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1998 – Ensoniq PARIS Digital Audio Workstation.During this time, much of the engineering effort and company resources were focused on computer sound cards, which offered more profit for the company. Finally, while the competition's products were continually evolving and newer technologies such as physical modeling were introduced, Ensoniq failed to follow the late '90s market orientation, often recycling old concepts on their new products. Excellent synthesizers like the VFX or TS models lacked cheaper rack-mount counterparts. The company didn't manage to reinvent its workstation concept in order to survive the mid and late '90s, and no lower-budget versions of their keyboards were offered to replace the aging SQ line. Through the early and mid-1990s, much effort was focused on improving the reliability of the products. Later versions were produced with 32 sound-generating voices.ĭespite these strengths, early (1980s) Ensoniq instruments suffered from reliability and quality problems such as bad keyboards (Mirage DSK-8), under-developed power-supply units (early ESQ-1), or mechanical issues (EPS polypressure keyboard). This was a lower-cost line that included the SQ-1 (61 keys), SQ-2 (76 keys) and SQ-R (rack-mounted, with no keys or sequencer). The company had much success with the SQ product line starting in the early 1990s. In 1988, the company enlisted the Dixie Dregs in a limited edition promotional CD Off the Record which featured the band using the EPS sampler and SQ-80 cross wave synthesizer.
#Ensoniq vfx os emulator manuals
The manuals and tutorial documents were clearly written and highly musician-oriented, allowing the users to quickly get satisfactory results from their machines. Starting with the VFX synthesizer, high-quality effects units were included, in addition most synthesizer and all sampler models featured disk drives and/or RAM cards for storage. These were often called "Music Workstations". After the Mirage, all Ensoniq instruments featured integrated sequencers (even their late '80s and early '90s samplers) providing an all-in-one "digital studio production concept" instrument. Strong selling points were ease-of-use and their characteristic "fat", rich sound (generally thought of as being an "American" quality, as opposed to the "Japanese" sound which was more "digital" and somewhat "cold").
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Following the success of these products, Ensoniq established a subsidiary in Japan in 1987.Įnsoniq products were highly professional. Starting with the ESQ-1, they began producing sample-based synthesizers. At the price of USD$1695 it cost significantly less than previous samplers such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-MU Emulator.
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Musical instruments and digital systems Įnsoniq entered the instrument market with the Mirage sampling keyboard in 1985.
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After releasing an entry-level E-mu MK6/PK6 and Ensoniq Halo keyboards in 2002 – essentially keyboard versions of the Proteus 2500 module – the E-Mu/Ensoniq division was dissolved and support for legacy products was discontinued soon afterward. Over the next three years the Ensoniq operation in Pennsylvania was gradually dismantled and shut down. The musical products division, which was in financial trouble, was merged with E-mu Systems to form the E-Mu/Ensoniq division of Creative. The acquisition was focused on the sound-card technology of the Ensoniq Audio-PCI. In the mid-nineties, they developed a line of very cost-effective sound cards which sold millions of units. An attempt to diversify into hearing aids was unsuccessful and put the company in financial peril. While the core keyboard products were generally successful, there were some quality problems and increasing competition from Asian companies. A number of successful products followed which all included the full-custom ICs for music and effects which were developed in house. The plant in Great Valley, Pennsylvania employed nearly 200 people and housed the manufacturing facility. Įnsoniq grew rapidly over the next few years with the success of the Mirage and the ESQ-1. Renaming itself as Ensoniq, the new company instead designed a music synthesizer. To raise funds, Peripheral Visions agreed to build a computer keyboard for the Atari 2600, but the video game crash of 1983 canceled the project and Commodore sued the new company, claiming that it owned the keyboard project. The team had designed the Commodore 64, and hoped to build another computer. In spring 1983, former MOS Technology engineers Robert "Bob" Yannes, Bruce Crockett, Charles Winterble, David Ziembicki, and Al Charpentier formed Peripheral Visions.