“These are great synths. The Ensoniq esq-m is the rack mount version of the esq1, it’s the same synth except it doesn’t have the outdated sequencer or the terrible keybed. All of the good stuff and none of the bad!
There’s plenty of information about these online so you can look them up if you’re unfamiliar but at its core it’s a hybrid synth (digital waves and analog filters) with a simple modulation matrix, multi timbrality (layer/ split), responds to polyphonic aftertouch, etc. It’s a great sounding synth, think late 2nd era skinny puppy (too dark park and last rites in particular).
This one is in pretty good shape for its age but certainly not perfect. It has plenty of dings and scratches and what not. Also the data slider is really jumpy, I was just testing the synth and I could use the slider but I’d want to address it if I was keeping it since it’s very difficult to get it to any specific value. It might just be dirty (possibly fixed by cleaning and lubricating the slider) or it might need to be replaced. Everything else works as far as I can tell (midi, audio, display, buttons, volume slider is scratchy but working), I even replaced the internal battery a couple years ago so as long as it gets turned on now and then that should be fine for many many years, likely decades. It even has the rack ears!
I’m including two voice cards in this auction. One is a vintage “voice crystal 2” card full of presets (rom/ read only) and the other is a modern rewritable one (ram) made as a retrofit for this synth. The rewritable card has a very large capacity and is pre-loaded with a ton of patches but is freely writable which is essential with these older synths as their internal memory was pretty limited. ” Click here to visit listing on eBay
