Turtlerock Forum

Chasing a copy of OS 1.3 for my EPS 16+ that I recently picked up on the cheap. I grabbed a disk from ebay but it isn't loading (giving me the "disk not formatted" message) so trying to find out if it's the disks problem or if the floppy drive is caput. I know there's a couple of ensoniq hounds lurking here! Any help appreciated.

I have a floppy OS. Cannot test it right now as it is not in the same location as the sampler, but you are welcome to borrow the disk to check your Ensoniq. But you wrote disks (plural). It's been so long since I've used the machine, I can't remember whether you need to load one (that's all I've got) or multiple floppies.

John

If anyone has the means to make a Mirage OS disk for me please lemme know.
Thanks
Evan
..as you were..

Hi Evan.. I think I have an original MASOS disk somewhere, maybe it could be copied on a PC with a bit copy program?

Of course it's over 30 years old so it might be cactus.. do you have a Mirage to test it on?

wez wrote:.. do you have a Mirage to test it on?

Cheers Wez. Yes I do have a Mirage rack sampler. Another reason to get on over to your place! I'll bring it with me when I come.

Hi Evan, I noticed there's a guy selling a Mirage OS disk on eBay. Cheers

andre99 wrote:Hi Evan, I noticed there's a guy selling a Mirage OS disk on eBay. Cheers

Thanks Ben. I'll check it out!

rightintheface wrote:Chasing a copy of OS 1.3 ...Any help appreciated.

How'd you go with your EPS, Mitch? Did you figure it out yet?

EvLoutonian wrote:

rightintheface wrote:Chasing a copy of OS 1.3 ...Any help appreciated.

How'd you go with your EPS, Mitch? Did you figure it out yet?

Hey Evan!
Well, it seems I've opened myself up to the wild world of Ensoniq issues... I grabbed a disk from John (thanks, John!), and it turns out the disk drive is working fine, however the unit was getting hung up/failing the keyboard tuning.

Went thru the internet, found the common fix (hardwiring a certain connector under the keybed), opened her up and... it already had the fix installed! I've just spent the last few hours going over solder connections, checking components etc but it's still only tuning the keyboard on startup about 10-15% of the time, and needs a bit of manhandling to do so (flexing the board, wiggling it around, etc) which won't really be possible with the unit re-assembled, so not really sure how to proceed at the moment. It's at about the end of my skill-set. Not sure if it will work with an external keyboard? But then I've got a prrrrrretty big paperweight hanging around

Anybody had this issue or know anyone in melbs who knows there way around a semi-working ensoniq?

Hate to say this, but that stuff was never super reliable even when it was brand new. I owned just about every ensoniq synth and sampler from the mirage to the ts12 and they were ALL problematic.

I even bailed up one of the designers at an ensoniq owner's clinic once (therapy clinic more like it)... the defensiveness in his response to the question "why does my ESQ1 crash every 8 minutes, none of my Roland synths crash" pretty much told me all I needed to know about where the company was at.

I think I hold some sort of record for having killed the most Mirage samplers. Mostly just by yelling at them.

: D : D : D
That's both hilarious and terrible to hear, Wez! Yes, the Ensoniq units have a verrrrry murky track record even on the briefest internet sojourn... They just seem to have that magic sound though - a lot of my favourite hip hop tracks have EPS 16+ drums on them, which is what I was chasing. Maybe I should just stick with good old computer reliability (cough cough)

Ha... well of course if you read between the lines of my rant, it's obvious that I kept buying the bastards for a reason.

It did wear me down eventually though, much like cars really.. as a twenty year old, you're happy to work on something old and cool like an Alfa to keep it on the road, because you'd never be seen dead in a Camry.

After a while you start thinking, geez that Camry owner looks relaxed.

Sadly enough, Ensoniq did actually really get there act together just before they went bust.

They shouted me a trip to the Ensoniq factory in Pennsylvania .
When I asked the guy why they kept breaking down . He told me "we can't work it out !"

Anyways, if you can contact Michael Allen ( maybe google him in Sydney) he knows Everything about them !

Cheers
JNN

John, I bought an ESQ-1 last year off eBay and it came with a whole bunch of chord charts with your name on them. Needless to say, being an Ensoniq it was riddled with problems so I had to return it. The seller re-listed it later with you as the previous owner in the description!