Ensoniq KT-88

It's been over 10 years (about 12, by my reckoning), since I grit my teeth and purchased a monster keyboard. I was a music teacher at the time (no big money there), so it had to be a "Swiss Army Knife" of synths. My criteria included: piano size and action, on-board sequencing, enough patches to replace all the musicians in the band if needed, and a decent price point. After looking at Roland, Korg, et al, I went with the Ensoniq KT-88. 12 years later, I've still not purchased another synth. Probably should, but I've not. As a matter of fact, I've just finished making repairs to my 2nd KT88 with parts from the original, which I purchased from a catalog/online retailer in 1996 for a little under $1800. (The second one was from Ebay much later, and much less).

As for the "Ease of Use" questions:

1. I dunno what software version. AFAIK, there were no updates. But, I live in a tree. :-)

2. Hardly a bad piano preset in the bunch, and there are, relatively speaking, a lot of 'em, also Celestes, Rhodes, Clavs, Wurlys, and all manner of synthy pianos and blends. Organs are not quite as good, and it's hit/miss the rest of the way except for great drum kits. There is about one, maybe two "money" sounds in each category (guitar, bass, brass, woodwind, pads, international), and there's a bunch of other sounds I never use.

3. Editing patches is for programmers. I can edit them, but it doesn't sound good to me.

4. The manual was much better than I expected, and certainly better than any computer manual I've read. Big volume, though; not one night's reading, to be sure.

The KT series had 64 note polyphony and a FATAR brand weighted action (of 76 or 88 keys). I love the action, but do tend to bust the weights occasionally, particularly on G#4 which is the highest crash cymbal in the Ensoniq drum map. I once had a conversation with a tech guy at a (Branson Missouri) country show, maybe around 2001-2. The "featured keyboardist" and band leader for the show was playing a KT88 in a dummy grand case, and he said they had to buy a new one every six months or so (the guy played the blasted thing like a percussion instrument, my piano teacher woulda killed me for it).

It has a two-channel effects bus, which can be used seperately or in some cases stacked, IIRC. I pretty much use stock effects. In the sequencer, you can route each patch to FX1, FX2, or a dry bus. Unfortunately, the "stock patches" each have their own FX settings, and when you go to use that great sounding guitar in a sequence, you can't get a great sound without it screwing up the other tracks, so your guitar won't sound nearly as realistic in a sequence as it does played solo from the keyboard.

The KT series wasn't very expandable. You can/could get a PCMCIA (I think) memory card to add memory for the sequencer. It may have also been possible to download additional sounds (which could also be stored on the card). There was no disk/CD available; I have a feeling, but don't have authoritative info, that such a luxury would have been too pricey for Ensoniq to offer this board at a competing price point.

MIDI-wise, you can do plenty. The sequencer is 16 tracks (8 at the "sequence" or pattern level, and 8 more over the entire "Song" or group of sequences). These tracks can play locally, globally, or externally. The keys are pressure sensitive, pitch and mod wheels are fully configurable and assignable (mod wheel when editing sounds, that is). I've used the sequencer, and used the sequencer, and used the sequencer. People in the general public think I'm some kind of guru --- it's just that I've figured out how to use the thing.

As for ranking, it's hard to say. It was great when it came out, and it's still very useable, but obviously newer and/or more expensive boards would have some features you don't get with the KT series. Still, it's a Swiss Army Knife.

As other say, pianos and some keyboards are good, synths are a few good and not many really there at all. There are only about 180 <?> sounds available, and some are very much alike (20 drum kits, for example). There are an additional 128 General MIDI sounds, but I've never used them except for special effects.

I think the KT is best at being an "all in one" band in a box. A couple great basses and drum sets, great keys ... play your own guitar if anyone listening is a stickler, but you can fake out the unlearned with the thing. I've had a tune on the radio a little, all made with the KT. I seem to remember that "Jimmy Jam" at one time said that the KT was a big secret of his, as well. I do a lot of praise/worship music and "Contemporary Christian" work; they aren't particularly sophisticated audiences (musically speaking), but they aren't idiots either, and they're pretty impressed with the sounds.

The onboard effect are good if you stick to basics. I don't know that I'd buy this machine for the effects processor, tho.

I get a kick playing synths and winds in a "solo" type situation on the KT. I can get pretty expressive with the aftertouch on the soprano sax patch, for example, or the wheel on a couple of the synth leads.

I've not seen anyone mention the A/D converter noise. You need to play the KT with the volume slider almost full on, or louder, otherwise your PA system may pick up the A/D "artifacts" around some of the sounds.

I've used one KT at hundreds and hundreds of "gigs" since 1996, and for lots of recordings. These days, I do have a "backup", as there have been occasional problems, but, for the most part, these are few. The main reliability problems: heavy hitting will knock off the key-weights. Also, a static shock to the earphone jack may shut the system down. Finally, the problem I just fixed: a capacitor board that helps regulate the power supply to the motherboard can go fritzy on the board and cause some problems. I've had one replaced in the shop, and we just took the power board from my oldest KT and put it on the newer one ourselves. We're tickled pink that it was in good condition and fixed the newer KT so we don't have to replace it yet! :-P

Alas, Ensoniq was purchased a few years after the KT came out by E-MU, (manufacturer of the E-Mulator, the Proteus et al) which was then bought by Creative Labs (the people who make SoundBlaster sound cards, etc). Needless to say, they aren't necessarily music types, and you're not gonna be able to talk to Ensoniq anymore. (Probably not E-MU, either). I seem to remember calling the company about some stupid thing back in the day, and we got on OK. Wasn't to fix the thing, tho.

I've had the KT88 in the local (lol, 50 miles away) shop a couple of times. One of the bigger gripes they have is the weights --- you have to remove all the keys adjacent to the busted weight to get at it, so for G#4, that's a lot of keys to remove and put back on just to get to one weight. Other than that, I'd imagine that as old as the thing is now, parts might be tough to come by. But, they never seemed at the time to have to hard a time with it, other than that.

If it were still available and mine was lost, I'd buy another. It's worth what I paid several times over.

I've played piano for 36 years, drums for 30 or so, guitars for 25, and other instruments as well. I've got PA, amps, and so on, but no other keyboards and little other MIDI gear at all.

I love playing the KT. I love sequencing with it. I hate carrying it. Anyone who owns one can relate. I also dislike having to spend so much time on data storage and management. It'd been nice if it had onboard removeable storage, but we just use a Yamaha Midi Data Filer to write to floppies. Talk about antiquated; I still have some floppies with data on them from 1996. I think a couple of them even still work. I'm needing to replace the system more because of the storage issues than anything else at the present time---I can't find the old DD floppies around here anymore.

Apart from the built-in sequencer, the KT88 is probably one of the easiest keyboard to work with. My favourite feature on the KT88 is the 'Transpose' function - whereby you can change key on-the-fly by pressing a note on the keybed while holding the Transpose key. Extremely handy when you need to change keys really quickly.

64 polyphony. Very useful sounds. Built-in effects are adequate and reasonably good, even by today's standards. It has an on-board sequencer which is a major let-down of the keyboard to say the least - poor useability. Took me ages to figure out how to lay a basic track down. Never used the sequencer again.

Very good at the time. And still not bad by today's standards. Very warm 'analog(as opposed to digital' sounds. The pads are awesome. The pianos are OK, like other reviewers have pointed out.

I also want to note that the action of the weighted keyboard is a bit heavy for my liking.

Bought it over 10 years ago. Never had a problem with it. It has been dropped a few times. Very impressive, considering its weight (it weight like a ton!!!!)

Never had to deal with support.

Very trusty keyboard. If stolen, I would be very upset and possibly try to hunt down a used on on trading post. They can be found for less than a grand these days in very good condition. I really like the transpose function. Alternatively, I might check out the latest Korg models.

For the person complaining about the loud key: each key has two sensors underneath to sense velocity (how loud it should play). If one of the contacts is dirty, it will sound at max velocity (loud). What you have to do is take away the keyboard, disassembly it, and clean all the contacts. It can be done by anybody who feels confortable doing this kind of jobs.

The KT88 has few buttons which keeps things simple but can ba a pain hitting the button a few times to get the right page for Global stuff.
Finding and selecting sounds is quite easy. There is a neat soundfinder feature to find similar sounds. Convenient.
I find their seqeuncer/preset blur a little confusing and I've owned previous ensoniq products. Some buttons double as other functions depending on what you're doing which can be confusing but if you don't like lots of buttons it's quite simple that way.
Another convenient button is the transpose. One button then press a key. If you use minor or mode scales it will require just a little thinking to convert first.
So everything is right there. The only thing you have to dig around a bit is for Global and editing sequences or presets.
Never spent time editing patches- i prefer to play.
The manual is decent but long.

The polyphony was great at the time and still is. I don't see how you could run out of notes unless you do some serious layering.
The effects are quite good and allow you to get buy without a basic reverb unit. I never adjusted them much- i prefer to play.
When sequencing though it is hard to retain the effects for all your different tracks. I think you can only have 1 or 2 different effects on different sounds simultaneously. But with the same sound I believe you can layer several effects.
It has PCMCIA expansion which is good, if you wait several years you can get them for under $100 each. I got the KT series. There were some pretty good sounds here and are probably worth the price.
The sequencer is a little hard to use going back and forth between sound selection, editing tracks. I haven't used it extensively. The BIGGEST problem I have with most on board sequncers is the lack of space although you can expand.
I end up not using it that much. I don't want ot be in the middle of inspiration and not be able to record so I use external methods.
It is not as intuitive as it could be and I have to constantly search for the right button here.

The sounds were quite good at the time and still are. I thought the pianos were fantastic at the time.
Since then I have aquired a real piano and now when I go back I'm dissapointed. But I don't expect any other keyboards to do much better.
If you're playing in a band you probably wouldn't notice. If you're a piano veteran and play solo it may or may not do.
I noticed at certain times an almost thumping sound with the piano. But to most people they will think it sounds awesome.
Other sounds are good but are mostly instrument sounds. Not many synth sounds. Wouldn't be great for the techno/disco/hiphop crew.
But then that's what makes it different. I think their instrument sounds like pianos are much more realistic than Korg which is better at synth sounds.
It is quite expressive with the key touch and the settings are adjustable for how hard you play which is great.

No problems with it.

NA

This is my main keyboard I use. I bought it primarily for the 88 weighted keys and the great piano sounds. If you don't like brainless controllers this is a great pick.
I also wanted the polyphony it has which is plenty. This unit has everything you need except some popular techno / synth sounds. Korg is a better pick for that. But you could maybe make your own patches or find 3rd party ones.
This would be a great rig for Church type stuff and anyone wanting to do piano/organ stuff.
If you want something light and compact this is not the board for you. If you don't do any sequencing or any patch editing you are probably better off with a more scaled down specific piano/organ instrument.
The KT88 seems like it is designed to replicate existing instruments and not create a lot of fancy effect crazy sounds.
I own a Korg 01WFD to make up for some of the sounds the KT88 doesn't have. I also have an ensoniq SQ80 I just can't bring myself to throw away yet.
The SQ80 seems a lot more intuitive and easy to use but then I used it a lot more and read the manual more.
I've played for about 14 years now, just in a home studio type hobbyist way.
If you want a complete workstation in 88 keys that can act as the main or center instrument this has everything you need for a good price.
If it were lost and stolen I'm not sure if I would get it again. At the time weighted keys were relatively new and they have had 8 years to improve that and paino patches may have improved even more.
So I'd probably check out the latest stuff to see if there was any noticeable improvement. Other than that I would consider getting it again.

you need a replacement for the key, the contact rubber or both items.
contact TheSoniq at santa clara, CA., they have the spare parts for many ensoniq gear.

ask them at thesoniq@prodigy.net

hope this helps...

Fairly easy to use. This board has a tremendous amount of "things" that you can do but for the most part, with the manual close by, and compared to most keyboards, it's relatively user frendly.

Once you get used to your way around all the effects, your life definately gets easier. The sequencer can be a pain in the ass sometimes and I guess that's why I never use it. Pressure sensitive keys, simplicity of the displays and lack of a million dials and buttons make this board one of the best boards that Ensoniq ever made. 88 keys with solid feel a plus. Heavy as hell though.

Great sounds. Piano, strings, and most organs fine just as they are without any tweaking. I only use around 20 patches predominately and I really haven't had to do much to them. I play country and rock and this board is perfect for all my needs.

I'ts taken its bumps and bruises and it's held up so far!

Never had to deal with them. Hope I never do.

Definately worth the money. Have owned roland, korg and yamaha products. All boards have something better than the next but I would have to say that the KT-88 is the best board I've owned so far. If you can find one for sale; BUY IT! You wont be dissapointed.

I thought I would review this keyboard after having one for almost 7 years. It's definitely time for me to get a new one for two reasons: my KT88 is beat up and falling apart, and it's just getting outdated. But in case you find a new one (ensoniq as a synth maker isn't doing much right now, in fact I think Creative owns them) or a decent used one I thought I would relate my experience.

I always thought it was easy to use, setting up presets wasn't too challenging if you needed something simple done. The sequencers on Ensoniq keyboards have always been easy to me but I think it's because until now I've been an ensoniq user since high school.

The polyphony for the time this board came out was really great, I believe it's 64, but naturally that gets used up fast with layered sounds (each preset has 3 possible voices), but honestly I never had a problem with note stealing when playing full chords with both hands. Or even when playing live compositions of 4+ different sounds at a given time with my external sequencer. To this day I'm still using it as a controller for recording midi in my computer studio. And the action was great at the time it came out. I remember comparing it with Roland and Yamaha's offerings at the time and liking the action of the KT88 the best. It felt the most like a piano to me, which admittedly is not always what keyboard players are concerned about.

I also fell in love with the piano sound which I think still holds up to this day. I've played this piano sound so much that myself and other musicians have noticed that some of the notes are VERY SLIGHTLY out of tune on what must be a sampled piano. I think that actually contributes the realness of the piano. No piano can ever be 100% perfectly in tune. But the truth is that it's barely imperceptible, but I thought it was an interesting quirk worth mentioning.

I also loved the rhodes and wurlitzer sounds, the clav sounds are great too. In fact for the time, the piano feel combined with the great sounds, which included very nice horn sounds and ethnic sounds, this keyboard just had it all. The drum and percussion sounds are very impressive, I love the tuned perc sounds like marimba and vibes on this thing. The string sounds leave something to be desired especially by todays standards. What it's missing is synth sounds. That's not important to me in terms of having a weighted action PIANO emulator, but I love to use synth and other electric sounds as well.... but I think the best way is to separate your synth sounds from your piano/electric piano/organ/ethnic/and other real sounds. This way the synth/module you use for each are focused on real or synth sounds. There are also organ sounds which I think are very good and varied, especially when you can add the great leslie effect. The only problem with the organ sounds is that they are preset to become leslie with either the wheel or EXTRA key pressure, and just like a real leslie you hear the whirling start slow and speed up to normal. It's on or off, which is fine, but the way you trigger it sucks when it's pressure. I found myself accidentally triggering it on or off when I played normally by pressing down too hard at times. Also switching between sounds (to try to create more possiblities like a B3) sucked when the leslie triggering was different each time. So I created a preset with my favorite organs sounds (up to 8, the sequencer track buttons were also used to created layered/split or any kind of presets). The leslie effect doesn't translate to the preset/seq section so you have to add the effect again and THEN set it to turn on by mod wheel. Then I could layer different organs together etc... it was my b3 frankenstein and it worked for a while. Then I got a Hammond XK2.... Now organ sounds on a keyboard are just a waste of memory to me ;-)

The effects themselves sounded great but you could only choose one effect at a time. However some effects were bundled, that is you could choose an effect that was delay AND reverb and control them somewhat independently, but you couldn't just add whatever effects you like like you can with computer audio.

I used the piano mostly for jazz and also for blues gigs and for my rock/funk/jam band (where I used it most of the time) the electric piano sounds were great.

It should be mentioned I use a Roland KC500 amp that I got at the same time and I will still be using this great and versatile keyboard amp with my next board (I can't afford not to anyways)

Here's where we hit a problem. But this problem comes with a disclaimer. I'm a hard hitting player; I play loud and hard SOMETIMES. Granted if I play this hard on my baby grand well that thing can handle it no problem.
What I'm getting at is the fact that I had to replace the actual keyboard (all the keys, not the whole instrument) FOUR times. But like I said I'm a heavy hitter, at least I was in one band. If you just play jazz or classical you'll probably never have to replace the keys. Also I've had it for seven years and it's been all over New England with me.

One of the ends is held together by duct tape right now. But I also used a soft case....

At any rate the plastic that holds the keyboard is kind of cheap I think. So weigh your options. Of course you probably won't be able to buy this keyboard anyways so right now I'm just writing a eulogy I guess for my dying and soon to be replaced KT88.

I paid $1700 at the time and it was a great deal, it was a floor model.

The sounds are very good. Great variety. Sequencing is a little time-
consuming. The manual is like ALL manuals - you need a manual on how
to read the manual!

Most all the features I will ever need. Great effects.

Here is my BIG problem. My middle G# is extremely loud! I've tried
everything I know to correct (soften) this keys sound - nothing works.
Reinitializing doesn't do a thing. Can ANYBODY give me advice?

I've tried to reach Ensoniq for tech support - NONE there.

WORTHLESS!!!!

If I could figure out how to correct my "loud key" problem, I'd be a
happy man.

Antonis Keramidas did a review of the KT-76. The KT-88 is exactly the same but with 88 notes instead of 76.
Antonis has expressed my sentiments about this keyboard and is of the same opinion about it as I am. In fact I couldn't express it better.

Again Antonis has expressed my feelings. But I could add--"Where are you, disk drive" This is my big gripe.
I like 88 notes as I find a 76 note keyboard on the short side and a 61 note impossible. I also like the various pressure sensitivities ranging from a set of synth feels to piano feels. (soft thru hard)

I play mainly solo and use this keyboard in a close up setting. eg weddings/dinners. both in lounges and private houses. The sounds are great and can stand a close up scrutiny. My clients are always commenting on how much they like the sound. Especially the piano layered with strings. The strings however could be a bit warmer sounding in my opinion.For other comments- again refer to Antonis's

It has been great and taken a lot of use. Been through power surges and overheated junction boxes and still performs with no loss of data.
I haven't a flash card (due to the $250 price tag) to save my presets on but I also haven't had to re-initialise the keyboard back to factory presets and lose all mine

I whacked it into a door once getting into the gig and broke a key.
Another time the modulation wheel stopped working. The New Zealand agent is The Electric Factory who repaired it while I waited. They are excellent and understood that I can't leave it for repair as I am gigging and need it on a daily basis ( the keyboard that is )

I love this keyboard and I think it is far superior in sound to most available Jap keyboards. It sounds different. Perhaps warmer and not so clinical. It is a shame it is not still being produced. Good 88 note keyboards are hard to find. My only gripe is the flash cards. they are very expensive in NZ. Why oh why didn't they use floppy disks,or even to be clever, writable cds.