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The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sound

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 7:25 am
by oliveoil22
This synth, or at least one from the lineup (VFX, VFX-SD, SD-1) is for sure what they used in a handful of Old Tunes tracks (199X to 1996?). A completely digital synth. Nothing pops out to me enough that I can say it has been used in any of the studio album tracks beyond EYDIAB.

Everything You Do Is A Balloon (Saw-O-Life preset, "-x" patch selection):
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Xander 2 (Saw-O-Life preset, "--" and "xx" patch selection):
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Mukinabaht (Saw-O-Life preset, "-x" patch selection:
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Mansel/Skimming Stones (Either Lush-Strngs or Swellstrngs presets):
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A14 (custom patch using the "Ocarina" wave sample):

https://soundcloud.com/user-173148214/a ... al_sharing

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 7:45 am
by TheStatPow
We did it!! Well ... you did it. You did it!!

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 10:55 am
by belchmaster
Holy smokes oliveoil... this is great. What a nice synth.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 12:21 pm
by Quadrivium
Great uploads! Thank you.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 12:54 pm
by mGardener
EYDIAB live remake when?

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 9:40 pm
by Cohesion
Very cool. 3:11 in this video sounds just like 5d.

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Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 11:16 pm
by rodox_head
Now this is the stuff I like to see :)

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2024 3:21 am
by ParticleGhost
Cool to hear the EYDIAB sound! It blew me away when i discovered the mansel patch while messing around with the VFX i had for a little while.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2024 10:19 am
by Sherbet Head
Love this. Thanks for sharing!

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2024 6:16 pm
by bungler666
Woah! Great find!!

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2024 8:08 pm
by dana
Everything You Do Is A Balloon synth is half-square, half-saw with a low-pass filter if you want to recreate it in modern synths

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2024 11:35 am
by niknak
I know nothing about synths or creating music, but this is very cool. Well done.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2025 6:59 pm
by dana
Just wondering if you found the skimming stones synth sound on this synth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xuqbm52fg

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2025 1:51 am
by oliveoil22
dana wrote:Just wondering if you found the skimming stones synth sound on this synth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xuqbm52fg


If you're talking about the lead, that one is probably an SH-101 being passed through flanger, delay etc.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2025 7:28 pm
by Wildfire
Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 5:51 am
by ParticleGhost
Wildfire wrote:Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.


Nah, the VFX wasnt released until 1989, a year after they supposedly bought the secret weapon for 100 quid on a bus. (sh-101? :D )

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2025 1:17 am
by oliveoil22
ParticleGhost wrote:
Wildfire wrote:Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.


Nah, the VFX wasnt released until 1989, a year after they supposedly bought the secret weapon for 100 quid on a bus. (sh-101? :D )


I think it is in fact the CZ-101. By that time I think it would have been at the value that it could've bought off of someone on a bus to be honest, lol. Will make a post about that synth down the line, I own it as well and it has the flute preset used in a lot of places:
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Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2025 2:23 pm
by NorthernPlastics
oliveoil22 wrote:
ParticleGhost wrote:
Wildfire wrote:Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.


Nah, the VFX wasnt released until 1989, a year after they supposedly bought the secret weapon for 100 quid on a bus. (sh-101? :D )


I think it is in fact the CZ-101. By that time I think it would have been at the value that it could've bought off of someone on a bus to be honest, lol. Will make a post about that synth down the line, I own it as well and it has the flute preset used in a lot of places:
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Chiming in to say that I've always had a suspicion that the Casio phase distortion synths are the true secret weapon. They confirmedly own a CZ-101, as it's been seen at live gigs being used as a controller. In my own findings, the CZ-101 produces some of the saddest sounds of all time...like a cheap broken toy that wants so desperately to be a real synth. Not to mention, the flute sounds it's capable of producing are legendary, and through a couple iterations of resampling, I've previously achieved some very Geogaddi-esque tones with ease.

Re: The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sou

PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2025 4:59 pm
by northernlite
Chiming in to say that I've always had a suspicion that the Casio phase distortion synths are the true secret weapon. They confirmedly own a CZ-101, as it's been seen at live gigs being used as a controller. In my own findings, the CZ-101 produces some of the saddest sounds of all time...like a cheap broken toy that wants so desperately to be a real synth. Not to mention, the flute sounds it's capable of producing are legendary, and through a couple iterations of resampling, I've previously achieved some very Geogaddi-esque tones with ease.


the CZ-5000 on the other hand...

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