Bad Gear - Ensoniq Fizmo
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Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools. Today we are going to talk about the Ensoniq Fizmo. Is this one-of-a-kind digital transwave synth and unicorn of the kingdom of controversial gear actually worth the money it goes for on the used market. Why did it fail in the first place?
Interview with Scott Peer:
tapeop.com/articles/bonus/fiz...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
01:21 Overview Ensoniq Fizmo
01:44 Origin Story of the Fizmo
03:01 Transwaves, waveform modulation
03:45 Filter, envelopes, LFO, Noise, modulators
04:10 Layers/Sounds, Presets, Multitimbrality
04:33 FX section
04:48 F-I-Z-M-O realtime controls
05:25 Arpeggiator
05:30 Patches, sound examples
06:06 Hidden parameters, software control
06:24 What else??? (voltage regulator, pricing)
06:58 Hate
07:22 Jam 1
08:13 Jam 2
09:13 Finale
09:44 Verdict
10:52 Patreon Vocoder Shoutout - เพลง
Audiopilz: *slaps roof of YT channel*
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz
If you put an album up on Bandcamp with your jams I'd gladly put some money down to buy it.
That ending demo definitely slaps!
I bought one of these on pre-order back in the day. Dropped the whole pile on it the day pre-orders opened up.
Sadly, some thieves had the idea that it should belong to them. Was an amazing synth.
I love the fact that Creative Labs managed to fuck up two great synth makers - Ensoniq and EMU. Well done guys!
Hey, at least we got sound cards;)
@@AudioPilz don't forget double pc/midi keyboard too!
@@micindir4213 I have the usb version, The wheel I think were pitch blend for good effect, but is is a octave switch.
@@AudioPilz Ensoniq and E-Mu both made cool sound cards that withered away and were forgotten after the Creative acquisitions. :(
@@AudioPilz Using Yamaha's FM chips ;)
Ensoniq was such a cool company, started by the developers of the SID chip on the Commodore 64. It was hard to see them fall so hard after their early classics. Same with E-mu. Creative was where cool companies went to die.
It's so sad!
Same with Gibson... what ever they touched turned to 💀💩
Kind of like Fender when it comes to guitar and amp companies. Buy them and kill them.
@@RCAvhstape too bad fender isn’t anywhere near as bad as Gibson.
Fender = Roland of guitars
Survive purely off success of like 4 popular models that blew up over 30 years ago. Check, shitty solid state amps that harken back to the good ol days check. Shit at one point they both specialized in 2 speaker combo amplifiers known for a built in effect.
This is really interesting......it's synths history as it is written. But listen to this dream machine. Even presets are hyper expressive.
My theory: this keyboard was purposefully designed to be made for the 2020 nostalgic Internet =D
I think you're onto something;)
But how?!?! How did they KNOW??!?!?!?!
If I find one of these at a yard sale and I put it up on Reverb, and it sells, I can probably buy an Arturia matrixbrute and a Moog One, right?
@@mrz80 =D =D =D
It was ahead of it's time for sure... either visionary or proof that time travel is real.
I was so lucky to grab my Fizmo back in the very early 2000s, when the cringe factor of the colour scheme, tiny display and rumors of hardware unreliability still kept the price down. A very poor choice for a first synth for a beginner but considering where I live any synth at all was a rarity back then and I was desperate to get my hands on a "real" synth. Never regretted my purchase and it is a very prized member of my synth menagerie.
That turned out to be quite a good investment;)
Hold on to it, it's like a Faberge egg I tell thee.
I *LOVE* the color scheme and always have. Given the time in which it was made, the fact that it used bright colors (which I have always liked for just about anything) is pretty remarkable.
Yesterday's "cringe" is today's "cool!"
I passed one up in like 2004 for $400, big mistake. I regretted it a month later but never found an affordable one again!
That gradient splatter paint job puts the Fizmo firmly above any Moog, Prophet, or Roland.
It's peak synth. It's untouchable.
Word!
Yes!!
I've always enjoyed Ensoniq's designs the most I think. It's such a pure expression of that "high class 80's" design aesthetic. The logo on the EPS 16 has that weird art deco revival thing that Sonic The Hedgehog games had going on too, I love it.
@@jabelsjabels the ASR-X had a striking 80s logo too
That paint job is a time machine. I feel like those types of patterns were on everything in the 90s. However, I was really little, so my memory probably isn't awesome. I do love aesthetic of Ensoniq synths.
Screams to me, product that came out at the completely wrong time. 10 years earlier, it would have been a classic among the early digital wavetable synths. If it was released in the ‘10’s, it would have been a hit with the vaporwave crowd (and not just for the color scheme). Instead it hit in the middle of VA mania and 80’s nostalgia hadn’t hit yet.
There's some truth to that!!!
Timing is everything.
Couldn't be happier you got an Ensoniq on the show. I've only owned an EPS, but the machine was so WEIRD. I'm still sad I sold it as it's to this day the only instrument I've ever had that kind of did it's own thing... Almost like it would suggest a better sound or workflow than what I was trying to do. I've owned an MPC, Electribe 2s, and now a Digitakt and none have been able to compare to the weird easter eggs the Ensoniq had. It's clear the Fizmo also goes above and beyond on the weird... We need more designers and engineers willing to make something like this, and less companies that cut them off before they can finish these masterpieces ;)
That was actually the first Ensoniq instrument I used;)
I used to work at Ensoniq in Tech Support. I admit that I was confused by Fizmo's sound and its looks. And yet, that may have been part of its appeal. It is a "out of left field" piece that people are still trying to understand. While not being much a fan, I did make a long lost set of synth pads, basses and leads sound pack that Ensoniq offered. Having read some of the comments, I agree that Fizmo was simultaneously born 20 years too late and too early. I also think that the synth would have benefitted from a less provocative sound set. Had we offered the factory sounds and some Nord Lead-ish "meat and potatoes" synth sounds, I think Fizmo would have done well. I would also add that I approached some individuals from Ensoniq to resurrect some of the synths in software. Got a nibble, but no bites. I only feel slightly vindicated in that others have found the value in our synths and done just that. Thanks Arturia for the SQ-80 and UVI for DZmo. I like this guys vieos and I appreciate the Fizmo video.
Thank you so much!!!
You just can't sell digital synth for a price of Moog unless it's a Roland FA or something. There's nothing wrong with the synth itself. Actually is pretty good and still sounds unique.
Can you help fix my EPS scsi to mother board?
Thanks for including mention of Fauxmo! Though I really thought you of all people would have gone nuts with its randomization features to get even more whacked out sounds from the Fizmo... 🙂
One other point that you touched on briefly - the effects in this unit ARE incredible - essentially the same ones as in the Ensoniq DP4 series. And you're right - the lack of control from the front panel sucks big time. But again - Fauxmo to the rescue! You can fully edit all of the effects there, and honestly the effects PLUS the transwaves are what make the synth what it is....
Thank *you* for developing Fauxmo!
@@edouardmusic My pleasure!!
Hey Dan, great to have you around!!!
@@AudioPilz Wouldn’t have dared to miss this one! Great job and a very accurate and fair assessment. 👍
I want to have a Dawless jam set up! 💪
🤔 wait a minute, I need a third party computer program to get my hardware to work right. 🥺 oh the irony.
Ah computers, the necessary evil. 😔
Could be a meme with the Hells Choppers guys
I had one for about 10yrs and found it was best used for Christmas sounds
Great use case!!!
FINALLY featured an Ensoniq Unit! Bravo! ... and what a way to start - one of their rarest specimens.
Yeah, that was quite a challenge. Thanks!
@@AudioPilz I had literally never heard of or seen a picture of this one. A true unicorn. Well done you.
most ensoniq gear is not bad gear at all - they made spectacular machines for the money, most of which had poly aftertouch which is still a rarity. my SQ-80 is a go to synth. I dont really get the high prices for this one, though. Its neat but we have all kinds of insanely exotic synths in 2022
@@JustinEdwords I spent very little time with the sq-80 unfortunately. ASR-10 and ESQ-1 were the units I spent the most time with in the 90s (along with the roland sp-808 as my primary drum machine- another unit people would often say is Bad Gear). Aside from how heavy it is and the limited sample space, the ASR-10 I think holds up
@@saneneweyes6189 the sq 80 is identical to the esq1 with some more waveforms, a disk drive and most importantly polyphonic aftertouch. Which makes it much more expressive. The ESQ1 is still one of the best budget synths you can get
Awww, they made the perfect 2020’s John Carpenter-esque nostalgia-wave synth but managed to be both 20 years too late AND 20 years too soon to be trendy. Even the paint job would look perfect in a bi-lighting TH-cam synthfluencer set with some Greco-Roman statues and neon palm tree desk lamps :(
So true!
This is the most 90s sounding thing you've ever had on here. That last jam reminded me of playing OG Unreal Tournament
Thanks! Love UT99!!!
@@AudioPilz M-M-M-M-M-Monster Kill
I think we've all been waiting for this one. And you titling it "The Unicorn," in the thumbnail hits it on the head. It's a rare one we don't see often. Nice work!
Thank you so much!!!
Whoa! This one is so rare that I never really thought you’d cover it. This is one of a handful that I very strongly want to own one day.
Yeah, it took me a while!!!
I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild, and only occasionally ran into references to it in magazines or online.
I have one!
I totally dig the design and the black and puple colour sceme of the Fizmo!
Gothic approved colour scene: check!
Makes Darkwave sounds: check!
128 shades of midi: check!
C64 SID chip designer involved: maybe? It was made by the company that he once founded.
It was synthwave before there was synthwave;)
One of the best sounding intros and finales in my opinion.
Also, James Bond time bomb display haha, good one
Thanks!!!
I can stare at that paint-job whole day. And those pads. Lovely!!
Also glad that the country I'm from (Singapore) got a mention (indirectly). Thank you creative labs!
Another mention: you got the best food in the world!!!
Yknow, a couple rattlecans of metallic purple, a Launchkey 61, and a desktop Blofeld and you're pretty much there. :D
Nice to see an Ensoniq. I have the ASR-10 which implemented a rudimentary version of the Fizmo’s transwaves, except you could load your own and do unexpectedly wild sound mangling to any poor unsuspecting sample.
Sounds like fun;)
Same applies to EPS16+ sampler - transwaves implementation is the same. I am seeing Fizmo as MR series + resonant filter + more real-time controls.
@@AudioPilz indeed. not fun to program unfortunately....
@@2ndattention 🤣yeah I gave up on that one. Still love the ASR for what it is. That damn "synthesize loop" feature sounds so good. You can basically sample any strange sound with a hardly workable loop and make it sound like something good.
@@ryanjay6241 synthesize loop is great. regarding tranwaves, I have a little waveboy booklet that came with my ASR-10 that goes into detail on how to make proper transwaves. you do need a way of loading the waveforms via SCSI (I use a SCSI to SD card that allows me to transfer sounds directly) and Serum to create a wavetable composed of 128 discrete waveforms. once you have the method down you can make some pretty amazing patches..... or you can just freeform mangle any random sample and get some very very glitchy results. I love it. that and my UDO Super 6 are irreplaceable.
Getting a coffee and muffin from speedway and watching bad gear on my break. Makes the day that much better 🔥🔥🔥
Cheers!!!
I always felt like the BloFeld was the 'true successor' to the Fizmo. As well, it's worth noting that the Transwave stuff was also present on the TS-10, the 'rompler cousin' to the ASR (though it could load samples from the ASR as well, it just didn't have any sampling capabilities on board). You could only use the special 'xwave' voices for it, if I recall (it's been decades since I used the TS), but you COULD also chain internal waveforms to make almost like custom sequences that play with one key using the same menu. It had a couple of these as demo sounds.
Anyway, RIP Ensoniq. They were cool, they were neat, they will not be forgotten...at least until this generation dies out. :)
Could not put it better myself. Perfection.
Maybe it will rise from the grave...
I have a Fizmo (owned since 1998), and bought a Blofeld when they first came out. At that time I used a Virus ti snow and Ultranova as well. They Blofeld did not do it for me, and neither the Ti. The Fizmo has way more in it as far as DSP and arp features to my ears, and is like the spice in any recipe; put it on your meat and potatoes to taste.
We had one unit at Mars Music around 2000 that basically was unsellable. After I left it sat for another two years and was repaired once. They ended up being blown out for like $400. If someone was smart enough to buy up the stock they would have basically set up their retirement.
True that!
Oh man! Mars music🤯 what a flashback! I haven't thought of that name in forever
Mars Music. When liquidation was going on, a fellow employee bought a rack case for 20 dollars. Of course there was $15,000 dollars of gear in it. Lol
The jam towards the end was absolutely awesome! I’d love to hear a full track of that. Well played, sir!
Thank you so much!!! Full track can be found on Patreon (end of plug;)
I have one of these and I adore it. It sits alongside a Waldorf XTk and honestly, if there was a fire, I think I would grab the Fizmo. It has a glassy gooeyness that I have never heard anywhere else, and it just sends shivers down my spine every time.
It has nice company;)
ooh, that would be a hard choice for me! I don't have a Fizmo, but I adore my XTk... I suppose only haveing the one spares me from having to make that choice!
My first synth was an Ensoniq TS-12, and I loved it. It had transwaves, and the ability to make wavesequences, if you were patient enough. When the Fizmo came out, I thought it looked like a badly-packaged sliver of what my 12 could do, with more hands-on control (and a resonant filter), but also a *lot* of 'hands on a mouse only' control. I knew Ensoniq was going to no longer be 'Ensoniq.' This is the late '90s. They had one of these in the very store I bought that first TS-12. The Fizmo was priced at $400. I still don't regret not buying it, and I don't see why it's so sought after. Sorry for the rant; Ensoniq is close to my heart, but the Fizmo was born of really bad corporate circumstances, and I see it now (like I did in the late '90s) as the death-knell of a company I really liked.
Yeah, let's blame it on Creative...
The Fizmo's sounds design capabilities blow away anything the TS-12 is capable of.
@@Abruzzo333 Nah, not so much.
@@Michael_Smith-Red_No.5 The Fizmo is the full evolution of Ensoniq's transwave technology...offering up to 8 oscillator layers per sound. It also has the same effects as the DP2/4....which can except and external signal. The sounds demostrated in this video are the presets....which don't come close to doing the synth justice. In fact I'd go as far as say they are some of the worst presets on any digital synth.
nice one, I love my Fizmo - took me many years to find one I could afford then they suddenly doubled in price 😛
Fauxmo is a great app to control the FIzmo, and it's much needed since the unit is very deep like the E-mu Proteus 200o and Command Stations needing the Prodatum app to reveal the complex patch cords system inside (yes a software modular inside the unit) - no control surface would be big enough unless you made a Deltronics DT-7 type box for it like the DX-7 can use 🙂
There are many other Ensoniq transwave synths but the tables in the Fizmo are unique but fixed.
The TS-10/TS-12 can load custom transwaves made with Tranzilon and you can do cool things like mapping the wavetable sweep to the mod wheel. 🙂
Fauxmo is really great!
Awesome! I've been waiting for the Fizmo episode since this channel launched!
❤️❤️❤️
You did a great job at showing off the potential that this instrument has. Loved all the jams, especially the second one
Thank you!!!!
@@AudioPilz Yes, second jam was one of your best!
Really like the sounds of the fizmo and the tracks you did. It somehow reminds me of the microfreak soundwise.
Thanks!!! Yeah, there are some similarities
Love this channel so much. Thank you for the time and effort you put into your vids. Very humourous too.
Thank you so much!!!
First time viewer. I love your content, especially when watching your keyboards as you play. I'm a beginner in music and it really helps to watch a master at work. Thanks very very much!
Thank you so much!!! Stick around!
I actually got to play with one of these glittering aubergine-tinted beauties at the turn of the millenium, and loved it. For DnB it was weird and wooshy enough to cover a multitude of badly sampled sins.
I never bought one because I'd seen so many Ensoniq synths fall to pieces mid-show in the previous 15 years. Love the sounds, hate the build quality.
I bought a Virus B instead for general soundmangling duties, and I don't regret it.
For people who can't afford 10 gigabeans for a restored fizzikle Fizmo, UVI have parked a decent sampled emulation inside their Digital Synsations 2 soundbank, along with a Kawai K5000 clone and a JD800-alike.
The layering possibilities, even in UVI's free Workstation are pretty splendid, but if you own or rent Falcon, it can wig out and tweak for days, just like the original Fizmo hardware. So you can safely spend your gigabeans on Volcas and Boogs.
"cover a multitude of badly sampled sins" - good one;)
I remember these being in the clearance pages of Musicians Friend catalog, for $500, for quite some time. Makes it all the funnier now that they’re collectors items
Lol same! I deliberated over that clearance page for a good two weeks damn
Time machines NOW!!!
@@AudioPilz “How did I make my fortune? Re-selling Fizmos.”
That synth is so dope !!
Well done sir ! 👏
Great find , well played.
😁😊
Thank you!!!
Absolutely perfect video for the finale.
Thank you!!!
I bought what I guess was the Benelux' last shop display unit when they went out of sale in the early 2000s, with a good discount 😁
Weird machine, but I'll never sell. It's indeed very, very easy to get lost in those unmixable weird nonsense sounds you hear on many demo's.
One technique to avoid that is indeed focusing on 1-key atmospheric pads, I made a few good ones of those.
But another, underreported technique is to use the more regular sounding waveforms to make classic lead sounds, and then add a layer of those ultraweird fizmo Transwaves, not too loud, possible 1 or 2 octaves higher. It's far from just an atmospheric pad machine... ☝️👍
Nice technique! If only the filter was a bit smoother
Wow! Now I am impressed that you got your hands on one of these😳. Thanks so much for covering this- best overview I’ve seen 👍. Ensoniq were such an amazing & innovative company minor tragedy that it was allowed to disappear. I always had impression Fizmo was bit a concept synth released before it was not quite finished; could have further developed into genuine digital super synth. ( also bit surprised this has never been modelled in a vst).
Thank you!!! Yeah, we would need a brand like Ensoniq now...
Awesome video, and jam tracks. Loved the multi screen one
Thank you!!!
Man, youre really diggin up all of the 90''s + Stuff out of the graves. Love it.
Weirdest time of synth creation!!!
I miss mine. It was just wildly different than anything I'd ever used. Certainly not a jack of all trades, but it was very good at the very unique things it did.
Agreed!
As usual you managed to squeeze some awesome music out of the gear reviewed. I agree that it wouldn't be my first choice either! Next you should do the Radikal Technologies Spectralis 😃
Thank you so much!!! Let's see if Jörg Schaaf sends me one;)
Nice pi clip!
You always have the best edits.
Happy Friday
Thank you!!!
This was so good! This is definitely one of the most unique sounding protagonists we've had in a while on bad gear!
😀😀😀
If you run out of synths, you should do Bad Gear Effects series for pedals, rackmounts and such!
He's not gonna run out of bad gear until Roland goes bankrupt XD
@@BellXllebMusic True. Is still want bad gear for effects tho
@@BellXllebMusic ja hahaa suomalainen spotattu. mistäpäin oot?
@@22z83 he did do an Alesis compressor long ago, and I think a vocoder, he's more of a aynth head but doing effects would allow him to easily keep adding content
this is a show, as he says, "about the world's most hated audio tools"
That's what this channel mostly started with but the synths took over rather quickly
Well, that is one of the most interesting synths I'd never heard of. I can see why you have been on the hunt. PS - Your compositional chops peeked out in places in this one.
Thank you!!!
I've been wanting to get my hands on one of these for a decade... I'm glad you got to do it first, I'm satisfied now 😂
Maybe get one of the rack units for 10K;)
Nice to see your channel growing. Big Fan, great Music
Thank you!!!❤️❤️❤️
How have I never heard of this synth? It looks so gorgeously retrowavy synthpoppish
It's a rare beast...
Berhinger need to recreate this. Even if it's one of their new mini-synths.
I'm not sure if they can. Old code and digital chips can be tricky
Barringer needs to release ANY of their Mini synths, period.
I'd love a behringer line of micro recreations of famous and infamouse instruments. Like little Casio SA-1 sized versions. Talk about great stocking stuffers for synth nerds!
Transwaves have sort of died off as a technical approach, I think the preference is single cycle wavetable instead of the transwave approach. There is a thread on MW about how to emulate it somewhere
Gut gemacht AP! Ich hab etwas gelernt. I snagged a FIZMO for $500 (half the normal price, if I remember correctly) when it was announced it was discontinued. I was pretty frustrated it had a fair number of parameters that were hidden without a software editor, and I was never blown away with the core sound of the Transwaves. IMO, they just didn't sound that great without effects, and adding too much filter resonance fairly easily distorted the effects. Sold it about a decade ago for a bit more than I paid for it, not long after I picked up a used Access Virus C, which I thought was MUCH easier to navigate and use. And I still think the Virus C sounds better (at least for what I like in a synth). Had I been into long drone-y, ambient music, I might have kept it, but it didn't fit what I wanted at the time. Now I only wish I'd kept the FIZMO to let it appreciate in value a bit more.
Vielen herzlichen Dank!!!
The 1 key strategy thing with this unit is the trick that seems to work. I must say that this channel is on another level. The playing skills to milk great sounds out of these bad gears is only rivaled by the skills and time required to put together the background video clips. I do not know how you do it so well, Mr. Bad Gear. Thanks again. May there be unlimited bad gear in our future for you to review!
Thank you so much!!!
Pretty crazy soundscapes, but it feels like it was trying to go places people weren't exactly comfortable with yet. Great episode as usual.
Thank you!!!
EXACTLY! I was offered to buy one new for $800.00... I played with it briefly, considered its strange uncool color scheme - it wasn't BLACK! and easily passed on it. WTF was I thinking? I had been blinded by the whole techno sound and scene. Now I do ambient and want a FIZMO so bad... but more than that somebody like Arturia needs to make a proper emulation - model not sampled version of this awesome synth. The prices on these things along with the age and a dead manufacturer make it a NO GO!
The Fizmo was expensive 17/18 years ago when I was thinking about getting one. No surprise they're even more ridiculous now!
They were pretty affordable in between;)
Man
Jams are amazing as always, especially Jam 2
You step up your game every time with new bad gear
Thank you so much!!!
Love your channel and love this synth. Lusted for one and finally got one last year off craigslist for a reasonable price. The evoloving sounds are spectacular and make perfect backdrops and transitions. Weird to the max.
Thank you so much!!!
I owned an ESQ-1 and a Mirage (at the same time!!) and I loved them dearly. Didn't know about this one.
Nice ones!!!
Interesting. I spent the whole episode thinking, "That sounds awesome," but also, "It looks like it might be approximately as frustrating to program as my Korg Trinity, which also sounds awesome... hmm". And then in the back of my mind were more modern beasts like the Hyrasynth, Blofeld, and Iridium, which could all achieve similar results and probably without driving me up the wall with exasperation to do it.
We live in blessed times;)
@@AudioPilz Yeah. I mean, I've still got some saving to do. But yeah. In the meantime I'll continue to annoy myself with the Trinity. Gotta love those 90s interfaces.
Had a fizmo for a long time. Fun synth, ah the days of sound diver. I love the sound of it’s vocoder. Another ensoniq classic. Great episode.
Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much!!!
every time we get a new video its a bright spot in my week
😀😀😀
This was actually the first hardware synth I owned. It was indeed made for creating evolving and layered sounds, which it did really well. Problem for me was at the time I mostly wanted more meat and potatoes sounds and in order to make them I actually had to work at it, since it wasn’t really suited for them. I ended up selling it a few years later for a couple hundred bucks, and now I’m absolutely gob smacked by how much they go for on the used market. Like the one that got away, I guess I just didn’t appreciate it for what it was at the time. Live and learn. 😆
No one could anticipate that back then...
Why is my boss not comprehending "Bad Gear joy and hearing my name through a Fizmo!!" as a perfectly valid reason to call out?? 🤷♂️
Should I talk to him (with or without vocoder)?
@@AudioPilz 😂🙏 Always WITH!
Some of the sounds you showcased are underrated, great video as always!
Thank you!!!
I enjoyed this video , very informative . Well done audiopilz 👍
Thank you!!!
Very fitting you’d mention Hydrasynth as an alternative. That’s what I immediately thought of - unabashedly digital sounding and capable of very similar experimental/left-field sounds. I think hydra’s interface will stand the test of time though - such a logical layout that doesn’t get in the way of sound design creativity.
Hydra is so advanced!!!
Great video 😎👍. I wouldn't say no to one of these but I suspect your skills flatter this instrument. I do have a soft spot for Ensoniq and I'm surprised that Akai took so long to get round to releasing a sampling keyboard - not that I need one.
Thank you!!!
My week sucks, I had a headache and the world felt coming to an end - and then YOU came along this friday and changed all that, thanks! Never heard of the Fizmo, but after a few of your experiments with it I slowly changed to "I want one, gib me now!" - And then you went ahead and mention it was produced in limited numbers, and sells for more than most peoples used cars are worth and yeah, maybe not so much. (PS: Still want one, but those prices...urgh).
Yup, these prices are quite a buzzkill... Have a nice(r) one!!!
Hey Florian! It's always a treat on a friday afternoon after I come home from work, to watch a new episode of Bad gear before the weekend starts. Love the memes, the demo songs you make, and generally learning about new (bad) gear. Loving your new video as always! I've seen the Ensoniq Fizmo before, and I don't think the inflated price is worth it, but it has an interesting look and sound, so good to learn more about it. I was wondering if/when you are going to make an episode featuring the Arturia Polybrute. It's one of the few hardware synths I own (Alongside the Moog Subsequent 37, Yamaha MODX6 and Arturia Drumbrute Impact and some old arranger keyboards that don't count as synths). The Polybrute is my favourite synthesizer, but many people don't share my enthusiasm. They Say "It sounds like a VST", it has "bad oscillators", "can't do decent brass or string sounds", "The morphé is gimmicky", "the design is ugly" with 'too many knobs and buttons". I can see if i can collect screenshots of some of these comments if you like. I don't understand these points of criticism. Maybe people are using it wrong, don't understand how it works or whatever. I'd like a more objective point of view to find out what people mean and how to deal with any potential shortcomings of my synth. So, could you feature the Polybrute at some point?
Also some guy on the internet who says he's a sound engineer himself and builds his own oscillators claims the Polybrute can't do a proper saw wave "just some hairy thing". Judge for yourself. The Polybrute says it can do a saw wave though. If you play it it sounds like you expect a saw to sound. If you look at it through an oscilloscope or other visualizer, it looks perfectly normal. Nothing wrong with it. Nothing spectacular. Just you versatile bread and butter saw wave. No "hairs", nothing. Either that guy has a faulty model, he's doing something wrong, or I just don't know what a proper saw wave is supposed to sound and look like.
Thanks! Great suggestion, the PolyBrute is moving up my list...
I got this in 1998, then when I graduated school and the bills came in during 1999 my mom had forced me to sell all my gear, I had 3 ensoniq samplers and the fizmo and an original novation bass station, but then they were no more lol I was stuck with only a crappy laptop and sony acid.
Sony Acid wasn't so bad...;)
ouch
cool! I find this is one of the lushest sounding synths you ever reviewed.
Interesting!!!
Oh my goodness I was doing a deep dive on romplers and old samplers and rediscovered this synth this week, was gonna suggest it in the comments and here it is!
😀😀😀
This is the one i was waiting for. Thanks
Thank you for watching!
HOLY HECK HE'S DOING THE FIZZMO!
It was about time!!!
Never understood the Fizmo hate - everything I've heard from it I absolutely love. There again, I'm a bit of an Ensoniq obsessive and own four of their other keyboards. They always had their own quirky take on things, from the ESQ1 that did the Korg M1 and Roland D-50 sample based thing so much better, to the EPS and ASR samplers that were true workstations with great interfaces.
Nice collection!!!
Gotta love Ensoniq. We're still rockin' our 20yo SQ2 at church, tho honestly, the samples are starting to sound a bit dated. :)
I had an ESQ-1 it had a magnificent filter.
You really nailed this one! I lusted after one of these rare synths for year, finally got one, discovered it wasn’t fully programmable from the front panel, and that it truly made my ears bleed - so I sold it. A unique sound, that said, the HydraSynth does come close.
Thanks!
thank you for weekly episodes!!!!
Thanks for watching!!!
You hit the nail on the head - the Hydrasynth Explorer beats the Fizmo in pretty much all areas. Except as an investment opportunity!
Love the Hydra engine!!!
You sure about the investment part?
this isn’t really a fair comparison. Hydrasynth isn’t focused on wavetables. Modwave is probably the most Fizmoey modern synth
Screw Hydrasynth. It's full of meh. I'd take the Fizmo over that any day.
...Imagine a Fizmo VST. I'd buy it, come on Arturia!
check out Arturia's Pigments 3
I like the Fizzer's sound more!
I'd buy that for a dollar;)
@@AudioPilz I think you paid a lot more for the hardware, unless you borrowed the Fizmo!
Ooooh ensoniq you have a special little place in my heart. I have spent many happy hours with you. ❤️
Classic! This channel needs more Ensoniq gear!!!
Okay, I actually really like this lol 😋 and the synth actually fit in the opening mix better than a lot of the gear you've had on here!
True that!!!
Yaaaaaas! I love the fizmo🤘almost bought one back in the day but I went with the Yamaha FS1r….
FX1r is nice!!!
Have an Fs1r here too. Had it since realise.
Might be biased, but I think you made the right choice.
@@ConstantLittleGhost I mean, it literally will speak…and those keys sounds are incredible. 16 possible operators????? TONS of some of the best 90’s fx (that still hold up btw). No brainer. Only thing that sucks is the interface and that’s where gold ol sound diver comes in lolz!!!
Ohh you managed to get a hold on a FIZMO! Really great synth for bizzare and ambient sounds! I love it! :D
A suggestion for another piece of gear would be the Boss Jam Station 5 (JS5). I've seen them go dirt cheap. Don't know if they have enough stuff in them for a whole video but perhaps having a couple of similar machines in the same video would suffice.
Also the current Roland MC-101 would be a good contender for this show. While it is definetly a powerfull machine it is crippled in some really bizare ways, such as having linear envelopes on drum samples aswell as having alot of its deeper editing capabillities locked away behind the roland cloud paywall.
Great suggestion, thanks!
MC-101 is an "MC-707 demo/trial", or Roland "sound module". I picked up the 707 from the start as the 101's controls put me off, and 707 has double the tracks to further sweeten the deal, and more. It's a badass sampler and FX processor, too.
@@Jason75913 Yeah the 707 is definetly better in many regards. It still requires the roland cloud thingy if you want to edit it from PC though.
But the 101 has a lot of hardware differencies, which IMO is more than cripling enough for it to be a cheaper version than the 707. No need for them to also having crippled it on the software side.
Also I do wonder if the 707 has the same envelope issues on drumsamples (I would not be surprised if it does)
The 101 can also sample but reqires you to stream the audio to it via USB.
A couple reasons I chose the 101 over the 707 is the compact size, abillity to run it on batteries (both important for portabillity) and the lower price (and I bought mine second hand at half price).
@@Gin-toki 707 is fully editable on its own, a PC is purely optional
@@Jason75913 Yes that is correct, although PC editing can be faster with a better overwiev of everything.
But the editor provided by roland sadly requires their cloud thingy.
Okay... Whew! I thought you were wrapping up without going through the Fizmo's vocoder, and I was getting upset. LOL!
I've been waiting to see you get your hands on one of these ever since you started doing the vocoder shoutouts. It did not disappoint.
That was a one-time opportunity;)
Beautiful thumbnail!! Love your videos, man. Bad gear, but great track!
Thank you!!!
Oh Fizmo, You had a name that sounds like it could have been the most hated 90's movie sidekick or cartoon character.
True that!
Oooh. Another instrument that I probably would enjoy programming. Although I agree that it does seem to have trouble sitting well in the mix. Thanks for showing off such a rarity.
I really love my VFXSD keybed with the poly aftertouch... Really a joy to play until it triggers a system error and I have to reload the OS... lol.
I'd love to try a VFX!
@@AudioPilz DHL/UK post lost 3 of about 7 packages to the US. And unrelatedly, my last used synth purchase was torqued / damaged in transit... So I'm would be a bit hesitant about shipping it, although I'd absolutely love to see what you did with it...
A shame, because similar (but to a lesser degree) as with the Emax SE, the VFX can make some musical artifacts when pushing one of the low res wave samples to the edge.
Awesome video! Had one of these back in their time, paid 150 dollars for it (in 2000) and never really got into it, also back then I remember seeing ESQ-1's at almost every pawn shop often at under 100 bucks (I had like 4), those were the days, long gone now. RIP Ensoniq, one of the coolest synth, sampler, FX companies EVER!
Thanks! Wow, insane price!!!
Always very funny vids ; usually watching after a cider session so my comments don’t usually make much sense… I tend to buy most machines you slate as well , so far more than happy with my purchases ..
Thank you!!! Cheers!
That's it. Shows over, we've reached the Apex of Bad gear.
That one is indeed quite unique;)
Agreed! Horrible instrument I would say.
it would be cool to see a video on how you learn a new synth every week and create the jams you make to show off the qualities of the gear. you seem to have a very streamlined workflow to be able to cover obscure equipment every week, I'd love a look into that process.
Seriously! I too am astounded at how you get these videos done!
Great idea, thanks! I'll try to squeeze that in...
This is one of my absolute favorites pieces of gear, along with the Ensoniq EPS and ASR
Agree & also own those 3 pieces (& duplicates) 🤗
Nice!!!
You are really great at making little music videos for your jams 👍
Thank you!!!
I've always wanted to try one. It's ironic that so many of the patches you played remind me of the Emu Morpheus. I guess the guys over at Emu were preemptively preparing for the merger five years early. :)
Interesting. I really have to take a closer look at the E-MU product line
@@AudioPilz Yeah, Emu gear is cool, great sounds, amazing what little boxes like the proteus line could make, with so little sample ROM, and at a great price. Very cool company 👍
@@AudioPilz I remember E-MU's Orbit the Dance Planet being pretty bad. But now a bunch of people are probably going to jump on me and say it was actually great.
I always feel nostalgic but depressed by Ensoniq and Commodore. Both were based a few miles from me, but met a early and untimely demise.
Simpler times...
Ensoniq was based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
thank you for the vocoder demonstration! I can now confidently scratch this off my want list.
You might as well use a nice Phaser on 11;)
@@AudioPilz it wasn’t that bad, I mean, you can still pitch it around but the waveforms are just too wacky to do the planet rock robot voices which is my measure of any vocoder.
Worth mentioning that while the fizmo has multi stage looping envelopes, if you tweak the envelope knobs the envelopes switch to an adsr mode. I sat down and figured it out once, with the addition of one knob and two switches, all the parameters (except the fx section) would've been fully editable from the front panel.
The poor man's fizmo is an mr-61 or an mr-rack and the expansion cards. The only thing that gets lost is the resonant filter and what is gained is an actual multi mode rather than a 4 voice split. Someone makes a repro of the expansion cards. An asr-x works too and you get an equally bad digital resonant filter, but the asr-x is the one synth/sampler I've owned that I would actually consider bad.
True! That can be quite a buzzkill
I tried one when it came out. "Shrill" as hell, and in many ways a one-trick-pony. I was so sad as an Ensoniq fan - The VFX that came before it, sounds awesome.
I'd love to try a VFX
This synth will stay my favorite eternally. It’s a drug trip in itself. Maybe that’s why I bought two of them. Playing both together will send you out of this world.
Nice! Two are the bare minimum;)
Whoah, when I got mine in the ‘00s for about $350, I had a few opportunities to get rack versions for the ‘ungodly’ price of $600-$700. Jeez, if I only knew.
It's like buying Bitcoin in 2012;)
Cool video !!! I really hope that one day you will review one of the most hated virtual analog synth : the Viscount/Oberheim OB-12 😈😈😈
Thanks! Great suggestion!!!