Sojusrecords Ensoniq SD1 VST emulation is amazing!

[chris-mm]

Finally, a synth dream comes true for me.
A bit perfect Ensoniq SD 1 VST plugin based on MAME emulation

Thank you Sojusrecords for your excellent work on this!

And I want to say:
Thank you TUS devs,
thank you Giulioz,
thank you MAME devs.

You are the legends of reverse engeneering and your passion made all these brilliant vintage emulations possible.
Thank you so much all together.

I know that Ensoniq had brilliant digital synths.
But this SD 1 plugin really sounds incredible.

It's open source. You can download from Sojusrecords website or from their github release page.
There's also very good documentation how to install and setup.

https://github.com/sojusrecords/Ensoniq ... -emulation
https://www.sojusrecords.com/news/enson ... ation-free

Have fun!

Edit: Links added

[Matt67]

The demo on YouTube sounds really good. Unfortunately, it has two drawbacks:

“Only one instance can run at a time per DAW due to engine limitations.”

But what’s worse for me is the fact that it’s an emulator that requires the Ensoniq ROMs. Since I don’t own an SD, this makes it useless for me. Too bad.

[VariKusBrainZ]

The horror

[chris-mm]

Yes, all the HW emulations need the original firmware files to run.

But I think the Ensoniq firmware stuff is totally orphaned.
Creative labs (the last owner of EMU Systems and Ensoniq) let them die.
This is a real shame!

Imagine what they could do with that IP if they only want to do.
They could offer a renewed EMU X3 VST for example.

Official Ensoniq or EMU plugins from Creative labs would be an instant buy for lots of fans.
But theres absolutely nothing from them. They dont care about us.

So at least theres no financial harm for anybody when downloading and using the ensoniq firmware files with this emulation.

For me personally orphaned firmware is an acceptable grey zone for private use.

Have fun

[chris-mm]

I forgot to mention:
Sojus records is trying to optimise the engine to overcome the "only one instance" limitation (this info is from their github).

And... TUS has also a SD1 emulation in development.
Can't wait to compare them.
It's such an rich sounding and inspiring instrument.

[Vortifex]

Could you take the time to link to the thing you made the thread about, would save people having to google it

[chris-mm]

I hope I'm allowed to post the links.

https://github.com/sojusrecords/Ensoniq ... -emulation

https://www.sojusrecords.com/news/enson ... ation-free

[bk]

I'm getting around 45mS of latency using this in Fender Studio Pro 8. Is it working any faster for anyone?
It's not entirely unusable, but it is a bit off-putting.
Sounds great, though!

edit: There's a buffer in the plugin settings that can be changed. I got it down to 29mS. They claim latency of the hardware was 24mS.

[chris-mm]

Yes, the delay is noticable. And CPU spiking is a bit problematic also.

But I'm overall very happy to have the possibility to play this exciting instrument.

The Ensoniq sound is so warm, deep and powerful, but it also have wonderfull FM like bells and tines. The Pads and strings are huge also.
It's a bit like having a SY, a Proteus and a JV layered in a single instrument.
I'm really shocked, that the Ensoniq VFX/SD series sounded that good in the early 90ies.

And I've allways bought Yamaha and Roland romplers in "the good old rompler times", maybe that was a mistake.

[sjm]

I hope I'm allowed to post the links.

https://github.com/sojusrecords/Ensoniq ... -emulation

https://www.sojusrecords.com/news/enson ... ation-free

I'd suggest updating the first post with the links too.

[chris-mm]

O.K. I've added the links to the first post now.

Sorry for the inconvinience, I'm a long term reader here, but I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to post in forums.
(I'm introvert, my english is bad and I'm to lazy to write)

But in this case i've thought there's not enough love for this wonderful plugin. So i wanted to bring it up here.

Have fun

[satYatunes]

Amazing synth. I made a video of my favorite presets and how to load sysex files.

[banal65]

Hi, in Reaper and Cubase 14 (Win) I am trying to attach my master midi controller to certain controls in the plugin. The controls show up in the learning procedure but they do not respond to any action from my midi-controller. Does anybody know a workaround for this issue? Thats usually my way to go for plugins that don´t have midi-learn and I never had issues with other plugins before.

[seangm]

It sounds good but the CPU usage is killing my machine. It's worse than Omnisphere. But yeah sounds good.

[Chicken Drummy]

Yep it's a great emulation, I just don't love it enough to deal with its heavy CPU hit. Hopefully they can improve it in the future but for now I've given it the axe.