floppy

disk!

This floppy disk

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with killer Syntaur samples that will astound you with

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each

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13asses,

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Low-cost sequences for

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Music

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BENNINGTON NE 68007

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ENSONIQ DISKETTE MANAGER

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Supports all Ensoniq Disk Formats.

ENSONIQ MIDI MANAGER

Send

or

Receive Data through MIDI

to your PC for these keyboards:

KS·32 VFX

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SO-2 ESO-1

SEQUENCE CONVERTERS

Convert Standard MIDI Files to/from

Sequences for these keyboards:

TS-10/12 SO-l SD-l VFX-sd

SO-80 EPS-16

EPS

ASR-l0

KS-32 KT-76/88 SO-2 ESO-l

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now

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for

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these

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other software packages.

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I!!!iiiiI'

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.s~~.~

SOrC'M'"ar,

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DO

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Very cool rezzy synth sounds

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Check this disk out. The price

is

phenominal and the quality

is

superbl

Total

of

6 Rezz biting sounds.

http://members.aol.com/sonicwaves

Looking

for...,.."

lla

l"

SOUNDS -and

other

Samples

on

thelntemet?

**

Look

no

further

**

''th91u1:u19

rtlmOWld

from

dolllllllOlldingl"

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L. B. Music Sequences

We

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Toll Free Orderline:

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CompuServe: 76255,3713

Internet: http://www.lbmusictech.com

•

~

Load

and

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IilU).C Sequences

Ll:l)

.

Sequences

for

the

gigging

musician ...

For

the Ensoniq 0 0 0

EPS, 16+,

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VFX-SD

and

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TRANSONIQ

HACKER

1402 SW UPLAND DR., PORTLAND, OR 97221

ADDRESS

CORRECTION

REQUESTED

Postmaster:

Please

return

Form

3547

as

soon

as

poss

ible

so

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change

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This

is a

monthly

pub

li

cation.

Publisher: Eric Gelsllnger

Edltrlx:

Jane

Talisman

Our (somewhat regular) illustrious bevy of writers includes: Craig Anderton, Robby

Berman, Paul Bissell, Steve Byhurst, Mark Clifton, Steve Curtin, Anthony Ferrara.

Pat Finnigan, Jeffrey Fisher, Frank Fortunato, Duane Frybarger, Gary Giebler, Jim

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Tom

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Copyright

1997,

Transonlq

Hacker,

1402

SW

Upland

Drive,

Portland

,

OR

97221. Phone: (503) 227-6848 (8 am to 9 pm Pacific

West

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SUBSCRIPTl

DATED

MATERIAL·

Advertising rates: Please send for rate card.

Rates for authors: Please send for writer-info card.

Subsaiptlons:

12

monthly issues. US: $231year, All others: $32Jyear. Payable

in US funds.

Transoniq

Hacker

is

the

independent

user's

news

magaz

in

e f

or

Ensoniq

products

. Transoniq Hacker is

not

affiliated

in

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way

w

ith

Ensoniq

Corp.

Ensoniq and the names of their various products are registered trademarks

of

the

Ensoniq Corp.

Opinions

expressed

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of

the

authors

and do

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the

publisher

or

Ensoniq

Corp.

Printed

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TRANSONIQ

HACKER

1402

sw

UPLAND

DR.,

PORTLAND,

on

97221

ADDRESS

CORRECTION

REQUESTED

Postmaster:

Please

return

Form

3547

as

soon

as

possible

so

we

can

change

our

records.

This

is

a

monthly

publication.

Publisher:

Eric

Gelsl-Inger

Edltrlx:

Jane

Talisman

Our

(somewhat

regular)

illustrious

bevy

of

writers

includes:

Craig

Anderton,

Robby

Barman,

Paul

Blssell,

Steve

Byhursl,

Mark

Clifton,

Steve

Curtln,

Anthony

Ferrara,

Pat

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Jeffrey

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Frank

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Frybarger,

Gary

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Jim

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Garth

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JettJetton,

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Jones,

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K

onarls,

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Legnlnl,

John

Lofflnk

Daniel

Mandel

Sam

Mlm

an

,

s,

D

Rohde,

Clark

Salisbury,

Tom

Shear,

Kirk

Sllnkard,

Jack

Tolln,

Tom

Tracy,

Steve

Vincent

and

Garry

Wasyliw.

Copyrlg‘Lit1997,Transonlq

Hacker,

1402

SW

Upland

Drive,

Portland,

OR

97221.

hone:

(503)

227-6848

(8

am

to

9

pm

Pacific

West

Coast

Time).

*

‘

J-—-—

—

HLIK

HATE

U.S.

P(B'l'AGE

PAID

PORTLMI).

OR

PERIIT

Ill).

11

SUBSCRIPTION

IATEAL

DATED

MATERIAL

-

THE

VALUE

Advertising

rates:

Please

send

for

rate

card.

Rates

for

authors:

Please

send

for

writer-info

card.

Suwcriptionsz

12

monthly

issues.

US:

$23/year,

All

others:

$32Iyear.

Payable

in

US

funds.

Transoniq

Hacker

is

the

independent

user's

news

magazine

for

Ensoniq

products.

Transoniq

Hacker

is

not

affiliated

in

any

way

with

Ensoniq

Corp.

Ensoniq

and

the

names

of

their

various

products

are

registered

trademarks

of

the

Ensoniq

Corp.

Opinions

expressed

are

those

of

the

authors

and

do

not

BGCZZSSTIIY

reflect

those

of

the

publisher

or

Ensoniq

Corp.

Printed

in

the

't

tate

.

ﬂl

S

‘

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Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #151 Th 151

Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #151 th_151 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #151

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