ESQ-1 Programming Help

petervh · Post by **petervh** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:08 am

Hey everyone,

I recently came across an old Ensoniq ESQ-1 at a cheap price, and I am currently trying to build some good sounds with it. I do have some subtractive synthesis experience (mostly with a Juno 106 and a Korg Mono/Poly), yet I am having some troubles trying to develop seemingly basic sounds out of it.

The original factory patches were wiped long ago, the internal battery is dead, and I have been unable to successfully load up the factory patches from a wav file provided by the 'Ensoniq ESQ1 Hacker Page'...I constantly receive errors while doing this, perhaps it has something to do with the dead battery?

Anyway, I'm attempting to program both a choir and a piano sound using the included waveforms, however, what other factors in the process must I be looking towards? I have attempted to mutate a couple nice saw patches into a good choir sound, but nothing seems to work. Can anyone provide me with parameters for a choir or piano patch (or any other cool patch), so that I can take a look to see how it is developed? The envelopes on this thing do seem to be a bit tricky, which may be a primary cause of my current confusion.

Thanks!

- Peter

t3hsd · Post by **t3hsd** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:19 am

this is the second time ive seen a doublethread recently

please be more conscious of how many times you hit the post button

Escobar · Post by **Escobar** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:46 am

I use to own an ESQ-1 longtime ago, but I needed money (poor student at that time) so I sold it for few hundred bucks (counted in $US dollars). The only thing I've got left from it is a cassettetape (original) with factory presets. I once had to use it to reload the presets because the battery was worn-out. If you need it you can have it. It's just laying here and collecting dust

But you really should replace that battery or you will keep having problems (obviously)

. I've tried it with a cassetterecorder and I can still hear that data noise from tape but I can't verify if the data is still complete (since I don't have an ESQ-1).

vcs3 · Post by **vcs3** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:13 am

The page:
http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/index.html
The editor:
http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/files/esq138.zip

petervh · Post by **petervh** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:18 pm

vcs3 wrote:The page:
http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/index.html
The editor:
http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/files/esq138.zip

Cool site and software! I'll give it a shot soon...does anybody by chance have the original factory patches in a format that could be loaded from this program?

Escobar wrote:The only thing I've got left from it is a cassettetape (original) with factory presets. I once had to use it to reload the presets because the battery was worn-out. If you need it you can have it. It's just laying here and collecting dust

Thanks for the great offer, but I do already have a wav file recording of this cassette, it is just now a matter of actually getting my ESQ-1 to load off of it.

t3hsd wrote:this is the second time ive seen a doublethread recently

please be more conscious of how many times you hit the post button

Sorry about this! The forum was giving me some serious trouble last night whilst I was attempting to make this post. I have now deleted the duplicate topic.

...any other tips would be greatly appreciated! Does anyone know where I could get a hold of "The ESQ-1 Bible"? I have read a few good things about this book...

Thanks!

- Peter

hollandturbine · Post by **hollandturbine** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:48 am

This is a link for a ESQ-1 patch librarian for the Atari the actual program is in German , the folder contains patches (some marked factory) you might be able to just open and take the patches from the folder.
(but you can also use it in the Atari emulator steem if you want to, it is a very basic program though)

http://gem.win.co.nz/hall/pages/midi.html

P.S if your security settings are too high you might have trouble geting on to the site.

petervh · Post by **petervh** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:59 am

hollandturbine wrote:This is a link for a ESQ-1 patch librarian for the Atari the actual program is in German , the folder contains patches (some marked factory) you might be able to just open and take the patches from the folder.
(but you can also use it in the Atari emulator steem if you want to, it is a very basic program though).

Sounds good! I will check this out soon...I also happen to have a 1040ST in the next room in case steem gives me any trouble.

p.

Tyler2000 · Post by **Tyler2000** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:07 am

If you downlaod the the newest OS (available on esq hacker), it will automatically reload the factory presets when the battery is dead. There are a few Ok pianos on there as well as the famous Mini M[oog] preset. I usually just save to the carts that came with mine, but yeah. What are you going to do once you make a sound. When you turn it off it will go away anyway.

petervh · Post by **petervh** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:00 pm

Tyler2000 wrote: If you downlaod the the newest OS (available on esq hacker), it will automatically reload the factory presets when the battery is dead.

Thanks for the tip, I was aware of this possibility with the newer OS, however it is a matter of me sending my EPROM's out to somebody to get them burned. I would rather play with it a bit before I knock it out of commission for two months.

Tyler2000 wrote: What are you going to do once you make a sound. When you turn it off it will go away anyway.

Well, I do have a program cartridge -- which is why I am not too interested in immediately replacing the battery, as the cart provides me with more than enough space for the time being. Though, I should cut it off the board soon, just to avoid possible leakage issues.

Tyler2000 · Post by **Tyler2000** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:59 am

petervh wrote:
Tyler2000 wrote: If you downlaod the the newest OS (available on esq hacker), it will automatically reload the factory presets when the battery is dead.
Thanks for the tip, I was aware of this possibility with the newer OS, however it is a matter of me sending my EPROM's out to somebody to get them burned. I would rather play with it a bit before I knock it out of commission for two months.

...
uh. you don't need to get your eproms burned. You just download the the new OS via midi.

If you have a plastic case version (these have a heatsink on the back) you are supposed to add a ferite before installing the new OS, but I'm sure it would be fine without it. But, of course, look into it some more and don't take my word for it.

If you have a metal case one, it is supposed to install with no problems. Mine came with os 3.0, so that 's all I can help you with. I've never actually installed it myself.

Tyler2000 · Post by **Tyler2000** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:24 am

petervh wrote:
Tyler2000 wrote: If you downlaod the the newest OS (available on esq hacker), it will automatically reload the factory presets when the battery is dead.
Thanks for the tip, I was aware of this possibility with the newer OS, however it is a matter of me sending my EPROM's out to somebody to get them burned. I would rather play with it a bit before I knock it out of commission for two months.

...
uh. you don't need to get your eproms burned. You just download the the new OS via midi.

If you have a plastic case version (these have a heatsink on the back) you are supposed to add a ferite before installing the new OS, but I'm sure it would be fine without it. But, of course, look into it some more and don't take my word for it.

If you have a metal case one, it is supposed to install with no problems. Mine came with os 3.0, so that 's all I can help you with. I've never actually installed it myself.

petervh · Post by **petervh** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:52 am

Tyler2000 wrote:
petervh wrote:
Tyler2000 wrote: If you downlaod the the newest OS (available on esq hacker), it will automatically reload the factory presets when the battery is dead.
Thanks for the tip, I was aware of this possibility with the newer OS, however it is a matter of me sending my EPROM's out to somebody to get them burned. I would rather play with it a bit before I knock it out of commission for two months.

...
uh. you don't need to get your eproms burned. You just download the the new OS via midi.

Hey,

Well, from what I understand from this:

http://www.pic101.com/ensoniq/faq.htm#7

...and this:

http://www.pic101.com/ensoniq/eprom.htm

...you do have to get new eproms burned. Or am I reading this incorrectly???

- Peter[/url]

Tyler2000 · Post by **Tyler2000** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:52 pm

hmmm. well, my bad. that is what it looks like. I'm more glad mine came with the latest OS.

sonny1 · Post by **sonny1** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:46 am

Escobar wrote:I use to own an ESQ-1 longtime ago, but I needed money (poor student at that time) so I sold it for few hundred bucks (counted in $US dollars). The only thing I've got left from it is a cassettetape (original) with factory presets. I once had to use it to reload the presets because the battery was worn-out. If you need it you can have it. It's just laying here and collecting dust But you really should replace that battery or you will keep having problems (obviously) . I've tried it with a cassetterecorder and I can still hear that data noise from tape but I can't verify if the data is still complete (since I don't have an ESQ-1).

If you are offering that tape, I'll take it. I'll pay what ever shipping you suffer. And throw in ten bucks for you being a good guy. PM me is you still have it.

I just bought my 3rd esq 1 (I keep buying the same damn synths over and over) I'm keeping this one. The battery is dead And I like to work with presets as starting points. I remember it havings some pretty cool synth presets. Anyway if you still have it I'd like it.

Thanks!!!

esqoner · Post by **esqoner** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:37 pm

did you say you got a new battery?

if not, get one. They are cheap on ebay and easypeasy to install.

There is a reset you can do that should load all of the original sounds...don't remember it off the top of my head though.

You shouldn't need to load anything...I don't think.

ESQ-1 Programming Help

ESQ-1 Programming Help

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