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Average rating:
4.4 out of 5
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ESQ-1 = AWESOME Sound!!! This puppy is a classic. I have many newer synths, but will NEVER sell my ESQ-1. Get some ROM Carts for it and you will be in love, but even without them its still KILLER!! A LOT of quality for the $$!!!!
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As a synth user who doesnt have massive amounts of money to spend on new powersynths, computers sequencers, etc. I would say the ESQ-1 is the best synth ever built. You get enough power and sound in the ESQ-1 at a price that blows the competition away. And since my computer is a total loser and cant seem to run any software sequencer programs, I have been using my ESQ-1's sequencer as my main sequencer and have been completely happy with it. It has done everything I've wanted it to do and more. As soon as I get done trading some classic analogs for a Korg Wavestation, I'm gonna save up and buy myself a SQ-80, the big brother of the ESQ-1. The ESQ-1 may not be much competition for some of the newer synth titans like the Triton or K2000, but for those of us with only minimal funds to spend on synths, the ESQ-1 is entirely unbeatable.
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This was my second poly. In fact at the time it was great, modulation is near perfect.Filters similar to mirage and envelopes generator satisfying. When i buy it i used the sequencer a lot with pleasure. It was built to stay a long time only the keyboard seem a bit anaemic
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The ESQ1 is yet another highly underrated and underpriced Hybrid digi/analog poly. the Curtis VCF doesn`t quite hit self oscillation but at least doesn`t rob all the bass end when resonance is pushed up like the DW8000/DSS1 does, Sync and AM are a welcome addition as are the 4 EGs and 3 LFOs per patch, big and gritty, not as smooth as a DW8000 or Prophet VS (listen to Jarre`s Revolutions, 1st track 7-mins in for an ESQ1 workout with Oscar). they`re usually metal cased though the last ones are plastic cased like the SQ80 apparently, latest software is 3.5 though there are no massive bugs regarding the actual synth in earlier incarnations.
You can actually get 80% of the ESQ1 sounds from an SD1, in fact the SD1 (can`t account for the rest of VFX-line though) can mimick the ESQ1`s sound absolutely cock-on so long as the patch doesn`t use resonance, Sync or AM (ring mod) and of course does a million things more than the ESQ. The SQ80 is an ESQ1 with 70-odd waves as opposed to 32, a Diskdrive, Poly aftertouch and a bigger sequencer, I`ve heard that it sounds brighter though haven`t been able to compare them, otherwise it`s a better buy and worth a bit extra, the ESQ-1 Rack (ESQ-M) has a painfully small readout and no sequencer but practical in a MIDI setup.
Buy`em while they`re cheap and if you need aftertouch either mod it (using an op-amp circuit, the CV input and a touch sensor strip out of a dead DX7) or run it from MIDI where it responds to POLY Pressure. The ESQ1 has dynamic voice allocation in Multi-mode which must have been unique in 1986. Excellent MIDI spec.
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for the going rates, this is a classic that should be scooped up! i wish you could slam a MATRIX 6 and this beast together, what a mother that would be! the ESQ is a great synth for attacking with an edit/lib. randomizer, cheating in one way but time saving in others. ripping leads and lush "pods", the mod. routings can lead to modular madness! i was lucky, just scored one with seq. expansion and new battery in great shape for $375, added 4 patch carts. for $50. alot of hybrid for the $$$!
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