Ensoniq ASR-10: antiquated?

[pwrmac7600]

Originally Posted by dialectic

For a while now, I too have been considering getting either an ASR10 or EPS16, just waiting for one in good condition and at the right price to come up for sale locally that I can check out before I buy.

However, I have had my reservations regarding the reliability of such machines and the availability of spare parts etc. I appreciate that the same could be said for many other vintage type samplers but I seem to see many more EPS16/ASR10 appear on the market with reported issues and faults that i do for the likes of the SP12/1200, S950 etc which seem to be much more reliable.

So for those of you that have had extensive experience with either the EPS16 or ASR10, what issues (if any) have you found to be most common with these units? Any input here would be greatly appreciated.

The only problem I have ever had with my ASR-10 was the floppy drive went dead on me and I replaced it.
Other than that it has been fine. I have used mine for gigging, transporting with no case, and studio use. Never a problem! I have a friend that has been gigging with the rack units for a decade now, and he gigs 3 to 4 shows a week. Occasionally if you get a club with weird power it may throw off the sequencer, but I only had this happen to me once in years of gigging.
In the studio, never a problem other than a floppy disk going bad on me. Unfortunately when I got my ASR-10 I did not opt for the scsi. I completely regret it, because now you can not find a scsi card for anything, and when you do they are going for around 300 and up. So definitely opt for one with scsi. It really is a great unit.

[thrustman]

Mine has not failed or needed repairs in 19 years. Even though I sometimes use softsamplers they definitely dont have the same sound. Remember everything in old hardware was designed and built to work together for a particular sound. So you cant expect the same performance from a computer running generic software thats just going to reproduce as pristine a sound as it possibly can. Some people prefer pristine but Ill take character and color every time. I never advise people to go searching for old hardware but if you find a great deal go for it. I doubt you will regret it unless you buy a faulty piece. YMMV

[Jay-]

I second that, dont go looking for trouble with an old hardware.
That said its so much fun!!! Teeehe!!!

[dasystem]

Well put, even though its out of date doesnt mean its obsolete. Especially if the tool was ahead of its time like the asr. When you think of it as a sampler it sounds old compared to what we have now. But if you look at it as a synthesizer it opens doors that clicking in front of a screen cannot. Transwaves and effects alone are worth it. What other machine can you complete an entire track on a floppy disk.

These are recordings from the early 90s largely based off the asr 10:
https://soundcloud.com/dasystem/sure...dsett-the-lost

Originally Posted by Play

Yes, Thank you for making this point. Nothing is antiquated except the conception that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. You most definitely can, I'd hope that anybody born before '89 would be living proof of this.

We, the younger generation, are able to use computers. That's right, windowlickers, quar tets, ninja tuners and atom hearts, alight. But we also know that old stuff sounded better, because we have more downloads of music than your entire alumni's record collection combined - trust us, unless you are us, you don't want to replace an analogue sampler with a soft sampler. You must have heard some Depeche Mode, I'm sure but you obviously have no clue of what sampling can be in terms of spectral music, hyperinstrumentation and out and out collage maximalism if you think an ASR is out of date.

Seems like absurd logic. Both software and hardware are perfectly fine sampling tools but the software sampler shouldn't be the monolith of sampling just because the option is there. Doesn't make sense as a recommendation. Its the least artful recommendation ever.

Why should you do everything on a computer?

ASR is definitely worth it.

[mattyd007]

I'm an ASR owner from way back (sold my EPS16+ to buy this one when it was released here in Australia!).

After 5 solid years of gigging around, she's got a few scratches & worn from where my fingers are starting / stopping the sequences for each song...lol. But pretty solid otherwise.

Unfortunately after several years of storage while working OS I'm getting a distortion after each sample - only on the left channel.

I've posted over the years on this forum about the issue:
The ASR-10 Forum: strange sound at end on samples

Other than that issue I love this sampler. I've invested so much time in sampling & sequencing over 20 years that I just can't ever part with it.

I'm close to buying a replacement ASR just to fix the issue (hard to find main / digital boards....even harder to know that the board you order will even fix the problem!). I've got 2 mint condition keyboard ASR's for sale around where I live (AU), so that's pretty handy.

The other possible upgrade I'm looking at is a compact flash card SCSI drive to replace my 20yo SyQuest EZ drives (135mb cartridges!).

Great to find no shortage of ASR fans out there

[Jay-]

Is it on the output? Cold solder joint?
If your handy I have the entire rear analog output board for cheap. (the part that the audio out cables attach)

Have you reset all the ram and pressed it in really well and checked all internal cables?
Ram can go bad also yes? Try new ram?

Cheers and good luck!

Iv managed to buy nice ASR10 rigs for silly cheap so don't dump to much cash into your box.
If you cant fix then part it out and buy a new one!

[mattyd007]

Good call thanks Jay. I know the distortion is on the left channel on every instrument, every bus (incl the output expander, headphones, dry effects bus etc). I've just taken it all apart now (been a few years!) and reseated all RAM (fully expanded), tested each pair of DIMMS independently, reseated all ribbon cables and done a general inspection of all the boards.

After each check the post-distortion problem was always there :(

Page 4 of the service manual (http://www.platinumaudiolab.com/free...asr_manual.pdf) seems to point the finger for ANY distortion problems at the analogue board.

Luckily Syntaur has a used analogue board as well as a jack board for sale. Shipping to AU isn't too bad either.

Spending ~$120 to get them both over here to swap out wouldn't break the bank. It's a LOT better than forking out ~ $1000 for the mint condition ASR keyboards for sale around me here.

I'll get the ball rolling tomorrow and update you in a few weeks when my parts arrive.

Cheers,

Matt

[mattyd007]

Can't believe I opened my big mouth too soon....

Someone has read my post here (or on MPC forum) and they've gone and bought the LAST Analog board available from Syntaur...

Of course it could be just coincidence, but I can't believe it.

I spent most of last week trying to ask them if I should also order the analog jack board and ship it to AUS with the Analog board, but I spent so long awaiting an answer it was sold from under my feet.

They said they may get another one, but it depends who's breaking their ASR up for parts. I know of ONE other that's almost triple the price, but not going to reveal my source this time

From feedback from others it's looking more like the analog board is the culprit in my case.

**On another note, it struck me from doing a LOT of reading about my beloved ASR that I have the OEX-6 output expander that I no longer require. Apparently these guys are pretty rare these days so I could fetch a good price. Any swap boards / forums that you can list this sort of stuff on, or is it just Ebay??