Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

Hi, im new to this group. I have an SD-1 and i think it's great but
i'm having a few difficulties: the aftertouch seems not to respond
except when pressed very (very) hard at the middle of the keys (the
extreme for the blak ones), and i want to know uif there's something
to risen up the poliphony of the synth (mine is the "classical"
non-32-voices version).

I hope someone can help me out (at least i want to know if the matter
of aftertouch is normal or not, i'm new to synthesizers).

Also: is there a way to convert the song data of the sd-1 floppies to
standard midi files?. That's it, goodbye. Thanks.

hehe, jus read about the eprom thing. Efectiely, my eprom seems to be
uncompatible with the 4.1 os. Then: what does the 4.1 OS do that the
3.0 can not? (the keyboard is very stable indeed, so i don't expect
that a troubleshooter upgrade would be necesary). Thanks, hope to read
you soon.

Hi,

I think SD-1 has 32 voices by default. So you have the max polyphony.
I know only about the polyphony. Please add more comments about other 
problems.

Best,
Sealed

Deep Synthesis Page
http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/

> I think SD-1 has 32 voices by default. So you have the max polyphony.
> I know only about the polyphony. Please add more comments about other 
> problems.

There were two versions of the SD-1.  The first had 21 voices like the
rest of the VFX family.  The second had 32 voices.

--> Steve

I see. Some comments on the aftertouch problem?

And, If the Sd1 has 21 voices, then, is the synth going to transmit /
receive only that amount of voices via MIDI? (i. e. if i made a song
and run out of polyfony, can i send the tracks to other midi
instruments, even though the tracks already surpased the maz amount of
notes at the same time of my synth?)

Thanks, these are basic questions but i don't know much about synths.
Goodbay, i appreciate your help.

Hello 'azulpurpureo':

 

Please look at the my message sent last Sep 03, 2004 (number 1339 of the
messages list) just to check if aftertouch is working or not.

 

Hasta pronto.

 

Alfons M.

Hello Alfons, yes, the aftertouch is efectivelly working, but i've got
to press to hard to use it (to hard for normal playing). Could this be
a cleaning issue?, the sd1 i've got seems to to have a fair amount of
dust into it. Goodbye, thanks for your responses.

Hasta luego.

Hi there, I have an SD1/32 and the aftertouch is barely usable (black keys works a little better)... is there a potentiometer or something inside the synth that can be tweaked? my kawai k3 has 2 "screw" type potentiometers inside that I tweaked to obtain a decent feel with it...

Sky

thanks a lot for the detailed reply, I hope there will be a fix for this soon...

sky

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, "jammie" <jammie.emma@...> wrote:

>
> no they work of off coil boards as magnetic feilds the harder you press the high the metal plate is to the coils and a stronger magnetic field is sensed and that information is sent to the scanner cpu then to the uart and then to cpu
> 
> there rubbers under 2 sets off stops the botoom ones which the ke hits for velocity and are also for pressing hard down onto get hard over time
> 
> im am getting quotes from a few manufacturers for making new ones in the uk for replacements
> 
> whell these get hardened from time and oxygen so that they lose the elasticity so that it take the force of broken fingers to get a response from them i notice its worse on the sd1 than it is on the vfx and eps16+ and sq80 which seem to fair better
> 
> i have resorted to setting it to the lowest settings in the system page
> 
> some people have cut them down a little bit to allow more response but i think its time we found a permanent solution with a better material than the one used for the sd1 models as my asr10 does not suffer the same nore does my ts10 or 16+ or my sq80 or my vfx-sd
> 
> but everyone including myself have noticed how much harder it is to trigger the sd1 poly at
> 
> and as seeing that these keyboards are the best for it and no new tech ever offers it then these make grat keyboard controllers for doing poly at including new synths that recieve it but dont have it in there keyboards
> 
> as most are using fatar keybeds and they dont provide the electronics for producing poly at
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Fabio 
>   To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 7:38 PM
>   Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] aftertouch problem
> 
> 
>     
>   Hi there, I have an SD1/32 and the aftertouch is barely usable (black keys works a little better)... is there a potentiometer or something inside the synth that can be tweaked? my kawai k3 has 2 "screw" type potentiometers inside that I tweaked to obtain a decent feel with it...
> 
>   Sky
>

Hi, I am new here, but I had the same problem with my VFX-SD. and could successfully fix it in my way and without the detalied knowledge I gained after having been granted access to this group. I now learned that there are several versions of the Fatar-based touch sensitive keyboard in the Ensoniq synths. My VFX-SD has the one with the "reference coils" and without the "foam pads" beneath the keys. You might understand my cryptic writing when you take a look at the files\service and repair -section: the keyboard service bulletin...  I consider that your SD-1 has the same version.  

There might be a more elegant solution to your problem, which might be described in further follow-up to this thread by others, but my personal solution also worked. That is why I want to share it with you:


- In my older Ensoniq EPS (year 1988) the aftertouch always worked like charm! I figured out that the EPS has a "grey foam pad" keyboard. I swapped the keyboard with the VFX-SD, and see: the VFX-SD had gained a wonderful soft and controllable aftertouch response: What a great modulation for the VFX/SD sounds, unheard by me before!

- Now, my EPS wanted "his" keys back, so I decided to have a more close look to the VFX/SD keys: I found that they do not quite dive so deeply into the keybed as the EPS-keboard's keys.

- There is a differently designed rubber-stop at the newer VFX-keyboard which the EPS-board does not have and which prevents the keys to come close (enough) to the sensor coils. They ma have become brittle and hard over the years. 


- Now for the hard part: I removed EVERY key from the VFX board and by that a lot of dirt and dust from the past decades... On the stripped keybed I removed the upper rubber stopper and turned it simply around in place so that the stopper side faced downwards to prevent its movement limitng effect to the keys.

- By that I had removed the limitation resulting in a full aftertouch response with every note played. That was no surprise. I only had to install a new limitation for the key diving into the keybed:

- This I effected in the same way as it was done in the old EPS-keboard: By gluing foam pads to each individual key on the lower side facing the sensor coil.

- The EPS-keyboard has a circular foam pad of approx. 3.5 millimeter thickness installed on the very tip of the metal plate facing the sensor coil of each key. By that when a key is depressed the downward movement is softly stopped when the foam pad of the key touches the underlying coil board  leaving another 3 millimeters or so for forcing the keys deeper into the keybed - for a soft and controllable aftertouch response. 

- to mimick the EPS foam pads I tried a polyurethane based self-adhering insulation foam stripe for window and door sealing from the nearest hardware store. It had a thickness of 3.2 millimeters and was easly cut in to pieces and attached to the metal stripe on the low side of the keys. Now aftertouch works perfect for me - and for my keyboard stand which before that "operation" always denied its service when I tried to engage aftertouch on my VFX.


- I you decide to do the same tedious work on yours, 
the foam pad you want to install has a good elasticty and mechanical resistance. Standard foam rubber is way too soft; some newer sealing foams do not expand fast enough after compression. The foam pad should behave like a metal coil spring with no delay or hysteresis in the mechanical response. 

- I have tried to attach some pictures in the files section to illustrate what I mean:

Pic.No.1 shows the (grey) foam pad in place in a EPS-keyboard; my VFX had no such rubber foam 
Pic.No.2 depicts the hard upper rubber stopper in its original position on VFX (left key) and after swapping positions to remove that limitation (right key).


Now, after all I went through, some other guy will post that there is "pot 2" or something which increases the "bias of the sensing coils" or something to properliy adjust aftertouch response...


But the feel of the keys and the controllability of the aftertouch on my "FOAM PAD RETROFITTED" VFX/SD keyboard is second to none - (and believe me I have tried many aftertouch "sensitive" keyboards of the 80ies and 90ies (the Korg's are IMHO the "not so good ones" - even after cleaning the contact stripe) 

Have fun,
Mondovermona



  



   
--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, "Fabio" <johnrozz_bc@...> wrote:

>
> Hi there, I have an SD1/32 and the aftertouch is barely usable (black keys works a little better)... is there a potentiometer or something inside the synth that can be tweaked? my kawai k3 has 2 "screw" type potentiometers inside that I tweaked to obtain a decent feel with it...
> 
> Sky
>

First, Go to MASTER and check the TOUCH settings - there are 16 choices:
SOFT, MEDIUM, FIRM and HARD control the velocity response. Each of those four setting have four numbered variations: I.e. SOFT2, MEDIUM4, HARD1 etc. The number (1,2,3,4) indicated the aftertouch response. "1" is easiest, "4" is hardest.

On mine, the rubber bushings that the key hits when it reaches bottom were hardened out from age(?) and made it too hard to press the keys down far enought to activate aftertouch well. I used a razor blade and cut the white key bushings thinner and restored the function. WARNING !!! do not cut them SHORTER !!! You'll ruin them. Send me an email and I'll send you a rough, shaky sketch of what I did.

tomlinson6050@...

no, I already knew that, I have soft1 and it does not work.

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, "Bill Tomlinson" <tomlinson6050@...> wrote:

>
> 
> 
> First, Go to MASTER and check the TOUCH settings - there are 16 choices:
> SOFT, MEDIUM, FIRM and HARD control the velocity response. Each of those four setting have four numbered variations: I.e. SOFT2, MEDIUM4, HARD1 etc. The number (1,2,3,4) indicated the aftertouch response. "1" is easiest, "4" is hardest.
> 
> On mine, the rubber bushings that the key hits when it reaches bottom were hardened out from age(?) and made it too hard to press the keys down far enought to activate aftertouch well. I used a razor blade and cut the white key bushings thinner and restored the function. WARNING !!! do not cut them SHORTER !!! You'll ruin them. Send me an email and I'll send you a rough, shaky sketch of what I did.
> 
> tomlinson6050@...
>

Informative pictures have been downloaded to: 

Photo Albums > Foam Pad Retrofit 

I would be happy to receive your comments and suggestions.

Thanks a lot,
Mondovermona

----- Original Message -----

From: mondovermona

To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 6:12 PM

Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Re: aftertouch problem - foam pad retrofit

Informative pictures have been downloaded to:

Photo Albums > Foam Pad Retrofit

I would be happy to receive your comments and suggestions.

Thanks a lot,
Mondovermona

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