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The ESQ-1 is a great synth for their going rate, which is very, very dirt cheap. It's facilities far outweigh its price and thus make it a viable option for budget-conscious players.
In fact, it's solid plastic construction (I'm talking about REAL plastic... like the Emulators were made out of), 5 octave/61 key, sturdy and precise pitch and mod wheels as well as it's good MIDI implementation mean that an ESQ-1 makes a great MIDI controller. The only real downside to this is that there are only 40 or so patches you can control for patch changing--however, since you have 10 patches available at once to choose from this is kind of made up for in versatility.
In my opinion, since the ESQ-1 can double as a good MIDI controller as well as a dedicated synth it is made doubly valuable.
The ESQ-1 is a dirty, actually somewhat ballsy performer, reminiscent occasionally of a Prophet 600's cold tone. On its most basic level, the ESQ-1 can tend to sound somewhat "lo-fi"--however, with proper programming the real strengths of the ESQ can be made to shine. I am running my ESQ-1 through a Boss ROD-10 Overdrive rack and it sounds excellent!
The major strength with the ESQ-1 is its flexible routing systems, in which a wide variety of controllers such as envelopes (4 total), LFO's (3 total), mod wheel, footswitch, etc... can be used to modulate the sound. Oscillators can be given seperate pitch envelopes, as can the filter--the only limitation is that env 4 is always dedicated as the "overall" envelope for the entire patch. The amount of options are so good that the ESQ-1 will keep you busy for a long time, continually exploring a new avenue for sounds and/or control. The oscillators themeselves are good: 32 digital waveforms to choose from, a range that stretches from +3 to -3 octaves, individual detuning, as well as the ability to adjust the pitch of an oscillator in 1/2 steps. Sync is available as is "AM Modulation"... which I suppose is Ensoniq's version of ring modulation. The filter is the most talked about part of the ESQ-1, and for good reason--it is analog. The 4 pole/24 db filter of the ESQ-1 is dark and grungy... simply excellent. One of the best parts, and indeed my favorite, is the incredibly power envelope section of the ESQ-1. Four envelopes, each one sporting (at first) tricky four stage rate/time parameters. Since these envelopes can be attached to almost anything in the ESQ-1--their power and flexibility become immediately apparent.
However, despite its power there are a few downsides to the ESQ-1. Myself, I was a bit disappointed with the LFO's power... which must be digitally generated. In my opinion, digital LFO's lack the guts, cutting clarity and sheer "over the top-ness" of an analog LFO. For what it's worth, the ESQ's LFO's are okay. For the year it was produced (1986) 40 patch memories seems damn stingy. This can be expanded with a cartridge to add 80 more sounds--which is probably what Ensoniq intended as there are soft buttons specifically for accessing sounds on the cartridge. No internal sound effects cards/DSP's... which doesn't bother me but may upset a more modern synth afficianado. The ESQ sounds great running through some 'verb, or with some overdrive... delay, as always, is a nice touch.
Overall, there are a lot of capabilities I would have LIKED to have seen on the ESQ-1, such as hard/soft sync, FM, the ability to sync all three osc's together, etc... But, for what it's worth--the ESQ-1 is very well equipped. In fact, the ESQ has a somewhat distinguished heritage as it was used by Skinny Puppy (Check this link out of kEvin Key playing an ESQ-1, a 606 and what looks like a Mirage: http://store.corbis.com/prodconfig/image_details.asp?navid=top25&imageid=10877392 ).
Altogether, when considering price/features the ESQ-1 may be one of the best deals out there next to a Matrix 6! Highly recommended!
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