We cannot provide tech support for the general operation of your sampler; however, we do carry the complete line of Ensoniq manuals.

Repairs
For maintenance or repair issues, you should contact an authorized Ensoniq Service Center in your area; call E-mu/Ensoniq at (831) 438-1921 to find a nearby service center, or contact one of those listed below. Syntaur Productions does not do any repair or service work. We highly recommend the following service centers (you can ship your sampler to them for service):
Audio Electronics in Dallas, Texas: (214) 349-5000
EPR Electronics in Tampa, Florida: (813) 234-0674

Operating System (O.S.)
The Operating System (O.S.) tells a sampler how to work; it is always a good idea to use the latest version available, as each release fixes bugs and often adds new features. The latest O.S. versions are 2.67 for the ASR-X, and 3.04 for the ASR-X Pro.

To determine which O.S. version is installed in your ASR-X or ASR-X Pro, Press the Disk/Global Save button, and while holding it down, press the System/MIDI button. The display will briefly show which version of the Operating System is currently installed.

The ASR-X and ASR-X Pro use different methods to upgrade the Operating System. The black ASR-X uses EPROM chips (two per set); the O.S. 2.67 chips will upgrade the firmware in the ASR-X to the latest version, which tightens up the timing of the sequencer and allows for the loading of ASR-10 and EPS/EPS-16 Plus samples. The red ASR-X Pro upgrades the O.S. from floppy disk.

Memory
Both the ASR-X and the ASR-X Pro ship with 2 Meg of memory; the ASR-X has one 72-pin SIMM slot for adding additional sample RAM, and the ASR-X Pro has two 72-pin SIMM slots. A 16-Meg memory kit will boost the sample RAM to 18 Meg, for a total sampling time of 207 seconds (mono). A 32-Meg kit will boost the stock memory to 34 Meg (the maximum for the ASR-X), for a total sampling time of 398 seconds (mono). With the ASR-X Pro, two 32-Meg kits will expand the memory to the maximum 66 Meg, for a total sampling time of 773 seconds (mono). The ASR-X and ASR-X Pro use 72-pin, parity or non-parity, EDO or non-EDO SIMMs.

SCSI and SCSI Drives
Unfortunately, ASR-X SCSI Kits are no longer available. But if yours already has SCSI installed, you should certainly take advantage of it.

Instead of loading and saving sounds to floppy disks, it's a great idea to use an external SCSI drive with your sampler. A SCSI drive will not change the way your sampler works - it won't make better or longer samples - but it will provide enormously faster loading time for sounds, and a very convenient way to store and organize your sounds. Additionally, if you add a SCSI CD-ROM drive, you can purchase sounds on CD-ROM for much cheaper than the same sounds would cost on floppy disks (one CD-ROM holds the equivalent of hundreds of floppy disks worth of data) - though CD-ROMs in ASR-X native format are not readily available. You will have to get sounds in ASR-10 format, then have the ASR-X translate the sounds each time it loads them.

Loading Sounds from Other Samplers
The ASR-X Pro should load and translate sample disks from the Ensoniq ASR-10, EPS, and EPS-16 Plus without any trouble - though frequently patch selects and other programming do not translate perfectly. The ASR-X will translate these sounds as well, but only if you are running the correct Operating System. OS version 1.1 allowed the ASR-X to read ASR-10 HD floppy disks, but not EPS or EPS-16 Plus double-density disks. OS 2.55 or higher enables the ASR-X to read double-density EPS and EPS-16 Plus disks. Syntaur sells the latest OS EPROM chips (version 2.67) for the ASR-X for $39.95.