Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

Ehh, those housings can be 3d printed in small runs, or in large runs you could have them made.

From: mailto:Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2016 1:03 PM

To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Re: Homebrew VFX cartridges.. PCB?

I have a couple of VFX RAM carts that I've converted from ROM carts which had been demo carts. If you need one or two just let me know what you think it's worth.

if you have a PCB you still wont have a nice housing...

Hans

Am 29.10.2016 09:45, schrieb koknbull2@... [Ensoniq-VFX-SD]:

Very interesting, I've been wanting a RAM cart for my SD1 for years until I found a genuine RAM cart online (Stor-Cart 32) - but now as this PCB exisits I could be interested if the PCB is available for purchase which is where all the time and effort goes.
Just a word of caution, there cart PCB for the ESQ1 looks the same except the two are different, the ESQ1 takes a 64k chip and as you say this VFX/SD is the 256k device.

--

Hans Artmann

Flüggenstr. 10

80639 München

Tel +49 89 17095720

Fax +49 89 17095722

Mob +49 151 27007919

Interesting. But if it's not so much about having thousands of sounds available in real time you might remember this page:
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/
which solves the unfamous 'my floppy drive died and I cannot find a Shugart drive' problem and provides plenty space for sounds.

Hans

Am 30.10.2016 14:15, schrieb Christian Brunschen christian@... [Ensoniq-VFX-SD]:

A writable multi-cartridge for a VFX would require an EEPROM compatible with but significantly larger than the 28C256, and I haven't had a huge amount of luck finding any that are more than 1 Mbit (such as the Atmel AT28C010) which would correspond to 4 plain cartridges - and thus not a huge advantage over 4 separate cartridges. With a buffering SRAM (that the VFX reads&writes) and a microcontroller that shuffles the data to&from a much larger Flash memory, things are not limited by existing EEPROM sizes, and that also allows using serial flash memory chips that are quite compact.​ Or it would allow creating a cartridge with an ESP microcontroller that would allow WiFi access to the cartridge (which would be rather cool actually, but even more over-the-top) :)

// Christian

--

Hans Artmann

Flüggenstr. 10

80639 München

Tel +49 89 17095720

Fax +49 89 17095722

Mob +49 151 27007919

Hi, Jim,

There's a factory patch called "Organizer" (as I recall) that has a pretty good Hammond simulation. This is in the SD-1 32 voice library. You can control the Leslie speed with the mod wheel, although when I used it on stage I had a MIDI foot controller to keep both hands free.

If you have this patch you'll find it useful.

Best,

Bill

Bill Niemi

Euphonic Studio

Mount Vernon, IA

319.895.8002

On Nov 20, 2016, at 11:16 PM, Cable cableizme@... [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] <Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Hey All,

My 15 yr old son has gotten a VFX-SD and uses it for his band. I found and downloaded the manual, but it's difficult to understand for him. He's looking for a good B-3 sound. Does anyone have it and can tell him how to load it? Also, is there anyone who could possibly Skype with him and give him a basic primer on using the functions of his keyboard? I appreciate any n all help he can get. Thanks!

Jim

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 14, 2016, at 5:21 AM, Claus clauzii@goowy.com [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] <Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Hi,

I was also looking into making custom cartridges. Until I got an offer on Gotek floppy emulators with the HxC firmware - having a 1000 floppys in a floppydrives space (well, on a USB stick) is really comfortable. And likely cheaper than cartridges :)

Best, Claus

There's a set of patches you can download from http://rhythm-lab.com/ensoniq-vfx-sd-patches/ . this will give you a zip file with both seveal entire sound banks and a lot of individual patches in ".syx" format, which is MIDI System Exclusive aka "sysex".

You should be able to send these from any computer over MIDI to the keyboard; if your computer doesn't have a built-in MIDI interface, you should be able to search for "usb midi cable" or "usb midi adapter" and find an inexpensive one that should be more than good enough.

To actually send the files to the keyboard over MIDI, you'll need software like MIDIOX for Windows or SysEx Librarian for macOS that can send (and receive) sysex files.

Best wishes,

// Christian

On 21 November 2016 at 12:58, 'bill@euphonic.us' bill@euphonic.us [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] <Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Hi, Jim,

There's a factory patch called "Organizer" (as I recall) that has a pretty good Hammond simulation. This is in the SD-1 32 voice library. You can control the Leslie speed with the mod wheel, although when I used it on stage I had a MIDI foot controller to keep both hands free.

If you have this patch you'll find it useful.

Best,

Bill

Bill Niemi

Euphonic Studio

Mount Vernon, IA

319.895.8002

On Nov 20, 2016, at 11:16 PM, Cable cableizme@... [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] <Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Hey All,

My 15 yr old son has gotten a VFX-SD and uses it for his band. I found and downloaded the manual, but it9;s difficult to understand for him. He's looking for a good B-3 sound. Does anyone have it and can tell him how to load it? Also, is there anyone who could possibly Skype with him and give him a basic primer on using the functions of his keyboard? I appreciate any n all help he can get. Thanks!

Jim

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 14, 2016, at 5:21 AM, Claus clauzii@... [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] <Ensoniq-VFX-SD@...m> wrote:

Hi,

I was also looking into making custom cartridges. Until I got an offer on Gotek floppy emulators with the HxC firmware - having a 1000 floppys in a floppydrives space (well, on a USB stick) is really comfortable. And likely cheaper than cartridges :)

Best, Claus