#Ensoniq #ESQ80 simulated by this very old plugin, #SQ8L… combined with a little arpeggiator… and the original ESQ-80 preset “MTLBEL”, welcome to digital chimes madness!

Like #Dexed for the #Yahama #DX7, #SQ8L claims to be #SysEx compatible with the corresponding hardware #synthesizer, the #Ensoniq #ESQ80 or #ESQ1. So this means you can load patches from your 80ties hardware synthesizer into the plugin and vice versa.

Sad story is that #UbuntuStudio 24.04 has lost Dexed for some reason, it comes with #Hexter instead which – on my system – completely fails to show the GUI, so it's even worse than SQ-8L. (I'd love to get Dexed back, even though it looked very confusing, I loved the sound.)

These two are related, because the famous DX7 and the ESQ1/80 were new around the same time, both being very digital (the ESQ1 having analog filters, though). The ESQ1 never made it to the same fame as the DX7 did but both sound like the 80ties.

Jump for joy!

#SQ8L, an #VST #plugin emulator of the #Ensoniq #ESQ80 #Synthesizer running on #UbuntuStudio #Linux 24.04 via #LinVST in #Carla plugin host. Needs #Wine.

All I had to do is wait. The plugin locks up Carla (and probably even Jack) for about half a minute.

So most likely it is trying to do something that ends in a time-out. When opening the GUI a second time, it pops up instantly.

Any idea on how to find out what this old #VSTi from 2008 is waiting for?

Btw., nerds:

$> file SQ8L.dll
SQ8L.dll: PE32 executable (DLL) (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows, 7 sections

Feels a bit like Christmas.

The ESQ-80 basically was an extended/upgraded version of the #ESQ1, with the most obvious feature being a diskette drive in addition to the memory cartridge slot. But also, Ensoniq had changed the dumb old home-organ-style keyboard by one with responsive action and polyphonic aftertouch.