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Pro or Not to Pro - That is The Question To
Pro or Not to Pro - That Is the Question Eric
Montgomery Should
I get the new Red X? Maybe you already bought the
Black one and now you are concerned about whether
your original X is outdated? What is the difference
and why should I have one or the other? Why is the
ASR-X/X Pro better than the other groove boxes on
the market? My answers to these questions include
facts and suggestions so that you can make the best
choices. Let us proceed. Color
and Colour We
can begin the discussion of the ASR-X and X Pro
differences with color. The Pro is... well... It's
RED! It definitely stands out in a crowd. The Pro
has something called Stomper software built in to
the unit. This software allows you to "create" or
render your own electronic drum sounds (the sounds
are like those of the Roland TR-808 or TR-909 drum
machines). While the original X doesn't include the
Stomper feature, it will load Stomper sounds or any
other data created on the X Pro. If you can access
an ASR-X Pro, all that you have to do is create the
sounds or sequences you want, then save them to a
floppy disk. You can load Stomper sounds or any
other data created on the X-Pro in an original X.
The other option to getting Stomper sounds is to
use a computer and the Stomper software program.
Get on the Internet and download the Stomper
software program at the following URL: http://stomper.base.org/. Note:
The above URL is no longer active. You can now
download Stomper from the following
URL: By
the way, I should mention that this software was
designed for Windows. According to Master Zap's
website and other Mac users, it should work okay on
your Mac if you run Virtual PC or
Softwindows95. Sequencer The
ASR-X has 70,000 events in the sequencer memory. It
is capable of doing up to 16 tracks of recording.
Volume and panning can be recorded into a sequence
as well as any controller data can be recorded to
each track. Even though the X has none of its own
controllers, you can record those in from a
software sequencer and or other software/hardware
controller. You might want to do the recording of
controllers to do "rez filter" type stuff or to
modulate effects. The X-Pro has the same sequencer
as the original X except for two things, the
ability to expand its sequencer memory and setting
fractional tempo settings. Adding sequencer memory
is as simple as adding an 8 Meg SIMM or higher.
When an 8 Meg to 32 Meg SIMM has been added to the
ASR-X Pro, the sequencer memory goes from 70,000
events to 140,000 events. An
example of a fractional tempo is 120.50 BPM instead
of just a whole number like 120 BPM. "What's so
cool about that?" you might ask. Well, I'll tell
you. Let's say you have sampled a drum groove into
the ASR-X Pro. You will find that some sampled
loops don't quite fit in the sequence. Normally you
would have to time compress or expand the sample to
make it fit. (Time expansion/compression is called
Scale time in the ASR-X and ASR-X Pro). Now you
don't have to go through those extra steps - just
set your tempo in fractions as needed. Memory
(RAM) So
far as for memory (Ram) the X classic can go to 34
Megs of Ram (one 32meg SIMM + the 2meg of Ram
already on board). The ASR-X Pro will go up to 66
Meg of RAM (two 32meg SIMMs + the 2 Meg of ram that
comes stock). All
sample times just have to be doubled. For example,
the max sample time in the classic X is 6 minutes @
44.1K mono, 3 minutes @ 44.1K stereo. The X Pro's
sample time at the max memory is 12 minutes @ at
44.1K mono and 6 minutes @ 44.1K stereo. The stock
sample time is the same between the two machines,
20.5 seconds @ 44.1K mono, and 10.3 seconds @ 44.1K
stereo. NON-ASR-X
Sounds As
with both machines, they will convert load the EPS,
EPS-16+, ASR-10, Roland S-700 series and Akai
S-1000/1100 series libraries. The convert loading
works great on the ASR-X Pro and also works very
well on the classic ASR-X with OS 2.62. Software A
benefit for the ASR-X Pro is that the OS (Operating
System) is now a "Flash OS." What this means to us
nontechnical people is that now the OS upgrades do
not have to be on E-Proms and ROMs. The OS upgrades
will be on floppy disks. You will even be able to
download it from Ensoniq's website:
www.ensoniq.com. Technology is a beautiful thang.
No longer will you have to wait for those chips to
come in the mail. No longer will you have to pull
out a scribe and screwdriver to go through the user
installation process. Hardware Another
major difference is the Essentials set of buttons.
These buttons allow you to select 15 of your
"Favorite" (sound familiar?) sounds by the press of
a button. The Essentials buttons also allow you to
select sequences or song steps while you are in
Pattern mode or Song mode respectively. ASR-X
versus the MPC-2000 Well,
those are all of the differences between the ASR-X
and ASR-X Pro. Let's answer the
question, "Why
is the X better than the other groove boxes on the
market?" Specifically,
let's look at the difference between the X family
and the Akai MPC-2000 or Roland SP-808? My opinion
is that the Akai piece has a great sequencer. The
sequencer timing is good. The MPC falls short
beyond having a good sequencer. The MPC-2000 does
not have built-in sounds nor expansion board
technology. The effects are not as good as
Ensoniq's either (Ensoniq has a custom effects
chip). By the way, the effects are an extra option
on the MPC. Yes, they charge you extra for the
effects. So, overall, I would have to say that the
ASR-X is better simply because you get more than
just a sequencer and sampler. The X is a sampler,
16-track sequencer, synthesizer tone module and an
effects module. It is an all-purpose musical
tool. ASR-X
versus the SP-808 At
the NAMM show I heard the SP-808 and thought to
myself, "This is the coolest thing in the world."
NOT! I started to listen to what was really
happening in the performance and I found that it
was just a good selection of sampled drum loops and
musical loops. To me, the SP-808's downfall was the
amount of polyphony: 8 notes. To me, that says that
the Roland piece is not a true musical instrument.
It is only good for triggering a maximum of 8
sounds. The X has 32 notes of polyphony. Again,
real music created by real people is the idea. If
you want to use the X to trigger just a few loops,
then go ahead. You can still achieve the same
results as with the SP-808. If you grow beyond that
point, and you will, then the X can continue to
grow with you and accommodate you. That's
it! Now you know. Both the ASR-X and ASR-X Pro are
wonderful works of engineering art. They both allow
for the effortless creation of the music that we
hear on television, the radio, movies, commercials
and even the Internet and video games. All sorts of
people are using these masterful pieces. For
example, I even heard ASR-X sounds on Janet
Jackson's Velvet Rope CD and on some shows on a
cable television network called BET. You need one
if you want to be current; the X is a
must. You
can be very creative with the sounds, sampling and
resampling capabilities of the ASR-X or ASR-X Pro.
They both have 2 Meg of great internal sounds. The
internal sound palette is even greater (24 Meg
greater) when an EXP-3 has been added. Don't forget
that you can use the ASR/EPS, Roland S-700 and Akai
S-1000/1100 sound libraries. You still have to
remember that sounds for a sampler are endless,
simply because you can sample. Start sampling from
CD's like the one that came with the X's as well
you can purchase Ensoniq's CDX-2 and CDX-3 audio
sample CD's. Both X's have great effects and a
16-track sequencer. Use the info you just learned
to answer the questions at the beginning of this
article. I am sure you will be able to decide what
can work for you now. As
always, be cool, be funky, make music, think
Emu-Ensoniq! Bio:
Eric Montgomery has written demos for Ensoniq
products and Christian Music projects. Eric is now
working on his next CD and enjoying that thing
called life! |
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