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The ASR-10 stands for the Advanced Sampling Recorder
- a completely digital music production studio. It's a 16-bit sampler
that came in both keyboard and rack-mount versions. It shipped with 2 MB
of sample memory which could be expanded to 16 MB for a few minutes of
stereo cd-quality sampling time. It lets you choose from sample rates of
30 to 44.1 kHz and has all the professional sample editing functions you
would expect to find from a pro sampler including autolooping, volume
smoothing, normalize, crossfading, and time comp/exp. Even resampling
through its effects, EQ, etc. is possible! |
What's special about the ASR-10 is that
it is a sampler using the synthesizer architecture of Ensoniq's classic
line of synths from the
SD-1 to the
ESQ-1.
Your samples are stored as part of its WaveSample memory. The ASR-10 can
hold 127 WaveSamples, which can also consist of its two multimode
digital filters, the LFO, one random noise generator, three envelope
generators (hard-wired to the pitch, filter cutoff, and amplitude), and
a modulation matrix with 15 routable modulation sources. Up to eight
layers of WaveSamples can be combined to create your final sound. In
this light, the ASR-10 basically looks like an advanced TranseWave
(waveform modulation) synthesizer in which YOU create its WaveSamples!
The ASR-10 integrates a digital effects processor and MIDI sequencer
on-board for a complete workstation. There are up to 62 effects
(including vocoding) based on Ensoniq's DP/4 effects processor. A whole
range of reverbs, chorus, flange, phaser, distortion, digital delay,
speaker effects, etc. are available.
The ASR-10's sequencer has 16-tracks and with its 31 voices of
polyphony you can create some pretty complete musical performances.
The sequencer (reminiscent of the
SD-1 and
VFX-SD
workstations) provides real time and looped recording modes, 96 PPQ
clock resolution, an auto-locate function, punch in/out, and other
useful features. And the ASR-10 can sample while the sequencer is
playing. It can store up to 80 sequences or patterns which can be
chained into a song (only one song can be in memory).
The ASR-10 also has a "Tape Recorder" mode in which you can record
two tracks of audio for use along with the sequencer for an advanced
all-in-one music making machine! Recording can be to its RAM or to
external SCSI hard drives via the SP-3 SCSI interface (optional on
keyboard version) for extended sampling/recording time and memory. It
can support up to seven simultaneous hard disks and/or CD-ROM drives.
You can even process external audio through the ASR, live or along with
sequences.
As mentioned, the ASR-10 comes in a 61-note keyboard version and a
rack-mount. But there's more. Over the years Ensoniq has continued to
upgrade it adding an AES/EBU digital I/O upgrade, digital audio
recording and importing of new sound formats, and more. The ASR-88
version is an ASR-10 with a fully-weighted 88-note keyboard and the SCSI
interface comes standard. The ASR-10 is compatible with Akai (S-1000/1100)
and Roland CD-ROM sound librarys. A high-density (HD) 3.5" disk drive
comes standard on all models. The ASR-10 has been used by Atomic
Babies, Autechre, Rammstein, Jimmy Edgar, Black Lung, Rabbit in the
Moon, Timbaland, Pharell Williams (Neptunes), The Alchemist, Kanye West.
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