source file: m1359.txt
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 12:46:54 EST

Subject: EPS 16+ vs. ASR-X

From: crews19@juno.com (Ernie Crews)

Hi Gang, Ernie Crews here.  Long time listener, first time caller.

I'm hoping someone on the list can answer some gear questions for me.  I
have been working with the old Ensoniq EPS 16+ for some time now and am
quite comfortable with manipulating its tuning tables.  I am, however
being seduced by the sexy new ASR-X.  Its expandable to 34megs of sample
ram and has an on board synth.  What's really cool though, are the
alternate tunings built into it.  I didn't count them, but a brief glance
at the manual showed dozens.  Included were most of the popular ETs -
19,31,53 and many of the Carlos tunings.  Hell, even 88cet was in there
(kudos Gary) but I digress...Anyway, here is my problem:
For those of us who like to "roll their own" scales how easy is this
beast to work with.  What little I could infer from the manual stated
that you could have one user programmed scale at a time reside in RAM,
BUT it had to be done via a computer using the midi tuning standard.  My
questions:
Is this a good thing?  How does the resolution compare?  I've never
worked with the midi tuning standard so i'm clueless.  And finally, is
there a way to use more than one tuning at once, especially the user
programmed ones (oh, and what kind of computer program will I need).
The beauty of the previous generation of samplers (EPS, 16+, ASR10) was
that you could have many different scales reside in memory at the same
time.  And for someone like me( who is the self proclaimed village idiot
of micro tonality) this was great for comparing scales (it just doesn't
sink in when I read it, I have to hear the pitches and putz around with
them.  I guess it's a drummer thang...).  
 Are the tunings from my EPS16+ upwardly compatible.  And for that
matter, are the samples themselves going to work. 
Any info will be greatly appreciated.

regards,
Ernie

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