Ensoniq TS 10

The Ensoniq TS-10 was a synthesizer / music workstation introduced by Ensoniq in 1993. It featured synthesis, user sample playback, sequencer, effects and performance facilities in a 61-key package. Another version, with 76 weighted keys, but otherwise identical features except polyphonic aftertouch, was offered as the TS-12.

The TS series sported 32-note polyphony, integrated 24-bit effects engine, (with 48 bit accumulation) a 30,000 note sequencer (expandable to over 100,000 via memory chips) which featured up to 24 tracks, full MIDI capabilities. The design was a direct evolution of Ensoniq's previous VFX and SD synthesizers. While the synthesis structure lacked a resonant filter, which limited the sample+synthesis possibilities, the TS could read ASR wavesamples directly. This feature allowed musicians to play sounds from a vast library of sample disks and CD-ROMs (via SCSI expansion option).

The TS-10 featured polyphonic aftertouch and a good keyboard feeling, which was much liked by pro musicians. In Ensoniq's tradition of ease of use, the front panel offered plenty of buttons for dedicated functions, and a large 40 x 92 vacuum fluorescent display, easier to read onstage than conventional LCD displays.

Synthesis structure. The TS offered up to 6 oscillators per patch or sound. Each oscillator was processed by its own pitch, filter and amplifier blocks, with dedicated LFOs and envelope generators for each block. The architecture allowed various modulation sources, such as keyboard velocity, modulation and pitch wheels, etc. to modify several instances of the sonic chain. Despite the well-specified architecture, the filter didn't feature any kind of resonance. This limited the possibilities of emulating analog and heavily-filtered sounds. However, this was a common omission from several manufacturers of the early 1990s. The total 32-note polyphony was reduced when using more than one waveform per patch. The user patches could be stored in one of 120 memories, or saved to floppy disk.

Hyperwave. It was an attempt to offer a kind of basic wavesequencing, it essentially was a series of user-defined waveforms, taken from the internal ROM or sample RAM area, and played in sequence with definable playback step times, pitch and other parameters. Clever use of this facility could produce complete rhythmic patterns. One big limitation was the wavesequencing timing, which was fixed at patch level and not tempo-dependent.

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