The ASR-X is a Sampling Workstation with 14 velocity sensitive trigger pads, 20-bit A/D converters and 24-bit onboard effects. It is expandable to 34 Mb of Sample RAM, has 8 individual outputs and is expandable with an EXP synth board to add various synth sounds to the ASR-X.

Extended information

For their new ASR-X, Ensoniq went to the masters of sampling and asked them to list the top features they would like to see in the ultimate groove machine. They said: Make it easy to sample, resample, and loop, include a built-in synth, add some great effects, resonant filters, an easy to use sequencer and put it all into a portable box with pads. So the company did. They took the best features of the famous ASR-10, added 20-bit A/D converters, gave it 24-bit onboard effects and stuffed all this into one portable table-top box. It's extremely fast and fun: Just sample, shoot it to one of the 14 velocity sensitive pads, and start jamming.

With the best features of the famous ASR-10, plus great sounding 20-bit A/D converters, RAM expandable to 34 MB, contained in a portable table-top box. With the focus on fast and fun, you can just sample, shoot it to a pad, and start jamming. Never before has so much power been so easy to use!

Expansion options:
up 34 MB of RAM
EXP synth expansion board
8 outputs
SCSI interface
14 custom-designed velocity sensitive pads
New VLSI 24-bit digital signal processor with 24 MIPS of DSP power
Disk file compatibility (SMF and AIFF)

Technical specifications

"Interface 14 Velocity sensitive trigger pads

Exclusive Patch Select Buttons for access to 4 different variations within each Sound

Octave Transpose Buttons for quick changes

Internal Memory / Expansion 2 MB internal RAM (1 Megaword)

2 MB internal ROM (1 Megaword)

Expandable to 34 MB (17 Megaword) internal RAM with standard SIMMs

(x32 bitnon-parity, or x36-bit parity, 72-pin only)

70ns (nanoseconds) or faster

The SIMM is a 5-volt chip (3-volt SIMMS will not properly fit the ASR-X SIMM socket

1 expansion slot for any MR - EXP board

Sampling 20-bit Analog-to-Digital converter, 18-bit Digital-to-Analog converters, 16-bit Memory.

Stereo or Mono sampling or resampling (through the effects processor) of played notes, sequenced notes, or MIDI notes

44.1 kHz Sample rate

Maximum sample times: Standard Memory (2 MB): 20.5 sec @ 44.1 kHz mono, 10.3 sec @ 44.1 kHz stereo

Fully expanded (34 MB): 6 minutes @ 44.1 kHz mono, 3 minutes @ 44.1 kHz stereo

Dedicated stereo audio input preamp with hardware mic/line switch and input level trim control

Sound Processing commands include: Copy, Truncate, Reduce bits, Scale, Normalize
Compatible with all existing ASR-10 libraries in June
Imports Akai (S-1000/1100) and Roland sounds via SCSI

Playback Frequency response: 2 Hz - 20kHz +/- 1.5 dB @44.1 kHz

94 dB signal-to-noise, 96 dB dynamic range, 94 dB THD + noise (< .002%) at unit playback

Voice Architecture 32 dynamically assigned voices

Each individual Sound has a complete set of programmable parameters

Independent multi-mode dynamic digital filters (low pass, high pass, variable bandwidth band pass resonant low-pass, resonant band-pass)

Extensive assignable modulation implementation

Transwave loop modulation for constructing unique spectral interpolation waveforms

Effects Custom 24-bit digital signal processor with 48-bit accumulation

Programmable stereo multi-effects processing with real time modulation of effects parameters busses: Insert, Light Reverb, Medium Reverb, Wet Reverb, Dry

Sequencer 16 polyphonic tracks, each with its own Instrument, Mix, Pan, and FX Bus

Tracks can play internal voices and/or external MIDI instruments

Up to 128 Sequences

Sequence memory: 40,000 note

384 PPQ clock resolution, synchronized to Internal or MIDI clock

3 real time recording modes (Replace, Add, Looped) and Multi-track recording via MIDI

Quantization, copy, erase sequence edits available ( with Undo).

Auto-locate controls (Bar/Beat accuracy), adjustable click track and Tap Tempo control

Automated mixdown feature records mix/panning changes for each Track

MIDI 16 Track Multitimbral

MIDI Song Position Pointer

Disk 1.4 MB Quad-density (HD) 3.5"" micro-floppy

Inputs/Outputs Left/Mono and Right/Mono audio outputs

Optional 8 output expander (X-8) for a total of 10 outputs

Headphone jack

1 single/dual pedal inputs (SW-2,SW-6 or SW-10)

Stereo audio inputs

Audio input level trim control

MIDI In/Out/Thru

Optional Accessories Floppy disk and Audio CD sound libraries

EXP Series Wave Expansion boards

SCSI interface

SW-10 Dual Damper Pedal 2 pedal piano-type for sustain, sampling trigger, effect modulation, and sequencer control

SW-6 Single Damper Pedal

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