Ensoniq Mirage

I own one of the very first Mirages. The salesman pushed me towards the Mirage, saying that it was better than the DX-7, since it could sample the DX-7--and other synths, too! (Yeah, I was young and naive then...) Some of the mfr. disks sound good, most just sound weird--as others have noted. I bought (and still have) the original MASOS 3-ring notebook, with the 'Plain Vanilla' and 'Master' sampling disks, and this has come in very handy over the years, and helped me create some pretty cool sounds...

8-note polyphony seems pretty thin these days. (These days, I use the Mirage as a MIDI controller for several Oberheim, Alesis, E-mu, and Roland modules. Now, I have several hundred availalble voices.) The mirage still has a unique sound, though, and I still record with it occasionally, albeit carefully. The on-board sequencer is a joke...and always was. I actually bought the sequencer 'expansion' disk, but I have no idea if it ever worked. (I threw it out years ago.) Since I'm using it as a MIDI controller, I really wish it had separate jacks for MIDI 'Out' and 'Thru', rather than just the single jack for both 'Out' and 'Thru'...

Very few of these sounds would be what one would call 'realistic'. I actually used to gig with my Mirage, and the inability to use the keyboard while sounds were loading was a problem, but we worked our song-set out so that if there was no time to load the sounds for the next song, we'd arrange the set so that two songs that used the same sounds were back to back. (I also had three other keyboards on stage, and would often use another synth while the Mirage loaded.) I'd love to have more Ensoniq factory sound-disks--or usable copies--especially since I've worn out a couple disks, and the thing won't boot up without a disk. (If anyone has some to sell, even copies, I'm interested...) I don't want to get rid of the Mirage, though, because the sounds are quite unique...strange...

Someone mentioned that the metal case Mirage could probably be used as an auto ramp. Well, a few months after I bought it, I drove over mine early one morning, as I was leaving a rather tiring recording session--on a gravel service raod, no less! (If I HAD bought a DX-7 instead of the Mirage, the DX-7 would have been toast!) Other than a slight dent in the metal, it was--and remains--fine. I've never had it serviced...

Yeah, right!

If it were lost or stolen, I probably wouldn't replace it. I've played keyboards off and on for more than 30 years. I'm currently upgrading my studio, and I would love to have an 88-key, weighted hammer action MIDI controller. I plan to get one next year. Once I do, I may continue to use use the Mirage for some weird sounds to bury deep in the occasional mix, but that's about it. It still sounds interesting, and I did learn a lot about sampling and digital editing from using it. But, it is far too primitive and limited in what it does, to use it continually, or continue to rely on it as a controller...

No presets sound. Editing patches is difficult compare to other synth in 1980 age. This synt is made for home or studio use not for performance. Manual is Good i remember the red colour.

Keyb Action is very good compare to other 1980 synth but the Keys have a bad plastic "basement" they broke and lift every time you push hard - like performers do. Memory expander slot present. Have a floppy unit (try to internet if you want to change) limited of course becouse have a special system.
This Synth-Sampler depend directly to Masos Sound Disks.
Midi are OK. Have a SQ on board Dubbing Type and you must try to split the keyb and retreive the sounds first and be patience to note the sounds loaded and nr. for each melody.

No sound on board only Masos Disks.
You can change sound into oscilators but first you must learn the algoritms. As Sampler is Ok.
Velocity is pretty good for 1980 and you can set.

I don't depend on it!
Use only in home or studio work. Don't try to play on a gig.
Is need backup becouse keys are broken very easy.

You can repair easy the broken keys at home with super glue.
E-mu Customer Support ? What ?

If you want to buy this for you're home or studio is ok. Remeber you need time for work with this "?". Don't try in performance !

Masos 3.0. The presets are lame BUT, I say BUT what you can do with the sounds is incredible. I've been able to come up with original, unique sounding patches. That no one can place, yet like a lot. One thing that came withe original Mirage was a disc with 6 preset alterations without any sound. You'd load it into the Mirage, To make the super hot sounds that can be created with a Mirage one has to have this disc. It has some unusual "post-programming?" that would be hard to creat yourself. If you just sampled a sound raw and decided you wanted to make a sample sound the way any of the "preset sample settings" can make a raw sound sound like after sampling it.
Editing patches is actually easy. The only problem is the instructions. What will happen based on the instructions. Sounds like you'll move a mountain every time you edit. In actuality a lot of the edits are really just tweaks. When smartly used together you can do some real editing and create some awesome patches.
The manual is better than average. At least it wasn't translated along with the logic from some foreign language.

8 note polyhany is fine. Keyboard action is fine. No built in effects, save for the many tweaks/edits that are available. No expansion capablities NOW. At one time there expansion cards. That even when they were around were pretty useless. It has all the basic Midi things, pressure, velocity, bend Etc., No one should call the short pattern saver a sequencer. It isn't and has no sequencer features save for record.

The MIRAGE has a VERY UNIQUE sound. This has always been overlooked, because it is a billed as a "sequencer." As a sequencer it is a dinosaur. It lacks many of the ease of use and enhancements that came out shortly after the Mirage did.
It works best for club/dance/electronica BECAUSE of the unique things it does when it samples a sound. Again it's unique sound, heard only from the mirage, makes it weak sampler but makes it a great source for unique, 1 of a kind, can't do it with any other sampler sounds. It reacts just like any other 1st line, moderately priced electronic keyboard. When it comes to playing, velocity and aftertouch.

Yes, IF you got one that was made well in the factory. I have two Mirages, plus the software that turns the MIrage into a multi-timbral synth. Everything still works great. Only a few floppes have died to age. It has never let me down in any way. (Of course I will suffer for writing this, and not even be able to get it to turn on for writing this ;-)
If you are looking for a great sampler, walk away fast, BUT IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT CREATES UNIQUE SOUNDS EASILY. You have found one tool that does this well.
It's major flaw, being a cutrate sampler is it's major strength. It's unique mutilation of samples OFTEN creates the best sounds I've ever heard. You would feel this way too, if you didn't see it as a sampler but simply as a sound module that happens to use samples as a way to create the original sounds.

Ensoniq Sucked even when the machine was in production. The online sites like this are great.

If it were lost I'd be very depressed. I lose access to a sound library of about 200 discs. It was definitely worth what I paid for it. I hate the one thing that most people hate, the stupid 2 digit LCD. I LOVE it's ability to create unique, awesome, big/little soft hard sounds that sound like nothing else. I don't see the Mirage as a sampler. It's too primative for that. What it is is a sound module that uses it's wacked sampling ability to create the most original sounds from sampled sounds. I wish it had stereo ouputs. Something I understand the keyboard versions had. I have rackmounts. It DEFINITELY helps me make music.

I bought mine new in 1985 just so I would not have to haul around and tune my CP-70B grand piano. I still have the Mirage and have never had to have it professionally serviced. I have the visual editing software for Commodore 64 (I hear laughing) and it really makes sampling and programming easier and more productive. Without it sampling is a crap shoot and programming is very slow.

It is 8 note polophony with good action. I have the MASOS expander that allows for higher sampling rate and I also have the sequencer expander. Either way the sequencer can only deal with one midi channel. It is basically for playing short passages and is good for intros. The keyboard splits are nice and allows you to split samples at any keyboard point.

The piano sound is very good. As soon as I heard it I knew I could leave my CP-70 at home. The factory strings patch is also really good. Touch sensitivity on the attack: slow blow to the key and the strings fade in, really cool. It can recognize aftertouch through midi bit does not have this feature on its own keyboard. The distorted guitar is great with aftertouch fading the sound to a harmonic like feedback and using vibrato with the wheel.

I have taken this thing with me to hundreds of gigs in all conditions. It survived 7 years on Guam and is back here stateside with me still. I have never had it professionally serviced but have had to put some band aids on it. All of the post that the screws go into from the top have broken off and the top hinges open freely. I had to jump the volume control becouse it was intermitent. Sometimes the contact springs pop out and I have to remove the keyboard to slip them back in place. Complaints? Not really, its a workhorse. I am down to one working disc that I can boot from. I bought 35 on ebay today I hope to get some good sound from these as well.

My only dealings with the company is copying the paramater chart from their website when I misplaced mine. It was great finding it so easily.

At the time I bought it it was a bargin to get a sampler for this price. If it were lost or stolen I could live without it. I don't gig anymore and have other gear to fill in the spot in my studio. But with used units in the $100 to $200 range I would replace it in a heartbeat.

To really utilize the editing and sampling functions is like flying the space shuttle through a periscope.
But I've just recently found a new source for support and tutoring.
I picked up on Ebay the International MIDI Users Group Ensoniq Mirage Instructional DVD (originally available on VHS tape).
It helped me tremendously especially when I am without a manual.
They also have a new web site: www.InternationalMIDIUsersGroup.com

In it's day the Mirage had the biggest third-party support. Lots of extra Operating Systems out there.

The Mirage was the Mellotron of it's day. Very unique with that 8-bit gritty sound. I also recently found on Ebay Sound Libraries. Very useful.

Extremely reliable. I've had several Mirages and only one disk drive go bad on me. You can back up the operating system onto a disk.

No support from Ensoniq. Try Syntaur or MUG.

You can still do some awesome tricks with this old cadillac.

My Mirage (one of the original metal-case ones) is running MASOS (latest rev from Syntaur). Editing/sampling is not overly difficult, and .jpg images of the mirage parameter cards can be found online. The interface takes some getting used to, and definitely get the advanced samplers guide to help out. The only problem I have is the disk format...ds/dd...getting harder to find. Also, I don't have a 'formatting disk' so I can't make new disks to store samples on. Also unknown is how to make backup copies of the OS disk....mine is getting REALLY worn out, don't want to keep having to shell out money for another copy. It's really easy to use for just basic sampling, only looping/multiple sounds per bank gets hairy.

8-voice, unison mode capable. Keyboard action is very good on my model (original release), I use it as a midi controller for all my modules/midi-capable synths. No built-in effects, but the analog filters sound pretty good (CEM chips). There is an expansion port that can accept an Input Sampling module, which I have. Basically I believe it allows you to have slightly cleaner samples (and dont' quote me on this, but up to 33khz with the card, 22khz without.) This may only apply to the early rev DSKs. The onboard sequencer stores 333 notes, and can be synced to a signal that comes in on the 1/4" sync port.

I don't have any factory sounds for this unit, so can't comment on those. Anything you sample into this will be imparted with a sound that I've only heard from this sampler (kindof lo-fi, can be punchy, easy to overdrive, pixelated at times, but almost always unique, probably given to the filter chips.) I use it for grungy drum kits and sampled moog bass. Velocity is just dandy, but i've never tried aftertouch.

Indestructable. Very heavy metal case. Could probably be used safely for car ramps in a pinch.

Forget ensoniq, waste of time. Try syntaur.

I would probably buy one again (the early revision) just for a solid midi controller that feels really nice and has the side benifit of beign a sampler. An akai s2000/3000 would make a better sampler for most people though, at not much more cost.

I've been playing for a couple years, also own a Moog Prodigy, Korg DW-8000, Korg Poly/61, Kurzweil piano module, Roland MSQ 700 sequencer, Roland TR-626, PC + Atari ST for sequencing, random effects units, etc.

I wish the unit had more than 128k of sample memory, a larger display, SILKSCREENED parameters on the vast empy area on the case, a HD floppy drive, some kind of built in delay/chorus, and a utility for making os disk backups.

I think this unit was worth the $150 I paid for it. I use it almost every time I work in the studio.

I could swear that whoever designed the user interface on this keyboard was demon possesed and took great joy in human suffering... The Mirage gets a 2 in this category because you are basicly limited to a small 2 digit LED for a screen and using a numeric key pad to access the Mirage's many funcitions (sound editing, MIDI setup, etc.). There are no sliders, knobs, etc. except for the volume slider, pitch bend and mod wheel. Also, many of the sampling parameters use hexidecimal code, which takes some getting used to. In my opinion, hex code is not really that difficult to understand, but, it is nowhere near as user friendly as, say, a large screen that actually maps out the waveform for you. Getting a good sample out of this monster IS possible, but it is a very slow and tedious process. I use MASOS 2.0 as the operating system(I believe), so I am not sure if the same applies with the regular operating system). My advice to anyone considering getting a Mirage would be to GET THE ADVANCED OWNER'S MANUAL as well as the standard one. Without a manual, you're screwed.

Polyphony is 8 notes. Pitful by today's standards, but typical back in the 80's. The only "effect" this keyboard has is detuning-- no shimmering choruses, delays, reverbs or any of that good stuff. The keyboard action may be "spongy" to some, but I happen to like it...it is a little heavier than today's typical 61-key synth-- almost semi-weighted, but not quite. As for MIDI, from what I understand it's a bit more basic than today's synths. It suits me fine, though, as I don't delve into the more advanced aspects of MIDI. I hook up my Mirage, Roland XP-30, Roland JX-305 and Boss DR-670 all into my Roland MC-50 sequencer. I play the Mirage on one MIDI channel-- it's only monotimberal. Given that, I suppose 8 note polyphony isn't to shabby if you plan to use it for SFX, synth leads and grungy pads and not for wild piano solos, glissandos and such. One feature I like is its monophonic mode. It sounds very, very smooth, unlike many of today's synths in which the solo mode has a very "stair steppy" quality to it-- you still hear part of the attack portion of the notes as your fingers glide over the keys. Not so in the Mirage's mono mode. Another feature I like is the analog filters. Digital filters have that awful "stepped" sound to them which are quite audible at high resonance settings. Analog filters do not do that. Although the Mirage is no TB-303, very convincing anolog basses are possible. The Mirage's rather spartan outward appearance belies the fact that it is fairly decent in the way of sampling and sound editing features. To name a few:, ASDR envelope (TVA and TVF), LFO editing, sample layering, multisampling, threshold level, loop editing, and so forth. The "sequencer" is crap, though. I never use it because you are limited to, I believe, 500 notes. Another thing is the memory...you can only have 3 sounds per keyboard half at any given moment and the sampling time is also pretty lame. I would try to multisample a decent drum kit using 8 samples per half, at the maximum rate of 32kHZ, only to have many of the sounds clipped as it ran out of time. I give the Mirage a 5 because, while the filters and the mono mode are good, most of the other features are a bit dated.

I play many different types of music-- Heavy metal, Hip-hop, Industrial, Techno, Jazz, Latin and Blues. I feel the Mirage does well in all forms of electronic music and may work well with Metal and Rock if used creatively. The Mirage has a very lo-fi, gritty sound, which I like. In the lower registers, there is very heavy pixellation. To some, that's bad. For me, it's good. There are times when I WANT that particular sound. I once created a sound on my Roland XP-30, then sampled it into my Mirage, doing everything possible to make the sound pixellate as much as possible. I ended up with a very menacing, frightening, contrabass pad which I named "Pixellation Hell." Some of the original factory Mirage Sound Diskettes actually sound quite good. The clavinet sound on one of my factory disks sounds very realistic and has a lot of character-- not the typical Roland clavinet sample many of us are so familiar with. I will say this, though: The Mirage does not do well with sampling drums. Decent cymbal samples need at least 44.1 kHZ, otherwise it will alias like all bloody hell. The Mirage's maximum rate is 32kHZ, hmmm...guess good cymbals are out of the question unless you want some good sound effects (then lower it a few octaves...sounds evil) Also, for some odd reason, kick (Bass drum) samples do not turn out like they should. The timbere turns out almost perfectly, but the attack portion gets screwed up somehow. Instead of "Boom", you may get "Foom". Maybe there is a trick to getting around it...still tinkering with this thing and I've had it for a year. Warts and all, though, the Mirage is still quite usable in a musical setting.

This sucker is built like a tank. Solid metal casing, well built keys, and never failed me. Wish they'd build keyboards like they used to.....

Never dealt with them...I hear they can be real pricks though if you try to get help with anything made before 1990 or so.

If it were lost or stolen I'd be pissed because I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this keyboard. It is an exellent deal for the price. Hey, it makes a good conversation piece also-- sample a fart, play it back then see the person's reaction (lol).

Well, it's easy once you've found your way around it for
a while. I got a shitload of disks with it (used, free-
part-exchanged with other gear - a long story!)and the
previous owner had sampled some great stuff. Editing is
ok, especially if you've ever used analogue synths.

The manual could have been better written - some of the
stuff on multisampling is a joke.

I never use the sequencer as it's hooked to my Atari (running
Passport's brilliant Master Tracks Pro 3.6) but I can get into
the sounds no problem and the filters etc are easy to get used
to. It's flexible as it's got a great library. All I need to
do now is find new DSDD disks before they disappear!

Useful sounds. I use it for 80s synth music and soundscapes
and it does the business. A bit gritty though, especially
the sampling side.

It works ok! It's been well-looked after but gigged.
I don't plan to gig with it. It will be taken care of
in my studio rack.

A few third-parties on the net which is great but as you may
expect, nowt these days from Ensoniq/E-mu themselves. They
should have some respect for their own creations! Useful
sites out there on the web and more power to them too.

If it were nicked? A crime! I'd look for another.
Been playing it about a year. I own six synths etc.
Yes, an Akai S700 which had a dodgy diskdrive (quick disks!)
but better sounds.
A two-digit LCD is not all that. It's great for certain things.
If anyone in the UK has some sound or OS disks for it that they
no longer want, please mail me at sonik@wearelondon.fsnet.co.uk
as I'd like to expand my library.

Cheers :)
Al Ferrier
London, UK

Ensoniq made a great sounding sampler.And compared to the E-mu that it was designed to compete with in the market it was good.It's loaded with features,but using it for sampling is very difficlt without an editing package.You must contend with a 2 digit display for communication with the keyboard.When I bought my mirage new in 1987 I bought the Mirage visual editing package for the commodore 64(don't laugh).It actually works very well.I have a state of the art IBM aptiva with cakewalk pro, but I still held onto and use my lowly commodore 64 to edit waves on my mirage.I tried to sample without this package in the begining, but it's really a shot in the dark.

Ensoniq had a grand idea.Make a sampler with a disk loaded operating system.Besides the ensoniq factory os there was an alternate os system offered for the mirage called "soundprocess" which in effect turned the mirage into a synth with 48 internal sounds per bank.If there had been better displays on the keyboard, I feel that perhaps more 3rd party developers would have opted to make more os sytems for the mirage.

When it comes to a sampler, you can't beat mutisampled sounds for clarity and realism.The piano is good.It's not a T-1 but it is good.It is my staple sound.You would find a truer fender rhodes sound anywhere.Strings are great.Horns and brass are good.Forget the percussive sounds,the morage is only an 8 bit machine and the percussive sounds are weak and thin compared to a 16 bit machine such as the VFX.

After 13 years on the road the only thing I had to replace was the disk drive one time.When I first got it it would sometines shut down,the display would go blank and little bleeps would come from it. I found that I had to remove the ground prong from the end of it to keep it from ground looping when ran with my other keyboards.

See my comments on the ESQ-one for the answers to this one.

Its been subject to 13 years of classic rock band hell.Thats 13 years of smoky bars,damp basements,played in the rain,stored in the garage,set in the sun for hours,jarred around in the back of a truck, and all of this time I still don't have a case for it.The mirage only needed a new disk drive after about 4 years,and this was probably due to overuse.Be sure to keep a backup of all your disks with you when you play.Its very frustrating to load a disk in the middle of a song only to get a DE(disk error).A true workhorse in its own right.

Well... if I wasn't using Sound Designer on an Atari ST for managing most of the aspects of the sampling process it would be a real pain in the ass to work with. But as it stands now it's not that bad. If you're a geekboy like me who still writes machine code in hex then the Mirage isn't all that wild a beastie to tame.

The only feature that really jumps out at you and says "howdy" is the wonderful warm curtis analogue filters on this machine. If I had the time I would look into hacking the machine to give me some real-time control over these filters (certainly plenty of room on the front pannel to install some pots). It's one of those things on my list of "Projects to do if I ever get free time". As for any other features... what features? The dinky sequencer on it is a waste of resources that could have otherwise gone to samples.The expansion port showed unfulfilled promise (another thing I'll play with if I ever get the time). Everything else on it was pretty standard fare.

You either love it or you hate it. If you understand and accept the instruments "grungy" sound you'll be able to find unlimited potential in it. If you want an accurate reprodection of accoustic instruments, then forget it. The Mirage produces abstract paintings, not photographs. Accept that and you'll just love the way it sounds.

Well, they're still kicking... and I must have had my mirage for about 15 years. But if you're not comfortable opening electronic devices and pokeing them with a blunt stick then you won't like the Mirage. I find that the case is a little too flexible which means if you move the beastie around too much all the socketed chips tend to unseat just enough to really mess it up. The older the machines get the more prone to this problem they seem to be. One of my mirages (the first one I bought way back in the 80s) is so prone to this that I've removed the screws from it's hinged cover and installed the keyboard and disk drive with velcro pads instead of screws. Then the first thing I do after getting to a gig is flip open the case, pull out the keyboard an disk drive and reseat every socketed chip with the eraser end of a pencil. My other Mirage I got for free from a friend. His cat spunked on the machine leaving it inoperatable. Everything inside the machine was covered in that thick smelly cat-goo. I removed the disk drive and power supply and LED/Switch pannel then checked the rest of the machine into a bathtub of warm, soapy water. After many hours of careful scrubbing the cat-goo was removed. The motherboard and keyboard were fully dried and the removed devices re-installed in the squeaky clean case. Fired it up not expecting much and behold... it worked. Well the K1 chip that reads the keyboard was fried (replaced it temorarily with the chip from my other mirage just to confirm) but otherwise everything works fine and now I use this mirage just as a midi sound module. I plan to hack it into a rack-mount case at some later date.

Well... if you call the hundreds of geekboys out there with Mirage webpages customer support, then I guess it's not bad. But Ensoniq itself would like to deny the machine ever existed it would seem.
If anyone knows where I can get something equavalent to that K1 chip please let me know (crackers@hwcn.org).

I'd be pretty pissed if someone stole my Mirage. I've had the thing forever and even though I swear at it alot deep down inside I really love the wee beastie. Getting another one wouldn't be too hard I suppose, but if I had to replace it I'd get the rack. Of course finding a Mirage rack is not that easy as it seems every industrial/deathbunny/grunge band wants one. It's almost become a pretentious little device to own. There's really nothing that fully compairs to the Ensoniq Mirage... except maybe bunch of Casio SK-1's duct taped together.