Ok, took me 5 minutes to figure out everything but now its working fine! Congratulations on your work, this is interesting af and I hope you keep developing it!

The only issues I found so far:

1 - The UI font is annoyingly difficult to read. Even resizing the plugin!
2 - The CPU usage is pretty low I must say, but ever now and then I hear crackling and I'm not sure why.
3 - A weird bug that happens after I try to tweak volume or other parameter. The plugin then stops making any sound or even opening up and freezes Reaper.

 

Last edited: Mar 19, 2026 at 3:10 PM

I followed all the instructions to a T. Installed the VST3, spent quite some time hunting down the ROMS and creating zip file sd132.zip and placing it in specified Documents/EnsoniqSD1 folder. I cannot get the plug in to load or even be recognized in ANY host I've tried it with. Studio One, Bidule, SaviHost, VSTHost....none even see it. Win10 Pro 22H2.

 

Er... well which is the requirement? macOS 14 (= Sonoma), or Ventura (= macOS 13)?

 

Thank you. Truly the most blessed of times for synth recreation/emulation.

 

Same on Windows 10 / Cubase 12

 

heh, my bad, macOS deployment target = 14.0 so Sonoma maybe it works on Ventura.

 

The GUI is coming from MAME straight. You can try change the panel to rack or tablet (full keyboard is a mess).
Try higher buffer settings inside the plugin and/or in your sound card settings and disable "smart disable" or similar in your daw.
Automation works in FL Studio, so fuck knows whats happening in your daw.
There are so many OS/DAW combinations, so it's a miracle if it works for anybody

 

Rack panel at 2048 engine buffer did the trick here (why does it work with so much PDC?). Thanks! Finnicky thing to mess with, but sounds great, especially considering its age. Here's something I did to test it (init preset). Working fine.

 

Glad to hear that, and yes, sounds awesome! This is a MAME-based hardware-level emulation of a 35 year old synth running the original roms, so it's pretty CPU hungry. Take note, that we are musicians not coders, this whole project was vibe-coded for proof-of-concept. A real coder with C++ knowledge could optimise it for sure.

 

It looks like I no longer have to haul my trusty but ageing SD-1 from the attic anymore. Your efforts are much appreciated!

 

does the existence of this suggest a fizmo emulation will happen eventually?

 

The fizmo as a vst would be a dream. The ROM is available online, and with the sd-1 now out it is a real possibility... one can dream

In the meantime there is Tranzwave for Kontakt which is really really nice too, even tho it is technically not the real deal.

 

Perfect Ensoniq digital sound! Good work! I see the files on the VST3 package but can't modify to make some skin more readable and adjustable to more pleasant performance.

 

EMUPORNOGRIPHY

 

Any clue for finding rom? Thx

 

Check the "install.txt" file in the download. The exact names of the required ROMs are mentioned there. Google the filenames and check the reddit page that is one of the first to be listed in the results. I can confirm it actually works.