Would an Ensoniq ESQ-1 be a good solution for bass and synth sounds in a home studio?

I came across one I can use for free, and was hoping it would suit my needs.

I'm primarily a guitarist and want to use it for writing songs. I need something to add in workable bass lines for music across a broad range of styles (doom/drone to country and all stops between), and to add interesting flavors in more traditional synth roles. I really love synth and organ tones (hence my penchant for octave, phasing, filters, and stereo panning fx), and hope this will allow me to do some interesting things I would normally try on guitar. That way I can focus the guitar in a more musically experimental vs. noise experimental direction at the same time (read grow as a player).

I eventually plan on picking up a used Mexi J bass to handle bass lines, but hope this will get me through for a while. My first priority is on putting together a seamless fx looping/amp switching solution with a Rocktron Loop 8, a midi foot-board, and a midi amp switcher. It's hard to be inspired when tap-dancing.

I just got ez drummer, am getting to know Reaper, and want to roll this into my system.

Does anyone have any advice as to how I should integrate the synth. Direct through my mic pre, or should I run it through my speaker cab and mic the Celestion G12H30 55 hz models I have. I'd use my 4x6550 class ab tube guitar head. It ought to give it some nice warmth. Considering it's an early digital synth, I am worried it might sound a little sterile. This way I could warm it up and blend the direct sound with the mic sound.

My home recording rig is pretty minimalist.

HP Pentium T3200 dual core laptop

Reaper DAW

EZ drummer + DFH

M-Audio DMP3 two channel mic pre

Behringer () U-Control usb interface

Audio Technica AT202

SM57

I also have two guitar amps for running stereo, a Mesa Tremoverb 2x12 combo, and a KMD XV100SD, that I can utilize. There is also a 4x12 with the G12H30 55 hz models in an x pattern with two Fane AXA12 alnico speakers, and another 2x12 with two EV12L speakers in it.

Any help would be appreciated.

I would record direct except when you want to use the amp colorations as an effect.

It's actually a hybrid of digital and analog circuitry and sounds pretty warm as is.

It is certainly up to snuff for what you need it for, esp. since it's free.

Excellent synth. I would also agree with the above, and record it directly most of the time.

This kind sir is just the kind of positive useful info I was hoping for, thank you very much.

Will it get hot from running, or would putting it on my dresser in the studio space possibly heat up the wood too much if I have a thin blanket under it? I know some electronics generate mondo heat, some nearly none.

I don't have quality monitors, and utilize either my home system with ADS towers and a Yamaha powered surround system, or my Sony MDR V600 headphones for monitoring. Do you think the amp coloration would be beneficial for tones such as the basslines, where I want some of that big tube bass amp feel, or organ tones?

Muchos gracias.

Yes.

The ESQ sounds awesome for bass. And I don't think it will get very hot. Mine never does, and I leave it on a lot.

I often find that ESQs come into people's lives at interesting times. Just because its FREE, don't think of it as being cheap. The may be inexpensive, but they are very, very cool. I honestly think its one of the best sounding synths ever, very original, and very fat. This is a gift from the synth gods.

The ESQ-1s sound anything but sterile. One of the most under rated synths of all time, IMO.

You might want to download the most excellent VST called SQ8L. It can trade patches back and forth with the hardware version. it's a great resource to use to audition patches, and act as a librarian.

Cool, thanks a bunch man.

Can I integrate it with EZ drummer, my Miditzer pipe organ VST, and other pluggins I may add, and if so how complicated would it be?

I get running the audio outs to my dmp-3 and amp, that's easy, but how would I hook it up to my computer to control midi operable plugins and other midi gear and vice versa. Could I have my midi foot board send a command to the ESQ-1 to play a certain loop via a midi program change. Which could use the sounds of the miditzer for the loop, and store it in it's memory?

BTW augerinn, thanks for the headsup on the VST, I'm dropping it into reaper right now.

Can I use my Akai MPD18 to control that until I get space cleared out for the synth, and get any other items I need to integrate it?

Hello,

I don't remember the ESQ being particularly bass-heavy, and I had one when

Ensoniq first switched over to a plastic cabinet (circa 87..?).

Like most 8-bit oscillators of the time, they didn't have a lot of dynamic range, and if you needed additional weight to the tone, you usually used a bit of eq.

The synth does do some very good leads, pads, fx, and some bass patches well. Patrick Leonard (Madonna's producer/keyboardist at the time) used it on her True Blue album, and he described the sound of the ESQ as being mostly overtones, and he used it in conjunction with other analogs.

All synths have a core sound that it doesn't take long to get a sense of.

The ESQ and SQ-80 are quite midrangey (imo); not a lot of the top end sizzle that one normally associates with cem analogs, and not a boomy low end.

It has a fundamental thats somewhat less dominant than most of your non-hybrid synths (which is what P.L. probably meant by mostly overtones).

Oddly enough though it does get some very Moogesque sounds with a degree

of grit and growl from the filter, and the way the audio chain is structured.

Note: It will produce some excellent bass patches, that are not necessarily in line with the synth's overall character, but they require some careful programming that not many people managed to get from the synth, at that time.

One of the few programmers who got those types of bass sounds out of the instrument was Mike Peake. He had outfit known as Technosis back then, and patched some banks for the ESQ. He had a group of bass patches that had plenty of low-end, that were pretty unusual given the non-boomy character of the instrument's bass response. For anyone using the ESQ for bass, I would find that bank (Proselects iirc) and keep it on hand if for no other reason than to demonstrate the quality of bass patches that can be coaxed out an instrument, where bass isn't it's specialty

p.s. many of the 8-bit sounds from early Ensoniq

can also be heard on Michal Urbaniak's "Code Blue".

Bernard Wright played most of the keys:

Michal Urbaniak - "Y-Note"

Michal Urbaniak - "Blues For Pinky"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkz7vbj2tSg&feature=related

Regards,

-L

Am I crazy for thinking you can put samples on this or is that possible?

'

Not unless you do some sort of Mod like that guy did with the DW8000.....

You mean the DSS-1?

Umm,yeah, that too

The ESQ-1 didn't have polyphonic aftertouch, did it? I think it was with the VFX and later when Ensoniq added polypressure, transwaves, and FX, correct? So I'm thinking that the VFX and ASR-10 can duplicate what the ESQ-1 did and also do more. Or do the analog filters make it that much different sounding?

I'm mulling over selling my VFX-SD back onto ebay, so I can get an ASR-10, as they seem everywhere. I want to keep polyAT, and am intrigued with the idea of creating custom transwave patches.

Anyone know if the ASR-10 can take external inputs to its FX engine, and also load new multisamples like home-brewed transwaves? Or is that just the TS-10 that has these features? Thanks, sorry if this is a bit off-topic.

Hello,

No, It was the SQ-80 that first featured polyphonic aftertouch.

Its an expanded version of the ESQ-1, and was Ensoniq's answer

to Roland's D-50.

The Mirage, ESQ-1, and SQ-80 were first-generation sample technology,

(on par with Korg's DW-6000 etc.) as well as Ensoniq's first product generation.

The VFX was the beginning of Ensoniq's second wave of products, or second

generation sample tech (12-bit), on par with synths like Prophet VS.

Its also their first generation of transwave tech.

Their first generation synths were hybrids, wedding lo-fi 8-bit sample tech/digital waveform

generation to a CEM-based anolog audio path.

The second wave of synths from Ensoniq used a fully digital audio chain,

albeit lo-fi samples/waves. They also used non-resonant lowpass and highpass filtering.

The EPS sampler was then after VFX.

irc, someone did produce transwaves for the ASR.

Regards,

l