Ensoniq VFX Question

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To anybody who owns an Ensoniq VFX does your keyboard have horrible key clack when the keys hit the bottom of their travel ? I really like the feel of the VFX's keyboard and of course the Poly AT is cool but it's so damn noisy I can't use it. I wonder if there is a cushion strip under the keybed that's worn out and could be replaced or if these keyboards are just noisy from the factory.....don't really want to open up the case. Thanks for any answers. :)
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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yes, mine is the same way and i think thats just how they were made. i though about opening mine up and putting some felt on the little round key cushions but that would be alot of work. sooooo it sits to my right hand side in my music lab controlled by my KORG 2T!
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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Mine was the same way when I owned one.

ew
A spectral heretic...

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Thanks guys, I was afraid of that. I was hoping there was a fix but it's just the way there were built. Too bad as I really like the feel and action and not too many keyboards have PolyAT......... :(
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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yes it is too bad. poly AT is great on it and i really like the sensitivity of the aftertouch compared to my korg and yamaha. if it didn't clack and it was 76 key, i would use it as master.

true story: i used to share an apartment with my sister and at night when
i would be recording with phones, she would hear me on the VFX through the wall. she swore i was
bouncing a basketball. hahHHAH
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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That's hilarious. :lol: Now that's loud. :o Wonder why no one complained to Ensoniq at the time. Is the SD version any better ?
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Teksonik wrote: Is the SD version any better ?
good question. the VFX-SD might be the same, i'm wondeting about the SD-1.

i occasionally search ebay for a good used SD-1 :love:
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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layzer wrote:
true story: i used to share an apartment with my sister and at night when
i would be recording with phones, she would hear me on the VFX through the wall. she swore i was
bouncing a basketball. hahHHAH
The same thing happened to me with a neighbour....although the keyboard was a Roland XP80 with a much softer key-bed sound. He could hear all the key strokes and it would drive him mad (which I understand).
http://www.electric-himalaya.com
VSTi and hardware synth sound design
3D/5D sound design since 2012

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layzer wrote:
Teksonik wrote: Is the SD version any better ?
good question. the VFX-SD might be the same, i'm wondeting about the SD-1.

i occasionally search ebay for a good used SD-1 :love:
VFX-SD's the same- my VFX was a SD. I haven't played a SD-1 for a long time, so I'm not sure there.

re
A spectral heretic...

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My ESQ-1 doesn't suffer from this problem but the feel/action is horrible by today's standards and of course no AT let alone PolyAT.......
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Gotta try SQ-80 then, it might have been better?

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I like the feel of my esq-1 better than the typical modern unweighted keyboard feel, though the contacts deserve a cleaning one of these days. Feel is so subjective. For instance the most-favored classical organ keyboard feel is brutally stiff, and folks with the chops to play bach on such keyboards like it thataway, the stiffness also ensuring very fast key return for very fast athletic playing.

For awhile had a korg kronos 61 that for my taste would have taken some getting used-to. Too stiff for a 61 but too light for piano playing, and action a little too deep as best I recall. The roland fa-06 is much lighter and shallower. It doesn't feel as smooth or substantial compared to such old keys as ESQ-1, but seems durable so far and is comfortable to play, but too light and sensitive for comfortable piano playing.

I think my EPS had the same mechanism as the vfx. It was clacky and somewhat odd feeling, but it was easy enough to get used to, light enough for strings, synth or organ, but a velocity response not entirely unfriendly to piano playing.

The mechanism was ingenious and it is baffling that no modern poly pressure manufacturer has borrowed the design, which is surely off-patent by now. I think the clackiness could have been fixed without sacrificing the good design features.

It didn't have any switches. There was a small inductor for each key, affixed to a circuit board under the keyboard where keyswitches are often located. A small steel plate glued to the underside of each key. As the plate moved closer to the inductor, it would change the inductance which would be measured by the scanning electronics.

Therefore, velocity, pressure, and trigger location was entirely modifiable under software control, and there was nothing to wear out, no keyswitches to get dirty or break, no strain gage pressure sensors to go bad or change calibration. The keyboard's useful lifetime mechanically bounded only by the ruggedness of the key bearings. Given tough enough key bearings it ought to last practically forever requiring zero maintenance.

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JCJR wrote:The mechanism was ingenious and it is baffling that no modern poly pressure manufacturer has borrowed the design, which is surely off-patent by now. I think the clackiness could have been fixed without sacrificing the good design features.

It didn't have any switches. There was a small inductor for each key, affixed to a circuit board under the keyboard where keyswitches are often located. A small steel plate glued to the underside of each key. As the plate moved closer to the inductor, it would change the inductance which would be measured by the scanning electronics.

Therefore, velocity, pressure, and trigger location was entirely modifiable under software control, and there was nothing to wear out, no keyswitches to get dirty or break, no strain gage pressure sensors to go bad or change calibration. The keyboard's useful lifetime mechanically bounded only by the ruggedness of the key bearings. Given tough enough key bearings it ought to last practically forever requiring zero maintenance.
Yep. That baffles me, too.

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