Ensoniq MR-76

When I got it (new in 1997) I'd have given it high marks for the sequencer's ease of use. Really great UI design there. However, these days there are better solutions for sequencing.

I use it live and in the studio, and it's not really suited for live work -- it needs preset keys like the ZR-76 has. I use the sequencer for poor man's patch keys, but then I don't get splits, layers, & other features.

But pretty much everything does what it looks like it does, and you can use most of the features without the manual. If you have any doubts, the manual generally covers it very well.

Summary: excellent design for the era, but out of date, and not really suitable for performance (ZR-76 is much better).

Incredibly versatile for a 1996 design.
Needs preset keys (which they did add, for the ZR-76).
Good MIDI implementation -- I use it as master keyboard with internal sounds plus laptop (without splits) and it's fine. It would work fine with splits too, except there's no quick way to change on the fly, making that feature rather useless for live work.

It has channel aftertouch. It sends MIDI release velocities too, which might someday be of some use -- if anyone ever implements a sound module that uses this info.

The MOTU software for editing patches (using PC or Mac) doesn't work at all. Using the panel buttons you can create patches that are layers/splits of other patches. This feature is nice but has limitations -- they don't work quite the way real layers/splits do. But it would be great to get into real patch editing because the MR76 has incredible sound generation and modulation control, and some patches are almost great but suffer from flaws that could be corrected if we could edit the patches.

In spite of being a 10-yr-old design, this keyboard has some sounds that are better than I can find on any modern ROMpler keyboards. The vibes and suitcase piano are to die for. The Concert Grand is excellent and WAY ahead of its time -- I find it's comparable in overall quality to pianos like Roland RD700. Not quite as nice as S90ES and RD700sx, but also not in a whole different league, which is impressive given the time this keyboard was made.

Fun clav sounds, expressive lead sax sound (though perhaps annoying to real sax players, since it's obviously not the real thing!) A few good hot lead synth sounds, very "live" like analog synths with multiple voices. Decent Hammond sounds, though unfortunately they're almost all percussive (stupid because ROMplers don't do percussion right). Great Leslie (rotating speaker & tube amp) sim.

Great DSP chip for highly tweakable FX, which can be saved as presets. (Unlike editing patches which requires the external software that doesn't work.)

Prior to say 2001 or so, I'd have given this a 10.

Other than the keybed, reliability has been 100%. I don't gig heavily, but I do play out once or twice a week (blues jam, band practice, occasional gig). So I move it a lot. I carry it in a ProTec soft/rigid case, which is perfect. However, I always carry it in my own car, not tossed into a band van.

I play hard, especially live after a couple beers, and have broken a number of tines on my 1977 Rhodes. The keyboard was fine up until about 2003 or 2004, when a couple keys started to clack, due to a part that breaks off of the flyweights. Fortunately, this doesn't affect playing the key other than sounding annoying, and you can feel the "clack" in your fingers too -- only, after the key has played. So, if you can ignore it it doesn't affect playing.

And it's fixable. The keybed is very difficult to get to, but if you're handy you can pull the keybed out, pull off each bad key, and stick on a rectangle of soft stuff (e.g., the fuzzy side from industrial velcro), after which the key is pretty much as good as new. No doubt this repair is not permanent. There's one screw that causes considerable difficulty getting inside, holding the left cheek on but preventing ketting the keybed out which has to happen to get this screw out. I had to bend the (plastic) cheek to get at other screws to get the keybed out. I removed the offending screw and now it's not so difficult, and that screw won't be missed.

Ensoniq is out of business. There is a shop in CA that works on them; google to find it.

These are available on ebay for under $600, and are an excellent value for that price. Truly excellent! However, the ZR-76 is a better choice for the reasons mentioned above, even though it's a couple hundred more.

As late as 2001 or so, I'd give this synth a 10. Time marches on, though.

Not that easy to get around, especially the fiddly sound finder. The constant sequencer is annoying but has it uses. Presets are OK, but have managed to programme a couple of my own sounds. Ensoniq, why not give us the whole programming palet?

All quite good but sequencer is so old in terms of functionality and where is the sample reader that these guys were famed for

This is where she really does kick in. Great, but lame beyond words for guitars, organs, basses and not gritty enough brass. However, drums, piano and synth sounds are right there. Incredibly warm and this gives you a sense of wanting to play and wanting to create. There are far too many digitally clean set ups out there, that don't inspire and that includes the Fantom, which sound great but isn't warm but this baby has the warmth. If only I could fuse a Gem Genesis and this and I would be happy

OK, but tends to crash once in a while

Who? After Creative bought out Ensoniq, that has been it!

I like it for home use and the overall feel of the keys is nice. I sometimes look back at my TS10 and think, why did I sell to get this, but it has a warmth to it that most of today's digitally clean sounds can't produce. It is a Kurzweil wannabe and that ain't a bad thing. I would buy ZR76 if I had to replace it and I have more pleasure playing this, than my Yamaha EX5 or Roland XV3080.

Since I'm Brazilian, I'll review it in both English and portuguese languages, but excuse me, for my english is not as good as I wanted.

I'm using the 2.0 OS. This is the easyest workstation I've ever worked with. Even though I only worked with the XP-50 and 80 from Roland, and K2500 from Kurzweil. Everything you need is right on the front panel. Need to edit effects? Even in realtime? There're dedicated buttons for it. Need to work on the sequencer? It couldn't be easier! Just play. The keyboard is alerady recording. When you're finished, just go to the Idea Pad and send what you played to the sequencer, which has a dedicated buton for almost every function it has. Factory sounds? I use many of them as they came, they sound so good that I have barely want to tweak the sounds. I bought it used and without manual, and even though I cannot say that I mastered it, I can do everything I need. I won't give it a 10 because it lacks versatility for gigging, it sucks to have to change instruments with it, even though there's a trick to use the sequencer buttons as shortcuts, if you do this, you will not be able to use individual effects. So, it'll have a 9.

Facil demais! Da pra voce fazer tudo nesse teclado so olhando pro painel. Meu teclado vem com a vers?o 2.0 do Sistema Operacional, eu comprei ele usado sem manual, e consegui aprender tudo rapidinho. Tem bot?o pra tudo no painel. Quer fazer uma sequencia? E so ligar o teclado e sair tocando, que ele vai gravando pra voce automaticamente. Depois e so mandar pra uma pista do sequencer e pronto, ja ta la. Acompanhamento de batera? Ele tem! Liga um kit de bateria e manda pro sequencer no tempo que voce quiser, que ele ainda deixa voce editar. Alias, tem bot?o pra todas as func?es do sequencer no painel. Bem mais facil que os XPs da Roland, que dira o K2500 da Kurzweil. Ate programar os sons e facil. N?o posso dizer que sei fazer tudo com esse teclado, pois n?o tenho o manual, mas tudo o que eu preciso fazer eu consigo. Os sons de fabrica s?o t?o bons que as poucas vezes que eu quis editar algum, foi pouca coisa, mas ainda assim, foi facil. E um teclado muito intuitivo! A unica decepc?o que eu tive e o modo de escolher os instrumentos que n?o e nada pratico de se usar ao vivo, e mesmo que voce tenha como mudar de sons usando os 16 bot?es do sequencer, se voce fizer isso perde efeitos individuais dos instrumentos.

64 voices, incredible weighted action keys (not like that fake SP88X/PC1X's action), 4 expansion slots, that can also be used to put a sample reading board (MR-Flash) with 4 MB of flash memory, I think you can even put 4 of them, for 16 MB of sample memory. 16 track sequencer with lots of features, and two exclusive features: The Drum Machine, and the Idea Pad. The first one resembles arranger's function, but they only give you drum grooves. There's a lot of rythms, each with 8 variations and fills, and they can be edited, sent to the sequencer, and edited there as well. The other is an unrequired sequencer. Everything that you play is automatically recorded, and if you like something, you don't have to be afraid of forgetting it. You can send all your Ideas to the sequencer and edit them there. There's also a Sound Finder (the name is self-explanatory)! I cut 2 points of it for the lack of a quick way to change instruments, and because I heard it is tricky to be used with other MIDI gears. Never tried it, though. Ah! There's another bad feature! I won't cut a point for it because it's the curse of all weighted-action keyboards: It weights about 57 lbs!

64 vozes de polifonia, teclado de ac?o pesada DE VERDADE (diferente da ac?o paraguaia dos SP88X/PC1X), 4 slots de expans?o, que podem abrigar cada um uma placa com 16 MB de sons novos, ou uma placa leitora de samples com 4 MB de memoria flash (MR-Flash), acho ate que da 4 pra colocar 4 MR-Flashs nele pra ter 16 MB de memoria pra samples. Sequencer de 16 pistas com um monte de recursos, e dois recursos meio que exclusivos: Idea Pad e Drum Machine. O Idea Pad e o seguinte, desde que voce liga o instrumento, ele grava tudo o que voce vai tocando. Se voce gostou de alguma coisa, e so apertar um bot?o que ele manda pro sequencer o que voce gravou, e la voce pode editar. Util, n?o? O Drum Machine e uma maquina de acompanhamentos de bateria, que lembra os arranjadores, mas so tem levadas de baterias. Cada ritmo tem 8 variac?es e 8 viradas, e voce pode criar seus ritmos, editar os que existem e ate manda-los pro sequencer e editar as levadas/viradas la mesmo! Tem tambem o Sound Finder, que permite que voce ache sons facil facil, ou ate mesmo os invoque soletrando o nome deles com as teclas do teclado. So tirei 2 pontos porque a maneira de mudar de instrumento e um porre pra se usar ao vivo, e tambem porque me disseram que esse teclado e meio chato de ser usado pra controlar outras coisas, embora eu nunca tenha feito isso. Tem outro "recurso" ruim: Ele pesa pouco mais de 24 Kg... um case com rodinhas ajuda muito nessas horas, mas na hora de subir escada com ele... So n?o tiro ponto por isso, porque todo teclado com teclas pesadas pesa pra cacete.

Well... what can I say? I owned a XP-50 for 6 years, played a lot in my church's Kurzweil SP88 and lately I've been using a Kurzweil K2500. Also compared it with a Triton LE. This keyboard OWNS! It has the most realistic pianos I've ever heard in a keyboard. All sounds are incredible. The XP and the Triton leave a lot to desire if compared to this board, the SP88 doesn't even deserve to be compared. The K2500 has better sounding strings and organs, and all of its sounds sound "clearer" (sorry for the bad english, but I really don't know how to express it), as the Triton's do. I blame the 24-bit D/A converter, this board's one is 18-bit only. Even so, they don't sound more realistic or fatter than the MRs, but they do sound a bit better... even though if you use it with 2nd-class or worse PA, this difference will fade. I thought about buying a newer keyboard for a while, but the only keyboard that I found worthy of replacing the MR was the Motif Series... and they are out of my league. By the way, I use it to play Gospel, Jazz, Brazilian Music (Bossa Nova) and some Pop and Pop Rock.

Pra fins de comparac?o, eu tive um XP-50 por 6 anos, toquei muito no SP88 da minha igreja e ultimamente tenho usado um K2500, tambem ja comparei ele com um Triton LE. Esse menino detona! Tem o melhor piano que eu ja vi num teclado! Todos os sons s?o demais! Tem o melhor piano de todos os teclados que eu ja toquei (Engole essa, Kurzweil!), strings, org?os e EPs MARAVILHOSOS, metais e synths incriveis. O XP e o Triton comem poeira com ele, e o SP nem merece ser comparado. Ja o K2500 tem sons, como dizer... "mais limpos". Sabe a diferenca de um CD ouvido no CD-Player e no DVD-Player? Ent?o. O Triton tambem tem isso. Os unicos sons do K2500 que s?o melhores s?o os de strings e de org?os, os outros parecem ter a mesma qualidade, mas acabam ficando melhores por soarem mais limpos. Eu culpo o conversor D/A de 24 bits, ja que o do MR e de 18 so, e por isso ele soa "mais limpo" que o XP e o SP tambem! Apesar que se voce colocar num PA normal, essa diferenca entre os teclados praticamente some, so com equipamento bom mesmo voce consegue perceber, como fones ou equipamentos de estudio, ou PA de primeira. Eu ja pensei em trocar de teclado, mas o unico que me animou a isso foi o Motif... e e$$e vai $er meio complicado de $e comprar. Se quiser saber o tipo de musica que toco, leia a ultima linha da parte em ingles.

Bought it used, already with some problems, and once solved, no more problems. I prefer to not comment this one.

Ja comprei usado com uns problemas, depois de consertar n?o deu mais nada, mas eu prefiro n?o opinar sobre confiabilidade.

Portuguese only. My opinion won't apply to any English-speaking country.

Putz... infelizmente n?o tem mais autorizada da Ensoniq desde que ela foi comprada pela Creative Labs e fundida a EMU, mas tudo que e assistencia tecnica consegue resolver a maioria dos problemas. Aqui no RJ tem a Som Mexe e o Hospital do Audio, por exemplo, onde eu consertei, mas peca mesmo so mandando vir de fora. Quem precisar, entra em www.thesoniq.com e fala com os caras que eles s?o gente boa... mas prepara um dicionario de ingles se n?o dominar a lingua. ;-) Ficou 5 porque n?o tem representante pra pecas aqui (nem em nenhum lugar do mundo fora dos EUA, eu acho, so o The Soniq que tem pecas pra teclados Ensoniq), mas ainda ganhou metade da nota porque da pra consertar a maioria dos defeitos numa boa.

Frankly speaking, I like this board so much that even though I though countless times about getting another keyboard and selling this one, I couldn't find one that would justify this act. Only the Motif, but it's SO expensive... all keyboards are pretty expensive here in Brazil, but I got this one really cheap, even including the repair fees. The Yamaha S90 also got my attention, but a new one costs more than twice this board's price, and I never saw a used one for sale here. Anyways, if it was stolen from me, I'd try to find a ZR-76, which have an easier way to change instruments in gigs, and already comes with the Perfect Piano expansion card. It's identical to this keyboard in every other aspect.

Sinceramente, desde que comprei e tive os problemas que ja mencionei, ja pensei em trocar de teclado (justamente pelos problemas) varias vezes, mas nunca achei um teclado que justificasse a troca. O K2500 perde pra ele por ser dificil pra caramba de usar e os sons n?o s?o t?o melhores, o piano ainda e pior, os outros workstations mais novos, mesmo usados s?o T?O mais caros, que nem penso em trocar. O S90 me animou, mas custa 8000 e n?o se ve usado pra vender, alem de n?o ter sequencer embutido, o Motif tem sequencer e sampler, mas um Motif 7 ta custando A PARTIR DE 7500 usado... Realmente, t?o cedo eu n?o troco, se me roubarem eu penso em comprar um ZR daqueles do mercado livre, o ZR e identico a esse teclado, exceto por ter 12 teclas pra mudar de instrumento rapidamente, e a placa Perfect Piano. Eu simplesmente AMO DE PAIX?O esse teclado. Fora que custou mais barato que eu pagaria num XP-80, que e MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUITO inferior.

If an owner want some good reading, then owner can enjoy the owners manual of the MR-76. When I first got it, I really didn't understand how to run much of it. I knew the basic things. The secret to this little difficulty is to play around with a lot of the features. So, probably after a month or two of owning, an owner should know the keyboard.

Weighted keys are included with a decent hammer effect. It also has a 16 track recorder, floppy to save some tunes, midi goods, very good drums and beats, and most of the sound and rythme are upgradeable through further purchase.

I think like many of the other reviews that most of the GM sounds are muffled. I really enjoy the huge varieties of insturments. There are probably at least a good 11 piano [real] sounds. When I look at playing, I would have to say that this keyboard is awesome if an owner ever wanted to make a movie soundtrack. The strings are awesome along with the many vocal variations. If you like jazz, there are some good sounds. The rock sounds alright, but many of the guitares are alittle to fake to call good. The drums are unbeleivable, along with the sythesizers, except unlike all the other instruments, there aren't many variations of a synth that sound good. For this keyboard, an owner would want to have a good amp.

Well, heres where it gets tricky. I was playing it throughout a heat wave, and the keyboard would freeze randomly well playing. I blame the heat, but if I were at a gig, I would bring a backup little crap yamaha. There shouldn't be any huge problems. I do admit that I haven't had it freeze on me for over a year now. People keep mentioning their weighted keys dieing. I think my keys are still fine, and I grew up with the thing. It would work fine for gig.

Upgrading is no longer in effect, but back in the day, it was awesome custermr service. It should take more then a week to get an upgrade.

If I lost my keyboard tomorrow in a fire, I would cry, cry, and yes, maybe cry somemore. Because of the sentimental value to my childhood, and me growing with it, I wouldn't replace it, I would find a new grand parent. I really did grow up on that piano. I beleive we have had the keyboard since 93 [?] I have had two pevee amps, which aren't that great. If you want an awesome experiance, get an awesome amp for this keyboard. I wish the keyboard had a built in amp. This keyboard is great if you want to make any genre of music. If your in the mood for an orcestrated phynom, you can do it. If your in the mood for an emotional piano peice, you can do it. If your in the mood for explosive sound, you can do it. The truth it simple, if you wanna a good keyboard experiance, then that blackbow of love is the way to go. [tear]!!!!!!!!!

software ver:3.2/ Presets sound great.Editing patches is a little hard. The manual is too big.Can't find what i really want.

64 note poly is the best.keyboard action is great.Built in effects are great but they get lost sometimes when you use the 16 track recorder. expansion cap.(yes).Sequencer is great.

Most instruments are very good except the guitar and strings.I play jazz so it works great for that.onboard effects are very good. it reacts to my playing fine.Velocity &aftertouch is good.

It's a good keyboard for studio work but not for live gigs.i will need backup with this keyboard.

I had no problem with the company. they were very helpfull.I got an upgrade in about i week.

If lost or stolen i would get another one or the ZR 76.I've been playing for about 28 yrs.I love the sounds,ensoniq has always made the best sounds.iwish the drums could append with each other like the ensoniq sd-1 did.I really love that keyboard.I wish i had another sd-1.I wish the mr76 had more memory.It makes music great.

I think I have sw version 2.1. Made in 1997 and I upgraded sw. Manual is thorough and indexed well. People bitch about big manual but how else are they supposed to explain all the features? I think the keyboard is easy to use but I'm used to it after 5 years.

GOod polyphony except on certain sounds, esp. if you layer 2 sounds, sometimes notes cut out. Sequencer is good, good quantizer. Insert effect editing is very customizable. Practically every aspect of a sound can be adjusted.

As everyone knows, the GM sounds blow. Lousy brass section, ok solo horns. Good organs and keyboard sounds. Creative had (has?) a sale on Perfect Piano expanions cards (see their web site) so I added one and am glad I did, now I have a ZR's sounds on an MR! The Perfect Piano card is most piano and electronic key sounds, and they all sound great. Only reason I don't give sounds a 10 is I've noticed I get occasional weird aftertouch sounds that don't belong, like when I release a key it makes a clunk sound at the outputs. But this might be because of the crappy key assembly, which leads me to reliability....

Ok, here's where the problems are. The key assembly BLOWS. I've had it repaired twice and I do NOT bang on the keys. And the same keys seem to break. No matter how lightly I play certain faulty keys the volume is at 100%. It's an intermittent problem so it scares the crap out of you when you're expecting a quiet note. The same problem reappeared only 2 months after the repair. Very frustrating at $100 a visit, not to mention having to leave work early to drop it off and pick it up before the shop closed. The repair guy I go to knows people who worked at Ensoniq so he hears things, he told me the MR uses a cheap key assembly. I also heard that some ZR owners had similar problems which they got fixed under warranty, apparently the replacement assembly is much better quality.

Except for the keys everything has been reliable, no problems.

One more thing: this keyboard will not fit into most 76-key cases.

Trivia: I saw a guy playing an MR-76 on the tv show ER once. I felt so...validated.

N/A

If not for the key problems I would rate this keyboard a 10.

Thumbs up: sounds, features
Thumbs down: keys

Sounds are great except organs, and only one decent pad.

64-voice polyphony, with great keyboard action--UNTIL THE KEYS BREAK! (see below). Great effects x40. Expansion is expensive, very difficult to find modules since Ensoniq's demise.

Nice orchestral and drum sounds. Wish organs were better.

VEry dependable until my F2 key began clunking. Upon further investigation 40 other keys were on the verge of losing their weight mechanism. Keybed made by FATAR in Italy. VERY DISAPPOINTED since the board is only 4 1/2 years old and well-cared for. 600-800 bucks to replace keybed.

No customer support available

Great, versatile board until the keys break.

No real complaints here except for maybe this one:
Why does it take forever to save a single sound, or preset?

Okay, I must admit that I really like the action of the keyboard (produced by fatar). I own/ have owned many keyboard related instruments and this one ranks at the top when it comes to feel.
The polyphony is sufficient for live usage, but for extensive arranging I use it in combination with Gigastudio or well....not at all.
Can't say too much about the on-board sequencer, 'cause I hardly ever used it, but I liked the fact that the Mr records everything you play, which has helped me out several times while improvising/ composing.
Expansion capabilities are limited and expensive.
Also, preset memory is very low for a device that says "performance keyboard" on top.

When I bought it I especially liked the piano and drum sounds, the rest is not too bad either, but today most of it's sounds I think are made obsolete by newer technologies.

Aha,now we're at the department which got me to write this review in the first place. Of course I can only speak about my particular machine, but this one is definitely possesed by some demon.
Think of any possible hard/software related defect and my MR has gone through it. Either in the studio, or on stage, but always completely out of the blue. It changed presets at will, played around with velocity sensitivity and did numerous other things that are very convenient when you're in front of an audience.
Lately, just when I thought I had encountered every single problem the instrument decided to get out of tune, while both master tune and fine tune dispayed default settings.
I actually had to tune my device with a guitar tuner!

Based on my experiences with this keyboard I guess it's no surprise that I tried to get in contact with the company (after the store I bought it from closed its doors) in a time I might add, Ensoniq was not yet merged with Emu and taken over by Creative.
First nice e-mails, then not so nice e-mails, then not so nice handwritten letters and not one reply from their side in all this time!! Hopefully their new partners have a better policy.

It had the potential of a higher rating if it wasn't so terribly unstable or at least was produced by a company who would have offered some support. Although I'm afraid they couldn't have repaired without the help of an exorcist.
Would I buy one again if it were stolen. NO!!!!
In fact, I have been stolen! $2000 to be precise!
So, after all this info I'm gonna add one more thing:
Who wants to buy it from me?

This keyboard is the shit, it is very user friendly

for a first timer would have to apply time and creativity to sequences.
don't get frustrated, just keep doing sequences over and over untill you get it.
The midi is very easy than you think, just use the last sound editor and send the correct chanels.

Nice and phatt analog sounds. I compare the MR-76 with my other keyboards; Roland, 1080, 2080, JD990, S4Plus, SE-1, Planet Phatt(is the only one the kicks it's ass)

you can depend on it, I use it in my studio for quick songs for clients and I also use it on the gigs. ( I have three of them)

I repair keyboards so I never had to use a keyboard repair shop. (not that my MR 76 gave me any trouble)

For the money and performance you can't go wrong, forget about what the negative is saying, take it from someone who really uses keyboards to the fullest!!!!

Presets sounds are good for most sounds.
Editing patches sucks.
The manual is too big just to look for one thing.

the polyphony is 64 voice which sounds great. Keyboard action is good.
It has built in effects, but are not easy to use.
It has expansion capabilities. The Midi is crap.
The 16 track sequencher always run out of memory,and always skips between sequences.

Everything here is good

I would not buy it again unless they improve it real good. It's not a board you can use at a gig for a long period of time.