★ APPLICATIONS ★ CREATION MUSICAL ★ ESQ1 Data Dump and Editor ★ |
| Esq1 Data Dump And Editor (Amstrad Action) | Applications Creation Musical |
Silicon Sounds Midi software and an Ensoniq synthesizer are all you need to form the ultimate one-man band. Richard Monteiro puts theory to practise. Ensoniq's synthesizer is probably the most user-friendly of its kind It has a relatively large LED display: accessing functions and voice programming is simple - unlike the Roland D50 or Yamaha DX7 (software reviewed last issue). Software allowing you to store sound data is obviously useful But is an editor necessary?
The ESQ1 can hold 40 sounds in memory at once Each sound or patch is referred to as a program. The Data Dump allows you to send programs to and from computer Thankfully a whole bank (40 sounds) may be sent or received in one go. Only internal banks can be saved. A bank takes up 9k of disk space: a touch under 20 banks can be stored on one side of the disk. That's a staggering 1.600 individual sounds per disk. Editing occurs in real time - as you alter the makeup of one of the synth's sounds (from the CPC keyboard) the ESQ1 gets updated immediately. Sounds can be edited directly from the ESQ1 using its pushbuttons. it seems the only advantage of editing via the Amstrad is the large screen display. All the sound information is shown at once whereas the ESQ1's comparatively tiny display holds the parameter being altered If you aren't keyed up on the various sound parameters that can be altered (and what affect they have) then don't look in the manual. It assumes you know what you're doing. Apart from Silicon's offering there is no Midi software that is ESQ1 specific The main reason being the simplicity with which sounds can be edited direct from the synthesizer Still. Silicon's package makes editing even simpler and allows you to store sounds on disk. Richard Monteiro , AA
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