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(Old item 2019) ESQ1 SysEx disaster

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Brian
Posts: 3
Active Member
Topic starter
 

I recently went to connect an Ensoniq ESQ1 to a MacBook for the purpose of getting a SysEx connection established. I was intending to do some bulk dumps, bulk loads, etc. I was using the SysEx Librarian by Snoize, and from what I have read, it is a very well-established app. What happened instead was that the ESQ1 went berserk and lost its OS stability. It would not power up except to display garbage. I read the ESQ1 manuals, checked with Ensoniq user groups, and still have no idea how a data stream intended for data storage areas (i.e., the program and patch banks) could so severely corrupt the OS. I tried all manner of resets according to the technical manuals, to no avail. I had to take it to a shop to have it re-stabilized. My question is this: how could this happen, and how can a similar action be made to go correctly? The MacBook Pro that I used is not that new, so I don't think that it was "too high powered". Of course, since the ESQ1 was made in the 1980s, I suppose that it might be necessary to insert some sort of timing delays into the SysEx request initiative. I checked about details for that possibility, and all I have found so far is a list of really inexact numbers. In other words, "try some experimenting until it works". If I take that approach, I will likely recreate the same disaster that happened before and I would have to take it back to the shop, telling the tech that I made the same mistake again, and paying another service bill. Obviously, this is not a good idea.

Anyone with good ideas about how to resolve this, I would like to read about them. Thank you for your attention.

 
Posted : 07/08/2019 7:53 am
Kevin
Posts: 14
Active Member
 

This sort of thing can happen if the SysEx Messages that Snoize is using doesn't align itself with the SysEx Messages of the Ensoniq. Wild effects and changes can occur and you can corrupt things in the Ensoniq. You have to learn what the Sysex message is that the Ensoniq uses and then make sure Snoize or whatever application is sending that same message.

If the Ensoniq uses its own kind of NRPN you have to make sure you learn what structure it follows and access it in the same way. This is about as much as I know myself.

This is a good site to start understanding Sysex:
https://www.2writers.com/eddie/TutSysEx.htm

 
Posted : 07/08/2019 10:48 am
Brian
Posts: 3
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Hello, Kevin. Thank you for taking the time to post.

 
Posted : 07/08/2019 11:01 am
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