Hear some sounds: Ensoniq SQ-80

[kassandjohnbolles]

This was my first synthesizer. My wife and I were working as a duo and I was getting tired of having only the acoustic guitar for accompaniment. At the time this was one of the few boards out there with a sampled piano sound and it did the job for us. I wrote many sequences on this board. I later augmented the setup with an Alesis HR-16 drum machine. We did tons of gigs with this board. I still have it in my attic.

[mass-]

Just got mine as a gift from a friend today. The synth belonged to my friend's dad who were the first guy to start a guitar workshop in South Africa and was great friends of Paul Reed Smith. Although he was a guitar guy, he loved this synth.

[therealniksongs]

I have a TS-12 that I got about 15 years ago in like new condition for a hundred bucks. The guy had no idea what he was selling. Just wanted to get it out of his garage. Said it had belonged to his son who no longer wanted to be a musician because he had decided to become a cop. So he put it up on eBay and I was the lucky one who found it first!

Once had an SQ2 that I bought from a guy who did sound design for Ensoniq. I lived not far from their factory in Malvern, PA. (I know RetroLinear, too--you guys have done some work for me in the past...hi, Tim; hi, Amanda!) The folks at Ensoniq refurbished that SQ2 for me by turning it from a 21-voice into a 32-voice and maxing out the sequencer memory. Missed the SQ so much after I sold it (thought I didn't need it anymore after I bought a Motif 8) that I bought an SQR 32-voice. Ensoniq was great. Terrific value for the money. Had their own sound. Easiest to use sequencer I've ever encountered. I guess like many good things....they proved to be too good to last.

[dussie]

Beautiful sounds! I really like it. Soooo eighties and so relaxing when played slowly.

[Shred_The_Weapon]

From 3:33 to 3:51, it sounds like a hybrid of an analog preset on the Roland JX-8p and the CP70 emulation on another Roland model, the MKS-20.

[gloraditch]

My first synth. Hated selling it. What's more...it was the best Midi controller I ever had; simply used an 8 channel patch bay on Midi Out and I could select all my rack synths from one menu screen on the SQ80. Had great keybed, too.

[wjniemi]

Great demo. I bet you'll be getting a lot of views with Arturia's emulation coming out. Thanks!

[axs]

Oh my this sounds are playing some nice stuff as want an SQ80 now!

[george.s.]

Amazing the sounds you can get out that !

[DaringWin]

Great demo. I bought one of these for $50 from my high school in the late 90s & I'm still kicking myself for trading it for a cheap Pyle (of trash) microphone & crappy practice amplifier. Ugh. I was a stupid kid.

[tonystevenson]

Song reminds of a funkier just can't get enough, by Depeche. Very nice and nostalgic for me

[bobadingo]

I had a esq-1 and sq-80 even though the sq-80 was a step up from the esq-1 the sequencer was still very small and had to be careful with how many notes you laid down, the sequence of memory would disappear very quick and you wouldn't get much recording time but overall the sq80 was very easy to use and had some very unique sounds.. .

[RikMaxSpeed]

Amazing! Interesting to hear the sound, superb demo of the sequencer, and fun to see the waiting times as it processes edits (quantising?) and saves!

[azaz]

Can you tell me is this misty sound from the main melody in the link from Ensoniq?

[klarenzjeong]

Hope it'd been on sale in Nakwon arcade in 2004 so that I could've got that as a sidekick of my XP-30

[zackmedic]

is that first piano patch a stock preset? it’s so pretty sounding.

[macronencer]

4:30 Wow it has PolyAT as well? And such wonderful sounds. I previously knew very little about this machine... how much did it cost when it was released?

[djstroke]

Where is? attack release, decay, sustain, in this synth? help me please!

[Coronaboii]

Just copped mine from Arturia. I’m in love maaan!! 😩😂

[bwc]

I hear a strong Jan Hammer soundtrack vibe coming through in this, are you a fan of his?