Ensoniq TS-10: Ensoniq's True Masterpiece Vintage Synthesizer Live Demo
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Everyone knows about the Fizmo 🤮 While its unicorn-painted Hail Mary story is fascinating, it's an unfinished mess of a synthesizer. With a janky OS, busted power supplies, and inaccessible parameters (you heard that right, parameters you literally could not access from the synth) and no polyphonic aftertouch, you'd think people would write this synth off and instead look for their last polished synthesizer, the TS-10. Sadly, for whatever reason, no one seems to give the TS series any mention. I think it's because the TS series was a refinement of the SD and VFX synths, instead of an "innovation" like the Fizmo. The TS series was called by Reverb the "apex" of the lineage of synthesizers starting with the ESQ-1 and SQ-80, which lost their analog filters with the VFX but retained their polyphonic aftertouch through the TS synths, the last Ensoniq synths with it. There were some real innovations too; the TS series can read ASR wavesamples directly, and has Hyperwaves, their version of Wavesequencing from the Korg Wavestation. They also released the TS-12, which is identical except it has a piano-action 76 key fatar keybed but loses the poly aftertouch.
Right now you can buy these synths for jaw-droppingly low prices, I saw one on Reverb today for $545: reverb.com/ite...
►Vintage Digital Pad Sample Pack: vultureculture...
►Vintage Industrial Drum Samples: vultureculture...
►Roland D-50 Sounds Made By Me: vultureculture...
►My Vintage Chorus / Reverb Plugin (free for a limited time!): vultureculture...
#vst #vstplugins #synth #synths #vintagesynth #synthesizer #analogsynth #musicproduction #sounddesign #sequencer #keyboardsounds #vintagesynthesizer #analogsynthesizer #synthwave #electronicmusic #80ssynth #freesynthplugin #musictechnology #retrosound #freepresets
#ensoniq #ts10 #ts12 #sq80 #arturia #sq80v #vfx #fizmo
Worked at Ensoniq dealer and it was the most intuitive and inspiring song writing tool of the decade for me.
That's awesome Tim! How did you end up working for them?
Coooool! 🧊 ❄️
The timing of this video is serendipitous. I just got a TS10 with a bunch of disks. I bought it from the original owner and it's in beautiful shape. I have an ESQ-1, an EPS, an SQ80, and a VFX-SD as well. There's something really special about the Ensoniq synths. Maybe it's my love of all things Commodore 64. The designers of the C64's famous SID chip formed Ensoniq.
I'd love to know how you'd rank your Ensoniq synths
@@VultureCulture the TS10 is definitely at the top of the heap. I agree with pretty much everything you said in your livestream. The TS10/12 is woefully ignored in favor of the Fizmo, even though the TS synths are far better instruments.
If I had to rank them, it would be 1. TS10 2. SQ80 (the analog filters are really nice and it has poly aftertouch) 3. VFX-SD 4. EPS and 5. ESQ-1 (great synth, but the SQ80 is better in every way).
It would be cool if someone did a documentary on Ensoniq, like Alex Ball's great Roland / ARP / Korg histories. Hmmm.....
@JimAlfredson I've heard Sam Mims from Syntaur is working on it. He worked on a lot of the Ensoniq synths and did 3rd party sound design.
@@VultureCulture I also heard Sam was working on one from former Ensoniq employee Jerry Kovarsky. I hope it happens!
Now that I own 6 of them, I can let the cat out of the bag. To me, the ensoniq sd-1 32 voice is the best synth, easiest sequencer they ever built. It's my favorite synth of all time. The ts-10 / 12 were great, too, but if you want the warmest sounds like from the 80s, it was definitely the sd-1. The fattest was the esq-1 or esq-m with the analog filter. I own all 3.
That's awesome to know! I have another friend who prefers the SD-1 as well.
I still kept my TS-12 since it hit the stores back in the days. I kept it because none of my other synths did these kind of sounds, not even the Kurzweil 2K machines. Still love its sounds. 😍
Such a unique instrument!
I own the TS10. It is absolute power. It took me forever to get it but well worth the wait. Never getting rid of it.
I can't wait to sink the time into it to really understand it.
I owned SQ-80 > VFX-SD > TS-12, which I still have. Ensoniq’s fx dsp was really ahead of its time, it massively elevates the rompler nature of this synth.
I loaded up some orchestral simulations I did for a tv show in the 90s and they really sounded pretty good.
What TV show was that? Would love to check it out!
I really regret selling it in 1995, this keyboard is great, for many things, I used it with a tube preamp, and it really was a great instrument for my hiphop, electro and drum and bass productions in 90´s.
I can only imagine the incredible sounds you were able to get out of this baby
@@VultureCulture Yes, really my first Wave sequencing or transwaves thing... This was a monster for the time, but even in 1994 and 1995 it was very surprising. 👍
Were you able to use the hyper waves much? After this stream I don't think I had more than 1 patch that actually used them sadly
@@VultureCulture What you say is true, TS10 was the cheapest way to have PPG and Wavestation type actions, we had PCM's, wave tables and wave sequencing. I used a lot of programs like "tranzilon 10 beta" for win95 that allowed me to customize in that 1mb space, I practically saved them on floppies and then on my PC, to make CDs of these things I had, I sold everything with the keyboard to give it an added value in the sale.
I have the TS12 for years On stage and sympho music. Still working😊
I had no idea poly aftertouch was available way back when in a commercial product!
But the reason it was never popular is obvious: It’s a “-10”, not a “-50”, “-7”, “-1000”… marketing, man!
hahaha
A lot of those patches are very organic and warm sounding. I dig it!
I was quite surprised by the warmth!
I had the MR61, and it just didn't have the same flare and flavor as the older Ensoniq synths. The SQ-1 was my first workstation keyboard and I loved it, and like an idiot I sold it. Sigh, another in a long line of keyboards I wished I'd kept. Oh well, nevertheless, great demo of this fantastic keyboard! Also, the SCSI port (pronounced Scuzzee) is great for hooking up hard drives, zip drives, and CD-ROM drives. These were popular at the time because you could buy CDs to load samples and programs from 3rd parties, and also store lots of samples and programs on the hard drive. I would get the floppy emulator, and still buy the disks, and then back up the floppy disks onto an SD card and then just either keep the disks put up or sell them. If nothing else, you may want to get a CD-Rom SCSI drive to load sample CDs if you're going to keep it and use it regularly. Otherwise I probably wouldn't bother. SCSI went out of style a long time ago, and those devices are hard to find.
I agree, I think the MR 61, while a cool synth, isn't really in the same league as the other flagships. Thank you for the pronunciation tip! SO with a scuzzy drive could you load something like Distorted Reality by Spectrasonics onto it? That would be sick!
You can load data saved in EPS, EPS16+ or ASR10/88 formats. I don’t believe TS supports importing samples in other formats (like Akai or WAV). Also, I am not sure TS supports SCSI SMDI transfers (send/receive samples from PC over SCSI. Regarding SCSI devices, there are good options nowadays, especially ZuluSCSI. You can create/mount different devices (images) that will emulate HDD, CD-ROM, MO etc. Some models allow manipulating drives while in use by instrument (ZuluSCSI 6.4 or SCSI2SD 6) via USB cable.
There is EnsoniqFS plugin for Total Commander - it allows directly access Ensoniq formatted disks (images or via SCSI. Pretty sure will also work with ZuluSCSI 6.4 or SCSI2SD v6). I haven’t tried it yet though.
I hear what you are saying, and might have easily agreed with you in the past, as the stock MR engine without expansions or an editor seems limited. And the presets only take you so far… making it feel more like a simple rompler.
But the MR series, with a capable editor (oddsound), and expansions can create sounds that are pretty amazing. I have both the rack and the MR61 and still use them regularly.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the TS10 as well, and own two.
It has amazing features and sounds really nice, but I regularly choose the MR over the TS, now that there is a functional editor.
@@AlchemicalAudio I need to try Oddsound editor and get expansions. One thing I don’t like about MR rack is absence of service manual. Mine has dead main and aux outputs (phones working good).
Ahhhh how I Loved Ensoniq products in the 80's. The ESQ1 was incredible technology for that time. It had so much to offer as their 1st synth at that time. FF to this monster. It was leaps and bounds over the ESQ1 in terms of polyphony it's sequencer and effects, wow it was a monster. And incredibly flexible if samples could be loaded from their samplers.I just wish ENSONIQ and EMU would come back to AMERICA and manufacture new synths with newer features Right there in Malvern, PA and Scotts Valley ,CA where they were originally from.
It might have been their first actual synth, but the people who started ensoniq previously worked at commodore computer and did the c64/amiga sound modules.
Such an incredible instrument!
Cool, I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.@@steveanimatrix3887
@@steveanimatrix3887 They certainly did, a wonderfully talented group of engineers.
It has that Depeche Mode vibe all over it, love it. Especially the ''bell sounds'' with reverb 👌
Ensoniq always crushed it with bell sounds!
Its totally NOT Depeche Mode. They quickly graduated to Emulators from Daniel Miller's Korg 2600 and the mono synths. Behringer will never remake a TS10!
58:30 took me right back to Bejeweled title screens haha
Love that nostalgia
I LOVE all synths. I had one of these for a few years. I dig it. I think it was the converters or something in the math that gives it a smooth clean vibe. Having said that, the filters don’t have emphasis/resonance so really just basically a ROMpler. The polyphonic after touch makes it valuable as a controller. I sold mine, just can’t have all of them , but I’d shy away from why hyperbolic commentary, it’s cool, but not that big of a deal.
What a synthesizer you think deserves the hyperbolic commentary?
kept mine for 20 years turned more than 3000 concerts without any trouble
That is incredible and a testament to the quality of these instruments!
I picked up a TS-12 from a guy near Philly a couple years ago. It sounded great but it was massive and heavy (didn't have a lot of space at the time) so ended up selling it. I think people overlook that these have a transwave/hyperwave engine in them, the predecessor to synths like the fizmo that some people lust after. Time has kinda made the floppy storage for samples the and built in sequencer irrelevant, but they were probably great to have at the time... but I would definitely consider the TS-10 again in the future, based on the sound quality alone. Definitely a forgotten gem, great vid!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
For me, there's something beautiful in the way these ancient machines can sound. Analog gets all the glory, but often the character is hidden in the vintage digital ones.
Well the TS-10 is still heavy. Not TS-12 heavy, but still heavy.
I still use my TS10 MIDIed to the ASR10rack with a SCSI2SD attached. Helps when I run out of TS voices which is easy to do. I wish they had USB to connect to computer for editing the timing on the tracks. ASR10 has that great effects processor as well. Sorry for putting this in the wrong place earlier.
That's a sick setup!
Please. In depth dive on the TS-10 what an amazing synth. I sold my SQ80 for the TS-10 and have never regretted it for a moment. The sounds are much more rich and plus the keybed on the TS-10 puts the SQ-80 keys to shame. Love it love it love the TS-10! A true gem from the era with sounds that still work throughout its sound palette.
I learned to sample / program / sequence and run a " Daw less " live midi set up with my ASR 10, 61 key in the 90's, Back before D A W's even existed and 16 meg of sampling time seemed like a ton Lol.. I used to mute and solo tracks for drums on it and synk a 303 ( an original one with a midi mod ) to it. An orginal 101 and a juno ... sometimes with a Quasmidi 309 and an X series korg... The good old days...
What an incredible setup and the best of all possible worlds with analog synths and digital
I recognize that piano sample from miles away. The same is likely used in the SQ1+ line that I had. I squeezed the crap out of my SQ1+32v by simulating delay effect in the sequencer by shifting notes and adjusting volume, simulating filter resonance with Flanger 2 effect with feedback, etc etc. Was always a bit jelaous of the TS with 6 oscillators per sound.
Missed the live stream. Own two TS-10 synths, a VFX-SD, and an SQ-R Plus. Love the digital synths that everyone else dumped years ago.
Which is your favorite?
@@VultureCulture The TS-10 is my favorite Ensoniq. I also love my two Kurzweil K2000 synths.
@adpitts1 I have to check out the K2000!
I had both the TS-10 and TS-12 man I miss having those synths
Any other synths you regret selling?
Great Stream. Thks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wish I still had my TS-10! Made a lot of hits on there!🔥🔥🔥
I had a TS12 and ASR10 rack. The TS has a great workflow to get ideas down quickly and with the ASR you had an infinite sound pallet. Sadly as already mentioned once the display fails it’s game over. Still consider this one of the most usable units I have owned
Super cool! Do you think the ASR-10 is superior? Or rather if you could only have one?
The ASR had the sampling which gave it the edge in terms of sound creation. With the SCSI interface on the rack ASR and as an option on the TS you could build a great sound library on an external drive and it gave faster OS boot times than the floppy drive. The feel of the TS12 keyboard was brilliant
I grew up listening to songs made on Ensoniq TS-10 / 12 and Korg 01/W
Two incredible synthesizers! I hope to get my hands on a Korg 01/W one day!
I’ve had the TS-10, EPS 16+ and ASR 10. All amazing keyboards. Rock solid, definitely shaped my music making formative years. I can still hear the click of those buttons. I wish there was a software version of all the Ensoniq boards.
Which was your favorite?
@@VultureCulture Definitely the ASR, only because at the time I was heavy into sampling. TS basically became a sound module chained to the ASR.
No such thing as a solid EPS or ASR. Worked for them as a demo and sales in the 80’s also I provided the original 808 and 909 samples that were bastardized into their library 😂 and I owned programed and performed with the Mirage, ESQ1,SQ80 EPS,EPS16+ and ASR10 and only the ESQ and SQ80were reliable.
Wow ,I found on of the first bugs in the TS-10 when it first came out.The sample on a track would drop out and switch to a regular preset sound when song changes sequence.Great machine.
That's so cool! Did they address it in an OS update?
For their time Ensoniq keyboards were absolutely amazing (If you were there, you know!). I mean, yeah, now we have 100GB sampled pianos and whatnot, but…
They're still have this insanely beautiful sound
There's too much to say about the TS series. RTFM is your best bet. I still have my TS-10 that I bought new in 1994 for $2200. I gigged with it for many years and it never failed. The sequencer, wave-sequencing, and poly aftertouch is worth owning it alone. Plus you can load samples from the EPS/ASR libraries. I would also make my own samples on a PC and load those. I picked up a TS-12 a few years ago for $400 just to use as a weighted keyboard with the added bonus of having another TS-10 built in. Get the SCSI adaptor if you don't have it, upgrade the RAM to 8MB, add the SQX-70 sequencer expander, and upgrade the OS to Eprom 3.10 if it hasn't been already. Again, these synths do A LOT! RTFM.
A whole whole helluvah lot
If my memory serves me correctly, the VFX came out either in 1989 or 90 cause I had it 2 or 3 years and then traded it for the new TS-10 in 93. The Fizmo , I believe came out later in the late 90’s
That's correct!
I have had a TS12 since 1994. But unfortunately it broke down a few years ago. I can't get it repaired anywhere. Probably something with the power supply or something similar.
The power supply should be an easier fix if that's the issue. It can be hard to find good synth techs in your area, but keep looking!
The Ensoniq version of the Wavestation! I had one awhile back and sold it. The person that got it was a kid with his dad clearly getting his first synth. I hope he enjoyed it. I didn't use it a whole lot but got some disks with it. I think if I had the EPS/ASR to bring samples to it, then I would have gotten more out of it.
That kid got lucky! On the other hand this is a pretty hard synth to learn on 🤣
I think being able to load in ASR waves would be huge! On the other hand, I think most people with an ASR-10 probably would find the TS redundant.
It's a fascinating moment in Ensoniq's history and I'm looking forward to learning more of its tricks.
Well once again I missed out something special.
My impression is quite the same like it was when they were new: Looks good, has poly AT, lots things possible.... but the sound? Maybe it sounds good qualitywise but nothing which really impressed me or would even standup to its current rivals. It probably were the wrong patchbanks.
So I'd love you to try out other sounds and maybe here's an Idea: Ask your fellows of well programmed sounds of the TS10 which they should send you to demo them. I heard a dozen times how great this synth must be, but I need someone to proove it. When you test them out please sometimes use the patch select buttons above the wheels as they give you interesting alternative programmings of the patches.
As for these many "natural" sounds - why did Ensoniq include them? Because at that time the really big thing were General Midi and GS, by 93 even already XG. Thanks to that now every sample based synths (there hardly were any others by 93) just had to offer piano, marimba, Shakuhachi, Fantasia and Soundtrack. Because these were in the GM-List. So when these synths were hooked to a computer and playing for some computer game there would be similar sounds on the right program numbers. So that's probably why there was hardly anything TS-10 special to be heard.
Which is my actual problem with it. D-50, M1, even SY, the JD, the Wavestation, the 1080, the 01W - they all still had signature sounds where you would hear it and say: "OK - thats the one!" What is the signature TS-10 sound? Character was mostly gone around that time. If you wanted special synths of that time, you could go to Waldorf or use a sampler, maybe Kurzweil. Or have to wait still for the Nord Lead and the other upcoming VAs.
As a Rompler, the TS-10 is pretty bad compared to others. As a Synth it borrows a lot of similarities of other manufacturers. How much you'd really do with the Transwaves and Hyperwaves stays questionable. Question then rather was - why not an ASR10 or E-MU EIV? For Rompler synths the JV1080 and 2080 (keyboards as XP 30 to 80) as well as the JD990 took the crown, the Kurzweil was the one for real pros. Yamaha went mediocre starting with the SY85. Korg was the big seller for stage with the 01W and later when the Trinity arrived they reached another league. By that time, Ensoniq lost the game.
I agree with all of this!
If I get the time I want to try programming some of my own sounds to really show off what this synth can do - if it can do them. The genesis patch I intro'd the video with is the only one that seems to tap into the potential of the synth
i have end up using MR Rack. Surprisingly powerful synth when combined with SW editor. and it is only 1U in size.
That's awesome!
Great stream! Great sounds! Quick question: how did you get the camera to pan back and forth, that’s very cool!
My camera is on a motorized slider
@@VultureCulture awesome. Which motorized slider are you using?
GVM Great Video Maker Camera Motorized Slider,48"/120CM,Automatic Round Trip,Time Lapse,Panoramic Shooting,Video Capture,Slider Smooth and Stable,with Battery a.co/d/d6ZhbQQ
Sorry I missed the stream, but the TS-10 is an amazing synth! It's definitely on my list, hoping to get one soon locally! Since you mentioned the Fizmo during the stream, I got an MR-61 2 days ago, and it's a beast! The MR Rack evolved into the MR-61/76 which also add the drum machine component to it, and form there evolved the Fizmo (same sound engine). The trick is that with the editor ODDSOUND you can manipulate the sounds any way you want. Later on the ZR-76 added more sounds and a few quality of life improvements, but in my humble opinion the MR-61 + editor (if u really wanna tweak the already amazing patches) + Urban expansion (which I don't have yet, but it adds a ton of new transwaves), I think it's a much better package than the over priced Fizmo.
I totally agree, the MR-61 is definitely the way to go!
I bought the Mirage from you on Reverb. Thanks! My question is what does the TS do that the ASR-10 doesn’t?
So glad to hear from you! How have you been enjoying the Mirage?
The short answer is not enough worth justifying buying one over the other. Both are really incredible boards. I think the TS synthesis engine is different, and in particular can do hyper waves which the ASR-10 can't, and has poly aftertouch, but aside from that the ASR is identical/equivalent plus it can sample.
@@VultureCultureLast question only because you mentioned it. What are hyperwaves? And is that a sound enhancer or an effect?
I haven’t touched the mirage, not because I don’t want to, trust me I can’t wait to get my hands on it, but for once in my life I’m able to build the studio that I’ve always wanted.
It's Ensoniq's version of Wave sequencing. Which may or may not be easier to program than a Wavestation, I haven't tried yet lol
@@VultureCulture Lol cool, thanks for the info!
I was a synth tech for 36 years. Ensoniq would never provide schematics. We could only get a guide for pinpointing the likely circuit board we had to replace. They were the most unreliable keyboards I ever worked on. There seemed to be only one human on the planet who could repair the boards to component level. When the company folded, that person continued repairing them but was limited by parts availability. And he was very expensive. He might still be in business.
The almighty thesoniq?
@@steadfastcollapse That's the guy. He had a monopoly on the remaining available parts. He was the only person with detailed schematics.
Daryl Dragon was using Ensoniq on a talk show with his wife. They were supposed to do a song and he couldn't get it to work. First time i ever saw that with ANY keyboard on tv
@@thingserik7269 When I had my repair shop, one of my regular customers owned a backline rental company. He said his expenses were out of this world because so many music acts were demanding obscure keyboards he could not find. Plus he generally liked to own a backup for every thing just in case the first thing did not work. He did not own any Ensoniq keyboards because they were not reliable.
Bought mine new in 93 and still have it post VFX.
Very nice.
I had bought an Emax II in 1991 and had a job in a music store where we sold this synth and all the other popular ROMplers at the time, I would just sample all of them, I still have some good samples from that time.. (I could sample it and put resonant filters on it).
One of these days I'll have to get an Emax!
@@VultureCulture No, you already have that Korg DSS-1, use that for those classic sampled rompler sounds with some added 12 bit grit with a great sounding analog filter!
The Emax II has a digital filter that sounds metallic with high resonance settings. But I still keep mine because I made hundreds of sounds with it.
Because most of them are broken, along with most other Ensoniq gear. When I think of Ensoniq, the first thing that comes to mind is a broken keyboard at a pawn shop that won’t boot up and they can’t get rid of it.
Really? I've had several great condition Ensoniq's. They seem built like tanks to me.
@@VultureCulture all the broken ASR-10s put them out of business
@@APMTenants nonsense. While some of their keyboards (such as the VFX) had some problems, broken ASR-10s did not kill off Ensoniq. They spent a lot of resources and R+D time on getting into the hearing aids market. They wanted to build digitally controlled hearing aids, that didn’t have volume controls. This was a failure and put the company into financial trouble. The issues with the Fizmo and ASR-X was because they were rushed to market to generate much needed cash. When they both failed, they were forced to sell out to Creative, who subsequently destroyed the company. Around this time Creative also bought EMU, who were also in financial trouble. They were also shut down by Creative, after merging both companies.
@@crhkrebs the problem with your theory is that they didn’t fail commercially. They sold tons of them and they broke. Not a coincidence they were bought out and mothballed. Speaking as someone who was there
@@crhkrebs “While the core keyboard products were generally successful, there were some quality problems” Wikipedia
Man those were great. Didn’t know what we had…
Truly a special time for synths!
Problem is the darn display. If something happens to it good luck fixing it. I agree it sounds great tho.
Third-party OLED replacements are emerging
@@infindebula It’s not as easy to replace these kinda displays as regular LCD. Those are often 98% compatible with a new OLED. These display work in a completely different way, so you need someone to develope a complete kit with electronics to make an lcd or oled compatible specific to the few instruments that use these wacum tube displays. Will cost an arm and a leg 🤪
I agree and mine was damaged in shipping and I had to wait for someone to sell a replacement on ebay. With the labor to repair it it cost $300, which luckily Reverb covered.
@@mrdali67 it will be as expensive as a microcontroller (or small board computer such as RPi) and an off-the-shelf display. OLED replacements for VFDs already exist for EPS and JX-10.
While it has a bunch of interesting presets, same thing can be found on cheaper and much newer devices. Namely the Yamaha ROMplers. Yes, the keyboard is great. No, this isn't the FOMO device.
Yo! I had the ASR10. Great Sampler.
Does it have an input on back for audio in, so you can use it as an effects unit, for incoming sound ??
It does not unfortunately, otherwise it would be a DP/4, which would be insane!
I'd say make a sample set of this keyboard.. Id use sound sets of all the odd/no longer attainable keyboards in a heartbeat.. kawaii, ensoniq, etc... The really awesome sound designs behind these keyboards need preservation...
I will!
Damn! i have been wanting a dp/4 for ever. intersting to know, asr 10 has those fx to, but i think it's just a couple not 4 dsp's (dp/2 exists as a unit too)...... everytime i'm about to get one (ou can get them around 6-700) i miss it for some reason. that and the tascam m3 lol...
Those DP fx are so fucking good.
@@VultureCulture yeah thanks for reminding me lol.
Great video. What is that to the right of the TS-10?
A Roland PG-1000
@@VultureCulture That's what I figured. Thanks!
I like your reviews for the. Most part,but I have a suggestion, I think that for all of the products you review you aught to have a sponsor in terms of a company that REPAIRS all these different name brands and contact information. 😮
While I'm not sponsored by them I have all of my synths serviced by Severed Machines.
These were great synths.
Truly!
i dont care what others say, i HAD this keyboard! but i liked the asr10 better!! also had the eps-16+, ensoniq is special parfume
They really do have a sound that's totally not represented in the modern market
Wait. This is still my secret weapon :-)
Sorry for breaking the news! Any favorite patches to check out?
@@VultureCulture Actually, I haven't used it in a while. Though it still works,, sometimes it takes about 30 minutes to warm up to being functional. Other times it'll come on with no issues. I liked the electric piano patches, and all of the horn patches. Ended up writing a few of my own, but I can't remember what program I built my favorite patch on. Hope to power that keyboard up soon. Wouldn't trade it for the world.
58:00 This is a latin instrument called "Cuica"!
Nice! Thanks for the info!
I got the impression that the dynamics of the keys' action is not that expressive.
Aftertouch, ok
Sound, with heavy bass, but I missed more expressive "Dynamics Keys" when played on attack sounds.
Is it just me or am I right?
It almost looks like a keyboard with no sensitivity on the keys.
I think it's how the sounds are programmed. A lot of those classic Ensoniq sounds don't have a lot of velocity in the sound, a little unnatural. I think the keybed is as expressive as any other, but I'll only be able to confirm 100% when I get into programming my own sounds.
@@VultureCulture I have a JD800 and the "velocity-keys" of this machine is quite evident, just like other keyboards.
I have a JD-800 as well. Again, on first blush the keybeds seem similar, I'll have to see if I can get that awesome dynamic sound out of them from the TS-10
@@VultureCulture I just bought a TS10 today!
You, in a way, influenced me to do this!
Is it possible to download more sounds?
I can't figure out if you can or can't load a bank of sounds via sysex
Hey hey!!
Maybe an Alesis Fusion video next..
I'd be interested to check it out!
Does the ts12 have polyphonic aftertouch? ❤
No, only mono aftertouch but 76 weighted keys. Ts-10 has poly aftertouch
@@VultureCulture so they dropped the aftertouch???
I think I lke my mr76 and my VFX better. ❤
@amonster8mymother ts-12 has regular aftertouch and ts-10 has poly aftertouch
@@VultureCulture yea ok but a vfx with poly aftertouch and a mr76 with mono aftertouch trumps that. 🙄
My most missed board of the past.
So much power it's intimidating.
Any other faves from back then?
Sorry but sounds dry and thin as SD1 - no power and warmnest as in ESQ1 and SQ80
I agree it's a bit dry. Dub Station Zero pointed out to me for some reason the fx are really low in a lot of the presets, but they are beautiful fx. But thin? I don't think this synth sounds thin at all.
Almost any Ensoniq is an awesome synth...yet all of them underrated cheap and I don't know why.
For some reason they don't get lumped in with the other big American synth manufacturers that went out of business.
@@VultureCulture also another reason , they were made in larger quantities than most other synths of the era. Any poly analog of the mid 80s are almost below 10k units produced ...many ensoniqs were above 100k hence cheaper prices these days. I still love my esq 1 and its the most versatile of my vintage polys...and I have many
Probably because you can't find one to buy anywhere.
My friend is selling a TS-12 for $545: reverb.com/item/82330517-ensoniq-ts-12-performance-composition-synthesizer-1993-1996-black?bk=
Its giant, thats why
It's about the width of my other synths on the stand, the Akai AX60 and Kawai K3. The SY99 is much bigger than it.
Looking for a great deal on an Ensoniq TS synthesizer? $545 for a TS-12!! reverb.com/item/82330517-ensoniq-ts-12-performance-composition-synthesizer-1993-1996-black
SCSI2SD is faster than Gotek USB.
Interesting!
I can see why nobody talks about that synth.
Really? What's a better vintage digital synth that deserves the hype?
@@VultureCulture Yes, they all sound about as equally bad I think. Good point.
Do you have any synths you like lol?
@@VultureCulture Analog vintage synths. Digital synths have only started to sound good in the past few years. But I do prefer newer synths in general if I were to buy one like the Polybrute and Super 6, or a remake like the UBX8, though having an original obx8 would be great it would be too much to maintain let alone buy. Even the new release of it is a little on the high side for price. Analog ages like wine, but digital ages like old television.
Had to turn this off. Too many adverts about every minute plus its a god awful sounding keyboard unless you like the music in cheap tv movies in the afternoons usually about a female being harassed after moving to a new town.. Yamaha PSS xxx sound better than this TS10.
I actually have the ads on the lowest possible frequency RUclips allows.
What are some vintage digital synths you do like the sound of?
Floppy emoji
Thank you 🙏
where do you develop a cadence like that? nerd school? theater club
I always enjoy your videos and learn a lot. 3:20 Arguably, the SQ-80 and ESQ-1 cannot do the wave sequencing type of synthesis. But I don't feel that matters if they can be programmed to sound exactly the same as if they did. For a simple example go to the 18:00 minute time mark in the RUclips video: Ensoniq SQ-80 patch set for 2022: "The Outer Patches
I have had many conversations about it but I am definitely an Ensoniq guy. The only reason I sold my TS12 is because I am really into my SQ80, SD1, and Fizmo. The TS is a very nice and powerful synth between the SD1 and Fizmo but just wasn’t fun to program. Still a really great synth by one of my favorite companies.
Do you find the SD-1 easier to program?
@@VultureCulture they’re both not fun. SQ80 and Fizmo are super easy (especially with the current software editor for the Fizmo). I just had the SD1 much longer so I am faster with it and have a huge catalog of sounds on a custom cartridge that holds about 500 or something. I think about picking up a TS again but I have so much cool stuff that I should really be digging into. Like the Quantum, Poly Evolver, etc etc. I try to avoid any synths I will have to learn. I still buy (bought 2 more yesterday) but they were synths I know and can jump right into.
@@VincentPresley I never touch my TS-10 anymore. In fact, it's been designated to the "to be sold" pile in my mind. Reason being... the SD-1 (and VFX-SD) are much stronger synthesizers to me. I prefer experimental, soundscape, ethereal, cosmic space pad kinda stuff - and the SD just KILLS in that realm. The "all wave" choice is a weirdo joy of waveform option to use and manipulate. Plus the FX's are more experimental and sound design capable in the VFX/SD1; such as the possible extremes of the 8 Voice Chorus, etc. The TS series are nice and do stem from the VFX architecture, but they also try to have a little DNA with the ASR-10 too - and at that point; might as well just go with the ASR. An ASR-10 with an SD-1 is a way more capable setup than what the TS offers. However, a TS is still a proper Ensoniq synthesizer and that's always a great thing to have.
Regarding the SQ-80 quickly... there's NOTHING else out there like it. The possible waveforms that can be created with it are absolutely unique.
Learning curve is an important part of synths. I sold my K5000S when I admitted to myself I was never going to have the time to master it.
@@VultureCulture Definitely. If I only had one or two synths I wouldn't mind a brain teaser synth but now it's like, well I can come in here and jump on any of 30 synths or sit down and study a manual for an hour. That's really funny, I had a K2500s and yeah, it sat on a stand for a month and I would look at the manual and watch the old VHS tapes that are on youtube and decided it wasn't going to happen.
I have the arturia SQ80 and I am very impressed with the Ensoniq sound and architecture . The NKS version has 56 pre mapped midi control knobs which is fun to play with (MK3 88 is a fabulous keyboard if your a keyboard player )
💾like this one? took ages to find it
Thank you for watching the whole stream!
Great stream. Once again, you've given me GAS! 💾
Thanks for watching the whole way through!!