Ensoniq TS-12

3.5 O.S.
Some of the presets sound very good as is. Some sound good after a little tweaking. And some I really don't care for.
I am a sound programmer. And with 692 parameters, programming could be a nightmare. Fortunately Ensoniq included easy editting, such as effect algorithms, spilts/layers and tuning which can drastically change a patch.
There are 3 manuals that are well written. I have not used them much because of my familiarity with Ensoniq products.

32 notes dynamically allocated (good stuff)
54 effects high quality. Each with variations and each programmable
Yes. Ram, Plays samples, sequencer memory, scsi
extensive MIDI capabilities including general midi mode which turn the keyboard into a general midi module.
The keyboard is pressive sentive. Ts-10 is poly pressure sensitive.
The sequencer is 24 track and too easy to use. Extensive editting capabilties.

Pianos, electric guitars, percussion are to kill for. The percussion is unreal.
All types of music. I personally have done rock, classical, jass, disco, raggae, gospel, hip-hop, country, samba, latin, pop, urban, etc.

I brought my TS-12 as soon as ensoniq made them available to authorized dealers. My keyboard has not blinked once since I had it. And I have had to carry it as far away as 1000 miles to a performance.
It is my axe. I could not, at that time buy two. I have never need a second TS-12.

Ensoniq has been a wonderful to deal with. I brought six of their keyboard products and have received very good service and support. To bad they sold out the Japanese.
I'll upgraded all my Ensoniq keyboard. Ensoniq mailed the update chips to the authorized dealer and the dealer or myself(I can do the updates)added the new roms.
My VFX-sd was upgraded to an SD-1. Major upgrade requiring the keyboard to be shipping to Ensoniq Corp. A month later the keyboard returned to me ready to play.

Yes.
16 years
drums machines, sound modules, computers, mixers,yamaha and roland keyboards, amps,drum controllers
muscially and recording flexibility. Weighted keys, the sequencer, quick set up of splits/layers/transposition/tuning/key zoning/etc.
It weights 59 pounds.
Yes. When the TS-12 came out It out shined the comparable Roland, Yamaha and Korg producs.
Two people to carry it around for me. This keyboard is loaded. It's even has a tempo track.
I have created and recorded much music on this keyboard
Ensoniq's latest keyboard the ZR-76 does not have many of the features this keyboard has.

I never bothered to see what software version my TS-12 is even though I've had it since 1994. The presets sound excellent for the most part. Samples sound as though they were done at the very highest rates available and the overall signal to noise ratio is VERY strong. Editing patches is pretty straightforward although I haven't done much of it. A musician/writer friend of mine got much heavier into this than I did with some truly amazing results at times. I have always found Ensoniq manuals to be pretty clear and uncomplicated most of the time.

The TS-12 has 32-voice polyphony which was OK for 1994/95 but is not adequate these days (henceforth the KORG Triton!!!). The keyboard action is very nice and fairly reminiscent of an upright/grand piano feel. The effects are excellent, taken from the DP4. Although there is a way to apply two different effects in sequences it can be tedious getting it to work. It would have been nice if they made two or even three different effects able to be applied independently of one another such as exists now in the Roland JV Series of keyboard modules. Expansion is only available for sequence memory as far as I know. If Ensoniq would have made the number of sequencer tracks expandable from 12 to 16 that would have been the bomb!!! The keyboard sequencer is very flexible and extremely user-friendly. I have done many original & cover tunes on it along with a JV-2080, using the TS-12 tracks only for sequencing.

Most instruments are very good and practical when they are dropped into a mix. Some of the string sounds are a bit on the brittle side for my tastes, but the electric & grand pianos, guitars, etc. are excellent. I read some previous comments about the drums being sub-standard but I have not found that to be the case. I made two different records suitable for release that were done entirely on the TS-12. The 12 has done very well for R & B styles as well as Pop. It seems to respond a bit too sensitively to velocity but all one has to do is be mindful of their technique when playing, the same you would do for any keyboard that has velocity. Aftertouch is very responsive I find.

I have depended on the TS-12 almost exclusively since 1994. The 3.5 floppy drive doesn't crash anywhere near as often as some of the previous comments seem to suggest, at least in my experience. Later on I incorported an Akai MPC-2000 Studio Plus & a Roland JV-2080 with it, to much satisfaction. I both would & have used it on a gig without a backup, but then again the other keyboard player(s) each had an Ensoniq keyboard as well!!!!

If I can recall by the time I needed any customer support from Ensoniq their website was up & running full time. I was directed to certain web pages by a real live tech support person at the Malvern, PA headquarters via telephone to find specific answers to my technical questions. I never had an upgrade or repair from the day of purchase to the present day.

I would definitely try to replace the TS-12 if it were lost or stolen, as a matter of fact I almost bought another used one recently off of the Harmony Central Website. I've been dabbling at the keyboard on & off since the mid 70's. I own a Carvin SH-225 electric guitar, a Fender Rhodes 88-Key Suitcase Electric Piano, a complete Oberheim System from 1984, an Akai MPC-2000 Studio Plus Drum Computer, Ensoniq SQ-80, Korg Poly-61, Emulator Sp-1200, etc.

Currently running OS 3.05. In reading the other reviews it seems like people either understand the interface right away and like it a lot, or they don't get it right away and never do. I'm in the former camp and think the unit is quite easy to navigate.

The preset sounds are pretty good, although as others have mentioned, the acoustic pianos are kind of weak. It will also play ASR-formatted samples, so I would suspect if you're serious about getting good piano sounds you could just acquire and play samples.

Patch editing is really easy, although of course, it'd be easier with a computer-based patch editor. The sound structure is based on layers of voices (up to 6 per patch), and since you get better sounds with clever interaction between voices, it's a bit of a pain to have to keep switching voices while editing. I've been meaning to write an editor for this unit, although the major editors in the market do support it.

Manual is great although imbalanced... way too much time spent on the effects section, not enough on sound programming.

Ensoniq does not adhere to the GM drumkit layout on most of its builtin drumkits, which is annoying but not the end of the world.

All in all though, the synth is really easy to use if a bit quirky.

Polyphony is fine for its time. Keyboard action is great, and although others have complained a bit about durability, I haven't seen it.

Effects sound good, exactly the same (I'm told) as the DP-4. Programming the effects is kind of tricky, as one must tinker with a program's pan in order to feed the effects processor (e.g. pan left = route voice to delay, pan right = route voice to chorus). It's a clever hack to be able to do this, I'm sure, but it's hard to program.

Expansion: none really. you can buy more sample memory and a SCSI adapter but that's it. It's apparent from the interface that Ensoniq had intended to release more sample ROMs (there are 3 banks of them built-in (banks 2/3/4) , but the interface provides for 4 more (5/6/7/8)). Too bad they didn't!

MIDI implementation is thorough, it's done everything I've wanted it to do, using it as the main workstation in my rig.

Onboard sequencer works very well and is quite easy to use within the context of the TS; I have not tried to use to drive other units. It does all the things you'd expect an onboard to do, although because of the TS's LED display, you can't see much on the screen at a time and some intensive button-pushing is required if you're trying to do fancy editing.

Sounds: piano OK, elec piano great, strings are good, brass is good, pads are superb, drums are acceptable if you're not trying to record them (I am finicky about drums... for "real" drums I use a sampler and for techno, I use Stomper... so the in-between solution that the TS offers just won't cut it).

Effects: good, but as mentioned elsewhere the routing is not intuitive.

Dynamism: really good... each voice has several modulation sources (pressure, velocity, LFO, random/noise, etc.), in addition to 2 patch selector buttons which let you alter the voices used real-time; so you could have a flute program up, then while playing that program, hold a patch selector button and add breath to the flute. I think you can control up to 4 of the mod sources real-time over MIDI, and with well-programmed sounds you can get some great motion in your playing.

I've owned my TS for 6 years in studio and very light gigging. The only problems I've had are with the disk drive (disks suddenly "go bad"). I wouldn't hesitiate to use it live without backup.

The unit is really heavy and unless you are burly or have a case with wheels would not be very fun to play out with.

Ensoniq was sold to E-mu (now part of Creative I think) and have discontinued support for the TS.

I did buy some patches from E-mu and they were shipped promptly with no gripes.

There is a mailing list for EPS/ASR/TS which is fairly active and the community there is pretty well self-supporting.

I'd buy it again although not for $2300 of course. The units seem to go for about $1000 on auction and that seems about right. Probably if I would have had it to do all over again I would have bought a Kurzweil K2000; slightly more expensive at the time but the Kurzweil line ended up growing (with better support from the company and the community) while the TS series was pretty much abandoned.

About me... I've been playing for about 20 years and use the TS with a Boss DR-660, Korg DW-8000, and GigaSampler. With the TS as controller, the DR and DW for synthy stuff and Giga for when I'm the urge to sample, I've been able to cover most of my bases. Before Giga came out though, I was lacking in the sampler department, and that was kind of a drag... like I said, the TS plays samples, but the process of downloading, converting, and dealing with my flaky disk drive made me avoid sampling. I feel like a better person for it though :)

The factory sounds are above average.
The key to this unit is it's sequencer. Ensoniq's approach (building blocks) makes owning this piece worth the investment.
I have produced many top 100 songs w/the TS as the main controller. The sample RAM HAS to be expanded (factory 2MB) to 8 MB. Also invest in a conversion program for the computer (.wav files to ensoniq format) available from rubber chicken software or gary giebler enterprises.
This board is so PHAT; most don't take the time to tap into it's POWER!

The effects are increbible.
The MIDI control is a bit difficult from the sequencer (it's really a 12 track sequencer); so utilizing all 16 (0r 24) tracks takes some tweaking.
Remember, the TS is a SAMPLE playback synth; enabling you to play ANY sounds; not just re-programmed ensoniq sounds.
An ASR-10/88 is a perfect compliment to the TS.
The SEQUENCER is so easy;.....Roland & Korg take notice!

Piano sounds are weak.
Drums are great.
Basses ok.
Overall sounds are above average (stock)

Bulletproof.
Eventually the Keyboard action breaks (plastic unbderneath keys); & some buttons may stick; but overall; a VERY reliable board.

Ensoniq is the best @ support.

I would (& WILL) buy another TS.
The board is great for producers & performers.
Just take TIME with it.

E-mail me w/ questions. (technical or other)

blessings!

I never used the Programming area. I never edited any Preset. But the sequencer is cool!

32x poly is not much. But some recorder can pre-record half the mix. Effects are superb. Keys are a gift from the gods.

Sounds are cool, except for some strings.

It is beyond all limits. Crashes when: 1-many songs/sequences in memory,and 2-Quantizing is done. Then it says "Editing data" or something like that. CRASH! All data lost. All songs, all sounds, everything. Now I save all data first. I would buy it again, though.

Bad. Never heard something about the crashed, error codes, inverted pedal polarity etc.

Worth every single penny.

I've lived with the TS-12 for several years now and know it as an old friend. The synth sounded great for its time but now is a dated. However as a controler I love the flexablity of using sequences to instantly load all patches to all my instruments as well as layering and splits. This is important for me as I play in a lot of Pit bands for musicals and often have to cover Several parts at once.

32 voices was standard at the time, but lacking today. The action is an older weighted FATAR, it's a bit light, but the aftertouch is good and this synth has more presets set up to use it musically than any other synth I've played, add that with the 2 patch variation switches and you have a lot of expression available to you while playing. In the sequence mode I can load 16 channels of patch info for on the fly changing of sounds. This is great for live performance when you need many different sounds for each song. All it takes is some time to program the sequences with the right sounds (easy)

Piano- BAD! certainly better than some but not up to todays samples. The older synths sound great even without resonant filters. The ability to load ASR-10 samples gives me the best Fender Rhodes sound I've heard (I own a Chuck Monte Dyno Rhodes!)on a synth. The effects are great and easily edited. Hyperwaves and transwaves are cool but difficult to do yourself. If you are inclined to program the big display and bountiful amount of buttons are sure to please. I thought the synth engine is extremely powerful.

It has always performed perfectly for me and I've used it without backup without hesitation. I've beat it up pretty good too but the thing is built like a tank.

Custoimer support was friendly and I would say average as I have only had to call them once.

this unit was well worth what I paid for and has done everything I've ever asked it to do. I would buy another Ensoniq product again if they were producing a unit I was in the market for, unfortunately that is not the case at this time. I searched hard for this synth because it had to last me a long time before I could get a new one. I added a Roland JV1080 and it has extended this great synth lifes beyond what I hoped for. My next unit will have better action and greater polyphony but I cant complain after 5 years with this synth.

I'm using 3.05 of the OS. This keyboard has a very small learning curve, thanks
to the large display screen and well organized menus. There are a lot of buttons on the TS-12
but I found this makes it very easy to access the features. It would have been nice if there was an easier way
to pull up patches, like keying in a number. You have to press a few buttons to get to the sound you want.
I feel that the manual is very well written. I have always been able to find what I was looking for in it.

The keyboard has 32 note polyphony, which was pretty good back when this keyboard first came out. There
are a ton of effects and most are usuable. Effects routing is pretty nice in the sequencer, but newer keyboards allow you a little
more versatility in this area. For instance, you may have to pan the instrument left or right to get ONLY the desired effect,
when using multiple effects (distortion, Reverb, Chorus, Rotary speaker). For instance, say you only want rotary speaker on track1,
but not chorus, reverb, etc, the effect is set up in the panning of the instrument. You can also pan the effects, so you can pretty
much get what you like, but you have to be creative in how you set up your songs. Sound a little confusing? It still is for me and I have
had the keyboard for about 4 years. I would prefer insert effects or an easier way to assign a certain effect to a track.
The keyboard has 76 weighted keys which feel very nice, and also has a General-MIDI mode for playing those types of songs on the TS.
The sequencer is very good in my opinion.
I have been able to put together a basic idea for a song in a very short time. You can have like 24 tracks in your song. The TS kinda treats songs
different from sequences. A sequence can have 12 tracks, just like a song. But the song tracks can extend over several sequences (sequences can be repeated
as many times as you like and can be any length), giving you a total of 24 tracks. A song must have sequences. That took a little getting used to, but it is second nature now.
Also, the TS retains your sequences,songs, and sounds (not the APS samples though) in memory when you turn it off. All in all, the sequencer is top notch. Much easier to use than most on board sequencers.

There is a wide variety of sounds on the TS. The hyperwave sounds are excellent. I have programmed a few
myself, and you can create some really cool stuff with them. Hyperwaves change over time, so you can just hold down
a chord and the texture will change. You can even program simple drum/bass groove and just hold down one key and let it play.
I must say, however, hyperwaves can be difficult to create, depending on what you are trying to do. You can't just play a hyperwave and assign it,
you have to painstakenly create them manually, one note at time.
Again, the onboard effects are very good and can really fatten up a sound. It has the usual chorus, reverb, plus rotarie speaker (excellent), distortion,
equalizer,phaser, flanger, stereo reverb, and many more, plus plenty combination effects.

First the Good:
MY TS has been very reliable. The disk drive is still fine after 4 years, and all of the
buttons and sliders still work perfectly. LCD display is as bright as ever.
Now the BAD:
I have 4 keyboard keys that have lost their "weighted action". Those keys now feel real light compared to the weighted ones
and now sound to loud because their velocity is now different. This is something that can be fixed, but you know it is
expensive when these music stores have to take something apart. I tried fixing it myself, but found myself way over my head.
I didn't want to take the whole thing apart and not be able to put it back together. I was able to remove the weights that were just
floating around on the inside and getting stuck under other keys making them unplayable.
I have also witnessed a few fatal errors in which I got an error message on the screen that would not go away unless the keyboard was
reinitalized. That meant blowing away all of the stored memory. I lost a few songs but luckily I had backed up mostly everything to floppy.

Never had to do too much with tech support. I did call them when I found out
that they were no longer making the TS-12. Geez, I didn't know that its technology
was already two years old when I bought it in 95. But the guy assured me that
I still had a top notch keyboard and that there would be 3rd party sounds around for it
for a while.

If it was stolen, I probably would not get it again, only because of the
keys losing their weighted action. I have read on the net that this a common
problem with Ensoniq weighted keyboards and is expensive to fix. It has definitely
been worth the price I payed for it and I use it everyday, as it is my main keyboard. It
still sounds as good as alot of keyoards out there. In fact, I haven't come accross too many that
made me say, "I got to trade my TS in for one of these", other than maybe a Trinity Plus. I may in the future trade
it in for the Ensoniq ZR-76 only because it is very similar to the TS, has weighted keys, and 64 voice polyphony. Hopefully these keys won't break
as easily as on my TS.

I just recently purchased the TS-12 with software version 3.05, and I got it without a manual. But it's pretty easy to use, as with most Ensoniq products, and I love the bright flourescent display. It's especially cool to look at in the dark. I haven't yet got all that much into the sequencer yet, except for some basic recording, so I can't really comment on that to much. Programming sounds is so easy, it's a pleasure to spend time with tweaking and creating your own sounds. You can go directly to the parameter pages without having to go through complex menus, which saves a lot of time.

This is my first weighted keyboard, and the second 76 note keyboard I've owned. It has an excellent, high quality feel to it, and makes the standard synth action keyboards feel a little cheap in comparison. It has a maximum of 32 note polyphony, which depends on how many oscillators are being used (up to 6). I think the sample playback features, the huge synthesis engine, and the nice built in sequencer will make it an instrument I will use for a long time! The on-board disk drive is handy for storing patches, sequences, etc. Especially so I don't have to lug this thing from my basement studio to the computer upstairs. This thing weighs about 55 pounds!!

Almost all of the built in sounds are pretty good, although some tweaking really improves them even more. The pianos are nice, there are some pretty good electric pianos, the strings are very good (even better with some minor tweaking), the synth leads are good to excellent with some programming, and the pads are superb. The overall quality of the sounds smokes my Roland XP-10 and gives my Korg N264 a run for its money, but I won't be replacing my Ensoniq ESQ-1 for the analog sounds. The TS gives alot of options for programming sounds: 254 waveforms, the AWESOME Transwaves and Hyperwave wave list, up to 6 oscillators per patch, and the dual variable mode filters per voice. The ability to load Ensoniq's sample library makes the TS-12 even more powerful. The effects are superb, and has more different types of them than I've seen on other synths. It has pretty good touch sensitivity and aftertouch. Too bad it doesn't have the polyphonic after touch like the TS-10, but still it's very good. Overall, I like the sounds alot better than on some of the newer workstations (Roland XP series for example, and some of the Korg products.)!!

It seems to generally be pretty reliable, although I had some problems formatting and loading some floppy disks at first, it turned out to be a set of several bad disks, as I had similar problems in my N264. A new box of disks later, and I had no more problems. So overall, Ensoniq synths have been very reliable for me. I just might take this without a backup if I were playing live. It sounds excellent playing solo, or playing with other synths.

I've never had to deal with Ensoniq yet, so I can't give an opinion on that.

If my TS-12 were ever lost or stolen, of course I would try to get another one, although the TS-10 is more portable and lightweight, so I might see about that one instead. I am a hobbyist player whose played for several years, and I also own an Ensoniq Esq-1 which I LOVE for analog/digital synth sounds, a Korg N264 which is great for General Midi and Standard Midi files, and those great Korg sounds, and a Roland XP-10 which is lightweight, and is O.K., but think I've spent money on better keyboards, like the TS-12 for example. The TS-12 is not perfect of course, but it fits my workstation needs A LOT better than a lot of other workstations out there, which is why I give it such high ratings. I will be an Ensoniq fan for life!!!!!!!

This synth is a nightmare! Tough i'm an expert user with years of experience i still don't understand the logic of the instrument. Some operations are fairly simple (i.e. layering two or more sounds) but many operations that are silly on every synth here are almost impossible on this machine

The machine is very powerful, especially if you consider the age. You can expand the sample ram to 8mb, and add a scsi interface. But, incredible, the scsi read BUT DON'T WRITES!!! I really don't understand the reason.

This is the only "reason d'etre" for this machine. It's not very clear and detailed, and trasposing artifacts are sensible, but has a warm and "meaty" sound that is very difficult to found in a digital machine. Samples of analog or digital synth sounds wonderfully, also for the excellent effects. Obviously natural sounds are so-so, but still usable.

Reliability is a real problem. The synth crash often, and i don't have two keys that tranesmit the same velocity.

Zero point zero

I'm trying to sell mine, but nobody wants it. The sound is very good, but has too many problems in all other sectors.

This is a hard category for me to rate this keyboard on, as I'm a rather straight-ahead, live performance player. I haven't gotten into the sequencer at all - what little sequencing I do is done on an 01/W pro. But for live usability, I would say this board could be pretty cool. It has quick access to sound shaping parameters on the fly. However I don't like the way you have to sort of scroll through banks to get to particular patches. I would much prefer something like most keyboards have - the ability to call up a number between 1 and 99 instantly.

Polyphony is 32 voice. The weighted keys are curiously a bit larger than other keyboards, I guess the way a Bosendorfer is to other grands. this really shouldn't create any problem for any one, however. Some might even prefer it. What is a bit annoying however, is that the keys squeak when being struck. Obviously you'll never hear this while you're playing live with a band, but somehow it just makes me wonder about the overall build quality of the unit. The thing that is very nifty about the TS-12 is that you can load real ASR-10 samples into it. This is a feature that you're not gonna find on anything else in this price range.

OK, let's get to the most important factor - how does it sound? Well, that depends on what you're looking for. The Ts series has a feature called "hyper-wave programming" that i don't have any grasp of, but it does create some very unique and animated sounds. it's like having rhythm loops and synth tones all clanging around together, making sounds like no other board I've heard. If you're into ambient and trance type stuff, you may love this synth. As for me, I like rich acoustic instruments, and warm, thick analog pads, and frankly, that is not a strength here. The acoustic pianos are brittle and give me no desire to play them. (even my Kurzweil MicroPiano walks all over the TS-12.) The electric pianos are thin and just seem to die under your fingers. (once again the MicroPiano kills. I won't even bother making a comparison to an RD-600. OK, I will - The RD-600, A90-ex, Kurzweil 2500 absolutely bury the pianos offered here.) The rest of the sounds are a mixed bag. I got some good string pads on an aftermarket card. Since it does play ASR-10 samples, one may find lots of fun and useful stuff in that library, but the synth engine in this thing is a bit on the weak side,I'm afraid to say. My 01W/Pro sounds absolutely fat next to this. (i detest all this use of the word "phat". Come on guys, let's stop being what we think is hip, and just communicate.)

I've kept this keyboard in my bedroom studio for about two years for practicing, more than anything else. I would be very apprehensive about using it live without a back up. The keyboard squeak, the cheap feeling buttons, the chintzy display, don't fill a person with road-worthy confidence. Also there is some strange electronic noise that appears mysteriously, patches have inexplicably transposed, and now some will decay and reappear at random!

I've read from some others here that they think Ensoniq is a great American company, and endorse them whole-heartedly. Well, I can only tell from my one experience. I e-mailed their tech-support with my above list of concerns, explaining in detail each problem. I also noted that I had seen a reference from another user about one of the symptoms, and asked if they had gotten other feedback on this. I asked for any information or suggestions. The reply from the "technician" was to say the least, perfunctory. He did not even address the issues presented, merely stating that it looks like you need to take it to an authorized service center. Now there's some real help. Thank you Ensoniq, your product and your response tell me all I need to know about your company.

If this turkey were stolen, I'd be happy i could justify to my wife the purchase of a new keyboard, and definitely from a different company. I've been playing professionally and semi-pro for 15 or so years. I try to stick with my keyboards a long time, as proof - an RD-250s still on stage with me today. I've been happy with purchases from Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Sequential Circuits. My only cash-bought regret is the TS-12. It's biggest strength is it's ASR playback ability, but that alone won't make me love it. The other thing it does well is that hyperwave ambient stuff, but I would be suprised if a Korg Wavestaion didn't kick it's butt in that department.