Ensoniq SD-1

easy to use

Great Sequencer Awesome effects
tonnes of unusual features like polyphonic aftertouch !!
This unit was way ahead of its time i still prefer to use it over anything on the market today ( including Kurzweils )

The patch select buttons are cool, amazing sax sample, great live keyboard good for pop music, rock, jazz
onboard effects are outstanding
great action as you get with all ensoniqs.

Have had problems with the unit, i discovered through much reseach that there was a bad batch of solder when they made the units .

At the time i had great customer support, but not today, these days nobody will touch ensoniqs

If i lost my SD1 i would replace it without question
I love it !!!

The sequencer is more easy and more powerful..in my opinion than many modern software sequencers even if it offers less tracks. This thing was way way ahead of it's time. I have tried computer sequencers and except for Reason, always go back to the SD or VFXSD chuckling.
Programming your own sounds is not so easy but there are some really cool third party sound sets out there that bring it up to date.

The on board sequencer is for pros. Totally cool. 32 polyphony is fine. Use a few modules. I like my Roland MKS50 and a drum machine. Only Reason could compete with this set-up for me.
Does take cartriges but never have found one. Has plenty of patch memory without.

The sounds in my opinion are really great...but it is better to make your own. It needs a Sonic Maximizer or Exciter..some processing. Super expresive. Some might not like it but I think it takes imagination to see its potential. I love it personally. It has a stringy, chimey, sliver-green shimmer that no other units have. The VFXSD version is hissy. The SD version is better in this regard.

Very reliable, but..you need to use it. Unfortunatly mine has been in storage and I'm about to start it up again. I'm worried if it will start correctly. They do crash form time to time. That's why I have a VFXSD as well an SD.

They used to be helpful from time to time. I don't think they're in business anymore.

I need to use these for my playing style. I would have four of them. Right now I have two. I may get more.
Using this makes it so I can do electronica live as well as in the studio. I don't need a computer until the end for post production. It's like an MMT8 except is comes with a disc drive and cool sounds. Crucial for me.

I am using the 3.0 version. The preset's are awesome. It is not a hard keyboard to learn. The layout is very good and convenient. The manaul helps out a bunch. I STILL HAVE MINE!!!

The action of the keyboard is almost "live". It handles anything you can put on it. Regardless of the amount of keystrokes! It accepts other keyboard sounds through MIDI like it were the ensoniq's itself.
The on board sequencer is def....I have NEVER lost a sequence.

The "Innocent Piano" and the trumprts, bass, and strings all have a very good sound. They react to your playing very smoothly. It works well with fast, rock, slow (especially), and country music very well.

You can depend on the ensoniq SD-1. It has NEVER failed me (yet)! I have recorded two complete CD's using the ensoniq. I guarantee you - you could not tell when the song changed sequence's.

Never needed customer support!

If it were lost or stolen I would do everything I could to get it back / or another one. I have never thought about getting another keyboard. It does everything I want! Keyboards today are just now catching up to the SD-1. When you can remove one bad note - after playing with both hands and all fingers at the same time - you got yourself something!!!!

Fairly intuitive. The softbutton (a button that lines up with a screen to mean diff. functions based on the screen) was pretty inventive back in the day. Once you got to know it you could move around really quick and the sequencer was very nice in its tims

This thing was loaded to the bone. Not much else could really compare to it when it came out.

You could create some very interesting sounds on it. I still hear some of the sounds on modern top 40 music.

I never had a problem with my SD-1 from the day i bought it to the day i sold it and i spend a lot of time bringing it back and forth to places banging the hell out of it

Ensoniq was a wonderful company back when this keyboard came out. A pleasure to work with. This is anything but true now.

I owned the DP-4, SD-1, and ASR-10 and all were mighty innovative for their time. The SD-1 got me into electronic music. If i had the space and found one for cheap i might even get one again (Couple of plug-ins could breathe a lot of life into that stuff)

Very intuitive. Up a running in a matter of minutes.

I do not EVER recall running out of polyphony. Originally I would use the SD-1 for ALL my sounds even though I had other boards. Eventually integrated everything.
Effects are a nice touch...
GREAT SEQUENCER!!!! I will die if this thing ever kicks the bucket.

Back in "the day" these were some of the hippest sounds on the planet you can still hear quality of the sounds. By todays standards, the piano stinks but back when this was fresh...nothing better, especially with some EQ tweaking.
Different type of beast than todays boards. Today, manufacturers are trying to mimic real life sounds...back then, the gig was to invent sounds or tweak a sound to be fresh.

I purchased a VFX-SD. That was the BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP I had ever purchased. Always crashing, errors, etc. Sent back repeatedly to Ensoniq who finally shipped me the SD-1 as a replacement. Never a problem again. Wish it had a hard disk storage system for sequences and sounds but instead I use twelve trillion 3 1/2 inch DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY disks.

See reliability...
The tech support personnel could find their way out of a paper bag that is torn open, well, except the dude who authorized (or decided to give me) the replacement board... thanks who ever you are ...

Recap the last sentence from Features....

My Ensoniq SD-1 is really easy to use as far as the sequencer is concerned and the fx processors are also easy to manipulate. But the sound creating part of it, the envelopes and filters, I am having a hard time figuring. Now I do not have a manual so I would have to give a good rating because I have learned alot just by tinkering so the keyboard is user friendly.

My SD-1 has 32 note poly, and a built in fx processor with lots of fx. The distortion effect is superb. I can get a crunchy SRV sound that rivals any Strat! The responce from the keyboard is very good. Pressure sensitive and velocity sensitive, very expressive. The sequencer is easy and the layout is perfect for live performances.

Perfect for Smooth Jazz all the way to hard house and on through to blues/rock. The Dynamic Piano is awesome the organs very b-3ish. The keyboard is the most expressive I have performed on. Although the sax sounds are tinny they are still expressive and dynamic.

This is the only keyboard I have and I have used it in live performances for 4 years. You need to have floppy disks backing up everything because it has the tendancy to erase everything upon startup every once in a while. But with good disks with sequences and sounds ready to go the load up time is minimal.

I have never dealt with the company.

It is worth more than what I paid. The sounds are very 80's and that is good for my style of electronic music. I love the expressiveness and the dynamics. I love its blank slate format where you can control everything. I would want to replace it if stolen or lost. It is better than the Korg x2 which was expensive and more difficult to use.