Ensoniq VFX-SD

Easy to use, great on-board sequencer. As a MIDI-controller can be a little limited..if this was implimented better it would be a little less dated. Manual is good and programming ok.

I used to think the built in fx were pretty cool...but ten years later I try to run it through outboard gear. SYNTAUR productions makes sequencer expanders & cards for it and offers a solid program library. The built in floppy is good.

I've had this unit for ten years so....I made an ambient record with it, giged with it,been in 8 "bands" with it, lived in CA and NY with it, seen five+ relationships come and go with it and 1000 day jobs....I still love the f#cking thing! My MAC G3 running Logic is in the shop and I've been using the on-board sequencer again and it still rocks. I bought a disc of sounds from ROTATION RECORDS.com programmed recently and let me tell you..these sounds kick. with some fx racks you can make music from this century with this thing..I'm not employed by this company but let me tell you if you have a VFXSD and want it to still sound cool get the retro-VFX sound set from Rotion Records. Hip as hell. Techno/electronica melodic patches that can be "tweeked" in real-time with the mod wheel. Good eq-ing on your board and this thing sounds hot. Still.

Been lucky.

Called couple times a long time ago.

When I first bought it ten years ago I loved it...then from about 96-99 I began to hate it...bought some new sounds for it...Now I love it again. I thought I was ok at programming it..but some folks in Australia came up with some patches I never thought of..Now I love it more than I did when I first bought it.

I purchased one almost 8 years ago because the high school I was in at the time had one. I found it very intuitive and was able to find all the advanced functions (program editing, sequencing options in sequence and song modes, etc.). I was unable to find anything new to do with the unit by reading the manual, although it was a good reference to use when making new programs from scratch.

I feel as if the sequencer could be a little more advanced, like adding a "swing" mode. But that feature was added in the SD-1, which is the main reason it wasn't put into the VFX-SD. Marketing wanted us to buy new hardware for more features... Other than that, It's got all the features I could ever really want in a basic-level workstation.

The built-in programs are almost too "funky" for average use. However, the ability to program your own sounds (and take the good sounds from the standard banks) really doesn't make this too much of an issue. It does sound a little noisy, but that probably is caused by the older circuitry and unbalanced outputs. Definitely run the sounds dry (like through the AUX send) and process with an outboard unit. You can get rid of most of the background noise, and you'll have cleaner effects.

Like with all other reviews about the VFX, mine keeps heating up. I also think that's the reason it tends to lock up and force a reinitialization. Just as with any other computer: The cooler, the better. I use a small table fan right across the heatsink. It helps, but needs a better solution. And don't use oil-based fog-juice if you plan to use it in a show... It'll probably need a new floppy drive after that (again, the same with any computer).

The one time I've dealt with CS, I was fairly satisfied. All I needed to get was the Musician's Manual for the unit (the operating instructions). I had to pay some fee of $30 or so, and I got it within a week. Ever since the instrument side of Ensoniq was made part of Emu, I have yet to find anyone that can help me with the VFX. For the most part, I'm on my own. I don't mind, as I work with computers for a day-job, anyway. But be careful when you purchase one. You're probably not going to get much help. Overall, Emu/Ensoniq CS is friendly and easy to talk to. They're just not able to support a product of this age very well.

I've actually on my second unit. The first one, I purchased through a local music consignment shop for about $800US. It stopped functioning after about 8 years, so I dumped it for about $150. With that money, I purchased an Alesis QS6.1. It has cleaner sounds, but is difficult to program natively and doesn't have the sequencer built in. I recently found another VFX-SD on eBay for $350US (a relatively good deal to me), so I had to buy it. I love using it, but I wish there were some easy fix for the overheating problem... The fact that I ultimately purchased two of these has got to tell you that I love these things. I've now got my sights set on a TS-10/12. :-)

I have had this keyboard for 10 years it really does work well for me (when it works).the sounds are good and i love the ease of the sequencer.

to me the action is good just feels like it should when im on it
making sounds on it are cool but they are hard to do if your trying to make a specific sound.the sequencer has always been my favorite part of this machine even thought it has its faults.writing songs and sequences are a breeze and the dont take long at all.

the vfxsd has plenty of good sounds butthey are not good for all types of music this is a good clasical style or 80s rock type machine

i love the thing and always have but i must honestly say that ive had more trouble out of this than my ex wife. i cannot depend on it to work at a show or even at practice. it freezes for no apparent reason and just quits altogether sometimes. software is not easy to find at all i lost my disk and it took me forever to find another they do not make parts for it any more so if the mother board goes out you might as well bury it cause it be dead.

the support people are very nice and will help you anyway they can but unfortunatly they cant get the parts because most of them are obsolite.

if it was stolen i would hate it but i dont think it would kill me.ive been playing for 13 years and it has been good to me for the most part but its a dinosaur compared to the new korg triton,trinity,

V 2.01
Minor Learning Curve on editing. Manual is good in this respect.

32 note polyphony. Keyboard action is actually quite good.

Onboard effects are noisy, alot of white and pink sounding noise.
Even with the volume down you have noise...it's unacceptable, resulting from poor engineering.

Patches are good for it's age of development(1991). As with any sampled keyboard of it's time, lower frequency samples are more accurate than higher sampled ones.

AS far as I am concerned,this one is Ensoniq's blunder for reliability. I purchased it new and had to send it back to the manufacturer 3 times, problems ranging of freezing during performance or being on and idle for over an hour it would just lock up. Shortly after the warranty another problem emerged where the sequencer OS would blow out intermittantly. Rumors had it that certain motherboards boards when they went through the solder wave machines didn't make a good connection to the components. 2 months ago I opened it up to fix the line out jacks, I noticed the classic "engineering update" blue 30 gauge wire running to and from different components. Also several IC's had been replaced. I did however come up with a fix that has lasted 8 years with little or no problems. I purchase a muffin fan with 2 L brackets from radio shack, mount it directly over the heat sink on the back of the keyboard. That was the other thing, the heat sink would become very hot, almost to the point it would burn you. Obviously the power regulators are overdriven or the heating dissipation design was inefficient.
I still use it to this day for gigs, but it's #4 in my rack. This puppy should stay home in a cool dark place.

My experience with Ensoniq has left a bad taste. 1st level is very vague and second level has an attitude. One of the reasons I purchased this keyboard was the fact CS was in Pennsylvania. I figured on quick response time...I figured wrong.

I would really have to LOVE another Ensoniq keyboard to be swayed in investing in another.

It's a good keyboard for preproduction work. Sounds are of 16 bit quality, but the onboard effects kill the more subtle patches and "on idle" state introduces white noise as well.
I often thought of running dry out to an effects rack, but I haven't brought myself to that.
Performance on stage is diverse with Ensoniq's on the fly patch select buttons. I can tailor sounds realtime in the middle of a lead without having to fuss with parameters, up/down arrows etc...

Sampled patches are primitive, but for the year of production it's acceptable. Again it's the 4th keyboard in my rig, that I use in the moment. If she croaks it's no biggie, but reinitializing on stage causes all parameter data to be lost, if your disks aren't handy you're hosed. (This happened to me, it sucked big time)

Why do I still have it? Well, it was my first step into the workstation arena. I use it for preproduction to get ideas down.
It's not worth selling, one of those victims of technology things where you pay 2K one month it's worth 1K the next month. (ouch!)

Has a problem of rebooting its self sometimes, and if you are,nt the type to backup your work to disk, you can lose some great music time and effort, is gone.

I would definily buy it again, its a great board to learn sequncing mix down and productions. It has great effects, and each sound is programable, which makes it unlimited sounds capabilities. I have created numerous songs and have great repect for this board and would recommend it to any producer, or new composer starting out or who has been in the business.

I think that American software design far supersedes Japanese, and this machine really shows it. Its very ergonomic and its ability to get really in depth or just surface level is a major bonus The presets are generally very good, but there is still plenty of third party and freebie sounds out there that are superior. The VFX-SD has the extra advantage of the sequencer and a floppy disk drive which eases storage use. The sequencer is essentially 12 multitimbral tracks, with a further 12 solo lines you can play over the final song in one large pattern. The VFX-SD has a slightly different quality to the VFX as I think they improved the D?A convertors so it seems to have a better HF response. The manual is very clearly laid out and understandable, but generally I found the machine very user freindly so it was only needed for really in-depth reference.

24 note polyphony Excellent modulation routings and control, particularly good as a performance keyboard, but also as an all round workstation Its MIDI spec is also good with full polyphonic aftertouch, although its sequencer midi outs can be a little confusing to start with.

I have taken both VFX-SD's and VFX's on major world tours as they make good all-round machines, and are handy if nothing else for when everything else fails! They make excellent performance keyboards particularly for rock/pop There are plenty of good solid "bread & Butter" sounds along with many other sounds that are pretty unique, but also very usable I rarely use presets, but they are all instantly "tweakable" to help you change them into the sound you are after. There are plenty of controllers too, with velocity, channel or poly aftertouch, two wheels, a slider, two switch pedals, a rocker pedal, and two switches next to the wheels all controllers can be assigned to one or more function, and these are all stored per patch

I love the VFX-SD, but unfortunately this is where it lets you down This machine is notoriously unreliable. It has major problems with the keyboard scanning circuitry and aftertouch electronics. I actually took three on the road as they were so poor, (being sponsored by Ensoniq did help somewhat!) Great machines, but dont trust them as far as you can spit. Apparently, at one time Ensoniq had a 95% failure rate on these machines.

As a Brit, Ensoniq have had at least 4 distributors in the UK, who have varied from excellent to abyssmal The main board was so complex, it required going back to the USA for repair, and at one time there were so many failures that there wasnt a spare board in Europe for months

Much that it was a major pain to get fixed in its early days, the newer models and softwareupgrades seem to have sorted its reliability problems Apart from that, I love this little beast. I would firmly reccomend anyone starting out to try this as a first serious keyboard Its sounds are wonderful, and really different, and its usability is bar none For all its problems, I give it a firm thumbs up I still keep one for studio work and have had it for at least ten years, and it still suprises me. If I lost it, I guess I would get another as the s/h price is now so low