I have an original SQ80 keyboard. I didn't know it has an analog filter, cool. I'm going to love exploring this synth without worrying about breaking sliders knobs or keys.
After loading my old SQ80 and SQ8L files I can say it’s pretty much spot on . I did need to open the filter maybe 5% on patches where it was almost closed and maybe a little bit more clean on the final output , but otherwise it’s there . My only criticism and I’m probably in the minority is I definitely preferred the layout the SQ8L used with the synth module selection ( ASM liked it too lol ) and all the parameters reading in the 0-127 / -63 to 63 on that big VFD as that’s how I used the ESQ1 and SQ80 for years and years . I find that giant VFD display as ubiquitous to the SQ80 as the Wood body on a Minimoog and the layout while nice and clean in itself a bit to homogeneous with almost every new synth plugin I’ve got in the last couple years . Ok that aside it’s got the sound so a new generation of synth enthusiasts can discover its amazingness and it can load patches from the old hardware so those of us of us missing our old synth or tired of repairs can keep the love alive.
Interesting. Good to hear it sounds so close as well. I think they got the interface right. As you say the synth page could be any generic soft synth (I mention this as well in the video). The look of the U.K. synths is definitely part of their charm.. hence keeping the main GUI page. But I think using the original interface would drive me insane after a while 😂 although it’s much better than any other synth of that age I can think of.
@@StarskyCarr To each there own I suppose. Anyway if you’re adding this to your tool box keep experimenting with the original Time / Level envelopes , they can be frustrating ( drove me nuts in my late teens ) coming from the almost normative adsr, but they can do some cool stuff , even emulate reverb in a very convincing way with one of the release setting if I’m remembering right . Good video , cheers .
@@Death_By_Media "even emulate reverb in a very convincing way with one of the release setting" Interesting if it can do that, I don't know in the case of ESQ-1/SQ80/SQ8L, but the Ensoniq Samplers (EPSs and ASRs at least) had doubled release parameters... so one initial release time and level, and after that, secondary time and level parameters. So could have a shorter initial release, like "natural" release, and then a longer one, which indeed could sound quite reverby. And you could emulate high or low damp just by using the Filter envelope in a similar manner. And maybe even the third envelope routed to a vibrato increasing with the trails, like diffusion or modulated reverb...
Thanks for your deep dive into this new emulation of a classic synth Arturia just keeps getting better & better with there emulations of classic synth I been buy there products for about 7 years thanks for the info.
The SQ80 was one of my first large synths in the late 80’s(I also had the ESQ1). I sold off my studio gear a year and a half ago so bought this day one. A software replacement? Ok. It has that gritty low fi SQ80 for sure. I love the new upgrades but do miss that 8 track sequencer. Lol. It was very limiting but i wrote tons of my early tracks on it.
Still got my ESQm - funny how the things we hated in the 80s and wanted to get rid of (Aliasing, noise) are now seen as a retro desirability. BTW, I love to pair this with my K3m to create some real crunchy arpeggios and great odd pads (try placing the SQ in a range higher than the k3 to maximize those fold-over frequencies.) Thanks for another long-form vid, Starsky! Always the best!
I wonder what’s next on the must have desirable list of things we used to think were lame… ? CRT screens, floppy drives, storing to tape 😂😂 or maybe windows 95 will be the next big thing 🤷♂️🤣
Are the SQ-80 and ESQ-1 now obsolete, are the prices finally going to stop going up and go down for once on a 'vintage' synth? Shall I bother changing the battery on my ESQ-1? Yeah, I'll still do it anyway. The beast deserves it. Can't beat original 'vintage' digital.
@@SamLowryDZ-015 but not as cheap as the EPS with polyphonic aftertouch I picked up for a cool 100 just 18 months ago. I have noticed they're going up now too, since I got mine though. Ensoniq were way ahead of their time. I'm surprised they weren't more revered, until recently.
@@joeltaylor2830 Well there were reliability issues with first VFX run (oxidation on the kybd linking cable ) The EPS is a good pick but needs a USB floppy replacement so that's going to put a £100 on the price - but worth it. But I guess peeps picking up on MPE enabled software are going to push up prices as no-one has come up with modern mass produced poly touch.
I always thought those 'hidden' waves are just binary artefacts that by chance produce the odd harmonic note when decoded. It's a shame they didn't add the VFX/SD waves - I still have my SD as I always preferred it to the M1/D50 and other romplers and you got a poly after-touch keyboard.
@@StarskyCarr these "hidden waves" are not accessible from the user interface, so you have to use SysEx or some ROMs that are sold ready to access them. There is conflicting information on the nature of these hidden waves. Some say that they are real waves that were left out of the normal memory table because they did not consider them useful. Another source (I don't remember the name) wrote an article in Transonic Hacker magazine, talking about how these waves are just sectors of code read in a loop to generate periodic data, and that is why they have a glitchy character, full of artifacts and inharmonious components. . If it is this way then we would be facing the forerunner of Buchla's 259e oscillator, which can do just that. The code sectors are parts not related to wave data, and can contain sectors related to any other functionality of the synthesizer, such as scanning the keyboard or similar functions.
I got this recently with my VCollection upgrade (5 to 8 for a decent price - couldn't ignore)... but not really warmed to this one yet... I reckon early digitals have their own vibe though... was this also related to the VFX in some way? I remember playing one of those back in the 80s at Dougie's Music in Northwich.....
Not in an intentional sense as it’s a hybrid synth ( analog amp per Osc , filter and final amp ) first with a capable but very proto workstation and the VFX is an all digital workstation synthesizer . The VFX , VFX-SD , and SD1 family was where the transwaves where birthed and you could do a sort of PWM as well as do the cross wave type mixing of its six oscillators per voice like the ESQ1 / SQ80s 3 OSCs. So a kind of evolution of the companies tech , but I don’t think they where ever viewed as direct offsprings as such .
