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Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] Differences between the VFX and SD-1
2010-03-16 by Joe McMahon
I own both a VFXsd and an SD-1/32. The VFX aftertouch is more sensitive and softer; you really have to go at it with the SD-1, even with the sensitivity cranked up to the softest setting.
The SD-1 is a lot quieter overall; the background noise that the VFXsd tends to have when nothing's playing is almost gone. The front-panel feel is identical.
Soundwise, the biggest addition for me was the new solo string waveform; we now have a pretty reasonable solo violin and cello (the cello patch that's in the SD-1 ROM is particularly expressive with aftertouch).
The SD-1 can be forced into 21-voice (24-voice?) mode depending on which kind of sequences you load - apparently "old" sequences will put it back in the less-voices mode. I can vouch for this as I have old sequences that actually depend on the voice-stealing algorithm to achieve certain effects, and these still work on the SD-1. The problem is that there's no way to pull something up that says "YOU ARE IN 32 VOICE MODE"; I have the feeling that most of my new sequences are also in 21/24 voice mode, but I can't really tell - anyone have an easy way to check this?
There are more effects - but none of them stand out for me enough to remember what they are. Still has that lovely chorus that the VFX has.
Generally, the VFX feels more "gentle" than the SD-1. I think that's mostly the aftertouch, as I mentioned.