It would be nice and easy to say that the latest operating systems for each EPS/ASR instruments was the best to use, absolutely. This is the case with the Original EPS - there is no advantage of using an older operating system, since the last (2.49) has everything and fixes everything.

This is not necessarily the case with the 16-Plus or the ASR-10/88. Although the last operating system for each may be the most reliable to use, some of the older operating systems do have certain benefits.

Below is a chart of most of the released and unreleased operating systems, a description of possible usages, and a download. Recommended OS's for regular use are in bold.

Important Note: These downloads that do not work on Windows XP. Please see Article 32, Floppy Image Boot Disks for all-in-one Win98 boot floppy images, that allow you to write OS floppies on any Windows operating system.

Instrument	Operating System	Blocks	Usage	Download-File Here
	1.95	167	Of no use; introduced automated sequencer mixing, added SCSI support.	Download
	2.35	167	Of no use; fixed various bugs.	Download
	2.40	167	Of no use; added a buggy COPY FLOPPY DISK function	Download
	2.45	167	Of no use; interim OS	Download
	2.49	167	Recommended for use; fixes COPY FLOPPY DISK, adds several SCSI and Sequencer functions	PC Download Mac Download
	1.00	167	First release, no advantages to use	Download
	1.10	167	Useful for translating Sequences/Songs from Original EPS format (avoids length bug in 1.3)	Download
	1.17	167	Beta unreleased OS; adds LOADFILE event operation in Sequencer. Macros do not work. Click here for related information	Download
	1.19	167	Practically identical to 1.17; no differences observed.	Download
	1.30	167	Last OS release. Adds important features such as MIDI Bank Load, Seq Loop parameter saved, several handy sequencer features. Introduces Seq/Song length bug. Does not include LOADFILE event command.	PC Download Mac Download
	1.25	174	One of the first releases, no advantage to use. Only works with ROM BIOS versions lower than 1.5 (usually 1.0).	PC Download
	1.61	173	Useful for quick normal operation without Audio-Tracks and Akai/Roland translation. Requires ROM BIOS 1.5.	PC Download Mac Download
	2.01	222	Adds Audio-tracks (RAMTracks and DiskTracks). There is a performance tradeoff in speed of operations and sonic response in certain situations. Larger in size, load time is slower.	PC Download
	2.51	222	Fixes for 2.01 (assumed)	PC Download
	3.00	382	Adds Akai/Roland translation. Perhaps slows down normal operation slightly compared to 2.01; not confirmed. Adds sonic bug in PHASER+REVERB algorithm (adds a scratchy tone). Still larger in size, load time is slower.	PC Download
	3.52	382	Fixes PHASER bug, other minor functions not mentioned.	PC Download
	3.53	382	Differences from 3.52 unknown.	PC Download Mac Download

Summary and Suggestions
	Use 2.49; you have no advantage using any prior OS's.
	Use 1.30 on a regular basis. However, in any case where you are translating Original EPS Seq/Songs, use 1.10. Also, you might want to use 1.17/1.19 in cases where you want to automatically load new Instruments in a Sequence.
	For common everyday use, we suggest using 1.61 (yes, the older one!). However, you will have to use 2.0 for Audio-Tracks, and 3.53 for Audio-Tracks and/or Akai/Roland translations. It is not documented if 3.53 is more reliable in normal operation than 1.61, other than quicker operation; however, it might be.

Downloading Information
All the downloads are a Disk Images that can be used with most/any popular Ensoniq-disk-writing program. Only the ASR Operating Systems are available for Mac download, since the Mac cannot write images with the OS on them to floppy disk.

• PC users: Simply run the .exe file, and it will install the file and the EDE109 program, which will automatically start and gives you the proper instructions to write the file to a Ensoniq floppy. Important Note: These downloads that write OS's to Ensoniq floppies do not work on Windows XP. Please download a Floppy Image Boot Disk from Article 32, Floppy Image Boot Disks.
• Mac users: UnStuff the Disk Image, and use EPSm to write the image to Ensoniq floppy. (If you do not have EPSm, you will need to purchase it from the author - click here for more details.)

Checking your OS version and the ROM BIOS version
On all Ensoniq keyboards, press COMMAND and then double-click on the ENV1 button. Scroll up 1 to the SOFTWARE INFORMATION page, and press ENTER-YES. You will see the OS version first (RAM), then press ENTER-YES again. You will see the ROM BIOS (ROM) version. Press ENTER-YES again, and you will see the KEYBOARD version (not of any use).

Miscellaneous Information

• EPS OS 2.4 truly introduced a "virus" into certain Ensoniq diskettes - the bug in the COPY FLOPPY function created the inability to edit certain files on the disk, although they could load and play their sounds. So if you have sounds that perhaps went through this stage - check them out.
• Notice that all operating systems for the EPS's were 167 blocks, while the ASR OS's would and could grow in size. This is likely because of a redesign of placement of the operating system and the management of that within the memory system
• Ensoniq decided against the LOADFILE commands within the 16-Plus because of the glitches of audio that would occur when an instrument would load
• Ensoniq apparently released 2.49 in hopes that OS 2.50 would include the backup/restore feature that was in development. This wound up on the 16-Plus, but for some reason Ensoniq never released/adapted the backup/restore feature for the Original EPS. Also, interestingly, the majority of ASCii text strings contained in the 16-Plus OS are the ones involved with the backup/restore feature. This suggests that the feature was a later inclusion in the 16-Plus OS, as most of the text string information is either on the main sound chip (OTIS) or the ROM BIOS chip.
• There have been rumors that there are slightly different versions of the 16-Plus's ROM BIOS; e.g. 1.0a, 1.0f. We do not know of any differences between systems; however, we do know that some Waveboy effects have some glitches within early-made 16-Pluses (particularly in Europe). Perhaps these two things are related
• Ensoniq did recommend at the time of the ASR 2.01 release that using 1.61 would be a good idea to those who did not desire the audio-track features. However, as mentioned above, Ensoniq has not mentioned anything about the later OS's being more efficient/less buggy than 1.61
• The only operating systems that require a certain ROM BIOS in the machine are the ASR OS's; however, remember that any OS that used the earlier BIOS 1.0 is worthy of being discarded and upgraded to at least 1.61. So if you have ASR ROM BIOS 1.0, get 1.5 from an Ensoniq Service Center!
• For a list of bugs that still remain in the latest OS's, click here.

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