ENSONIQ: Let's talk about this great American synth manufacturer

[Jim Alfredson]

I've always been fascinated by this company, due to my childhood and our beloved Commodore 64, which was my first computer and on which I learned how to program BASIC, experienced my first MIDI sequencer, and even got into rudimentary game design.

Five members of the team that developed the famous SID chip (Sound Interface Device) including the lead designer Bob Yannes, left MOS Technology to form their own company with the intent to make a new personal minicomputer to rival Commodore, Atari, etc. To raise capital, they agreed to develop a computer keyboard for the Atari 2600, but Commodore threatened to sue them for taking technology they developed while at MOS Technology (a subsidiary of Commodore). So they changed focus, changed the name of the company, and got into the synth business instead.

Subsequently, Bob Yannes designed the Ensoniq ES5503 DOC (Digital Oscillator Chip), an extremely flexible single chip solution for digital signal processing, which was used in the Mirage, the ESQ-1, the SDP-1, the SQ-80, and the Apple IIGS personal computer. The Mirage sold 30,000 units during it's lifespan! It was under $1700 when it came out whereas the Emulator II was over $10,000! Comparing the two from a technological standpoint, the EII contains over 200 off-the-shelf general purpose ICs like 74XXX series logic, two of the ubiquitous Z80 processors plus all the support chips for that series, SRAM, 4XXX series chips, etc. The Mirage has roughly 50 chips. Amazing stuff.

We briefly had an ESQ-1 when I was kid. My dad bought it from someone in 1991 to augment our aging Yamaha DX7 (an original brown face model). The rig at the time was the DX7, the ESQ-1, a Sonus MIDI interface for the C64 (I don't remember the sequencing software), a Yamaha RX21 drum machine, and a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder. I still have the tapes of (really bad) music I made as a kid with that rig. We eventually sold everything and bought a floor model Yamaha SY77 which I still own.

In the last 10 years, I've acquired some Ensoniq pieces. It started with a VFX-SD and another original brown Yamaha DX7. I traded some organ lessons for both from a gentleman that used them in the late 80s in bands. I was excited to reunite with my old friend the DX7, but I really liked the VFX-SD as well and realized that Tony Banks used one on the We Can't Dance album and subsequent tour (which I saw when I was 15!) The battery had leaked and so I repaired the damaged components and replaced the battery with a new one. It sounds fantastic!

About five years ago, I found an SQ80 locally for dirt cheap. I think I paid $100 for it. I recently went through that unit, replacing the battery, restoring the keybed, and deep cleaning. It looks and plays great now! And the polyphonic aftertouch is really responsive. There is something special about the analog filters as well. It has a very warm, beautiful sound.

In the past month, I stumbled upon a badly beat up ESQ-1 with four broken keys for $100 and an EPS for free. I repaired the ESQ-1 (the actual keybed was broken, but I made my own replacement parts out of pin headers), replaced the battery, and loaded some cool sounds into it. The EPS works but requires me to turn it on, then off, then on again for it to boot. I'll have to track down that issue. I went to eBay and bought the original factory library disks for it.

And just this last week I found a really good deal on a TS10, so I snagged that and it's quickly become one of my favorite synths. What a pad monster! I've been deep diving on YouTube on how to program Hyperwaves. Again, that deep, warm Ensoniq sound is still there, even in this later model.

The end of the company saddens me. Ensoniq was a unique voice in the market, one that would still be popular and viable today had the company managed to survive. But it didn't, so I will cherish the unique instruments they developed and enjoy the five of them that I own!


 

[ProfD]

7 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

Ensoniq was a unique voice in the market, one that would still be popular and viable today had the company managed to survive.

Absolutely.

 

Ensoniq was a great company.  The sounds, features and functionality of their reasonably priced products served a lot of musicians and music producers extremely well from the late 1980s through 2000s.

 

Many folks still keep a piece of Ensoniq gear in the lab even if it doesn't get much use nowadays.😎

[mate stubb]

ESQ-1 user here also. It was built like a tank, and had a really nice synth engine and UI. 

[HSS]

I had a MR76 from about 1998 until 2010.  IMO it was a damn good board with really cool sounds, especially for its time, although it was a beast to transport.   I remember that the MR's sequencer and drum machine were a lot of fun.   I sold it for just a few hundred bucks.  Wish I would have kept it now for fun home use.

[zxcvbnm098]

I never owned one, but one cannot overemphasize how important they were (along with the Korg Polysix) to really blow the door open in terms of good, affordable gear in the 1980's.

 

Like I'm sure many others here, I lusted after a Prophet 5, Oberheim and Emulators, but they were soooooo unobtanium to high school and college me.

 

It's a shame they didn't last.....Looking over some of the their last models, I saw the HALO, which I didn't even remember (I had my second kid around that time..I don't remember much else). It looks like it was a cool product....

[dazzjazz]

Hi Jim,

 

my first job out of school was working in a music store, selling keyboards in the day while gigging at night. The ESQ-1 was something I sold a lot of, but unfortunately it was unreliable and many customers returned them for repair or simply demanded their money back. It certainly had a unique palette of sounds for the time though. 
 

I had every iteration of Ensoniq’s samplers except for the Mirage: these were pretty useful instruments, especially once I got a 20 MB (yes) removable hard drive for my ASR10 rack. In 1990 I had a whole electronic dance music band sequenced to the gills and it sounded very pro and like the records we were emulating. 
 

Still, the reliability thing was still an issue. On my final gig of a tour with a major Australian artist, and my parents in the audience, the ASR crashed, unbeknownst to me. So, during a tender ballad introduction, I go to creep in behind the singer with some tender strings…only to find that the ASR10s crash had sent the instrument to full volume and blew everyone’s ears out. It’s funny now that I think about - an example of comedy = tragedy + time. 
 

Darren. 

[JoJoB3]

The Mirage is a sampler I put in it's own unique category. It can be a fantastic weapon in sound design (think concept rather than how well it regurgitates the source). Adjust rates and other parameters to come up with extremely unique sounds that can be had with this early model. I'm keeping an eye out for a good used.

 

To go with my ESq1 and SQ80, I still have the Eps 16+ w orig scsi. She's still a beast. Just updated the pwr supp caps last year.

 

Ensoniq is simply a standout favorite. They remind me of Hammond back in the day.

[JoJoB3]

40 minutes ago, dazzjazz said:

Hi Jim,

 

my first job out of school was working in a music store, selling keyboards in the day while gigging at night. The ESQ-1 was something I sold a lot of, but unfortunately it was unreliable and many customers returned them for repair or simply demanded their money back. It certainly had a unique palette of sounds for the time though. 
 

I had every iteration of Ensoniq’s samplers except for the Mirage: these were pretty useful instruments, especially once I got a 20 MB (yes) removable hard drive for my ASR10 rack. In 1990 I had a whole electronic dance music band sequenced to the gills and it sounded very pro and like the records we were emulating. 
 

Still, the reliability thing was still an issue. On my final gig of a tour with a major Australian artist, and my parents in the audience, the ASR crashed, unbeknownst to me. So, during a tender ballad introduction, I go to creep in behind the singer with some tender strings…only to find that the ASR10s crash had sent the instrument to full volume and blew everyone’s ears out. It’s funny now that I think about - an example of comedy = tragedy + time. 
 

Darren. 

 

Wow. I've used the Esq1, sq80, and eps16+ for sooo many years live and in studio. Aside from battery replacement and pwr supp recaps I haven't experienced any of these reliability issues. They absolutely slam.

[CHarrell]

51 minutes ago, dazzjazz said:

Hi Jim,

 

my first job out of school was working in a music store, selling keyboards in the day while gigging at night. The ESQ-1 was something I sold a lot of, but unfortunately it was unreliable and many customers returned them for repair or simply demanded their money back. It certainly had a unique palette of sounds for the time though. 
 

I had every iteration of Ensoniq’s samplers except for the Mirage: these were pretty useful instruments, especially once I got a 20 MB (yes) removable hard drive for my ASR10 rack. In 1990 I had a whole electronic dance music band sequenced to the gills and it sounded very pro and like the records we were emulating. 
 

Still, the reliability thing was still an issue. On my final gig of a tour with a major Australian artist, and my parents in the audience, the ASR crashed, unbeknownst to me. So, during a tender ballad introduction, I go to creep in behind the singer with some tender strings…only to find that the ASR10s crash had sent the instrument to full volume and blew everyone’s ears out. It’s funny now that I think about - an example of comedy = tragedy + time. 
 

Darren. 

 

One of my roommates had one 10 years and I'm remembering this now. Wasn't there an issue where like the whole circuit board was on one "sheet" of PCB so if one thing went wrong (like a nasty drop), the whole thing would go?

[Delaware Dave]

Bought a VFX in 90, an SD1 in 93 and a TS-12 in 97.  My favorite digital keyboards. Absolutely loved the UI on those boards, very intuitive to operate. The factory was less than an hour away making repairs very convenient. 

[David Emm]

I was a double Mirage player, one with keys, one module. I partnered those with my parade of synths for years. I needed a trailer to haul all of my diskettes around. I never had a breakdown, amazingly enough. Talk about synth helper! The real strings led to a potent D-50 thing when matched with a Korg or Roland. I built a pipe organ with a Hammond aroma that raised the roof. The lessons I got in layering are as useful as bleep today. I look back in amusement at how the hassles of early hardware now make it a breeze to use Logic. I'm electronically offended that Ensoniq can't be around today. I'm sure that what was impressive then would be astounding by now. Anybody up for an Andromeda, Jr.?

[ProfD]

2 hours ago, dazzjazz said:

Still, the reliability thing was still an issue.

This definitely has to be acknowledged too.

 

Ensoniq products were great when they worked properly. 

 

Lucky was the individual who didn't experience faulty power supplies or overheating issues or random crashes. 

 

I bought an Ensoniq VFX-SD hot off the press. It was a great KB up until the power supply became flaky. I didn't bother to get it fixed. I exchanged the VFX-SD for a Roland D-50. 

 

Otherwise, I didn't have too many issues with the Mirage, EPS-m, EPS, EPS-16 Plus and ASR-10.😎

[AUSSIEKEYS]

2 hours ago, dazzjazz said:

my first job out of school was working in a music store

 

Hey dazz

 

Are you comfortable sharing the music store you worked at. Im assuming it was a Sydney store

 

I love to see if it was one i frequented back then. I visited many of the keyboard orientated stores.  (although i am crap remembering names of employees). I remember when Ensoniq made a huge splash in Sydney.  My brother has my old SQ1 i did my fathers album on. (cant remember if it was the plus but it rings a bell)

[zephonic]

I think I bought the one Ensoniq product that was kind of meh, the SQ2. It didn’t convince as a gigging instrument, but it blended nicely on tracks when layered with the JV-880. It was heavy, too, but I think my love for 76-key semi-weighted synths started there. I eventually traded it in for a D-70 and never looked back.

 

I did dig the TS-10/12 I found in a studio I worked at, and always lusted after an ASR-10 (Timbaland!). My main regret is not copping a MR-Rack, that thing was underrated.

 

 

[AROIOS]

No reminiscence of ENSONIQ would be complete without calling out the same atrocity CREATIVE committed on E-MU.

[Mike Martin]

Over the years I had a VFX-SD, TS-10, EPS-16, ASR-10 and DP-4+.  Sadly, not a single of those now.
I'd love to find a VFX-SD or TS-10 if I could.  Great, inspiring instruments. 

[BenWaB3]

I'll have to join with the ranks of dissenters here. I had both the ESQ-1 and the Mirage rack. They were so unreliable I was happy to get rid of them. Don't remember exactly how I got rid of them but think they were used as trade-in on a Korg M1. When the first Gulf War broke out I called one of the local music stores and asked/told the guys I know there if the reason the US achieved air superiority so quickly and completely was that Ensoniq was supplying the Iraqi air defense systems with their chips. Yeah, probably poor taste back then & especially now but it did have the salesguys howling.

[Finale]

Bought a DSK-8 (the "elegant" Mirage model) in 1986. I accumulated quite a few diskettes with the years. Kept it until 2016 when I needed cash to buy my Kronos. I sampled its best sounds before letting it go, they are now in the Kronos and sound even better than back then.

 

Mine was just fine, no reliability issues, except the highest C that I had to repair at some point (known issue). But talk about an interface from Hell. Oh and the famous MASOS - guess you had to be a bit maso to like the Mirage.  

 

At some point I wanted to be able to switch between the four available programs per diskette but without stopping playing with both hands, so I designed a custom pedalboard and a tiny home-made circuit with a 555 timer, relays and a 9V battery. Each of the foot switches would send two delayed "on" momentary contacts as if I would press the 0 and then 1, 2, 3 or 4 to select a program. This was particularly useful when I wanted to change octaves while playing piano pieces that needed more than 5 octaves.  

[Dave Bryce]

Jerrythek post in 3…2…1…

 

dB

[RedKey]

graduate of the infamous 1990's Ensoniq School here.

I started in High school w/ ESQ-m, and continued w/ EPS, SQ-2, KS-32, SD-1, TS-12, MR-Rack, ASR-10, DP-4+, Paris, & Fizmo.

Recently (accidentally) acquired a couple DP-4's and Mirages and a mountain of E-mu.  Updated Mirages with USB drives and they're a lot of fun.

Visited Creative in Santa Cruz in the late 90's while they were digesting the remains of E-mu and Ensoniq.  Big Fan.  Truly a sad ending.

 

[YashN]

7 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

I've always been fascinated by this company, due to my childhood and our beloved Commodore 64, which was my first computer and on which I learned how to program BASIC, experienced my first MIDI sequencer, and even got into rudimentary game design.

Five members of the team that developed the famous SID chip (Sound Interface Device) including the lead designer Bob Yannes, left MOS Technology to form their own company with the intent to make a new personal minicomputer to rival Commodore, Atari, etc. To raise capital, they agreed to develop a computer keyboard for the Atari 2600, but Commodore threatened to sue them for taking technology they developed while at MOS Technology (a subsidiary of Commodore). So they changed focus, changed the name of the company, and got into the synth business instead.

 

Transwaves, Hyperwaves and less-known: Wavetables. The ESQ-1 is a really nice Hybrid with a logical editing panel. I briefly had one but then a screen issue occurred and we had to part ways. John Carpenter used it or the SQ version, not sure. Great sounds with the CEM chips inside IIRC. Thanks for that bit of history.

 

I remember my C64 fondly too but I was lonely before that as I had an Oric Atmos, and no one else had one, so couldn't even exchange games with any friends, but I did learn BASIC on it. The manual is stellar. Once I got the C64 it was game-exchange fest. with friends at school: The Last Ninja, Green Beret, Ghosts n' Goblin, etc... We remained with Commodore on the next computer, an Amiga A500 and much more coding and gaming fun was had on that platform too.

 

Too bad Creative bought both E-mu and Ensoniq but that the brands didn't live on. Incidentally, it is quite interesting that E-mu was a more affordable answer to the expensive Fairlight Systems, and then Ensoniq a more affordable offering to E-mu gear.

 

Haven't had the opportunity of playing with transwaves, but looking at the manual of a TS-10 or something like that, there are realtime controls over sample start and loop points, including moving them in tandem that would be very nice to have in a Kurzweil... (realtime control over Start point with AltStart is there, but not the rest).

[YashN]

1 hour ago, AROIOS said:

No reminiscence of ENSONIQ would be complete without calling out the same atrocity CREATIVE committed on E-MU.

 

Creative actually decided to merge the companies and apparently, that was the start of the disappearance of both.

[Doerfler]

Holy moly, Redkey .

 

Oh Boy. This thread is making my brain overload.  Ensoniq was a HUGE part of my life 35 plus years ago.

 

I was gigging with an EPS in the late 1980's. A sampler that could load new sounds while playing other sounds for under US $2000.00

 

My salesperson (still a lifelong friend, story for another thread) wanted to sell me a Korg M1. M1 was all the rage at the time. 

 

 I started working at Washington Music Center in 1991. I became "the Ensoniq guy" of the keyboard department.

 

Whenever a customer walked into the store and inquired about Ensoniq, the other salespersons pointed them to me.  WMC was one of the largest Ensoniq dealers at that time.

 

Doug Nestler was the Ensoniq rep, great guy. 

 

I did gig with a SQ-1 over a SQ-2 for a short while , they were  great value for the money compared to other offerings in 1991.

 

Roy Elkins was running Ensoniq school at the time, he had previously worked at Washington Music Center, making his fame selling Ensoniq Mirage's.

 

Roy introduced me to Joey DeFrancesco while attending Ensoniq School in 1992. We (Joey and I) kept in touch until his passing 2 years ago. Roy took a photo of us, which I managed to get Joey to

 

autograph many years later. I last saw Roy at NAMM 2020. Hope he is doing well.

 

I have more recent photos of Joey and I , but that first one is the one I chesish the most.  

 

I need a drink now. 

 

 

[Tom Williams]

When I could afford either the DX7 or a Mirage DSK, I took the Mirage with no regrets.  I had a piano that sounded like a piano!

Traded the Mirage in towards the original EPS 13-minus.  When that was paid off I bought an additional EPS (used, cheap) and an SQ2.  The latter became my central gigging instrument, using one EPS as my backup band (bass and drummer) and the other for acoustic instruments that the SQ2 couldn't do well.

 

One thing I don't understand is why my 30-year-newer Kurzweil doesn't have 1/10 the sample manipulation capability of an EPS.

 

P.S. (after reading a couple of late posts) Transwaves on the SQ2 were wonderful.  I also learned how to make my own transwaves on the EPS by loop modulation in the sample.  Good times....

[Tom Williams]

4 minutes ago, Doerfler said:

I started working at Washington Music Center in 1991. I became "the Ensoniq guy" of the keyboard department.

 

Whenever a customer walked into the store and inquired about Ensoniq, the other salespersons pointed them to me.  WMC was one of the largest Ensoniq dealers at that time.

I wonder if we met.  I bought at least two of my Ensoniqs from Chick Levin's, and got a lot of wonderful samples there for my Mirage (They were upward compatible with the EPS.  The Synclavier was marvelous, as I recall.)

 

Did you work with the great Len Halleck?

[b3plyr]

8 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

I've always been fascinated by this company, due to my childhood and our beloved Commodore 64, which was my first computer and on which I learned how to program BASIC, experienced my first MIDI sequencer, and even got into rudimentary game design.

Five members of the team that developed the famous SID chip (Sound Interface Device) including the lead designer Bob Yannes, left MOS Technology to form their own company with the intent to make a new personal minicomputer to rival Commodore, Atari, etc. To raise capital, they agreed to develop a computer keyboard for the Atari 2600, but Commodore threatened to sue them for taking technology they developed while at MOS Technology (a subsidiary of Commodore). So they changed focus, changed the name of the company, and got into the synth business instead.

Subsequently, Bob Yannes designed the Ensoniq ES5503 DOC (Digital Oscillator Chip), an extremely flexible single chip solution for digital signal processing, which was used in the Mirage, the ESQ-1, the SDP-1, the SQ-80, and the Apple IIGS personal computer. The Mirage sold 30,000 units during it's lifespan! It was under $1700 when it came out whereas the Emulator II was over $10,000! Comparing the two from a technological standpoint, the EII contains over 200 off-the-shelf general purpose ICs like 74XXX series logic, two of the ubiquitous Z80 processors plus all the support chips for that series, SRAM, 4XXX series chips, etc. The Mirage has roughly 50 chips. Amazing stuff.!


 

You missed a key player at Ensoniq - Albert J. Charpentier (Al). He was key to the synthesizers as VP of engineering and CTO. I had the pleasure of knowing him and will say he is a great guy and very talented person. And what a shame that Ensoniq was sold. They were working on revolutionary synthesis technology that to the best of my knowledge, no manufacture has used to date.

 

[b3plyr]

58 minutes ago, Doerfler said:

Holy moly, Redkey .

 

Oh Boy. This thread is making my brain overload.  Ensoniq was a HUGE part of my life 35 plus years ago.

 

I was gigging with an EPS in the late 1980's. A sampler that could load new sounds while playing other sounds for under US $2000.00

 

My salesperson (still a lifelong friend, story for another thread) wanted to sell me a Korg M1. M1 was all the rage at the time. 

 

 I started working at Washington Music Center in 1991. I became "the Ensoniq guy" of the keyboard department.

 

Whenever a customer walked into the store and inquired about Ensoniq, the other salespersons pointed them to me.  WMC was one of the largest Ensoniq dealers at that time.

 

Doug Nestler was the Ensoniq rep, great guy. 

 

I did gig with a SQ-1 over a SQ-2 for a short while , they were  great value for the money compared to other offerings in 1991.

 

Roy Elkins was running Ensoniq school at the time, he had previously worked at Washington Music Center, making his fame selling Ensoniq Mirage's.

 

Roy introduced me to Joey DeFrancesco while attending Ensoniq School in 1992. We (Joey and I) kept in touch until his passing 2 years ago. Roy took a photo of us, which I managed to get Joey to

 

autograph many years later. I last saw Roy at NAMM 2020. Hope he is doing well.

 

I have more recent photos of Joey and I , but that first one is the one I chesish the most.  

 

I need a drink now. 

 

 

Post a picture1 Great story!

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, Tom Williams said:

Did you work with the great Len Halleck?

Oh boy....this could get interesting real quick. I'll let brotha @Doerfler tell it.🤣

 

As a loyal customer at Chuck's for almost 40 years, the late, great Len Halik was my 1st salesman.

 

My brothas Dave Doerfler and Roger Hooper who also became my go-to guys after Len and a few more great cats were at Chuck's at the same time. The good ole days.😎

[BenWaB3]

1 hour ago, Doerfler said:

Doug Nestler was the Ensoniq rep, great guy. 

I remember Doug from when he was at the now-closed Medley Music in Bryn Mawr, PA. I bought my DX-7 from him. He left Medley to go to Ensoniq and after his stint there he was a Korg rep for a while. Yes, he was a great guy. I've often wondered what happened to him and hope he's doing well.

 

14 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Oh boy....this could get interesting real quick. I'll let brotha @Doerfler tell it.🤣

 

As a loyal customer at Chuck's for almost 40 years, the late, great Len Halik was my 1st salesman.

 

My brothas Dave Doerfler and Roger Hooper who also became my go-to guys after Len and a few more great cats were at Chuck's at the same time. The good ole days.😎

The late great Len was also my first (and only, actually) salesman too. I had often wondered what had happened to him also. Since he was older than most of us, I had feared he might no longer be with us and am sad to hear that is the case.

[Jim Alfredson]

I think the reliability issues were related to the power supply. Bad power supplies are the bane of any electronic device. The power supplies in the Prophet 5 rev1 and rev2 are complete shit. Even the supply in the Oberheim OB-8 is under spec'd. 

I recapped the supply in my EPS but it still isn't booting correctly the first time you turn it on. It's going into Self-Test mode. Something isn't stabilizing fast enough. Next step is to replace all the electrolytic capacitors on the mainboard and see if that solves the issue.