Ensoniq ASR-10

I have owned Kurzweil K2600, K2000r and found my self lost lost lost.. but this machine is much more easy to use with a good manual.

I found this for $200 and Id not sell it for any price!
Its my "go to" machine.

Its SCSI, get a glyph SCSI rack or Solid state SCSI floppy for 4 gigs, I think this is 2gb max per SCSI ID.
I own NI kontakt Komplete and the sounds are no where near the "tone" of actual hardware! I'm told the Effects are from Lexicon so you know your getting vibe.I own NI kontakt Komplete and the sounds are no where near the "tone" of actual hardware! I'm told the Effects are from Lexicon so you know your getting vibe.

The sequencer is capable of driving an entire studio, several synths and a drum machine.

Can you guys say "playing live" ? This is the unit.

The sequencer is capable of driving an entire studio, several synths and a drum machine.

Can you guys say "playing live" ? This is the unit.

I'm doing classic rock and the Hammond B3 sounds are great, put a CV pedal for rotation, edit your effects, set the mod wheel to distortion and my god.. o my freaking god... I was able to bang out Hammond riffs better then I have ever before. Its got polyphonic after touch, something unheard of now days.

I understand this is a dance/techno/Hip hop machine but I'm getting old school newage and classic rock TONE after one page of reading and I'm back to working... try that with a kurzweil..

Dont hotplug ANYTHING and its good for decades.

I took this on an international flight as carry on under the TSA act for acoustic guitars and band members.

Ill never sell it for any price because the huge drama of running two football fields in the Atlanta Int airport with a 45 pound synth.
Everyone thought I was NUTS!!! It had no case but the gods took care of me.

If you can get this on ebay, DO IT and then brag all day how knowledgeable you are because any guy with $5,000 at guitar center cant get something as powerful and LUSH as this.
You can stack several and chain them together for added voices.

Guys no plastic, this is brutal brushed steel.
Walk into my studio and its a beautifully brushed black steel beast.
its truly a dramatic effect.

At last I can quit searching for a Synth as I have found the holey grail of tone, performance and playability, yes I think the synth action keys are responsive and fast compared to semi weighted.

Manual explains the basic and in depth concepts of the ASR 10 in simple terms.

The keyboard action is quite responsive. The built in effects does wonders for sample manipulation or polishing. The ASR 10 is a complex machine and when time is taken to learn all of the intricate workings of the machine, satisfaction of use will increase tremendously for the user. Creative flexibility used with what this machine has to offer will make the pocket book happy.

The sounds are top notch. In my opinion, all of the Ensoniq brands bring a more polished sound off the bat from samples when compared to Akai brands. I am an Akai owner as well.

Pretty dependable. I only use this for home studio use.

non-existent

I love this machine and out of all of the samplers I have owned or own (SP-1200, Akai S900, MPC 60,ASR-X Pro,MPC 2000xl) I wouldn't hesitate to hold on to this one if I could only have one sampler.

I posted a review of this back in 1999 as "Cloakboy." It was my first keyboard and the only real electronic music device I had ever used. Back then, I thought this was rather easy to use, and maybe it was in its day, but now-a-days it's a pain in the ass.

Here's why I'm posting a second review almost 8 years later - I have too much stuff. Too many guitars, too many synths, too many rack effects. I was trying to lighten the load and get some extra cash. I decided this beast needed to go, it's heavy, it's big, I barely use it now that I use Logic's EXS24 soft sampler... I remember coming to hate this thing after a few years because it didn't have a resonant filter so I couldn't make all those filter sweeps that are so popular in most electronic music.

Well, before selling this beast, I decided to give it one last hurrah, and I fell in love all over again. 1) Going back to the old way of looping a sample by ear was awesome... I'm not into "conventional" dance/electronica, tending more towards industrial, IDM and experimental electronic music, so I like making asymmetric loops, and, boy did I have fun with this thing. 2) Modulation matrix - so many parameters can control soooo many other parameters, it's exhilirating. 3) Transwaves. I bought a Fizmo soon after this, because I had a positive opinion of Ensoniq based on this board and wanted something I could make my own pads with. The Fizmo had been my main board for years, but then I realized it was really just a gimped ASR-10 with limited, pre-set wavetables and my oh-so-coveted resonant filter. So fuck that synth, I can literally spend hours recording any non-musical sound and making a transwave out of it... I'll be building a PAiA 9700s soon, so once that's done I can just route the ASR-10 through that guy's resonant filter. =P

Yes, it's only 16megs, and yes its max sample rate is 44.1kHz. It's still fucking awesome. I use an old 100meg Zip Drive via the SCSI port and sample loading times are a lot more bearable than the old floppy days.

I went over a lot of this in the features section... Great for glitch, experimental, avant-garde. Might make a decent drum sampler for somebody out there, but there's much better options for that. I wouldn't bother for acoustic or "real" instrument samples. Oh, I guess rappers love this board too, it really does have a great low end to its sound.

LOL - it's a tank and weighs as much as one too. You could probably beat someone to death with it and it'd come out okay.

Ensoniq is dead dead dead dead dead. I doubt Emu would do anything for it. There's a guy out there who goes by the handle Prosoniq, a former Ensoniq tech who I guess fixes the old Ensoniq boards.

So, I was going to sell this, played with it for a while, and decided to start using it again. Now, a few years back, these things went for around $700. I'd probably sell it for that, but lately they seem to be fetching between $400 and $500. For that price, I'd rather just sit on it. Maybe in another year or two I'll get tired of it again, but right now I'm making some great music with it. Sure, I can "emulate" a lot of what it does with something like Reaktor or PureData, but neither of those give it the color or tone that the ASR-10 has.

If it was lost or stolen, I wouldn't rush out to get a new one, but I'd seriously consider trying to pick up the rackmount version off of ebay, especially for the prices they've been going at lately.

Original software - never worked out how to upgrade it, or why I would need to.

The manual is great. About the best manual I have ever used for anything.

Great polyphony. I have produced entire songs using this piece of kit, including 3 vocal traks, two guitar tracks, drums, bass, and various string, synth and ambient effects with this synth. The keyboard action is one I have grown intimately familiar with. For a non piano weighted keyboard it is great. I have owned and played quite a few brands. My first Ensoniq was the EPS 16+ and the action was quick to get the feel of and I have loved it since. For example, hooked up to a piano module I can play Chopin's Nocturne in C# minor (Film: The Pianist) to quite a respectable result that has brought tears to a listener. I can't afford a Steinway, so I have to make do with what I have.

The built in effects are brilliant for a synth of its age. Of course technology has advanced and therefore left it behind however since it is more than a decade old it is still passionately remembered. That means something.

Expanding the memory was a mission since Ensoniq was taken over by Emu. If you're keen enough you can find some. I bought some spare once i finally found it at a good price. I still can't bring myself to sell my spare RAM, even though it might fetch a good price to another appreciator of this great synth.

MIDI has velocity, after-touch and release. I have mainly used it as a stand alone machine, with a few modules occasionally. It drove those acceptably, which leads nicely onto the sequencer...

Considering this synth is sample based and every wave is fully editable and resamplable through the effects processor, its 16Mb RAM can produce a lot. Each key can trigger a sample. This means a lot of 'tracks'. The sequencer has 8 tracks and is a pattern sequencer. You can use loads of patterns so if you want to vary anything slightly you can either copy the pattern and use it again seperately or use its mute/play function in a 'song' to use or not use a track.

Through 8 years of using this machine I have always found a way of doing what I want - I only long for higher sample rates, more RAM and a bank of ROM sounds to save loading stuff to get started/muck about. Step back 10 years and it was a standard setter - standard creator maybe. A synth we should all be grateful for.

Since owning it I have explored a few phases of creativity, mainly classical piano, dance, house, lounge electronica. Once you know how to get what you want from it, there is always a way of achieving the result you want - occasionally surprising yourself.

For realistic sounds its sample quality is now surpassed but it is still capable of putting together a powerful and moving mix - if you like a rough edge. I used to sneak into leading stores with my minidisc set to record-pause and lift samples off the latest synths so I could create dance/house tracks with modern dynamic filtered effects. I never had ??2,000 to spend on a top notch analogue synth to get that part sorted, so I made do with what I had (a ??500 second hand ASR!)

You can create any type of music you want. The onboard effects are good and you can re-sample through effects, therefore you can effect a wave as much as you want.

The playability is great. Plus you can manipulate the keyboard or any part of it to react how you like. If you want the treble to be more sensitive than the bass, you can make it that way -with any sort of blend you want. Layer up a sound with stacks of individual waves if you wish, creating a multi set. You can manipulate these on the fly with the patch buttons above the pitch bend and modulation wheels

Because you have to boot it up with an OS it gives me the jitters using it live. I used it live for an amateur play and really had to organise my setups well - using floppy disk only, before I had ZIP. I got through but I wouldn't rate it as a live machine. Have you ever carried one?

My ASR has recently given up. It keeps blowing an internal fuse after 9 years of thorough use. Maybe I can find a solution to keep it on life support if I trawl the internet hard enough but I think I'll finally say goodbye to this icon... and sell that spare RAM.

Long since lost. Its down to the enthusiasts to keep this thing alive...

It is well worth what I paid. 9 years of thorough use from a second hand machine is commendable. I love its versatility and concept, I hate its out of datedness and lack of ROM sounds (none).

I wish it had 88 piano weighted keys, stacks of high res instruments preloaded, modern day quantity of RAM and easy interface with modern PC/Macs. Most of all I wish it came with a voucher for a suitable replacement!

It certainly helped me to make music, until tonight when its fuse blew again and I decided I can't be arsed unscrewing all those screws (again).

If you're an ASR user you will know what I mean about maximum use of only 16Mb, a few buttons and a simple screen to achieve something much more. If you're looking to buy one (second hand of course) take a little time to learn it and it will deliver almost anything you want it to. Don't expect crystal clear production however - it is over a decade old. Still worthy of a salute...

OS Version 3.63
Presets: I still use the Pop horms from the original EPS. Other than that, most of sounds I use are one I made. Which leads to editing patches...This keyboard (once you learn it) is the easiest and most flexible--most intuitive too--that I've ever used. The manual was written in english and, althogh it is over300 pages long, it was good reading. yes, I used to sit on the beach and read it....
My rating of a "7" is only for initial users. I'd give it a "10" once you learn it's logic--which is very intuitive. I find that I get lost on most other keyboards--wishing they were as easy to use as the ASR. I always joke that I'd feel sorry for a person if they were to steal an ASR-10; however, because they probably wouldn't be able to even load a sound if they;ve never used it before.

Polyphone is dependent on sample rate: max is 31 voices. The Effects are beautiful--I have used the ASR-10 as an effects box in a studio session. Seriously. This led me to buy my favorite all time effects processor the Ensoniq DP-4. The ASR-10 uses the same chip. I dearly miss Ensoniq.
Expansion at the time it was released (1993) was considerable (16MB) but by today's standards, it is very minimal. The extra 6 outputs has come in very handy. The MIDI implemetation is deep. After touch per key (as opposed to many other keyboards which send the aftertouch per channel). The multi-mode is great too.
The sequencer is BY FAR!!!! the best onboard sequencer I have ever used and I've been sequencing since 1985. I've used it to record entire albums (minus lead vocals--but incliding background vocals). The Method is intuitive: sequence sections of a song (Intor, verse, chorus...and put them in order). Contrast this with sequencers that "enable" you to sequesnce each track independently ("kick drum for bars 1-32" then Kick pattern 2 from bar 33-124..." yuck! Extremely well organized keyboard. Great Logic--I miss Ensoniq.

I loand my ASR-10 Tom Constantain (Grateful Dead) several years ago. The Harpsichord has a release sound per note after the release of each note--just like a real harpsichord. Very few keyboards have that level of flexibility. i also love the two envelopes: low velocity envelope crosfading with a high velocity envelope. You can do things like change the attack time based on velocity. For example: a slap bass can sound like a fingered bass at low velocity by the amplitude envelope with a slower attack, but also the sound can start later in the sample at the low velocity to start after the sharp attack sound at the begining of the sample. The ASR-10 also has several velocity curves to adapt to your playing style. I sometimes make it very sensitive when sequencing fast hi hat patterns. This makes it more responsive.

I bought the keyboard new in 1993. It has travelled over seas numersoud times and travelled around the US by van for years. The only troubles were harware issues: the edit button has broken twice. This is because I use that button very often.

I have dealt with Ensoniq. I owned the EPS in 1987. A year after the warrantee was up, the mother crapped out. I learned (from Ensoniq) that the reason for the problem was the lead solder process used to be done with a freon wash, but to be more environmental, Ensoniq changed the process away from freon voluntarily. This, as it turned out, was a less reliable solder. They insisted on fixing it under warrantee (a year after it had expired) because they knew it to be a manufacturing defect. One casued by trying to be more environmentally friendly. Did I say I miss Ensoniq?

here, 12 years after buying the ASR-10, I'm considering buying another in case mine goes bad. I can't imagine a concert without it. Most of my sounds are original samples, and honestly, I don't wantto remake them or go through the hassle of converting them. In fact, I found this site while searching for a used ASR-10. I've been playing since 1984. Have owned Roland Juno 1, JV-80, Juno 106; Ensoniq, EPS, ASR-10; Chroma Polaris (analog synth); Kork M1, 01-W. The only one I cannot do without is the ASR-10. I love everything about it except the weight. With my case, it us 72lbs--(2 over the max for most airlines--shoot--have to pay extra on occasion).

I bought it used with the latest OS, 3.53 and SCSI with Zip drive. It's easy to learn the principles of sample loading, sampling, looping, dialing up and editing effects, etc. The manual is very extensive and easy to understand.

I mainly wanted to put in a review because some of the other comments have perhaps been rather too exuberant and a bit misleading if you're a novice and thinking of buying a used ASR-10. First of all, hardware sampling as such is frankly a thing of the past - it must have been something quite special in 1992 but it's thirteen year-old digital technology today. For example, I suspect many users would like to transfer their trimmed wave files to use in their ASR-10. Well, bizarrely, the ASR-10 uses a completely different floppy format. You'll have to first use a file conversion program to convert to EFE format and then an ancient DOS floppy writing utility to get any sound file into your ASR-10 digitally (unless you have the rare I/O board). Clearly, the ASR-10 was intended for original sampling/recording through it's analog inputs and more or less stand-alone operation. Unless you're 1) really strapped for cash and 2) doesn't have a decent computer I'd forget about buying this machine for use as a sampler - after all, sample editing becomes so much easier if you can see the waveform for example. If you still for some reason want a hardware sampler, I'd say get something that doesn't speak Swahili.
Some of the Ensoniq keyboards have been in vogue recently because they have the rare, by now apparently extinct, feature, polyphonic aftertouch. This is a nice expressive feature that some new softsynths support, the CS-80V and the Legacy Wavestation for example. However, I've never quite come to terms with the keyboard on my ASR-10 - while I'm a quite good piano/keyboard player, the key action is frustratingly light, making it very hard to control velocity properly. Even something like my old Roland JX-8P synthesizer is much better in this respect.
Polyphony is 31 voices at 32 kHz, 23 voices at 44.1 kHz - the fact that many effects are 32 kHz-only etc just shows that this is an old machine. I haven't used the sequencer so I can't comment on it.

The boxed factory sounds are mostly typical bread-and-butter sounds (piano, guitar, drums, etc) and sound decent considering their small size (max 1.4 MB) but are of course no match for larger modern sample libraries. There are (generally rather poor quality with a few exceptions) free samples on the internet in EFE format that you can tranfer to disc with the DOS utility. The effects are surprisingly good though, at least the reverb/chorus/delay section - the distortion/cabinet/rotary speaker effects sound much less convincing.

I bought mine two years ago and it's been extremely reliable - not a single crash or error message as far as I can recall and I wouldn't hesitate to use it live. (I haven't mainly because these days the factory sounds are hardly state of the art and the 10 MB RAM installed is frankly ridiculous compared to the 2 GB RAM and virtually limitless hard disc space of my computer. Who misses looped samples?)

I've never dealt with Ensoniq.

Would I replace it if stolen? In a word, no. Old digital technology is rather hard to love, especially when as incompatible with other formats as this. I mainly bought it as a keyboard MIDI controller because of the polyphonic aftertouch, but the light action bothers me, and would probably bother other keyboardists used to weighted or semi-weighted actions. It's fine for velocity-less organ playing though. Having said this, to me the unit exudes quality, it's heavy, built like a tank, completely reliable, has proper buttons (no membranes here) and a decent effects section.

1.6 version for fastest software response. Sound are very configurable ifyour into synthesis with the likes of asdr or filters.

Kinda heavy, just keep in production area if you can. Effects same as legendary DP4. Expander provides 6 additional outputs. Sequencer is a breeze once you get basic operation.

I always believed its not the keyboard but the creativity behind the sound. In this case you get best of both worlds. Sounds limited by your imagination. Its a sampler, what you expect. Good feel.

Reliable just like any other computer. But with keys.

if you need a Scsi for asr-10, contact a gentleman named Vick at Sound Logic. He is trying to gett a special batch of asr-10 scsi interfaces produced. And only 24 lucky people will be able to get their hands on them. So hurry, I need mine built now. This is for early 2005.

If you never studied the manual and keyboard inside out, you never appreciate its potential. If your not into a little bit of studying of architecture, just get an MPC. Or else look deep into this keyboard and reap the benefits!

It came with the 2.51 O.S. Disc. Bought it in a case, looked brand spankin' new.
The freebies are always ish....(bogus).
Editing is pretty straight forward. That's the only plus about Ensoniq gear. If you learn something it's hard to forget.
Wow!!! WAR AND PEACE ring a bell? Unless your up on the jargon, it gets kinda confusing.

Keyborad action is cool for keyingup a nice melody or pounding out some drums. Yup. The efx are kinda cool and pretty straight to the point. Editing them can be a bit of bitch, but you get used to it pretty quickly. Oh yeah. Expansion. They upgraded to SIMM chips istead those cartridge looking things from the EPS days.
Sequencer is very cookie cutter. Easy as pie.

i loved ensoniq mr Well, whatever you sample. So do your homework on making it sound thick and powerful before sampling. No magic happens hear. What you sample is what you get. You can create any type of music on it it. It's a clean slate. The efx are pretty nice. The reaction timing is butta. you can set the sensitivity and all that.

here's still companies dealing out the parts for this thing. so far so good.I wouldn't gig with a sampler. A no no.

There's still companies dealing out the parts for this thing. so far so good. My EPS yes. This one, not yet. Hopefully not soon either

Let's put it this way, my EPS died and I didn't hesitate to pick up another ENSONIQ product. Some people are into Akai MPC's, I dig the shit outta my ASR 10. Been making tracks for about 7 years now. I have an ASR-X, Roland VS-1880, Yorkville ysm1p monitors, Technics SL1200,...etc.
It is easy to use and not monsterous. I hate angry people. I hate people who don't take the time to try and teach themselves something about the equipment they own. I also hate high priced gear.
Compared it to Korg Triton, Yamaha Motif? Check the pockets....hmmmmm
ASR-10 it is. I wish I had the Triton, Motif, MPC4000 (just becuz it's new) or Trinity for the sounds.
I wish I had more time to study this craft. Why can't artists just create and be merry..........(ugh...oh) WAKE UP!!! Back to the grind.......
Long live the creative process and free thought.

I had this machine from '94-2000, had to sell to pay off gambling debts (what a shame) I miss it, and trying to buy another one (this time with the newer blue lcd display)on E-bay. I could operate it in my sleep. I actually cried when I sold it (corny but true). I had the newest os system that ensoniq sent me in mail before they stopped making it. Manual was difficult, most of it I just learned by trial and error, it was fun.

Great keyboard action, I had it upgraded to 4mb, was 2mb stock, that's all I needed for hip-hop/rap sample based production. I only used midi for a Roland r-8mk2 drum machine, but then sampled all of the r8 sounds to asr disks and used the on board sequencer on the asr, and sold the r8. The sequencer on the asr is killer.

I generally sampled everything from cds, cassettes, vinyl or vhs tapes. I really only used bass patches, and drum kits over samples, so I'm not one to ask about instruments. Great for rap/r&b, and probably from alot of other types that I never got into. Back in the day I used to like the sound of the sp1200 (dj premier, house of pain, cypress hill, easy moe bee, etc. so I would always try to buy an effect disk to emulate the grainy 8 or 12 bit sampler on the sp1200 but could never find one. But generally, I like the hifi sound of the asr better. It was a "grimy sound" faze I was going through I guess.

I have to admit sometimes I would work on a project for like 10-12 hours at a clip (seriously) and come up with a masterpiece beat and go and try to save the bank, beat, song, etc. and the "data disk corrupted" message would come on and then tell me to re-boot. I would lose my mind and try to save the work by lightly tapping the disk eject button until the disk would almost come out and sometimes it worked and saved the project, but other times I had to bang my f***** head against the wall. So in a nut shell don't gig with it, and save as you go etc. as to avoid a total meltdown at the end. Maybe I just got a bad one out of the box, but when it worked I loved it.

I got my simms upgrade at Sam Ash Music where I bougt it in N.J. so I never really dealt with ensoniq. I never had it repaired.

Like I said before, I sold it to pay off gambling debts, it sold for 950 or 1000 in 2000, on e-bay. I got my life together again, and finances and am dying to replace it (this time w blue lcd display). Ive been beatmaking since '83 when I had like a silver metal Boss/Roland drum machine, a cheap radio shack mic, w spring reverb, and cassette deck. I was 13, and makin tapes for kids at middle school (one of the original white rappers/producers. Wish it had the sp1200 effect disk (for grainy horns, kicks, snares etc.) Overall the thing was like my best friend (again corny but true) when my girl or nobody else was feelin' me the asr-10 was. - Def Scotty B aka Spaz

Not so easy to use at first. Take a little bit of time.

MIDI 16 Bit sampler, with built-in effects processor (based on legendary Ensoniq DP4) and sequencer. No graphic windows, you rely on your ears to edit samples.

The sampler sounds is so amazing and so warm that it's unbelievable!!
You gotta try it!

The effect are amazing too, warm, it sounds analog!

Very good factory sounds.

It become very hot very quickly! You should use it with a fan.

Go to www.thesoniq.com to get upgrade and to get it repaired.

Amazing machine! Too bad it's not made anymore. You can find them for around 1000 dollars nowadays.
THE workstation of: The Neptunes, Timbaland, Missy Elliott, etc...