*Serviced* 1987 Ensoniq SQ-80 Cross Wave Synthesiser Synthesizer Synth

The ENSONIQ SQ-80, the first studio synthesizer designed "for live performance." In a world of synthesizers, sequencers, MIDI controllers, and MIDI disk drives, the SQ-80 is something different. It is all of those things and more, in one easy-to-use device.

Here’s what you get:

• An eight-voice, polyphonic, poly-timbral synthesizer, capable of playing eight different sounds at once, with dynamic stereo panning for each voice.
• Voice section employing state-of-the-art CrossWave™ synthesis techniques; combine different attack and sustain segments to create a rich variety of complex, dynamic sounds.
• 256k bytes of synthetic, sampled, and multi-sampled wave data in ROM — 75 different waves.
• Dynamic Voice assignment — each Track/MIDI Channel has access to all eight voices.
• An integrated eight-track MIDI sequencer with 20,000 note capacity and features you would expect to find on stand-alone or computer-based sequencers.
• A full-featured MIDI controller keyboard, capable of sending eight MIDI Program and Volume changes at once.
• Key (Poly) Pressure keyboard — Polyphonic Pressure (or After-touch) affects only the note or notes you press down on, allowing a whole new level of expressiveness. Of course, for sending to instruments that only recognize Mono (or Channel) Pressure, the SQ-80 can send that too.
• A 3.5" disk drive for fast and reliable storage of up to 600 Sequences and up to 1,728 Programs on a single disk.
• Disk storage for all your MIDI devices — the ability to receive and save to disk any System Exclusive message of up to 64k bytes from any device.
• An eighty-character fluorescent display and user-friendly “Page-driven” programming scheme to help you keep track of it all.
• Stereo Headphone jack for private listening at home or in the studio.
• Program and Sequence formats that are upwardly compatible with the ENSONIQ ESQ-1, so sounds and sequences created for the ESQ-1 can be played on the SQ-80.

By combining all of this in a single integrated unit, the ENSONIQ SQ-80 makes the perfect nerve centre for any MIDI rig. You'll find that you can take most of your other MIDI instruments, run MIDI cables to them, and then stow them away in a closet somewhere — most of the time, you won't need to touch them. You can control everything right from the SQ-80's front panel.

Whether you plan to use the SQ-80 by itself or as the master controller in your MIDI setup, for composing pop tunes or performing as a one-person orchestra, we suspect that you'll soon wonder what you ever did without it.

Source: Ensoniq SQ-80 Musician’s Manual