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Average rating:
4.3 out of 5
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I've had my SQ1 for 15yrs. I love it. Paid $1,000. Lately the sustain pedal seems to be reversed. Is that possible?
To order a battery? Does the SQ1 have the pin or not? Which should I order?
Thanks,Mud.
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I own an SQ-2, the 76 key version of the SQ-1+. It has some very usable presets, however, lacking filters, it isn't very useful for analog type sounds. It does very well for it's pads sounds and it's drum kits are usable I suppose, although I tend to use my R8 for drums. I use the SQ-2 also as a master controller for my E6400 sampler. Having the 76 keys makes it ultra useful for dividing the keyboard into zones especially when utilizing part of the keyboard for triggering the sampler and part for triggering it's internal sounds. Overall it's nice, but if lost or stolen I wouldn't be in any hurry to replace it.
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I do not own the SQ1+, but rather the SQ2 32-voice. I chose it over the SQ1+ because I wanted more keys on the keybaor itself. Operationally, the two are identical to one another. I have owned mine since new back in the early 90's. I paid $1,400 for it new at Leo's music in Oakland, CA. I was so excited that I drove the 4 hours to pick it up myself, to find that in the box, it would not fit in the back of my Cougar. I had to drive all the way home with the thing outside of the box! It did get home fine and I was impressed with most of the sounds. I had a VFX-SD for about 1.5 years before the SQ2, so I knew what to expect out of Ensoniq's sounds. The pianos were clearer but lacked sustain in the upper ranges, even with the foot pedal depressed. The drums were not good at all and the basses lacked punch for me. What caught my attention were the classical and ethnic sounds. Add a little more reverb to the violin, you have a very believable instrument. I still use the synth to this day for the classical sounds. They are very real to me and very expressive (which means that I use the mod and pitch wheel a lot for those types of sounds). I also like the synth lead sounds, they sound really good to me. I also have a couple of RAM cards for it and they have neat sounds on them too. The battery has since died (about 3 years ago) and I never bothered to correctly replace it. To me, its no biggie, because I mainly use it as a controller, and I have the sounds I use on a custom RAM card.
I have many synths in my studio, but always find myself using the SQ at least for the controller portion of everything. I then multi-track the lead voices onto my recorder from the SQ. It works well and I truly have gotten my money out of the synth.
I would love to have an SQ1+ though so I could play live with an SQ. I love the SQ2 for the extrqa keys, but it is much heavier than the SQ1+ as a result. It is much larger and since it is all encased in metal (except for the bottom, which is plywood), it is heavy.
I also have the following in my studio:
Alesis QS6 E-Mu PK6 Ensoniq SQ2 (reviewed here) Ensoniq VFX-SD Korg X5 Roland JV880 Roland XP60 Yamaha DJX Yamaha TG-33
Overall, the SQ2 is my 2nd favorite synth, with the VFX-SD being the first. I kow the unit inside and out and have made up some great sounds on it over the years, not to mention that it has been on every album since 1993 that I have played on. I am attached to it and there is not another feeling than having an instrument that you feel 'one' with. This is certainly the one for me.....
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I learned to sequence (well, sort of) on this keyboard. I still have mine and like alot of the sounds on it. Programming sounds is a mystery to me at the best of times, and the tiny display on the SQ1+ didn't help much-however, thru trial (and mostly) error I was able to take the "distorted guitar" sound and somehow make it SCREAM with distortion-I can't even mimic this with my Triton LE!
Alot of the sounds are very nice, there are some great pads, strings, organs that are pleasing and set ok in a mix. As I said, I learned ALOT about sequencing on this board-very easy to use, and I loved the ability to layer the voices by hitting a couple buttons. I did whole songs with this keyboard alone and was pretty happy.
Of course technology has moved on (as it always seems to) but if you are looking for a decent keyboard to give something extra to a mix, check it out. The sequencer is easy to use and is a nice little sketchpad for working out the basic format of a song.
chris
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ESQ-1 is one FINE keyboard. Sounds are limited but very high quality. This board feels good under your fingers. For the price you will find better than this. Buy one before they start going up again. Actually, they are already just starting to rise again after hitting their rock bottom in about 2001. Awesome synth and heavy duty construction! Indesctructable but you may need to check your lithium battery. Dont let it go bad.
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