Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #156 Th 156

Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #156 th_156 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #156

User Manual: Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #156 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #156
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_"'_"_"'_.—"'-'

The Independent
Newsletter for Ensoniq Users

The Esoteric,
Astounding,
Esoteric
' Astounclin
' g
Omnipotent ASR-l 0
or "I've
I ve got your Virtual Studio Right Here, Bucko"
Bucko
I‘

1

'

II

Pat Finnigan
nomically feasible. It'
It’ss the same old cart
before the horse parable again. II don't
don’t wanna
wear three hats (artist, engineer, and producer). I'd
I’d be the stereotypical plaintiff who
represents himself without counsel if II did -—
I'd
I’d have a fool for a client. So stop the madness, let me up, cease and desist, whoa, quit!
I've
I’ve got all the tools I need to do all this stuff
without reconfiguring my computer to a new
infant technology. Go ahead and flame
ﬂame me if
let's defuse this myth of the
you want, but let’s
"virtual"
...
“virtual” recording studio
studio...

The issue of digital recording on the computer
is getting to be way too big an issue to be igEnsoniq ' s doing PARIS.
nored anymore. Ensoniq’s
Digidesign's
Digidesign’s doing ProTools. Cakewalk's
Cakewalk’s
gone "Pro"
“Pro” Audio, Performer has gone "Digi“Digital,"
tal,” and all refuse to go away. We've
We’ve got
Pentium II technology, we've
we’ve got 300 MHz
G6 PowerPC Macs, and if you stop and
scratch your head for a minute...
minute ...
You begin to realize here’s
here's all this technology
in an already oversaturated market. That's
That’s
why such hoopla —
- technology serves to
propagate itself, pure and simple (or, if you’re
you're
a hardwarel
hardware/software
software engineer, complicated),
but serves NOT to drive the market. Everyone
assumes, "Geez,
“Geez, Martha, I've
I’ve already got this
PC, lemme go buy a SoundBlaster and make a
recording studio out of it.”
it." Hey, Homer.
Homer.....
Gang, I don't
don’t care (A) if technically it can be
done, (B) requires Windows NT 4.0, (C) is
audibly superior to a real performance, (D)
can become a viable product, or (E) is eco-

[ ISSUE
ISSUE NUMBER
NUMBER 156,
I56, $2.50
$2.50

(A) Every major label/session I've
I’ve been involved in has a multimillion dollar investment
in what is known as a recording studio. You
know, a place where people record stuff. Not
in their basement, not in their garage, not even
in their vaulted grand room.
(B) This “recording
"recording studio"
studio” has mysterious
little black boxes that have knobs and dials
and faders on them so you can work on them
in real time. They've
They’ve even got this big huge
conglomeration of knobs and faders on a desk
they call a mixer. And there's
there’s a guy there who
isn't
isn’t in the band who moves bunches of these
knobs and faders in real time. Why, he even
grabbed eight faders with two hands and
moved them SIMULTANEOUSLY! I saw it!
Really!
(C) And, ya know what? After the sessions,
we got this little tiny cassette called a DAT. It
was mailed to Sony in Terre Haute, IN, where
they turned that little tape into thousands of
CDs! It'
lt’ss alchemy. How can they make all
those little jewel boxes by melting one little
itty-bitty DAT tape?

it
In This Issue ...

Arii<:ie$:Articles:

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The Omnipotent
Orninipetentil.0.Virt1ialiStudio.ASR-IO Virtual Studio
Pat Finnigaa
ciover
Finnigan ....................................... cov.er
Make the Ultimate Fat Comp
Camp Sound on the
TS-lOIl2
TS-10212
Tom Tracy .................................................
........ ................................... .. 4

1

WTHM and Dr. Love
Part II
I
Eric Montgemery
........................................ 6
Montgomery ...............................
l

Reviews:
Reviews:
L.A. Riot
Vol. 1I
Riotlvol.
Britten
........................... 5
Britton Beisenherz .....................................
1.

Basement Tapes:
'I‘apes:- Trackilla
Trackilia
i
Steve Vincent .. ...............
.........................................
.................. .... 7

i

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Regular
Regutor Stuff:
Transoniq-Net ............
.. ......... .. ...................
2
Tranisoniq-Net
..........................
..... ..
...............................
.. .......... 3
Random Notes ....
...............................
The Interface .. .. ............................
............ ............................. 9
13
Classifieds
Cl-assifieds ...... .........................................
....... .... ..
. 15
Hacker Booteeq ......................................
._............... ..

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F 0n‘JP00QI 0 IaIn95Q-IanQ¢usI QIQ IiuQI
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in-n¢‘:e_;

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-1

Sorry for acting like a buttmunch, but do you
see how obtuse this is?
is‘? Everybody wants the
sonic perfection of hard disk recording, yet
they wanna record grungy analog sounds. The
technology is switching roles? I smell
methane -— lemme put this cigarette out..
out....
And let me put this argument to rest. Yes,
digital tapeless hard disk recording is coming,
and we’ll
we'll embrace it soon enough. I’m
I'm simply
not going to drop $7500 for a ProTools setup

JUNE, 1998
ma I])
JUNE,

‘-

' Transoniq-Net
HELP
H
ELP WITH QUESTIONS
All of the individuals listed below are volunteers! Please
Piease_ take that into consideration when

calling. If ygu
-calling.
you get a recording and leave a message, let
tet 'em
‘em know if it's
it"s okay to call back collect (this will greatly increase your chances of
getting a return call).

it

I

(or any more computer hardware, for that
matter), $2500 for a multi-disk RAID array
to keep up with it, or another $3000 for a
"control"
“control” surface. I've
I’ve already got the control surface, I already know how to torque it,
and so do you. There's
There’s only a few things required here, and you've
you’ve already got the CPU.
It's
It’s called an ASR-JO.
ASR-l0. And here's
here’s the serious
setup for all you power users explained
...
explained...

pq7*-$1

- Ensoniq Customer ServAll Ensoniq Gear Sew15 pm to 6:00 pm
ice. 9:30 am to noon, I:
1:15
EST Monday to Friday. 610-647-3930.
6I0-647-3930. Ensoniq's
soniq’s Fax On Demand line, (1-800-257(l-8-00~2571439)
l439') can also be used to retrieve specs, OS
info, hard-drive info, and the like.

F

All Ensoniq Gear -- Electric Factory (Enﬂinsoniq's Australia distributor).
son-iq’s
distribute-r). E-mail address: elfa@ ozemail.com.au;
ozemail.c'om.au; their web site
at http://www.ozemail.com.au/-elfa;
http:I/www.ozemail.-com.au/-eifa; or
e-mail their resident ~c1inician,
clinician, Michael
mallen@geko.com.au. Phone calIS,
Allen,
Alien, at ma.ilen@geko.con1.au.
calls,
Business hours -- Victoria. (03) 480-5988.

Three Items

mm-_ L“

I
I

All
All Ensoniq Gear -- The Electric Factory in
Zealand, phone (64) 9-443-5916, fax
New Zeaiand,
(64) 9-443-5893, or e-rnail
e-mail geoffm@
(-64)
g.eoffm@
elfa.co.nz
€1f3..CO.I'-lZ (Geoff Mason).

lt

- Pat Esslinger, Internet: pate
TS Questions @execpc.com, Compuserve:
Cornpnserve: 74240,1562,
'?4240_,l562, or
AOL: ESSLIP.

I

1

TS, VFX, and SD-1
SD-l Questions --e Stuart
Hosking, stuh@ozemail.com.au.
I-Iosking,
SD-l Questions - Philip Magnotta,
SD-I
401-467-4357,44 pm -- 12:30 EST.
401-467-4357,
Q
VFX, SD32, and EPS-16+
EPS--16+ Questions -- Dara
Jones, Internet: darajones@juno.com or call
214-361-0829.
DP/4, ASR·I0
SD·l, BPI4,
SB-1,
ASR-ll) Questions --- John Cox,
609-888-5519,
609-888-5519. (N])
(ND 5pm
Spin -- 8 pm EST weekdays. Any time weekends.

l

'

i SQ-80,
VFX "Questions
Questions -- Robert Romano,
SQ-8'0, VFX.
01' time (within reason)
i 607-898-4868. Any at’
EST.
& Drive Systems, Studios, &
& I
Hard Drives &
Computers -- Rob Feiner, Cinetunes.
Cinetnnes. I
914-963-5818. Ilam-3pm
il-am-3pm EST. ComCorn- i
puserve: 71024,1255.
7.102-4,1255. — I ~

i

EPS-16 PLUS, 8:
& ASR-10
A.sR-IO Questions
EPS, EPS--16
-- Garth Hjelte. Rubber Chicken Software.
Call anytime. If message,
24-hour callback.
Cali.
mes-sage, 2-4-hour
(320) 235-979-.8.
235-9798. Email: chickenEPS@wiIl(320).
chicke_n.EPS@wiIll ma-r.co-rn.
mar.com.
‘

l

EPSIMIRAGElESQ/SQ-SO
EPSlMI.RAG.ElESQlSQ1--80 M.U.G.
M.U.=G. 24Hour
Ho-ur Hotline -— 212-465-3430.
2-I2-465-3430. Leave name,
number, address. 24-hr Callback. Email:
G4Prod@aol.com.
G4Prod@ao'l.cern.
1

SQ-l, KS-32, SD-1.,
SD-l, SCSI,
SCSI,MR
SQ~1-,
---MR &
& hard I
drive =Q-uestionsQuestions -- Pat Finnigan, 317462-8446.
8:00 -am
am to
pm EST.
1t62--8 446. 8-2100
te 10:00
t-0:0-0 pm"
l

I

ESQ-l,
loe Slater,
ESQ-1, MIDI & Computers
Computers. -~ Joe
(404)
(494) 925-8881.
925-3331. EST.
E-ST... .
.
.

There are three objects to making the ASR
the complete home studio. And, for convenience sake we'll
we’ll assume you have an
ASR-l0
ASR-10 (this is the Hacker). We'll
We’ll further
assume you've
you’ve got the SCSI expander and a
hard disk (you're
(you’re a subscriber) and are
having a ball with the power of this box. We
could further assume you have in your possession a DAT recorder to backup your hard
drives through the Digital 110
I/O option (you
subscribe to eTH). Let's
Let’s take the issue of the
Malvern box and direct its power to its logical conclusion while we send you off to purvey the following
...
following...
Item 1: The OEX-6 Output Expander.
Initially, we saw this box and said "What?
“What?
$350 bucks for 6 phone jacks?”
jacks?" when the
friendly Ensoniq salesperson offered it to us.
Gang, this ain't
ain’t just 6 phone jacks. This, in
conjunction with our satin black pet, gives us
TEN discrete outputs. And that's
that’s ASSIGNABLE outputs -— complete instruments can
be sent out these jacks, separate layers can
AYES can
be sent out these jacks, separate W
WAVES
be sent out these. Given, you have to edit
each instrument to do this (instead of just assigning the TRACK to a given output
jack)(Ensoniq!), but now you have 8 discrete
dry outputs and two AUDIO TRACK outputs
(with the attendant FX processing of the
stereo pair). Get the picture? Good. Get the
OEX-6 -— you NEED separate outs in the
studio.
Item 2: An AD
AT. Yes, an ADAT. Don't
ADAT.
flame
ﬂame me here; I'll
I’ll explain. How many of
these new hard disk recorders can record on
all their tracks simultaneously (e.g., in real
time)? Answer? None. The VS-880 will do
four at a whack, the new Fostex only does
two at a whack, the new Yamaha and other
MiniDisc recorders, well, their compression
scheme excludes them from professional
consideration. So, basically, the standalones
are smoke and mirrors anyway. ADATs are
st century. Every
the "cassettes"
“cassettes” of the 21
2lst
commercial or professional studio has a
couple in its possession, or rents them as
needed (when a client requests it) for a yard
a day. They're
They’re just too convenient. You need

2

64 digital tracks? Daisy-chain 8 of them
together, stripe 8 VHS tapes, arm your tracks
and hit it. When done, copy the masters for
working tapes -— it's
it’s still 1st
lst generation,
remember? Given, hard disk recording
eliminates a stage or two of ADC-DAC. The
ADAT's
ADAT’s a standard, and it'll
it’ll take more than
Digidesign, PARIS, or other wannabe's
wannabe’s to
knock them out of first place. And it certainly isn't
...
isn’t going to happen overnight
overnight...
Yeah, I've
I’ve had ADATs lunch a tape before,
too. That's
That’s why you arc the masters and
work on copies. And yeah, they're
they’re SO convenient, some people skip this step. They
pay for it dearly. The issue here is medium of
exchange. You’re
You're gonna take these ADAT
tapes and do a final mix on them in a masteroff to DA
DAT
ing room when you lay
layoff
T with
leader tones for the CD facility. THAT's
THAT’s
when you take the masters
...
masters...
Item 3: A high-quality studio mixer. Not a
5-year old Mackie 1604, nor a 10-year old
Peavey MK IV. You want a mixer with
patchable channel outs -— something like a
Yamaha 02D,
O2D, or if you can afford it, an
03D. These are digital mixers that store
mixes, fader movements, effect settings, pan
changes, and play them back in real time as
well. Ensoniq was gonna do one (remember
the "picture"
“picture” of their 16-channel prototype at
www.ensoniq.com last year?), but they went
straight to PARIS.
But since the key word here is budget, any
high-quality studio mixer with separate/
separatef
patchable channel 110
I/O will work fine. People
are raving about the new Behringers -— I’ll
I'll
have to audition one
...
one...

The Reel Deal
I'd
I’d like to be as excited about direct-to-disk
Myoid
old homies at
recording as everyone else. My
Truevision do this very thing with both audio
(l96k/sec
(196k/sec @ 48k DAT sample rates) and
video (2:
(2:l1 M-lPEG
M-JPEG compression for 14
it's the abMb/sec) simultaneously. And it’s
solute best, but it'll
it’ll set you back $12k for the
hardware, $8k for the software, and you still
need a $5k box and $75k of 110
I/O devices. The
question is WHY?
WHY‘? These factors at work
here are double-edged, They must be
markedly superior -— their price certainly
reflects that. Are they user-effective? More
reﬂects
productive? Cost-effective? I don't
don’t think so.
Successfully marketable? Who's
Who’s "demand“demanding"
ing” this stuff? Just because the technology
exists doesn't
doesn’t warrant blindly pursuing it for
its own sake. Many companies remember
this behavior as their final product. Remember Sequential? Synclavier? Fairlight?

|_—

-

7

>

l
Front Panel

RN
iJ'i )
RNDD ((ls)
F

Third Party
Porty News
We
'd like to welcome a new sound vendor
We’d
to these pages -— Happy Salmon Music.
Samples from Norway. Check out their ad
and their web site for more info.

K

Speaking of web sites
... Long-time supsites...
porter of Ensoniq samplers, WaveBoy, has
their new web site up and running. Give
'em
’em a visit at: www.waveboy.com.

Hacker News
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We
' re changing our policy on the On-Line
We’re
Interface a little: From now on, first
priority will be given to questions and let-

ters from paying subscribers. Questions
from non-subscribers may be included if
they are likely to be of interest to our
readers
readers.. There's
There’s currently too much effort
going into dealing with issues that are really old news to those who have been reading the Hacker for any length of time. Plus
we're
we’re getting a little tired of "giving
“giving away
the store"
store” and feel that folks who help support the Hacker certainly deserve some attention that your average web surfer dude
doesn't.
doesn’t. This should also allow us to cut
down on the noise a little and maybe even
boost the point size in the printed version
to something a little more eye-friendly.
' re also going to
Along similar lines, we
we’re
_

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Fl!

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Not to say it isn't
isn’t the wave (no pun intended)
of the future. Software architecture to support "plug-in"
“plug-in” modules for FX, EQ, etc. are
powerful and fascinating tools. They already
exist in the DSP of all keyboard products as
code. Adobe Premiere has been using this architecture for three years --- it's
it’s finally
"trickling
“trickling down"
down” to the audio world. The
editing power of digital audio is unbelievable. Hey, this is a disk-based system here --—
read NLE (non-linear editing). When I buy
an 8-track hard-disk recorder that doesn't
doesn’t
record all 8 tracks in one pass I take it back.
And did. Until this technology performs as
advertised and is an economical alternative
to displace the current environment, it
remains a high-tech curio that, albeit, is a
constant conversation piece, becomes the
butt of some very cruel jokes referencing a
boat anchor while remaining on the dealer's
dealer’s
shelves. In other countries
countries· educators are
asked "How
“How can we broaden and enrich the
experience?" In the U.S., educators
learning experience?”
are asked "How
“How can we speed up the learning
process?"
process?” And that's
that’s a blanket indictment of
our society'S
society’s "me-now"
“me-now” fixation. This will
not simply change overnight any faster than
recording studios will toss their tape
machines in the dumpster and buy 9 Gb
...
RAID arrays
arrays...
Because as we all sit in judgement, it’s
it's up to
our ears to hear the difference. Did anybody
notice that Madonna's
Madonna’s "True
“True Blue"
Blue” album of
10 years ago was the first DDD album?
Anyone notice that Rod Stewart's
Stewart’s last album

l

We're going to adjust things so they're
We’re
they’re a
little closer to actual costs:
costs: the printed version will be going from $23/year to
non-U.S .), and the e-mail
$25/year ($34 non-U.S.),
version will actually be dropping from
$20/year to $19/year.
$ 19/year.
The renewal notices going out about the
same time as this issue (folks whose last
157) will still have the old rates.
issue is ##157)
These notices will have a closing date of
July Ilst.
st. Anyone else can also renew by
this date and still get the old rates. Of
course, the new lower rate for the e-mail
version is effective immediately.

I7

was done entirely on ProTools? Could you
hear the difference? In a $3 million dollar

mastering room like Glen Meadows in Nashville where you can hear every tick/edit
point/level shift in Yes'
pointllevel
Yes’ "Owner
“Owner of a Lonely
Heart" (there are a lot!),
loti), absolutely. In your

home on your reference system? Maybe, at
best, if you've
you’ve got Krell Class A's
A’s and
Martin-Logan electrostats. On the radio or in
your car? Hey, Homer..
Homer....

I feel as if I should apologize for seemingly
burying my head in the sand on this issue,
but I just won't
won’t go quietly (or ravingly) into
that good night. But the current technology
isn't
isn’t performing up to the standards it's
it’s been
lauded to offer. When it does, I’ll
I'll write the
sequel to this article.
So currently, one of your best bets is an ASR
with all the above trimmings. It defines the
most cost-effective, easy to use, powerful,
flexible
ﬂexible and affordable 2-track real-time
digital recorder under the guise of a sampler.
The above configuration defines a pre-production room. With an idyllic mixer like the
02D or 03D, it defines a post-production
room, replete with stereo direct-to-disc
recording, and that's
that’s while the sequencer is
playing back in real time. And the ASR-IO's
ASR-l0’s
built-in sequencing environment, FX
processing, Audio Tracks and user interface
push it right up to the top of the heap. Korg
just added hard disk recording (Hi Jerry!)
this year as an option to the Trinity? Malvern's
vern’s been there, done that, three years ago.

l

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L..

have to raise the rates
rates. for the printed version of the Hacker. This is something that
haven't done since Issue #35, May,
we haven’t
1988 -— 10
IO years ago!

Given, Ensoniq doesn't
doesn’t have their keyboard
cases made by White Castle, but it's
it’s the form
and the function of the box that keeps their
technology performing.
It keeps me performing very well...
well ... —
_

finished a 12-hour
Bio: Pat just ﬁnished
I2-hour ProTools
session. He said he'd
he’d better write this article
while the experience was still fresh in his
head.
head.

Call For Writers!
In spite of their current god-like status,
mere·
writers for the Hacker were once mere- just like you! If you’re
you're
mortals -noodling around with Ensoniq gear,
you too can join their elite ranks.
We're always looking for new writers,
We’re
and yes, there is actual payment
you're toying with an idea
= involved. If you’re
for an article, how about giving
Editrix Jane a call at 1-503-227-6848
and listening to her soothing words of
encouragement?

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Make
l\/lorke the Ultimate Fat
Fort
Camp
Comp Sound on the
TS-10/12
TS—lO/I2
Tom Tracy

Introduction

the process:

It's been a while since I've
It’s
I’ve written anything
for the Hacker. In fact, it's
it’s been a while
since I’ve
I've sat behind my trusty Ensoniq
products. And now sitting here staring at
them, it's
it’s like seeing old friends, but not
knowing what to say. So the following articles over the next few months (yes, I
promise) will be kind of like a refresher
course for me, if you will, as I try to remember what I once knew. I'm
I’m sure these articles
will be coming from a different perspective
than how I once documented features in the
Musician's
Musician’s Manuals, since I am now viewing
the products from a completely different
angle.
'

1.
you've all. Press SOUNDS (I'm
(I’m assuming you’ve
ready plugged in and turned on the
TS-I0I12).
TS-I0/12).
2. While holding down BANKSET, press the
bank 2 button. This selects the first ROM
bankset of sounds (R2 is in the upper left
corner
comer of the display).
3. Press the bank 2 button.
4.
4. Press the lower right button in the display.
This selects the PNO-N-ELEC sound.
5. Hold down BANKSET, and press the bank
4 button (R4 is in the upper left corner of
the display).
6. Press the bank 0 button.
7. Press the lower right button in the display.
This selects the HARP sound.
8. Press the MIX/PAN button (HARP is still
selected), and with the data entry controls,
change "MIX=091."
“MIX=091 .”
9. Press the PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
button, select PNO-N-ELEC by pressing
its soft button, and change the patch select
setting to"
-0*-" (signifying that the right
to “-0*-”
button is pressed down).
10. Press the TRACK EFFECTS button three
times, and change to "EFFECT=06
“EFFECT=O6
PARAM EQ+CHORUS+REV."
EQ+CHORUS+REV.”
II.
11. Press any lower soft button, and use the
ARIAdata entry controls to select "V
“VARIATION=14
TION=l 4 BRASS + DRUMS."
DRUMS.”
12. Press the TRACK EFFECTS button
twice, press the lower middle soft button,
and change "FX2--REVRB=49."
“FX2--REVRB=49.”
13. Press the MIX/PAN button again, and
double-click the soft button above HARP.
If both sounds are layered, one will be
fully underlined, and the other will be
flashing
it's this
ﬂashing underlined. Make sure it’s
way (this is a good way to test if you're
you’re
double-clicking too slow). I hope you find
it as pleasing as I have.

Did you ever do something, forget about it,

and then come back (sometimes) years later
stumbling upon what you’ve
you've done, thinking
"Hey
“Hey this is really cool! What did I do?"
do?” or
"How
“How did I do that?"
that?”
Well, that's
that’s how I felt when I loaded an old
file from a floppy
ﬂoppy into the TS-IO
TS-10 and nearly
jumped out of my seat when I found this fat,
layered "comp"
“comp” sound.
sound. Not much to it, but it
sure can be sweet, soulful and satisfying
(these are words that begin with "s"
“s” -— for
all you elephant talk fans).

Like a passionate archeologist on a mission,
it was my duty to solve the "mystery
“mystery of the
sound,"
sound,” and share it with you, oh faithful
readers. After some electronic excavating, I
discovered how it had been created.

The Short Form
This is the quickest way to recreate this
sound.
sound. It was made with two sounds layered
together, so you can't
can’t save it as a single program. If you really want to save this version,
it's best to do it as a preset. It's
it’s
It’s still quickest
this way, so I’ll
I'll call this version the "short
“short
form.
form.”" If you want to create and save this
sound as a single program, use the Long
Form.

The Process
This expressive sound is simply a tweaked
layering of two ROM programs. Let'
Let’ss begin

To Save
Sove it as ao Preset
I.
1. Press the PRESETS button twice to get to
the WRITE screen (which is the right
screen).
2. Press the lower right soft button.
3. Name the new preset using the data entry
tools, and when ready,
4. Press and hold down the PRESETS button, then press the BANKSET, bank

4
l

l

(0-9), and a soft button to place the preset
into the RAM location of your choosing.
That's
That’s all for the short form
form.. Now spend
some time enjoying it!

The Long Form
If you like this sound, but want to save it as a
single program, it requires a little more
work. What you will do in this version is
copy the two voices used by PNO-N-ELEC,
and paste them into the HARP program (with
some additional tweaking). There are obviously some benefits to this extra work,
though -— specifically for sequencing (you
onl
onlyy use one track). Because it takes a little
more programming, I call this version the
"long
“long form."
form.”

The
Th8 Process
PTOCGSS
I.
l. Press SOUNDS.
2. While holding down BANKSET, press the
bank 2 button, then release both buttons.
3. Press the bank 2 button again.
again.
4. Press the lower right button in the display
4.
to select the PNO-N-ELEC sound.
5. Press the SELECT VOICE button, and
press the lower left soft button in the display.
6. Press the COpy
COPY button.
7. Press the lower right soft button to
"MAKE
“MAKE COPY."
COPY.”
~
8. Press SOUNDS
SOUNDS..
9. Hold down BANKSET, and press the bank
4 button (then release them).
them).
10.
l0. Press the bank 0 button.
1 l. Press the lower right button in the disII.
play. This selects the HARP sound.
12. Press the SELECT VOICE button, and
press the lower left soft button.
13. Press the COPY button.
14. Press the lower middle soft button to
select "RECALL."
“RECALL.”
15.
15. Follow steps 1-4 to select PNO-N-ELEC
again.
.
16.
l6. Press SELECT VOICE, and press the
lower middle'
middle’ soft button.
17. Press the COPY button.
18. Press the lower right soft button to
"MAKE
“MAKE COPY."
COPY.”
19. Press COMPARE (green light goes on).
20. Press SELECT VOICE, then press the
lower right soft button to select
"(SAW-WAVE2)."
“(SAW-WAVE2).”
21. Press the COPY button, then press the
lower middle button to select "RECALL."
“RECALL.”
22. Press SELECT VOICE.
23. Press the lower left and right soft buttons
until there is no parentheses are them.
24. Press the patch select buttons, and for
each combination, make sure these two
voices are not in parentheses.
25. Press the PROGRAM EFFECTS button

(the effects button on the far right side of
the keyboard), and select and modify the
algorithm as explained in the "Short
“Short
Form."
Form.”

Bio: Tom Tracy, once a full-time technical
writer for ENSONIQ, has returned to the
pages of the Transoniq Hacker. With his vast
experience and corporate insight, it should
be a pleasant addition.

To Save
Scrve It as
crs acr Program
I. Press the WRITE PROGRAM button
1.
(next to the COMPARE button).
2. Name your sound using the data entry
tools, and when ready,
3. Press and hold down the SOUNDS button
("SA
VE" flashes
(“SAVE”
ﬂashes in the display), then
, press the BANKSET, bank (0-9), and a
soft button to place the program into the
selected RAM location.
location.

To Fehrion, wherever you are.

That's
That’s all for the long form. I hope this
_
process hasn't
hasn’t been too taxing. —

L.A. Riot \/OI.
Vol. 1
I
Britton Beisenherz

Product: CD-ROM Sound Library, L.A.
L./1.
Riot Vol.
Vol. 1.
I.
From: Ensoniq Corporation, 155 Great
Valley Parkway, Malvern
Malvem PA 19055,
phone: 610-647-3930 (voice)
610-647-8909 (fax).
For: Any Ensoniq sample player.
Price: $199.95.
Having already reviewed Ensoniq's
Ensoniq’s L.A.
Riot Vol. 2 (Issue #149), I was both interested and a bit skeptical about the L.A.
Riot Vol. I CD-ROM. Those of you who
read my review of Vol. 2 know I was not
exactly sold on that particular CD-ROM
(though, I admit it is the first Ensoniq CD
wasn’t crazy about). Prior to my
which I wasn't
review of L.A. Riot Vol. 2, I had heard that
Vol. 11 was a much more useful CD-ROM,
so I took on the assignment to review it
with high hopes in spite of its predecessor.
Thankfully, my impression, after careful
examination of L.A.
L./l. Riot Vol. I, was considerably more favorable.

Now, for those of you who don't
don’t know (or
couldn't
couldn’t guess), the L.A. Riot CD-ROMs
(Volumes Il and 2) are geared toward the
Rap, Hip-Hop and Acid Jazz creators and
producers of da'
da’ world. Both CD-ROMs
CD-ROMS
are 250 megabytes in size (Vol. 2 is not

597 megs like I said in its review. I dunno
where I got that...) and both boast 1000
FAT samples. Similarly, both CDs contain
six root level directories for organization.
That is about where the similarities end.
Instead of 1000 FAT samples of material
including "deepest
“deepest rare grooves, dopest
phunky grooves, sax squeals, sex squeals,
bass wipes, slam hooks, and lowrider sensaround (what is 'dat?!?!)"
’dat?!?!)” as offered in
Vol. 2, L.A. Riot Vol. 1I offers 1000 FAT
"loops,
“loops, scratches, breaks, and transforms."
transforms.”
Sample material which I think is not only a
lot more useful, but also sounds better in a
sentence? ..ehh?
..ehh?

L.A. Riot Vol. 1I was compiled and laid out
in a juicy kinda way. It is the first collection of DJ skills and moves on CD-ROM,
including drum loops, backspin loops, live
drum and DJ mixes, construction sets for
all dope styles, and DJ effects like
scratches, vinyl squeals, chirps, and more.
These are useful sounds for their genre -—
especially when compared to the material
on Vol. 2. Another interesting aspect of the
L.A. Riot Vol. 1I CD-ROM is its directory
layout. The directories in Vol. 11 are laid
out by DJ (from Longbeach to Lynwood,
Compton to Venice) and include (in
YW AD, DJ
order): DJ DRE, DJ ALL
ALLYWAD,
MANN-E, LIS-IO,
LIS-10, AL FRESH, and SKIL.

5

Each main directory includes between nine
and nineteen subdirectories, which basically amounts to seventy-six loadable ASRl0, EPS, or TS Series multi-sample Instru10,
ments. Within those seventy-six loadable
load able
multi-sample Instruments are contained
one thousand samples. That is roughly
thirteen samples per Instrument.
The Instrument layout is contiguous
throughout the CD-ROM. The majority of
the Instruments per DJ are all basically
“condrum, percussion, and DJ effects "construction kits"
kits” in order by BPM. The latter
Instruments are devoted to DJ effects and
are called "DJ
“DJ name SCRATCH."
SCRATCH.” For
instance, the directory DJ DRE contains
sixteen Instruments. The first fourteen Instruments are construction kits named
DRE’s sets range from 90 to
DRE __
_ bpm. DRE's
115 beats per minute. The last two Instruments are called DRE SCRATCH
SCRATCH1I and
DRE SCRATCH2, and are devoted solely
DRE’s favorite dope fresh turntable
to DJ DRE's
scratches, squeals, and effects. The conV~l. I
1
struction Instruments for L.A. Riot Vol.
offer a nice range of meters. Depending
on the DJ in question, tempos range from
as slow as 76 bpm to the kickin'
kickin’ speed of
148 bpm.
The bulk of the CD-ROM consists of these
"construction
“construction kits"
kits” with varying tempos in
the form of multi-sample Instruments
within each Drs
DJ ’s directory. I consider
these Instruments construction kits, because that is what they are most reminiscent of
of...
... Multiple samples laid out in one

eTH -— A Faster, I
t Cheaper Hacker
Inter- 1
j; If you can receive e-mail via the Inter—
1 net, you can take advantage of avoid- I
. ing the post office and get a faster, 1
cheaper, e-mail version of the Hacker.
The e-mail Transoniq Hacker contains
information and
all of the same information‘
E advertising as the printed version, but l
it’s only $20/year
$=20lyear -— anywhere -on
it's
on the T
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you'll get extra
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versiiou you-’1l
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Interested? l
Just send
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us at;
at
send a message
-eTH@ﬁ'ﬂI1SO1tiCl-Coﬁiand
we'll e-mail
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s back complete subscription
ssubscription informatiun.
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if you'd like
a free
tion. Let us know
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copy of the
current issue and w
e’llj
I
1
send one along. "
7.7

_;

._

-

__

.

-__

_

--

r
Instrument that correspond with each other
to make simple or complex song layouts
and arrangements quickly and easily. Now
I must clarify the difference I see between
the type of construction set in Volume 1I as
opposed to the type of construction set in
Volume 2 —
- in order to not contradict
myself. It would appear at first to the alert
reader, that these are the same types of
"“Instruments”
Instruments" that appear in the Dope Trax
sections of L.A
L.A.. Riot Vol.
Vol. 2: the passive,
interactive TV, non-musical approach to
making music that has done so much to
destroy musicianship. Well, there is a difference. Each individual DJ construction
set in Vol. 1I offers opportunity for the construction of the foundation of a percussion,
drum, and/or turntable
tumtable groove. The Dope
Trax sections of Vol. 2 offer construction
of a whole tune
... riffs, bass lines, loops,
tune...riffs,
and vocal samples all right there to be instantly and mindlessly sequenced together.
L.A. Riot Vol. 11 does not afford the
L./l.
musician that luxury, but offers mainly the

opportunity for a foundation to be created
in the form of drums, percussion, and DJ
effects. The guitar, bass, and vocals will
have to be stolen from somewhere else.
The majority of the samples contained
within L.A. Riot Vol. JI are quite useful.
Each construction kit contains at least
three variations on a particular drum loop,
and include numerous other pre-timed and
sampled surprises. The overall quality of
the samples on L.A. Riot Vol. I is great, of
course. I have yet to hear an Ensoniq
CD-ROM that did not have great sounding
samples
... even if the sample material was
samples...even
not up to par. The patch select buttons do
exactly as you would expect. Each sample
has a normal version, a high pass version,
a backwards version, and a reverb version.

genres. But, if you are picky about the versatility of your sampled sounds, and you
do not make this type of music often, then
this is probably not the disk for you.
However, for the experimentalists and the
aforementioned stylists, I suggest you consider running right out and buying this
CD-ROM._
CD-ROM. 1

finishBio: Britton Beisenherz is a student ﬁnishing his degree in Synthesis at a school of
music in the dreadfull
dreadful! Northeastern porAmerica. Britton has been writing,
tion of America.
recording, and producing music for many
years, and hopes to someday breath a bit
years,
of life back into a dying art
... anyone
art...
any one of
them.

L.A. Riot Vol. I is perfect for creators of
Rap, HIP-HOP, Acid Jazz, and perhaps
funk music. Not to say that it would not be
useful to musicians who work within other

WTHM and Dr. Love
Part II
Eric Montgomery

Hey caller, you are on the air with Dr. Love!
“I bought the MR and I also bought
"I
Cakewalk software. I need the MR sound list
for Cakewalk. Where can I get that?"
that?”
Well my friend, all instrument definitions are

Well, here we are again. Bringin'
Bringin’ it to ya live
on the real tip! Thanks for tuning into
WTHM and Dr. Love, where we always
reunite people and their gear. We got our
first caller and he seems to be concerned
about a horrible sickness that has been going
around. Caller, you are on the air with Dr.
Love.
"Thanks
“Thanks Dr. Love for talking to me about
this. I heard from my cousin who heard from
this.
my mom'
mom'ss step mother's uncle that Ensoniq
was out of business and that they moved to
China and that they recalled all of the MRs
and
..."
and...”
Wait! Now hold on Mr. Caller. I think that
you have heard way too much from your
family and friends. Let me fill you in with
the real story.
First of all, Ensoniq has not gone out of business or moved or quit making keyboards.
keyboards. Ensoniq had a new keyboard released at
NAMM last January (the ZR-76)
ZR-76).. That's
That’s not
all. There's
There’s a new EXP expansion board
(The Perfect Piano) coming for the new keyboard and the MR family, new hardware and
software for PARIS and (if you already
didn't
didn’t know) a new OS for the ASR-X. I am

available only from the software manufacturer. Ensoniq cannot help you here. Cakewalk is the company to call regarding this
situation.

"So
“So what does NAMM actually standfor?"
stand for? ”
That is a good question. NAMM stands for
National Association of Music Merchants.
They represent the music products industry
through trade shows and seminars.
Our next caller says that his ASR-X is giving
him da'
da’ blues.
blues. You are on the air!
"Hey
“Hey Doc. I got this ASR-X and the dealer
told me that it has Time Expansion/
Expansion/CompresCompression. Is that true
?"
true?”
Yes it is! Please check your software version
by going to the Disk/Global section and
pressing and holding the SAVE button. Press
SYSTEM and release both buttons. The OS
version number will pop up on your screen.
You need 2.53 OS. It has some great new
features like Time Expansion/Compression
(aka Scale Time), Song Mode, Sequence
Play mode, loading of EPS/
16+, ASR samEPS/16+,
ples and more. Just send Ensoniq $9.95 for
shipping and handling and they will send you
the coolest upgrade to your X!

"But
Don' t hang up. I’ve
I've got another
“But wait! Don’t
question.
I've got the Mark of the Uniform
question. I’ve
software and it doesn't
doesn’t work on the expansion boards. What about that?"
that? ”
Mmm. Well, there is a whole new website
designed by Gary Houk of Ensoniq. It is very
easy to navigate through. If you go to
download (http://
www.ensoniq.com/htmllbi(http://www.ensoniq.com/html/binary.htm) there is a new profile for Unisyn
that addresses this situation. And it is free!
Just download it and keep in mind that you
have to already have Unisyn for it to work.
work.

Our next caller says that her MR is not talking to anybody. Such a rude angry "mister."
“mister.”
You are on with Dr. Love.
"I
“I am trying to get the MR to play a sequence into my computer and when I sync
them and try to record the MR sequence into
the computer nothing happens.
happens. I also have
trouble setting the MR up to use the computer as the sequencer. What am I going to
do ?"
do?”

6

|

mm

going to check it out myself and I will post
my findings to you when we are on the air
again.

7

F

7'"

7

7

'

7

+7.7’

'

7

;@

You already did the right thing by calling
WTHM! Now, so far as the MR sending the
track data out via MIDI, all that has to be
done is to change the sound you have
selected on each track to the MIDI OUT instrument. So far as setting the MR up to
work with an external sequencer just stay in
Select Sounds mode and select the MIDI
OUT instrument. Then the MR will be in
multi mode and local will be turned
tumed off
automatically.

"What
“What does Local On or Offmean?"
Ojffmean?”
Local is the term used when the keys of the
unit are (through software) disconnected
from the internal sound module. They will
only send out MIDI data. Your sound module in the MR will now wait for data to play
when local is off. Thanks for calling!

---—

—--

Hello caller, you are on the air with Dr.
Love.

"I
ASR-IO to work with
wit~
“I am trying to get the ASR-I0
an external sequencer? What do I do?"
do?”
After booting up the ASR, set the MIDI in
Mode to MULTI. You can make that setting
by pressing the Edit button, then pressing the
System/
MIDI button. Use the arrow buttons
System/MIDI
till you see MIDI IN MODE. If you want
that setting to be that way every time you
boot then you need to press Command, then
System/Midi and go to SAVE GLOBAL
PARAMETERS. Be sure that the OS disk is
in the drive and unprotected, press enter and
save the settings.

"Hello
“Hello Dr. I am having real trouble with the
DP-Pro. When I select the Dual Mono Gate
the right side does not work?"
work?”

Next, be sure that each instrument is set to
its own MIDI channeL
channel. The ASR normally
does this automatically with the MIDI channels set to correspond to the track. Track 11 ==
MIDI channell.
channel 1. Track 2 == MIDI channel 2
etc. Thanks for the calL
call.

Has it been reinitialized?
reinitialized‘?

You are talking with Dr. Love.

"Yes."
“Yes.”

"Hello
“Hello Dr. I seem to have the same problem
that the guy earlier had. I don't
don’t know how to
get my keyboard to work with my computer."
computer.”

This is a situation where I think it is just a
matter of understanding the algorithm. The
algo is a stereo algo that is in mono mode.
Use the left A Params for the A unit and use
the right B Params for the B unit. This
should make the unit operate for you.

What do you own?

"The
E-Prime.""
“The E-Prime.

is

First, press System/Midi and set the In Mode
to MULTI. Next, create a Sequence/Preset
location in the E-Prime. Then press Edit
Track and go to MIDI Status. You can then
set the status of track 1I to a status of MIDI.
Set all other tracks to a MIDI status of
BOTH or MIDI. Now you can stay on track
II and let your sequencer send bank and program changes to select the sounds for each
track.

Well, that's
that’s all the calls we have time for
today. Keep in mind that WTHM and Dr.
_
Love love to help people and their gear. —

Bio: Eric Montgomery is a up-and-coming

songwriter/producer who has published his
work with Salt Records, Integrity Music,
several local compilation CDs in Gary, Indiana, in CAMS of Chicago Illinois and Ensoniq product demos.

Oh, that's
that’s an easy one. Here is what you do.

HACKER BASEMENT TAPES

Steve Vincent

Instrumentalist's
/nsfrum en tolistﬂs
Revenge
Trackilla
Trczckillon
CD: Instrumentalist's
Instrumentalist’s Revenge (c) 1997.
Artist: Trackilla.
Equipment: ASR-lO,
ASR-10, two Mackie
1202’s, Fostex 80 8-track, flute,
ﬂute, sax,
1202's,
clarinet, basses, beats, overall insanity.
Contact info: Sonical Illusions Studio,
455 Park Place #IL,
#1L, Brooklyn, NY
11238, Phone:
Phone: (718) 399-0816.
Trackilla (apparently a.k.a. Bret Frederick) is
“giga working musician with a number of "gigunits”: As Trackilla, he DJs with flute
ﬂute
ging units":
and sax embellishments; Shanto Band is a
group of Guyanese drummers playing tradi-

heavily processed transport the listener into
the midst of an ebonic plague of gangspeak.

tional spiritual music with Trackilla on flute,
ﬂute,
sax and live mixing; and Trackilla's
Trackilla’s Big
Band is a "constantly
“constantly transforming group of
professional, forward-thinking musIcians
musicians
whose styles span the globe to create truly
butt."
listenable music that will shake your butt.”
His gig history literally spans the globe, including such far-flung
far-ﬂung places as Italy, Brazil
and Amsterdam, but majoring in NYC and
Brooklyn.
Let's
...
Let’s check out his tracks
tracks...

1.
- Drumz-n-bass meets
I. The Village, I Am —
R. Carlos Nakai. Overdubbed soundbites

7

2. Bugged Out Shanto Bandjam -— This track
is 5:35 minutes of Trackilla jamming on
ﬂute over a trancey percussion track. As in
flute
“The Village, I Am,”
"The
Am," bass predominates. The
hypnotic effect is heightened (or deepened)
by constant panning and flanging
ﬂanging of the percussive elements. Almost-subliminal crowd
vocals convey the listener into a shamanistic
rituaL
ritual.

don’t know what"
3. Ataque de Flauta --— I don't
what
the connection is between this fave Mexican
dish and the music
... Uust
we're
music...
(just kidding) but we’re
served up another passionate course of
Trackilla’s flute
ﬂute soloing over a bed of
Trackilla's
hip-hoppy and low-end-intensive jammin’.
jammin'.
Highly processed needle scratches and other
effects embellish.
4. View from the Brooklyn Bridge on a Track
Bike -— Another trancey track, this time the

r

predominant soloing sounds as if it was performed on the keyboard, or perhaps a wind
controller. Eerie vocals courtesy of Miss
Chao
Cha. Other eerie elements (ghost whistling,
low-end croaks) appear courtesy of the
ASR-IO.
flute takes
ASR-10. Trackilla's
Trackilla’s trademark ﬂute
over the soloing in the second half. At times
this track reminds me of Hendrix's
Hendrix’s "1983
“I983 A
Merman 1I Should Turn to Be."
Be.”

8. Myrtle Avenue Meditation —
- Highly
processed sax (or keyboards) provides the
focus in this montage of pitch-shifted vocals
over flanged
ﬂanged percussion.

9. Jam for Ganesha -— A cacophony of FX
fills layer after layer of the sonic spectrum in
which a tinny wah-sitar sound predominates.
The result is a dreamscape of sonic tapes-

more tastefully, and as a musician who gigs
with lots of effects,
eﬁects, I know what I'm looking
for.
It makes mixdown a lot easier as well.
well.
for . 'It
But the ASR is what made this all possible.
Ensoniql"
Big up to Ensoniq!”
Trackilla’s "Instrumentalist's
“Instrumentalist’s Revenge”
Trackilla's
Revenge" can
be had for,
for. $12 (check or M.O.) sent to Sonical Illusions (contact info above).

tries.
U168.

5. Sarangetti Drama -— (must be Italian for
"Serengeti")
“Serengeti”) Perhaps the African beast sound
FX are what gives this a dark-continent feel.
It is the least differentiated of all the tracks;
in other words, it sounds like elements from
most of the other tracks are combined into
this one, which perhaps makes it the most
differentiated track on the CD. It succeeds in
producing a less rhythmic, but nonetheless
dreamy trance-like vibe.

6. Fearoshus Cats Throw Down -— Back to
the bottom-heavy trip-hop. This track captures some of the whimsical nuances associated with feline self-importance.
7. Lotsa Peanut Chews -—
- The "angelic
“angelic
vocals" are done by Miss Cha and the Robe.
vocals”
Robe.
Fancy hi-hat work propels this track with
more forward momentum. More Trackilla
flute .
ﬂute.

10.
I 0. A really weird jam to take you out -— The
title of this track pretty much says it all, but
it isn't
isn’t really any more weird than the previous nine cuts. More processed sax, layered
keyboard FX, drumz-n-bass.
The lack of "dead
“dead space"
space” between these ten
tracks provides over 62 minutes of nonstop
trance music. Trackilla states in his accompanying letter that this "basement
“basement CD was
done almost completely on an ASR-I0.
ASR-JO. What
ASR' is a slammin’
slammin' composican I say, the ASR’
tional too/.
tool. Mine is maxed out with 16 megs
RAM, gig h-drive
h-drive,, and output expander.
expander. I
send it to a couple of Mackie 1202
' s, lots of
of
1202's,
cts and compressors; [then] to a Fosold effe
eﬁects
tex 80 8-track where all instrumentals are
slammed down live,
cts.
live, no overdubs with effe
eﬂects.
Some engineers would say this is wrong, but
I find it keeps the effects
in the mix'
Iﬂnd
eﬂects '’in
mix’ a little

If you want your tape run through the
wringer, err, Hacker, just mail it off to: Basement Tapes, Transoniq Hacker, 1402 SW
Upland Dr., Portland OR 97221. Please include your e-mail address!

BiQ;
days , Steve Vincent
Bio: In his pre-Nirvana days,
paid his dues playing live accordion gigs at
the local mental hospital.

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in
TItE

8:00 am to 4:30 pm CT, Mon. —
- Fri.
We accept: COD, Visa, Mastercard, American Express.
Dealer Inquiries Welcome!

PROTECTiON
Plzonzcrioni

OPTI-CASE •- 1175 CR 481 West,
West Henderson,
Henderson TX 75654 •- FAX: 903-657-6030
8

e

- j

—

_.

The Interface
Letters for The Interface may be sent to any of the following addresses:
U.S. Mail
Mail-- The Interface, Transoniq Hacker, 1402 SW Upland Dr., Portland, OR 97221
U.S.,
mail-- Internet: interface@transoniq.com. In many cases a quick anSwer
Electronic mail
answer can be obtained by posting to our interactive, on-line Interface at our Web site
(http://www.transoniq.com/interface.html)orcalling
(http:IIwww.transoniq.com/interfacehtml) or calling Ensoniq CS at 610-647-3930.
This is probably one of
ofthe
Readers. are reminded
remiaded- to take
the most open forums in the music industry. Letter writers are asked to please keep the vitriol to a minimum. Readers
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.
-everything
Hi
I-Ii guys,

I've
I’ve got a problem.

I
I

I have an ASR-tO,
ASR-10, a P200, and a copy of Awave 4.4.
How do I transfer the sound files I have on my computer
to my ASR-10?
ASR-107 These are downloaded files from the net
in various fonnats.
formats .
Mark Trayner
Vintage Hammond Hire (Scotland)
VintageB3@USA.Net

[PF - Mark: YOIi
/0 save them in *-ede
You need to
*.ede format, so
that Gary Giebler's
GiebIer’s runtime version of the Ensoniq Disk
flopManager will write them to an Ensoniq-formalled
Ensoniq-formatted ﬂopwww.soundcenlral.com for the
Ihe shareware
py. Check out www.soundcentral.com
version of
ED E...)
ofEDE...]

aboul
about simms and checking MIDI are very good suggeslions.
tions. If you have added memory 10
to your ASR, be sure
thai you have Ihe
- 8 bit, 80
that
the correcl
correct simms inslalled
installed —
nanoseconds or faster,
jasler, non-parity.
non-parity, non-composite, 30
pin (similar to Mac Quadra and II d.)
ci.) If your ASR was
manufactured before 20 June 1995,
I995, you may only use 4
meg SIMMS that
Ihal have 8 DRAMS on each board.
board. If your
after that
Ihal dale,
ASR was manufaclured
manufactured aﬁer
date, you may use only
the 2 DRAM 4meg SIMM, but the 10 meg setup is no
longer allowable.
Garth is right aboUi
message, 129
about the error 144
I44 message,
I29 means
"odd address error,"
error,” evenlhough
even though Ihe
the same message can
fix for the overappear with the MIDI
MID! In scenario. The ﬁx
file is well known. Load the song and sesized sequence ﬁle
quence back up. Erase the song and save each individual
sequence back to disk.
Rebool the ASR and then
Ihen load the
Ihe
disk. Reboot
Ihen
separate sequences back into memory. You can then
rebuild your song playlist
playlisl in the song mode and you
should be ﬁne.]
fine.}

Hi,
T]-]_
TH-

Thanks to all for the help in the past. Great site.
Subject: Reboot -— Error 129
I29 !@#!@$!@%???7
!@#!@$!@%????!!

Is it possible to send me a schematic for the Ensoniq
SD-I
SD-1??

ASR-tO out the window
... I
I am short of throwing my ASR-10
window...
am getting the above-mentioned Error 129
I29 Reboot
problems quite frequently. It mostly happens when I'm
I’m
using a long sequence. Does ANYONE have any hints or
comments? I can't
can’t believe the ASR-IO
ASR-I0 operating system
OS is as fast as
is so slow. I read somewhere that the as
some handheld calculators. Now I do.

Can you send me an editor for SO-I
SD-l that will work with
Cakewalk Pro Audio 57
5?

Great machine, but this wou
ld prompt me to start lookwould

[PF -- Georg: Answers,
Answers. in order:

Thanks for anyone’s
anyone's help.
Andy Dokmanovich
adokmano@ford.com
ad0kmano@ford.com

[PF -— Andy: Error
-1 29 is a MIDI buffer overflow. Could
Error-I29
be somelhing
something is pushing more MIDI daw
data into Ihe
the ASR
Ihan
you're driving it with an
than it can handle.
handle. SOllnds
Sounds like you’re
external sequencer.
sequencer, but there
's no mention of this in
there’s
YOllr
re using O.S. V. 3.5.3 and ROM
your post. Ensure YOIi'
you're
re not using disk Iracks
V.I.50.
V.1.50. If YOII'
you’re
tracks or audio tracks
(ATRKS), turn Ihem
lotto CPU power
them off,
oﬂi as they draw a lotta
from normal ASR operations. Check your expansion
SIMMS /0
to ensure they're
they’re the same speed. With memory
at /Oday's
today’s pricing, no ASR should be less than 16
I6 Mb.
The ASR runs a 16-MHz 68000-series Motorola CPU.
Considerably
fasler Ihan
... ]}
Considerablyfaster
than handheld calculalors
calculators...
[Garth Hjelte (chickenEP
S@willmar.com) -- Errata:
(chickenEPS@willmar.com)
Error 144
buffer overflow
- Error 129
I 44 is MIDI buﬂer
overﬂow —
I 29 is usually
internal data problem, due to a OS bug, processing bug,
or bad dow.
data. Save your work often -- that's
that’s my only
Ihoughl.
thought.
Also -— to those of you who DO save your sequencing
work often
oﬁen --— YOIl
you have noticed the long-standing
long—standing sequencer bug (which Ensoniq has never jessed
fessed up lo)
to) where a
Song get's
blocks ... ). A
get’s larger and larger (thousands of
ofblocks...).
filii
ﬁtll solulion
solution /()
to Ihis
this problem is published at http://www.
soundcentra l. com! --chickeneps/ rcs_tips#Big
Sequences. ]
sOllndcentral.com/-chickeneps/rcs
_tips#BigSequences.}
[Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) -— All of the suggestions

Thanx,
-Chris
nefarium@pcez.com

[PF —
- Gang: Hard to conflde
conﬁde in a service whose opening
-paragraph legal disclaimer. I’ll
/' II forpage 10
to join is a 32
32-paragraph
ward this 10
to Paula Jones’
not very busy
Jones' lawyer (he's nol
... ]}
now) and get an opinion
opinion...

TH-

I’m an aspiring "producer"
“producer” like the rest of the world, and
I'm
studio. I have begun to do
am getting ready to start up a studio.
my reading (endless amounts it seems), but sometimes
infomation
isn’t complete or in-depth. Anyway,
Anyway, all I
information isn't
need to know is regarding a Mirage I found in a local
paper. The sty
style
le of music I lean towards is breakbeat/jungle, and I was wonderi
ng if the Mirage would be
beat!jungle,
wondering
a suitable piece of equipment to get started with as a
sampler. Also, the asking price is $495 -- is that a
board is sti
reasonable price, assuming that the '’board
stillll in good
working order?
Dave Spang
jonlawrence7@email.msn.com
jonlawrence7@email.msn.com

How can I get new samples for the SO-I?
SD-I?
GEORG ASTER
gdd437@bse.bg

ing elsewhere if II can't
can’t resolve these mysterious

Reboot/Error
Reboot! Error system lockups.

Feel free to add these links to any of your personal web
pages that may have people interested in joining the
ASR-X list.

(A) No. Unless you know an Ensoniq service lech
tech Ihal
that
will lei
pholocopy his $125 set of Ensoniq
let you photocopy
ed instruments,
're una
vailschematics of discontinu
discontinued
instruments, they
they're
unavailable. Ensoniq policy, not ours.
re nol
ve-Tone Sys(B) No. We'
We're
not a clearing house for Twel
Twelve-Tone
tems
tems,, as Ihey
they have Iheir
their own webpage at
www.cakewalk.com. Define
Deﬁne "edilor":
“editor”: do you mean an
Definition File) for the SD-I patches?
IDF (Instrllment
(Instrument Deﬁnition
See www.cakewalk.comfor
flIes.
www.cakewalk.com for these kinds of
ofﬁles.
(e)
(C) You don'l.
don’t. The SD-I
SD-1 is not a sampler. All of its
sounds are ROM-based. You'll
You’lI want to browse synth
sites for
fo r different PATCHES for the SD
-I to get different
SD-I
diﬂerent
sounds. Recommend www.soundcentral.com/ensoniq...
www.soundcentral.comlensoniq ...

[syntaur@juno.com -— Ensoniq has lurned
turned over the dis[synlaur@juno.com
Iheir SD-I carlridges
Iribution of all of their
tribution
cartridges and sound disks
10
to Syntaur Productions. In addition 10
to their sounds, we
have created more banks in
-h ouse. We also offer the
in-house.

Musician's
s'equencer expander, and olher
Musician’s Manual, the sequencer
other
Mims , synaccessories for these
Ihese keyboards. Sam Mims,
taur@juno.com, Syntaur Productions, 800-334-/288
800-334-1288 or
409-234-2700.}
409-234-2700.]

THusers' list,
To subscribe to the ASR-X users’
list.
http://
www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgilasrx
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/asrx

go

to:

To view the archives of the list, go to: http://
www.
http://www.
one
I is t.coml archi ves.cg ifasrx
onelist.com/archives.cgi/asrx

9

affordable
[PF -— Dave: The Mirage was the FIRST affordab.le
sampler back in 1984.
1998 it's
I984. In I998
it’s a retro box that does
“historic” 8-bit sampling at 5k.
"historic"
Sk. To a collector it might
be worth $495 -— to an aspiring producer it’s
it's not enough
You're
of a solution.
solution. $500 will buy an EPS these days. You
're
better
looking for something with more polyphony, beller
/() get
gel started...
slarted...
sounds, and a buill-in
built-in sequencer to
Nothing against the Mirage: it's
it’s the
the'’board
board that started
... }
it all
all...]
(http://www.midimark.com)
//wwlV.midimark.com) -— Hello, I agree with
[Mark (hllp:
the above statement. I'd go with an ASR-X. This is the
newest machine and has the newest features that you
need. Anything else and you will be stifled once you've
on other units.
reached the many technological barriers Olt
BTW, Ihe
the are many sounds available for the newer
equipment, nol
not so for the later.}
later.]

Dear Transoniq Hacker,

I have a very specific question. I own an EPS-t6+
EPS-16+ keyboard. The disk drive recently failed due to bad heads so
I bought a replacement for it. The problem is that the
257A
A
disk drive itself is very unique, a Panasonic JU 257
manufactured for Ensoniq. It has configuration switches
on it that were moved around when the drive was tested.
So neither of the two drives (the old or the new) have the
correct configuration for the switches. There are about 6
switches
drive.. Other than this problem the keysw
itches on the drive
board is in perfect condition. I am aware that Ensoniq no
longer handles technical support issues concerning older
equipment,
equipment, however there really isn
isn’t' t anywhere else for
me to find the info that I need. I have found that the EPS
drives are made by SONY and are no longer manufactured like the Panasonic. II am not sure why my drive is
made by Panasonic. If you can give me the configuration
ld
settings for my drive, or any useful information it wou
would

,..-

M

mat. Check out www.soundcentral.com/chickeneps:
wwwsoundcentral.com/chickeneps:
Garth has a pretty comprehensive explanation of the
Ihe
**.ede,
.ede. *.gkh. etc. formats at the
Ihe Rubber Chicken SoftSoﬁware website. I did an article on them a coupla months
ago, but I've slept since then
... }
then...]

be greatly appreciated.
The old and new disk drives are identical.
Thanks,
daydream@hotmail.com or YTMH@aol.com
YTMI-l@aol.com

Hi there,
I'm
I’m (was) the happy owner of a KS-32. One day it
stopped working and I sent it to the local service (llive
(I live
in Buenos Aires, Argentina) and he told me the motherboard was to be replaced. The problem: apparently he
can't
can’t find a KS-32 motherboard in the local market nor
any other place. Ensoniq stopped producing them some
time ago. Is there something you can do for me? Do you
have any address [I should try?

Pat's article just gal
[TH —
- Pat’s
got printed in #155.}
#I55.]
{PF
[PF -- Daydream: Contact Techzam at 805.520.9845
(vox). They remanufacture ﬂoppy
jloppy drives for
for Ensoniq
keyboards. They'd have the correct jumper settings for
for
you...]
YOII
... }

{Garth
[Garth Hjelte (chickenEPS@willmar.com)
(chickenEPS@willmar.com) -— Remember
the tilde (-).
(~), it's
it’s www.soundcentral.com/-chickeneps.
www.soundcentral.com/~chickeneps.
You can do this transfer by converting the .krz ﬁle
file using
files . However,
However. it will split it up into
Awave into .wav ﬁles.
files. You call
ﬁles.
can take Awave or Ollr
our Disk Tools (which can
Ihe ﬁles)
files) to convert the separate ..wav’s
way' s into
reassemble the
a File·
.krz
File“ Image. Disk Tools is scheduled to support .krZ
files in May.]
May.}
ﬁles

[Tim Ostermeyer (nosterme@mail.lVin.org)
(nosterme@mail.win.org) -— I have an
old Ensoniq that
Ihat recently Irashed
trashed the disk drive. The
dealer says that the drive is no longer available. The
lVas in the machine was
lVas a Panasonic Mat·
drive that was
Matsushita LR57568. He also said that a Sony MP-F63WMP·F63W·
OOd
00d would also work. He has given up hope of localing
locating
one of these drives.
drives. Is there somewhere that!
that I can locale
locate

Any answer would be very appreciated,
Thank you,
Federico Fialayre
fried@interserver.com.ar
fried@interserver.com.ar
[PF -— Federico: Have your service center contact or call
Ensoniq directly at 610.647.3930. They should have

THTl-I-

one of these drives or is he destined 10
to sell me a new

spares available, as the KS-32 is not on the "discoll“discon-

machine? Thanks much.}
much.]
cropped out and my servo
[MAT217@aol.com -— My EPS crapped
service cenler
find the drives eilher
center can'
can’!I ﬁnd
either -— so I called Tech·
Tech805-520-9845. The genlleman
gentleman there
zam 805·520·9845.
Ihere said a new
drive cost around $400!!!
$4001.’! And then I still have to have it
rebllilt one (sent to him) COSI
plll in. A rebuilt
put
cost arollnd
around $125 and
Ihis
still someone has to put it in. I'm
I’m sluck.
stuck. I depend on this
keyboard for gigs
... hundreds of hours of seqllences
...
gigs...
sequences...
I've
I ’ve been thinking of gelling
getting an ASR 10 -— could I slill
still
S seqs in it? What kind of Sllpport
play my EP
EPS
support can I get
with it? It’s
It's 0111
production, right??}
out of
ofproduction,
right??]
[PF -- MATQI7:
MAT217: Sounds like Tech
zam raised its prices.
Techzam
Lasl coupla months readers have been having their
Iheir old
Last
drive rebuilt fbr
for arollnd
around $40 plus shipping: wonder what
happened?

tim/ed"
tinued” service products listing of September 7th. Good
luck!}
luckl]

Does anybody out there know if I[ should use a SI2k
5l2k
S-RAM card, or are the IM
I M cards more readily avail·
available? The dealer I bought my keyboard from tells me the
5l2k cards. He also
IIM
M cards may be cheaper than the Sl2k
tells me that no PCMCIA Type I cards are available
from Ensoniq. I need to know what to use, and where II
can purchase them at the best price and availability.
Please respond to this, or e-mail me at: flyinace@
ﬂyinace@
erols.com.

Argentina. Arte Musical S.A., Talcahuano 218, 10/3
Argentina,
1013,.
Buenos Aires. Phone: 54}
-374·8049.}
541-374-8049.]

Thank you,
ﬂy
inace
flyinace

TH
TH-

[Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) -— Try the service center
listed below. They can contact Ensoniq and get the
board neededfor
needed for the repair.

I have a rackmount ASR-10
ASR-IO that I have had for a couple
of years now. I recently decided to try and use the digital
I/O that came on the unit but there is no way to select
110
the digital inputs. The only choices [I get are input+effeet
fect,, the dry input, or the main out. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

{ladyred@erols.com
fOllnd a company in Calif
[ladyred@erols.com -- I found
Calif. thaI
that
had a web page thaI
that made sense. I ordered some cards
I'llll try them to see if
Ihey work. Ifanyone
If anyone
from them and I'
ifthey
else has this same problem,
problem. their web sit is: http://
http: //
IVlVw.magicram.com/sram.htm. Their price for a 512k
www.magicram.com/sram.htm.
IVas $79. Anyone with further inSight,
card was
insight, please can·
contact me at: ﬂyinace@erols.com.
jlyinace@erols.com. Thank you,
you.flyinace.}
ﬂyinace.]

Ihe ASR
The ASR·IO
ASR-I0 can read EPS seqllences.
sequences, but since the
sequencer resolution is TWICE thai
S (96 ppq
that of the EP
EPS
vs. 48 ppq for Ihe
the original EPS), some "misconverted"
“misconverted”
Bill our old friend Dr. Gary
note data may occur. But
Giebler sells a 1I1ilily
utility to convert the 48 ppq EPS sequen·
sequences into 96ppq ASR sequences withoul
without the occasional
"mistake."
IVwlV.giebler.com.}
“mistake.” Contact him at www.giebler.com.]

Hi, Trans:
I am an ASR-IO
ASR-10 owner. I need to connect the ASR to the
Soundblaster of PC via MIDI connector, but I haven't
haven’t a
pinout diagram of SB. Can you tell me how I can conI,nect
nect these devices?
Thanx in advance,
Carlos
carlosm@mbasystems.com.ar
carlosm@mbasystems.com.ar

[PF - Carlos: You need a gameport-to-MIDI adapter.
They're sold through most popular computer stores like
Best Buy.
Buy, Frye.
Frye, CompUSA.
CompUSA, etc. Expect to pay between
$20·$40
from Creative labs is $40
):.. )
$20-$40 (ordering one from
$40).'..]

DJ Ntalec
OJ
ski·beats@usa.net
ski-beats@usa.net

{syntallr@juno.
com -- While I'm not sure which key[syntaur@juno.com
board you are using -- the KT, E-Prime, and MR Rack all
lise PCMCIA cards -- I do know that the KT series can
use
use 256k cards, even though
Ihollgh Ensoniq specifies
speciﬁes that they
for
must be 512k or higher. We sell the blank 256k cards for
$97.95, or for $109.95 with 80 KT/E-Prime
KTiE-Prime sounds on
Mims. syntaur@juno.com, Syntaur Producboard. Sam Mims,
·2700.}
tions.
tions, 800-334-1288 or 409-234
409-234-2700.]

[PF —
{PF
- DJ: The ASRs do NOT ship with digital I/O -that's a $500 option that's no longer available. Unless
you ordered one and had it installed at an Ensoniq
dealer, you have a pair of black RCA jacks that do nothing more than plug up the holes on the chassis. Take the
you don’t
don'l believe this...]
Ihis ... }
lid off and look inside if
ifyou

To all TS·lO/Unisyn
TS-I0/Unisyn users,

DearTH,
Dear
TI-I,

I was reminded last issue of TH that TS-IO
TS-10 users who
use Performer composition software are out of luck. If
they want to store their sounds to the only compatible
Editor/Librarian software (Unisyn), they can'
can’t.t. You can
e-mail themakerMOTUattechsupport@motu.com
the maker MOTU at techsupport@motu.com..
They will create a profile to support you if there are
enough whiners. Make sure you give them some cheese
with your wine.

I have a problem in getting my EPS-16+ to interpret the
MIDI data coming from my pc, whether with Cubase or
Cakewalk. The data sounds totally irregular/random with
lots of stuff missing and cut off -- a bit as if you were
hearing an FM radio station slightly off-frequency. Con·
Consider this:
Pentium 133
I33 with Soundblaster (and latest drivers from
Creative). EPS-16+: RAM 1.30, ROM 1.00.

Dan
japandan@iea.att.ne.jp

-

TH-

{PF
[PF —- Dan: Not so. If you create a sequence in PerHow do I go about converting my krz samples to be
played on my friend's EPS-16 Plus? I've
I’ve tried AWave
in conjunction with EPSDisk but have not been successful. It may be the format I'm
I’m converting to. [I don't
don’t un·
understand the difference between say, EFE, GKH,
G KH, etc.
Could someone please explain the process in order for
me to play my krz samples (patches) on my friend’s
friend's
EPS-16
EPS-I6 Plus? Your help would really give me back my
sanity!!!

pc to sy77 == no probs
sy77 to EPS == no probs
pc to EPS == probs

former of about 140 BPM, AND check the "Sysex"
former
“Sysex” box
Only thing I can think of is MIDI overflow?? Or corrupt
ROM??

in the ﬁlters,
filters, you CAN record sysex dumps to Performer.
Performer,
as well as record "virtual"
“virtual” button presses and data
fact.
entry slider movements on the TS. As a matter of
offact.
that's about alii
that’s
all I used Performer for back in the 4.2·5.0x
4.2-5.0x
days with an SQ-I,
fiddle with the playback
SQ-1, and I had to ﬁddle
tempo to get the sysex dumps to lake
take back,
back. but it works.

Have tried through the official support phone and all
could get was, "Did
multi?"
“Did you set the EPS on multi?”
Need your urgent advice -— this is wearing me down.

tonymite@netspace.net.au
tonymite@netspace.net.au

And Performer works ﬁne
fine using the TS-IO as a sound
module.
module, but yeah, don't hold your breath waiting for
MOTU to do a TS proﬁle
profile for
for Unisyn. I think
Ihink Ensoniq
used up all their MOTUfavors
MOTU favors on the MR proﬁle...
profile ...

Thanks,
Andrea
pacdra@netvigator.com

[PF -- Tony: I don't
don’t know of any shareware app out
files into a native Ensoniq forthere that will xlate *krz
*.krz ﬁles

I never thought of Performer as a $495 librarian,
though
... }
though...]

[PF -— Andrea: Well
Well,, of course you've
you’ve set your EPS to
wouldn' t respond excepl
Multi or it wouldn't
except on the selected

Tony Mitevski

10

_

_

7

——

7

_

it

_ ___

——

—

7

7

_

_ _

T

1:7

7

7

channelllrack.
channel/track. Ensure you've sel
set your EPS 10
to 2l-voice
21-voice
playback (mighl
(might be sella
set to 12
I2 or 16), and double check 10
to
make sure you’re
you're not sending it more notes than it can
you're using a multi-port interface
play back. I assume you’re
.. port I to your SY77, port 2 to the
to direct traffic,
traﬂic, i.e
i.e.,
EPS.
EPS.
If
this is the case, ensure you’re
you're not sending all the MIDI
Ifthis
data down one port, as this will "choke"
“choke” the EPS inlO
into
trying to
10 play notes intended for the SY77. Ensure no
tracks have the same MIDI channel #'
wel/.
#'ss as well.
you're using a Single-port
If you’re
single-port interface, make sure you
connect the MIDI THRU to the MIDI IN of the next instrument in the chain.
chain. MIDI OUT introduces delays, as
the MIDI stream is processed by the host keyboard,
port ... }
where it's
it’s simply mirrored a/
at the THRU port...]

I recommend taking your EPS 10
to an Ensoniq dealer or
other competent repair facility to have them give it a
thorough cleaning. Contact points age and get oxidized,
expansion/contraction of chips gradually unseats them, a
veritable plethora of issues abound on an instrument of
the EPS’s
EPS's age. Have your local tech clean and reseat
res eat all
connectors, contact points, chips, interconnects, etc., on
your EPS. I recommend Cramolyn mi.red
mixed with Blue
Shower in a 32:1 ratio, but any good-quality zero
residue cleaner will suffice. Expect to pay for an hour of
bench time for this procedure. Your EPS will be as good
as new
... }
new...]

[TH
[T7-I -- Sorry, the only way to get the replies is to check
back here every so often -— or subscribe
... }
subscribe...]
[PF -— Chris: BTW, order the 2.40 ROM from Ensoniq -—
should clear up a LOT of issues as well as get you the
most current version
... ]}
version...

THTII-

1"

I have heard that you can install a ZIP drive into an
ASR-I0
ASR-10 keyboard in the old floppy
ﬂoppy drive port. Then
RCS's Disk Tools you can format on a PC (with
using RCS’s
ZIP) a bootable ZIP drive and copy sounds to the ZIP
... I
ZIP...
can't
can’t stand that floppy anymore.
Question: Has anyone installed a ZIP in a KB ASRto??? If so...please
so ... please post the instructions on how to do
IO???

[Jonathan (globe@thepla.neI)-1
(globe@thepla.net) - I had this same problem
and our local engineer ﬁxed
fixed it, at the second allemptattempt - it
failed again three months after the repair. Regrellably,
Regrettably.
Mo years later (last week) the keyboard failed altwo
it's worth to
together and it's
it’s cost me nearly as much as it’s
fix it (new keyboard). I advise you sell your machine
ﬁx
pronto and get an ASRX. So sad when these beautiful
die.}
machines die.]

THTH—-

[PF —
- Jose: Contact Rubber Chicken Software at
http://www.soundcentral.com/chickeneps. Garth announced the ZIP instal/ation
year ... }
installation kit last year...]
[Garth Hjelte (chickenEPS@Willmar.com)
- Remember
(chickenEPS@willmar.com) the tilde (-)
(~) it's
it’s www.soundcentral.com/-chickeneps
www.soundcentral.com/~chickeneps -or our e-mail addresschickenEPS@Willmar.com.
address chickenEPS@willmar.com. We
sel/ a Inlernal
sell
Internal ZipDrive Kit -- yes, it is possible, and it is
fon to carry around just your ASR to gigs. I love it
ﬁll!
myself
myself. Look for an upcoming article detailing this.]
[PF -- -Gang:
»-Gang: -loops!
~/oops! @#$%A&
@#$%"‘& punctuation got me
again
... }
again...]

I

THTH—

Ilawn
own an EPS with version 2.49 RAM and 2.00 ROM
and I'm
I’m experiencing increasing problems with the
machine crashing. Initially random characters appear on
the display although it is still possible to play sounds,
but after a few minutes the machine locks up completely.
Rebooting always clears the fault, but the fault seems to
be gradually worsening with delays between the fault occurring decreasing. I had a similar fault some years ago
and .an
an engineer claimed it was due to a faulty "coupling
“coupling
lead on keyboard panels"
panels” which he repaired and this

I

I

seemed to cure the problem for some months. Before II
go to the expense of getting an engineer to look at the
machine again, has anyone else experienced similar or
any suggestions on the cause of this?
Y.

r
I
|

I

I
I
I

I'll
I’ll be getting an ASR rack soon, and I've
I’ve read that you
can use AKAI CDs with it. Is this true and if so, how
well does the ASR import these sounds?
sounds‘?
Matt
msavard@rain.org

I have an MR-61 and Cakewalk software on a PC. When
I save a sequence on a ﬂoppy
floppy disk and transfer it to
Cakewalk, everything works perfectly except the drum
machine MIDI data on channel 10
l0 isn't
isn’t there. When I
play the sequence on the computer everything comes
rhythm.. Ensoniq support told me to
through except the rhythm
make sure the MIDI out on the rhythm track was on.
Well, the procedure in the manual only works for a
sound. Pressing play on the sequencer transmits MIDI
data on all the tracks respectively except for 10. Am I
overlooking something? How do I get the MIDI data out
sequencer‘?
of the drum machine and on to my computer sequencer?
I’ve tried saving the rhythm to disk and then opening it
I've
up in Ensoniq’s
Ensoniq ' s rhythm builder but have had no luck.
Any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Don VanPelt
vanpeld@prodigy.net

{TH
- That was Issue #139.}
[TH #139.]

THTH—

[PF -- Mall:
Matt: Importing Akai samples is limited only be
the ASR-10's
ASR-lO' s memory. Trying to stuffa
stuff 032
32 Mb piano into
a 16 Mb ASR, well, YOll
you get the picture. Other than the
prelly straightforward deal
memory limitations. it's
it’s a pretty
(thanx to Dr. Giebler for doing such a SMOOTH job on
that particular
particlilar hunk of code in the
Ihe OS). You can only imyou'll have to assign them to layers and
port samples; you’ll
do some massage, but nothing like Awave or shareware
jllmp thru
...
jlaming hoops to jump
ﬂaming
thru...
BTW, your MR webpage remains the best (if not the
only) source for MR-wares; hats offfor
ojffor making it available
... }
able...]

DearTH:
Dear TH:
I've
I’ve got a problem that your more coordinated readers
have probably never posited: I keep dropping my KS-32.
More specifically, I've
I’ve damaged the frame
frame,, so that the
front right comer (closest to the highest key) has come
undone.

Will the reply (if any) be cc:
'd to mail, or do I have to
cc:’d
keep checking the site for updates? ;)

I've done this
Believe it or not, this is the second KS-32 I’ve
to. I sold the last one to a friend, paid more for an intact
used one, then promptly dropped it as well, and it's
it’s now
in worse shape than the first. Both still play fine, but II
would like to repair my present one. Can it be glued? If
so, what type of adhesive?

Cheers
Cheers,,
Chris Roberts
croberts@demon.net

Although I no doubt deserve a solemn lecture about the
care and feeding of my axe, I'd
I’d prefer some good advice
about fixing it. Whaddya say?
say‘?

[PF -— Chris: As old as the EPS is, what you’re
you're exwel/. Your EPS needs
periencing has happened to me as well.
a going over. It's possible that the keyboard pcb interconnect is intermillent
intermittent again (which is common). En-

Bill Anschell
billanschell@mindspring.com
billanschell@mindspringcorn

soniq issued an ECO (engineering change order) that
removed the Molex inrerconneClOr
interconnector and hard-wired the
remol'ed

(A)

together.
“engineer” did this
two halves 109
ether. Ensure your "engineer"
first ...
ﬁrst...

As a subscriber to TH for about a year now I haven’t
haven't
I’m sure it has
seen this issue addressed yet, although I'm
been.

[PF -— Don: We published an article by Tony Ferrara
about how to do exactly this. You have to assign/export
the drum machine MIDI data to Channel 10/Track 10.
“back issues"
issues” for the complete details
details...]
See our "back
... }

so
...
SO...

Jose Alea
alea@pobox.com

THTH—

[PF -- Bill:
Hire a roadie.
(B) Buy a case.
(C) Pump iron.
(D) SliperGlue.}
SuperGlue.]

ASR-10 and have always made all creations
I own an ASR-IO
“onboard” using the intemal
"onboard"
internal sequencer, samples, and
sounds loaded from disk. IIrecently
recently became interested in
EMU’s
EMU's Planet Phatt sound module. After talking to
salespeople and a guy at Ensoniq Tech Support, I'm
I’m still
not certain that the ASR-10
ASR-IO works seamlessly with
Planet Phatt. Anyone out there have info/experience‘?
info/experience?
Brad
b4Icamm@msg.pacbell.com
b4lcamm@msg.pacbell.com
[PF -- Brad: I don't
don’! think ANYTHING works seamlessly

with another manufacturer’s
(or the same manufacmanufacturer's stuff
stuff(or
turer’s stuff,
stuﬂ, for that matter).
Phatt is a sample
turer's
mal/er). Planet Phall
playback module with a bank of looped grooves and
It's probably more important to
hip/trip-hop urb waves. It’s
ask what the ASR-10
ASR-IO DOESN'T do that you’re
you're considering the PP. Before you plunk down $895 for an EMU
box, check out the Urban Dance CDs advertised in the
... }
Hacker. You cOlild
could save yourself a BUNCHA dinero
dinero...]

THTH—

I would like to know how I can make General MIDI
work on my Ensoniq TS-12. When I go to MIDI control
it will display OFF. I change it and when I exit it will
again display "Off."
“Off.” Are there are any drivers or upgrade
happen?
to make this happen‘?
Please help.
lRaimundi
JRaimundi
WandaI2@ibm.net
Wandal2@ibm.net

[PF —
- JR: As far
for as I know, there were two versions of
the TS-series, the second of which was GM compatible.
I’m
r m pretty sure it was a ROM upgrade (and maybe some
other ﬁrmware/soﬁware)
firmware/sofMare) for $99. Contact Ensoniq at
(vox) to see if this upgrade is still avail610.647.3930 ·(vox)
able, or email them at www.ensoniq.com. Good Luck!]
Luck!}
[Eric Montgomery (Ensoniq) —
- The upgrade is still
available from authorized Ensoniq service centers. A list

11

of US Authorized Service Centers can be found at the
jollowing URL on our Web Site: hllp:llwww.ensoniq.
following
http://www.ensoniq.
comlhtml/servlist.htm.}
com/html/servlist.htm.]

Greetings,
II am looking for any MAC software that is comparable
to Giebler Enterprises PC software to edit EPS sound
data from the MAC
MAC,, transfer or convert audio files to
EPS samples and/or transfer MIDI sequences to the EPS
form the MAC. Any or all of these functions will do.
Thanks,
Kevin Whittenburg
kwhitten@dave-world.net

[PF -- Kevin: Your best source for ALL Ensoniq sampling wares
IVa res is good
good'’ol
01 Garth Hjelte at Rubber Chicken
Software.
Soﬁware. Check out Ensoniq Disk Tools and ping RCS
at www.soundcentral.com/~chickeneps.
IVww.soundcentral.coml-chickeneps. And check out
page ... }
our related links at the top of the page...]
[Peter C Heim (pch7@interport.net) -- Hi. I use
Passport's
jor serious sound editing,
I've
Passport’s Alchemy for
editing, I’ve
recently started using Garth's
Garth’s EAVES software for
parameter editing, and for sequencing, ya can'
can’!t bew
beat
MOTU's
Perjormer.}
MOTU
's Performer.]

Hi
Hi,,
't
I have an old SDP·I.
SDP-1. When it gets turned
tumed off it won
won’t
start up. If you leave it for a few months you usually can
turn it on and it will start up properly. When it doesn't
doesn’t
start up properly the LEDs
LEOs go into a chasing pattern
clockwise. Each LED lights up three or four times and
move on to the next one and so on. I do not need to subscribe to the Transoniq Hacker because this is the only
Ensoniq product I have and once it hopefully gets fixed [I
don
' t need a whole lot of information there after. If you
don’t
can help me out and there's
there’s an inexpensive way to fix
this I’ll
I'll gladly pay you for your time.
Thanks,
Alex Macfarlane
amacfarl@direct.ca
am acfarl@direct.ca
[PF -- Alex: There are no replacement logic boards
available for the SDP-i,
SDP-I, so here's hoping you have a
power supply problem or a regulator problem. Take the
instrument to an Authorized Ensoniq Service Center in
your area,
area , as they have the schematics to the SDP-I.
SDP-1.
Have a tech look at it to determine if the problem is a
power supply-related or logic board-based failure. And
keep your ﬁngers
fin gers crossed that it'
it’s~ a power supplyrelated problem.
problem .

organ again? I HOPE NOT.

jor the wheels to have any effect.
for

I want to look and learn before I leap this time!!

And here's another EPS secret: pitch bend range can be
different for EVERY instrument/track
...]
instrument/track...]

Thank you,
Joe Young
jnnyoung@dcache.net

DearTH
Dear
TH

[PF -— loe:
Joe: By our very nature, we as mustClans
musicians want
more power in keyboards which is supposed to translate
beller quality, more polyphony, etc.
ete.
into more sounds, better
pUlling it
Problem is all this power comes at the cost of putting
all in one box with a lillie
little display 10
to edit all this power.
ALL "professional"
“professional” -level keyboards can be a terror to
lIavigate
navigate if you don't know the basics of synthesis. Actually Ensoniq is, IMHO, the easiest interface
illterface of all
keyboards. That's
That’s why II've
’ve been using them for the past
14 years...
years ...

Ensoniq invented the MR-series keyboards just for
musicians like you. Sadly, they discontinued them -— BUT
the new ZR-76
ZR -76 uses an almost identical user interface to
the MRs. Take a peek at aile
one at your local Ensoniq
dealer -— it's
it’s the easiest keyboard to navigate around
you've ever seen
... }
you’ve
seen...]

THTH—
[n
In an effort to promote clarity and thoroughness I wish
to add a footnote to my review in Issue #154 "Psychic
“Psychic
Horns,"
Horns,” wherein I expressed my thanks to Rubber Chicken's
en’s Disk Tools. Subsequently, I noted posts that
described difficulty in making two and three disk
16-Plus files. Please note that I have not been successful
in getting either Disk Tools or Disk Manager to write a
three-disk set. [I have been successful in writing two-disk
two—disk
sets. As a matter of curiosity, I would like to know if this
is my unique experience or if the conversion software
generally fails at this task.
J.D.
J .D. Ryan
brosryan@dmv.com
brosryan@dmv.c0m

[Garth (chickenEPS@Willmar.
com) -— JD:
ID: It’s
It's you.
(chickenEPS@willmar.com)
Gosh, didn't
didn’t you have this problem a few months ago?
It's still not resolved? I can't
It’s
can’t speak for Gary, but I tested
about 10
I 0 File Images with 2-disk and 3-disk
3 -disk lengths, and
fine using both Disk Tools and the
all of them copied ﬁne
Feelfree
.efejile
EDM. Feel
free to e-mail me the .efe
ﬁle in question, and
I can test it. Also, how did you acquire the large File
first place? Did you download it? If so,
Image in the ﬁrst
where?}
where?]

THTI-I —
Top resource, this. Well done.

Have the tech ensure proper voltages ﬁ'om
from the power
l2V,
supply -— these things want a rock-solid +5 and +
+12V,
.58V. Check the 7805'
not 4.95V or Ii
I1.58V.
7805’ss and other
regulators on the PS PCB. Good luck
luck...]
... }

TH,
I am a novice music "technician"
“technician” who has had an Ensoniq SQ·
SQ-1t for several years and it's
it’s still not easy for me
to operate. I will admit to being initially impressed with
what I saw and convinced myself that I could "grow
“grow
into" it. Sadly I have not reached the potential with this
machine that I had hoped. Even soon after its purchase I
was hearing about patch keys and other innovations that
could expand sound effects that the SQ-I
SQ-1 does not have.

I have a problem with using an Alesis MMT8 to do sequencing. I’ve
I've hooked the MMT8 to my EPS and nothing else in the MIDI
M[DI chain and I'
ve recorded sequences
I’ve
and played them back all fine. What [I want to do is
modulate LIVE the sounds the MMT8 is triggering with
the mod wheel and the bend wheel, say filter on a drum
loop or cross
fade layers on a bass sample. It won't
crossfade
won’t do it.
I can record the modulations into the MMT8 and play
them back, but not do them on the fly, unless I do it with
the data slider, which means flicking through pages to
get to the parameter I want to mod. Can it be done?
Thank you Ensoniq users everywhere.
Jonathan
globe@thepla.net

I need good string sounds for my ASR but the only
CD-ROM recommended is Spectrasonics Strings. This is
a native Akai disk. Would the sounds I import differ
from the originals if they were 8 wavesamples per key or
under? Wouldn't
Wouldn’t it be good to just buy a cheap CD version? If I did, what limitations would I have in sound
quality OR anything else? Do you have any CD-ROM
recommendations?
Thanks,
Dan
japandan@iea.att.ne.jp
[PF -— Answers, in order:

from the
(A) The sounds you import will not differ ﬁom
original; the only caveat is that they cannot total more
than the memory capacity of your ASR. This could be a
you're importing are
limitation if the string samples you’re
of afully-expallded
ASR) ...
larger than 16
I6 Mb (the limit ofa
fully-expanded ASR)...
(B) Buy what cheap CD version? I don't understand
slrillg
your question here: do you mean a cheap CD of string
gelling the gist of your
samples? My apologies for not getting
question .. .
question...
(C) See (B) above
...
above...
(D) Ensoniq's
inVision)
Ens0niq’s CDR-8 (a collaboration with InVt'sion)
has some spectacular orchestral samples, inclusive of
of
strings, viola, celli, etc. Check it out.]
oul.}

\

[syntaur@juno.com -— You might also consider the string
sections that Phil Ramone produced for Ensoniq. They
are available in the SL series offloppy
ofﬂoppy disks, and sell for
set. They are: SL-1O
SL-10 Violin Section
Section.,
$39.95 per 5-disk set.
SL-ll
SL-l2 Cello Section,
Section , and SL-13
SL-/3
SL-11 Viola Section, SL-12
and
Bass Section. These are wonderfully expressive, .md
contain numerous articulations (spiccato, tremolo, etc.).
etc. ).

The SL sets are available from Syntaur Productions,
Productions ,
409-234-2700 or fax to 409-234-2900. Sam Mims, syntaur@juno.com.}
taur@juno.com.]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
One of the drumkits in the SD·}
SD-1 is titled "Compressed
“Compressed
Kit.
Kit.”" I need to separate the kick from the snare to send to
their own tracks on an ADAT for process and mix purposes . I love and I need the sounds of that particular kit.
poses.
Can this be done?? And if so, how???
With respect,
Jake
bluezguy@worldnet.att.net

[PF - lake:
Jake: Assign those particular samples to the
auxiliary outputs. Only problem here is that the aux outs
are dry (no FX), so the kick and snare will have no
processing. This mayor
may or may no/
not be a problem, depending on just how heavily processed those particular
ej~
samples are. Give it a whirl -— you may need to add effects to them from an outboard FX processor, but you
can adjust to taste.}
taste.]

THTH—Have there been technical improvements in this field
fledgling
since the SQ came out that would let the ﬂedgling
musician enjoy music creativity without falling into the
techno jungle of confusion about how to use the machine
or should I look at another option in a keyboard? Have I
just banished myself to the simplicity of a magnus chord

[PF -- lonathan:
Jonathan: All you have to do is select the track
you want to do this to by pressing its corresponding

track bullon
button (to light the red LED and make it active),
then whale away with the pitch and mod wheels. That's
That’s
all there is to it. Remember, the sound must have pitch
and modulation ﬁmctions
functions programmed into it in order

1_2
12

Has anyone with an MR·61
MR-61 experienced a HOT or high
velocity key. My 2nd F natural from bottom generates a
velocity of 120
I20 when played with same pressure that
elicits a velocity of 36 —
- 41 from its neighbors. This isn’t
isn't
bad for organ sounds but its a real thrill on pianos, wind

-- -

and perc. I’ve
I've just upgraded to 2.11
2.ll Any similar experiences? I don't
don’t recall seeing any in the Hacker! I'll
I’ll
just be using my TS-12
TS-l2 while I wait for response.
E. Becks
erb@freeway.net

I
I

'f
‘P

I
J.
-'"

I

[PF -- E Becks: Funny you mention that - a week after I
got an MR-61 my lowest G sent a 127 velocity. Turns alit
out
the key contact was dirty. Have your local tech clean
thaI
you'll be ﬁne.
fine. No, upgrading Ihe
that one colllacl
contact and you’ll
the
ROM didn't cause it, sunspots and the relative position
of the moons over Mepzor didn'l
didn't cause this anomaly -... ]
just some old-fashioned dusl
dust got in Ihere
there...]

I wrote a while back concerning controlling program and
chord changes via MIDI from my SD-J
SD-1 to my studio
vocalist. I have learned more about MIDI setup and have
all the parameters set up, but still don
' t know how to
don’t
record or send the changes to the vocalist. Digitech has
been a lot of help but I need info from the Ensoniq point
...
of view. Please help
help...

[PF -— JR: Just send the program change corresponding
to the Vocalist patch you want to select,
selecl, and presto,
presto,
you're Ihere.
you’re
there. Select a track in each sequence of
ofaa song,
assign it MIDI output (rather Ihan
than LOCAL or BOTH),
select the MIDI channel the Vocalist is listening to, and
select a program change # 1·128
I -I28 that corresponds to the
... ]
desired program on the Vocalist
Vocalist...]

I

TH
TH-

l

I

J'-

[PF -— JP3T: Sounds like your Flash board is ﬁtll.
full. Try
deleling
deleting a coupla waves to make a lillie
little more room and
doesn't cure the
Ihe problem check the '.wav
file.
see if that doesn’t
*.wav ﬁle.
/00 big, (b) corrupl,
incomplele,
It's possible it's
It’s
it’s (a) too
corrupt, (c) incomplete,
or (d) an unrecognized ﬁle
file type. Chances are it's
it’s being
recognized since it tries to load, so I'd collective point at
(A) thru (C)
.. .]
(C)...]

Me again!

Thanks .. .love the hacker!
Thanks...love
JRSoulF8@aol.com

I

samples off of the Flash board to make space for the
.wav ﬁle
file before you Iry
try loading it. Go to Librarian,
Erase samples, Erase single sample to individually
delete.
wav ﬁles
files you don'
delete .wav
don’tI need. Another alternalive
alternative may
be to make your .wav ﬁle
file smaller (i.e
(i.e.,.. change the
from stereo to mono,
sample ﬁom
mono, or CUi
cut down on the length
of the sample) and then
Ihen see if it loads properly. Hope
Ihis bit of information is helpful
you.}
this
helpﬁtl 10
to you.]

I've
l’ve had an MR-61 for the last 6 months. I installed the
Flash board about two months ago and was able to load
.wav files with no problems. However recently, while
trying do load ..wav
wav files onto the Flash I have encountered the following problem. The display asks
which.
wav I wish to load as usual and then says "“loadloadwhich .wav
... please wait."
ing files
files...
wait.” I hear the usual cranking of the
floppy drive however it stops midway through the load
and although the drive still seems to be spinning it will
pretty much stay that way -— with the green floppy light
on and the display saying please wait. My only option is
to eject the ﬂoppy
floppy and shut off the keyboard because it
is basically locked up.
Needless to say, my .wav file does not get transferred to
the Flash board -— although I have been able to do so in
I'm puzzled because the floppy
the past. I’m
ﬂoppy is still able to
load songs into the sequencer without problems.
I haven
't heard of the Flash board advertised with the
haven’t
new Ensoniq keyboard similar to the MR series so I
don't
don’t know what type of support I can get regarding the
Flash board. Anyone have any ideas, suggestions,
similar experiences with the Flash board? And if it does
turn
tum out to be a problem with the Flash board, does
anyone know if it's
it’s covered by a warranty? Or if it is a
floppy drive disc problem, has anyone had floppy
ﬂoppy
ﬂoppy drive
problems and are they easily resolved?
Sorry so long, but thanks for the forum!
JP3T3MAX@aol.com
J P3T3MAX@aol.com

[Andres (amell@ibm.nel)
(amell@ibm.net) -— I have also experienced a
similar problem with loading .wav ﬁles
files onto the
MR-61's
MR-61’s Flash board (by the way, it probably isn't
isn’t a
very good idea to eject the ﬂoppy
floppy while Ihe
the drive lighl
light is
slill
first, Ihen
still on -— turn Ihe
the power off
ojfﬁrst,
then eject). I don't
don’t
think iI's
it’s a problem with
the ﬂoppy
with Ihe
the
Ihink
wilh Ihe
floppy drive or wilh
how large
Flash board,
board, bUI
but it does seem to be an issue of
ofhow
file is that you're trying to load and holY
the .wav ﬁle
how much
Ihe Flash board. Try erasing some
space is left
leﬁ on the

TI-I_
TH-

A few days ago after saving a bank to my 320 meg hard
drive I suddenly was unable to access the hard drive. I
saved the song/seq I was working on to floppy and then
shut off the EPS. I tried rebooting from the hard drive
and all I saw was some default MACROS when I pressed
load and numbers (I,2,3,4,etc).
(l,2,3,4,etc). [I was able to boot off of
the floppy
ﬂoppy fine. When I changed storage device-to
device--to the
hard drive once again, all I saw was the same default ·
Macros. No sign of my sounds, banks,
banks , hard work, etc.
I took the hard-drive and connected it to my Mac and ran
EPSm2 software (you know this software?) and was able
to view the top level directories. When I clicked down
into any of the directories all I saw was weird file names
with odd characters and weird numbers, which'
which‘ look like
...
they should be file sizes. Grrrrrr
Grrrrrr...
V
Well, like a fool, I formatted one of my Syquest 44 Meg
cartridges and got back to work starting from scratcp.
scratch. I
worked all day yesterday creating sounds and sequences. And around midnight the same thing happened. I connected the Syquest to my MAC and noticed the same
thing again
... double shit!
again...double

I have this super important school project due in 2 weeks
and really need the data.
Oh ya
... I also need to figure out what is happening with
ya...
my EPS corrupting my hard drive. Anyone have a spare
SCSI adaptor hanging around?
Any input would be appreciated.
Take care,
Kennedy
cosker@cruzio.com

[PF -- Kennedy: When Murphy lands on your porch,
/00 late to do anything but restore your
chances are it’s
it's too
first
disk. I know EPSm VERY well as a Mac user: the ﬁrst
thing I did was take a "snapshot"
“snapshot” of my drive using
scEPSi (an old shareware app from the Oakland Archives) so if I really munged it I’d
I'd be able to restore the
hardest work on building an Ensoniq Disk drive (the
directories, subdirectories,
subdirectories. macros, etc.}
...
etc. )...
But it sounds like one of the following scenarios
scellarios popped
up on you...
you ...

(A) Your 16+ had a brain fart. Withoul
gelling too techWithout getting
nical, il
ils own ﬁnger
finger and farted around
it simply pulled its
with the FAT.
(8)
gelling very ﬁtll
full and trying to
(B) Your disk drive was getting
prompl
file put il
save the ﬁle
it over the top before it could prompt
message.
you with a "diskfull"·
“disk ﬁdl"'message.
(C) You were approaching the limit of the 16+ sequence
memory (which il
it shares with sample memory) and there
was a "stack
collision" where the sequence edit buffer
“stack collision”
buﬂer
(remember the
Ihe 16+ keeps your old track in memory for
"YES---NO"
inlO sample
"YES---NO” audition purposes) overflowed
overﬂowed into
memory. I’ve
I've done this ALL 100
too many times and hosed
add. THAT's
THAT’s
my SCSI drive. Nonrecoverable, I might add.
why the "snapshot"
file on my Mac proves invaluable
...
“snapshot” ﬁle
invaluable...

(D) You started up and did all YOllr
your work from ﬂoppies,
floppies,
Ihen plugged in a SCSI drive and went to the "Change
then
“Change
Storage Device" screen, whereupon the 16+ didn'
didn’tI
SlOrage
detect a SCSI device at startup but the drive answered
delect
back when polled, crashing your 16+
...
16+...

WeiLl
Well...I really need these disks fixed. Especially the one
I worked on yesterday. I called Ensoniq and they told me
about some Ensoniq disk software from "Giebler
“Giebler Enterprises"
prises” in Pa. I gave them a call and it looks like Gary
actually fixes drive problems like this and might be able
to retrieve my data (finger doubly crossed!).
crossedl). I have it
packaged up and will send it off today.

(E) The combination of sunspots, cosmic rays, and El
Nino was just
went nonjusl too much for your 16+, and it weill
1I0nlinear
...
linear...

.. . Has anyone ever
Wheww (okay I will breath now!)
nowl)...
had SCSI problems on their EPS-16+ that caused hard
disk corruption? Looks like this is some sort of FAT corruption. Any success in retrieving your data?

Sorry Mr.
Mr. Murphy landed on your 16+,
16+ , but he does
times.
come unannounced and at the most inopportune limes.
I‘ll
it again, gang: save early, save often, but save,
I'll say il
save, save. Buy tWO
two identical drives
drives,, do your work on

Classifieds
hard-drive, lots of sounds $850. Korg M3r w/sound
card $250. Matt Savard, msavard@mwbi.org.

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE
HAR DWARE/SO FTWARE
EPS-Classic keyboard,
keyboard , 4x memory expander, SCSI,
8xOut expander, SyQuest 44 MB drive with 10
carts (with a few sounds/tunings)
sounds/tunings).. European 220
volts version!!! 8.500 Danish Kroner (appr. 1.250
USD),
USD). e-mail: delete@compuserve.com.
delete@compuserve.com, Jorgen
Teller, Copenhagen, Denmark.
FS: Oberheim OBMx Analog Synth. 2 vox. Mint
Condition.
$700
obo.
Contact:
Sean
at
sodonne@vm.temple.edu.
sodonne@vm.temp1e.edu.
MR Rack. Home use only, $600.
$600 . Contact Jonathan.
Daytime: 208-962-3271
208-962-3271,, Eve: 208- 983-2876.
For

Sale:

EPS-16+
EPS-l6+

Turbo,

13

gig

bag,

cover,

FREE CLASSIFIEDS!
Well -— within limits. We're
We’re offering free classified
advertising (up to 40 words) for your sampled
sounds or patches. Additional words, or ads for
other products or services, are $0.25/
$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
you’re
programs that you no longer have any use for, ads
for copies of copyrighted material will not be accepted. Sorry -- we can't
can’t (we won't!)
won’t!) take ad dictation over the phone!

~

one.
ASR-IO and have it
one, take them both to your buddy's
buddy’s ASR-10
copy the drive ("mirroring"
( "mirroring" is the on-the-fly
on-the-ﬂy term). Or
use a computer app to take
Illke a picture ((“snapshot”)
"snapshot") of
purposes ...
your drive/or
drive for archival purposes...

... J
Because Mr. Murphy lVili
will return. And unannounced
unannounced...]

Help!
My VFXlsd is sick. II
It won't
won’t boot up anymore. All I get
is an error message "system
“system error 144,
I44, reinitialize, press
any key to continue" when I power up. Anyone familiar
with this problem? Anyone with inexpensive solutions? I
have no idea where to start looking for the problem. Any
suggestions or support would be greatly appreciated.

different block size (the smaller ones use
Maybe it is the diﬂerent
512 bytes/sector, the big ones 2048 bytes/sector).J
bytes/sector).]

THTH—
My trusty TS-12 has started acting temperamental. I am
using the latest OS. My problem is this: At irregular intervals I will get a System Error 130
tetvals
I30 or Error 129 when I
am trying to load a sequence file from the ﬂoppy.
floppy. It happens with different disks, and different sequences. I can
get it to repeat the phenomenon if I try to reload the
same file again which gave me the error. It then takes me
a little while (hitting several different button combinations, including the suggested reboot keys from the
manual) to reinitialize. Does my ﬂoppy
floppy have a bad
"“read”
read" spot on it somewhere? Is there a remedy for this?
I have learned to make back-ups continuously, but it
really gets annoying.
R.Friedman
Docrogerf@aol.com

Duane Hamilton
hamild@hotmail.com

els{!
ere's no mention of other equipment in
else via MIDI? Th
There's

your posting, so I would assume (here I go assuming
again) that something is sending MIDI data 10
to your
...
VFXsdfasrer
VFXsdfaster than it can process ir
it (at least on bool)
boot)...
there's nothing else your setup but the lone VFXsd,
If there’s
reinitialize the unit as follows:
follows:
I. Press and hold (PRESETS) bUllon.
button.
2. Press Soft
Soﬁ bullon
button (1) (upper left corner of screen),
retease
release both bullons.
buttons.
; Erase All Memory And Re-Initialize.
3. Display =
YES*.
4. Select **YES*.
5. Display returns to silln
sign on message. All RAM is erased
and all internal programs reset with ROM sounds.
6. Reload Sequencer Operating System and internal
sounds from your Operating System Disk.
Pasted from Ensoniq’s
Ensoniq's web page at wlVw.en(Cut & Posted
www.ensoniq.com)
There's
There’s another initialization procedure that involves
turning the unit on and off seven times in rapid succession,
I've forgotten
forgollen the details. I'd call Ensoniq at
sion. but I’ve
610.647.3930 for the skinny on that procedure if the
above doesn't
doesn’t clear it out.
And it’s
it's possible there's a hardlVare
hardware problem here if
your VFXsd 1V0n'
won’tt initialize. Are any of the bullons
buttons stuck
down? Mine is so old the metal escutcheon has shifted
shiﬁed
and some bullons
buttons will stick occasionally. If all else fails,
take your pet 10
to an Authorized Ensoniq Service Station,
... J
as they have the schematics to it
it...]

[PF -— R. Friedman: You, sir, have answered your own
question. Error 129 is a bad dora
data error, either caused by
a defective disk sector, an OS anomaly, defective
sound/sequence information, even a bad disk drive can
cause this. Most problems of this nature are indeed
defective disk media, although the disk drive can sometimes cause this if the heads are dirty...
dirty ...
You're doing the absolllle
absolute right thing by repeatedly
trying 10
file until it does load, then saving it to
to load the ﬁle
a fresh ﬂoppy.
floppy. I'd recommend a disk cleaning kit from a
nearby computer store, as this sounds way too intermittent to be a genuine and provable disk drive failure.
Purchase the best ﬂoppies
floppies you can ﬁnd:
find: 1.4 Mb ﬂoppies
floppies
are SOOOO cheap now (most stores sell them in
100-count
I00-count boxes for $19,95
$19.95 and then give you a rebate
coupon for $19.95, so they're
free) . Spend a
they’re essentially free).
coupla bucks and buy Maxell: the black 1.4 Mb ﬂoppies
floppies
are very sexy as they have a black shuller
shutter as well.
Floppies are a strange media in this day and age, as
they've become 100
too small for holding the vast amounts of
data computers require (count the 39 ﬂoppies
floppies in the
I'm kidding), very
Microsoft Office Package if you think I’m
few will format out with no bad sectors (an Ensoniq REQUIREMENT as well as an older Apple requirement),
yet they're
they’re 100
too convenient and implanted in our society
10
to make any other alternative feasible. Contrary to
popular belief, they have a shelf live of maybe a year
(retentivity)
you're lucky and box them away from ex(retentivity) if you’re
terior influences.
inﬂuences. Yet something as important as our own
personal (and unrepeatable) work deserves the most
reliable medium you can give it, so feed your TS the
Beluga caviar. It's worth every penny...]
penny ... ]

Hi,
I was trying to set up a Fujitsu M2513 MO drive
(640MB) with my ASR-IO.
ASR-I0. During formatting I always
get a file operation error. Does anybody know if there is
a working setup or is this drive just not compatible?

Call For Writers!

I

THTH—
Can someone tell me the wiring for the sustain pedal on
ESQ-l? Is it simply an open circuit, that when
my ESQ-1?
closed with a momentary switch, causes sustain? I need
to make a pedal, but don
' t know the wiring.
don’t
Thanks,
Tim
kg8rj@ramlink.net
kg8rj@ram link.net

[PF -— Tim: It’s
It's a normally open momentary switch
... J
switch...]

[PF -— Duane: Sounds like your VFXsd is telling you
IVhat's
what's wrong with itself.
itselfI Error 144 is a MIDI buffer
buﬂer
overflolV
overflow :...'— are you connecting the VFXsd to something

In spite of their current god-like status,
writers for the Hacker were once mere
I mortals --- just like you! If you're
you’re
noodling around with Ensoniq gear,
you too can join their elite ranks.
We're
We’re always looking for new writers,
and yes, there is actual payment
involved.
involived. If you're
you’re toying with an idea
for an article, how about glvmg
giving
Editrix Jane a call at 1-503-227-6848
I-503-227-6848
and listening to her soothing words of
5 encouragement?

[PF -— UIi:
Uli: Thanx for the heads up on this. Glad you got
... ]
it squared away
away...]

Thanks a lot!
Uli
ulit@eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de
ulit@eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de

l
4

I
i
A

[PF -- UIi:
Uli: MO drives haven't
haven’t been tested with the ASR,
and it's
it’s been my experience that they aren't compatible
with any of the Ensoniq loopboxes. All the latest removable media devices return that "File
“File Operation Error,"
at least with the drives and gear I’ve
I've been using. You
might ping RCS at hllp://wlVwsoundcentral.com/-chickhttp://www.soundcentral.com/~chickenepsl:
.. J
eneps/: they're
they’re pretty up-to-date on this stu!f.
stuj§‘...]
[Ulrich Tuerk (ulit@eikon.e-technik.tu·muenchen.de)
(ulit@eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de) -—
Hi. I found out that the 128
I28 and 230 MB media work
Fuji/su drive. At ﬁrst,
first, I tried to use a
perfectly with the Fujitsu
640MB media which caused the file operation errors.

14

THTI-IPeter Heim had trouble (last month's
month’s Interface) getting
an ASR-IO
ASR-10 to pan a sound from full left to full right
using a sine-wave LFO as a modulator. It sounds to me
that he simply selected POS/SIN as the LFO wave instead of SINW
AVE. POS/SIN is a sinewave that is
SINWAVE.
positive-going only, while SINWAVE goes equally positive and negative. If you used POSISIN
POS/SIN as a pan modulator, you will get exact
ly what Peter describes -- the
exactly
left) .
panning only goes from center to full right (or full left).
Sam Mims, Syntaur Productions
syntaur@juno
.com
syntaur@juno.com

[Peter C Heim (pch7@interport.net)
(pch7@interport.net) -- Nope. It was full
sine wave. Some samples seem to pan better starting
ji-om hard left or right, others don't.
figure.]
from
don’t. Go ﬁgure.]

Gang: This just in on the SCSI bus...
bus ...
Iomega stumbles on ZipP!us
ZipPlus compatibility By David
Morgenstern (david_morgenstern@macweek.com)
Morgenstem
(david_morgenstem@macweek.com)

Iomega Corp. of Roy, Utah, today warned users of compatibility problems with its ZipPlus drives that can lead
to data corruption when the drive is used with other
SCSI devices or third-party cables.
The company said the problem is due to the $199 drive's
drive’s
proprietary AutoDetect circuitry, which supports parallel
or SCSI connections from a single 25-pin connector.
Iomega said the drive should be used only with the
AutoDetect cable that ships with it and not with other
cables or adapters. The drive should be the sole external
device on a SCSI chain and not connected with other
SCSI drives.
Users can request a new manual at (888) 446-6342 or the
company's
http: //www.iomega.com.
company’s Web site at http://www.iomega.com.
Pat Finnigan

7

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15

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I Finnigan, Jeffrey Fisher, Frank Fortunato,
Fortunate, Duane Frybarger, Garth Hjelte, Jeff
Jetton, Dara Jones, Johnny Klonaris, Ray Legnini, Bob Lang, Sam Mims, Eric
I Montgomery, Dan Rohde, J. D. Ryan, Tom Shear, Kirk Slinkard, Jack Tolin, Tom
l Tracy, Joe Travo, Steve Vincent and Garry Wasyliw.
Copyright 1998, Transoniq
Transoniq Hacker, 1402 SW Upland Drive, Portland, OR
97221.. Phone: (503) 227-6848 (8 am to 9 pm Pacific West Coast Time).
‘\97221

Rubber Chicken Software Co.
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Release the full capability of your ASR-X - e~jt~L
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Transoniq Hacker is the independent user's news magazine for Ensoniq
products. Transoniq
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
necessarily reflect those of the publisher or Ensoniq Corp. Printed in the
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Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue #156 th_156 Ensoniq Corporation - Transoniq Hacker Archive - Issue #156

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