Ensoniq MR-76

Sometimes when you edit patches and try to tie banks together memory low banks not smooth. The manual is good but it will put you to sleep when you're looking for something.

The Midi capabilities are difficult. I tried to send midi out on the 16 track sequencher,could not do it and it changed all my drum beats on all of my songs. THE SOUNDS ARE GREAT EXCEPT THE GUITAR,IT SUCKS.I had better guitar sounds on my Ensoniq SD-1.

a lot of the instruments are very realistic. I play jazz and it sounds good with any type of music.

I never had a problem with it on a gig, but it's always good to have back up.

If lost or stolen, I would by the ZR 76. I hate that it takes too long to load songs one after another. Im a one man band and i need quickness. I wish it could append different drum beats together like the SD-1 does.

Presets sound nice. The manual is easy to understand, but a bit extensive?

The sequencer sucks, because it hesitates or does not play in an even beat.
This is especially apparent at the beginning of loops, and when combining
song-parts / themes. This ruins the song.

I use this instrument as a base for all kinds of music, and it is very versatile
with good sounds.

The keys broke inside after about 1 year of use, and I have only used it
at home, so this must be a weakness of construction? I have talked to
one other owner of a MR 76 who had had the same problem. I got the
repair for free, but they said it would have costed a lot if there had
not been a garanti for two years. An instrument of this price should
last longer and be more rugged.

They tried to make me pay for the broken key-system at first, but
then I threatened to complain to the comsumer council, and they
changed their minds. After that the repair was quickly done, and
service was good.

Its a good workstation used in a homestudio unless you have to depend
on the internal sequenser.

The MR-76 is as easy to use as your PC. That is of course unless you own a MAC. But for those of us who grew up on DOS and older GUI's this instrument provides little challenge. The "sound finder" makes selecting exactly the sound you need easeier than other workstations in this class eg. Roland XP series, Korg Trinity, and Krzweill K2500.

Editing patches for the amateur or new user can be a bit frustrating. However, once you get good at it the true potential of this instrument will become apparent.

This instrument has 64 VOICE polyphony. Some voices use multiple layers of notes simultaneously but that only adds to the depth of sound quality that this instrument posesses. The action is as good as my favorite keyboards (Kurzweill) and for a serious pianist like myself this is an important feature. The MR-76 also has pressure sensitive keys, a fantastic 16 track sequencer and is very expandable. One of its' expansion cards even gives you the added power of sampling. To top it off it has one of the most impressive on board effects processors I've ever seen.

Just as with any digital instrument there are a few sounds that make me ask the all important question.. "What were they thinking???" The sounds that come pre-loaded are quite good but I have already created even more realistic sounding versions of most of my favorite patches.
But overall its' very expressive and works well with all types of music. I've heard many many sequences created by many many different people and the one thing that separates the O.k. ones from the great ones is the ability to customise and edit patches and effects.

Extremely dependable I've only had a problem with it once in performance but it was my fault... But I ALWAYS use it as my primary MIDI controller no back up needed.

Never needed it... Hopefully never will...

This instrument will give you back what you put into it. So if you are looking for something to make professional sounding music yet you do not posess the skills of a professional musician and think you do, I would buy the digital workstation equiavlent to a MAC. (easy to use, looks flashy, but not much under the hood) and just to let you know, I passed over the Korg Trinity, Roland XP-80, and several othe workstations for this one.

The MR-76 is easy to use and sounds really good right out of the box. Editing the patches is not as simple as it seems, but I havn't gotten around to trying the patch editor yet. I found the manual well written but at times poorly organized. Sometimes you have to flip to 3 or 4 different sections to answer a question.

The polyphony has been a bit disapointing. Probably the sales rep's fault. He said it has a 64 note polyphony, but that's not true....it's a 64 VOICE polyphony. I havn't been able to figure out yet how many 'voices' a single note may take.
I've been sequencing pretty heavy duty for around 10 years now. But when I started to have trouble with the MR-76's sequencer I still gave it the benefit of the doubt and double-checked all of my settings, quantization, controllers, etc. However, after about 5 months I've made a decision: the sequencer on the MR-76 is a nightmare and the main reason that I'd never purchase one again!
If you use all the available voice channels on a particular beat of a sequence you'd expect that the keyboard would just drop some notes. Well, not only does it drop notes, but it actually HESITATES before that beat!! It is really noticable on the 1st beat especially. Also, it tends to hesitate between the sequences of a song. I saved all of the sequences to .MID files and loaded them into Cakewalk 6.0 just for a test and the HESITATIONS are gone! It's not just a quantization issue, etc.... I've spoken to Ensoniq and even taken some songs into the store to try them out on the other MR-76's with no luck. Further, the sequencer sticks in all kinds of '0 value' controller events -- even for controllers that aren't being using. This even further clutters the machanations of the sequencer, and is frequently audible between sequences as well.
I guess the upshot is that if you're counting on a sequencer to drive some important stuff, DON'T buy the MR-76!

The MR-76 has some great, expressive sounds and is probably one of the most reasons I decided to purchase it. Effects are great and the touch is good (for a non-weighted board). Velocity and aftertouch respond well, and are quite adjustable.

Don't know, too new. So far, so good, though.

Customer support has been alright I suppose. I had a long history with Ensoniq's customer support back when I purchased an EPS lemon, (factory repaired 11 times!!) and I know that they have improved much since then. I'm still a bit miffed over their response to my sequencer problem however(actually their lack of response). They suggested upgrading the OS which I then did. Then they nicely suggested that I make sure everything was quantized. I guess I expected them to at least level with me on what appears to be a sequencer design flaw instead of passing off my work as novice.

I would not buy it again. I WOULD purchase a rack module if one were available, however -- just to get the sounds.

I am new to the synth world I have an old Prophet 600 I use as a music teacher to teach basics but I still find it is difficult to learn especialy when ther are no istructional material ie. vidio, examples etc. The new manual is better it has an index and a glossay DAAAA. It is made for JR. high kids and is redundant it is redundant, the same boxes keep appering and the go over th samr basic steps, they could have saved some trees. The patches are difficult to edit in detail becaus the sounds are complex to begine with and the patche editor looks like the control panel on the space shuttle Though I am learning.

It has 64 voices that is good the effects seem to be very good and easy to use But go figure the busses out and the tech diagrams I never took advanced calc. The MIDI is good and the MR will open any file I can find on the net BUTT After I save a change to the file it will not reload into my computer softwear It has something to do with avariable length header. I am hoping that the company will develope a translator MY MAC will open any PC file through PC exchange EXCEPT for the MR-76 files. The onboard sequencer is very goood I coud use more memory though

The sounds are very interesting and the effect are great

It has gone a little goofy on me once or twice but that is normal for modern electronics That why they have a panic button

So far very good the are geting back to me about my compatability they have been very goood about upgrades

good but if you use a mac IIX or mac in general as far as I know wait for the translator !!!!!!!

The presets sound nice and clean though I think the SD-1 had better piano sounds.The manual is great but I wish it had an index.

64 voice expandable. It has 24 bit affects. 16 track sequencer. Pressure keys.

I wish they would make a bigger display and be able to create longer titles for you songs. You can save your titles in dos format (8 char.). Or you can use 11 charactors in song mode.
In general I think its a great keyboard.

The MR-76 I purchased has system 1.20 (version). It changes voice assignments at times when loading songs. Sometimes it will hang-up when saving a large squence or song. Contacted Ensoniq about this problem and they said they would send me update version 1.64 that should fix these problems.
I wish they would make a bigger display and be able to create longer titles for you songs. You can save your titles in dos format (8 char.). Or you can use 11 charactors in song mode.
In general I think its a great keyboard.