Ensoniq TS12 demo: 76 weighted-key synth. 80's overdrive!

[@Najvrtson]

Thank you, Gearfacts. Lot of memories... I have played many of gigs with my TS-12. Very heavy in the wooden case, but the sound was amazing at the time (and still is). I keep one TS-10 and one ASR-10 in my "studio" and love both of them.

[@GaryR55]

I had an ASR-10, myself, from 1993 until it died on me in about 2012. Loved the keyboard on that thing!

[@EBTheOriginalMaster]

I would like to say that your editing skills are absolute stellar. Keep up the great work Glynn.

[@gearfacts]

Oh really - what is it about the editing that pleases you? I use terrible software!

[@EBTheOriginalMaster]

@@gearfacts I'm mainly talking about the footage of clouds that you often show in your videos.

[@gearfacts]

@@EBTheOriginalMaster Ah yes, I like doing time lapses of various things and seeing what 'works' with the music. Whenever I go to places I say to the people I'm with "Hey I've just got to take a quick timplapse of this!" and everyone groans... haha

[@davidmartin123]

@1:22 I recall that my old Ensoniq VFX-SD had low-level digital noise on many sounds. This TS12 probably shares a lot of the same electronics and signal path - and noise.

[@DarrenJohnMusic]

I have an Ensoniq TS-12, an EPS 16 Plus, an SQ-80 and a Mirage. Love them all.

[@Noah_-lp8kt]

I still have an original with handbook and all, and I love to play it.

[@glenesis]

Wow! Welcome back, G. What a beast you've got there! There's a monstrous 24-track sequencer in that thing, and six WAV samples per patch - this think even beats the Fantom in a lot of specs. Nice score bro! Have a great day :)

[@gearfacts]

Ahh yes I was going to comment about the 24 track sequencer... A glaring omission by Gearfacts there! Oh well I guess everyone's using DAWs now so there won't be too much public outrage :D

[@glenesis]

@@gearfacts I thought that DAWless is the rage now 😂 It's a great demo, and I do use my DAW in lieu of the wonderful inbuilt sequencers on these things.

[@madness8556]

Keyboard Magazine criticised the TS10 and TS12 for the overall sound of the instruments. They did however cop some flack in their readers letters section though. I always loved the more gritty Ensoniq sound and it was a perfect compliment to the cleaner Japanese, Roland, Korg and Yamaha offerings at the time. I had a TS12 and whilst I loved it as a studio keyboard, especially that awesome distorted 'rude guitar' program, it was way too heavy to gig with and I actually sold it on Ebay for more than I paid for it! It's very sad that Ensoniq didn't last as they made some truly awesome instruments such as the SQ80, SD1, TS10/12, EPS16 Plus and ASR10, not to mention their fabulous rack mount effects units like the DP4 and DP2.

[@joseph395]

Your not the only one! My TS12 has that same sound after pressing and letting go of the key.. I always assumed it was something having to do with the “channel aftertouch” 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@surge6996]

Love this tutorial I'm curious Which specific little sequencer / / pad you used on this video Serge

[@gearfacts]

Hi Serge, it was a Korg Electribe 2.

[@surge6996]

@@gearfacts awesome Thanks

[@PatrickRosenbalm-d6x]

To second what some others have said, my TS12 has no noise like that. Either your TS12 has a problem or you have the trim / gain set too high on your board or amp or whatever you're playing it through. The TS series, and I think the EPS 16 and ASR, used Philips 1541 DAC chips. Google those. You'll be pleasantly surprised what you find. The display is a VFD. Vacuum Fluorescent Display. Not LCD. I also had an MR76. I sold it and kept the TS12. The MR was a little easier to use and I liked the built in drum machine and idea pad, but the TS allows for much deeper editing of the sounds and when I gigged with it, the sounds were much easier to access. My gig rig now consist of a Roland FA-08 and VR-730.

[@gearfacts]

Cool :)

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

Regarding noise: there must be something wrong with this particular TS12. Mine doesn’t have anything like that. Maybe DAC calibration is necessary (it does sound like a quantization noise)?

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I suspected that it was a fault rather than it’s nature.

[@madness8556]

Mine certainly didn't have that noise.

[@artofwebdesign]

Nice vid. What kind of external sequencer do you use ? Looks nice

[@gearfacts]

Glad you liked the video, the sequencer is a Korg Electribe 2.

[@dawnr8511]

Looks like ya spent some big bucks on this unit. Nice demo for the Gearfacts archives!

[@gearfacts]

Yeah a local guy was selling it for 400 of our feeble Australian dollars. It was so different, I had to have it :)

[@ilovekeyboards7830]

Hi gearfacts can you please make a video about the Casio wk 240

[@musicaldracula2017]

Awesome synthesizer. Very unique sounding.

[@N8oRMusic]

Nice!

[@mathiasmustillo]

Yesss!!!! I just got one too! Awesome video!! Your the best man

[@gearfacts]

Cheers Mathias :) Hope business is going well!

[@New_Zealand_Music]

Thank's mate, wondered where you got too. Lol I hope all is well where you are. Peace. Well my grandmother, my brother's partner and their son all have covid now. Mostly worried about my grandmother as she's getting on. And has really bad dementia so I don't know how this is going to work out. Anyway very interesting keyboard. You go on some interesting Adventures. As always thoroughly appreciated.

[@gearfacts]

Cheers ES, I hope she has a smooth recovery.

[@New_Zealand_Music]

@@gearfacts cheers Glynn. 🙏

[@pianokeyjoe]

As you have already reviewed the much better TS10 with Poly aftertouch, there is not much to say on this one. I actually played this model in a Church and was dissapointed not to find poly after touch on the 76 note fully weighted keys. Found out that feature was limited to the 61 note keybeds made for Ensoniq by Fatar.

[@musicaldracula2017]

I would like to point out one feature. It can send poly aftertouch messages via midi so you can use it with a decent midi controller with poly aftertouch, if there is any :)

[@madness8556]

I had a TS12 and I don't recall that kind of background noise coming from the unit.

[@gearfacts]

Could've been my cheapo setup.

[@vacmauro58]

Hi, when you hold down a key and then change Preset, is the sound interrupted (as for example it happens on Korg 01W Pro) or is it maintained until the key is released?

[@gearfacts]

I'm not sure, I don't have this keyboard anymore so I can't test that function sorry.

[@vacmauro58]

@@gearfacts OK thanks.

[@BenKirb]

I might be getting the 61-key TS-10 for Christmas. You know why I want it? Because it's Ensoniq's best workstation, according to many Ensoniq users. And it's my #1 dream synthesizer.

[@gearfacts]

Brilliant, hope it comes your way!

[@BenKirb]

@@gearfacts Yeah!

[@madness8556]

The TS10 is a ripper workstation and you'll also love its polyphonic aftertouch keyboard. It's a pity that its filters lacked resonance and that hyperwaves couldn't be synced to MIDI clock but nonetheless, it is a keeper and I certainly lusted over it when I first played it in 1993 at my local music e emporium.

[@BenKirb]

@@madness8556 I already have a TS-12, and I LOVE IT!

[@madness8556]

@@BenKirb I had a TS12 that I got fully expended with 8mb sample memory and loved it as well. I only sold it because it was very heavy for gigging and it wasn't getting enough use to justify keeping it. It's built like a tank and has a very nice action as well as being easy to use and get around thanks to the great user friendly interface and that bright easy to use screen. It would be great if someone released a software version of this instrument like Arturia has done with the SQ80.

[@aloharay]

Another guy had strong static issue as well, replaced main board to fix it.

[@erguy6072]

Can you layer sounds?

[@gearfacts]

Yep :)

[@atomicafro]

Good gravy that noise is extreme. If you put a compressor on it it would sound really bad even in a mix. I don't have this issue with any of my other Ensoniq gear, but I don't have a TS-12 so I don't know if it's your unit or a fundamental hardware flaw (like the SP-404SX's noise issue).

[@gearfacts]

I didn't know the 404SX had noise problems, thanks for that little tip!

[@NgaTaeOfficial]

My TS12 doesn’t have that noise problem. I notice in the vid you have the volume slider at under half. Possibly not helping with the s/n ratio.

[@hschieck]

@@NgaTaeOfficial Must be a problem on his device. My TS12 doesn't have such noise as well. Perhaps it's time to recap some of the capacitors inside.

[@GaryR55]

I hated having to load everything on my ASR-10 from floppies! Even the OS!

[@gearfacts]

Ohh the joy of floppies... :/

[@Journeemars]

The the scsi & put the scsi to sd problem solved

[@GaryR55]

@@Journeemars I remember those. Unfortunately, after using the ASR-10 for years as a MIDI controller, it died on me. Wouldn't even power up.

[@Journeemars]

@@GaryR55 normally is the power supply easy fixed

[@GaryR55]

@@Journeemars I'm sure it could have been, but it's all a moot point now. I haven't had the ASR-10 since then - about 11 years ago.

[@Simon-ui6db]

Im sure Pink Floyd used many of these (probably in 61 key form though).

[@gearfacts]

Quite possibly. Rich Wright was s synth prodigy imho :)

these Are sooo expensive right now online , cool sounds but not for the price , could get a korg triton for less 😮

[@gearfacts]

Yep. Becoming rare. I agree though, even though this is a classic there are workstation synths out there that are simply more practical choices.

[@landbalance]

How did you get the ts12 to connect with your external sequencer?

[@gearfacts]

I connected the midi sockets, worked first time.