A classic analogue synth circa 1982, featuring digital control
of an analogue synth.
Things to know:-
When your creative genius needs a pause for refreshment hit the arpreggiator
button fiddle with the switches aim for the filter knobs, no wait - twiddle
the waveform knobs!.. no.. just twiddle everything! - all very useful and
easy to operate. Cut a groove reach for another synth and play a lead over
the top.
Another problem was one of the notes would distort - I noticed this
by slowly playing a six note chord a note at a time. Each note is allocated
a voice generator in turn which thankfully has it's own led on the PCB.
So when the offending distorted note sounded I could identify exactly which
circuit was faulty.
After probing I found a blob of fluff under the PCB, just where
the circuit was really very sensitive, just putting your finger close to
the PCB at this point would cause problems. Removing the fluff cured the
problem
The morel of the story is that these synths do get problems, some
easy to fix some very difficult so beware!
An expander with sequencer. Usual digital implementation of an analogue synth circa 1984 - it simulates the waveforms, filters, ADSR etc. all by using number manipulation in the digital domain thanks to a microprocessor.
Again the usual synth structure of two oscillators, ADSR, filter, resonance etc. Source waveform being square or sawtooth to which harmonics could be added ie: 2' 4' 8'.
Another program by numbers device. Space for 64 voices.
MIDI was adequate - watch out if using with a sequencer as some of the note off signals would erase the voice memory! Voice storage was either to cassette tape or MIDI dumps.
The single track sequencer was simple and limited, or quick and easy to use.
Bit of a surprise this one. It's a fairly recent offering from Korg, something of a non-descript name, plenty of photos and write ups on the net and a Yahoo user group.
I came across this charming synth by chance. I happen to go to the Music Live exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. I visited all the stands, naturally I went to Roland, Yamaha etc. on the Korg stand I found this MS2000 jobbie. As I played around with it I found it quite involving just as with the synths of old.
It is an analogue modelling synth, with all its vital synth parameters available for twiddling via knobs, plenty buttons to press and the nice wooden end cheeks. All very "touchy feely" - very nice.
For quite some time I've been looking for a synth to re-create the
sounds from Duran Duran's Rio album and the Human League sound. It became
clear the MS2000 had the flexibility to do just that. Now after playing
along with the records it can indeed re-create the sounds without much
effort! As a bonus, I am interested in ARP gear too and a vocoder
would be fun, this synth is suitably equipped. Superb.
For me it is ideal for re-creating the synth sounds of old, the factory sounds do call up many of the modern trance/rave etc. sounds too, many are "ready to use" which may appeal to the modern musos but for me it's the ability to re-create the old synths that makes this a winner.
This is a get stuck in a get twiddling knobs type of experience.
Tweaking sounds was fairly simple almost intuitive by pressing those little rubber buttons, look up a number then punch in a value etc...
The synth also has a 2 track sequencer which was quick to use, again limited.
It claim was bi-timbral which may sound ambiguous but simply meant
that it can play two voices at one.
It's funky, fashionable, weighs a ton with slow heavy action
- but we love 'em!!
Well... to a degree anyway. The Stage 73 I believe was one of the
first designs to hit the market, it had a smooth circular top made from
black plastic the rest is made from heavy duty plywood. The sound is generated
by hitting tuning fork type things called tines, the vibrations are converted
to an electrical signal with a device resembling a big guitar pickup.
The electrical output is that of a guitar, with typical guitar type
controls, volume and bass boost (treble cut).
My example had all the keys leaning over just a little, so an ascending gliss were moderately painful whereas descending gliss were killers!
Because each note is determined by an individual tine with its own
pickup the possibilities for bad tuning, tone changes, loudness and variations
of all types are abound. To get the whole thing balanced properly is really
the work of an experienced craftsman. The thing is so open to maladjustment
- but when set up correctly it becomes much more of a joy to play.
I recall that there is a modification possible which improves the
action known as Dyno-My-Rhodes hence I would
totally recommend taking it to a skilled craftsman.
My choice is the guy in London who has been doing them for years
- plus he's a friendly chap to boot! (I would leave his details but I have
lost them).
In few words, a good synth, everything twiddleable over MIDI. Unique
sound.
On the face of it a good machine, the audio quality was very good. Lace up times are a drag.
But as you can tell... first the battery pack only seemed to last
for 10 minutes before it needed a full recharge, the manual claims 2 hours,
so forget about it being portable.
Then I found compatibility problems between machines from different
manufacturers. We would record a 'master' on the DA-7 but when in the duplication
plant their DAT would have problems reading the tapes. Usually their machine
had functions which recovered the situation.
My biggest gripe with the DA-7 is they do seem to go faulty, getting
these repaired is tricky or very expensive. Take a look at the casio website
to learn more.. there isn't anything, seems like they've forgotten about
them.
I would say if you intend to buy a DA-7 budget to scrap it off,
as in a total loss. Mine is now wrecked, CASIO suggested I phone a office
supplier for spare parts (most stupid suggestion of the year award goes
to CASIO, UK for that) - and to Everything Audio, Borehamwood, England
for trashing the repair.
Six of everything! Think of this unit a six sound sources, all sample based, with an amplitude ADSR, 5 position pan, no reverb but has tremolo & chorus on two channels, 31 note poly, drum kit and all this is fully programmable with MIDI everywhere.
Most of the sounds are very good, the acoustic piano are very clear with 7 to choose from one will usually suffice, organs are reasonable, bass are reasonable, strings and brass are excellent, drums are OK, electric piano are reasonable, basically a mixture of sounds.
A good unit for acoustic piano, strings, brass and everything in one box. If you play in a duo or do a solo act on a limited budget then this is a good unit to choose. Prices have dropped making this a good workhorse unit. It doesn't have the GM format but there are user programmable tables that allow you to set your own voice lookup tables, I've done a GM version although it's not 100% compatible however it suffices. Usually you go through a midi file and modify it to suit yourself so it's not a big problem to change the voices to suit.
This unit has 6 separate audio outputs where each voice can be routed
for EQ via a mixing desk, alternatively there is a stereo pair where
all 6 are mixed.
On the front are 4 slots into which extra sounds can be added, although
these cards are not vital additions as the U110 has plenty of good sounds
to start with.
There isn't anything special about the unit on it's own, no one sound
is unique to it like so many synths but with a virtual full band playing
this is a very good unit.
I did notice driving the unit with all things playing, drums, bass,
piano, strings etc. the MIDI delay is noticeable, small but is noticeable.
This unit therefore struggles cutting a seriously tight groove, but for
your local pub gig nobody will notice.
This unit is quite a complex unit, it is actually quite flexible
in the way it works, you can program just about everything to suit what
you are doing. The operating system is in actual fact really very good,
mine never crashed at all, but do remember there are a lot of things to
twiddle so there are lots of pages to go through too!
This may sound like a thing reversed engineered from a gig in
outerspace. You can guess the function, checkout the Behringer
website
and read up on this thing.
Does it work??? The answer is yes! This is an astounding piece of
gear, and so cheap! It's very well made but the thing actually does kill
feedback! It's a wow!
In addition to the feedback destroyer part, it can also be used
as a parametric eq. and very good it is too. This is a fantastic product.
BUT you must learn how to use it, the unit does it's job in a particular
way and must be allowed to do it. Once confidence grows you will not want
to gig without it. The best I can say is, I was at a rehearsal not long
back, where feedback is usually a big problem. I wired this unit in circuit
and after a few complaints, basically disbelieves, got the thing running.
One guy started complaining saying it was making the PA sound crap
and insisted I took it out of circuit. So I pressed the bypass switch,
sure enough feedback started to rear its ugly head. I said "I'll leave
it switched out but you deal with the feedback" - needless to say
we ran with it in circuit all night, with no feedback.
Believe me, this thing works, but just take time to experiment and
learn how to use it.
The one I bought was the basic model and came as a huge disappointment.
I discovered the only way to get use out of this sampler is to buy one
fully loaded with SCSI, hard disk, CD-ROM and extra memory fitted. Also
have a selection of CD-ROMs as this seems to be the only way to have any
sort of sample library. Then expect to buy further CD-ROMs. Very costly.
What is important is its intended use. It is good for taking long audio samples such as loops and playing them. Also there are a few good instrument type samples such as the Emulator Ahhs etc. The unit comes with a handful of sound disks, highly recommended without which the ESI-32 is.. limited. Interesting though are the acoustic piano sounds, still not up to the quality of the Ensoniq EPS16+.
Without a hard disk attached making your own samples is a pain,
the ESI uses the hard drive as a buffer memory without which every function
becomes a one shot affair. Too frustrating and limiting.
There are few users world wide the best being in Yahoo where Neil
Johnstone and "Bob" seem to know all you'll ever need. I gather EMU
didn't implement sysex parameter control so you have to drive the ESI-32
by the front panel buttons, so no computer based editors. However the saviour
is WinEsi which allows you to copy WAV files from your PC transfer to floppy
which can be read by the ESI32. Also it does wonders over SCSI too, well
worth the effort in getting and setting up. However it seems to need 300k+
of free hard disk space in order to start up. It doesn't seem to use it
but wants to see it before it runs. Apart from that, ideal, get it.
These ESI-32 et. al. are selling for give-away prices, probably because the world is turning to computer based samplers but maybe because it's not such a quick easy thing to program.
It was decision time, throw the ESI-32 in the trash can or spend
money to somehow make something of it. It all started when I saw the SCSI
card on EMU's website for £60 - it was originally £200. Also
they were selling off some of the CDROMs cheap too. After big hassle with
their Irish distributor the stuff arrived. I also got the OS chip update
from Bob in California, went on ebay to buy the memory to max it out -
bit of hassle but the simms worked just fine. I used some of the SCSI stuff
for the EPS16+ and got the whole thing to work. Nice.
Now I have the ESI-32 perhaps as it should have been in the first
place. It does a different job to the EPS16+, much easier to play drum
loops. Better to use standard CDROM samples rather than make your own.
So at first sight it looks quite dull, I can feel you all shudder
at the mention of spring reverb as you clutch onto your favourite digital
reverb unit. Well I have to say the GBS (Great British Spring) is in fact
a very good sounding unit. However there are limitations. Because it is
a spring unit percussive things such as drums do go pong... which is what
you'd expect with springs. Put vocals through and there you have it, far
better than the average digital reverb unit (of the day). The trick is
don't add too much otherwise it does sound a little obvious, get the level
right and there you have it - a superb vocal reverb sound. In fact I have
done recording sessions where the vocalist has insisted in the GBS rather
than any digital units. My unit which I bought in 1985 is I guess the Mk
II version, is indeed a musical reverb and am sorry to sell, however its
new owner already knows of its magic.
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This is what it looks like, you need really to hang it
on a wall to get the spring units to hang correctly. The dangly wire simply goes to the tiny external power supply unit. |
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This is all you get, stereo XLR in and out and a
level control. Adjust to suit your gear. I recall an option was transformer balanced in/output, I don't know if the non-transformer version had electronically balanced in/output or not. |