SCSI2SD v5.5 Plug-In Drive (for asr10)

November 19, 2023November 19, 2023 | kelvink273

Although the Ensoniq ASR10 is aging tech, there’s something about it that I just love. Its iconic effects, the excellent feel of the keyboard, the extensive modulation options, the unique envelopes, and the excellent transwave capabilities are some of the reasons why I will never part with it.

I purchased mine with the SCSI board, which I would highly recommend unless you’re happy to deal with floppy disks for all your storage functions. Originally, I had an external SCSI hard drive, which was fine but bulky. After parting with that (the drive died), I went with using the external Iomega Zip drives. That works, but anyone who has extended experience with these knows they will die eventually unless they are incredibly lucky.

I was having trouble with mine, so I decided to do some research into newer tech options. After some research and a very useful video by Dick Hifi, I ended up getting the SCSI2SD v5.5 Plug-In Drive from Chicken Systems.

So far, I’m loving the ease of use and the super small form factor! The drive fits in the palm of your hand and is super light. It plugs right into the SCSI card on the ASR, with no need for an SCSI cable, making things nice and neat. The only cable needed is a provided USB cable to power the drive. When you purchase the drive, which uses a removable SD card for storage, it is partitioned into four drives and already contains the ASR10 O.S. It was literally as easy as connecting it to my ASR10, powering on the ASR, and then browsing the partitions via the ASR10 buttons to create sub-directories when you want to store sounds!

And it is quick and silent.

For me, this option is well worth the $110 I paid for it and brings using the ASR10 right up to date! If you are looking for a storage option for your ASR10 and have the SCSI card installed, I recommend adding this option to your list of things to investigate.

Plugin Review – Live.Stepper (Free) Max4Live Plugin

April 4, 2019April 23, 2019 | kelvink273

The Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer — The Roland TR-707

The rise of “in the box” production has advanced many aspects of music production, and in the process brought the possibility of producing music at a high level to the masses. I’m a big fan of the modern DAW and the amazing software that is currently available to both bedroom producers and pros alike.

That said, I am still a fan of some more “archaic” formats, such as MIDI and Sysex, and I sometimes regret the fact that very new producers will probably never know how powerful a deeper understanding of these technologies can be in a creative context.

One of these vintage tools is the trigger or gate signal. These were generally pre-MIDI and essentially were a voltage signal that could be output from a hardware device. These signals would be sent to other hardware devices as a way of synchronizing playback of the various devices.

An extension of this was that these signals could be used to advance a sequenced set of notes by one note in a sequencer with each trigger that the sequencer received.

The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer. — The Roland TR-909 TRG Out (Rim Shot)

The classic Roland drum machines included a trigger out that was associated with the Rim Shot as in the image of the TR-909 here.

So, a technique would be to program in a series of notes on something like the Juno 60 or SH-101 and then program in a rhythm pattern using the Rim Shot on the drum machine. With each trigger from the drum machine, the synth would step to the next note in the sequence, and once it reached the end of the sequence, begin again.

The result is that a producer could create an interesting progression of notes on the synth by simply manipulating the pattern of the Rim Shot trigger notes on the drum machine (these could be muted and still trigger the sequencer, so it was a matter of taste if they were actually heard or not). In fact, it is believed that one of the most famous bass lines in dance music was created this way by Larry Heard when he created “Can You Feel It”. Synthmania have kindly demonstrated how he would have done this with this nice video.

But what about the modern “in the box” producer? I was interested in finding out how a producer without a hardware sequencer or drum machine might be able to replicate this process. Fortunately, someone has kindly developed a great Max4Live plugin for Ableton Live users and it’s free! (I am hopeful that for those of you who aren’t using Ableton you will be able to find a similar type of plugin for your platform).

I’ve done a quick video demonstrating how this great free plugin called Live.Stepper can be used to emulate the classic trigger / gate sequencer technique below. My take – this is a great free plugin and it plugs a gap that exists. Kudos!

I hope some of you enjoy exploring this classic technique and come up with some great patterns!

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Plugin Review – D16 Decimort

June 30, 2018April 23, 2019 | kelvink273

One of the plugins I’m using regularly these days is D16 Group’s Decimort 2.

Classed as a bit-crusher, it’s also legitimate to say that it’s a classic sampler emulation. It includes some presets that emulate the sound of legendary samplers like the MPC60. Throw this on a drum rack’s output with a nice MPC swing on the drums and you’re about as close as you’ll get without owning one.

One of the things that really impressed me is that aside from the usual MPC emulations, the D16 guys also included an often unsung hero in the classic sampler world – the ASR10. It’s about the only ASR10 emulation I’ve come across, and as an owner of a hardware version, I can say it does a good job of replicating the characteristics of this vintage sampler. Check out Decimort 2.