[sdiy] Ensoniq ESQ-1 Serving Questions

[Kyle Stephens]

I got an Ensoniq ESQ-1 recently (thanks again Tim!). Thusfar it does not work however. I was sold it under that premise, so I knew what I was getting into.

When I turn it on, it says the memory battery's low and I should replace it. I checked it with my meter, and it was indeed low, and right now the keyboard's in front of me a fresh battery.

It still does not get past a screen telling me the name, make, model and OS, as it did before replacing the battery even (even with a low battery it's supposed to still function). No amount of button pushing or doing the system reset button combo press has any effect.

Might replacing the EPROMs solve my issues? I can't think of anything else.


Another quirk is a small set of keys are dead for the synth engine, but work with the MIDI according to Tim. The 3rd G# to the 4th D# are the offending keys. Tim reckoned one of the diodes in the scanning matrix are dead, but how would one go about checking that?

I've the keyboard assembly in front of me now, and it's rather clever imo - there's two buss wires for measuring the attack time, as actuated by a small length of fine spring attached to each key, with the other end soldiered to the diode and so on.


_Kyle