BassLine - You hit it on the head son. I am tired of using all these machines midi'd up. Simplicity is essential. Every oppurtunity I get to make something easier for myself in respects to music, I take it. I've been a die hard SP user for damn near 4 years. I've been a S950 user for 5 years. And an MPC 60 user for 4 years. I bought an EP16 3 years ago, used it a few times, dug the sounds, but wasn't into the interface.. the keys kinda overwhelmed me. So I sold it, and got another SP-1200 and been on that since. Well, I caught another EPS last week, and decided, man, im'a test it out (for sales purposes), and see what it can do. So I got up with my man whos a long time ASR user (9 yrs), and had him step me through the sequencing (cause it's mad different then any other machines sequencer). Once I grasped the fundamentals (took me about 15 minutes) it was over with.
The EPS has SCSI (thought I prefer 3.5"), internal rom (so you can save sounds internally - ie. your favorite drum kits etc), memory expander (51 secs. at 22.6khz - what I sample at), optional 8 output expander, which gives you ten total outputs (stero + 8 mono), etc. So in respects to interfacing in function, it's loaded to the trim with sh*t. It's got built in filters that are used on the song Massive Attack (theres drums on that loop, but I filtered them out). Internal FX, Amp functions, (3) envelopes, all types of sh*t. This is a machine you can own for a few years and still not master every function. The sequencer is rock solid. I don't give a fu*k what anyone says. Ensoniqs sequencers are stupid nice. They hold grooves extremely well. And you can mimic all types of grooves. They are a bit "foward" sounding, but never mechanical when programmed right. As far as I can see, it's rock solid. No glitches etc. It's mad weird, I'll say that, in respects to how you use it, but once you get it, it's like the most intuitive sequencer you ever used. See the EPS is like, you play your drums freestyle without QUANT. first! So all your patterns are recorded intially freestyle (thiers no other way, it doesn't allow you to lock up a time correct then play..). Thats whats bug about it. So you play free hand, then, once you stop the sequence on a even bar measure (like the 4 click on the 4th bar lets say), It'll ask do you wish to keep this sequence? You can select yes or no, or hit play to preview what you've just done. If you stop after the 4th click, it will loop up what you just did perfectly for 4 bars, and repeat, if you went over, it will loop **** up cause it trys to play bar 5.. You can delete bar 5 after accepting it, or just redo it. So basically, the EPS exposes weak cats on sequencing. Cause you have to play shit real tight to begin with. Once you've played your little sequence, lets say it's just a little bit off. Like a few kicks are to spaced or whatever. You go to a command screen and select quanitize track. You can now quant. the whole track, or just individual notes! Mad ill. Anyhow, say i'm double timing, so, I lock it up at 1/8t (since i've double the time, it's like 1/16t), and hit enter. Now it processes the track to be lock up. I can then preview it before accepting. So say I accept and execute officially. Now, when I play the sequence back, it's like loose like my freestyle pattern except now it's just slightly more phase locked. So it's real swingy, but locked up nice too. And that my friend, is why this machine is the best sh*t I ever used. Straight up. Illest sequencer hands down. Kicks the MPC/SP sequencer to the curb all day. As far as chopping goes, I dont feel like explaining the process in-depth, but, basically all 61 keys can be a chop if memory will permit it! It's very simple to do, and quick because you use the data slider to edit.
Chill-
