Ensoniq SD-1 User reviews -Page 16

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Average rating: 4.4 out of 5

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Jim Haederle a part-time user from USA writes:

My SD-1 has been my main keyboard since 1992. It's sounds & workstation capabilities are unsurpassed and it has served me well in that capacity. However, it has always had some quirks which, in a live environment, can drive me insane! It has a tendency, every now and then and for no apparent reason, to suddenly cut out and re-boot itself.

This is bad enough in band situations but for solo gigs, it's totally mortifying to loose sound for 7-10 seconds while the keyboard arbitrarily resets itself. Does anyone know if there is a current Emu-manufactured keyboard that could accept and recognize all the 3-1/2" floppies that contain 10 years worth of saved songs & sequences?

Rating: 3 out of 5 posted Monday-Sep-16-022 at 11:18

bong a professional user from phil writes:

the sd 1 was the very first professional board i was able to use in a live band, and it was my favorite since then, very user friendly esp the sequencer. i tried other sequencers but nothing beats the ease of use of this machine. i love the effects too, very useful! this board inspired me so much in my former gigging days, lots of fellow musicians would praise me for my sound. i use it mainly for my 2nd keys, i use rd series of roland for my mother keyboard becoz the piano sounds on sd 1 are weak for me. i highly recommend this board for pop, classical, country, etc. but not good for techno, hiphop and r & b. but sometime in the late 90's, my unit was not performing well, it went crazy, it always has the hissing sound unless you put a voltage regulator for its power source then the hiss will stop. but the problem didn't stop there, when i playback seq it played on a different key, and it stalls for a while then come back to life without my datas, these things happen regularly esp during our live acts, so i decided to put it to rest after years of service. i started to research for other boards to replace this one, i bought a JV2080, 5080, ns5r, rm1x and a triton, i'm pretty much happy with my new gear, but i still miss some sounds from my sd 1 such as the brasses, strings, pads, basses, etc. some of the sd1 pathces are just can't be replaced, and for me, as far as i can remember, the ensoniq sd 1 was the best synth they ever made, if only they made it more sturdy and sounded like it on its mr or latter models, so i suggest you guys who are working for ensoniq should come up once again with a board that it is ahead of its time to rise again and be on top of the competition once again...

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Tuesday-Aug-27-022 at 16:28

Danielsan a professional user from Australia writes:

Just picked up an sd1. It's a very kool synth. I love it. Only things not so kool are:

1. The bottom end of the output rolls off from 85hz to around 60hz .. so it's not great for bass sounds, they lack that "fatness" you can feel in an old moog .. I don't know if there's a low cut in the circuit that I can remove.

2.The high and low pass filters are really weak. No 'resonance' control or even a noticable cutoff frequency .. they roll off really smoothly which makes harshly electronic synthy sounds impossible to make.

But the pre gain overdriving is very kool. I recommend it as a quality keyboard but it's not what i would call a classic.

Rating: 3 out of 5 posted Monday-Jul-29-022 at 07:54

rerun a hobbyist user from USA writes:

used to be songwriter..loved the sd1. trying to crank the sd1 equipment up again to write demos after a long layoff. the sd1 is giving strange signals like "sequencer not loaded" . there are no sequences as there were before, and only 2 bank sets are functional. i tried to reinitialize, but to no avail.... any help out there? i tried to reload everything off the disk, but that didn't seem to work either.... help! any ideas before i blow some bucks and take it to the shop??

posted Wednesday-Nov-28-011 at 22:00

BMC a part-time user from Boston writes:

I purchased my SD-1 right after they came out and love it for the great sounds that came with it. Unfortunately The sounds that came on the diskette I received with the keyboard were wiped out and I cannot seem to lad them back in. I am following the instructions on how to load the sounds but keep getting a failure message. I cannot seem to glean any info. from the manula on how to do this and the music store around here I have visited can't seem to help me. Any suggestions out there. I love the beast she has been through a lot of shows and I have been complimented even on the organ sounds which I thought were the weakest. Thanks!

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Thursday-Nov-22-011 at 10:03

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