incredible how a little reverb makes thesse old aliasing sampler come alive.

Interesting video - brought back many memories. I worked at Ensoniq starting in 1984 - they were fun years. That first Mirage was a groundbreaking keyboard and it required a different skill set than synthesizers of that era. The hexadecimal display confounded many, but it wasn't too hard to learn. Mirage owners were eager to learn about the internal wavesample memory. Eventually, I published a technical article for Mirage owners. My wavesample segmentation article helped hundreds of Mirage owners better understand how to partition the internal wavesample memory to multiple keyboard zones.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the great insight, Steve! I have several original "Transoniq Hacker" copies somewhere in storage, I'd like to find your article

@stephenlennartz3466

4 жыл бұрын

Cool Steve! Did you work on the EPS? Love it. Related ... do know of any resources available for the EPS OS and/or samples? Many thanks! ; )

@gsxerwhite

4 жыл бұрын

Steve Coscia that's cool as shit.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

@@stevecoscia Steve, thank you! Reading it now

@bicycleninja1685

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your contribution!

The guy who made the sound chip used in the Mirage (Bob Yannes) - his previous project before this was the Commodore 64 sound chip (!)

🤯, I’m blown away, I don’t really like the actual dx7 type sounds, but they sound incredible on this.

I carried one of these for 3 miles to my home when I was 18...my arms ached for a whole week.

@saulocisneros

4 жыл бұрын

Totally worth it!

Holy crap that pipe organ sounded massive, my favourite patch :)

@alexandertwose2581

Жыл бұрын

Indeed. Very beautiful and powerful sound.

In highschool playing this at the music store just BLEW my mind. It was so expensive I couldn't believe anyone could make enough money to own it!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

We must be of similar age :D

@supercompooper

4 жыл бұрын

@@SynthManiaDotCom we are :)

@anonymoushuman8344

2 жыл бұрын

It was slightly on the expensive side compared to my Juno-6, but it was a digital sampler that didn't cost as much as a house! You could actually get your hands on it, maybe buy one if you had a job. Like a first car, for some.

Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis used the Mirage on Janet Jackson's "Control" and "Rhythm Nation" albums! The clunky metallic bass sound on "Nasty" was "Rack Bells" from the Mirage Factory Library layered with an Oberheim OB-8 bass sound, and the horn blasts on "When I Think Of You" were also from the Mirage library. They also used the factory Snare Roll sound on the intro to New Edition's "If It Isn't Love" (as well as the Rack Bells bass and Kalimba).

@oholm09

4 жыл бұрын

And Alexander o Neal hearsay project s.o.s band human league herb Alpert

@eazyEHouX

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, I read that too. And then right after they wrapped up "Control" they went straight into production with the Human League. Ive always loved their work on "Human" and "Love is all that matters." I think thats what really got me into synth music.

@oholm09

Жыл бұрын

​@eazyEHouX me too I'm a musician

I remember the day I first heard the Mirage at my local music store. A guy was playing that piano sound and I was stunned at how full and real it sounded. Then he released the sustain pedal and the sound stopped so abruptly, reminding me that this wasn't acoustic, it was digital! I felt I'd just witnessed the future.

This keyboard was such a game changer when it first came out....the first digital sampler that was even remotely affordable for young struggling musicians back in the '80's. Synclavier, Fairlight, Kurzweil and Emulator were all way out of most people's price range, and then came the Mirage! (and the Casio SK-1 LOL)

I think the name Mirage was a perfect moniker for this instrument. Remember what a mirage is what you see but it's not really real. They applied this effect to sound..♥️♥️♥️

The pipe organ sample made my hair stand on end, great upload as usual Paolo!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@bd594

4 жыл бұрын

That was the reason why I bought the Mirage.

@Meteotrance

2 жыл бұрын

It's really hard to have an amazing sample from a real wind organ, it's even better than what i have on my nord electro, i wonder where can i get good pipe organ sample.

What a cool demo of an interesting instrument. And oh my, that pipe organ!

OMG The pipe organ is so fantastic, i am speachless. Thx for this video.

LOVED the way you just played 'strings of life' like it was the vinyl playing, awesome mate !!! Then good life, too, wow, two of the tunes that had an impact on my life, and now I know where the sounds came from. Thank you.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much!

Dwayne Gettel of "skinny puppy" was the master of the ensoniq Mirage!🎹🎧💫💀😵👌👍 rest in peace🙏✋✌

@Horizontedesucesos_

4 жыл бұрын

I was checking for some comments about Dwayne ;)

@maxmatson1578

4 жыл бұрын

@@Horizontedesucesos_ puppy people always legit👌 FUCK yeah!!!👍BrAp oN!!¡!✌

@adub303

4 жыл бұрын

Hell yes! Long live Aduck! Full disclosure: Skinny Puppy = reason that I know keyboards exist

@maxmatson1578

4 жыл бұрын

@@adub303 hell yeah!👍 for me, Dwayne was the master of digital synthesis!🎹🎧💫😵👌

One of my cousin's jobs [when working for a famous band who were daft enough in the 80's to drag an Emulator around the UK and the world when touring] was to remember to pack the lump hammer. Because when the Emulator crashed/hung up [as it frequently did] one sure fire way to get it to to reboot was to smack it on its metal legs with the lump hammer.

@AutPen38

2 жыл бұрын

About half an hour ago I read that New Order used to kick the leg of the Emulator II to bring it back to life.

This is the Inner City sampler, good life is such a great track. A lot of game developers must have also used it a lot back in the day, I recognize the bass sound from various SNES and amiga tunes. The Ensonique company was founded by the creator of the Commodore 64’s SID chip. That barbershop style reminds me a lot of the more contemporary Super Mario tunes from recent years.

So many great sounds but boy that Pipe Organ with the reverb added was MAJESTIC!

Love the mirage. I had the chance to play with one in a studio in Los Angeles and each sound I played was reminding me of songs from the 80/90’s. Such a distinct sound.

The good old days when we marvelled about ah's and do's ;)

@benjamindminor7552

4 жыл бұрын

Maybe you did.

@DarkSideofSynth

4 жыл бұрын

@@benjamindminor7552 Maybe... surely I could and still can take a joke

@MrKeys57

4 жыл бұрын

@@benjamindminor7552 so....what do you have to present for yourself..?..

I love the loop points on the strings. Obviously back in the day, such looping clicks would be smoothed out and buried in the mix of whatever song is using them. Us old timers remember such limitations with great fondness I’m sure you’ll agree Paolo

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Definitely agree

@adub303

4 жыл бұрын

Those loop imperfections basically spelled house music for me back in the day. I remember using modedit on my 486 and trying to get those mid-rangy, wonky looping strings, pads and choirs. Later got to do that with my Mirages, an ESI-32 and a W-30. Memories. :-D

Back in the 80's i got the Casio FZ1 sampler...ahh the old days!

@museonfilm8919

4 жыл бұрын

That thing was HEAVY - it actually broke a friend's keyboard stand!

I always enjoyed programming sounds in hexadecimal. I used to work at a music store that sold them. We sold a ton of them, and every one had to go back to the factory for repair. We had them stacked in the back room waiting to go back. Someone would bring one in and explain the problem. I'd say, "Boy I've never heard of that happening before." And I'd add it to the stack in the back room.

17:28 Pretty sure THIS EXACT pipe organ sound was used in the original London cast recording of "The Phantom of the Opera". It is also almost definitely being used to this day since it's no secret that this track is prerecorded and on a click-track that the orchestra then joins.

Nice demo, love seeing the Teac 3440 in the background. Recorded many synth tracks on it. Thought of the Mirage but wound up with a S50 and S550 in the early 90#s

Another great Video! So happy especially about the Strings of Life piano, thanks a lot!!!

Two of the creators of this synth is Albert Charpentier and Robert Yannes, and both worked as chip designers at Commodore before starting Ensoniq. While Charpentier was a graphics chip developer, Yannes was the creator of the famous SID chip for the Commodore 64 which still today is used by many hobby musicians looking for the old chip sound.

Love Ensoniq synths. We hope someday the engineers they get together and create new stuff again. :))

@captmcgravy2669

4 жыл бұрын

Bensoniqs coming soon lmao

@jadelion11

4 жыл бұрын

@@captmcgravy2669 That's right lol. Those engineers are probably long gone or well into retirement. Bensoniq is a possibility but those "old engineers" probably aren't going to be coming up with anything new but colon polyps at this point (I hope they don't).

@Brumairevideo

4 жыл бұрын

Love them too but my VFX SD2 had decided to die too early, it was really a problem on this model. The temperature was too high after few minutes in use.

I want that barbershop music to be played to people I've got on hold on the phone... :D

@darklightprojector2688

4 жыл бұрын

Colaholiker Lmao my automated voicemail prompt

Brings back memories hearing these sounds again. I had this one in the early '90s. A few years later I moved up to the ASR-10, which I still have.

Hey there.. I bought an Mirage and went touring with a band in the south of France. Using the famed "floppy disk" lol. SO many great memories and forgot how good it sounds after all this time.

@SynthManiaDotCom

Жыл бұрын

Very cool!

The Mirage sounds amazing even today, almost 35 years after its release. I'm thinking of getting an Oberheim DPX-1, it's quite an underrated machine but very powerful as it can load Mirage, EII, S900 and P2000 samples

@NewAllianceEastMastering

4 жыл бұрын

get both. they sound different. the DPX is cleaner sounding and the filter is less warm in a way. certain disks sound bad on one or the other but they always shine on one specifically if you know what i mean... and the DPX can play Emulator patches

Love your shows especially on ensoniq equipment.

Always great videos .. keep em coming

I had one back in the late 90's. Same model, build (and heavy) as a tank. It was a cheap way for me to play live with samples with my band. I used the acoustic and electric piano quite a lot. One of my favourite sounds was one I made from the string samples (soft attack) with filter and resonance. There was also a monophonic mode. Interesting because, when you played legato, the looped sample would play continuously, not restarting on each keypress.

Thanks for presenting an absolute buffet of musical styles! You also wrung out every last bit of polyphony and musicality that the Mirage had to offer!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Yes, I'm amazed at how well the voice allocation responds, given it's from the mid '80s!

This is my favorite Mirage demo on youtube. I love the pipe organ.

Oh man, that brings back memories. I had an EPS 16+ rack-mount. That thing cost $2000. I also talked an Ensoniq engineer into giving me beta software that allowed the unit to load sounds in the background while other sounds played.

Brilliant to see one of these again❤️ When i was studying HND music tech one of my friends had this. It weighed a frekin ton! At the time we scoffed because the college studios had just acquired some big Akai rack samplers. But clearly we were wrong to scoff. That sounds just great. Another superb video from you. Thank you so much😘 Jb xx

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Paulo you NEVER cease to amaze me! Keep up the great work! I love what you do!!!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much! Any suggestion, just let me know...

I miss my old Mirage from 1988... Great video, brought back some good memories.

Wow how much i respect this dude in the space of one video when it's my first time on the channel, you can just tell the depth of his musical knowledge from what he chooses to play. I am sitting a few inches from my mirage and I have yet used it since checking it out when I bought it, So glad I watched this.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you and welcome to the channel!

Thanks for making this video, really cool!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Impressive sound quality for an 8 bit sampler ! The pipe organ is just masterful.

Wow~ Those organs sound MASSIVE!!!

Good to hear this instrument again! Thanks.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Very welcome!

I had an ESQ-1 and a Mirage for many years. Loved them both!

Big fan of Ensoniq! I loved my TS-12. The acoustic guitar played great.

Synth looks stunningly elegant!

Another great vid 👍🏽 your mastery continues to amaze me

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I had a mirage back in the day and i cant remember at all what happened to it. wish i had i now. it was a lot of fun.

LOVE the Ensonic , the pianos were so pure !!!

I love this channel

What a great surprise this video was. I had no clue what to expect going in and didn't expect much, but had a big smile brought to my face, realizing it was going down oldskool road with all the classic house sounds we love, but had no history on. I am so glad to know I am going to bed less stupid tonight, yet again. Thanks Paolo!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Very welcome, Andrew!

wow, yeah 8 bit sounds so very real !! I just discovered that my Ensoniq ESQ-1 is 8 bit and along with an analog filter,,,thats about as real as it gets !! Super good video bro !!

indeed a great machine, i like the sounds very much !!

This was really cool! Plus, the playing itself was excellent for each patch demonstration. I did a session on one of these back in the late 80s. We used it for brass and strings. Definitely a cool machine that obviously still sounds great. Thanks for this!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Tony!

Love the sound of that sampler

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that's "giddy" about the Mirage. I bought a Mirage DSK back in the 80's for $1100.00 from Guitar Center. My farvorite diskette (Sound Disk 100) is the one with: 1.Acoustic Piano, 2.Ah Voices, and 3.Bowed Strings. That piano sound alone is my fave!! It reminds me of The Beatles at Abbey Road in the 60's. I'm not a fan of modern day "perfect" piano samples.This has a certain character that is so unique, like a piano recorded in the 60's. The piano sound punches through in a mix - perfect. My Mirage still works to this day, including the sustain pedal!! I believe the keybed is made by Fatar. So, it has a feel similar to a Hammond organ. I know, because I owned a Hammond M3 back in the 70's - 80's. Recently, my favorite diskette #100 died, and I searched the internet for a replacement. After about a year, I found "syntaur.com". I paid around $100 for a set of 10 disks. I only wanted the one disk. I called them and they said they can't sell me just 1 disk. So, I paid the full price just for the 1 disk. Well worth it!! I love it!!

Ensoniq stuff has a ton of character. I love my ESQ-1.

@AdamTheAd-vanc3d

4 жыл бұрын

Yeh I had the SQ80 never realized it had a partly analog signal path. Sold it for peanuts .

@harmonicres

4 жыл бұрын

Agreed Ive recorded multiple ambient albums 2 in fact most ESQ-1! If you take the time to program and know the trick of that sequencer some interesting music can be made with one machine and a limited one too compared to todays mega GB romplers.

@SoDope29

4 жыл бұрын

Still got my SQ-80 and TS-12

@harmonicres

4 жыл бұрын

@@SoDope29 Hold on to them! I miss all my Ensoniq gear had to sell for $$ reasons but at the least I made recordings with the sweet sounding machines! The TS10 is an amazing piece of tech btw.

@adub303

4 жыл бұрын

Still have my TS-10, though admittedly I use it more for poly-AT these days. Beautiful evolving pads and some of the freakiest sound effects out there. Tons of character :-)

Thanks for the video. I remember no way I could afford it in the 80s. Today I own a ESQ1 and I love it.

loved this board! It, my DX7, then my Emax and Emax II HD---I was ROCKIN!

I enjoyed this Paolo! very insightful and good to know thank you ;-)

Amazing musician!!!

Nice vid. I bought the rack version in '87. It was used for a couple of months and then put back in its box where it still remains along with its factory disks and 'easy' programming guide. Might give it another go after being inspired by this vid.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

thanks

Thanks for the memories ❤️👀

I NEED one of these. Amazing. Thank you, sir!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Andy!

surely that guy is trained in classical music! verry nice! wowww that organ sound is crazy! also love ensoniq

Yep had the dsk mirage 8 bit . Loved it , was my main controller back in the day

My gawd!!! That Pipe Organ almost blew my headphones off!!! MASSIVE😳😮😬😜

Great nostalgia! You explained it great. Thanks for your nice video! Nice greetings from Germany🤗

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Andreas, thank you! Big hello to Germany!

Its very cool format to learning from older instruments, especially presented from synthmania :-)

Always liked Ensoniq.....great balance of features, quality, and price. Loved my SQ1 and EPS16+ ....and they had their own magazine "Transoniq Hacker"....how cool is that!!!!😁

Learned so much from this video. Thanks Paolo!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank *you, dos gos!

Hehe, you hear that Piano now, and go "Oh, that's kinda cheap. And not enough voices." Yeah, back when it was released it sounded AMAZING!

I never knew the Mirage sounded that good! Thanks for sharing.

@SynthManiaDotCom

3 жыл бұрын

You bet!

Watching this in April 2020. The sound of the Organ patch was unbelievably realistic. I closed my eyes and I was in a cathedral. All those Dynamics with 8 bit resolution.

I really like the design of this keyboard.

Impressive sounds!

Had an ESQ1 and EPS. They were great boards!

I wanted this keyboard so badly. Ensoniq was such a great product. I had a KS32 that was so great to sequence on. They were great keyboards and the Mirage wade my mouth water because it had the drum loops on it that were so nice to work with.

My very first sampler. I loved the design and how it worked with yellow LED display. In order to save on manufacturing instead of three digits for 0 to 255 Ensoniq incorporated just two digits with a HEX display (00 to FF)

A real composer and musician can do wonders with older technology

I had an Ensoniq ESQ1, and a mirage rack version. Great setup!

Hi Paolo. Hope to meet you at Knobkon next year. Thanks for keeping the old school samplers alive!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

See you there next year!

Oh wow I love the tabla!

My first sampler was the Ensoniq ASR-X in 1999......I made entire albums on that machine before ever having a computer.

Mind blown when you played Strings of Life !

Fantastic Sampler

Damn, that is a great keyboard, and great playing BTW

beautiful

The 'bum-do' barber shop acapella tune is hilarious and charming. It brought a big smile to my face.

Thanks for the education. That was highly appreciated.

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, John

You're bringing back more memories for me....with my EnsoniqEPS16plus and floppy disks. I think it had a maximum of 2mb of total sample time, or 2 floppy disks full of samples.

That Barbershop section was amazing to watch!

Fantastic video!

@SynthManiaDotCom

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

I've heard of the term aliasing when used in the digital sound sense since I was a teenager. But now I know what it sounds like thanks to you. I thought it was just distortion of the speakers due to the powerful digital signal...

I love ensoniq keyboards.

The mirage was so groundbreaking back then. I remember seeing it live with a band and the guy had sampled Peter Gabriel’s sledgehammer shakuhachi and brass sound. Absolutely nailed it. I’ve been an Ensoniq fan ever since and bought an esq1 sas soon as it came out. I now have many Ensoniq boards but still the mirage is missing in the collection.