Ensoniq ESQ-1

[Laura]

I have an old Ensoniq ESQ-1 that I found in my attic. (a relative worked in a music store.) When I first plugged it in, it was great!! We had to open it up & put a new battery in. It sat around for awhile and when I powered it up, only a few of the presets worked. Now it doesn't do anything at all.

I wonder if it blew a circuit or something, and if it is worth trying to fix. If not, I wonder if anyone would want it for parts. If so, I wonder if it is worth anything to anyone as a "collector's item."

I just hate putting large electronic things in the landfill. Last month I took about 5 old computers to the 'computer recycling' event.

 

[RotorOnTop]

If the keyboard was stored in an attic it could of gotten all sorts of stuff in there including bugs, did you have it cleaned before powering up? This happened with an ol' Fender Bassman amp head I have that I stored in a dry shed, it had spiders/webs in it, when I turned it on it smoked. It was my fault for not checking.

I play an older Ensoniq but unfortunately have no use for ESQ parts. It could be worth a fix, since good keyboards are so high priced.

 

[Laura]

I play an older Ensoniq but unfortunately have no use for ESQ parts. It could be worth a fix, since good keyboards are so high priced.

Well I did buy a new keyboard which has way more voices than that old thing, however I believe it does have some interesting envelope-editing capacities, like LFO which mine doesn't have.

It would be great to be able to use those. Do people connect two keyboards and use one to control the other one?

 

[RotorOnTop]

midi in-thru-out.

 

[Laura]

midi in-thru-out.

However I get a feeling that if the Ensoniq won't power up, I can't connect it to my new keybd & use the features. Right?

Suppose it powers up but doesn't do anything?