Ensoniq EPS Classic Freezes after 30 minutes

[Jabberwalky]

I'm reluctant to ever give my EPS16 2 thumbs up....ever. Very finnicky machines. I still get occasional freezing, scsi going down, random errors.

[Hyde]

I'm reluctant to ever give my EPS16 2 thumbs up....ever. Very finnicky machines. I still get occasional freezing, scsi going down, random errors.

My 16+ has certainly had its issues. Pretty solid machine, all in all, though. Maybe I'm in the "Love what you get from your Ensoniq, when you get it" club

[Rasputin]

I think it matters sometimes if it is the keyboard or rack versions too. I believe the keyboard versions of Ensoniq gear are more prone to flakiness for a couple reasons:

More stuff is crammed into the keyboard leading to heat problems. While not rock-solid, I have few problems with my EPS16+ rack. Most errors I've encountered are usually software errors due to loading a bad/invalid disk (which I chuck and replace/resource) or trying to do something unsupported and weird (which I now know to avoid or do properly).

Keyboard flakiness. The rack gear has a keyboard emulator which simplifies the behavior or the analog wheels and keyboard itself. Less circuits = less problems.

Production date. Most racks were built a bit after the keyboard came off the line so all the kinks have been worked out and they already learned what not to do. Which goes hand-in-hand with...

Upgrades. Usually the rack gear is higher spec because it has all the upgrades baked in already. SCSI / memory upgrades, newest firmware, and so on.

At this point, all my Ensoniq stuff works pretty much flawlessly: EPS16+ rack, Mirage key, ESQm, VFX SD, and DP/2. But they all have reworked power supplies, new batteries, tested disk drives, and known good disks which I think is important for anything vintage.

[Hyde]

I'd agree with that! My 16plus rack seems rock solid. I just have this affinity for keyboards(you can call it a sickness ).

[Hyde]

The EPS seems to be functioning perfectly. I've run it numerous times, w/o issue. I think this is my favorite Ensoniq sampler. I've been using it to start my songs. Sampling,sequencing then dumping into my EPS16 & working from there. The classic just has such a great sound! 13bit!

[Rasputin]

Sweet!

Any luck with the bad output channel?

[Hyde]

Sweet!

Any luck with the bad output channel?

I still have that & my other dead eps16 to fix. I barely get time to write music, let alone fix the machines. I have a crazy work schedule & a 2yr old boy. I'll post something soon. Hopefully we can get them fixed up! I appreciate your help & enjoy the learning!

[teb3]

I know this topic has been closed,but I found a dead simple kludge that works well on both my EPS classics..Buy a small clip-on desk fan,aim it at the PSU heatsink on the back of the EPS,turn it on medium, and then experiment with your reliability..I had similar problems to the original poster for years..bought a power regulator,etc.and nothing helped as much as..a fan on the heatsink.Of course,I will probably need a replacement PSU/board recaps in upcoming years,but I have had many fewer "ERROR -REBOOTS"since I started using fans on the heatsinks.If this has been already covered I apologize.

[Anders]

I bought a EPS16+ Rack.
I've always wanted this sampler. It's in pristine condition.
I absolutely love it.
On the second day, it started crashing and freezing all the time.
Sometimes it shows ERROR 129, 131, 137, or it just freezes.
It happens usually after 3-10 minutes. It loads and plays samples correctly, I start enjoying it's beautiful sound and then suddenly it crashes.
Sometimes the volume of the sample playing starts to go down by itself, other times it starts distorting and it freezes.
What a shame, it sounds so good and now it's unusable.
I made sure there's room above and beneath it and it never feels hot in any way. I've tried different MIDI settings but no luck. I opened it and it looks great, super clean. No cap leakage.

I know it's very common for vintage samplers to have PSU problems, should I change the PSU? I saw some refurbished PSUs available on eBay, but I'm not sure how to do it without electrocuting myself... Anybody knows a step by step guide on how to do it?
Any advice?

Where I live, the technician charges $90p/h and there's and 8 week queue!!!

Please help!
Thanks.