Ensoniq ESQ-1 demonstration

[DatNiggaNateMusic]

1:01 that makes want to go pick up the one i saw!

[renandstimpyfanlol]

i need to get an sq80. love those rezzy square basses. feels like the esq and sq are about to start getting pricy.

[lesingemonotone]

@renandstimpyfanlol Yes, it's the best kept "secret" digital-analogue hybrid. ;)

[lvrsnvy]

just subbed

[lvrsnvy]

how did u get that snare !!! it sounds tight

[loren108]

awesome demo, reminds me of early human league

[hrresonance]

Thanks for sharing the demo. Amazing patience and creativity in the patches.

I am a proud owner of a first generation ESQ-1 metal case. Would never part with it!

I just released an ambient cd Alpha Wave Movement "Soniq Variants" composed for the most part i.e. 75% on a VFX-SD and ESQ-1. I wanted to showcase the machine as an deep atmospheric ambient compositional tool.

[Wedge72696]

Very very nice. I think this synth is VERY difficult to program. There's just A LOT of things going on. I always end up going back to my Juno's but this here is a nice bit of inspiration.

[sclogse1]

@Wedge72696

I disagree that this synth was difficult to program. It was my very first keyboard, so there was no relativity to anything else. At one point I created an awesome and subtle Pat Martino guitar sound, that blew away every other guitar sample I've ever heard. Is till have my Ensoniq, with a new battery, and it's a very early model...it's all metal.

[pHr33kAcHu]

Awesome sounds, dude!

[dfuzz1114]

paid $50 for mine

[petitemoineau]

I had one once, I really liked it and miss it now. I love your programs by the way.

[VacTrooper]

These aren't presets, are they? o.O

[lesingemonotone]

@VacTrooper: No, that's right. :)

[VacTrooper]

@lesingemonotone Wait, haha, I'm confused. They ARE presets?

[dafluke]

@lesingemonotone are there cartridges for this synth that are worth having? or is it better to just make your own sounds if you know how to program them?

[lesingemonotone]

@dafluke No, it's better programming your own and more fun too. The ESQ-1 is really easy to program as well.

[mrbigmouth502]

This looks like a sweet synth. Where can I get one of these?

[Booger6995]

@mrbigmouth502 EBAY or Craigslist. Just found one of these on CL for $160 in great shape. What a beast of a machine. The filters are very sweet. Very versatile instrument.

[jem2017]

Hearing these sounds makes me nostalgic for the music of my home century, the twenty-fifth.

[sorcerio]

How does the keyboard feel during playing? Any complaints in that area?

[Booger6995]

@sorcerio Being an aspiring keyboard player (just learning) I find that the keys respond very well especially to soft touches. Kind of surprised me a bit. I was used to old Radio Shack casio knockoff. The ESQ 1 is a great machine.

[skylerfeathersworth]

Thank you thank you thank you for this awsome demo!!

[duranfelipe]

Excellent demo of a such a great synth. The ESQ1 and the SQ80 have such unique sonic personalities. Ensoniq hit the bullseye with both.

[johnfranks]

that sounds incredible! i picked up one a few years back but it has a problem (no output) so its just been sitting collecting dust. im gonna have to break out the probe and have a poke around! thanx for the inspiration! cheers!

-jc

[The33PianoGirl]

How do you record music on this ensoniq i just bought one and dnt know how to record Please HELp

[wado1942]

@The33PianoGirl

Plug the audio output into a tape recorder or line input on a computer (better yet, plug it into a guitar amp and run a mic to computer) and use Audacity or Krystal.

[The33PianoGirl]

 Thanks wado1942

[Booger6995]

If anyone wants to see one of these in action check. YT--MIK300Z channel. He uses his ESQ1 for his brass patches for his Vangelis covers. Really sound sweet.

[Guakingo]

I like the piano sound at the start! A pity you browse through the sounds so fast

[prinznevsky]

what is your OS? I'm contemplating buying a 2.3 model, but I was wondering if I need to upgrade to 3.5 since I'm not going to be using too many MIDI/Sequencer functions. Just the sound programming alone seems like it will keep me busy!

[krut917]

I'm having a bit of trouble with the sequencer on mine. i tried following the steps on the pdf manual, and it doesn't appear to be recording anything, i don't hear the metronome, nothing. i'm sure it's something really minor that has escaped me. anyone have any words of wisdom?

[djrowlee]

Can you give me some advice on looking for the best Synth around $400?

[ChrisSousa9]

@djrowlee your looking at it

[Apple2gs]

Found an Ensoniq ESQ-1a few weeks ago (the original heavy one) in *perfection* condition for a mere $30. I mostly grabbed it out of curiosity because it uses the very same Ensoniq 5503 chip used in my favorite old computer, the Apple IIGS. :)

I just reseated all the socketed chips this afternoon and that cleared up all its instabilities! Also found an SQX-10 cartridge inside, hmm.

Using it as a slave MIDI keyboard for my Roland SC-55MKII, but the ESQ-1 built-in synth has me fascinated!

[lesingemonotone]

Good find!

Ditch your SC-55MKII - you're better off without it! ;)

/Le Singe Monotone

[Gulielmi87]

@Apple2gs

30 bucks? unreal! :) nice find

[cubanzombie]

quick question, is this a recommended synth?

next to a roland juno 60?

[treennumbers]

@cubanzombie I'd recommend it or the SQ-80 (Same synth, more features, oddly cheaper?), but it's so cheap you can probably afford to get one along with a Juno 106 and sequence them both from the ESQ!

[kekenalii]

real good patches!

[lesingemonotone]

Thank you. :)

/Le Singe Monotone

[musicajuro]

wow, you have seriously mastered this instrument. Do you want to share some patches?

[oregonbobv]

I have my ESQ-1 midi with the Yamaha TX817z module. What a great sound. The ESQ1 has excellent anolog strings and a great choir sound.

[PeterMayer]

I still have mine but it needs a battery.

[douro20]

I might want to try to see if I can produce some of these sounds on my Korg DW-8000 once I get it working better.

[Output9]

Great demo

[DriftAnime]

Am i correct in hearing Cars by Fear Factory early on in this? At least the melody of the song. Nice vid, i want one of these. Just got into producing and this keyboard sounds amazing.

0:56 is where i heard cars.

[lesingemonotone]

Well, you're correct that it is endeed "Cars"-baseline by Gary Numan who did the original. :)

[NiallTheCure]

the fear factory one is a cover of the gary numan song

[professorKmusic]

hey man this is great can you help me find some patches? send me a msg

[lefty2510]

I have a broken one of these lying around, I would love to hear it if it got repaired!

[darksideofdarkness]

Hey great demo, you honoured the SD1 community!

I have an SD1 myself but the previous version, the one with less voices... Most (or almost all) sounds are unfamiliar for me... were they programmed by you? do u know if both versions are compatible (yours will sound thicker, of course).

Is there a chance to get them?

[lesingemonotone]

This is an Ensoniq ESQ-1 from 1986, not the later samplebased SD-1 that came out in the 90ies sometime.

There's a huge differance but thanks for the kind words.

/Le Singe Monotone

[Kurukusu]

Imba..jag är kär i din ESQ-1a

[lesingemonotone]

haha...jag måste använda den mer...:)

[ChrisSousa9]

Great video, a demonstration. How do I get those sounds for my ESQ-1?

[joejoek90]

Excellent demo! Love the sounds, any chance of finding those patches about?

[buntymag]

awesome. are those patches based on additional samples, or are they all based around the stuff that's already present?

[brwest16]

hey you have renewed my interest in mine!!! I was wondering do you have the cartridge install or are all your patches on the internal memory? Also, can you tell me where I can get some of those badass patches???

[BigBendFishing]

I believe it did. I can't remember for sure wether or not I had up another page any of the few takes it took me to record it. I'll try that next time I load it up though and see if it makes any difference.

[lesingemonotone]

Also enable the metronome-clicks to ensure that the sequencer-data is quantized properly.

[lesingemonotone]

"ensure" - I mean make sure that the recorded data sits properly against the metronome. :)

[BigBendFishing]

So I got my ESQ-1 and I love it, but I have a question - anyone else have a sequencer not hold a steady tempo? My bettery was bad when I bought and I'm waiting on replacement in the mail. I'm not using mod or any filters - I know that causes timing problems. Would the bad battery cause this, or any other suggestions?? It's getting faster and slower 'randomly' by about 2 bpm each way if I let it play.

[lesingemonotone]

That's strange - does this occur even if you do not display the bpm page?

[GibbyHaynes]

killer patches, sir!

you clearly know how to use your esq to its full potential

respek

[Minimoogman]

Amazing synth!

[NuMaNSound]

I really like your patches, can you send me sysex file or a patch sheet? I repeat what I think of esq1: underrated but extremously power , flexible machine...the addsr envelopes and routing possibilities plus cem3379 signal processor are formidable...

[BigBendFishing]

wow I just posted to teanegro's ESQ-1 demo saying it's one of the best synth demos I've seen showing the wide range of capabilities. And here you go greatly expanding on that showing what you can do with it once you learn more advanced stuff. Then again, maybe it's just that the ESQ-1 is amazing...no...I think it's you guys. Now I'm even more excited about my pending ESQ-1 purchase. Big kudos on a great demo. I'll be back to harrass you for lessons!

[lesingemonotone]

Thank you!

Glad to encourge someone into buying a great piece of gear.

/kroffe a k a Le Singe Monotone

[dreamomatic]

Man, you're fast with the sequencer! Nice!

[joelrgoodman]

Is there any way I can get some of those sounds to come out of my SQ-80? I really like those moogy sounds!

[lesingemonotone]

Sent you a private message. ;)

[helicoptered]

That sounds nice :)

[mnc74]

I would love to get my hands on some of your patches, they sound very good.

[lesingemonotone]

I sent you a private message with a link. ;)

/Le Singe Monotone

[Chairenstain]

Great patches and playing, a truly wonderful instrument. I just purchased a SQ-80 and I think it's quite grand. Just wondering... Did you modify your LCD?

[lesingemonotone]

No, I didn't know that it was possible? What is it good for?

[Chairenstain]

The screen on it is a vacuum tubed LCD and isn't as reliable as normal LCDs of today. They sell the modern replacements on eBay I think. I just thought you had one because your's looks extra bright.

[TheRealAngstroem]

Nope, it's no LCD, it's a VFD (vacuum fluorescence display) -- the same technology which is commonly used for displays of DVD and CD players, VCRs, etc.

Technically speaking it's a tube -- and overall it's quite reliable and readable unless you don't shatter it, although frequent/steady use will wear it out over years (as in decades).

[AlainHubert]

Great demo. I still have and use my SQ80 (basically an ESQ-1 with a disk drive and polyphonic aftertouch keys) from 1988 and love the user-friendly interface. Are those sounds that you've created, or are they part of a set?

[lesingemonotone]

Thank you. :)

No, most of the sounds are patches I've created on my own.

/Le Singe Monotone

[Synthomania]

Is this synth capable of sampling? (Like lo-fi sampling) Or is it just a digital synth?

[lesingemonotone]

It's a digital/analogue hybrid. It got DCO with sampled wavetables and analogue curtis-filters. You cannot sample anything into it, but as a synthesizer it's one of the few 80ies synth to feauture multitimbrality.

/Le Singe Monotone

[Synthomania]

Ah, thats what i thought, but wasnt sure. Had to ask! Anyway, thanx for the answre! :D

[luxvolcon]

That has to be the best demo of the lot! ESQ-1 Rocks!

[grinick]

wow great sound, thanks for throwing up such a quick complete demo

[Ianisa]

I'm thinking of getting one of these. Is it true there's no headphone jack?

[lesingemonotone]

Unfortunatly yes...

[NuMaNSound]

It's the minor problem! Check the battery voltage before buy of them, because you need to disassebly (in metal version) all the keyboard and motherboard.

[dobler51]

Yo,une vraie tuerie!!

Great video man,much props!!

[ketaminebean]

cevin key uses one of these and they sound so 80s, love it

[Aviolys]

Intesresting video, good job!! Nice sound! :)

[unetunfontdeux]

Awesome video man. Now you just need to turn all that into video tutorials for those of us who want to learn how to do it :P I have a ESQ1 sitting on the floor next to me, hooked up to my computer via a mixer, but I've only just started to play with it. I barely know anything about hardware synths. Also, is there a way to use this board as a midi controller for a program like Fruity Loops? If so how? Thanks! Also how do you fake the arpeggiators with this synth?

[gardnerbm]

Sounds like a great synth for ambient music. I may pick one up one day, hopefully its easy to program

[totaltwit]

Nice one, good job.

[alphawav2]

Kudos to you for showing some of the potential of this GREAT American synth. To this day I am an avid user of the ESQ-1/SQ-80 next to the Korg Triton, Virus its still has a very flexible sounds and much more warmer than any(I own the before mentioned synths).Great for ambient-techno-prog rock. Filters make a world of difference and you just dont get that sound out of a Korg MS2000.If you want to hear music w this synth check out my music Alpha Wave Movement/Thought Guild. Nice job on video!

[doctormoosey]

how do you get that muffling effect with the wheel? its so cool and i wants it.

[lesingemonotone]

You can assign the wheel to a lot of parameters - just choose "wheel" as your mod source in for example the filter-section and voila! - you can sweep your cutoff-frequencey with it. :)

/Le Singe Monotone

[davedagreat69]

After watching this Vid I decided to learn how to use my ESQ1's seq. Turns out it's easy, so I'm making it the centre of a small composition setup in my lounge. Seperate from my main setup. Trouble is I'll have to save sequences to tape!!! Oh for the SQ-80 I really wanted but cannot find (or afford at the moment) Great Vid!!!

[lesingemonotone]

I often use the ESQ-1 sequencer as a scetchpad for short-sequences that I then midi-record onto the computer.

/Le Singe Monotone

[mnc74]

You can save the sequences to your computer via MIDI -- just save it as sysex data. You can also save them to the disk drive of an Ensoniq Mirage, should you get one.

[Kinor7]

Tack, Kroffe! Gött med ett ordentligt ljuddemo. Är alla ljud du spelar egna eller är det patchar?

[lesingemonotone]

Nästan bara egna, tror att det eventuellt slinkt med nåt preset. ;)

/kroffe

[link0587]

Bring Ensoniq Back!!!!

[biscokid1986]

nice keyboard, nice playing!!

[jamesbooty]

Another great ENSONIQ synth, but as was typical for the time, it could never seem to step out of KORG's shadow. The ESQ-1 could still be a very useful synth today. I have an SD-1 and MR-61, but neither of them would be as useful for modern pop/techno as this board.

[Andronicus2007]

Beautiful sounds dude! Looks like the ESQ-1 is a very underrated machine. Filters sound phat!

[lesingemonotone]

Thanks. Yes, the ESQ-1 is endeed a very underrated machine.

/Le Singe Monotone

[AY3EIGHTYNINE10]

The ESQ-1 is absolutely KILLER!!!!!!

I ended up "settling" for a Mirage.

[ZerosumInertia]

Great Demo!

[teanegro]

i <3 ensoniq esq-1. use it with ensoniq dp/4 and you've got the killer!

[totaltwit]

hmm.. good to see someone using the sequencer. I've known of its existance but always found it confusing, maybe I'm just dumb! Also how different your ESQ1 sounds to mine, OK so we have different voice programs.

[mediaboyz]

I used to have this keyboard, with a Roland MT-32, hooked up via MIDI to my Apple ][e for sequencing =)

[leglaude69]

Excellents sons, comme toujours chez Ensoniq.

Quel dommage que cette marque n'ai pas résistée face aux concurrents japonais...

[synth64]

good

[cub005]

really nice demo .

[Neworderx2v3]

Hey! i've had my ESQ for over 6 years and im still having trouble learning how to work any kind of synth, How do you get Contiunious throbbing sound by pushing one note?

[OriginalJambo]

LFOs.

[OriginalJambo]

LFOs.

[fuzzydeer]

3 of 'em!

[Taeohdad]

I wanna know this too. It sounds like an arpeggiator

[Saddox]

Cool! Very nice presentation of what the ESQ-1/SQ-80 can do!