I have an ESQ-1???

I guess I have this thing now! I love it to bits...

Ensoniq ESQ-1

How did I get it?

My birthday came about the other day. Traditionally my parents get me something each time that day rolls around. Often it's quite minor, but I still really appreciate anything I'm given. This year was special as it marked a particular milestone in my life.

With some convincing, I was able to steer them to some things I would actually find useful. Lo and behold, late one night, my mother came home with a case and another box in the car. Turns out it was an Ensoniq ESQ-1 of all things, that had been kept in a van for about a week, and a garage for many months before then. The box it came with was full of floppy diskettes and cartridges. The ESQ-1 itself came in a case. Admittedly it did smell a little damp for a while.

I didn't sleep much that night, because I spent most of my time playing around with what it came with - the factory voices that came with Firmware 1.7, two PROM cartridges (many slots filled with voices not heard in demos), and the ESX-10 cartridge with 320 voices. I'll be backing these up when I can, because I understand these are quite rare.

Ensoniq ESQ-1, in its case

What are my thoughts?

I already have a small collection of lo-fi synths - a Yamaha PSS-480 (and a 580, they're basically the same with different button colours), and a Bontempi ES3200. The ESQ-1 is a huge step up from these, and I'm really excited to integrate it into my music production setup. It happened to come with two books, the manual and a programmer's bible, which I'm really looking forward to studying.

After playing with the various voices for a few hours I can see why people like this. The analog filters add so much, and having come from SQ8L, there's a huge difference.

Unfortunately, it has a dying battery. Thankfully, the previous owner installed leads where the battery would normally go, so it's able to be replaced without much faff. Unfortunately, being on an old firmware revision, all onboard patches will disappear when I do this, so I'm going to get SysEx dumps beforehand so I can restore them later.

How does it sound?

Regretfully I am unable to get direct capture from the synth right now, as my audio equipment happens to be in my university dorm room, which is not where I am right now. Oops. I was able to connect it to my amp and record some samples through my phone's microphone. Be warned, they are very low quality! (although it might add some extra charm to it, I guess????)

PNOSTR

TINE

Modified TRIBEL

Modified TRIBEL - slightly different. Mod wheel assigned to filter frequency.

Ditto, higher octave. I love this sound.

Ditto, a mix of both with a bassline.

Something else

The ESQ-1 in question is one of the early metal-case variants. What I didn't expect, however, was the serial number. I hear they're meant to start at 10,000 right? Well, explain this:

Serial number: ESQ-0233

Given it has firmware version 1.7, this seems to match up with this being one of the earliest ESQ-1s ever produced. I'm considering keeping it on this firmware version, but who knows, I might upgrade it. If you have more information about this weird serial number please contact me! I'd love to know more.