ASR - 10

Sense-A wrote:Some guy on facebook had a video he had like 10 samplers but his beats were straight up trash. pFucck him.

Welcome to 2021. Every washed up 50 year old man reliving his run dmc glory days cashes in his stimulus checks for 3 samplers and thinks he's Dr. Dre. A bunch of Peter Pans.

Nonsense. In 2021, for every old head buying a piece of vintage hardware and reliving the glory days, there are 50 young heads buying a cheap DAW or piece of plastic equipment and pumping out absolute garbage thinking they’re the next kid to get 5 million streams on SoundCloud.

It’s always been about the producer, not the equipment. It has nothing to do with age.

Ajax wrote:It’s always been about the producer, not the equipment. It has nothing to do with age.

That's why many people still use the ASR-10 now, because it does what they need it to do. Find what works for you and keep using it over and over and over again. However you use it, I hope it helps you create.

Totally. And that’s all I’m hoping for... Either way, it’s going to be fun getting to know it and incorporate it.

I seem to recall El-P using an ASR-10 in his rhythm roulette video... it was old and the sequencer was busted, but he was still using it for its sampling and FX (over the DAW he mixed down in and whatever other equipment he has). Pretty cool to see in this day and age.

That wasn't a good look for EL-P.

I have had an ASR-10 for 20+ years. I have SCSI2SD. It's maxed. I still reach for the MPC 1000. I just get way more done on an MPC 1000.

If I need to heat the house, I turn on the ASR-10. It puts out heat. LITERALLY.

I live in the South. It's over 90 degrees outside for over half the year. I can't even turn the ASR-10 during the summer. I need a walk in refrigerator to produce on that thing in July.

I have space heaters. The ASR-10 puts out more heat than a radiator finned space heater on the low setting. Some people have joked that they could fry an egg on it. That's not even hyperbole. I think I might shoot a video demonstrating that, yes, you can fry an egg on an ASR-10 once it's warmed up.

Save early and often, because you'll never know when its going to crashes from a heat stroke. Put it on an open leg stand, clip a fan underneath. Heat, speed, and repair is one reason I stay away from old gear. Especially old synths that need to warm up and still go out of tune.

Sense-A wrote:That wasn't a good look for EL-P.

I have had an ASR-10 for 20+ years. I have SCSI2SD. It's maxed. I still reach for the MPC 1000. I just get way more done on an MPC 1000.

If I need to heat the house, I turn on the ASR-10. It puts out heat. LITERALLY.

I live in the South. It's over 90 degrees outside for over half the year. I can't even turn the ASR-10 during the summer. I need a walk in refrigerator to produce on that thing in July.

I have space heaters. The ASR-10 puts out more heat than a radiator finned space heater on the low setting. Some people have joked that they could fry an egg on it. That's not even hyperbole. I think I might shoot a video demonstrating that, yes, you can fry an egg on an ASR-10 once it's warmed up.

I don’t know. I thought it was kinda fresh to see him chain smoking and pounding beer while using his clunky old beast. Pretty much exactly how I pictured his production process. He’s a funny guy and it was a pretty funny episode of Rhythm Roulette, IMO.

There is zero way I stop using my X as the centerpiece sequencer, so I get you always reaching for your MPC over the ASR. I know mine too well and it has way too many capabilities. But, I’m sure the ASR will find a place somewhere, even if it’s used few and far between.

Ajax wrote:Just wondering if anyone here uses an ASR - 10 in conjunction with their MPC (especially the newer MPCs that supposedly have a thinner sound than the OG MPCs).

If so, do you see any benefit of sampling (or do you currently sample) through the ASR into the MPC to take advantage of what would presumably be the warmer sound of the ASR? And then do your actual sequencing in the MPC?

I use a an asr10 paired with a Roland mv8000. it's a perfect combo.
here's how I work...I sample drums from my records into the asr10 and also load up sampled drum kits on my asr10. I apply high/low pass filter, and I apply reverb (usually 44k reverb, variation 2 "short reverb" set at 15%). I then sample those drum sounds into my mv8000 in stereo. (they go through an Allen and heath x-one dj mixer, as a pre-amp). drums are now in the mv with reverb and are sequenced on the mv.

for bass, chords and melodies I use samples on the mv that are sequenced via midi from the mv. I apply dynamic effects like phaser, chorus, rotary panning etc. and lfo and envelopes to filters. that means these sounds are constantly changing. to capture these changes, I record bass/chords/melodies as 4/8/16/32 bars audio tracks into the mv. this way I capture the changing sounds of the effects and filters. if I just resampled the one single bass note/ melody note then I wouldn't get all the dynamics of the of the mv sample.

the asr10 is a very beautiful sounding machine. borrow synths drum machines, instruments from friends, rent them, buy synths with money back returns, and sample them into the asr. worship that machine like the god it is and it will perform miracles.

you're probably already on this but...see YouTube channels by daydream sound (advanced sampling on ensoniqs), snare Jordan (lots of videos of Jake one showing you the beats he makes on the asr), albatross studios (asr tutorials) and Robin Bausewein (advanced synthesis on ensoniq samplers).

terry towelling wrote:worship that machine like the god it is and it will perform miracles.

You almost make me kind of want to buy one.

Ensoniq gear was cool. I've used the EPS, ASR 10, ASR 88 and ASR-X. However once I really got into the Akai Line of samplers it was a wrap for me. Akai was really that much better.

For me the speed and stability of the Akai MPC's with a combination of the rack mount sampler were great. It was just easier for me to navigate. All Ensoniq gear always required paging and it just felt slow. Once I saw this combinations I was done with keyboard workstations.

MPC 3000 + MIDI KEYBOARD + Triton Rack + Roland JV-1080.

That is definitely a strong combo!

I’m really glad I decided to make this thread.

CharlesRandolph wrote:Save early and often, because you'll never know when its going to crashes from a heat stroke.

I will agree with the first part of your quote, but I have to disagree with second part pertaining to the ASR10. The buggy OS has a lot to do with the scenario of crashing. I will admit that the board does generate heat from the slightly heavy transformer it houses, but it can do some strange things way before a heat scenario takes place.