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For 1992 technology, a fabulous machine. Virtually an entire production studio in one box. I've had mine since 1996 (one of the last made, with the pretty LCD display). Effects still sound quite good even today. 44kHz reverbs, delays, choruses etc... have a nice richness & density - even if newer gear is, arguably, a bit "cleaner". Still I prefer my ASR10 reverbs to those on my Yamaha REV500 & that says something.
The manual is a War & Peace job, but is well written & explains things thoroughly.
Some basic specs: 31 voices @ 30kHz or 23 voices @ 44kHz. 50 30kHz effects algorithms in ROM, another 12 44kHz effects loadable from disc. 16 track (stereo tracks) sequencer. Sampling possible at 30kHz & 44kHz (CD quality, 16-bit). All the looping, crossfading, normalising functions you should need. Even time compression/expansion although the ASR10s weeny CPU speed makes this last operation very slow. Two track audio-recording is possible to a SCSI hard drive. Prior to getting a stand-alone Fostex hard disc recorder I used this function extensively. Basically it worked OK although compared to a knobs & faders recorder (or even one of many PC/Mac packages now available) it was a most cumbersome process.
The sequencer is without doubt the weak point of the machine. Don't expect it to perform to its theoretical limits - it won't! However as a sketch-pad it is perfectly adequate - just save things regularly.
No real hardware problems & my beasty has had plenty of use. I'd recommend using a line filter - reduces incidence of hangs & crashes.
I would recommend anyone buying an ASR10 to get one with SCSI & the maximum 16MB of RAM.
Some of the stock ASR10 sounds such as the grand piano still sound pretty good - but this is a machine for making your own mayhem on. The ASR10s ability to resample sounds & sequences ad infintum is probably the feature I have found most useful (I'm into electro-acoustic, industrial/ambient music). Surprisingly many more recent samplers won't let you do this - it has only become available on the Korg Triton in the last year or so. For those interested in sound design being able to condition raw sounds through effects (which on the ASR10 include high-quality parametric EQs, reverbs etc... as well as some lower-fi 33kHz guitar amp simulators & distortion algorithms) is essential.
I would say (given the new price of equivalent gear) that a 2nd hand ASR10, in good nick with expanded RAM & SCSI interface, is a serious proposition. The beast has a few idiosyncrasies (what doesn't?), but it still sounds great & has loads of creative potential.
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