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ENSONIQ ESQm to SQ-80m Conversion Instructions

Originally published by Rainer Buchty, rewritten on May 25 2019 by tozzy@protonmail.com

This guide is a condensed modified derivative of the guide published at


http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/files/sq80m.pdf with additional minor corrections.

The ESQm shares the same structure as the ESQ-1 keyboards which can not What you need…
address more than 32kb of sound wave data. The flip flop allows us to 1. Soldering iron, solder, wire
access the increased memory space. The modified 1.3 firmware was made (24-28awg ideally)
by Ensoniq as a beta OS but not publicly released. The SQ80m voice rom on 2. SQ80m 1.3 OS ROM on a 27c256
a standard 256k EPROM is addressable the same way the SQ80 voice chip 3. SQ80m Voice Rom on a 27c020
was and does not require custom additional circuitry. 4. 74LS74 flip-flop

This guide assumes you have basic soldering knowledge and have all the tools and components necessary to do
this modification. Go slow and double check your work constantly!

1. Mount everything where you want it.


a. The flip flop can be attached on top of the sound chip or enclosed in heatshrink
and left wherever, or whatever you like.
b. Remove the OS ROM and Voice ROMs at this time. Before inserting the Voice
ROM, bend up pins 1, 2, 3, 22, 24, 30, 31 and 32.
i. This picture can be used to help you figure out which pins are which. It
was taken from http://p6ers.net/mm/pc-
6001/dev/flashromcard/8k.html. I added the arrows…

c. It is a good time to replace the 3.7v axial lithium battery if it needs replacing. Do
not use a removable holder unless you really know what you’re doing & the risks
of the battery getting loose.

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2. Wiring & attaching the flip-flop
a. It needs to be attached to the sound chip “5503 DOC / ICS1261D”.
b. The following pins must be wired up
i. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13
ii. 2, 3, 7, 14 will go to the DOC chip. You may connect them now.
iii. 1, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 must be connected to pin 14 (VCC). To minimize
headache, I recommend making a big solder bridge across pins 10-14.
iv. 5 will be connected to the Voice ROM. You can connect it now or wait
until later if you want to ensure the flip-flop & DOC are correctly wired.
Skip step VI in this section (b) if you intend to skip checking these and
are going straight for the Voice ROM setup.
v. Here is a picture of the pinout for a 74LS74 from:
http://projectus.freehost7.com/DTMF-based-device-switching/?74ls74-d-type-
flip-flop-pin-diagram-and-description

The wiring goes as follows:


74LS74 Flip-Flop Ensoniq DOC (sound chip)
2 10 (Channel address bit 3)
3 6 (Channel address strobe)
5 N/A (Voice ROM, bit 17)
7 19 (GND)
14 39 (VCC +5v)
1, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 N/A (Connected to 74LS74 pin 14)

vi. If you want to check for wiring errors, then at this point plug the ESQm in
and play some notes over MIDI. If it sounds normal, you have made no
mistakes. Any errors ranging from incorrect notes to a totally non-
booting machine will stem from an improperly wired DOC.

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3. Installing the Voice ROM
a. The ESQm has two voice ROMs. Remove both and place your Voice ROM in
either socket. The bottom of the ROM must align with the bottom of the socket,
so that the top side of the ROM (with the notch) is sticking out.
b. You can pull VCC off the 74LS373 nearby on pin 20, or anywhere else you might
prefer to pull +5V. You might want to use that for VCC because you also must
wire pin 19 of the 74LS373 to pin 3 of the Voice ROM.
c. Now it is time to wire some of the Voice ROM to various places as follows. Be
sure to note the format of the 2nd column as wires go to multiple destinations.
Consider bridging pins 31 and 32 of the voice ROM after you insert it to save
some wire:
Voice ROM Pin # Pin # (Chip, Signal)
1 16 (Voice ROM, GND)
2 40 (DOC, Bank Select)
3 19 (73LS373, Sample Address 15)
22 5 (DOC, Wave ROM chip select)
23 3 (DOC, Voice ROM output enable)
30 5 (74LS74 Flip-Flop, Bit 17)
31 32 (Voice ROM, VPP)
16 1 (Voice ROM, VPP)

At this point, you are done, so double check all your connections with a
multimeter and make sure you didn’t mess anything up. Then you may power
on the ESQm. If it boots up normally and some notes over MIDI sound proper,
try loading some SQ80 banks and have fun!

Big greetz to Rainer Buchty for publishing the original guide on doing this mod.

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