Arturia Ensoniq SQ80V (and V Collection discussion)

[Guy Rowland]

Created by the same engineers responsible for the Commodore 64 - considered the best-selling computer of all time - Ensoniq’s SQ80 was up against stiff competition.

At the time of its release, the digitization of hardware synthesizers was well under way - but it went on to become a cult classic.

Here was a digital synthesizer that offered a degree of warmth and character usually reserved for its analog peers; flexible voice and modulation controls that didn’t require 10,000 hours of practice to program; a workhorse keyboard that produced an unprecedented array of timbres to suit any style, without the stellar price tag of similarly capable instruments.

https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... v/overview

Logged in, I get an upgrade price of 49 euros (I have V Collection 5), full price is 199 euros. Upgrade to V8 plus the Ensoniq for me is 149 euros. I probably won't unless I hit a big moment of weakness, but just so as y'all know.

[Guy Rowland]

Just as an FYI - anyone owning Analog Lab V gets 20 SQ80 presets.

[wst3]

Just downloaded the demo, and I hope it is spectacular! The $49 intro price is very tempting. The $149 deal for SQ80V and the latest update to the collection is less tempting, but they updated a couple of their Roland emulations, so I may yet cave.

I grew up in West Chester. I visited the Ensoniq factory several times, and got to know some of the principles through the AES chapter meetings. It was a very cool company, and they made some amazing (dare I say ground breaking?) products.

For reasons that include I won't get $0.10 for any of them I still have several of their synths, among my favorites are the ASR-10 and the ESQ-m. The SQ-80 is one of the few I skipped over, mostly because the ESQ-m sounded so good. Every once in a while I stumble across a used SQ-80 for not a lot, but I just don't need any more hardware!

As much as it bugs me a little, I am really looking forward to taking this one for a spin!

[Guy Rowland]

Let me know how you find it.

I'm horrified to discover I'm actually weakening on this - not so much the Ensoniq, but I took a look and there's a couple I'd like in the V Collection 8. The DX7 I know is very popular and there's a few iconic sounds it has that I don't (including in Analog Lab). The Vocoder looks really interesting too. And for about £120 for 15 new synths oh good lord no not again I'm getting sucked in AGAIN

[Piet De Ridder]

Just finished watching a few Arturia V-Collection 8 video’s and listening to some of the demos, and the sound quality of their instruments seems to have improved in a big way. I didn’t know that. Years ago, I bought a few individual Arturia synths but quickly stopped using them because of (1) the terrible GUI’s (small and quite unpleasant in just about every way) and, more importantly, (2) a kind of flat, generic, typical softsynth-sound which they all shared.
Based on what I saw and heard just now however, those days appear to be over. So I hopped over to the Arturia site and it seems I can upgrade to V8 for a rather reasonable price. Very tempted. Especially the inclusion of the Vocoder is pulling my mouse pointer towards the purchase button, but there’s lots of other stuff in this collection I would mind seeing listed in the drop-down menu of available instruments in Logic.

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[wst3]

The Vocoder looks really interesting too.

I keep waiting on the Zynaptiq Orange Vocoder, but perhaps this would be a good substitute?

And for about £120 for 15 new synths oh good lord no not again I'm getting sucked in AGAIN

I can sympathize, I am just about done clearing out the deadwood in my VST instruments pile, really don't want to add a bunch more, but there are things in this version that are tempting! So much for no new synths<G>

[Guy Rowland]

Piet - quite agree. All the standard (and reasonable) criticisms of Arturia over many years have quietly been addressed, the new UIs, browsers etc are great. They're ploughing through more of their older ones giving them a sonic overhaul, but pretty much everything since v5 seems to be pretty good to me. And not being a purist for these things, I really like their extra hidden panel that adds features not present in the original such as effects, arpeggiators etc. Hell yeah!

I don't need most of them it goes without saying, but those couple in particular are pulling me over the edge. Speaking of which:

Bill (and Piet) that vocoder is calling me. The Zynaptiq / Orange one feels like vapourware at this point. This is a good tutorial:

[Piet De Ridder]

Made up my mind. It was between Metasynth and Arturia V8. Went with the latter. Metasynth will have to wait a bit.

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[Guy Rowland]

Made up my mind. It was between Metasynth and Arturia V8. Went with the latter. Metasynth will have to wait a bit.

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You get to keep more of your life this way, methinks.

I jumped. Kid, candy, store. That vocoder seems great.

[Piet De Ridder]

Haven't looked at the Vocoder yet. (Excellent video though, the one from CatSynth TV.). But I've been completely wrapped up in the Buchla for the past hour. Insane little thing, that synth. (For me, the upgrade price is already justified after playing just the Buchla. And there's 27 more synths to go.)

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[Guy Rowland]

Another one I'm looking forward to playing with is the AKS Synthi. I've always been obsessed by how Jean Michel Jarre used it, always got sounds out of it like nothing else before or since. Some of the presets were evocative of that, would love to spend some time figuring out broadly how it works.

I remember there used to be a couple of these suitcase synths in BBC technical stores at Television Centre for use as sound effects machines. I can't remember them ever being used... I think they were so intimidating no-one really knew what to do with them on a busy studio day!