Fizmo | Ensoniqs last and worst synth?

video upload by Espen Kraft

Thought this was an interesting example of how some people view synths as an instrument to play traditional music to, while others view synths as a sonic palate to explore. The Fismo excels at sonic exploration. It sounds alive at times. The synth is all about evolving textures and timbres. The Buchla Music Easel and Buchla's vision of a synthesiver vs. Moog comes to mind, although Buchla did choose "Music" in that title. Hmm...

The following is what Espen Kraft has to say:

"The Fizmo was the last true synthesizer from Ensoniq. In 1998 this was labeled as a Transwave synthesizer. With multiple arpeggiator patterns and glassy wavetables it sure is an ambient dog.

I must confess that I never took to this synth. Yes, it has a lot of knobs and faders and yes, you can get some decent sounds out of it. I'm usually very positive to wavetable synths, hybrid synths and arpeggio driven bells and whistles, but the OS is very messy, the wavetables themselves are way too glassy and thin and it just doesn't speak to me.

The demo track uses external drums and some external effects as well. All the sounds are indeed from the Fizmo and everything has been multi tracked, mixed and mastered."