Ensoniq ASR-10
Encyclopedia
The Ensoniq ASR-10 was a sampling keyboard produced by Ensoniq
between 1992 and 1994. It is the keyboard model of the ASR-10R rackmount module. It was a follow up product to the very popular Ensoniq EPS
and Ensoniq EPS-16+ performance samplers, and was also available with a piano style weighted keyboard (ASR-88) and a rackmount version. At the time, the machine was one of the most powerful samplers available.
allows today. Songs were constructed in either a step time (note by note basis), or through live recording of the MIDI information played in.
The machine also has the ability to record directly to hard disk with only disk space limiting the file size. This allowed it to function as an early digital two track hard disk recorder. The recording could be made through the internal effect filter and could also record its own sequencer playing.
interface for connecting to an external hard drive, and CD-ROMs. It was noticeably more versatile than the EPS samplers, supporting a wider variety of hard drives, both fixed and removable, including Zip and SyJet drives. The unit shipped as standard with a HD 3.5inch floppy drive internally.
Further upgrades were available with S/PDIF
connectivity. There were not many S/PDIF boards made, however, and they are currently extremely rare.
. Ensoniq's architecture allowed a sound to be loaded from floppy while the keyboard was operational.
and EPS-16+ sound libraries. Ensoniq continued their practice of creating and commissioning sound libraries that real musicians used. Even today, new libraries continue to be made by third parties.
Ensoniq
Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid 1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally samplers and synthesizers.- Company history :...
between 1992 and 1994. It is the keyboard model of the ASR-10R rackmount module. It was a follow up product to the very popular Ensoniq EPS
Ensoniq EPS
The EPS was one of the first few affordable samplers on the market. It was manufactured from 1988 to 1991 by Ensoniq in Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA. The EPS was a 13 bit sampler....
and Ensoniq EPS-16+ performance samplers, and was also available with a piano style weighted keyboard (ASR-88) and a rackmount version. At the time, the machine was one of the most powerful samplers available.
Features
The ASR-10 (Advanced Sampling Recorder) was a true performance orientated sampling workstation, and did not require a computer or additional equipment in order to create a complete song. It included a powerful and flexible effects unit, polyphonic aftertouch, an advanced MIDI sequencer, load-while-playing abilities, and a powerful multi-layered synthesis engine. The supplied "Musician's Manual" lived up to Ensoniq's documentation practice, with a highly readable, very hands-on and quite complete description of the device. There was even an included tutorial that covered many features of the machine, including sampling and sequencing.Effects Unit
The ASR-10 offered a powerful and flexible internal effects unit (later offered as a standalone device in the Ensoniq DP/4), offering the capability to resample an existing sound with an effect, and to process external signals through it live. Up to 62 effects were available to be used, including more esoteric effects such as a vocoder and distortion. The effects were all programmable, and flexible configurations were available for operating in multitimbral or performance modes.Sequencer
The ASR-10 sequencer had an internal 96 parts per quarter 16 track sequencer. A 'song' was a collection of 'sequences' joined together, and users were able to jump to sequences live during a performance, in much the same way as software such as Ableton LiveAbleton Live
Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...
allows today. Songs were constructed in either a step time (note by note basis), or through live recording of the MIDI information played in.
Synthesis Architecture
The ASR-10 had a powerful 31 voice synthesis architecture that resembled a synthesizer rather than a sampler. After selecting a sample, the sound could further be modified by up to 3 envelopes (hardwired to pitch, filter, and amplitude), 2 filters in series, one LFO, and 15 modulation sources. Up to 8 layers of different samples could be stacked together to form an 'instrument', and up to 127 different samples available up at any one time. Different layers could be triggered by any number of modulation sources, including velocity, polyphonic aftertouch, or combinations of the two layer keys on the left hand side of the keyboard.Sampling
In its default format, the ASR-10 shipped with 2MiB of internal memory. This was expandable to 16MiB. The machine featured Sigma-Delta 64 times oversampling, and sampled at either 30 kHz or 44.1 kHz rates at 16 bit.The machine also has the ability to record directly to hard disk with only disk space limiting the file size. This allowed it to function as an early digital two track hard disk recorder. The recording could be made through the internal effect filter and could also record its own sequencer playing.
Interfaces
The ASR-10 was available with a SCSISCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
interface for connecting to an external hard drive, and CD-ROMs. It was noticeably more versatile than the EPS samplers, supporting a wider variety of hard drives, both fixed and removable, including Zip and SyJet drives. The unit shipped as standard with a HD 3.5inch floppy drive internally.
Further upgrades were available with S/PDIF
S/PDIF
S/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...
connectivity. There were not many S/PDIF boards made, however, and they are currently extremely rare.
Disk Drive
The ASR-10 featured a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive used with proprietary formatted disks capable of holding up to 1640K. There are many computer programs that allow reading, writing, and formatting Ensoniq's disk and file system, among those made by Chicken Systems (Translator and Disk Tools), and a German programmer named Thoralt who created ensoniqfs, a filesystem plugin for Total CommanderTotal Commander
Total Commander is an Orthodox File Manager software for Windows, Windows CE, and Windows Mobile. Some features include a built-in FTP client, file compare, archive file navigation, and a versatile multi-rename tool with regular expression support....
. Ensoniq's architecture allowed a sound to be loaded from floppy while the keyboard was operational.
Sound Library
Ensoniq had made sure that their samplers were immediately useful by providing a sound library with every device. These library disks gave musicians a taste of what was possible with the sample-engine and also the sequencer, acting as usable sounds right out-of-the-box, demonstration pieces for selling more, and tastes of what the extensive library could provide. The ASR-10 was also fully backwards compatible with the earlier Ensoniq EPSEnsoniq EPS
The EPS was one of the first few affordable samplers on the market. It was manufactured from 1988 to 1991 by Ensoniq in Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA. The EPS was a 13 bit sampler....
and EPS-16+ sound libraries. Ensoniq continued their practice of creating and commissioning sound libraries that real musicians used. Even today, new libraries continue to be made by third parties.
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