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ranges. A loop editor allows you to define envelopes, cross-fades, and sample start-end, and loop points in real-time. It is possible to modulate the loop start with any source to give complex evolving sounds. On the EPS-16 Plus, the
Transwave loop mode allows the start point to be modulated in exact "single-cycle" steps, giving effects similar to the
358:, released in 1991. The EPS-16 Plus is very similar to the EPS. Its main addition is integrated DSP effects and stereo audio routing. Due to the upgrade to 16-bit audio, the Output Expander on the EPS-16 Plus is different, instead providing three pairs of stereo outputs, two from before the new effects chip.
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Instrument pages are prefixed by clicking a Mode (Load, Command, or Edit) -- yielding functions relating to loading, editing, and tweaking EPS sampled instruments. Instruments can contain a number of discrete samples which are patched into Layers - each with their own ADSR-like envelopes and keyboard
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The EPS is a performance sampler. Besides the main processor it contains a dedicated sound engine so that playing can be done whilst loading another sample. The main processor handles the I/O while the sound engine is responsible for keeping the audio running without interruption — this made the EPS
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Sequences depend on having instruments loaded into one of the eight instrument banks in the right order. Banks of instruments can be saved which can be loaded in by a song sequence so that loading the song loads all the appropriate sounds into the right places so everything will play when you start
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is of thick plastic construction of a dark gray color with 61 weighted keys. There are assignable pitch, modulation wheels, and two patch select buttons. The interior of the unit is accessed by removing four hex screws under the front of the keyboard and swinging open the rear-hinged control panel.
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The
Sequence pages allow you to define sequences and songs. Simple quantization is available, along with a crude, but effective, step-editor to tweak individual sequence elements. Sequences (with up to eight instruments playing simultaneously) can be assembled into Song Steps. In assembling songs,
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allows for longer and higher quality samples. The "2x" expander contains one 1x256Kbit and three 4x256Kbit chips, for a total of 13x256Kbits in addition to the onboard memory. The EPS is unusual in having a 13-bit sample memory word length, left-justified into the most significant bits of a 16-bit
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By using a dedicated sound engine in addition to the main processor, sound generation and disk I/O are handled separately. This allows so-called load-while-play, a feature quite unique at the time. The user can boot the EPS and load some sounds while playing the ones that are already loaded. Then
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The whole unit is configurable through a custom operating system (latest version was 2.49 for the EPS and 1.30 for the EPS-16 Plus). After the system boots from the floppy drive, it flashes a "Tuning
Keyboard - Hands Off" message while it calibrates its polyphonic after-touch keyboard. The EPS-16
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connected to the expansion bay. The EPS has 256 Kwords of RAM on board. Ensoniq offered both a 2x (512 Kword) Memory
Expander and a 4x (1 Mword) Memory Expander with SCSI interface. A company called Maartists offered both 4x and 8x memory expanders, allowing a total of 2 Mwords RAM. Extra
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The EPS has a straightforward interface that is easy to use, with configurable controls geared for live performance. Because it has two processors, it can load and play up to eight instruments simultaneously (with another eight on reserve). The display is a 22-character, single-line
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sample in a new sound, only to find that you're out of floppies to save your new sample to — the EPS OS will allow you to go ahead, format another floppy disk, and save your new sound without the system function getting in the way of playing the audio.
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True to their user-oriented approach, the EPS boot disk not only contains everything needed to run the sampler, but also a tiny operating system with the ability to create a bootable version of itself. This was an improvement on the earlier
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The EPS supports polyphonic-aftertouch on its 61 keys, and therefore allows a fair amount of expression as a MIDI controller. Sys-ex messages are supported over MIDI, and can transmit and receive on multiple MIDI channels simultaneously.
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Easter Egg: There is a hidden menu in the
Command-ENV1 page which contains Software Information, the names of the designers, a DC Offset Adjustment, and a keyboard calibration command.
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The interface, although operating through a single-line fluorescent display, offers rapid access to all functions by the intelligent way that functionality is broken into
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The EPS uses double-sided, double-density 3.5" disks, formatted to 800k with ten 512-byte sectors per track. It can also read (but not write) Ensoniq Mirage sample disks.
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An optional Output
Expander module allows access to eight discrete mono outputs on the machine, allowing to separately mix levels and effects for each loaded sample.
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There is also a dedicated button for
Sampling, and three for the built-in sequencer. The EPS-16 Plus also has a dedicated button for configuring the effects DSP.
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you can define the number of repetitions of each sequence that comprises a song step. This makes it relatively easy to score and arrange a song.
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In addition to eight soft instrument buttons, it has a number pad (0-9), four cursor buttons, a value slider, and 'Yes' - 'No' buttons.
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sampler, which required a special boot disk with a formatting program, and could not make copies of its own boot disks.
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351:, the current owner of Ensoniq. A 19" rack-mount version of both machines were also available in limited numbers.
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The vast majority of functionality can be accessed with less than three clicks: Mode - Page - Number Pad.
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which upgraded the sample size to 16 bits and added a 24-bit effects system. Other improvements include
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415:. The Ensoniq manuals were famous for including quality tutorials for sampling and editing new sounds.
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Plus is capable of storing the OS in the optional FlashBank, which removes the need for a boot disk.
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The key limitations of the EPS were its proprietary disk format, and later a lack of support from
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support in the optional SCSI interface and FlashBank storage for the OS and favorite sounds.
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and can be used as a controller of other instruments or connected to a computer.
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the sequencer. In the EPS-16 Plus, an effect is also assigned to a bank.
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273:- widely regarded as the first truly affordable sampling keyboard.
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470:. No. 64. Future Publishing. December 1997. p. 47.
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on the market. It was manufactured from 1988 to 1991 by
622:. United Kingdom: SOS Publications Ltd. pp. 48–50
523:. Vol. 2, no. 12. October 1988. p. 50.
367:especially useful for live performance situations.
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46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
650:Archive of Ensoniq EPS manuals at SynthManuals.com
390:are: Instrument, Sequence, MIDI, and System.
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690:Electric and electronic keyboard instruments
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106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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257:) was one of the first few affordable
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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498:. February 1988. pp. 36–40.
354:This model was superseded by the
233:pitch-bend and modulation wheels
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614:Wrightson, Kendall (Jan 1991).
31:needs additional citations for
545:"Ensoniq EPS-M Sampler Module"
384:are: Load, Command, and Edit.
316:The EPS was superseded by the
281:. It boots from an integrated
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670:Samplers (musical instrument)
579:. June 1989. pp. 70–71.
492:"Ensoniq Performance Sampler"
645:Ensoniq EPS at Vintage Synth
251:Ensoniq Performance Sampler
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279:vacuum fluorescent display
118:Digital musical instrument
464:"Retro: Ensoniq EPS16+".
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551:. May 1989. p. 14.
223:61-note with polyphonic
169:Technical specifications
695:Polyphonic synthesizers
267:Malvern, Pennsylvania
680:Keyboard instruments
665:Ensoniq synthesizers
198:Yes aftertouch = Yes
40:improve this article
349:Creative Technology
195:Velocity expression
283:floppy disk drive
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38:Please help
33:verification
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356:EPS-16 Plus
318:EPS-16 Plus
135:Ensoniq EPS
96:August 2021
659:Categories
601:References
484:1032779031
406:Instrument
295:SCSI drive
291:Matsushita
225:aftertouch
66:newspapers
593:925234032
585:0951-6816
565:483899345
557:0957-6606
529:0957-6606
512:925234032
504:0951-6816
476:0967-0378
179:20 voices
175:Polyphony
156:1988–1991
537:24835173
419:Sequence
413:PPG Wave
334:keyboard
259:samplers
219:Keyboard
263:Ensoniq
204:Effects
189:samples
187:13-bit
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80:scholar
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626:7 May
388:Pages
382:Modes
376:Pages
372:Modes
164:£1695
161:Price
153:Dates
87:JSTOR
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628:2024
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432:MIDI
374:and
332:The
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287:Sony
249:The
242:MIDI
208:none
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362:Use
300:RAM
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