Ensoniq TS-10

Running version 2.1 Rom upgrade. The presets are average in most case so it is not a great choice if you you are not prepared for a bit of tweaking. That being said there are a number of sensational presets that can make up for this. The ability to play back ASR and EPS samples is a great bonus on this system so that you have the best of both worlds. The editing features are extensive and complex. A techno rat can easily get in uo to their ears here. This has to be one of the most complex syths ever. Every concievable part of the sound construction process has a paramete in this monolith. The manual are terrible. It is easier to get the person selling the system to show you around it. Even you smart techno junkies will end up scrathing your heads with ythis unit. Talk about programming and the kitchen sink.

Ployphony is 24 part. It has the ability to run 12 track sequencer. The combi section is easy to use for sequencing with Cubase etc. The drums are good, and programmable. The guitars are the best i have heard. It can play back EPS and ARS samples and do some basic editing on samples. The inbulit 24 bit effects are superb and are the cleanest fx around. No Noise. Very programmable. It is pressure and velocity sensitive. A good feeling keyboard fro a guitarist, possibly to light for a pianist. It has a sequence which I have never used as I have always used cubase.

This is a very versatile instrument It can fit into any stle even heavy RAP.

I lost a key on the keyboard due to major beer spill and a whack in the teeth from a chair. The loacl tech had me running in 5 days for a total cost of $90. i thought that was great.

Micheal Allen at the music factory was just great. he was always willing to help.

I would consider replacing it. It has such beutifull sound quality. It is made for the long term and is very versatils. Where else can I get a clean sound with a great synth and a sample playback system for under $2000

I'm using the latest software. It's pretty easy to get around. I use the preset feature alot to make my own. For what I was using the keyboard, the factory presets weren't very functional. I found some of their combinations to be questionable, but then again maybe that's because I didn't use it in the normal situations. I did alot of church work with it, sequencing, and some editing of sounds. After getting in to it, I found it easy to use.

Polyphony, yes. However, I found that if I Sequenced something and then played over it, it would "borrow" some notes by cutting out either some highs or lows. That was frustrating. I was used to hearing these fantastic, full demos and wondering how they made it sound so real with so many sounds at once, i just figured I was doing something wrong.
It is midi capable and i had it set up to play with a bare bones Yamaha at the church I was working in. That worked out well.
Sequencer is easy to use. What i could never figure out is how to play pick up notes when sequencing because it always starts on the downbeat. I just turned the volume down, hit a note then came in with the pick-up notes. I have since tried sequencing on the Korg Triton and the same thing happened. The salesman could not get that to sequence pick up notes, either. So if anyone knows how, please let me know.

I really enjoyed the acoustic guitar and strings. Brass was very good, too especiallly the Flugelhorn. Having used it in church, I would have liked to see more simple organ sounds. Many of them were the big Cathedral organ sounds which were good but weren't always appropriate. I loved the cello and oboe, too. Flutes were quite realistic. Pianos were good, but I did some tweaking on them.
Aftertouch was good, keyboard was responsive.

I've had mine since it first came out. Since then, within the past 3 years, I 've had my share of problems. SInce I used it in a church in place of the barebones Yamaha that was there and a non-midi organ up in the loft, those were my backups. There were several inopportune times, i.e. Christmas Eve procession, Easter...always major feasts when the keyboard literally LOCKED up on me, holding whatever notes I had played in a big cluster of sound.I joked about it sensing my nervousness and bugging out on me. It had to be shutdown and turned on, recalibrate and of course I had to locate the sound/preset I was on...all in the middle of a procession of children and choir, banners and clergy. I thought it was the sustain pedal and replaced that, replaced the battery and bought a line stabilizer and noe of that fixed the problem. It was in for service several times and of course never did it when it was there, so they couldn't understand what was happening. This happened more times than I'd like to remember because it was the main instrument being used. I emailed ensoniq or someone that knew how to service them and never got a response. It's still not fixed and happens on occasion..but you never know where or when.
Also, there's a note that's gone "sour" and sounds like a twang when you play it.
So as of now, I'd say no on the reliability issue.

Only dealt with the music store, and emailed ensoniq regarding glitches. It's hard to give up the keyboard when you use it for work. Was offered standins by the store, but hta's like learning a whole new instrument. I know they went through some major changes, but wished I could have had one of their techs look into the problems.

For the 7 years i've owned it, I've enjoyed it and gotten a lot of use out of it. It has served me well. I probably didn't get into using many of the more technical features as much as I should have. However, if I had been able to take a course or something, I'm sure it would have helped. But you're ususally thrown into learning it on your own, in your own time, which was always being used up by raising a family, too.
I'm now looking into the ZR76 and comparing it to the Korg Triton.

This is by far the best keyboard Ensoniq has ever made. I had mine since late 93 when they were new. Not only does it have great sounds but you can also download any type of sampled sound,wavs any type of audio from the internet and convert it to a ASR sample so you can load it on the Ts-10. You can also keep a backup to all your sounds on the Puter. Trust me you want this option. Ensoniq disk go bad all the time. To do this you need the EDE program. The EDE is about 50 bucks. You can find it on the ensoniq home page. You can also take any Midi files off the net and convert those to the Ts. THIS IS VERY COOL and easy to do.BUT the TS has one problem NEVER let it get cool during the winter. It want turn on until it warm up. But the SD-1 did the same thing. If I was to pick one of the best all around keyboards TS-10 is one of them. If anyone has any Questions on the how to do advance things with the seq. I know it backwards and forwards and then some. I know more tricks than ensoniq LMFAO. Good luck with yours.

Presets: 8.5 out of 10 Editing: 8 Manual: 9.5

32 yes Up to 8mb of sample RAM all

Most sounds are excellent all Effects are excellent very good VG