First post, by dionb
- Rank
- l33t++
Ensoniq cards are famous for their good quality. Unfortunately the best of the lot (S-2000 and particularly Elite) are also getting famous for astronomical prices, so the cheaper alternatives (OEM S-2000-ish cards, Opus and VIVO90) might be more attractive. But then things get complicated. It looks like very few Ensoniq cards share the same sample ROMs. I spotted an OEM S-2000-like card for an attractive price on eBay, then started digging and managed to get quite confused.
There was an earlier thread on this topic Re: Comparison of Soundscape revisions with 1 MB and 2 MB - but all its relevant links are dead an it doesn't go into the difference between the 1MB/2MB ROMs. There are also a few Youtube films with an "Ensoniq DB" in them, without specifying if it's the Rev A (2MB) or Rev B (1MB)
So, this is what I found so far:
Original Soundscape S-2000:
P/N: 4001022851 (rev B)
ROM: 1350901601
Size: 2MB
Subjective quote: "Great"
Sample: (Doom E1M1) http://www.tenorman.info/assets/pc/s2000/doom_e1m1.mp3
Soundscape Elite:
P/N: 4001027201 (Rev B)
ROM: 1351000601 2M
Size: 2MB
Subjective quote: "Different, not necessarily better. Percussion more prominent"
Sample: (Doom E1M1) https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Ensoniq (nasty embedded flash player)
OEM Soundscape #1:
P/N: 4021025099
ROM 1351000501 1M
Size: 1MB
OEM Soundscape #2:
P/N: 4001025001 (Rev B)
ROM: 1351000701 1MG (not 100% sure, potatocam pic)
Size: 1MB (assumedly)
Soundscape Odie:
P/N: 4001032101 (Rev A)
ROM: 135100801 WP
Size: 1MB
Soundscape Opus:
P/N: 4001030001 (Rev A)
ROM: 1351000801 WP
Size: 1MB
Sample (Doom E1M1) http://tenorman.info/assets/pc/ssopus/doom_e1 … 1_ssopus_gm.mp3
]Soundscape VIVO90:
P/N: 4001024701 (Rev B)
ROM: 1351000801 WP
Size: 1MB
And then you've also got the Wavetable boards:
Ensoniq Soundscape DB Rev A:
P/N: 4001024401 (Rev A)
ROM: 1351000301 2M
Size: 2MB
Ensoniq Soundscape DB rev B:
P/N: 4001024401 (Rev B)
ROM: 1351000701 1M2
Size: 1MB
So, that gives us these ROMs:
ROM: 1350901601 (original 2MB)
ROM: 1351000601 2M (Elite 2MB)
ROM: 1351000301 2M (DB rev A 2MB)
- 3 different 2MB ROMs
ROM 1351000501 1M (OEM 1MB)
ROM: 1351000701 1M2 (OEM and DB rev B 1MB)
ROM: 1351000801 WP (all the later PnP Odie, Opus and Vivo90 cards)
- 3 different 1MB ROMs
Now, a lot has been written about the 2MB sample ROMs, and it's generally very positive. My guess is that the 2MB ROM on the DB is basically the instruments on the Elite, with pre-computed echo&reverb added.
It's also clear the 1351000801 on the later cards is less highly regarded, and certainly, if I compare the sample from S-2000 vs Opus the difference is striking and not in a good way. But what about the other 1MB ROMs? I'm particularly interested in the 1351000701 1M2 from the DB rev B and some OEM boards.