Ensoniq MR-61

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