i couldn't live without my esq. it's still my favorite synth. i also use a yamaha qy70, mirage, electribe sampler, yamaha dx100, and a few other things. every once in a while i feel a little confined by the sound of the esq and then a week later i feel inspired by it.

it does have a dark quality to it. tasteful use of fx can really spice it up. i use delay a lot, synced to the midi clock of the esq. instead of running the patches in stereo, i hard pan different patches different channels on my mixer, one running into the fx and the other dry (for bass sounds)

some people complain about not having knobs on the esq. the esq really comes alive if you've got a CV pedal. run an analog style patch in sync mode (or AM mode for ring mod type effect), use the pedal to controll OSC2's pitch, and the mod wheel to controll filter frequency. LOTS of fun. you can also route an external midi controller to virtually any parameter (which controller is specified in your master MIDI page and is somewhat limited to a few certain controllers- check the manual). so you still have 3 ways of controlling parameters in realtime.

the modulation capabilities on this thing are incredible. you can even modulate an LFO with another (or even the same) LFO, and you're not restricted to just one mod source per parameter. you can modulate the filter with a mod wheel and an LFO, while the LFO may me modulated by one of the envelopes, etc.

even many of today's medium budget "retro synths" don't give you 3 oscillators, FOUR envelopes and 3 LFO's, and even when they do you rarely get as much routing flexibility (which is not to say there aren't tradeoffs). this thing can make great sounding analog basses, evolving pads, and with creativity, sounds no other synth can replicate. most other digital synths of this period are better suited for digital type sounds but this one gives you much more. the only thing i REALLY wish it had was an option to switch the filter to highpass or bandpass, but for what you pay, you still get plenty.

the sequencer is very similar to the alesis AMT8's, although you can't mute/unmute more than one track at a time. i actually really enjoy the esq sequencer, particularly for live use because it allows some improvisation with the song structure.

last i checked, Syntaur (www.fatsnake.com~syntaur) was selling blank Eprom cartidges, as well as programed cartridges, sysex patches, and other accessories like cv pedals, etc. it's not cheap for the cartridges, but it's worth it if you don't have one, or if you go live a lot it's good to have at least 2. there's a good pc librarian online called esq135.zip that's a GREAT program to have for storing patches and sequences. i run it on an old 33mhz 486 laptop running windows 3.1 and it works great. you can even edit your patches visually on your pc and send the changes to your esq (it also works with the sq-80).

if you want a synth that can deliver descent analog sounds and also offers a lot of versatility, the esq is a phenomenal buy. with a little creativity, you can create entirely new sounds, or emulate moogs, 303's etc, depending on your programing ability. you can even make the envelope attack velocity sensitive (often overlooked on many newer retrosynths), and you can even get really wacky and do some microtonal tuning. it's got a distinctive sound that i can't imagine one wouldn't like unless they couldn't figure out how to program it well. i've found that sometimes it even has a vocal quality to it, like it's singing. it can often sound quite organic. and if you're still skeptical about using a digital synth, the filters are actually analog.

aside from the oft-mentioned usage by skinny puppy, i've also seen many synth-pop bands use the esq. i've seen Moby and Anything Box use it on stage, and there are many times where i'm quite sure i'm hearing it on a cd. for a current market price of 2-400 bucks, it's a great value and will sound more unique than many other modern retro synths, and once you learn to get around it well you'll probably prefer the esq's interface to most other interfaces. it's very intuitive.

4.5 rounded up to 5 :)