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Today in the MIDI lab, we had a super cool presentation and demo going over some classic rompler synths such as the Roland U-110 and Ensoniq SQ-R. I had a powerpoint style presentation that was an overview of all my interesting rackmount synths I own.
First is the Behringer Ultra-Q PEQ200. It is a 5 band parametric EQ (Widths; 20-300Hz, 60Hz-1KHz, 150Hz-2.5KHz, 450Hz-8KHz, 1-20Khz). The Market Value is around $80. It is similar to the DBX 555 (Market ~$200), and IGS iQ505 (Market ~$700). The reason I bought it was that it was the cheapest, quality 4-6 band parametric EQ I could find.
Next is the E-MU Proteus FX. It is a 32-Voice Classic 90's rompler. The Market Value is around $230. It is similar to the E-MU Proteus 1 Pop/Rock (Market ~$150), and E-MU Proteus 2000 (Market ~$230). It contains all of the sounds of the Proteus 1 Pop/Rock and Proteus 2 Orchestral, with built in FX for less money than both of those 2 modules together. It also bas the black flat front plate series specific pros (see next slide).
Is the E-MU Proteus FX better than the Proteus 2000? "Black flat front plate" series pros and cons VS the Proteus 2000 "curvy front plate" series.
Pros:
Attached internal ROM; in the "curvy front plate" series, the ROM is installed through ROM cards and can be removed and installed with no tools between units. It sounds intuitive, but the problem with this is that the ROMS can be easily stolen, break off, or when purchasing a unit, just not be there in the first place.
Less funky looking; I don't want my expensive, professional gear to look like it is just a toy.
Original Proteus 1 and 2 sounds; maybe only I care about the "historical accuracy" aspect, but I like the fact it uses the original, actual sounds that make the Proteus 1 and 2 so famous.
Cons:
Less internal sounds than the Composer soundset; However, the Composer soundset comes with the free, but moderately defunct VST plugin ProteusVX.
Misc other cons; smaller screen, smaller knob, no macros.
Next is the E-MU Vintage Keys. It is a 32-Voice Classic 90's rompler. The Market Value is about $250. It is similar to the E-MU Vintage Keys Plus (Market ~$400), and E-MU Classic Keys (Market ~$250). It has lots of very nice rompler keyboard sounds; I didn't plan on owning one, but got mine for under $100. There's also an official upgrade to convert this unit to the Plus version. It also has the black flat front plate series specific pros, same as previous slide.
Next is the Ensoniq SQR Plus 32 Voice. It is a 32-Voice Classic 90's rompler with synth features.
The Market Value is around $350+ with no current listings. It is similar to the Ensoniq SQ1 Plus 32 Voice (Market ~$400), and Ensoniq MR Rack (Market ~$700). It is the only realistic Ensoniq item for me to own; Ensoniq is probably my favorite synth brand just due to how underrated it is. This is also the Rackmount Unit you want. There are 3 versions; Ensoniq SQR, Ensoniq SQR Plus, and Ensoniq SQR Plus 32 Voice; the one I have is the one with the most features.
Next is the Roland D-110. It is a Digital Linear Arithmetic Synthesizer like the much more famous Roland D-50. Its Market Value is around $200. It is similar to the Roland D10 (Market ~$300), and Roland D-550 (Market ~$650). It is actually quite similar to the Roland D-50/D-550 considering it is only around 20-40% the price. There is also a memory card expansion slot with PN-D10 series cards to collect.
Next is my Roland U-220 and my Roland U-110 (they are basically the same thing). They are Classic 90's romplers. The U-110 has 31 voices, and the U-220 has 30 voices; strange they didn't go for 32 voices like many other 90's romplers, including the ones on this list. The Market Value is around $100 for both of them; the U-220 is usually a bit more, but the demand is very low so neither are very expensive. They are similar to the Roland U-20 (Market ~$350), Roland D-70 (Market ~$600), and of course, each other. They are very janky, but fun rompler modules from Roland; Roland has released tons of rompler modules, and these are by far the least traditionally desirable. They have a very small number of sounds even considering they are romplers. They have the same card expansion slots as the D-110, and each card only has around 12 sounds on it. The modules take the SN-U110 series of expansion cards. The U-220 is the upgraded version of the U-110, but they're still so cheap that I just kept my U-110 to use them as a stack. Both in tandem can harness the power 6 cards at once.
I then showed off my very expansive collection of expansion cards. My U-110 expansion card collection consists of:
1x SN-U110-01, 1 with box
4x SN-U110-02, 1 with box
2x SN-U110-03, 1 with box
1x SN-U110-04 with box
2x SN-U110-05, 1 with box
2x SN-U110-06, 1 with box
2x SN-U110-07
1x SN-U110-08
1x SN-U110-10
1x SN-U110-11
1x SN-U110-12
1x SN-U110-13
1x SN-U110-14
1x SN-U110-15 with box
My D-110 expansion card collection consists of:
1x PN-D10-02
1x PN-D10-03
1x Roland LA Synthesis Best Choice Sound Library For D-10,20,110
1x Voice Crystal 1 D-20 128 Voice RAM For Roland D-10/20/110
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