Ensoniq VFX-SD

Version 2.X, the latest that is available for this unit.

I actually have two of these units now, and I have reviewed it here. This unit has all of the mods done to it and it is very reliable. I am very please to have another one of these units in my keyboard rig. It brings me back to when I initially had one of these units back in the early 90's when it worked flawlessly. It ia a very musical machine.

The polyphony is 21 notes for the board. Consider that each patch you call up can contain up to 6 voices to make it. Polyphony can be used up very quickly.
It has the routine EFX and work fine, the only exception being the distortion patch for guitars. The waves for the guitars are not very good either for distorted patches, but that is okay.
It is expandable with the RAM cartridges and via floppy drive.
This unit has extensive MIDI capabilities, but Pre-GM, since the unit was created in 1989.
This is another area where the unit shines; the on-board sequencer. It is up to 24 tracks (12 sequence tracks and 12 song tracks over the sequencer tracks when using Song Mode). Sequencer mode allows for up to 12 tracks for instruments. From there, you can create songs, which consist of different sequences (that you choose from what you have already created). Doing this also allows you to record up to 12 more tracks of musical data, which is very nice. Please keep in mind that with only 21 notes of polyphony, you will use up all the voices on the synth very quickly. With each track, you can assign local sounds (on-board sounds only), external sounds (from external MIDI units hooked up to the VFX-SD), or both. I have used the VFX to control the entire show at times, allowing channels strictly for EFX changes, guitar patch changes, and lighting cues. It is a great sequencer and works very well. Additionally, the fact that the VFX-SD has a large display is very helpful when programming the sounds or sequencer. I have used many different sequencers and frankly, the Ensoniq still is the best on this side of sequencer scale (not counting software sequencers).

For me, the orchestral sounds are the best. This unit is very well suited for esoteric sounds though, and doing ambient music and mood music really allows this unit to shine. The sax sounds are great as well, as are the synth sounds. I particularly like the patch called 'In Concert' as it is a combination of piano and strings and works very well. The unit also has poly aftertouch, and this allows for much versatility. It is very musical and works very well.

Being as though this unit has had the mods performed to it, it is very reliable. I also have another unit and it has not had the mods done to it. That unit is the one that stays in the studio and is triggered via MIDI. If the mods have not been performed, you will certainly have issues with it. You need to get the keyboard mod done to it before you will be able to take it on gigs. It will fail on you in time, because of how they designed the keyboard interface. Make sure that it is hard-soldered and it will not give you any more problems.
I never take just one board to gigs, so it does not apply to me. If you add in the fact that it only has 21 notes of polyphony, you will most certainly use more than one board on stage.

Ensoniq was bought out by Craetive Labs, who also owned E-Mu. This caused the downfall of Ensoniq altogether, much to our dismay and extreme disappointment. Shame on you guys for being bought out. You most certainly had the superior products (look at your line, the Mirage, EPS, VFX/VFX-SD, SD-1, TS Series, MR and ZR series). Sure, Ensoniq had some bloopers out there (which included the VFX (until you fixed the VFX), Fizmo, Avista, SDP-1), but you still had superior products.

If it were lost or stolen, please go into hiding, because I will find you. I love almost everything about the VFX; it was very much the 'holy grail' of boards for me. I went for over 10 years without one, but now have two of them. When I first heard the unit back in 90, I knew that I wanted at least one of them. I have 3 Ensoniq products, one from when it was new (the SQ2-32 Voice). I do wish that when using the sub outs, they did not get turned down when the master volume was turned down. This is a very musical instrument. I know that it is an electronic instrument, but it certainly does have a character to it and works so well.

I have other synths as well:

Alesis QS-6
E-Mu PK-6
Ensoniq SQ2-32 Voice
Ensoniq VFX-SD (I bought it in 2004)
Ensoniq VFX-SD (I bought it in March 2006)
Korg X5
Roland JV-880
Roland XP-60
Yamaha TG-33

Version 2.10
Most Presets are Very Good. A few are not really believable or very spacey
Patches are very editable. This is one reason I bought the synth, however after having it for nearly 15 years, I use mostly stock sounds.
The manual is the best MIDI synth manual I have used ( I also got the MIDI implementation manual fo it)

16 note polyphony with weighted action and poly aftertouch.
The VFX-SD has dynamic reverb with pre delay, delay,early reflexion level, Roto speaker sim., Distortion, 8 voice chorus, and flange. They are fairly easy to use. One drawback is that you set the effects for a sound, or for the song, not both. It has an expansion card slot and a disk drive which can both be used to load additional sounds or to store sounds. The drive can be used to store sequences and songs. There is also a memory expansion module available.

I have used it for everything from rock to jazz to orchestral with very good results. Onboard effects are not rack quality, but very good. With (porgramable) poly aftertouch I can modify a note in real time while it is being played. for example If I hold a note then press the gradually press the key down harder I can make the note bend down or get louder or use the LFO to get a vibrato. Very versatile. Like a piano, if I play soft it sounds soft, Harder, it reacts to my touch.

After some initial trips to the factory (the original 2 piece motherboard joint was a problem) the motherboard was replaced (with a 1 piece)Since then it hasn't missed a lick. As for no backup ... If it did go down I would look pretty foolish trying to fill in all the parts alone.

See above. Although there was a fundamental design flaw, staff was very friendly and helpful working me through it. During this process it was upgraded to n newer design motherboard and newer operating system (all under warranty).

If it were lost or stolen, I probably would not buy it again because I am now PC based and would likely buy a sound module or 2 or 3 for less money. I am primarily a guitarist and bought this rig as a backup band for practice. For what I do with it it is a great rig. Additional nice features would be drum triggers, sampling ability, a realistic clarinet sound (and kettle drums).
It definately helps me make music.

Version 2.00
Presets on the whole are very good, even for a synth that was made back in 1989. Of course, the pianos are not good compared to today's sounds, but a great synth nonetheless. Still has features that most boards do not have today, and that speaks volumes for a synth. The Transwaves that Ensoniq created for their synths are great. I also like the Patch Select Buttons.
Editing Patches can be tedious at best, because there are so many parts of the sound to edit. Each patch is made up of up to 6 independent waves, and that provides limitless capabilities. The manual is good as wwell.

The polyphony on this board is only 21 voices and that can get used up very quickly. They keyboard action is good, and it has Polyphonic aftertouch. That is something you don't find on many synths even today.
It is expandable with new sounds via disk drive and a cartridge.
Extensive MIDI capabilities, and very flexible.
This unit has a very powerful sequencer. It is still one of the best hardware sequencers there ever has been. I use my Roland XP60's sequencer for my live shows and for studio stuff, and I still prefer the Ensoniq sequencer over all. Of course, there is not a tempo map track or a couple of things like that, but they are easily overcome. I really like the fact that you can just arm and record your track on the Ensoniq boards.

Some of the instruments are very realistic. I especially like the oboe and flute patches. I really like the orchestral patches. I also like the synthy patches and the leads are good too. The sax is pretty good as well.
The neat thing about this board is the 'Patch Select' buttons, that allow you to have a variation of each sound. For example, the sax patch has three different variations to it. One allows you bend up to your desired note is a half step. Another patch select setting allows for a growl, and another allows for a 4-note trill up to the finishing note. What this adds up to it a very realistic representation of the selected sound. Every sound has a different patch select setting, but all-in-all, they are meant to help the authenticity of the sound.
The pianos are not very good when compared to today's standard. When I initially had thins board back in the very early 90's, it was a very good piano sound. I still have a patch called 'In Concert' that is a combination of piano and strings that is very expressive and sounds great. Of course when I compare the piano sound itself to my Roland XP60, it is not as good, but when layered, it works well.
Again, I love the orchestral lead sounds. I like the oboe, flute, clarinet, and other solo sounds.
I also like the drums. To me, they are very punchy and the snare is so great. Of course, the drum map is pre-General MIDI, but that can worked around too. When layered with my Roland and Alesis, the drums and bass combinations are hard to compete with.
The guitar sounds are a mixed-bag, but overall, work well.
The synth sounds and other esoteric and ecclectic sounds are very original and sound great.
The sounds judisciously use the built-in EFX processor and it helps a lot of the movement in the synthy sounds and pads.
The EFX on the whole are very good, but I could not find a distortion setting for guitars and the like. That is okay though, my Roland does guitars much better.
A unique feature on this board was the inclusion of the poly-aftertouch, which allows you to vibrato one note of a chord and not the others. This helps when doing a sax section and you want to vibrato the lead sound with the right hands while chording with the left hand. I Think that Kurzweil was the only other company routinely putting this feature on their products.
On the whole, this thing still stands up to the sounds of today.
This unit also features multiple outs (mains and subs). This allows for flexible routing of sounds during the sequence or preset playing.

This is where the board mainly failed (other than all of the proprietary programming and features on the board, that largely went unsupported).
This board developed a keyboard calibration error that all VFX users had to deal with at one point or another. The one I used back in the early 90's had the same problem. You could access the board from MIDI, but you could not play it locally from the keybed is the calibration error occured. Very bad for reliability. Once Ensoniq actually figured what the problem was, the fix permanently corrected the error. It also heated up quite good, and the heat-sync on the back became hot to the touch, which can be alarming. Getting the external cooling fan kit is recommended. I would have installed fans in the unit in a few different areas;
1. Under the display, which also heated up.
2. The power supply, this would have helped the external heat problem.
3. I would have added another fan just for good measure for overall cooling in the chassis.

Once you fixed the problems with the original VFX-SD (or just gave up or waited and bought an SD-1), it worked great. They have a metal chassis and are largely bulletproof. Be careful of the disk drive too, when it fails it can cost over $100 to get a replacement.

I have never directly dealt with support, but it is moot anyway; they were bought out by E-Mu and they do not provide support for any of the older Ensoniq products.

If it were lost or stolen, watch out. I will find you.
I have been looking for one of these for 10 years and finally found one at a pawn shop is good condition. I have to replace the floppy drive, but it seems to be fine other than that. I had one in the early 90's and know it like the back of my hand. It is my favorite board of all time, and I am glad that I finally found one. I know its shortcomings and can work around them. It has many strengths that to me, outweigh the shortcomings. Used in conjunction with all of my other boards, it adds a lot of personality and character.
I have been playing for over 25 years and have many other synths, all reviewed here on the harmony-central site. They include:

Alesis QS6
E-Mu PK6
Ensoniq SQ2 32-Voice
Ensoniq VFX-SD (reviewed here)
Korg X5
Roland JV880
Roland XP60 (expanded with piano board)
Yamaha DJX
Yamaha TG33

I knew exactly what I was getting when I found this synth. I have said repeatedly in my other reviews that if you know what each company brings to the table with their product and/or know the history of what sounds each company does better, you can make a more educated decision in getting equipment.

For its time, Ensoniq had winning products. Their shortfall was keeping most things proprietary and that caused many compatibility issues. Later models of synth supported General MIDI, but still had their proprietary floppy format (which required a custom extracter for conversion of files from your pc). This kind of closed-thinking is probably what helped cause their buyout by E-Mu. I was sorry to see them gone, but their synths still live on.

It is a very musicial synth and it helps me make music.

I presently don't have the keyboard as it was stolen some years ago so I'm not sure of the software version (2.10 I think). I used some preset sounds but seeing as it was my 5th Ensoniq product (had the ESQ-1, Mirage Rack, SQ-80 and EPS) I was very used to getting in there and tweeking as well as building from scratch. The keyboard was almost self-explanatory (Ensoniqs are like that) and the manual was a good back-up resource.

The features were great. Seeing as Ensoniq stuff is O/S based, they always seemed to be adding features via free software upgrades. Nice effects processors, good flexabilty in the MIDI dept as so many different modes were available. A cartridge can be plugged in for additional onboard sounds. The sequencer was not only large, but you can easily save/re-load from floppies, including the sound patches that go along with the sequences.

The sounds were a hybrid of previous Ensoniqs inc. crosswave waveforms and many of the samples that were created for the EPS. The keys were expressive including aftertouch ...

I had a couple of freeze-ups, but that issue is well address by now. There are guides on the Internet on how to 'hard-wire' the two board sections together so it's really not an issue.

As far as the Ensoniq company goes, I really can't say enough about how amazing they were. Well thought out products, free upgrades via software (sounds and O/S) and sometimes even hardware. In total I have owned 8 keyboards, 3 racks and two PC cards from Ensoniq. At one point, when my Soundscape PC card was over two years old, they offered me a free upgrade (two models beyond the original) because it had an older CD-ROM interface. Not a single bad word from me in this catagory.

I was unable to afford another VFX-SD when it got stolen and went back to the SQ-80 (a used one that I still own and just recently used on my bands upcoming CD). I presently also have an Ensoniq EPS, just bought an old Mirage, still have my Roland SH-3A (needs repair), a Casio CZ-101, Kawai drum machine, Fostek VF-160 16 + 8 hard drive recorder, a Gibson Les Paul, Fender Strat. and my main instrument which is drums. ( I have a set of Ludwigs and a kit of ROLAND midi/trigger pads for playing and programming). I am hoping to purchase another VFX-SD as soon as one becomes affordably available. I currently am playing drums with 4 bands in the Toronto area inc. my own band 'H to Oh!'.

I was using ver 2.1 software on the beast.
The sounds were unique and very usefull. Editing the thing was a bit problematic, sometimes counterintuitive, but always interesting. The manual was pretty decent in a market that seems to pride itself on incoherentcy. Overall a very easy keyboard to use.

Th polyphony was good, but I ran out of notes many times and placed tracks onto other gear. The effects were clean and clear, and I was in love with the polyphonic aftertouch even though many instruments didn't grok it. The on board sequencer was were I did all of my sequencing, very easy and intuitive. It has completely spoiled me as far as this goes...

The sounds are very ensoniq, for lack of a better way of putting it. You can recognize the sound of a vfx at ten paces with earmuffs on. They are unique yet still sit well in a mix. The patch select buttons can be a god send if you program the sounds properly. Minor tweaks between selects and you can have a very evolving sound.

Damn. The hard part. The reliability was very bad. You may have noticed most of the past tense remarks on here and that is because it died, and I haven't had the money to get it replaced. It was plagued with problems (mainly from the dreaded recalibrated error dur to the wonderful yet cursed polyphonic aftertouch) and ensoniq never quite fixed it all.

The enosoniq people were nice enough, even got to be on a first name basis with Rick, the area sales rep for them. Unfortunantly they got merged with Creative/Emu and now I fear they are truly deceased...

I would love to get another if I could find one in a)really good condition with latest updates and b)I had the courage to do the keyboard fix again. I have been playing for about 15 years and I bought this keyboard new and I never regretted it, even though it had "issues". Unfortunantly I think time has moved on and the only thing I am feeling completly lost on is sequencers, currently looking at an RM1X...

Version 2.01

Presets,editing and manual were all good.

Great drum sounds,effects ok..Midi was great and sequencer is very
good but do continuous saves of new data and for sure use a fan
on the heatsink..I have found you must use a power conditioner
also.

Good drums,Rocks out..Effects ok..Very expressive..Aftertouch is fine..
I love the weighted keys...!!

Like I said prior you must use a fan on the heatsink and I also
use power conditioner that filters brown outs,Noise etc..
That actually cured the system from rebooting or locking up..

1st level ok..2nd level assholes..There product is great according
to them..

I luv this unit..If you have a great idea of musical content it can
be created on this unit...Don't blame the sounds I blame the
idea man..!~!

I bought my VFX-SD brand new in 1990 and paid full retail for it. I can't believe I've had it for over a decade now, but I fell in love with it the first time I heard it in the store. I'm a computer dweeb, and so have no problems operating such a computerized instrument. It still sounds great after all these years

The only thing that really disappoints me is only having 21 voice generators on board... I wish it had more voices. I found out too late that Ensoniq had made an upgrade voice board to boost it up to 32 voices, and only cost a couple hundred dollars, they'd sold all of these they'd built in a short time and never even notified me even though I was subscribed to their mailing list for upgrades. Every Ensoniq employee (sales and tech support) I dealt with after they had my money from the initial purchase were all arrogant assholes and basically worthless for any support. They basically didn't show any sign of care for loyal customers at all. They definitely deserved the fate that the market dealt them in the end.

I love the velocity sensitive keyboard with weighted keys and poly aftertouch. The feel of the keys is most excellent and allows for great expressiveness. I play mostly what Homer Simpson would call "wussy rock" and new-age-like jazzy stuff. Effects are great for a machine of its vintage.

Reliability at first absolutely sucked. It would freak out and lock up and spurt out all kinds of random noises when it went south. I read on the Internet that users found the problem to be the cheesy molex connector that connects two of the circuit boards together. Since I'm quite handy with a soldering iron, one day I split the unit apart, located this culprit connector, and completely unsoldered it out of the machine. I re-assembled the unit using a short length of multi-conductor ribbon cable fashioned out of an old disk drive cable from a computer, all this in lieu of the former molex plug-in connector. Not the two circuit boards are firmly connected via a soldered-in-place ribbon cable and it is now rock-solid stable.
The power supply also gets very hot on the heatsink, so I always use a small fan clipped to my keyboard stand, to blow across the exterior heatsink to help keep it cool.

See my comments above. Ensonic, after the purchse, basically in effect said to me, "We got yer money, now go away kid you bother me, unless you want to buy another keyboard, give us more money." Ensoniq (the original company) sucked dirt.

Since I've been playing one for over a decade, and it's an integral and essential part of my music, if I lost mine for any reason I'd have to try to find another good used VFX-SD or perhaps an SD-1.

I am using version 2.1 The preset sounds are great. I love the ease of editing patches, the patch editor can be used quickl and effecient.
The manual is very well put together.

The polyphony is great, the keyboard action is awesome except for drumming with any keyboard takes awhile to get used to, after using a drum machine. The effects take a little time to explore if you want to get a certain sound, but well worth the effort. I love the fact it is expandable, and it's midi setup can be complex the first time but once learned is great. The sequncer is so simple a 5 year old could learn, and makes recording tracks very simple. I would recomend it and buy it again, no problem.

The instument sounds are very realistic, such a versatile variety makes it a great keyboard for any and every tpe of music, even movie scores and sound effects. You have the ability to adjust the velocity and aftertouch to fit your playing stlye, so that it reacts to you personal feel.

Yes, dependable most of the time I would suggest when recording onboard, to constantly save new data, beacuse I have lost valuble material, in some fluke computer error, only on rare occassions. I would use it onstage without a doubt.

Never needed to call for support or have it repaired, I have hade my board since 1996. And I travel all across america with it.

I would definetly buy this board again, it is the only board you or I would ever need, with the technology they have now, I use my home coputer and laptop with my board, and have various music programs and effect addons, so this board will keep me from coming out the pocket far as keyboards. I would suggest this keyboard to all new and old vetrans. Those who have problems and disagree with me regarding this keyboard, are probably not aware of the true capability of the Ensonic VFXsd and can send there board to me for free!!!

I am using software version 2.00. I would give this keyboard a 10 rating on ease of use and the manual is somewhat helpful.

This is where people need to listen carefully...I have read and seen many reports on how bad this system performs...In my opinion, this is by far the most UNreliable piece of equipment I have ever used...My atari 20 years ago was more reliable...It's a shame really cuz it's a good keyboard...If you're planning on buying one of these nightmares think again plz...the parts usually can't even be found now...Everything from reinitializations out the blue and bizzare system errors...If you do see a used one...Tell them $50 bucks seems fair considering you could never EVER take it on stage...I wish you all the best of luck =)

A very powerful keyboard.Touch sensitivity and expressiveness is great, and the manipulation of data is good.But this keyboard is fairly difficult to operate to modify sounds due to its complexity. I did some sound editing on the ESQ-one with its limited facilities for such, but the VFX takes editing to the next level.The ability to layer sounds and add effects are really good, but it was easy for me to get caught up in all the parameters.The sequencer is very good. The esq would allow you to only modify a seq at the end.The VFX allows you to modify the seq anywhere from begining to end.Controling variable tempos and volumes are a breeze.I now use the VFX to drive my entire midi setup and that's no easy task.It controls a mirage,a SQ-80,two esq-ones,a yamaha tx81Z and an alesis hr-16 drum machine.
It's great for the DX-7 kinds of sounds like tine piano ect,...I especially like the organ sounds because of the on-board leslie simulation. Brass sounds are also full.The 16 bit architeture allows percussion and drum sounds to rival that pof my hr-16 drum machine.

The sequencer can be expanded although I have yet to do this.Disk loading is very easy and straight-forward.Ensoniq designed it to be a controller keyboard and thus loaded it with features.It was really on top of it's game when it was released.

It's a great keyboard for classic rock like I play ion the band.Whether it's a synth sound on "axel F" by Herbie Hancock,organ on the begining of "Freebird" or Brass midi'd with acoustic piano on the mirage for "ride like the wind" by christopher cross,the control voltage pedal and patch presets never leave me lacking expressiveness.

If it's one thing that my VFX SD lacked when I first bought it used was reliabilty.It would just randomly lock up.Sometimes it would unlock with a power down and back up,sometimes not.Sometimes I could put a knee in the middle of the bottom of the case and push down on both outside edges twisting the case and it would unlock.It's very frustrating to lose a controller keyboard in the middle of a show.It already had the latest upgrade os.I scoured the internet for insight and discovered that some of the earlier versions of the VFX had a problem with the ribbin connector that connected to 2 halves of the circuit board in the bottom of the case.I cleaned all connection with alcohol,but still had the same problem.Finally one saturday I decided to disassemble the thing and look for cold solder joints.After hours with a magnifying glass I found 4 loose joints.I re-soldered those and have had no trouble since.

See my comments on the ESQ-one.

Yes I would want to replace it.The action of the keys is better than the mirage,esq one of sq-80.Plus the patch buttons allow me much more expressiveness to the sounds than when I controled my rig with my esq-one.