Ensoniq SQ80

Excellent! Everything about this synth is very easy to use. Some of the Preset sounds are lame, and some are not... Editing Patches is very easy. The results are very neat. Manuel is very descriptive and easy to understand.

Polyphony is good. I sometimes run out of it becuase, the SQ-80 is my prime instrument. I am not aware of any upgrades, but it does have expansion capabilities with the Prom cartidge which is available from Syntaur Productions. It has every midi capability imaginable. I don't use the onboard sequencer much. But it's flexible and is very easy to use.

IT MAKES A LOT OF REALLY COOL SOUNDS. Although, the acoustic sounds aren't very good. I believe this instrument works well with New Wave type music or Dance. Onboard effects are good. Velocity and aftertouch are excellent.

I've never had any trouble with the synth. Sometimes it wont' calibrate on startup, and thats do to static, but it's very easy to take care of the problem. You just reinitialize it. I don't recommend leaving it plugged in, however, because I have found this causes it to not calibrate upon startup. So leave it unplugged. But other than that, I am the second or third owner of this synth , and it still works great.

I've dealt with Syntaur Productions which offer all the original factor stuff for the SQ-80. I have been able to order a lot of cool disks and sounds from them for the synth. You can find the Syntaur Company on the internet. They are a pretty neat company.

I wouldn't ever sell my precious SQ-80. I love the thing to death. I have been playing for about ten years now, and I really like the SQ-80. I compared it to a lot of Roland synths, which I really don't care for. I love how advanced this synth was in the late 80's. It offered a lot more than many synths of that age, I believe. I wish the synth had more Polyphony though. 8 just doesn't seem to be enough at times. This synth is extremely helpfull in making my music.

Sound editing is a breeze on this keyboard because every editing function has its own front button - no flipping through parameter pages. The buttons are laid out very logically. The display looks a bit crude compared to modern LCD displays, but it's bright enough to use in any lighting conditions - even direct sunlight. Ten patches can be directly selected from the front panel. The sequencer was hot in 1988, but 48ppq and 8 tracks are primitive by recent standards. The manual is very well written in plain English, and makes a great synth primer.

The SQ-80 has a polyphonic aftertouch keyboard - a very rare feature at any price. The sound programming is extremely flexible - more so than later Ensoniq synths or most other synths. Eight analog filters give a classic sound and have sweepable resonance. Hard sync and amplitude modulation are also useful features. The basic keyboard has 40 patches in memory, or 120 with an EPROM cartridge. A floppy disk drive is included for storing additional patches or sequences. No effects are included. Very fast MIDI/keyboard response with no timing slop.

The basic sounds are a bit rude and grungy, which makes it superb for analog-type synth sounds, mellotrons, pads, special effects, bells, and organs - helped considerably by the analog filters. Although there are only 8 voices, 3 oscillators per voice can give some very fat sounds. It's possible to overdrive the oscillators a bit - not a bad thing! The built-in ROM patches frankly stink, but the ease of programming readily encourages experimentation. The drums are kinda nasty, though, and the SQ-80 is not good at acoustic instrument or piano sounds.

I've owned this keyboard since purchasing new in1988, and I've had some major problems in the past with the keyboard action and software stability - although this was after extensive touring ang gigging under fairly harsh conditions. Once those problems were fixed, the instrument has been very reliable.

Ensoniq was very helpful when I had problems in 1991 and 92. They even replaced major components for free or at nominal cost well after the warranty had expired.

The SQ-80 was very hot stuff in early 1988, but some of its features (sequencer, polyphony, patch memory) have been greatly eclipsed since. However, the sounds are unique and the flexible programming makes creating sounds fun - I still use it everyday and I can't imagine doing without it. Besides, how many digital synths can make a really convincing "Lucky Man" Moog sound? - the SQ-80 can! I've seen Korg and Roland owners drool when they hear the sounds I can get out of this synth.

The software comes in disks and cartridges, but as it's an old model, the disks are no longer available retail, and the cartrdiges are usually only available from the U.S. The software is compatible with the SQ1 model. The presets are generally pretty good, given you use the mod. wheel. The number one problem with the presets is that the piano programs are pretty awful. The rest are quite usable though. Editing is easy. The keyboard has a built in sequencer too. The manual's very user friendly. If you're looking at an SQ80 my advice is use it as a motherkeyboard - they're a good base, and a sequencer's a great thing to have.

The keyboard action is good but given later technology (the SQ80 is an .... 87 model?) could be better. The built in effects - it has a pitch and a modulation wheel, ports for pedal effects as well as pedal switches, MIDI of course, tape ports, disk drive, cartridge drive,digital display, 16 track sequencer, editing facilities ... And they're all very straight forward: the screen provides you with prompts for just about everything.

Some instruments are realistic but some are pretty unrealistic. Use your imagination and you can work with any of the programs (patches) though. It works well for effects (synth stuff), rock, even for some jazz if you pick it right. However, the piano patches being the way they are it's no good for art music (Classical). And since 1987, synthesized strings have come a long way too - some of these (there is an abundance of every instrument!) are pretty rough. The velocity and aftertouch are good though - they can both be adjusted to your playing requirements.

It's a dependable keyboard, but like I said, it's really a bit old to be thinking of gigs, unless you're using it as a mother. Ensoniqs haven't always had the best name for reliability and endurance, but I've found the SQ80 workable and friendly enough!

I've never dealt with Ensoniq, but I can tell you that an upgrade is difficult and if that's what you're thinking of, get a later model or use racks.

When I bought the SQ80 it was worth the $900 but I'd be thinking hard if someone tried to charge you that price now!
*****A request of my own: I'm desperately looking for programs for my SQ80, long story but mine have gone missing and all I have left is the internal memory!****