RE: EPS 16+ vs. ASR-X

I have extensive hands-on experience with the EPS and EPS 16-Plus but not
the ASR-X. I will attempt to answer your questions based on the information
I've gathered for my "Microtonal Synthesis" web site.

You are correct that the ASR-X supports only one global tuning table at a
time. It's architecture in this regard is based more on the MR-Rack, so I
doubt your pitch tables from the EPS 16-Plus are transferrable. Pitch
resolution should be the same or better as the 16-Plus.

I don't know of any computer program (MIDI patch/program editor) that
supports the MIDI tuning standard other than Justonic's Pitch Pallette, and
it supports only 12 note per octave scales. Anyone?

The ASR-X can load EPS/EPS 16-Plus/ASR-10 samples and programs as well as
AIFF and WAV files, Akai S1000 type sample files and others.

John Loffink
john.loffink@compaq.com

> -----Original Message-----
>
> I'm hoping someone on the list can answer some gear questions for me. I
> have been working with the old Ensoniq EPS 16+ for some time now and am
> quite comfortable with manipulating its tuning tables. I am, however
> being seduced by the sexy new ASR-X. Its expandable to 34megs of sample
> ram and has an on board synth. What's really cool though, are the
> alternate tunings built into it. I didn't count them, but a brief glance
> at the manual showed dozens. Included were most of the popular ETs -
> 19,31,53 and many of the Carlos tunings. Hell, even 88cet was in there
> (kudos Gary) but I digress...Anyway, here is my problem:
> For those of us who like to "roll their own" scales how easy is this
> beast to work with. What little I could infer from the manual stated
> that you could have one user programmed scale at a time reside in RAM,
> BUT it had to be done via a computer using the midi tuning standard. My
> questions:
> Is this a good thing? How does the resolution compare? I've never
> worked with the midi tuning standard so i'm clueless. And finally, is
> there a way to use more than one tuning at once, especially the user
> programmed ones (oh, and what kind of computer program will I need).
> The beauty of the previous generation of samplers (EPS, 16+, ASR10) was
> that you could have many different scales reside in memory at the same
> time. And for someone like me( who is the self proclaimed village idiot
> of micro tonality) this was great for comparing scales (it just doesn't
> sink in when I read it, I have to hear the pitches and putz around with
> them. I guess it's a drummer thang...).
> Are the tunings from my EPS16+ upwardly compatible. And for that
> matter, are the samples themselves going to work.
> Any info will be greatly appreciated.
>
>