source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 00:47:42 -0800 Subject: Re: Message from Internet From: Gary Morrison <71670.2576@compuserve.com> Brian says: > Ensoniq builds reliable products. They sound pretty > good. Other companies have flashier technology, > but Ensoniq's synths sound about as excellent as > anything out there. I've owned many Ensoniq products, and am sold on them. But those statements strike me as a little surprising. I have found over the years that: * Ensoniq NOW builds reliable products. One of their former dealers here in Austin said that they had big problems with mechanical integrity, expecially on the road. But that's very definitely in the past now. My ASR-10 has got to be one of the heaviest machines in its class, and I treasure every pound in its steel case! * Ensoniq's machines NOW sound great. That's probably true ever since the EPS 16+. The original EPS I had could produce some fairly natural sounding instrument timbres, but it was noisy. It was at least an order magnitude quieter than the Mirage that preceded it, but it could have been better. My ASR-10 though is very quiet, and the sounds it can produce really excellent sounds. * Ensoniq's technology has always struck me as right up there with the best. As far as I know, they were the first to produce an affordable sampler, the first to provide polyphonic aftertouch in an affordable sampler, the first to provide complete tuning tables in a sampler, and, if behind at all, then not much behind in providing effects processors in a sampler. When it comes to bang for the buck at any point on the technology-per-time scale, it seems like Ensoniq has always been an excellent choice. * People have in the past complained about their documentation and support being skimpy. That too is all in the past if you ask me. The documentation for my ASR-10 I have found to be voluminous, easy to read, well-indexed, and usable both as a tutorial and as a reference. It has lots of clear illustrations, meaningful examples, and makes it easy to find little tips and short-cuts that aren't obvious from experimentation. Also the IQ of their technical support staff seems to have risen about 20 points in the past five years, and they seem to have a few more open phone lines as well. Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 19:05 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id JAA04687; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 09:05:31 -0800 Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 09:05:31 -0800 Message-Id: <199510311709.MAA02004@cerberus.Ensoniq.COM> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu