Ensoniq ESQ-1

[jdt9517]

Does anyone have experience with the Ensoniq ESQ-1?  I got one the other day - for free.  Thought it was DOA.  Took it home, plugged it in, and it worked fine except for it needing a battery and cleaning what was probably a decade or so of dust buildup on it.

Reading about it on the net, it's one of the original wavetable synths.  Old reviews compared it favorably to the Prophet VS.  The stock patches go from really cheesy to amazingly good.  I estimate that the one I have was built around 1986.  Doesn't look like the previous owner(s) attempted to do any programming on it.  The memory contains all stock patches.

Has anybody on this forum had any experience with the ESQ-1?  Just curious of anyone's experience with this instrument.  Is it difficult to program?  Is it worthwhile to learn the instrument?

[chysn]

Has anybody on this forum had any experience with the ESQ-1?  Just curious of anyone's experience with this instrument.  Is it difficult to program?  Is it worthwhile to learn the instrument?

I have tons of experience with the ESQ-1. I used to work for a musical instrument store, and we got used ESQ-1s in all the time, so I played with them quite a bit. You can do a lot worse than getting one for free!

It's definitely worth the time to learn. It can do some interesting sounds, having analog filters and a small wavetable for the oscillators. As I recall, the keyboard is absolute junk. All the ESQ-1 copies that we had, the keyboard was really loose and made loud clunking sounds as you played.

If you've got the studio space for the thing, try it out for a bit.

[MisterHemi]

I've had LOT of experience with the ESQ-1 and SQ-80. My SQ80 is still my main keyboard and I bought it new years ago.

I believe there were a few different keyboards they used. I think it's more standardized on the SQ80 which also has poly pressure.

I would be lost without my SQ80 despite it's age. Feel free to ask any questions as they're both almost identical with a few exceptions such as additional waveforms, floppy disk and an expanded sequencer on the SQ80.

There is also Rainier Buchty's site with other info.

[jdt9517]

Thank you both for your great responses!  What little I have played it, the keyboard feels pretty good.  The keys are tight, not wobbly, and it seems to respond pretty well to pressure.  It sounds like it will be worthwhile for me to explore it further.

MisterHemi, I'll take you up on the offer of answering questions.  I appreciate it.  It will be a little while before I can dig into it as I will be out of town on business the next couple of weeks.  I get what you are saying about being lost without the SQ-80.  I have a 13 year old Yamaha S-90 which is a fantastic keyboard for me.  The keyboard action is the best I have found on any synth.  I even prefer it to the new Montage.   When it dies I will be heartbroken!  But so far, it has remained in excellent health.   

Other than a few scratches, it seems like the synth had very little use.   Now that I know it will be a worthwhile adventure, I'm looking forward to learning the instrument!

[Razmo]

I've had both ESQ-1 and ESQ-m

Both digital hybrids... they have analog CEM filters, but they do NOT have wavetables! it's basically a ROMpler with very short sample snippets, both raw analog waveforms but also stuff from acoustic instruments... it has plenty of free patches on the net, and it has this sort of nice dusty and dirty older analog sound to it as if the chips are overdriven... it does not sound like a DSI synth even though it has CEM chips in it, that's for sure... and it's remarkably deep in it's synthesis engine for a synth of it's age.

[jdt9517]

Thanks Razmo.  I read that the amplifier circuitry was designed to allow overdrive to give analog distortion.  So, you confirmed that aspect from real life use.

The more I hear, the more I am interested in digging into this synth - especially since it will give me different sound colors than I currently have.

"Nice dusty and dirty older analog sound".  That's so enticing!