Download Ensoniq Vfx-sd Service Manual
View and Download ENSONIQ VFX musician's manual online. Patch for surething cd labeler. Synthesizer ENSONIQ VFX SD User Manual. Synthesizer ENSONIQ ESQ-1 Service Manual.
Following up on the heels of the and synths from Ensoniq comes the VFX with more polyphony and waveforms. The VFX allows for PPG-like synthesis using a sort of wavetable synthesis.
This puts it into a unique class of digital synthesizers along with the series, Waldorf series, and Ensoniq, SQ-80, ESQ-1, and. The VFX has 21 voices of polyphony. A single patch can contain up to 6 of 109 waves in its ROM memory that can be combined and layered. Advanced and analog-like synth parameters including its dual multi-mode digital filters, three 11-stage envelopes, LFO, and 15 modulation sources allow you to further shape and morph your sounds. There's even a built-in 24-bit VLSI dual effects processor with reverb, chorus, flanging, and delay.
The VFX has a standard 61-note keyboard with velocity and polyphonic aftertouch. The synth also has full MIDI implementation with 12 channels for multitimbral functions. The VFX has a cartridge port as well, for storing sounds onto Ensoniq's proprietary media. The VFX is a digital synth, and its filter is pretty weak but the VFX makes some sweet strings and textural sounds but it won't be very handy for any ' meaty drum and bass sounds. It has been used by Front 242, Rick Wakeman, Nick Rhodes, Tony Banks, Peter Vettese, T Lavitz, Jonathan Cain (Bad English, Journey), Richard Barbieri and Oscar Peterson. The VFX-SD adds a powerful 24-track sequencer for a total music production workstation. This is a professional quality sequencer with 25,000 note capacity expandable to 75,000, and it holds up to 60 sequences and songs.
There is quantization (96 ppqn), real or step time input and auto-punch in/out. One thing that's kind of quirky, the sequencer's operating system gets loaded into the instrument's RAM memory from floppy disk (they replaced the bulky and proprietary cartridges of the VFX with a standard 3.5' floppy drive). This allowed Ensoniq to provide new operating systems that you could load in real easily. This was a good thing since the VFX was plagued by bugs during its early years and there were several subsequent OS versions released by Ensoniq, the most recent of which can still be downloaded. The VFX-SD also adds new drum and percussion sounds including 24 drum kits. A disk originally shipped with the VFX-SD full of pre-sequenced drum patterns to get you going or inspired! Despite these newer features, the VFX-SD is totally compatible with the original VFX sound library.
The VFX-SD also featured four individual outputs, MIDI Automated mixing, and an on-board 3.5' disk drive for storing your sound patches, sequences, songs, and SysEx MIDI messages. Unfortunately the VFX-SD did not do too well when it was released, so Ensoniq re-released it with a few enhancements and called it the. Related Forum Topics.
Rhino wrote:This is a handy guide to opening the synth, and checking the PS voltages. It is NOT A SCHEMATIC. Ensoniq took them to their corporate grave.
I have tried several times to talk Creative Labs into releasing them. Most times with frankly insulting 'talk-to-the-hand' results. I have VFX schematics. Schematics are not a service manual, either. Moderator Posts: 3527 Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:43 pm Location: Los Angeles, CA Real name: Unpronounceable Gear: Ensoniq SD-1/32,SQR,VFX,ESQm Virus Indigo, M3-61, MS2000BR, Volca Bass Emu XL-7, Matrix 6r TG-33, K3m, Blofeld, Micron, Mopho, BS II, JV-1080 Band: Eridani V. If you're like me, there's a good chance you're going to want to have Service Bulletin #12.
This problem is one where it will fail calibration at boot sometimes or maybe all the time if it's really bad. (mine was intermittent).
The story I read about this problem is that it plagued Ensoniq's engineers for a couple years almost. And it also affected more than one machine. I've even seen a document that had handwritten notes from the engineers talking to one another about the problem. They tried swapping out practically everything before they finally figured it out.
Ensoniq Vfx Sd Synthesizer
Basic gist is this the VFX-SD has an achilles heal in its design. Namely, there are three circuitboards under the keybed that are tied together.
Over time, the keybed being pressed causes this area to flex where the circuitboards are. This flexing eventually causes the ribbon cable connecting two of those boards together to fail. This will usually be seen in keyboard calibration failing at boot. But other times, it will boot just fine and even work for awhile; but as you play, the flex causes it to crash or do other weird things. It's a very common problem on VFX-SDs (and a couple other models if memory serves). If you have this problem, the good news is that the fix is pretty simple (albeit somewhat cumbersome).
You simply solder new wires in place (or even in addition to) the existing ribbon cable. Anyway, this information is hard to find despite being common. Here's a link to where you can view it. VSE Review Contributor Posts: 472 Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:33 am Location: Illinois, USA Gear: MS20, x0xb0x, JV-1080, JX-3P, JX-8P(PG800), Juno Stage, VFX-SD, VL-1, ARP Omni I, D-50, DW6000.
Actually, their eventual approach to (the keyboard) repair was to solder wires as a bridge across the two main PCBs. My 'spare' VFX has the fix done already. (I got a parts machine for nothing) The problem with using old-style troubleshooting on any of the Ensoniq digital synths is it is going to require a waveform monitor that does above 8 MHz, a logic probe, and a lot of digital synth knowledge.
Also, Ensoniq used a lot of VLSI custom chips in their synths, which makes things very difficult. Moderator Posts: 3527 Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:43 pm Location: Los Angeles, CA Real name: Unpronounceable Gear: Ensoniq SD-1/32,SQR,VFX,ESQm Virus Indigo, M3-61, MS2000BR, Volca Bass Emu XL-7, Matrix 6r TG-33, K3m, Blofeld, Micron, Mopho, BS II, JV-1080 Band: Eridani V. HI Ashe37, Is there still a possibility of getting the actual Schematic for the Ensonic VFX? I'm knee-deep in troubleshooting my own VFXsd - The power supply seems to be fine, and display has heaters on but no display or even a flicker at power-up. I have decades of servicing gear under my belt (including years of surface mount/digital work professionally), but without a road map it's really a slog! I'd love to get this up and running again for my band. Any consideration appreciated, and all documents kept confidential.
Ensoniq Sd 1
MyTubeAudio wrote:HI Ashe37, Is there still a possibility of getting the actual Schematic for the Ensonic VFX? I'm knee-deep in troubleshooting my own VFXsd - The power supply seems to be fine, and display has heaters on but no display or even a flicker at power-up. I have decades of servicing gear under my belt (including years of surface mount/digital work professionally), but without a road map it's really a slog!
I'd love to get this up and running again for my band. Any consideration appreciated, and all documents kept confidential AFAIK the images of it are still on the VFX-SD yahoo group's files.
Moderator Posts: 3527 Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:43 pm Location: Los Angeles, CA Real name: Unpronounceable Gear: Ensoniq SD-1/32,SQR,VFX,ESQm Virus Indigo, M3-61, MS2000BR, Volca Bass Emu XL-7, Matrix 6r TG-33, K3m, Blofeld, Micron, Mopho, BS II, JV-1080 Band: Eridani V.