Just got an Ensoniq ESQ-1, has one stuck/dead key - A few questions

[W-W-Int]

open it up and reseat the ribbon cabling for the keybed ends and the mainboard ends. get some air blown under the contact area for the stuck key.

your issue is common if you hit a key on an esq-1 while it's at that boot screen you get an error message, or it'll hang on the message, or it'll lock up the machine depending on which revision of the firmware. so with your stuck key issue i'd say eliminate that first before worrying about the on screen messages.

[midiom]

I just took the screws off the bottom that hold the keybed in place, and disconnected it from the ribbon cable. It appears there was a small spring that was disconnected, at that particular key that was stuck. The spring is a long, small diameter one that reaches through two metal contacts. It has a larger diameter ball at the end that slips into a cutout in the plastic, underneath the key. That was the only key that had a spring disconnected (it was pretty obvious). I reconnected it, and the key works great again! Just wanted to update in case anyone can find something useful from this. Also cleaned out a ton of dust bunnies lodged in the keys, and underneath everything. And blew everything out with compressed air. Good as new.

However, the OS splashscreen still persists. Does anyone here own an ESQ-1? Can you verify is the first menu that says "Ensoniq ESQ-1 Digital Wave Synthesizer and Sequencer ".. etc is supposed to stay on screen the whole time until you press a button? Or is it just supposed to flash on for a few seconds, and then go to another screen?

[W-W-Int]

you have an earlier revision of the firmware...

so it's entirely possible it just does that.


i've owned around 5 esq's from the m to 4 keyboard versions ranging from the first version with metal sides that has the stacked motherboards that cause them to overheat and warp to 3 other later versions with differing os revisions and a friend had a few besides as well and i do not remember the screen staying put on any of them except one that had a bad battery and that one would either freeze forcing a reboot at the start screen or give you an error about not touching anything while the machine re-booted and every once in a while using a soft reset it would work but all the patches would be scrambled.


if your patches are fine and the midi works fine then don't sweat it till it becomes a problem.

also if you have it plugged into midi ins and outs with a lot of gear that sends arp and or sequencer info on the same cable it will cause weird issues with and esq. try setting it to only respond to note on off bender/wheel info and ignore sys-ex program change info and see if that stops the freezing boot screen.

[Grimbog]

Originally Posted by midiom

However, the OS splashscreen still persists. Does anyone here own an ESQ-1? Can you verify is the first menu that says "Ensoniq ESQ-1 Digital Wave Synthesizer and Sequencer ".. etc is supposed to stay on screen the whole time until you press a button? Or is it just supposed to flash on for a few seconds, and then go to another screen?

Hi Midiom, I'm going to the studio this afternoon so I'll switch on the ESQ-1 and have a look and see if the splash screen stays on until a key is pressed. I think this may be the case - although my one does need to have its battery replaced so I wonder if this is why. As W-W-Int said, it may be a battery issue.

I've got the older version (metal case), and in general its okay, but just be cautious of internal board movement when you connect things in to it... I remember my frustration when I plugged a midi cable in and found the system froze regularly. Probably due to a short.

[Headz51230]

The OS screen should only flash when you turn it on, and automatically goes away. As others said check/reseat ribbon connections first.

[Grimbog]

Just wanted to write an update - Turned mine on, and can confirm that on my one the OS screen remains until I hit a key. Its version 2.30. However in my case I get a warning telling me my battery is low beforehand, so this is probably why. Either way, its not a big deal - As Headz51230 mentioned the ribbon connections will be a priority.