Ensoniq MR-61

I'm using system OS v2.0. The OS fits in three fat ROM chips, which aren't user-upgradeable. Very stable, no hang-ups or sudden crashes.
The keyboard is VERY, VERY EASY to use. You get a button for almost any function implemented. There's an arsenal of buttons dedicated to the 16 track recorder and the song manager, which make writing new songs a very easy process. Also, you get 3 digital knobs (category, value and mix-expression) plus a dedicated pan analog knob, which helps A LOT to find and modify sounds or parameters. There's a handy HELP button, which works as the "command help" icon on windows programs. Since Ensoniq is now dead, don't expect new OS versions or upgrades, they forgot all they 'old' synths and are only thinking in the fizmo and zr-76 :(

You NEED a computer patch editor, because you can only alter some parameters of the built-in presets = you can't create sounds from scratch. The manual is big, verbose and very complete. It explains almost any parameter, menu or feature available.

Interface: 20x2 big char backlit LCD. Enough for most purposes, except sequencing. No huge menus or scroll pages, because there are about 80 buttons on the keyboard, so you get quickly to the parameter you want to reach. Honestly, nothing can beat the Triton's TouchView...

64-note polyphony. Of course, complex sounds can eat more than one voice per note, but this is the usual matter with synths. The keyboard is semi-weighted and hard to play, but it's good to perform. The MR's sounds can use up to 16 layers (or waveforms) per note, with very flexible parameters and controls, if you can program it.

Built-in FX are presented as six 24-bit effect buses:
* one dry, no FX, bus;
* A 3-way fully programmable stereo reverb bus;
* one programmable chorus bus;
* one insert fx bus, can be take from 40 effect algorithms, including delays, phasers, distortions, eq's, flanger, etc. Often, they are presented as serial combinations of up to 4 effects, like Delay->Distortion->Compressor->Reverb. The ensoniq's scheme of fx offers A LOT of parameters per effect and sounds very professional.
When using a MIDI 16-part sequence (internal or external), all 16 parts share the 6 buses. You can route every part to the bus you want, and there's an option to copy an individual sound from the SoundFinder with its insert fx to the sequencer, so you don't need to re-program the parameters. IMHO, there should be a second insert fx bus, because certain instruments, like distorted guitars, really need the insert bus, leaving the rest of instruments with a chorus or reverb option only.

You can expand the keyboard with up to three expansion boards, like a 24-megabyte piano one or a 20-MB Dance-style option. Also, there's a hard-to-find 4-MB flash ROM option, which lets you upload .wav or .aif samples to the keyboard. Very cool.
All expansions are user-installable.

MIDI implementation is complete but not excellent like Korg or Roland's ones. As a controller, you get aftertouch, programmable mod & pitch wheels, up to 2 dual footswitches and one CV pedal input, all assignable.

You get 4 audio outputs (2 main + 2 aux) which are balanced and electrically ground-isolated. This professional detail aids greatly on studio recordings.

There's a complete drum machine inside the MR. The board is supplied with a variety of realistic styles (you can compose serious songs with them), with 8 variations / 8 fills per rythim. The rithyms are customizable and combinable. The drum machine works very close to the on-board sequencer. You can save your edited patterns in the on-board flash ROM or in RAM. The styles are arranged in categories, and are easy to locate.


Before discussing the sequencer, a briefly paragraph is needed to explain the internal memory organization on the MR:
The MR is shipped with a certain amount of flash ROM, which stores 1 bank of user presets, the system configuration and user drum styles.
Also, there are about 280K of RAM, which isn't battery-backed. That's, at my sight, the big drawback of the keyboard, because the RAM space isn't expandable, and it's shared by the sequencer, the IdeaPad, another user sound bank and another user style bank. You can configure how those elements will share the memory, but the space is limited and you need to save on disk all your work manually, before you power off the gear.

The included sequencer can use up to 213K of internal RAM, enough for about 70000 events. It's very easy to work with, have dedicated buttons for each one of the 16 tracks, and there are a mix and a pan knob to speed up the mixing process. Ensoniq's system of sequencing is something special, you get 3 banks of 8 sequences each (16 track per sequence). Each sequence has its own insert fx. You record your sequences and then chain them to build you song. Because each sequence has its own insert fx, it's easy to make your song with different effects as its play. The board changes the insert fx type between seq

Both MR-61 and MR-76 are shipped with 14 MB of ROM waveforms of reasonable quality. Acoustic instruments are very good, except some non-convincent basses and violin solos. Vocal choir sucks. Pianos, guitars and woodwinds are OK. Not a "pad keyboard": the MR focuses on acoustic and drum sounds. Strings are very good, comparable to Korg ones. Over 700 drum samples, they are professional and convincent. You get TR-808/909, session, jazz, rock... almost every imaginable drum sound. There are some average pads. Easy layer / splitting capabilities. Organs are good. Some brasses sucks.

The gear works well for most musical styles, excepting some extreme resonant or acid styles, due to the lack of a per-voice resonant filter. On board guitars and pianos allows the MR to reach pop & rock styles in a convincent way. If you play Hip-Hop/Rap styles, there are many processed drum sounds to fit those styles, including voices & vinyl fx...

I don't have tested expansions, except for the EXP-4 "Perfect Piano" one, that converts your MR into a ZR...

Unlike Korg, patches aren't FX-dependant. Since ensoniq's filter and volume LFOs are sync-able to system clock, there are many sound effects that don't need the FX processors.

Preset patches don't use the mod wheel or aftertouch in a dramatic way, so some programming is needed.

In the sound output department, the keyboard is very quiet and clean, even at high volume output.

The unit is a 15 Kg TANK. Almost 80% build on metal, the unit is solid and reliable. I can, definitely, depend on it. No backup needed on gigs, at my sight.

I don't have treaten with ensoniq (now R.I.P.) folks, and I think I will not and I want not to do so.

I think i would buy the gear another time. It has enough interesting features to keep my interest.
I'm playing for about 10 years, and passed thru cheapo Casio keybords, to more respectable Korgs and finally reach to this Ensoniq's thing. It's comparable to Roland's XP-50/80 (without arpeggiator) and Korg's N264/364 (remodelled versions of X2/X3), in the sub-tri[ton/nity] range. I think acoustic sounds clearly beat Korg's ones. Korg's pads and choir beats ensoniq and roland ones. MR's drums beats korg's ones but keep in pace with Roland's ones. Also, N264/364 are unexpandable, with only 8 Mb of waveforms, making their sound tighten than Roland or Ensoniq gears.

The IdeaPad is a great feature, you shortly "fall in love" with it. FX are good. Most sounds doesn't need them, in fact, there's not exciters or enhancers on-board. Maybe a better visual interface, for the sequencer, but the keyboard simply rocks!
As an used workstation, is probably the best buy you can do with US$1000. What options do you have on this price range? Maybe new synths like XP30, without sequencer, or the rare Kawai K5000W.
I recommend this gear to any serious composer reading this review.

very easy to use. a child can learn to work it. with its catogorized areas its pretty hard to get lost. manual is pretty cool and easy to read.

very cool sequencer and polyphony rocks. effects are cool and i really enjoy the effects processer!

sounds are killer. i use it in gospel music and its sounds are unmatched. i has gone up against roland's xp series and roland was no match. korg couldn't compete against the mr's pianos and organs!

had some problems with it when i bought it, but took it in and after about a month in the shop it seemed to have been all taken care of.

was told to call in for an upgrade and i left my address but never got the upgrade!

great board and i would recomend it to anyone! anyone that would like to get into sequencing or anyone that just wants killer sounds. i have board players that always ask me to trade them boards. korg and roland owners alike

Sounds Killer, Soundfinder is cool since there are so many patches to choose from. Have a TS and ASR, and the MR is definately cleaner, quieter, more sophisticated, different but good it sounds good in my rig. Drums are unbelievable, it will blow away most if not all drum modules. Can only do basic ASDR editing on board but it comes with a MR unisyn package which is cool if you use a computer. Since there are so many patches and with massive expansion capabilities, not much need for deep programming. Manual is okay, kinda huge but it works. If you've used a Ensoniq synth before it shouldn't be much of a problem. It's different from the TS or ASR but the underlying logic is the same. Within a week you'll be hanging it up because you push the buttons too fast.

64 Voices, enough if you have other stuff but since the MR uses a lot of layers per instrument doing complex stuff with just this would be tough. Effects are seriously cool, Chatter box and Formant Morph rock for lead sounds, the amp sims are good for that LO FI thang, and the bread and butter stuff is as good as an above average dedicated box. Expansions galore, I got the World and Dance ROMS and i'm just drowning in sounds. The expansions are 24 MB!!!!! EACH so it's like using a sampler, hell that's more than an ASR fully loaded, I hope they make a new ASR but anyway. Since they have so much room to work with the expansion sounds sound even better than the presets. There is a Flash Rom board coming out soon so you can load your own wave form as well, should be cool for one shot stuff. Wish it had a SCSI option, and Sequencer Memory expansion though. Sequencer is okay , TS sequencer is better but MR has Idea Pad which is a sequencer that runs as soon as you power up. Everything you do is recorded so it's a great idea catcher, it also has a built in drum machine with some very hip grooves. Highly inspirational and addictive, I can use it to practice with so my drum machine is history, solo/duo giggers will love this.

Ensoniq did away with the Patch Select buttons, and Poly Key pressure which is a real bum trip. Don't know what ya got until it's gone. And of course no ribbon controllers so definately not as happening as K2500 or Trinity, but since I'm a fairly shitty keyboard player i'm not gonna die. If you're into control well there's not much of that here. The sounds though are very well programmed and so there's a lot happening just using velocity. Pianos killer, Rhodes, Organs, Basses plentiful, Drums Phat, and with expansion boards well this thing can do just about any genre with balls. Kabuki theater soundtrack? Well they got ya covered. Again EFX are very usable, and sound quality is very high and what's really cool is for every FX Algo there are a bunch of presets already made so you can start from somewhere close and tweak from there just like TS and ASR.

Well, with the original OS this thing was pretty wacko, but I use a macintosh so i'm used to it. With 1.64 I can work with some confidence in the Sequencer but no cookie yet. Version 2 .0 is supposed to come out soon and hopefully that will solve most of the problems. Mechanically it's totally dependable. I would use it on a gig but I wouldn't use the sequencer just yet.

The folks in Malvern are great, never had a bad experience and I have a lot of Ensoniq Gear. Upgrades and Options are user installable on the MR so that's a big plus. Only thing, if you're the type of person who breaks machines just by looking at em, you should maybe get a friend to do the honors. It's kinda spooky pulling out a EPROM.

Yeah i'd buy it again. It's a serious keyboard, and it's fun to boot. I use it in all kinds of situations, capturing ideas, practicing, jamming, recording, gigging. It's a keyboard that makes you want to make music. Kinda like a MAC makes you want to play with a computer, it has personality . If you get a chance try and pry off one of those wheels on the front panel and you'll know what I mean. As for the cons well the sequencing software is kinda buggy, it's gotten much better but there's still room for improvement. I'd like to see it have at least the same level of power as the TS. I have a bunch of Roland and Korg gear too but that's just for more polyphony and sounds no fun. The MR is what the Korg I3 tried to be. The MR sounds pro, outside of the sequencer is pro, and it's fun, and it makes music. By the way check out Ensoniq's web page if you haven't already Paris is coming, better save your pennies. WWW.ENSONIQ.COM