Ensoniq • SQ-80
The SQ-80 is basically a reved-up ESQ-1 with a total of 75 waveforms, a 61-note keyboard with velocity & aftertouch, floppy disk drive for storing patches and sequences, and an enhanced sequencer. Great for organs, analog-type sounds, pads and sound effects. Like the classic ESQ-1, the SQ-80 functions in providing analog-type 4-pole lowpass filtering and editing of digital waveforms. Each voice can combine up to 3 of the 75 waveforms. These waveforms include multi-sampled transient attack waves such as violin bow, plectrum picks, mallet, hammer, breath attacks and percussive sounds. There are also 5 sampled drum sets. Three LFOs are onboard for some pretty wild modulation of the sounds you create or edit. Complete MIDI implementation makes the SQ-80 great for any studio or live use too.
As for playing the SQ-80, it is a dream! Its 61-note keyboard is full, responsive and has polyphonic aftertouch. Polyphonic aftertouch simply means that each key pressed will respond to aftertouch independently of the other keys. The aftertouch can be used to control a variety of modulation parameters such as the LFO. Pitch and mod wheels and plenty of front-panel buttons and a few sliders make accessing and editing fairly easy and hands-on. The keyboard can be split or layered. The pattern-based 8-track multitimbral sequencer is great for creating short to complex sequences live, or in step time with quantization, bounce-able tracks, 60 sequence patterns and 20 songs. And they can be saved to disk along with any patches you've created and any SysEx Midi data. Unfortunately, the SQ-80 has no built-in effects. The SQ-80 is certainly a classic analog/digital hybrid of the late eighties which still holds up well today. It has been used by filmaker/composer John Carpenter.
Other than that, I looooove this synth! So much that I just picked up another one "just in case"... Ensoniq just "got it" you know? Great stuff!
A digital synth, with a sequencer, AND true analog filters!
I only stopped using the sq80 because the place where I was living got so cold that the casing would kind of freeze up and thaw out, and eventually the display screen cracked. I've been searching for a replacement - or some other way of creating those distinctive drums and noises, ever since.
A kind person has uploaded the wave forms somewhere online. Not quite the same, but still a nice reminder.
What I did was record the music minus vocals and guitar parts. I do CW to Classic Rock in small clubs in the upper midwest. I do use a large PA. I did upgrade to a computer and down load the midi files to the sq 80 and I also use a old mac to run midi files from. So I use two systems for my background music and have everthing backed up to a new laptop in either mp3 or midi if I would have any problems. The old sq 80 has really helped supplement my teaching job for many years. Dusty