Ensoniq Corporation Transoniq Hacker Archive Issue

noniq

ASR-10: The First Stereo Sample

Hacker

The Independent News

Magazine for Ensoniq Users

I n t hi s i s su e

Articles:

"...if there were any argument for mono,

we could get rid of half the speakers in

our l i ves !"

— D av e S mi t h

Dave Smith, founder of Sequential Cir
cuits and designer of the Prophet line of

samplers and synthesizers hit the nail on

the head. We are a two-eared race of

music lovers, and the latest bit of good

news in our lives is the Ensoniq ASR-10.

By now, most people have heard about

the ASR's sleek good looks, its solid

metal casing and powerhouse digital ef

fects, but the big news is that this instru

ment actually samples in stereo. Being a
bit of a cynic, my first job in checking

out this new instrument was to do a quick

and dirty stereo sampling job. My second

job was to report my findings in these

pages.

Knowing a good thing when they have it,
Ensoniq made few changes from the EPS

to the ASR in the actual steps one goes

through to sample (or do just about any

thing). What this means is that if you've

ever sampled with the EPS or 16+, you
can jump into this machine and almost

immediately get some great results. The

first d i ffer en c e is t h a t t h e A S R h as two

inputs (of course). The big news is that
these inputs can go through the digital ef

f e c t s o f t he A S R b ef o re t h e s o u n d i s

sampled. What this means is that a mono

sound can go through a stereo effect and

the whole thing can be sampled in stereo.

Barry Carson

creating a stereo sample. A true stereo
sound can also go through the stereo ef

fects to create even a bigger stereo sound.
To make this all even more outrageous, a

stereo sound can be sampled going
through a stereo effect, the resulting

stereo sample can then be played back
through another stereo effect. Powerful

stuff, eh?

On the simpler side, mono or stereo
sounds can be sampled dry. I considered

this a bit of an acid test. I knew a huge

stereo sample of an enormous choir

bathed in massive stereo reverb would

sound great. What about a dry simple
stereo sample of a plucked instrument,

wo ul d it make a differenc e?

For this test I used an Appalachian Dul

cimer played into two microphones. I

placed these microphones one on each

si de of t he d ulc imer, nea r the s ound

holes. I kept the mics as close as possible
to minimize sampling the ambience of the

room (after all that is what those amazing
effects are for). Sampling is just like on

the EPS except the ASR counts off the
time of your sample for you. When a

stereo sample is completed, it is deposited
in two layers for you (layers 1 & 2 for ex

ample), one being the right channel, the

other being the le ft. These layers are
linked together so they can be edited as a

pair. In other words, when you adjust the
filter settings for layer 1, you adjust the

filter settings for layer 2 at the same time.

A powerful feature is the option of turn-

ASR-10: The First Stereo Sample

B a r r y C a r s o n c o v e r

A Cure F or Mu lt it ra ck Tra ns fe r Tr au ma

R o b b y B e r m a n 5

Programming the DP/4

D e n n i e E d w a r d s 9

Waveform Mutilation for SQs & KSs

J a c k S t e p h e n T o l i n 1 3

An SQ-R Primer for ESQ-l/SQ-80 Owners

Part m

Brian Rost 18

Keyboard Scrabble — ESQs & SQ-80s
W a l t e r C o o p e r 2 0

EPS & ASR Percussion Tips

T o m S h e a r 2 1

Reviews:

Basement Tapes: Jim Newton

Daniel Mandel 4

Syntaur Samples for EPSs & ASRs
A n t h o n y F e r r a r a 7

Ensoniq's ESS-13 & 15 for EPSs & ASRs
Pat Finnigan 15

Regular Stuff:

R a n d o m N o t e s 3

C u r r e n t O . S 3
H a r d D r i v e s L i s t 2

Ensoniq's Customer Service Q c& A

D e n n i e E d w a r d s 8

C l a s s i fi e d s 2 3

Hackerpatches
S a m M i m s & J e f f r e y R h o a d s 2 4

The Interface 26

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

ISSUE NUMBER 91, $2.50 JANUARY, 1993

ing the stereo link off for editing. This would let you get in and
edit each half of the stereo sample independently.

Tested and Approved Hard Drives for the EPSs

These stereo samples can be mapped across the keyboard or

stacked just like mono samples in the EPS.

The results of this session were really amazing. Playing back

the samples and switching my amp from stereo to mono made it

plainly clear that stereo sampling is an incredibly powerful tool

in the accurate reproduction of acoustic instrument sounds.
Trying to articulate the subtle differences between the sound of

a stereo sample and that of a mono sample taxes my limited

vocabulary. Words like vibrant and alive pop into my mind but
they really can't express what I'm hearing. My suggestion, get

your hands on an ASR 10 and do some stereo sampling. When

you think of the words that can describe what it sounds like, let

me know. ■■

Bio.: Barry Carson started sampling

years ago in the early days of the
Mirage. He has also sampled for the

EPS, EPS-16+, Prophet and Roland

samplers. When he puts his mind to it, he

c an e v e n r e m em b e r h ow t o c o u n t i n

hexadecimal.

The drives listed below are known to be compatible with the EPS and

EPS-16 PLUS at the time of testing. Changes in firmware or hardware by

drive manufacturers may make later versions incompatible (with the ex
ception of PS Systems, Eltskon, and Frontera whose drives are con

figured to work specificaiiy with Ensoniq products). Drives not included on

this list may also work just fine. For up-to-date information about specific

drives call Ensoniq Customer Service: 215-647-3930.

MANUFACTURER MODEL

O y n a t e k A l l M o d e l s

Frontera All Models

P S S y s t e m s A l l M o d e l s

Eltekon All Models

Rodlme 45plus, 60plus, lOOplus, 140plus

Microtech R45. N20, N40, N80, N100, N150
PL1 45 Meg Removable

M a s s M i c r o D a t a p a c k 4 5

Drives Reported to Work by Readers

The following drives have been reported to work satisfactorily with

reader's EPS systems. No guarantees — but they'll probab/y work with
yours. Try to try before you buy.

Jasmine Direct Drive 100 Quantum 100M, 21OM
PowerDrlve44 Seagate 80M
Syquest 555 (removable) Tech Data Model 60e

UNAUTHORIZED BREAK-IN

New WAVeBOY disk exposes direct audio input to EPS-16 PLUS Effects

Send any signal through the EPS effects processor, with the new

WAVeBOY Audio-In Effects Disk. Guitar, mic, or line level

audio. Works with all 13 factory algorithms. Disk also includes

Plate Reverb, Non-linear Reverb, and 3-voice Pitch-shifter that

can process external audio and internal sounds. Just $39.95

Also available, the amazing WAVeBOY Parallel Effects Disk.

Four different effects at once. Also only $39.95.

"A Genius-at-work kind of product... I can't imagine any

EPS-16 PLUS owner who wouldn't want to have this disk..."

-Craig Anderton, TH review, April, '92

Order now! Overseas add $6. PA Residents Add 6% sales tax.

Mastercard or Visa accepted. To order call [phone].

Or send cashier check or money order to:

WAVeBOY, P.O.Box 233, Paoli, PA 19301

W A V fi R n Y

INDUSTRI FS

2

Front Ponol

RND

H a c k e r N e w s

Things get awfully quiet this time of year. Happy belated holidays!
(This is being written in mid-December — we always forget to men

tion it in mid-November.)

Last month Clark told an Interfacer that he'd put together a VFX
wind patch for him. Well, due to interplanetary commitments of a na

ture way too complicated to go into here, Clark didn't quite make it.
However, we did recall (finally) that Jim Grote wrote an excellent ar

ticle on creating wind patches for the VFX in Issue #76 (still avail

able). It even included a bassoon patch. Check it out.

Jack Tolin tells us that the patch included in his Waveform Mutila

tion article in Issue #89 should have a Voice 3 Wave Direction of

Backward ( instead of For ward).

Also, the makers of Disk Wizard (reviewed in Issue #89) have moved
to: Lot 169, Stevens St., Munclaring, Western Australia 6073.

TRANSONIQ-NET

HELP WITH QUESTIONS

All of the individuals listed bel ow are vo lun tee rs\ Ple ase tak e that

into consideration when calling. If you get a recording and leave a

message, let 'em know if it's okay to call back collect (this will
greatly increase your chances of getting a return call).

All Ensoniq Gear - Ensoniq Customer Service. 9:30 am to noon, 1:15

pm to 6:30 pm EST Monday to Friday. 215-647-3930.

All Ensoniq Gear - Electric Factory (Ensoniq's Australia distributor).

Business hours - Victoria. [phone].

SD-1 Questions - Philip Magnotta, 401-467-4357,4 - 10 pm EST.

VFX Sound Programming Questions - Dara Jones, Compuserve;

71055,1113 or Midi-net and Fido-net. The local BBS is the Nightfly in

DaUas: 214-342-2286.

Sampling & Moving Samples - Jack Loesch, [phone]. Eastem

Time (N.J.). Call after 6:00 pm.

MIDI Users - Eric Baragar, Canadian MIDI Users Group, (613) 392­6296 during business hours, Eastem Time (Toronto, ONT) or call

MIDILINE BBS at [phone] 24 hours.

Mirage Sampling - Mark Wyar, [phone]. Eastem time zone
(OH). Calls between 6 pm and 11 pm.

SD- 1, sou nd pro gr a mmin g, seq ue n cin g, & M I D I - Eric O l sen ,

Pegasus Sounds, [phone]. Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri: 4 pm to 9:30
pm Eastem Time. Sat: 12 to 10 pm. {No calls on Wednesday please!)

SQ-1 Questions - Pat Finnigan, 317-462-8446. 8:00 am to 10:00 pm

EST.

ESQ-1, MIDI & Computers - Joe Slater, [phone]. Eastem time

zone.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Please let us know at least four weeks in advance to avoid missing

any issues. The Post Office reaily wiii NOTreiiabiy forward this
type of mail. (Believe us, not themi) We need to know both your

oid and your new address, (issues missed due to iate or no
change notification are your own dumb fauit-we maiied them!)

Current Ensoniq O.S. (Disk/EPROM)

EPS
EPS-M
EPS-16 PLUS 1.3/1 .OOF S Q -R P L U S
MASOS
MIRAGE 3.2 SQ-2 32
ESQ
ESQ-M 1.2 SD-1 32

SQ-80 1.8

VFX 2.30 KS-32
VFX-SD 2.1/2.00 ASR-10

SQ-1
SQ-1 32 2.03 KMX-16

SQ-1 PLUS 1.1

2.49/2.40 SQ-R 1.02

2.49/2.41 SQ-R 32 2.03

1.15

2.0 SQ-2 1.2

2.03

3.5 SD-1 4.10/4.10

4.10/4.10

DP/4 1.11

3.00

1.05/1.00

1.11 KMX-8 2.00

1.50

SD-1 Questions - John Cox, 609-888-5519, (NJ) 6 - 8 pm EST.

SQ-80 Questions - Robert Romano, 607-533-7878. Any ol' time.

Hard Drives & Drive Systems, Studios, & Computers - Rob Feiner,
Cinetunes. 914-963-5818.11 am - 3 pm EST. Compuserve: 71024,1255.

EPS, E PS-16 PL US, & ASR-1 0 Questi on s - Garth H jelte . Rubber
Ch ic ken S oftwa re . P ac ifi c Ti me (W A) . C al l a ny ti me. I f m es sa ge,

24-hour caUback. [phone].

ESQ-1 AND SQ-80 Questions - Tom McCaffrey. ESQUPA. 215­830-0241, before 11 pm Eastem Time.

ESQ-1 Questions - Jim Johnson, [phone]. 8 am to 5 pm Pacific

Time ( OR).

EPS/MIRAGE/ESQ/SQ-80 M.U.G. 24-Hour Hotline - 212-465-

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

B A C K I S S U E S

Back issues are $2.00 each. (Overseas: $3 each.) Issues 1- 30, 35 - 38,

67-72, and 83 are no longer available. Subscriptions will be extended
an equal number of issues for any issues ordered that are not available at

the time we receive your order. ESQ-1 coverage started with Issue
Number 13. SQ-80 coverage started with Number 29, (although most

ESQ-1 coverage also applies to the SQ-80). EPS coverage got going
with Number 35 (and also applies to the ASR-10). VFX coverage

(which also applies to the SDs) got started in Number 48. The SQs got
going in Number 63. (SQ articles also apply to the KS-32.) DP/4 cover

age started in #88 (much of which also applies to the ASR-10). Permis
sion has been given to photocopy issues that we no longer have

available — check the classifieds for people offering them. A free back

issue in de x is avai lab le wh ic h cont ains t he ta bl es of conte nt fo r all is

sues sinc e Num ber 4 3.

3

HACKER BASEMENT TAPES

Peeling Back the Layers

Tape: "boen marg" (the left handed path).

Ar tist : Ji m Ne wt on .

Contact info: 170 Mar Monte, La Selva, CA 95076, $8 for the tape.

••

Equipment: Mirage, Prophet 600, DX21, ESQ-1, Matrix 6R.

Drumulator and RX15, mixed on a portastudio.

I was really impressed by the songs on this tape. I'll let you

in on a little reviewer psychosis. Often I am afraid that I will

pop in the next tape to review and be thrown into an angst-

ridden search for how to say something nice when I'd rather
say nothing at all. (Or at least nothing at all nice!)

Daniel Monde!

Jim theorizes, "Like I'm onto the ethnic world scene... I'm a

timbre junkie. So when world music gets bastardized (god

forbid) by the majors — then what's left? What will be the

next BIG THING? Us! Some Eskimo with a portastudio in

his igloo. Some Chinese woman in Fuzhou. Some Maori

tribesman with a guitar in New Zealand. Some fella in Bath,
Maine. Get the picture? We'll all be listening to each other
without regard to skin color, religious practices, or financial

status. So, you heard it here first."

The only real technical problem I had was that the vocal

samples that were used throughout tended to be murky and

undefined. I don't know what the source was, but possibly

more time could have been spent on the EQ or setting the

samples up after the recording. It's given that the intent and

feeling produced by them was very well placed and worth it.

What Jim has done on this tape can be summed up by the
idea of an introduction. A lot of modern popular songs put a

lot of energy and talent into preparing introductions, crafting
them with care and patience to grab the audience and pull
them into the song. In fact you may have heard that in writing

(words) and in song writing — publishers and recruiters pay
careful attention to introductions and endings. The assump

tion is that carrying the song or the story and maintaining a

style are much easier. The difficult part is the get the atten

tion of the listener and then to conclude in such a way as to

satisfy or gratify the audience. This is what Jim has done. He

has sustained that initial interest throughout his songs.

The tape can be largely characterized by its exotic palette of

sounds. Samples of Tibetan percussion are salted throughout

this piece. Only the first song on the second side, THE NEXT

MESSAGE, stepped out of this boundary by using the drum

machines as the backbone to the song. Jim could have left
this one out of the collection in order to create a more

thematic and consistent sound. Jim says, "Okay — think of

Tibetans. On acid. Bad acid. But to Tibetans bad acid is

revealing."

I would say this accurately describes the mood of Jim's tape.

Even without the use of mind altering chemicals, these songs

wander around trying to get to the unknown portions of your
psyche and pull them out into the daylight. One could say

that Jim's music is evocative of movie sound tracks. But if
so, I think it would be more accurate to say that Jim's music

is evocative of large epic drama movie sound tracks. Not just
any movie, but that one that really left you feeling haunted.

Jim really works his synths. His rhythms are evolving and

wonderful pools for his other instruments to swim in. There

is_potential and drama even in the quiet passages.

The cover to boen marg can not go without mention. It is a

beautiful picture of what is apparently a Tibetan rug or paint

ing of a face. An extremely inviting package.

Ta pe : J av e l i n R i s in g .

Ar tist : Ji m Ne wt on .

Contact info: 170 Mar Monte. La Selva, CA 95076, $8 for the tape.

Equipment: ESQ-1, Mirage, EPS, Prophet, Moog, DX21,

RX15.

Jim's second tape is great. The overall sound is an improve

ment from his first.

The cassette cover continues in the standard he has set on his
first tape. The inner flap tells us: JAVELIN RISING — Re

corded August 1988 — March 1989 except NIGHTWATCH
(October 1989) at NightWind Sound, La Selva, CA. IN

SAHARA'S DUSK recorded January 1987 at Smallroom

Studio, Capitola, CA. Vaughn Visnius appears courtesy VOX

Studio. Cover Artwork: Visnius.

Jim says, "The influence here is from another part of the

globe..." and this time it is West Africa.

This tape seems more peaceful than boen marg. Jim excels at

creating an environment with his sounds. He goes beyond

placing the instruments in a given room with reverb. The

stereo placement, effects and choices of instruments are all

part of the craft that create the mood. Jim has a way of creat

ing a sound's shadow. But a shadow is a dynamic thing. As

the sun changes its direction in a long slow arc across the

sky, so does the length and character of the shadow change.

4

Jim uses a couple of repetitive sequences that would other

wise have turned me off. Yet, he manages to weave other

threads and colors in and out in order to hold my interest and

distract me.

The following is some titles and equipment/instruments used,
to give you a feel for what Jim's tape is like:

THE PEOPLE (ABANT U)

Mirage: West African lute, oud, trumpet ESQ-1: brass, per
cussion Prophet: little drone

SEDOND WIND

Mirage: African drums and shakers, guitars and Klung
ESQ-1: percussion, m'bha

DX21: marimba

IN SAHARA'S DUSK (STONES EXPLODE)

Mirage: voices, drums, guitars, talking drums, calabash rattle
Obie: Percussion sequence

RX15: accents

Prophet: small sounds sequence
ESQ-1: melodic and percussion accents

V O IC E S M A DE O F E AR T H

Mirage: percussion (loops + accents) voices, berimbau, mark
tree, bowed psaltry

ESQ-1: melody bass, accents Obie

Prophet: bass drones

It's a little bit like taking Instruments of the World 101. This
is good stuff. Very listenable. Looking forward to your next

release wherever it may be...! h

If you want your tape run through the ringer, err. Hacker, just
mail it off to: Basement Tapes, Transoniq Hacker, 1402 SW

Upland Dr., Portland OR 97221.

Bio: Daniel Mandel is a songwriter,
sound designer, and has sold pro
audio and keyboard equipment and

aHHHCSHH produced demo tapes for local bands.

A C u r e f o r M u l t i t r a c k T r a n s f e r

Trauma

Robby Berman

There are several inarguable reasons to transfer your trea

sured SQ-80 sequences over to your VFXsd/SD-1:

1. You have to sell your SQ-80 to finance your sd/SD.

2. You're outta tracks and you need more.

3. You want to centralize the brains of your outfit.

4. You want to avail yourself of the sd/SD's superior editing

capabilities.

If you've invested blood, sweat and years, as I have, getting a

sizable slew of songs elaborately sequenced on the SQ-80,
converting them to sd/SD sequences can be quite a project,

even when taking advantage of the sd/SD's facility for multi-

track recording over MIDI. The basic procedure is laid out in
the instructions furnished by Ensoniq. There's a bit more in

volved than the manual lets on, though. I thought I'd share
some things I've learned, to make your experience with mul

titrack transferring easier, frankly, than mine's been.

The SQ-80 receiving template

I've often found that even though I'm transferring my se

quences over to the sd/SD, I still want to use the sounds in
my SQ-80. Sometimes I just want to be able to easily check

out my transfers before finding new sounds on the sd/SD (or
some module or other) to replace the old ones. I've foimd it

helpful to set up a receiving template on the SQ-80^ that I use

to access its sounds from the sd/SD sequencer once everyth

ing's been sent across.

First, you have to decide on a group of MIDI channels that

you're willing to permanently assign to the SQ-80. It's good

practice in any case to assign the various instruments, mod
ules, drum machines, etc. in your rig their own MIDI chan
nels that you'll consistently use. aNd if you use the same

MIDI channels to transfer your sequences over to the sd/SD

from the SQ-80, life will be even simpler.

Let's say that in your studio MIDI channels 1 — 8 are the
ones you want to use. To create the receiving sequence, press
the SQ-80 Mix/MIDI button and set tracks 1 through 8 to

MIDI and channels 1 through 8. Don't worry about program
numbers or volume settings — those will be sent from the

sd/SD when you select the sequence over there. Once you've
created you SQ-80 receiving seq, you're likely to find it's the

only one you'll ever need (I've been using the same one for

years now).

5

Before playing back your transferred sequence, press the

MIDI button on the SQ-80 and set it to read "MODE=

MULTI." ALso, do make sure that any tracks on the sd/SD

that are meant to play SQ-80 sounds are set to send on the ap

propriate MIDI channels (1 to 8 in our example).

Multiple Note-ons In the Source Sequence

Here's a problem that stopped my transferring cold until I
finally figured it out. After transferring a particular sequence

over to the sd/SD, things sounded fine imtil one track would

fall out of sync, and then eventually the rest would go com

pletely nuts. I consulted an authorized technician and En-

soniq, to no avail. When I tinned my attention to the source

sequence, and remembered that it had taken a number of at

tempts to get one of the passages on one of the tracks right, I

was able to locate the problem.

Yo u k n o w h o w, w h e n r e co r d i n g o n t h e S Q -8 0 , y o u c a n s t a r t
playing over a prior take in the middle of a sequence and the

SQ-80 will switch automatically into record with your first
keydown? It turns out that the first notes that you're trying to

replace are not always erased cleanly, sometimes resulting in

a whole bunch of simultaneous and redundant notes. You

may not hear them on the SQ-80 (I sure didn't), but when you

try to play them over to the sd/SD as part of multitrack trans

fer, look out.

Pressure Settings

Here's a weird one. You may find that tracks you've set up to

receive a particular type of aftertouch will have been

mysteriously reset to some other kind when you check your

tracks after the transfer's occurred.

This is what's happening. Say you've set up sd/SD track one
to receive on MIDI channel one. You've set the pressure set

ting to CHANNEL (after pressing the performance button
labeled "Patch Select" twice), since the SQ-80 track used the

ROM sound KEYGTR (program number 017), recorded with

channel aftertouch. When you played the SQ-80 sequence,

program change 017 was sent out to your sd/SD track. Pro
gram number 017 in the VFXsd is DRAWBARS-1 (if you

have the factory internals loaded), and in the SD-1 it's IN

SPIRED, neither of which employ aftertouch. Voild, track

one's setting changed to NONE, blocking the transfer of your

aftertouch data. Grrrr.

The easiest way around this is to define your sd/SD tracks in

the manner of your choosing, set the proper pressure settings
for each track, and then disable the SQ-80's ability to send

any further program changes to undo your good work. This is
accomplished by pressing the MIDI button on the SQ-80 and

setting that page to read "ENABLE=KEYS-t-CONTROL-

LERS."

If you're having problems maintaining, shall we say, rhyth
mic integrity in your transfers, the first thing to do is to figure
out which track is the troublemaker. Make as many copies of

your blank receiving sequence on the sd?SD as there are

tracks in the SQ-80 sequence you wish to transfer. Now mute

track one on the SQ-80 and transfer the rest of your tracks to
one of your sd/SD templates. Play the transferred sequence

on the sd/SD. If everything now sounds okay, that means that
the first SQ-80 track is the source of your problems. If not,

repeat the procedure, muting a different SQ-80 track each
time until you've got a successful transfer. Whichever track

is muted at that golden moment is your bad boy. Transfer that

track over all by its lonesome (switch the sd/SD back to

RECORD SOURCE=BOTH or MIDI on the middle Seq Con
trol page). The sd/SD will be able to handle the multiple

note-ons when that track is all it has to handle, and you can

then examine the track using the event editor and remove the

offending stowaway events.

Transferring Tracks with Polykey Pressure
The sd/SD will not successfully receive polyphonic key pres

sure during a multitrack transfer. Any tracks employing

polykey must be sent over individually after all the others.

This is just something that hasn't been able to solved as of

this writing.

Track Vo lume

Okay, you've got your tracks transferred over and they check
out. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to easily recreate your

mix settings? It is, with a pocket calculator. Simply multiply

your SQ-80 volume setting for each track by 1.5714285 (99

divided by 63). Round the result off to the nearest full num

ber and dial it in on the corresponding sd/SD track. You'll be

all mixed up in no time.

Hopefully, the above pointers will help keep your eyeballs
from rolling back in your head as you transfer your sequences

from the SQ-80 to the VFXsd

or SD-1 in your life. Maybe
you've been languishing in

some multiple note-on night
mare of your own. Well, step
back into the daylight. And, by

all means, "Stop/continue." wm

Bio.: Robby Herman lives in

southern Illinois, surrounded

by five cats. His latest fur­lined recording is his double

album, "Rings and Rings."

6

S y n t a u r P r o d u c t i o n s ' S a m p l e D i s k s

F o r E P S s & A S R - 1 0 s

Anthony Ferrara

For : E PSs an d ASR-1 0.

Product: EPS 001-002-003 Musical Instrument Sample Disks.

Price: $9.95 each.

From: Syntaur Productions, 2315 Mid Lane #44, Houston, Texas 77027,

phone: [phone].

EPS 001-002-003 is a set of three disks which feature sam

ples from both current and classic sound sources as well as
the wizardry of Sam Mims. Hacker readers should be familiar

with Sam from his monthly Hackerpatch column and oc
casional feature articles. His soundsets for the ESQ-l/SQ-80,

along with various sound effects disks for the EPS-16 PLUS/

EPS, are known to you guys as well. Sam called me recently

from his current tour in Malaysia where he was supporting an

Asian pop-star, mentioning that he's planning more disks,

with a set of drum samples originally sourced at a recording

session in Florida.

The enclosed documentation for this disk set states: "Each

disk contains at least 1540 blocks of sample data." Further
details about the three disks are not really included, as there

is no booklet describing the sampling processes, patch
selects, etc. After having reviewed some of the Ensoniq EPS-

16 PLUS/EPS Signature Sets, I've come to take such infor

mation for granted. Sam's approach seems to focus his ener

gies on the highest quality sampling and formatting possible,

without worrying about such frills as a manual or demo se

quences. Here are my impressions, manual not-withstanding:

Disk One (EPS-OOl) contains five samples from the Kawai
K4 synth, which despite its budget price, is known for some

great sounds. K4 BELL PADS (345 blocks) is pretty self-de

scriptive and VFX-ish. K4 BUCCHUS somehow reminds me
of the taped string sample (in this case, with a human voice

layered in) found on the original Mellotron, favored by such
'70s progressive rockers as Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis.

Very impressive, especially when considering the relatively
light weight of only 358 blocks. K4 PLANET PAD (322

blocks) is a light, atmospheric variation on K4 BUCCHUS
with interesting swells and mutes on the patch selects.

K4 VOICES is a male vocal pad which consists of three

samples, which would nicely complement the female samples

found on the ED-004 (ANNA-VOXES) and ED-12 (CHOIR

GIRLS) disks included with the EPS-16 PLUS. K4 DIGA-

LOG, is quite useful at 175 blocks, with breathy bottle

sounds and percussive attacks. Sam feels that these samples
sound "bigger" than the original K4 because the EPS-16-f's

great synthesis ability allowed him to manipulate the samples
to have more presence than the K4.

Disk Two (EPS-002) contains Minimoog Bass 1 (94 blocks)
and Minimoog Sweeps (1451), with the sample soitrce being

obvious. Minimoog Bass 1 is similar to Ensoniq's HOT

MOOG, although Sam's version has a bit more of a heavy

and punchy edge to it. Excellent choice for a prog-rock or
dance bass lii^e. Sam chose to stick with the flavor of the

original Moog by preserving the legato mono-mode, as the
envelopes in this sample will not re-trigger when played with
legato articulation. Minimoog Sweeps consists of a single
wavesample, with the classic Moog white noise (minus the
pitch) taking over above C5. Interestingly enough, the Mini
moog itself was monophonic, while Sam's version is
polyphonic, which certainly adds something in the way of
practicality to the limitations of the original. This was Sam's

intention. The patch selects are absolutely wild, ranging from

fast stereo pans to a reverse of the attack-decay-sustain-

release envelope of the 00 patch.

Disk Three (EPS-003) rounds out this set with three samples
from one of the newer E-mu instruments, the PRO/CUSSION

drum module, which actually draws its material from the
Emulator III library of 16-bit samples. E-mu Clavarimba (110

blocks) is a single, perfectly useful, crystal-clear marimba

sample . E-mu Rap Kit, at 557 blocks, is one of the most in

teresting rap sets that I have heard. E-mu Rap Stuff (912
blocks) is more of the same, along with the obligatory needle

scratches on the turntable. The usual grunts and deep groans

often found on a Rap-oriented disk of this type are con

spicuously absent.

So who of you folks might best use these disks? Probably
they would be most useful for dance and rap applications, as

well as (particularly with the Moog and K-4 disks) prog-rock.

I can envision the E-mu Clavarimba sounding right at home

in a contemporary jazz or academic idiom.

This stuff is good.

One important observation would be that extremely high­quality disks of this sort are going to run you about $10 each,

well worth it. Each disk, by the way, can be ordered separate

ly. A booklet, info about the source instruments, as well as
some discussion of the sampling techniques used would have

greatly enhanced this set. I can't help thinking how helpful it
would have been to have had a few demo sequences to show
how Sam envisioned using the material. Maybe next time. I

7

readily admit that this is certainly not essential to hardcore

Hackers who are probably more interested in auditioning

sounds within the framework of their own sequences.

These observations do not detract at all from the otherwise

flawless sonic quality of these sample disks. A final bit of

good news is the fact that these disks are completely compat
ible with the new ASR-10. If EPS 001-002-003 are a good in

dication of the outstanding quality that we can expect from
Syntaur Productions, I would suggest that you order these

(and future) disks from Sam with total confidence, b

Bio: Anthony dreams of a ten record

deal with a major label, a beach front

house in Malibu, and a Ferrari Tes-

tarossa. He presently settles for a

black Ford Probe, and an independ

ent release on his own label, which
was reviewed in the July '92 Hacker.

Although a long-time resident of
Philadelphia, he still refuses to say

"youse."

L i s t e n i n g I n O n C u s t o m e r S e r v i c e

Dennie Edwards

Hello again from Malvern, PA. This is Dennie Edwards, Cus
tomer Service Rep for the Northwest Region, and it's time

again to share the most frequently asked questions by cus

tomers on our customer service line — (215-647-3930).

The following question applies to all EPS, EPS-16 PLUS,

ASR-10 samplers. The answer outlines a quick and dirty ap

proach to the process of making samples smaller. For more

in-depth information and explanation, please refer to the
Edit/Wave and Command/Wave sections in your owner's

manual. Next month Tony Ferrara will look at synchronizing

Ensoniq workstations to the popular Tascam 644/688 cassette

ho me M idistud io s.

Q. How do I make samples smaller?

A. Step 1: Look at the frequency response of the sound

source that you are going to sample. If the sound source has a

fuller frequency response like a cymbal or similar instrument,
then a sample rate of 44.1 kHz should be used to sample the

instrument into the digital domain. If the sound has a
response of 15 kHz — drums, guitars, pads, most voices, etc.

— then use a sample rate of 29.76 kHz.

Step 2: After you get a good clean sample and normalize the

gain, convert the sample rate and truncate to optimize

memory allocation. Both of the commands can be found on

the Command/Wave page of the EPS, EPS-16 PLUS, and the

ASR-10. Truncating data is simply re-allocating memory not

needed for the sample back to the dynamic RAM of the

machine. Let's look at an example. If your sample parameters

are as follows — Sample Start=(02), Loop Start=(37), Loop

End=(63), and Sample End=(63) — then you can truncate the

sample and re-allocate the memory used before the Sample

Start=(02) and after the Sample End=(63). Notice that the

coarse adjustment numbers (in parentheses), will change to

match the percentages of the length of the newly edited

samples. Sample Start will now = (0) and Sample End will
now = (99). After the sample has been truncated, it is ready

for the final step.

Step 3: Now convert the sample rate. For this example, let's

assume that the sound was sampled at 44.1 kHz. The sample
rate can be found by pressing Command, Wave, scroll using
the left and right arrows to the Sample Info page, and then

pressing Enter/Yes. Next, press the Edit button, underline
LYR=? , c ho os e t he ap pr op ri at e l ay er, u nd erl in e w s= ?, an d

then play the root key of the sample. We have just selected

the wave sample to edit.

Step 4: Press Command, Wave, and scroll until you find Con

vert Sample Rate. Press the Enter button. The current sample
rate should appear. Select the sample rate to convert to,

selecting a lower rate. Try a number around 29.76 kHz. Press

Enter and use the Audition Page. If you can't tell the dif
ference between the new and old, save the old data. The

machine will ask if you'd like to "redo conversion." After

answering Yes, you can now try another conversion with an

even lower sample rate. This process should be repeated until
there is an audible difference between the original sample

and the new edited version. Next, simply redo the conversion
with the lowest rate that produces the most desirable sound

an d s av e t his e dit , h

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8

Programming the DP/4

Dennie Edwards

One of the most important ingredients in musical production

is signal processing. Signal processing takes ordinary sounds

and brings them to life. It can bring clarity and separation to

the ear. Signal processing creates a picture to the ear and

mind similar to the way visual arts bring paintings to the eye

and mind. So with this in mind, let's learn how to paint with
a new and innovative paint brush...the DP/4.

A major key to unlocking the power of the DP/4 is to under
stand exactly what it is. It may appear to be as simple as a lit
tle box that stands only two rack spaces tall, but we can't

judge a book by its cover and neither can we look at the DP/4

and call it just another effects processor. First, we will review

just what is inside the DP/4.

The heart of the DP/4 contains four 24-bit Ensoniq Signal

Processor (ESP) chips. These ESPs are connected with a digi

tal patchbay and are mixed with a digital mixer. Because of

its unique construction, the DP/4 may be considered the most
flexible effects product ever invented. With the ability to

patch effects in series, parallel, and with feedback loops
never before possible in conventional units, the DP/4 delivers

audio quality that rivals products costing hundreds of dollars

more.

We'll begin with the types of presets and examine the most
powerful of all presets, the configuration, or config preset.

Depending on the number of inputs, there are many different

presets to choose from. There are two hundred ROM and two

hundred RAM presets.

The first preset is the one-unit preset. Simply put, it is used

when one wants to use one effect unit at a time and several

independent sources. A one-unit preset consists of an algo
rithm and all of its specific parameters. An algorithm defines

what type of effect(s) will be loaded into each ESP chip.

The second type of unit preset is called the two-unit preset.

These include more complex effects that require two proces

sors or two processors used in series, parallel, or feedback
loops. Also, there can be multiple input sources, both stereo

and mono.

The third type of preset is that of the four-unit preset. This
preset is a snapshot of all four units at a time. This preset is

used with a one-source input, whether it is mono or stereo.
Using this type of preset can give the user some of the most

wonderful sounds available. Imagine the possibilities of using

fo ur 24- bit E SPs fo r o ne sou rce !

The most powerful of all presets is the config preset which is
the main topic of our discussion here. Also, included in the

following are some helpful short cuts and tips on general use

of the DP/4. Understanding the DP/4 config preset will un
lock the power of the DP/4.

What is a config preset?

Config presets let you save all input source configurations,
effects algorithms, signal routing, and mixing of all four

units. There are 100 config presets in the DP/4 (50 ROM and

50 RAM). Presets 50-99 are the ROM and 00-49 are the

RAM.

Before we get started, we must prepare the DP/4 for our ad
vanced use. System parameter number 59 is "Show 100 con

fig presets=(yes/no)." Let's throw caution to the wind and set

this to Yes. We now can select all 100 config presets! First,

press System/MIDI, then using the right arrow, scroll to
parameter number 59. Next, turn the data knob, the large sil

ver round thing, and change the parameter to Yes. Now we

will select some presets.

To select a config preset, first press Config, then use the data

knob to scroll fast through the 100 presets. Next, press the
Select button. We have just selected a config preset. As long

as the LED above the config button is lit, we can select con
fig presets. Let's go a bit further. Now press the unit A but

ton. Notice that the display for unit A shows the preset effect
and the algorithm that is used to create that preset. The

presets that we will have access to by turning the data knob,

will be determined by the input configuration loaded by the

selected config preset. When a one-source config is selected,

four-unit presets can be selected. If the source config is a
two-source config, then we can pick two-unit presets, and

lastly, if there are four independent sources, a single unit

preset can be chosen for each unit.

Before we talk about editing a config preset parameters, let's
edit single unit parameters first. Select config preset 00,

"MonlnVocalSetup." (Press Config, use the data knob, then
press Select to confirm.) Next, press the unit A button. Cmp

should be capitalized in the display. Each of the four ab

breviations for the effects that are found in the bottom row of

the display corresponds to each of the four units A, B, C, and
D. The currently selected unit will have its effect abbrevia

tion capitalized. Go ahead and try pressing each of the unit

buttons and see how it works. With the A unit selected, press

the edit button. Parameter 00 should appear. If not, use the
left arrow to scroll till the LED display says 00. The display

9

now reads "A: EQ-Compressor, and Mix=99. Volume=86."

Here, we can select a new algorithm by using the data knob.

After we stop on a new algorithm, the unit will pause and

load the algorithm that we selected. Now we can use the left

and right arrow buttons to select parameters and the data

knob to enter values.

If we want to save our edits, simply push the Write button.

Now use the data knob to select the location to save the new

preset. If we want to save our edits as a config preset, press

config before the Write button. Remember that we can only

save presets to RAM locations 00-49. Next, press the Write

button again and use the left and right arrows to select which

character position, and the data knob to select which charac

ter for that position.

Here's a neat shortcut. If we press the unit buttons, a differ

ent character group will be selected. For example; A will
select the capital letters, B will select the lower case letters, C

will select the numbers, and D will select miscellaneous sym

bols.

There are many other shortcuts in the DP/4 that can help
make things a little quicker. For instance, when selecting sys

tem parameters, you can scroll through them very quickly by

pressing and holding an arrow button in the desired direction

and using the data knob to quickly scroll near the desired

location. Then we can go one parameter at a time using the

conventional way. Also, we can press the unit buttons to

move ahead seven parameters at a time. These are also
parameter groups that correspond to the particular unit

pressed. Try it and see. Bypassing a unit is as easy as double
clicking the unit button until the red LED is lit. To bypass all

units, double click on the config button.

Another shortcut is to swap the parameters between two units

without having to enter them in one by one. In the Edit mode,

press the Write button. Press and hold the first unit to swap,

then press the second unit. The display should say, "Hit

<WRITE> to Swap Units x & y."

What if we do not like our edits? As with all Ensoniq pro

ducts, there is an edit buffer. Press the Edit button to get back

to the original preset. There are also ways of recalling factory

Figure 1.

Serial routing between AB and CD

Input

Signal

Output

Signal

Parallel routing between AB and CD

Input

Signal

presets. Press and hold the System button and press the B

button to initialize the RAM presets. Pressing the right arrow
button will re-initialize the system and also recall the factory

presets. Pressing and holding the system button while press
ing the A unit button will act as a panic button and reset the

DP/4. The wake-up message will appear and the DP/4 will be
fresh without erasing a single parameter. What if we like the

first 50 presets of a given type (one, two, four, or config) and

do not want to write over those? Simply press system, then
select parameter number 62 and change the "Use Alternate

ROM Presets=No" to "yes." Presets 0-49 are now in locations

50-99. Very flexible. After toying with these features it is
now time to get our hands dirty and do some config preset

editing.

Editing a preset is very much like editing any of the other

presets. First, select a config preset to edit. Press config, then

use the data knob to select preset number 00, "MonoInVocal-

Setup," then press the select button. Next press the edit but

ton. Make sure that you are at parameter number 00, "1

Source Config." Remember, the left and right arrows select

which parameter and the data knob changes the value. If we

move the data knob we will select one of the config types.
When we stop moving the data knob, the display will flash,

"Updating Config." To continue editing the config para

meters, press the right arrow button. Let's look at the specific

parameters.

Parameter 00 is the Input Source Config. Config preset OO's
source config is the 1 Source Config. The display Shows, "1

Source Config" on the top line, and "12> ABCD" on the bot

tom line. This means that inputs 1 and 2 will feed units A, B,

C, and D. Use the data knob and select each of the different

settings, 2 Source, 3 Source, and 4 Source. There will be dif

ferent pages here depending on the input source configura

tion. The owner's manual has more information on those

input config dependent parameters.

Reset the Source config to the "1 source config." Next, press
the right arrow button. This parameter, "AB-CD routing,"
determines the signal path between the unit group AB section
and the unit group CD section. There are two possibilities,

series and parallel. (See Figure 1.) Now we will look at the
signal routing between A and B, and between C and D. These

ar e par amete rs 02 a nd

03. There are four poss

ible routings. The dif

fe renc e bet wee n F eed
back 1 and Feedback 2 is

Output

Signal

in the way the dry signal

is mixed with the wet

signal as shown below.
Also, parameters 04 and

05 are dependent on

par ame ters 0 2 a nd 03 .

(See Figure 2.)

10

Figure 2.

Input 1

Input 2

A B

Serial

Parallel

03

F e e dba c k 1 a n d 2

Dry

Dry

iwet

A

#1

Feedback

B

F e e d b a ck 1

Output 1

Output 2

Output 1

Output 2

DP/4 owner's manual are 18 of the possible 36 ABCD Rout
ings. As we can see, the possibilities are almost unimagin

able. Go ahead and experiment — remember we can get all of

the factory presets back.

The above parameters are the most important ones in setting

up the config parameters. Remember that editing a single unit
is very similar. Just press the unit button. A, B, C, or D, then

press the edit button. Also, a config preset remembers all
parameters for the units. In future articles we will discuss

more about editing individual units.

Other important parameters are found in the System/MIDI

pages. These parameters control the entire system. First, we
will again mention System parameter number 59. The default

setting is "no" for software versions before 1.00. To unlock
the full potential of the DP/4 it should be set to "yes."

Another one is System parameter 56, "Set all 1 Unit Pset
mixes to wet= yes/no." This is a great parameter! If you're

using the DP/4 with a mixing console for live applications,
this parameter is very handy. The mix output of dl units will

be wet. This is really great when using units in parallel and
have a one source input. The same principle can also apply to

multiple input configs. We can then use the Aux returns or
separate channels on the mixing board to control the sound

system effects mix. Bypassing a unit when set to kill will not

ca use an in cre as e i n v ol ume an d t he mi x l eve ls on th e b oar d

will not have to be adjusted.

The last parameter we will discuss is that of system para
meter 63, "Ensoniq * DP/4 OS version x.xx." This may not

seem important, but can be useful when referring questions to
the local dealer or even in speaking with the Ensoniq Cus
tomer Service Department (215-647-3930). Very few people

know how to find this information in their computerized
musical equipment, whether it's a keyboard, computer soft

ware, or effects processors.

F e e d b a c k 2

Parameter 06 in the 1 source config is the AB input select. If
the display shows (12) this means that the input will be in

stereo using inputs 1 and 2. Therefore, the (1) means a mono
input using input 1.

The next of the basic config parameters are parameters num

ber 07 (unit A), 08 (unit B), 09 (unit C), and 10 (unit D).

These parameters determine what the bypass function (double
clicking on the unit button until the red LED is lit) does to

the output of each unit, ff it is set to (b) bypass, it is like set
ting the Mix to 00, and if the parameter is set to (k) kill, it is

like setting the Volume to 00. Depending on the input source,
the config parameters can differ slightly. On page 3-6 of the

The DP/4 is a very flexible product. It is important, however,
to not get tangled up in its flexibility. The best advice is to
take it slow. Try to learn a little every day or so. The manual
is intended as a road map or a guide book. It will not tell us

where to stop on the road to a successful music project —

that is entirely up to you. The DP/4 will only help you get
there sounding much better, m

Bio: Dennie Edwards is the Customer Service Representative

at Ensoniq for the Midwest Region. While living in the Phila
delphia area, he uncovered the secret of the Quakercaster

electric guitar.

11

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Part 9: Catching the Expansion Waves

Jack Stephen Tolin

Ever since the beginning of sound synthesis, people have

wanted to be able to have access to as many different

waveforms as possible. It would follow that, even though

modulation possibilities may be quite numerous, the more
waveforms you have to work from, the more possibilities
there are for variety of end-sounds. And the more end-sounds

you have access to, the more options of musical creativity lie
in potential.

This brings us to April, 1992. Ensoniq aimounces an update
for SQ-1 owners which would bring them to SQ-1+ 32 Voice
status. This means that one may obtain 11 more voices, a

megabyte of 16-bit expansion waveforms plus a megabyte of

16-bit piano waveforms for those who had not previously

upgraded to SQ-1+ status, as well as 80 new programs utiliz
ing the new waveforms — for only $499. In the words of an
Ensoniq rep, it was like purchasing another synthesizer.

About a month later, Ensoniq sent out postcards notifying
SQ-1 owners that all was ready for them to send in their units

for making the upgrade. All they had to do was call Ensoniq

wit h t he s er ial num b er a nd w ri te d own the aut hor i zat ion num

ber they were given. After that, it's simply a matter of send

ing the thing in with the authorization number on both sides
of the box. Simple?

The expansion waves, in their proper order, include the fol
lowing:

Viola Sect Shakuhachi

Solo Violin

Nylon Guitar

Timpani

Vibes V o ca l U nh

Harp Agogo Bell-2

Shamizen Shekere

El ec Piano 1 Taik o Dance Kick

El ec Pia no 2 Taik o Rm Enka Kick

Perc Organ Whistle
Mute Trumpet Shaker Dance Snare

Soprano Sax Conga Slap Hiphop Kickl

Accordian

F r e t l e s s B as s

Triangle Hiphop Kick2

Castanets

Slap Bass Hyoshigi
Synth Bass-3 Synth Kiss

Choir

Syn Cowbell

"But," you may well say, "how do they sound?" This is, of
course, what it all comes down to anyway. So, for those of

you have made the upgrade, I've decided to do something a

lit tl e d iffer en t w i t h t h is m o nth 's ins ta llme nt o f WM 1 0 1.1 a m

offering a Hackerpatch for those old ROM sounds that have

Syn Rimshot

Vocal Aah

V o ca l U hh

Vocal Teh

Long Rap Kick

Hiphop Snare
Full Pipeorg

refused to become outdated. The catch is that we shall look

(or listen) to these sounds from the standpoint of using the
expansion waves. If nothing else, it should give you a feel for

some of the new waveforms, offer you some new sonic con
texts, as well as some new and usable sounds by giving life to

old sounds.

So let's begin.

Sel e ct " RO M 6 2 P hase r Ba ss."

Step 1. Press the Sound Edit button.

Step 2. Hit the Wave bank button.

Step 3. Now hit the screen 0 button. This is the first screen

fo r e ach b ank .

The screen should read:

SelectVOICEiONE

Q M O F F O F F

Step 4. Make sure "ON" is selected

Step 5. Hit the screen 1 button.

The screen should read:

W a v e = B A S S W A V E

PLUCKED BASS

Step 6. The upper line is wave class. Make sure this is

selected.

Step 7. Press the '^/Yes button until you arrive at the final

wave class.

Step 8. Select the lower line. This is wave. The screen will

read:

Wave= EXPANS ION

VIOLA SECT

Step 9. Press the '^/Yes button 13 times. The wave appearing
should be "SYNTH BASS-3." Now try it out. Instant multi

purpose bass. Simple? Make sure to save anything you wish
to keep.

Now, select "ROM 58 Dyno Lead." Follow Steps 1-3 as

specified in the above example. The screen should indicate

al l v o ic e s t o b e " ON . "

Step 4. Make the upper line read, "SelectV01CE:ALL."

Follow Step 5. The screen should (or might) read:

DIGITAL PNO GRIT

13

Follow Steps 6-8.

Step 9. Press the VYes button 6 times. The wave appearing

should be "ELEC PIANO 2." Press screen 0 again and
change "ALL" to "ONE." Then hit screen 1 again and press

the No/v button. The waveform appearing should be "ELEC
PIANO 1." Now, go back to screen 0 (getting dizzy yet?) and

change "ONE" to "ALL." Hit the Pitch bank and screen 0

buttons. The screen should read:

Oct=±l Semi=+00

Fine=+05

Select "Oct." Press the No/v button — screen should show

the Oct value to be +0. And here, avid readers, is an updated

version of a hip (electronic) electric piano.

Now, select "ROM 19 New Horizon." Follow Steps 1-3 as

above. Voices 1 and 2 are ON. Select voice 2. Change the

wave o n s c r e e n 2 " V I O L A SECT" o f t h e E XPA NS I O N

waves. Hit the Amp bank and screen 0 buttons. The bottom

line should read, "Time=42 71 79 46." Change time one

(attack time) to 10. Go back to the Wave bank and select

Voice 1. Then go to screen 2. Change the Wave class to "EX
PANSION" and select the wave ("VIOLA SECT"). Hit the

^/Yes button 17 times. The screen should read "VIBES" for

the wave. Next, go to the Filter bank, screen 0. The screen

should read:

Filterl=3LoPass

Filter2=lHiPass

Change Filter2 to equal ILoPass (without changing Filterl).

Now we have a "Newer Horizon" to shoot for.

For some quickies, utilize the steps you used from above and
change the waveforms (and assorted addendum) to the fol

lowing:

"ROM 07 L.A. BRASS"; Voice 1: VIOLA SECT

Voice 2: SHAKUHA CH I

ALL (Output bnk, scm 3):Pan=-i-00

Effect: C HO RU S & REVERB

with world music types.

"ROM 27 Heavenly"; Voices 1 & 3: CHOIR

Although this change of waveform may seem like a minor

one, this new patch (remember that word?) works very effec
tively in inspiring one to get excited in a tingly mellow sort

of way. Try playing a root C minor chord (C-Eb-G) followed

by a second inversion Eb minor chord (Bb-Eb-Gb) without

resolving (or use root bass notes to accompany.) If this

doesn't inspire you...

"ROM 28 Out Vox"; Voice 1: VOCAL TEH

Voice 2: TAIKO RM

Voice 3: SYNTH KISS

I think this is an excellent strange-percussion-effect sound. I

like how each voice scatters across the channels. My applause

to the original programmer for some great work! CAS

TANETS also works quite well for Voices 1 or 2.

"ROM 45 Bumin' Sax"; Voice 1: PERC ORGAN

Voice 2: FRETLESS BASS

Here is a nice setup for just about any of the expansion

waves. Use Voice 2 for waves like SOPRANO SAX, SOLO

VIOLIN, NYLON GUITAR, MUTE TRUMPET, as well as

other long acoustic waves. Of course, you may desire to turn

off Voice 1 or choose another attack wave a la Cross Wave

Synthesis.

With such an easy way to edit sounds, it is even easier to add
to one's arsenal an astonishing array of variety and creative

potential — simply try different waveforms. Changing the

waves is the most simple way of altering a sound. Consider

light, if you will. A difference of wave is all there is to distin

guish between red and green. Quite a difference I'd say!

Well, that's all for this installment. Keep those waveforms

mutilated! ■■

If you've ever wanted a somewhat different type of string

sound that has a unique, unorthodox timbre movement to it,

this may be what you are looking for. Bordering on the
Oriental, the attack of the Shakuhachi waveform is present,
quickly mutating into a more descriptively definitive string

sound provided by the Viola Sect.

"ROM 25 Harpsichord"; Voice 1: SHAMIZEN

Voice 2: HY OSHIG I

Voice 3 : CASTANET S

Her is some sort of Oriental instrument with a nice "cas-

tanetic" percussive hit on key-up. As a playing technique, try
using fourths (or just the black keys) and hit following keys

just as you release the preceding keys. This sound works well

Bio: Jack is currently a psychol

ogy major at Eastern Nazarene
College in Quincy, Mass. and

performs at Boston area chur

ches with his musical group,

"Clay in Hand."

14

N o w f o r S o m e M e a t & P o t a t o e s

Ensoniq's ESS-13 & -15 for EPSs & ASR-10

Pat Finnigan

For: EPS, EPSM, EPS-16+, ASR-10.

Pro ducts: ESS -15: The Joey De Francesco B-3 Sam ple s, E SS- 13:

Maurice White Samples.

Price: $39.95 per set.
From: Ensoniq, 155 Great VaUey Parkway, Malvem, PA 19355, phone:

[phone] or contact your local Ensoniq dealer.

Well, it's time to throw some more samples in the stew this
month; it's been a little bland lately. We're gonna try some

genuine Ensoniq nybbles and see what the secret ingredient is
that makes their samples so superior. Let's give a critical lis

ten to some disks that arrived at my door recently, the

long-awaited ESS-15 Joey DeFrancesco B-3 samples...

First things first: I'm VERY critical of B-3 samples. I

dragged a B-3 and Leslie around for 14 years, hot-rodded
Leslies with JBL components and Crown DC300As, modded

B-3 preamps and installed impedance-matching stuff so you
could run your B-3 through a Dual Showman w/JBL D130F's
and 075 rings to get the Brian Auger Sound. For the Jon Lord

(Deep Purple) sound you just wired a patch cord from one of
the "G-G" terminals and a ground and just plugged straight

into an old powered Altec 1210A (the portable version of an

old A7-500 "Voice of the Theatre" cabinet). I actually made a
Leslie that was louder than our guitar player's Marshall; not

very pretty, mind you, and weighing 230+ pounds, but the

organ would SPEAK. It is in this mindset that Ensoniq ap
proached this sampling session, so I spent hours comparing

these disks to my old mastodon.

D i s k E S- 0 4 8 : S o l o J az z B - 3 :1 5 3 4 b l o c k s

This is the definitive Jimmy Smith B-3 sound, first 3 draw

bars all the way out (16', 5 1/3', 8"), percussion full on, fast

decay, third harmonic, vibrato set to C-3 (chorus vibrato).

The sample is actually looped to give the effect .of the Leslie

being set to slow speed (chorus). This is as perfect a sample

of the B-3 as I've ever heard, and here's why: B-3's are

mechanical, inductive beasts, (Hammond was originally a

clock manufacturer), and with two motors whirring so close

to the matching transformers on the drawbars, a fair amount

of 60-Hz hum is present in the signal. It's a characteristic of

Hammond organs, and this disk is the only one I've ever

heard that captures that quality. Even the new Suzuki/Ham

mond XB-thing doesn't have it. Patch 00 is that exact sound.

Patch 0* pans bass left and treble right, *0 softens the percus

sion a little, and autopans signal left to right, sorta like

having two Leslies.

Chorus vibrato was way too fast at E5-F5 due to stretching

that particular sample a little too far, so I adjusted key range

of the next sample down over E5 and F5, and it's perfect. The

key click was a little out front (we used to light smoke bombs

in B-3's to dirty up the contacts to get more key click in the
late '60s), but that's deliberate, as the docs note the organ

was sampled both acoustically (with mics on the Leslie
rotors) and a direct send off the organ preamp. I edited the

filter settings to taste.

WOW! Till now my Malvern hero sample was the original

Upright Bass from the Mirage library; it just got displaced.
This disk, with a little tweaking, sounds just as good on my

original EPS Classic as it does on the '16+. Turn off the hall
reverb on the '16+ and the sound is indistinguishable from

the EPS Classic. Scotty Frankfurt nailed this one. A B-3 mir

ror...

Disk £8-049: Spilt Jazz B3:1571 blocks

Very similar to Solo Jazz B-3, except from middle C (C4)
down, the sound is percussionless (you don't want that

"bonk" on your bass line anyway) and sounds as if the 5th

(drawbar #3) is pushed in to about 4 (on the drawbar's 1-8
scale). With Patch 00 mod wheel controls Leslie speed. Other
patches seem to select reverb instead of the rotary speaker ef

fect. The bass seems a little buzzy, but it's in the sample, not
the loop. Again, editing the filter settings produced what I
was looking for. That appears to be a common trait in En

soniq samples: they overstate (oversample?) the sonic charac
ter of instruments, knowing that it's easier to tweak stuff out

of a wave than into it. Smart...

This disk isn't as transportable from the '16+ to the Classic

since the Leslie is an effect algorithm, but tweaking wave
levels and layers produced credible B-3 results.

Disk ES-050: JD Organs 1-4: 69-374 blocks

This disk is for EPSs with a memory shortage and/or se

quencing purposes where 1571 blocks is just too much
precious memory to surrender. JD Organ 1 is a good repre

sentative of a Leslie with the HF driver ready to explode. Not

15

as angry as the "Mad Organ" from a U-20, but just as hellish
bent. Patch selects add an octave above, some stereo effects,

and the required rotary speaker effect. 371 blocks of whirling

dervish...

CO, the open 4th thing in the left hand with the blinding right
hand solo barrage. I'm surprised Ensoniq didn't include some

Grady Tate drum samples and Wes Montgomery guitar licks.

The Verve/Blue Note Signature Series?

JD Organ 2 is lighter, more of a Hammond pad that doesn't
take up as much space in your mix. The accent here is not as

much 5 1/3" (drawbar 2) and not as thick and heavy as the

meat and potatoes B-3. It sits well in the stereo spread and
leads the mix instead of taking it over. Patch selects add an

octave above or below with the obligatory mod wheel speed

control. 363 blocks of imderstated organ pad...

JD Organ 3 is quite slick. At 69 blocks, unexpanded EPS
owners will use this instrument to death. This is your stan

dard, smoky lounge B-3 with percussion, 2nd drawbar, and
upper octave under patch select control. Very trick. Good

all-around representative B-3 in an unbelievably small block

count. I've done B-3 samples in 19 blocks, but they take 2-3

detuned layers to sovmd decent, and reduce overall polyphony

in the process. This instrument has all the options under the

patch buttons, and sounds crisp and very clean. All the right
stuff in 69 blocks: this'll be a very popular selection among

mondo sequencing instruments.

JD Organ 4 is your classic "As The Stomach Turns," soap

opera Hammond. Ultra whitebread samples of even-ordered

harmonics (16', 8', 4', 2', and 1' drawbar registration) with the
fast Leslie built into the sample. Unless you play baseball

stadiums or hockey arenas you probably won't use this one

very much. Patch buttons select brighter harmonics (draw

bars), and loads and behaves much the same way on an EPS

Classic. Lawrence Welk might come back for this one...

And finally, "B-3 On-Off." Someone needs therapy in Mal

vern. Just to complete this collection, they sampled the

"Start" motor of a B-3 winding its tone wheels up to speed.
530 blocks of a sound familiar to only those who grew up on
a Hammond organ, sampled to DAT in digital splendor. Patch
buttons select pitched variations (s-s-sampler abuse) and

reverse the start motor sample to simulate shutting the B-3
off. A little editing is necessary since the B-3 winds down

faster than it starts up, and it's much quieter coasting down-

speed when switched off, but I'm gonna get critical of this

Prozac-inspired sample? NOT! Cheeky stuff from some pret

ty deranged sampling minds...

As always, the documentation is the best there is, with the

familiar tongue-in-cheek humor indicative of Ensoniq docs.

Talk about thorough; on the 1500+ block instruments

(ES-048 and 049) EVERY note was sampled four or more

times. Turbosynth was used for the smaller JD organ samples

on the ES-050 disk. Patch selects are well thought out and

provide major variations of the selected instrument. Did I

mention user-friendly? Bank loads are supported for demo

purposes, something you don't see many third party vendors

supporting (hello!). The demo sequences are pure DeFrances-

I spent years experimenting with B-3's and Leslies getting a
setup that would not only give me the classic Young Rascal's

Felix Cavaliere B-3 sotmd, but the tortured scream of burning

WEM drivers in Keith Emerson's upper-rotor-only Leslie

half-stacks. While nothing sounds like a 122 and a 20 watt

Jensen driver giving up the ghost, the DePrancesco package
is the most accurate representation of the venerable B-3

you're gonna find anywhere. From the "fingered" percussion

in Hammondspeak (the "Legato" layer in Ensoniqspeak) to
the lower rotor rotating in the opposite direction of the upper

horn in a model 122 Leslie, these disks represent the best B-3
samples I've ever heard. Joey DeFrancesco's sequences are a

real bonus; technique is better than half the art of playing a

B', so slow those sequences down and pick up on what he's
saying here. A bargain at any price, a steal at $40. Knockout

sound, knockout chops...

I'm off with these disks to sequence Jimmy Smith's

S e r m o n " . . . m

Bio.: Pat Finnigan is a service tech turned musician who
writes secret messages in sequences on his EPS.

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A n S Q - R P r i n n e r F o r

Part III of III

ESQ-1/SQ-80 Owners

Brian Rost

This series of articles is aimed at getting ESQ-1 and SQ-80

owners up to speed on integrating an SQ-R module into their

setup. It is broken into three parts. In Part I, we looked at fun

damental differences between the ESQ-1 and SQ-R architec
tures. In Part II, we examined how to use the SQ-R Smart

Transmit feature to add powerful controller capabilities to the
ESQ-1 in live performance. Now, in the final part, we will ex

plore using the SQ-R in a multi-track sequencing environment

and wrap it up with a discussion on using the SQ-80 disk drive

to store SQ-R patch and preset data.

Sequencing

So far we have looked at real-time applications of the SQ-R.

Much of what we have seen already about programming the

tracks still applies when the SQ-R is in MULTI mode, driven
from the ESQ-1 sequencer. The main thing to remember is that

when in MULTI mode, the SQ-R will still do retransmission,

but the rechannelization function used in OMNI and POLY

modes is not available. Thus, if a given track is on MIDI chan
nel 3, for instance, it only responds to information on that chan

nel.

In MULTI mode, the base channel of the SQ-R is used mostly

for selecting presets. The channel chosen as the base channel

should not be used for any of the tracks within the preset. Pro

gram changes on the individual tracks will be made both when

a new preset is selected and when a program change message is

received by any of the eight tracks. The track volumes are now

under control of the ESQ-1 sequencer MIX/MIDI Page, but for

consistency it is best to set all SQ-R tracks to a volume of 99.

It s unlikely all eight SQ-R tracks need be used, since there are

only eight ESQ-1 sequencer tracks. There is no reason to assign

tracks for ESQ-1 sounds in MULTI mode.

One bug of the SQ-R when sequencing with the ESQ-1 is that
when the ESQ-1 sends out the program and volume change

messages at the head of each sequence, the SQ-R will not

recognize the volume message on the currently selected track.

In fact, that track will go to whatever volume is programed into

the MIX bank. If further volume changes are then sent (for in
stance, by manually changing the volume setting on the

MIX/MIDI page) the SQ-R will respond. All non-selected

tracks respond to all the voliune messages fine. Since selecting
a new preset always causes track one to be selected, one way to

avoid problems is to always have track one of the SQ-R preset

turned OFF. This leaves only seven tracks (which will be suffi
cient in 'most cases). The bug shows up only when the volume

message comes immediately after the program change message.
If we drive the SQ-R from a computer-based sequencer where

such messages can be arbitrarily separated in time, the problem

disappears.

Before starting to play a sequence, we will want to select a

preset on the SQ-R. To do this, we must be in Select Preset

mode, either by pressing the front panel button or sending

patch change 123 to the SQ-R on the base channel. For this

purpose, set up a sequence template on the ESQ-1 that has but

one track enabled. Set this track to the SQ-R base channel, set

the Status to MIDI and set the program number to 123. Every
time you turn on the SQ-R, merely selecting this template on

the ESQ-1 will put us into Select Preset mode.

As mentioned earlier, since the SQ-R has a maximum of 340

patch locations, sending patch changes in the range of 124 to

128 to the SQ-R tracks will select one of the four banks, INT,

ROM, CARD A or CARD B. Setting up an ESQ-1 sequence

template which sends the appropriate program change on the

desired tracks will take care of bank selection easily enough. If

we want to place this template at the beginning of a song, it

must have some data in the sequence. A good way to do this is

to record a single note into one track, then delete that note

using the step editor. In addition, saving this sequence at maxi
mum tempo will minimize the delay between pressing PLAY

and actually hearing the music begin. However, once a bank
has been selected for an SQ-R track, that bank will be used for

the entire song, unless we make special preparations. This is
because the only place program changes may be sent is at

boundaries between sequences. If we attempt to insert a

"blank" sequence in a song to force a bank change, the ESQ-1

will actually skip over that step within a song.

The only ways around this are ugly indeed: either we insert a
very brief sequence into the song (causing a pause in the music)

or we store patches in locations such that patches to be used in
succession are in identically numbered locations in different

banks. Because of this, it is best to earmark tracks in a song to
use only patches from one bank. One exception is that a patch

change in the range of 81-100 will select the factory drum kits

stored in the ROM bank regardless of which bank is enabled on

the track.

Another SQ-R feature that is difficult to use from the ESQ-1

sequencer is using program change 124 to signal an SQ-R track
to take whatever effect is programmed into the next patch to be

selected and apply this to all patches in the preset. The problem
here is identical to what we saw in selecting patch banks,

namely sending two patch changes back-to-back from the

ESQ-1 sequencer is essentially impossible when in the middle

of a song.

One last thing to be aware of is that when a new preset is
selected, the audio output of the SQ-R will glitch if any notes

are still sounding. This is due to the effects processor. For this

reason, it's a good idea to try to stick with one preset through-

18

out a song. If you have to change presets mid song, you may
want to set the SQ-R Voice Muting parameter in the System

menu to ON. While this means held notes are cut off rather
than sustained, it does eliminate the glitching.

Other than these things to worry about, sequencing with the

SQ-R is smooth sailing. Presets are set up as we did for the

Smart Transmit examples (although setting of key ranges is sel

dom needed). Setting the Pressure parameter for each track is

important if using an SQ-80, since the SQ-80 can record key

pressure into one sequencer track and channel pressure (or no

pressure at all) into another. If channel pressure is sent to an

SQ-R track which is set to key pressure, there will be no pres

sure response. The setting of the sustain pedal response is of

similar importance.

Since the patches and volume on each track can be freely
changed by the sequencer, it is convenient to think of presets as

merely setting up an effect, selecting patch banks and assigning

MIDI channels (in effect reversing the roles of the Smart
Transmit case where the SQ-R preset controls settings for both

the SQ-R and the ESQ-1).

Storing Data On SQ-80 Diskettes

from the disk, select SEND and the transfer will begin. The

SQ-R will accept the dump as long as the base channel is the

same as when the data was originally dumped to disk. An in
correct base channel setting is one of the two most common

problems in transferring sys-ex (the other is forgetting to en

able the SQ-80 to transmit and receive sys-ex after turning it

on).

The SQ-80 can handle sys-ex dumps up to 65,535 bytes (64k
bytes) in size. It is possible to store any of the four dump types

(single sound, single preset, all sounds, all presets) to disk
since each is under 64k bytes in size. It is also possible to inter

mix the following combinations in a single sysex file: single

sound plus single preset, single sound plus all presets or all
sounds plus single preset. What cannot be saved in a single

sysex file is both all sounds and all presets.

One oddity of dumping presets is that in order to maintain com
patibility with the SQ-1 and SQ-2, the SQ-R memory has room

for a small amount of sequence data. In fact, this is where the
factory demo sequence is stored. If you reinitialize the SQ-R

the factory demo is wiped from memory and the size of the
ALL PRESETS dump is smaller! Anyway, here are the

measiuements I made of the different dump sizes:

ESQ-l owners may wish to skip this section, but SQ-80 owners

will want to stick around as we see how we can use the disk to

archive SQ-R patch and preset data.

Unlike the SQ-80, the SQ-R is always able to transmit sys-ex,

while reception is controlled within the System menu. Once

reception is enabled, cycling power will not disable it. The

SQ-80 must have sys-ex reenabled after each powerup. Don't
forget that making sys-ex transfers wipes the sequencer

memory. Always take care to save sequence data to disk first!

We will start with a dump from the SQ-R to the SQ-80 disk. On

the SQ-80, go into the DISK menu, select SAVE and SYS-EX.
Go to the SQ-R, press System and scroll to the page where it

says "Press ENTER to store sounds," then press Enter. You
will be prompted to select Storage Type, use the YES/NO but

tons to select MIDI SYS-EX. Press Enter again and we are

prompted "Operation=SAVE." Use the YES/NO buttons to

select which bank we wish to save, the current sound (SOUND

TO MIDI), or the internal RAM bank (INT TO MIDI). We can

not save the ROM bank or either card bank unless we copy it to
the INT bank first. Go back to the SQ-80 and select START, at

which point we will be informed that the SQ-80 is waiting for
data. Return to the SQ-R and press Enter. The display will indi

cate the transfer is being made. Go back to the SQ-80, and
select SAVE to store to disk. It's that simple! Storing presets is

similar.

Single patch: 415 bytes
Single preset: 458 bytes

All patches: 32,647 bytes
All presets: 35,980 bytes

All presets plus factory demo sequence: 64,028 bytes

We can see that an "all patches plus all presets" dump exceeds

the 64k-byte limit of the SQ-80. We can also see that the SQ-R
demo sequence player has room for about 28k bytes of se

quence data. Whether or not that can be used through some ar

cane means (after all, the factory was able to load it!) is a topic

for another article, eh?

The order of transferring presets and sequences isn't really im
portant. Just don't try storing two dumps of the same type on

one sysex file! When the second is transmitted back to the

SQ-R, it will write over the first. Up to ten sys-ex files can be

stored on a disk. Remember to give the disk files unique names

to make it easy to locate them later. Since the files are stored as
they were transmitted from the SQ-R, it's possible to dump

them out of the SQ-80 to another disk filer (like a computer

running a bulk dump utility) or to an SQ-1 or SQ-2 synth.

Well, that's it! I hope these articles have helped clear up some

grey areas for those of you who have been grappling with the

SQ-R. Bi

Transmitting the data back is even easier since it can be done

totally from the SQ-80. Go into the DISK menu and select

LOAD and SYS-EX. From the disk directory displayed, choose

the file you wish to send to the SQ-R. Once the data is read

Bio: Brian Rest spends his evenings either hunched over his

SQ-80 or playing bass with the HUBCAPS, a Boston-based

roots rock band. To unwind during the day he designs com

puters.

19

Keyboard Scrabble

New Life for ESQ-Is and $Q-80s

Walter Cooper

It's the nineties but the ESQs and SQ-80s were developed in

the eighties. What does one do? Charles Fischer makes some

good suggestions in the October '92 Hacker for keeping these

keyboards fresh. I like my SQ-80 and have no plans of part
ing with it. It holds a unique place in my arsenal, which

brings me to the essence of this article — keyboard scrabble.

Most of us have played, at one time or another, scrabble. You

know, the board game where someone manages to spell a

word and someone else capitalizes by creating a new word

from a portion of your entry. So what does that have to do

with these boards you ask. Lots. Taking this approach we can

keep our precious machines fresh and alive. Keyboard scrab
ble is simply taking the best sounds of other keyboards and

programming those sounds to work on your keyboard. Now

mind you, this is not for everyone. It's just another option

and there's nothing really new here. Kirk Slinkard's article in
Issue #83 offered ways to convert SD-l/VFX default en

velopes for the ESQ/SQ-80s. And sound companies sample
the latest synths to keep your sampler current. Of course,

programming a synth is a little trickier than loading samples
but it is an option for those game enough to try.

Case In Point

Jack Tolin s "Guitar Strength" is an excellent guitar patch for

SQ-ls and KS-32s. Wouldn't it be nice to have this sound
screaming from your SD-1. Keyboard scrabble. Most of these

parameters plug straight into the SD-1 but there is one major

obstacle. Jack used the compression/distortion/reverb algo

rithm in his patch — which is really "Guitar Strength'"s

strength. No such critter on the SD-1. So I substituted low-

pass filter/distortion/chorus/reverb and made some adjust

ments in the mod mixer section.

Off to rehearsal I go. My partner has a SY22. During

rehearsal we discuss song #3. He needs a better lead guitar in
a passage. I've just finished diddling Guitar Strength so I lay
some on him. He shakes his head in despair. "If I could only

get that sound on my SY22." Keyboard scrabble. Dissecting

Guitar Strength reveals three voices are used to create this
sound. My partner carefully programs his synth to match each

voice. Pretty good — not identical but it's the best lead guitar
he has for his SY22. Remember we started with an SQ-1

sound, converted it for an SD-1 and ended up with an SY22.

Included here is the patch "Lead Synth" for the ESQ-1 and

the S9-8O. Lead Synth was scrabbled from a Yamaha DX27,

a pre-'85 synth. Yeah, it's older than the ESQ but I like this

sound. The mod wheel adds vibrato and the CV pedal alters

the timbre. I fattened up the sound making it more brassy
than the organishness of the original 27's patch. I also added

some '90s type bell rings. Charles Fischer suggests running
your ESQ/SQ-80 through an effects processor and I agree. It
helps a lot. But if you don't have an FX box, try this. Raise

T4 to about 34 on ENV4's page for the ESQs and 30R for

the SQ-80s.

What it comes down to is this — if the sound exists on some
not too-dissimilar sounding board, it's programmable and

may yield a 30-point scrabble word. The trick is to be able to

identify when it's worth your programming efforts to attempt

it and when it's not. Try it — even if your score is not too

high at first you'll learn stuff and you may come up with

some killer sounds, tm

ESQ-1/SQ-80 PROG: LI) SYN

OCT SEMI FINE WAVE M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2 DEPTH

0801

2 0 0

0 0 0

0SC2
080 3

0 0 0

DOA1
D0A2 00

OCA 3 63 ON

riLltH 1 079 00 00

D0A4

LFOI

LF0 2 24
LF0 3 OFF

ENV1
ENV2
ENV3

ENV4 63

MODES 1

SPirr/LAYER S/LPRG

1 OFF OFF

LEVEL OUTPUT M0D#1

00 ON

FREQ1 Q K E Y B D

F IN A L V O L P A N PA N M O D

1 "

FREQ RESET

Li

63 63 63

63 25 -63i 6 3 L

SYNC

OFF

05

00

04

ON

0

> 8 L F 0 2

OFF

OFF ON

L2 L3 LV

-

38 18

AM

OFF OFF 04

H U M A N W A V L I

OFF

OFF

OOL 00

30L 63 00

MONO GLIDE

UYER LPRG

SYNTH3 OFF

SAW LF02

SAW LF02

ENVl 55

ENVl 63

OFF

M0D#1 DEPTH M0D#2

ENV3

TIV T1

-

Bio: Walter Cooper is minister of music at his local church,

district minister of music for twelve churches, a music

teacher and owns Latter Sound Productions, which markets

sounds for Ensoniq products.

BY: Walter Cooper, Latter Sound

04

02

DEPTH M0D#2

_

TRI 00

-

_

15

KBD2

OFF

PEDAL

63

DEPTH

04 00 00 37 1 6

_ _

00 21 51

VC E N V O S C1 C Y C

SPUT S P RG S PLIT KEY

OFF

OFF

06

1

DEUY

_

00 00 WHEEL

-

T2 T3 T4 TK

45 59

OFF

ON ON

LF02

LF02

DEPTH

-2

-63

L2 MOD

01

01

DEPTH

OFF

OFF

OOR 21

22 26

OFF 1

1

1

1

20

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Phone: [phone]

EPS-16+ (& ASR-10) Percussion Tips

To m S he a r

A year ago I bought a second-hand rackmount Mirage from
my friendly hometown music dealer, "Downtown Dave," and

rushed home to try and figure the beast out. Hence, a sampling

addict was bom. I've always been especially fond of using

sampled dmm sounds from different sources and using them to
bring my rhythm tracks to a higher level. Now that I'm the

owner of an EPS-16-(-, it's dead easy to come up with great,

realistic sounding drum tracks, and with the manipulation
capabilities available to me, I've discovered some other, more

unusual tricks to make my sounds stand out from the rest. So,
this time out, I'm going to share some more tricks you can use

with your drum sounds and tracks to make them stand out.

Add Some Delay

For such a simple effect, digital delay can add much to any
type of track. While it's often used on synth sounds and vo

cals, it seems that beyond a little slapback echo, it's rarely

used with drums. I've found that one of the best ways to come

up with a fresh sound is to find something that is almost never

done by anyone else and do it. In other words, if it's some
thing that people generally avoid doing, mess around with it a

while, and try to shape into something musically useful; you
may come up with the next big trend throughout the recording

industry!

For those of you with the FPS-16-(-, boot up your OS and load

your favorite drum sound, although I'd suggest for this ex
ample, you use the TR-808 since this is sort of a dancey effect

we'll be using now. Press the FFFECTS SFLFCT button and

scroll to the DUAL DELAYS. As it defaults, this delay is ideal
for beats around the range of 120 BPM, but you have some

flexibility. Go to your sequencer and program a simple beat

around 124 BPM with the kick playing on the 1, 2, 3, and 4 of
each measure, and the snare playing only on 2 and 4. You
should notice that the delays create the illusion of "grace"

notes to your beat and have made even this simple, cliched
beat sound fresh and exciting.

Now, obviously, you should experiment with other rhythms

21

and listen to how the delays can liven them up when they're in
time with the music. You can come up with some incredibly

complex rhythms this way and yet it's so easy to do. It seems

hard to believe that more people don't use this trick. When you
wish to use this effect in a piece of a different tempo, you're

going to have to delve into reprogramming the delay times on

the effect, but that's beyond the scope of this article right now.

Maybe someone could draw up a nice chart of BPMs and their
corresponding delay times? Of course, you don't have to have

delays on all the drum sounds in your kit, you can use the ef

fects routing on the AMP page so that some sounds are dry

and only the kick, snare, or hi hats are delayed. This is actually
probably a pretty good idea because it's real easy to clutter

things up with all those echoes bouncing aroimd in there.

teners' direction every now and then. One way to keep them
interested is to add unusual percussion to your basic drum

track. Now I don't mean the rare Zambian Chicken Gong or
anything like that. I mean, use something that isn't a drum by

any stretch of the imagination and turn it into one. For ex

ample, I recently purchased a CD of sound effects to sample

from for this very purpose. On it were the obligatory "breaking
dishes" sounds. By sampling one of them and trimming off all

but the impact part of the sound and doing a little pitch trans

position, I was able to shape it into a great electronic snare
sound, not unlike the one in Fine Young Cannibal's "She

Drives Me Crazy." That ticking clock sound became a great hi

hat. And the knife sharpening sound made a great metallic per

cussion sound.

And Speaking of Delays...

You've all tried the neat "preverb" effect described in section

6-17 in the EPS-16+ manual, haven't you? Well, guess what?

Doing the same thing with delays sounds pretty cool too. Try it

out!

Son of Backwards

And you've probably tried turning individual drums sounds

around backwards (and if not, some of the factory disks make

use of this as a patch select), but why stop there? Set up a

backwards layer and a forwards layer and set up a patch select

that'll play both layers at once. On some shorter sounds, this

doesn t sound all that unusual, but on other sounds, you can

get some pretty weird effects that might just be what your
drum track needs to stand out. Try setting the PAN of the

backwards layer to -99 and the PAN of the forward layer to

+99 for some interesting stereo movement in the sound.

And Speaking of Panning...

We've all heard a hundred times how much the panning of in
dividual wavesamples can add to a drum set, and it certainly

does make your song sound a lot more professional. When I'm
setting up the position of my percussion sounds in the stereo

field, I try to visualize that I'm sitting in front of a drum set.

Then I go through to each individual wavesample and place

them in relation to my mental picture of the drum set, i.e., the

kick is right in the center, the snare is a little to the left, the hi

hats are further left, my toms go from left to right, one crash is

slightly to the right, etc.

Subtlety is the key here. Try to avoid using either of the ex
tremes in the field for more realistic effects. Of course, there's

no reason you have to do it this way, but if it works in the real

world, chances are it'll work on your sampled drums, too.

And Speaking of Transposition...

Changing the pitch of drum and percussion samples is perhaps

the easiest way to get a wide variety of new sounds from what

you already have. When you transpose down, an a-go-go be
comes an anvil and a snare becomes an explosion. By

transposing up, you can turn your John Bonham Snare-

From-The-Nether-Regions sample into a punchy drum
machine sound. The bonus here is, that the sound quality of

sounds that are transposed up is better, too. In fact, if you have
access to a variable speed tape recorder, you should try slow

ing the sound you want to sample way down when you sample

it, and then use your pitch page to transpose it back to its

original pitch. Yes, it uses up more memory, but if you're
going for quality, this is the way to go. My favorite example of

the transposition trick was done by Depeche Mode on their in

strumental "Kaleid," which readers can find as the B-side to

their "Po^cy Of Truth" single. In this song, there's an unusual

percussion line that sounds like a combination between a cow

bell and a percussive bull-roarer. Then, one day whilst sam
pling a sound off a CD, I discovered how they did it. The

sound was simply a sample of the world famous Tibetan

monks chanting played an octave above the original pitch in a
rhythmic fashion. Try it out yourself, it a pretty cool sound,

and if you haven't ever heard the amazing vocal feats these
monks perform, you owe it to yourself to try and find a CD or

cassette of it. It'll blow your mind, guaranteed.

So there's just a few little tips to get you thinking. With the

flexibility of the EPS-16+, the possibilities are virtually limit,
less. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to coax great rhy

thms and drum sounds out of this

beast if you just experiment a while.
And hey, when you come up with a

cool cymbal sound by transposing the

sound of a tomato up 500 octaves, let

us hear about i t! m

The "What in Tarnation is That?" Trick

In electronic music today, the sounds you use are at least as
important as the music they're playing (sometimes a little too

much so...), so it's important to throw a surprise in the lis

Bio: Tom Shear is not only the presi

dent of Hair Club for Men, he's a

client.

22

Classifieds

EQUIPMENT

EPS 2X Expander $70. Yamaha SPX-90 FX
processor $450. ART SGE Super-Effector

$400. All in VGC w/manuals. (716) 828-

1309.

Craig And erton is having a mail-order
"garage sale." MIDI gear, signal processors,

dr um m ac hi nes, r ec ording e quipment,
electronic components, etc. Send self-

addressed, stamped envelope for complete
listing to: PO Box 966, Uldah, CA 95482.

SAMPLES

B I G M I R A G E S A M P L E B L O W O U T ! T h e

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homs, much morel Get 'em while they last!

Minotaur Studios, 52 State St., Canton, NY

13617.

MIRAGE SAMPLES. 57 new samples for

$30. Most are unusual. 5 disks, $6 each (US

funds). Demo $3. SASE for free listing. Tree-

house Sound, PO Box 18563, Boulder, CO

8 03 08 - 8 56 3.

New 16-bit samples from Tom Shear! Now
available: Minimoog Collection - 3 disks, 27
sounds, all with patch selects. Oberheim Col

lection - 3 disks, 26 sounds. Each 3-disk set

only $15. Professional quality at PD prices.

Wr it e f or so und li st (in cl ude S ASE ): Tom

Shear, 255 Small Rd., Syracuse, NY 13210.

Trade sounds by mail. I have over 1.6 million
blocks (800 MB) library. Great PD and

homemade! Craig Duncan, PO Box 83164,
Los Angeles, CA 90083. Phone: 310-645-

4181.

EPS Samples: Disks of Bolivian and Indian
instruments, invented instruments, prosaic

sounds, and the Recycle Orchestra. 9 Disks,
77 sounds, 308 patch selects: only $36. Bill

Sethares, 622 N. Henry St., Madison, WI

53703. You haven't heard these before!

Mirage samples: Plus moving wavesamples

all over. 7 sounds in one bank, much more.

Listings: $1.00. Demo tape: $6.00 (includes
listings). Mr. Wavesample, 162 Maple Place,

Key por t , N J 0 7 735 . 9 0 8-2 64- 3 512 . M a ke
checks payable to Jack C. Loesch.

ECCENTRIC SAMPLES (Mirage and EPS).

Ethnic, Ancient Greek, Medieval instru

ments; Partch creations; Industrial Percussion

& more. Mirage demo tape: $3. EPS demo
tapes (Vol. II or Vol. Ill): $6 each. U.S. funds

only. Demo tapes include disk list. For lists
alone , se nd S ASE to: NIGHT WIND Soun d,

170 Mar Monte Ave., La Selva, CA 95076.

S UP E RB E P S- 1 6 P L U S S A M PL E S o f E -m u

Procussion, Minimoog, K-4, and more, from
the Hacker's Sam Mims, $9.95 per disk.

Post-production quality sound effects sam
ples for EPS-16 Plus, all from digital source

recordings, $5.95 per disk, $5.45 each for six
or more. Mirage Disk 1, samples from Mini

moog, DX-7, and VFX, for $7.95. Send
SASE for free listing to: Syntaur Productions,

2315 Mid Lane #44, Houston, TX 77027, or
call [phone].

PATC HE S/SOUND S

N E W S D - 1 s o u n d s f r o m E r i c O l s e n ! V ol u m e

3 an d Vol um e 4 a re n ow a va il ab le . K il le r o r

gans, shimmering EP's, punchin' basses, and
wavesequences!! $25.00 each. Send check or

money order to: Pegasus Sounds, 6050 Ada­way Ct., Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Phone:

[phone]. (Updated VFX-sd or SD-1
only.)

I h ave a b an k o f 60 s ou nds t o t rad e. V FX- sd

disk. James Samp, 90 N Bell St., Fond Du

Lac, WI 54935.

Wanted: VF X/ SD -1 an d S Q- 80 so un ds fo r
trade. Also interested in sounds for Matrix 6,

TX81Z, and Wavestation. [phone].

I'm a new Hacker subscriber in desperate
need of a good acoustic/grand piano patch for

a VFX. I'm hoping someone has developed a
patch that is better than the "Classic Piano"

available with the VFX. If so, please call me
at [phone]. Leave phone number, I'll

call you back. Thanks.

VFX, VFXsd, SD-1 OWNERS. Volume 1:
62 PD sounds, 20 presets, $12.50 disks. Lat

ter Sound Productions, 1341 Westheaven Ct,

Tallah assee, FL 3 2310- 86 29. Phone: (904)

575-5561.

60 VFX-sd patches created by Jim Grote.
Wide variety of sounds with complete

d o c u me n t a t i o n . C a l l f o r f r e e I n f or ma ti o n

Packet, or send $30 for VFX-sd disk to: Jim
Gr ot e, 37 21 Frances A ve ., Ci nc in na ti , OH

45211. Phone: [phone].

NEW SQ- 8 0 S OUN D S f rom the Hac k er' s

Sam Mims! Soundset 4 takes full advantage
of the SQ-80's unique waveforms, and brings

"h id de n w av ef orms" t o t he SQ -8 0 f or th e
first t ime. Al so a va ilable for t he E SQ and

SQ-80 are Soundsets 1, 2, and 3. Forty

patches per set, each with 22-page booklet of
programming notes and performance tips, for

$17.95. Send SASE for free literature. Syn

taur Productions, 2315 Mid Lane #44, Hous
ton, TX 77027, or caU [phone].

SOFTWARE

The Complete Synthesizer and Sampler
Database Program. BLUEBOOK is the

comprehensive informational database cover

ing MIDI and pre-MIDI synthesizers and

samplers for the past 20 years. Excellent for
checking out used gear or the latest manufac

turer's release. Specify Mac or IBM formats.
FREE updates! Send check/money order for

$21.95 payable to Summit Computer Ser

vices, 129 E. Colorado Blvd. Suite 400-T,
Mon rov ia, CA 91016.

Oview/VFX for IBM. Synth programmer.
New in box - unused. Cost $140, price $110

obo + shipping. PO Box 1582, Ft Bragg, CA

95437. Phone: [phone].

Mldlcaster is still available. The way-cool
operating system that turns your Mirage into

a very capable System Exclusive data

librarian, a 20,000-note sequence player, a

disk copier/formatter, and wave-draw syn

t hes iz er i s s ti ll a va il ab le f or a l im it ed t im e.

For mo re informati on , or to or der, co nt act

Tim Ma rt in, 15 10 S 5th W, Mi ss ou la, MT

59801. Phone: [phone] And thank you
for your support

O UT -O F ' P R I N T B AC K I S S U ES

M.U.G. will provide Out-of-Print issues for
cost of materials and postage. M.U.G. Hot

l in e : 2 1 2 - 46 5 - 3 4 3 0 o r w r i te : G -4 P ro d u c

tions, PO Box 615TH, Yonkers, NY 10703.
Attn: TH Back Issues. Phone: (212) 465-

3430.

Photocopies of out-of-print past issues of the
Hacker can be obtained by calling Jack

Loesch, 201- 264-3512 after 6 pm EST.

Folks in the New York City area can get

copies of unavailable back issues of the

HackerJordan Scott, 212-995-0989.

F R EE C LA S SI F I ED S I

Well—within limits. We're offering free
classified advertising (up to 40 words) to all

subscribers for your sampled sounds or
patches. Additional words, or ads for other

products or services, are 25 cents per word
per issue (BOLD type: 45 cents per word).

Un less r en ew ed, fr ee bi e ad s are r em ov ed

after 2 issues. While you're welcome to resell
copyrighted sounds and programs that you no

longer have any use for, ads for copies of

copyrighted material will not be accepted.

Sorry — we can't take ad dictation over the

phone!

23

$Q-1/2 & K$-32 Hackerpatch

Jeffrey Rhoads

Prog: JET SOUND

Notes: None

W A V E 1 2

Select Voice O 3

Wave C lass

Wave

De lay Ti me
Wav e D ir ect ion

Start Index

MODSCR

MODAMT

Restrk Decay 02

PITCH

Octave

Semitone

Fine

ENV1

LFO

MODSCR

MODAMT 0

KBD Ptch Track

Glide Off

Glide Time 0

:NV1 1

Initial

Peak

Break

Sustain

Attack

Decay 1

Decay 2 00

Release

Vel- Lev el

Vel- Att ack

Vel Curv e

Mode
KBD Track

Inharmonic-

NoiseLoop*

0

.

0

0

0

0

+01

LFO

On

00

99

99

99

41

00

00

00

00

Linear

Normal
00

g o«

2 3

LFO

LFO Speed

Noise Rate 00

Level

Delay 46

MODSRC

Wave

Restart

FILTER

Fi lt er 1

F il te r 2

FC1 Cutoff

ENV2

FC1 KBD +54

MODSCR

MODAMT -30

FC2 Cutoff

ENV2

FC2 KBD

FC1MOD-FC2

;nv2

Initial 77
Peak

Break 71

Sustain 62
Attack

Decay 1
Deca y 2

Release

Vel- Lev el 13

Vel- Att ack 40
Vel Curv e

Mode

KBD Track

37

09

Wheel

TrI

On

2Lo

2HI

054

+13

Timbr e

044

+21

+99

Off

1 2

99

23

45

77

32

Linear

Normal

0

By: Jack Carder

AMP

Initial 97

Peak 99

Break

Sustain

Attack 06

Decay 1 50

Deca y 2

Release 26

Vel- Lev el

Vel- Att ack 06

Vel Curv e

Mode

KBD Track

OUTPUT

VOL

Boost

MODSRC LFO

MODAMT 0

KBD Scale 0

Key Ra nge

3

Output Bus
Priority

Pan 0
Vel windo w

EFFECTS-

CHORUS AN D REVE RB

FX-1

FX-2

Dec ay t ime

HF Damping

C h or u s R a t e

Chorus Depth

89

75

45

13

Quik

Normal

0

91

On

FX1

Med

0

15

C h or u s C e n t e r

15

Feedback 0

31

C h or u s L e ve l 53

40

MOD (Dest)

20 BY (MODSRC)

20 MODAMT

50

FXI-MIx
Pedal

0

The Hack: Okay, okay, with a bit of work we'd have a

passable "Jet Sound" here, but with with even a bit more

work we've got a nice "Thunderous Spring Shower." Follow

the bouncing Noise Loop: In the Pitch Section make good the

thunder by striking a C2-C3 octave. Yeah, this patch is out of

season but it may sound really good after the snow starts

falling.

LFO by setting LFO=+35, MODSRC=LFO, and MOD­AMT=+13. Go to the LFO Section and change LFO SPEED

to 22, LEVEL to 50 and DELAY to 13. In the Filter Section

adjust ENVELOPE2 to +33. Enable the Wheel by setting

MODSRC to WHEEL. Let the MODAMT be about +15.

Then change FC2 CUTOFF to 024 (just a little less of an

edge) and ENVEL0PE2 to +21. Finally, in the Amp Section,
DECAY 1 should now be 45 and DECAY2=33. Now, push the

Mod Wheel up about half way. Create the rain by striking C6.
Let the envelope follow completely through! Bring in the

boardist/composer on the Philadel

phia Jazz and R + B scene for a
period of time resembling forever.

He has an interest in cinema and has

developed some film courses. Jeff

still believes in magic and longs for

BBio: Jeffrey Rhoads has been a key

city lights.

Jejfrey Rhoads

Hackerpatch is intended to be a place where patch vendors can show their wares and musicians can share their goodies and impress their

coiL?rr ' published here, it's free for all. Please don't submit patches that you know to be minor tweaks of copyrighted
S n r o ™ r b ^ r m m T c o n s i d e r a t i o n f o r m u t i l a t i o n

Pending Hacker-Requests: VFX/SD-1 - A piano patch better than the standard "Classic Piano."

SQ-1 & 2/KS-32 - A "Harmon" muted trumpet sound, like "Miles Davis" sound.

ESQ/SQ-80 - Patch sheets for the Heaven patches that were released to public domain.

24

SD & VFX Hackerpgtch

SD & VFX Prog: Pipe Organ

By: Kirk Slinkard, Lakewood, CO

NOTES:

THE HACK: My comments are about the same as Kirk's: I mostly played a bunch of
musical notes. This is a great patch, with some nice bottom end rumble, some wailing
pipes, and a beautiful cathedral reverb effect. It was a challenge to find anything to hack!

My only real suggestion is to change the ** patch select. The woodwind sound alone

didn't do much for me. I like the idea, though, of having a sparse sound to contrast the

S a m M i m s

big 00 patch select. My favorite choice was the pipe organ sound of
Voice 6; the organ of Voice 3 is also nice, especially in the lower

register. Adjust the Decay parameter on the first Effects page if you need

to change the "size" of your cathedral, and let the pipes singi

Sam Mims is currently touring with Malaysian vocalist Zainal Abidin. He
lives in Houston, where he runs Syntaur Productions, a music production
company that also markets sounds for Ensoniq keyboards.

SELECT VOICE

- Sa m M i ra s

WAVES

Wave

Wave Class

Delay

Start

MODSRC

MODAMT

J 2 3 4 5 6

Voc al-X Wood win d O rg an-V.1 O rgan-V.1 Wo odw ind P IpeOrga n

T ra n s wa v e W av e f o rm W av e f o rm W av e fo r m W a v ef o r m W av e f or m

000 000 000 000 000 000

99

Off

M OD M IX E R

SRC-1

SRC-2

SRC-2 Scale

SRC-2 Shape

ITCH 1 2 3 4 5 6

Octave +0 +3

Semitone +00 +00 +00 +00 + 0 0 - +00
Fine -05

Pitch Table

System System System System System System

+05 +00 +03 +04 -02

+2 +0 +0 +0

ENV1

Initial
Peak

B re ak 1

B re ak 2

_%i8taln_

Attack

Decay 1
Decay 2
Decay 3

Release

KBlffrack"

Vel Cur ve

Mode
Vel- Lev el

Vel- Att ack

.25

:nv3 1 2

Initial 50 50 50 50

Peak 99 99 99 99 99

Br eak 1 99 99 99 99 99 99
B re ak 2

Sustain

Attack

Decay 1
Decay 2
E^ca y 3

Release 25 11 13 31 19 13

KBD Track +00 +00 +00 +00 +00 +00

Vel C urve

Mode Norm Norm Norm Norm Norm
Vel- Lev el 00

Vel- Att ack 00 00 00 00 00 00

99 99 99 99 99 99

99 99 99 99 99 99

07 01 03 04 06 02

00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00

P G M C ON T R O L

Pitch Table Off

Bend Range
Delay

Restrlke 00

Glide Time 00

••

X1

E F F E CTS ( 2)

Rate 17

Depth
Delay

Mod +00

Mod

Mix 36

33

43

+00

3 4 5 6

50 50

-

00 00 00 00 00

E F F E CTS ( 1)

Effect C h or us + R ev er b .1

Decay

FX1 36

FX2 00

60

EFFECTS (3)

Waves hape

MODSRC Off
HF-Cut

PERFORMANCE

Timbr e

Release +00
Pressure

Sine

Off

00

None

99

00

Norm

The Interface

Letters for The Interface may be sent to any of the foUowing addresses:
U.S. Mail - The Interface, Transoniq Hacker, 1402 SW Upland Dr., Portland, OR 97221

mectronic mail - GEnie Network: TRANSONIQ, CompuServe: 73260,3353, Internet (via CS): [e-mail].
This is probably one of the most operi forums in the music industry. Letter writers are asked to please keep the vitriol to a minimum. Readers are

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

Dear Friends at the Hacker,

Having spent a bit of time putting the

ASR-10 through its paces, I've come

across an anomaly which causes me a bit
of concern. Since I have a '16+ and I used

to have an EPS, I have a pretty big library

of samples made on those instruments.

I've discovered that the ASR-IO will only

load about half of the disks I've tried with

it. It will usually display a "disk not for

matted" message, but will sometimes dis

play the files but not be able to load them.

This doesn't seem to happen with Ensoniq

disks, only the disks that I have made. I

will sometimes make, format and copy my
disks on an Atari 1040ST, which may be

part of the problem, but it will also reject

disks formatted on the 'I6+. All the disks I
have are compatible with all the EPS and

'16+ samplers they've come in contact
with. This has never been a problem

before. I am concerned about getting rid of

my '16+ and finding a disk I need at some
later date to be incompatible.

I also tried to find a way to dump a '16+

sample into the ASR over MIDI. I'm sure

such a thing is possible, but I can't find

out how to do it in either manual. Any in

formation on how to do this?

Thanks again for a great magazine and a

great source of information.

Barry Carson

Mi nota ur S tu d ios

Canton, NY

[CS - While there is no way to directly

dump samples via MIDI from the EPS-I6+
to the ASR-IO (or vice-versa) you can

dump samples via MIDI (or SCSI - much
quicker) into a number of computer-based

sample-editing programs such as Alchemy
or Sound Designer. As far as the problem

of loading EPS-I6+ samples on the

ASR-IO, that's a new one on me — you

might want to contact Ensoniq Customer

Service and let them have ,a crack at it. In

the meantime, try loading the samples in

question into the EPS-16+, then re-saving

them onto disks that have been formatted

on the ASR-IO.]

[Ensoniq - This sounds like a possible
drive alignment problem. Please contact

Ensoniq Customer Service so we can better
help you.]

[TH - If it is a alignment problem, make
sure you've got some other way of reading

your disks lined up BEFORE anyone

"fixes" your alignment or you might have

trouble reading them on your present sys

tem.]

Dear TH,

Was it only us or were other readers con

fused/lost by the article, "Keeping RAM

Files In Order"? We hope Mr. Cherniaw­sky could contact us and help make sense

out of his article. We invent the products

and we don't recognize how it relates to

anything we've ever made.

Sincerely,
Ensoniq Customer Service

[CS — It took me a couple of read-throughs
(RTs) to figure out that Mr. Cherniawsky's

article was meant to illustrate a way to
keep synthesizer files organized by replac

ing unwanted sounds (UWSs) with sounds
to use for performing (programmed

sounds, in his terminology) or sequencing.
I agree it was a bit confusing (lAIWABC).]

[John Cherniawsky replies -1 will respond

by saying two things:

1. I was inspired to write the article,

"Keeping RAM Files in Order," by work

ing with my SQ-R.

2. I will offer a brief analogy, because

retracing the steps laid out in the article
would be too tedious to be believed. The

analogy: Imagine you have a bookshelf

filled end to end with books. The books fall

into three categories - those you have

read, those you would like to read, and

those you would not like to read. If you

can sort out these books and keep them

separate, you may have better luck under
standing my original article.]

Dear Hacker readers,

I own an SQ-R Plus that has been giving
me headaches since May, '92 and I need

help/advice from anyone who might have
had the same problem - noisy outputs. Turn

the unit on and it is quiet as a mouse. Send

it a MIDI note-on and the noise floor go up
approximately 15 - 20 db (according to my

tech) and stays there until you either shut
the unit off or send it a program change at

which point it is again quiet as a mouse.

Ensoniq has told me that this is normal and

a result of the ESP chip being activated

when it receives the first note-on. I am

using the SQ-R Plus at levels consistent

with my other gear, not at or near maxi

mum. The bottom line it that I am unable to

use this unit in the studio and it is very

noticeable in li ve si tuation s as well.

I would like to correspond with anyone

having the same or similar problem with an

SQ-R Plus as this will help in my dealings

with Ensoniq.

Sincerely,
Tim Hayden

3843 Priest Lake Dr

Nashville, TN 37217
[phone]

[CS - Personally, I have had very little

problem with noise on the SQ-R Plus.

Though it's not as quiet as the SD-1 or

ASR-IO, it is well within acceptable noise

levels for my purposes (digital recording).

You may be aware of this already, but I

think it bears mentioning anyway. You'll

find that you can minimize noise on most

synths and samplers if you keep the instru
ment volumes up at a healthy level and ad

just the volume at your mixer or amplifier

to achieve appropriate listening or record
ing levels. In other words, if you have a

track on the SQ-R Plus whose individual

volume is set fairly low, and!or you have

the SQ-R Plus master volume set fairly low,

you're bound to get some noise.]

[Ensoniq - This is a situation we have been

26

talking to Mr. Hayden about directly, and
all we can add at this point is that the

noise that he describes we (and most of
our customers!dealers) find less intrusive
and within the acceptable limits of music

making. The best way to minimize sig­na l-to- noise p rob lems on a ny o f our

products is to be sure to keep the master

volume set to full and to adjust the track
volumes as desired.]

D e a r T H :

Here's a quandary for the legal experts out
there. I have been creating drum loops on
the EPS-16 Plus using a variety of legally

purchased '16 Plus and EPS "Classic" in
struments as source material. I hope to de

velop a series of drum loop instruments
and market them. I might be inclined to

copyright the sounds, but I'm not sure

whether it would be legal or prudent.

Queries:

1. What laws govern how I can use another

company's copyrighted sounds to create
soimds of my own?

2 . A r e t h e r e l o c a l a n d f e d e r a l l a w s t h at

come into play for national distribution?

3. What's the trend in distributing drum

loops? Should they be copyrighted and

t h e n s o l d w i t h a l i c ense f o r u n limi t e d u s e ?

Should they not be copyrighted at all?

4. If I incorporate in the loops sounds I
created on my Roland D-50, do I have to

worry about any laws protecting Roland
for sounds created using their synthesis ar

chitecture?

5. If a sampled drum kit instrument were

d e r i v e d f r o m a d r u m m a c hi ne i n t h e fi r s t

place (like the TR-808 kit that comes with

the 16 Plus), wouldn't the copyright issue

be moot?

Or has Roland sold some rights to Ensoniq
to sample and sell the instrument?

Does Ensoniq have the right to "copy
right" the instrument?

Does this copyright cover the underlying
soimd or the recording of the sound?

It seems a lot of companies offer samples
of specific synthesizers. There are also a
lot of drum loop CDs out there. Any idea

how these companies dea l with using

another company's sounds? I would find it

difficult to believe that all those com

panies offering drum loops actually create

the underlying sounds.

I know I've thrown a lot at you, but I think

I ' ve c ove r e d m o s t o f t he i s s u e s r el ati v e t o

copyrighting samples. Guess I just need a
primer on sample copyright law!

Thanks,

Gary A Rees
Chicago, IL

[TH - We're passing this on to Tom Mc
Caffrey since he wrote an excellent article

on copyrights for us in Issue #69.]

[Tom McCaffrey responds - Well, this is

an interesting twist. If I understand cor

rectly, you're using EPS samples in a
musical performance (an individual drum

loop composition), which you'd then like

to record and sample for inclusion in an
EPS instrument. The copyright issues here
are all covered under the federal copyright

laws as maintained by the Copyright Of

fice of the Library of Congress. I'm not

aware of any related local laws, but check

with an attorney in your area. What makes

this interesting is that in this case, the

laws for sample copyrights, synthesizer

patch copyrights, and sound recordings all

come into play.

Here's the crux of the issue; The Library

of Congress permits copyright registration
of a musical composition, but not of a

single sound. They also permit registration
of the data values that make up a par

ticular synthesizer patch, but not the sound
that is produced by the patch. Thus, a

sound coming from your Roland D-50 can

not be copyrighted, although its patch data

can be. Using your example, Ensoniq did

not need permission from Roland to

sample a TR-808; likewise, you shouldn't

need to worry about sampling sounds from

your D-50 or using them in your musical

compositions. If this were the case, I sup

pose Roland would own an interest in just

about every TV soundtrack and CD that's

c o m e o u t s inc e 1 986 !

A drum loop is a musical composition, al

beit a short one. It is possible for you to
write a score for your loops and it is likely

you will record them onto tape before sam

pling them. If you want to copyright your

loops, it would be a good idea to both

score them out and record them to tape.

You can then submit your scores and your

recordings as a "sound recording" using

the Copyright Office Form SR. You can in

clude multiple loops under one form. Once
you have created your EPS instrument

files, you can also copyright these by sub

mitting a Copyright Form PA. You'll have

to include your EPS disk along with data
sheets listing all patch parameters in

cluded in each instrument.

The other side of the coin is that if the
source material you are using was pre

viously copyrighted (for example, if it was

sampled from your Kid N' Play record),
then sampling a portion of their composi

tion generally equals infringement. Under

certain conditions, a "sampling license"
can be obtained from the copyright owner,

which al lows ano ther artist t o include suc h

samples in their recordings.

A rule of thumb is that if the sample in
question is of an individual sound you're

probably safe, but if it is a portion of some

composition, you're probably not. The

bottom line is to use care and judgement

M O N S T E R D A N i s h o t t e r t h a n e v e r w i t h

h u n dr ed s o f s e l e c t io ns f r o m t h e ' 5 0s t o

this week's chart for your ESQ-1, SQ-

80. VFX -sd, or SD-1 — also ROLAND,

MACINTOSH and IBM. Data includes

sequences, drum patterns, patches and
programmed mix. Demanding profes

si on al s agree t ha t M ON ST ER TR AC KS

incredibly detailed arrangements are
the greatesti Convincing demo avail

able.

N ow o n G S S t an da r d !

Get your originals sequenced !

MONSTER TRACKS

P . O . B o x 7 1 9 1

Eugene, OR 97401

503-683-7115

Instrument names are trademarks of Ensoniq Corporation.

27

whenever you don't know the source of a
sample. If you have any questions, you can

contact the Copyright Office in Wash

ington, DC.]

DearTH,

I have the EPS Classic (4x) and an Atari

1040 STE (4 Megs). Do you have a list of

software for this particular configuration?
Any info will definitely be appreciated.

A1 Trautman

Lydia, LA

[CS - Not being much of an Atari user, I'm
afraid I can't be a great deal of help. But

if anyone out there markets software for

this configuration, drop me a line and
maybe I'll give you a free plug in these

pages! (You have to promise not to tell my

editor, though.)]

[Ensoniq - What type of software are you

looking for? Without more information this

is very hard to answer, but we'll try.

Sequencing - EMAGIC makes a fine pro
gram, Notator, that we're fond of (a
shameless plug, we know).

Sample editing - Interval Music makes

Genwave, which works with your setup.

Parameter editing - there was a program

out of Australia called EZE, by Gelva Soft

ware, but we're not sure if they are still in

existence.]

]TH - As far as we know, Gelva Software
has dropped out of sight. The best places

we've found for discussion and ads for this
type of software are the Atari magazines

rather than the music magazines. Check

with your Atari dealer - and be sure to ask

about European magazines - that's where

most of the action is for Atari.]

Dear Interface,

I use my EPS in conjunction with my

Atari ST computer and Cubase 2.01 se
quencer program. It's an amazing key

board because I'm never lim ited to a small

library of sounds. Below I've listed some
problems that I've incurred with the EPS

that for the life of me I can't figure out. I

hope you guys have some answers.

1. From time to time, when the sequencer
is ruiming, the keyboard will hang and an

error message saying ERROR 018 RE

BOOT will be displayed on the EPS.

2.1 invested in the Maartist SCSI card for

my EPS and purchased an Apple Macin

tosh h ard d i sk. T he i n tern al d ri v e i s a

Rodime. I conn ec ted th e ha rd disk t o th e

EPS with a 50-pin Centronic to 25-pin
RS232 cable. The unit works perfectly.

Unfortunately, I've got an aimoying high
pitched whine over my audio output when

ever I turn on the hard disk. I tried to dis-

coimect the cooling fan in the hard disk,

thinking it was causing some kind of inter

ference, but the problem still exists.

3.1 was at my local music shop checking
out some new EPS samples when someone
showed me those amazing patch select but

tons on the left side of the keyboard. Wow,

I couldn't believe all the extra sounds I got

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Why not give L. B, Music a try and see why so many people

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Ensoniq: EPS/EPS-16 PLUS/VFX-sd/SD-1/32

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Roland: MC50/300/500

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28

by pressing these buttons. My problem is
how can I get the sequencer to do this

while playing a song?

Sincerely,

Loreto Manni CET

Toro nt o , O nt ari o

Canada

[CS - 1) The error code number you
describe doesn't necessarily say anything

specific about what the difficulty might be,

and I think I'd have to actually see how

you work before I'd have a shot at diag

nosing your problem. You might try giving

Ensoniq Customer Service a call - they

can be pretty swift when it comes to track

ing down this sort of thing.

2) I have heard that some people have had
success with eliminating this type of noise

by lifting the ground on the hard drive. I
cannot recommend doing this, though, as

it may pose a safety hazard.

3) Patch select data can be recorded into a

sequence in a couple of ways. The easiest

is simply to activate the patch select you
want to use once the sequence is in record
mode - you can do this whil e you're

recording a track, or you can overdub the

patch select information with the sequence

i n A D D o r L O O P ED m o d e . Yo u c ou l d

even overdub the patch select information
onto another track, and then merge it with
the original track.

If you're using an EPS-I6 Plus, you can

also insert patch select data in event edit
mode. Scroll to the point in the sequence

where you want the patch select to occur,
then scroll once to the left to move to the
EVENT TYPE page, set the event type to

P S P A T C H- S L , a n d h i t E N T E R . T h e

EPS-I6 Plus will ask if you want to IN

SE RT or DEL ET E a n e ven t - ma ke sur e

that INSERT is selected (underlined), and
hit ENTER. This will insert a patch select
command into the sequence at the current

location. You'll also need to specify which

patch select you want. Scroll once to the

right to move back into the event list - you
should find your patch select event - it will

show up as PS=XXX. For the 00 patch (no

patch buttons pressed), set this to PS=0;

for the OX patch (the right patch button

pressed), set this to PS=32; for the XO
patch (the left patch button pressed), set

this to PS=64; and for the XX patch (both

patch buttons pressed), set this to PS=

127.]

Dear TH,

I have a couple of questions for the people

at Ensoniq;

1. Have you forgotten about your original
customers? Instead of all these fancy new

samplers, how about a new OS for the

Mirage with 16-bit stereo sampling for

us?

2. Could you please publish all the specs
on any musical equipment you now have
under development? It would be very spe
cial of you to do that for me.

3. Just kidding! I love this kind of letter so
much, I wanted to write one myself.

AFA

S am P ie r

New York, NY

[CS - Clark Salisbury is on sabbatical to
Las Vegas. This column will resume in two

years.]

[Ensoniq - Oh, you're just kidding - and
we were just ready to do it, too!]

[TH - Yeah, right.]

TH:

I read the Hacker religiously and it seems
I'm in the same boat as many of your sub

s c r ib er s - I a m a n E P S - 1 6+ o w n er. H ow

ever, my concern and questions may be
slightly different.

First, I don't understand how Ensoniq can
manufacture the ASR-10 (which appears

to be a dream come true) with the same

memory capacity as an EPS-16+ equipped
with 2X memory expander, more effect al

gorithms, more polyphony and stereo sam
pling c a p a b i l i t y, f or s o minimal a n

increase in price. Has Ensoniq removed or
altered any features on the ASR-10 to keep

c os t s d o wn ?

Also, upon learning that the ASR-10
works with all existing EPS disks, I ran to

t he l o ca l m u si c s t or e t o c he c k o ut t h e 1 5

e ss e nt i al d i sk s t ha t c om e w it h t he ' 1 6+ . I

found that some patch select buttons and
mod wheel assignments did not work.

Mos t n o t icea b l y, t h e m o d w heel on
MIAMI BRASS, which is usually assigned

to volume for smooth brass swells, had no

effect on the sound at any position. Can
this be easily corrected?

I'd like to thank the Hacker for the many

inspiring and helpful articles and also En
soniq for providing 'The Technology That

Performs." I look forward to using my KS­32 - as soon as it is no longer on back-

order!

Sincerely,

Bob Giovannetti

Alpha, NJ

[CS - I checked out the MIAMI BRASS
sound on the ASR-10, and it worked just

fine. I don't know what might have been

the problem with the one you checked out,
but Ensoniq assures me that all EPS and

E P S - I 6 P l u s s o u n d s s h o u l d w o r k o n t h e

ASR-10, no problem.]

[Ensoniq - No, we haven't removed or al
tered features to reach the price point of

the ASR-10.

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29

new chip designs that allow us to incor

porate more of the features that you re

quest. This efficiency of design is also

happening at the many vendors that we
buy components from, so some costs can

decrease over time. Market demand and

competition can also drive component
costs down over time. (Look at the cost of

HD floppy disks, which were $12 at intro
duction, and now cost about $3!)

are also very sensitive to giving you
the most value for your money, so we don't
add up all the individual features, place a
value on each one and then roll up the
costs. With that approach, the ASR-JO

might be worth $5,000. In fact, it probably

is, but we think you'll be happier (and

more people will buy it) if we keep the

price reasonable.)

Dear Hackerites,

Maybe I am missing something but I have
been disappointed and wondering since I

attended an Ensoniq clinic in the San

Diego area. The Ensoniq rep said that my

desire for a 76-key SDI or EPS-16+ (now

ASR-10) was unusual and very few people

wanted or needed a 76-key board. Is this

true? My friends seem to clamoring for

one.

I told the rep that I wanted a top line board
with 76 keys because my wife plays music
that demands it. She often plays piano
duets with acoustic pianists and 61 keys
does not cut it. The rep's only suggestion

was to buy an SQ-2 or KS-32 (which I do
not care for) and use it along with some

other module. But I told him that was ex

actly what I was trying to avoid - having

to drag my studio gear with me to church
for a couple of numbers. If I wanted to do

that I could try to pack my M8000,
EPS-M. VFX, lOOOPX, mixer. Quad­raverb, computer and BBE-422A in my

car. I could send the family on the bus, I

guess.

As well, I told him it is hard to trade

downward from a VFX to an SQ-2. The
easiest solution for my dilemma is to make

a 76-key SD-1 or ASR-10. But if the rep is

right that is just a dream the Japanese can

fulfill. What do Hacker readers think? Are

61 keys enough for you?

Sincerely,

Keith Barnes, Ensoniq devotee

La Mesa, CA

[CS -As longtime readers of this newslet

ter can attest, if enough of you are vocal

about what you want, Ensoniq is likely to
build it - they really do listen. So if a

76-note version of any of Ensoniq's high­end instruments appeals to you, now's the

time to say so.)

Dear Hacker,

I've been having a couple of strange and

interesting things happen to my Notator/
EPS-16+ system. The first has happened

in odd instances since I hooked the two

together. Every now and them, my EPS
will not sound the notes being generated

by the Notator sequencer. I can point at the

notes on t he s creen and I will hea r th em

and I can play the keyboard itself, but
when I push play or cont (both by key

board commands and mouse pointing)

nothing is heard. The screen still high

lights the notes I should be hearing and the

sequencer clock spins, but no sound. This

happens in the general screen and the edit
(notation) screen. Is this a bug in the EPS?

What is the scoop?

Now for the one that is driving me up the

wall. Sometimes when using Notator (a

program that I have had no trouble with

minus the above problem) it will trash all
the notes on the screen and put them
wherever it wants to. I usually get a warn

ing sign that everything is about to blow

up when I push "E" to take me out of the

edit screen and back to the main page and
up pops a dialog box that says "EXITING

EDIT MODE OK?" When I see that I

know I better save what I have. The prob

lems sometimes occur after I quantize a

track (in the track parameters) or part of a

track. This is exactly where it happened

last time. I made a backup copy of Notator
and it too gives me this headache. Have

you ever heard of this? It is driving me

crazy and made me look like a fool when I

tried to show how great this system is

compared to Finale. Please help me regain

my respect in this town.

Sincerely,

Paul Bissell, Percussion Instructor

La Tech University

[CS -If I were you, Paul, I'd give Ensoniq

Customer Service a call. They've got some

rea l No ta t or w hize s b ac k t h e re - i t' s a

good bet they'll be able to help you out.

Personally, I do all my computing on a
Macintosh, so I have my own set of

problems to worry about. Good luck!)

[Ensoniq - Your letter raises an important

point - we cannot hope to provide cus

tomer service for EMAGIC software in this
column. There are too many issues in
volved to give you timely and informed

help. That's why we have a staff of Cus

tomer Service representatives available on

the phone. Please call us at (215) 647­3930 to allow us to help you.)

Dear Si r,

One thing I would like to draw to your at

tention for the Interface is that in the UK,

RAM cards for the SQ range are priced at
around £80-00 ($45 US). RAM made by
Kawai for their K4 work will in an SQ.

Ju st fo rmat th em as no rm al. T he co st is

around £35-00 ($20 US).

Best regards,
Andrew Brimming

Bristol, England

[CS- How much is that with shipping?)

Dear Hacker,

This is written to Ensoniq, but your
readers will be interested in the response. I

have a later keyboard model Mirage,

Mono D S K -8 w i t h t he e last om er i c f ro n t

panel keypad, S/N 703342.1 am interested

in rack mounting the innards of it as it is
no longer needed as a master keyboard (I
have an EPS-16+). I have operated it
before without the keyboard being plugged
in. Obviously, warranty is of no concern. I
have experience in electronics to the point
I feel comfortable doing this. My question

is, what advice can Ensoniq provide for

me to do this? For instance, proximities of

the power supply to the disk drive? Tips
on mounting the front panel? Terminating
the keyboard connector? Mounting the
Pitchbend and Mod Wheels? Anything you

c a n thin k o f?

Thanks in Advance,

Leigh Smith

Email: [e-mail]

Perth, Western Australia

30

[CS - Kids, don't try this one at home.]

[Ensoniq - While we realize that your
warranty is of little concern to you, we

can't recommend gutting it as you write.

There is too much risk involved in this type

of project for us to support it. What makes
better sense is selling your Mirage and

getting a DMS-8, which solves your prob

lems with no risk.]

[TH - But, on the other hand, if you're just
looking for something to dig into and risk

is your middle name - go for it. Try to do

it in small steps. I'd watch for good air
circulation and be careful with proper

grounding. The mod wheels and panels
and stuff call for mechanical futzing and

HACKER BOOTEEQ

are h andled by "another departme nt."

Just pull the keyboard connector off and

see what happens. More than likely it can

just be left open. If it shuts down, then
you'll have to fool it into thinking there's a

keyboard out there... Of course, if it never
regains consciousness, you have my sin

cere apology.]

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United States.

C o s e s f o r

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