Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

One more difference to note...the main reason I keep my VFX.  The VFX and VFX-SD have rare Polyphonic (as opposed to Channel) Aftertouch!  That means when I press one key harder, only that key's modulation/aftertouch is affected.  Many synth modules respond to Polyphonic Aftertouch but very few keyboards that are affordable can provide it !!

The later SD-1 and SD-32 models did not have Polyphonic Aftertouch, only Channel Aftertouch (at least from all my research when I was going to buy an SD-1 or SD-32...the extra waves didn't meanmuch to me compared to the need I had for the Poly-AT)

(I hope this disseration improves the value of the VFX & VFX-SD in the selling market....)

Bob
El Segundo, CA



-----Original Message-----
>From: Steve Wahl <steve@...>
>Sent: Aug 23, 2007 7:51 AM
>To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Sorry about that last..duh er huh... valid question...
>
>> What is the difference between the VFX and the SD-1?
>
>Models of the VFX family:
>
>VFX: original base model.  No sequencer; has only 3 buttons in the
>middle section where the sequencer transport buttons are in the rest
>of the series.  No floppy drive; has a little "compartment" in its
>place that can hold a couple of cartridges.
>
>VFX-SD: Added sequencer, Floppy disk, more percussion waves.
>
>VFX-SD-II: Added mega-piano waves.
>
>SD-1: Rename the model, IMHO to avoid the reputation of unreliability
>the VFX had attained, because they *thought* they had the keyboard
>calibration problem fixed.  That wasn't really true; the first SD-1s
>still had the keyboard problem.  I believe the SD-1 also added some
>more waves. 
>
>SD-1 32-voice: has 32 voice polyphony; previous models had 21 voices.
>
>I have a VFX and a VFX-SD; the rest is from memory.  
>
>Somewhere along the line they also did more work on the percussion,
>but I can't remember where.  The original VFX had very limited
>percussion sounds; for instance, a hi-hat had to be simulated with
>noise, there was no sample.  The VFX also used the same voice
>archetecture for drums as for everything else, and there was only one
>percussion sound per wave.  So, since each program has only 6 waves,
>you could only have 6 different sounds in each drum "set".  One of the
>third party cartridges I have has two programs designed to be layered
>with each other to get around this.
>
>Going on *really* fuzzy memory here: the VFX-SD may have had a
>"multi-drum" wave, that had different drum samples at different
>pitches, so you'd have a wider selection of drums sounds across the
>keyboard.  And the SD-1 might have added a drum mapping ability so
>drum parts that were originally targeted at a general midi device
>could be played back with some success on an SD-1.  (If I recall
>correctly, GM compatibility was achieved in the next family, the TS
>series, which is somewhat similar to the VFX series, but different
>enough that (e.g.) it's not MIDI sys-ex compatible with the
>VFX series.)
>
>--> Steve
>
>
>-- 
>Steve Wahl    steve@...
>
>Can we get a collective ticket for that group to visit the wizard?
>Hint: they need neither courage nor a heart.  -- RJL