Subject: Ensoniq & the collapse of innovation in
post-1988 synthesizer technology
In a previous post, Your Humble E-Mail Correspondent mentioned the general
excellence of Ensoniq's synths. They sound about as good as anything else
out there, Ensoniq synths are rock-solid reliable, and their sampler operating
systems are particularly intuitive and easy to use. Anyone who battled
the hellish TX16-W Yamaha sampler operating system or the botched E-Mu
sampler OS's from the late 80s is well qualified to appreciate the excellence
of the EPS/ EPS-16/ASR-10's operating system.
However, there's still plenty of room for improvement in the Ensoniq
samplers. Someone posted a query about that--how can anyone say Ensoniq
isn't up to date technologically? Here's how:
The ASR-10 needs more RAM. A *LOT* more RAM. 16 megs don't cut it.
The ASR-10 needs more than 8 simultaneous MIDI channels, allowing more
than 8 simultaneous tuning tables.
The ASR-10 needs to get away from the 8-layer limit. Not sufficient for
a serious sample of a real-world instrument. 128 layers would be more realistic.
Multi-sampling every note of a clarinet is now standard procedure, and
8 layers gives you only...8 notes. This is PARTICULARLY vital when transposing
a sampled instrument to a new tuning, since the larger the number of notes
you multisample, the smaller the problems with transposition.
