Contents.Company historyEnsoniq was founded in 1982 by former engineers (designer of the chip for the home computer),. Their first product was a software that ran on a.In January 1998, ENSONIQ Corp. Was acquired by for $77 million, and merged with to form the E-Mu/Ensoniq division. The fusion with E-mu sealed Ensoniq's fate: after releasing an entry-level E-mu MK6/PK6 and Ensoniq Halo keyboards - essentially keyboard versions of the Proteus 2500 module - in 2002, the E-Mu/Ensoniq division was dissolved and support for legacy products was discontinued soon afterward. Musical instruments and digital systems. (1986)Ensoniq entered the instrument market with the sampling keyboard in 1985. At the price of 1500 it cost significantly less than previous such as the and the.
Starting with the, they began producing based synthesizers. Following the success of these products, Ensoniq established a subsidiary in in 1987.Ensoniq products were highly professional. Strong selling points were ease-of-use and their characteristic 'fat', rich sound (generally thought of as being an 'American' quality, as opposed to the 'Japanese' sound which was more 'digital' and somewhat 'cold').
After the Mirage, all Ensoniq instruments featured integrated sequencers (even their late '80s and early '90s ) providing an 'all-in-one' 'digital studio' production concept instrument. These were often called 'Music Workstations'. High-quality effects units were included, along with or cards for storage. The manuals and tutorial documents were clearly written and highly musician-oriented, allowing the users to quickly get satisfactory results from their machines. In 1988, the company enlisted the in a limited edition promotional CD ' which featured the band using the EPS sampler and SQ-80 cross wave synthesizer.The company had much success with the SQ product line starting in the late 1980s. This was a lower-cost line that included the SQ-1 (61 keys), SQ-2 (76 keys)and SQ-R (rack-mounted, with no keys or sequencer).
Later versions were produced with 32 sound-generating voices. (1992)The company's heyday was in the early 1990s when the VFX synthesizers offered innovative performance and sequencing features (and terrific acoustic sounds), along with the ASR series of 16-bit samplers which also integrated synthesis, effects and sequencer into a single-unit digital studio. The TS synthesizers followed the legacy of the VFX line, improving several aspects such as the, effects engine, sample-loading capabilities and even better synth and acoustic sounds. The DP series of effects rack-mount units offered parallel processing and presets on a par with Lexicon's offerings, but at affordable prices.
DP/2 (1995)Despite these strengths, early (1980s) Ensoniq instruments suffered from reliability problems. Through the early and mid-1990s, much effort was focused on improving the reliability of the products. The company didn't manage to reinvent its workstation concept in order to survive the mid and late '90s, and no lower-budget versions of their keyboards were offered to replace the aging SQ line. Excellent synthesizers like the VFX or TS models lacked cheaper rack-mount counterparts. Finally, while the competition's products were continually evolving and newer technologies such as physical modeling were introduced, Ensoniq failed to follow the late '90s market orientation, often recycling old concepts on their new products. During this time, much of the engineering effort and company resources were focused on computer sound cards, which offered more profit for the company. Timeline of major products.
(1998). 1998 -. 1998 -. 1998 -. 1998 -.
2002 - (E-mu product using Ensoniq brand)Sound cards and semiconductorsEnsoniq was known not only for their innovative musical instruments division, but also for their computer audio chips. In 1986, after making an agreement with, the same chip utilized in the Mirage and ESQ-1 keyboard was incorporated into the personal computer. The Ensoniq ES5505 (OTIS or OTISR2), and ES5510 (ESPR6, ESP stands for Ensoniq Signal Processor) were used in various. They were all manufactured on the process. The OTTO was licensed to for use in the card. In 1994 production began on sound cards for home computers. The design of the video game console also included the OTIS chip, though the product never reached series production.Ensoniq's sound cards became immensely popular, no doubt due to their many wins with the big.
Towards the end of the gaming era, every game supported the Ensoniq Soundscape. In fact Ensoniq was the first to come up with an software audio emulation solution for their new sound cards that was compatible with most DOS games. It is likely that this was a big motivator in the Creative/E-MU purchase of Ensoniq because had not developed a high-compatibility method to support audio in legacy DOS software. According to one source, because of the wide range of patents Ensoniq had involving the PCI bus support for the sound cards, and the fact that Ensoniq wanted E-MU's technologies, the buyout of Ensoniq became the best of both worlds. The AudioPCI was designed to be cheap first, functional second.
However, it is very functional. When one compares the wide variety of chips and sheer size of the older Soundscape boards to the highly integrated 2-chip design of the AudioPCI, the cost-reduction is obvious.
It consisted of little more than a small host CPU driven audio chip (one of the following: S5016, ES1370, ES 1371) and a companion. AudioPCI still offers nearly all of the audio capabilities of the Soundscape ELITE card.Transoniq HackerThe was an independent monthly newsletter that was published from July, 1985, through December, 1994. The newsletter was originally published as a means for owners of the Ensoniq Mirage to exchange ideas, but was eventually expanded to cover the to the entire line of Ensoniq synthesizers. Ensoniq Corp., Dixie Dregs, 'Off the Record', ENS-1000, 1988. Case, Loyd. 'In Search Of The Ultimate. Computer Gaming World Dec.
1994: 138-148. Ensoniq Corp. Soundscape S-2000 Manual, Ensoniq, 1994. by Ensoniq Corp., Multimedia Division Product Information and Support Pages, 1998, retrieved December 25, 2005.
by Ensoniq Corp., Multimedia Division Product Information and Support Pages, 1997, retrieved December 27, 2005. Prince, Bobby. 'In Search Of The Ultimate.
Wavetable Daughtercard.' Computer Gaming World Dec. 1994: 156-164. Weksler, Mike & McGee, Joe. 'CGW Sound Card Survey.' Computer Gaming World Oct.
1993: 76-84.External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to:.
Key peopleBruce Crockett, Al Charpentier, and (founders)WebsiteEnsoniq Corp. Was an manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its, principally. Contents.Company historyIn spring 1983 former engineers, Charles Winterble, David Ziembicki, and formed Peripheral Visions.
The team had designed the, and hoped to build another computer. To raise funds, Peripheral Visions agreed to build a computer keyboard for the, but the canceled the project and Commodore sued the new company, claiming that it owned the keyboard project.
Renaming itself as Ensoniq, the new company instead designed a music synthesizer.In January 1998, ENSONIQ Corp. Was acquired by Ltd. For $77 million, and merged with to form the E-Mu/Ensoniq division. The fusion with E-mu sealed Ensoniq's fate.
After releasing an entry-level E-mu MK6/PK6 and Ensoniq Halo keyboards in 2002 – essentially keyboard versions of the Proteus 2500 module – the E-Mu/Ensoniq division was dissolved and support for legacy products was discontinued soon afterward. Musical instruments and digital systems. (1986)Ensoniq entered the instrument market with the sampling keyboard in 1985. At the price of 1695 it cost significantly less than previous such as the and the. Starting with the, they began producing. Following the success of these products, Ensoniq established a subsidiary in in 1987.Ensoniq products were highly professional. Strong selling points were ease-of-use and their characteristic 'fat', rich sound (generally thought of as being an 'American' quality, as opposed to the 'Japanese' sound which was more 'digital' and somewhat 'cold').
After the Mirage, all Ensoniq instruments featured integrated sequencers (even their late '80s and early '90s ) providing an all-in-one 'digital studio production concept' instrument. These were often called 'Music Workstations'. Starting with the VFX synthesizer, high-quality effects units were included, in addition most synthesizer and all sampler models featured and/or cards for storage. The manuals and tutorial documents were clearly written and highly musician-oriented, allowing the users to quickly get satisfactory results from their machines. In 1988, the company enlisted the in a limited edition promotional CD which featured the band using the EPS sampler and SQ-80 cross wave synthesizer.The company had much success with the SQ product line starting in the early 1990s.
This was a lower-cost line that included the SQ-1 (61 keys), SQ-2 (76 keys) and SQ-R (rack-mounted, with no keys or sequencer). Later versions were produced with 32 sound-generating voices. (1992)The company's heyday was in the early 1990s when the VFX synthesizers offered innovative performance and sequencing features (and terrific acoustic sounds), along with the ASR series of 16-bit samplers which also integrated synthesis, effects, and sequencer into a single-unit digital studio.
The TS synthesizers followed the legacy of the VFX line, improving several aspects such as the, effects engine, sample-loading capabilities and even better synth and acoustic sounds. The DP series of effects rack-mount units offered parallel processing and presets on a par with Lexicon's offerings, but at affordable prices. DP/2 (1995)Despite these strengths, early (1980s) Ensoniq instruments suffered from reliability and quality problems such as bad keyboards (Mirage DSK-8), under-developed power-supply units (early ESQ-1), or mechanical issues (EPS polypressure keyboard). Through the early and mid-1990s, much effort was focused on improving the reliability of the products.
The company didn't manage to reinvent its workstation concept in order to survive the mid and late '90s, and no lower-budget versions of their keyboards were offered to replace the aging SQ line. Excellent synthesizers like the VFX or TS models lacked cheaper rack-mount counterparts. Finally, while the competition's products were continually evolving and newer technologies such as physical modeling were introduced, Ensoniq failed to follow the late '90s market orientation, often recycling old concepts on their new products. During this time, much of the engineering effort and company resources were focused on computer sound cards, which offered more profit for the company.
Timeline of major products. (1998). 1998 –. 1998 –.
1998 –. 1998 –. 2002 – (E-mu product using Ensoniq brand)Sound cards and semiconductorsIn 1986, after making an agreement with, the same (Digital Oscillator Chip) utilized in the Mirage sampler (DSK-8, DSK-1, DMS-1), ESQ-1, ESQm and SQ80 synthesizers, and SDP1 piano module was incorporated into the personal computer.Later engines, with 16-bit sample playback and internal digital filters, were ES5504 DOC-II (used in the EPS sampler) and ES5505 OTIS (used in the EPS16+ sampler and the VFX line of synthesizers featuring 21 voices).
Finally, ES5506 OTTO drove all subsequent 32-voice machines (SD-1/32, TS10/12, ASR-10/88). The latest incarnation, ES5548 OTTO-48, was used in the final line of Ensoniq studio products (ASR-X, FIZMO, and MR).Ensoniq also developed an effects DSP, ES5510 ESP, that was used in the machines from the VFX on. OTTO-48 generation uses its greatly enhanced successor, ES5511 ESP V2. A combination of OTTO and ESP, ES5540 OTTOFX, was developed but not used commercially.The Ensoniq ES5505 OTIS/OTISR2, and ES5510 ESP (Ensoniq Signal Processor) were also used in various. They were all manufactured on the process. The OTTO was licensed to for use in the card.
In 1994 production began on sound cards for home computers. The design of the video game console also included the OTIS chip, though the product never reached series production. A dedicated version of OTTO, ES5530/35 OPUS, was developed for AT-bus sound cards, featuring built-in joystick and CD-ROM interface.Ensoniq's sound cards were popular and shipped with many IBM PC compatibles. Almost every newer -era game supported the Ensoniq Soundscape either directly or through.
In addition, Ensoniq devised an software audio emulation solution for their new sound cards that was compatible with most IBM PC games. It is speculated that this was an important factor in acquisition of Ensoniq, because Creative/E-MU was struggling with legacy compatibility at the time with their higher-performance PCI audio solutions. According to one source, because of the wide range of patents Ensoniq had involving the PCI bus support for the sound cards, and the fact that Ensoniq wanted E-MU's technologies, the buyout of Ensoniq became the best of both worlds. This card was a, and possibly was used by other OEMs, but was never sold to Ensoniq's customers directly.
It was a Soundscape-like board, using the Ensoniq 5530/5535 OPUS multimedia sound chip, a chip that was only used on these OEM boards and essentially comprises an OTTO with back-then usual additional interfacing (Joystick, CD-ROM). Ensoniq Soundscape VIVO90 was Ensoniq's generational step forward from the Ensoniq Soundscape S-2000-based boards.
It was first produced in 1996. VIVO90 had similar specifications to the older boards, but was built to cost less to manufacture.AudioPCI.
The AudioPCI was designed to be a low-cost, yet feature-rich audio solution, which could be integrated on computer motherboards as a value-added option. It consisted of little more than a small, host CPU driven audio chip (one of the following: S5016, ES1370, ES1371) and a companion.
Despite its small size and low cost, AudioPCI still offers nearly all of the audio capabilities and functionality of the Soundscape ELITE card. The AudioPCI line utilized an -based emulation Ensoniq developed to provide a reasonable level of legacy DOS compatibility without requiring any signals from the ISA bus, though the TSR could cause problems with games that relied on custom flavors of.Related Research Articles. A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings of real instrument sounds, excerpts from recorded songs or found sounds. The samples are loaded or recorded by the user or by a manufacturer. These sounds are then played back by means of the sampler program itself, a MIDI keyboard, sequencer or another triggering device to perform or compose music. Because these samples are usually stored in digital memory, the information can be quickly accessed.
A single sample may often be pitch-shifted to different pitches to produce musical scales and chords. The Ensoniq Soundscape OPUS ( SS-3016-NCD) is a Gateway 2000 OEM sound card, and possibly was used by other OEMs, but was never sold to Ensoniq's customers directly. It was a Soundscape-like board, using the Ensoniq 'OPUS' multimedia sound chip that only was used on these OEM boards. It had a 1MB patch set ROM chip, resulting in a lesser MIDI quality compared to the Soundscape and Soundscape ELITE. The 'OPUS' cards again carry the Motorola 68EC000 CPU.
The variety of CD-ROM interfaces have been removed. Otherwise, however, the card is simply a cost-reduced Soundscape-compatible board with similar capabilities.
Sound Blaster Live! Is a PCI add-on sound card from Creative Technology Limited for PCs. Moving from ISA to PCI allowed the card to dispense with onboard memory, storing digital samples in the computer's main memory and then accessing them in real time over the bus. This allowed for a much wider selection of, and longer playing, samples. Robocopy xp026 microsoft.
It also included higher quality sound output at all levels, quadrophonic output, and a new MIDI synthesizer with 64 sampled voices. Was introduced in August 1998 and variations on the design remained Creative's primary sound card line into the 2000s. The Korg DSS-1 is a 12-bit polyphonic sampling synthesizer released in September 1986. It came out at a time when many of the popular synthesizer companies were beginning to get into sampling, an area of sound design that had previously been left to a handful of fledgling companies such as Fairlight, E-mu, and Ensoniq. Like Yamaha and Casio, however, Korg did not stay long in the sampling arena. The DSS-1 was the company's only sampler until 1998 when Korg introduced sampling options on their Triton and Trinity series of workstations, and on their Electribe series of drum-and-phrase samplers.
Ensoniq Corp., Dixie Dregs, 'Off the Record', ENS-1000, 1988. Case, Loyd. 'In Search Of The Ultimate. Computer Gaming World Dec.
1994: 138-148. Ensoniq Corp. Soundscape S-2000 Manual, Ensoniq, 1994. by Ensoniq Corp., Multimedia Division Product Information and Support Pages, 1998, retrieved December 25, 2005. by Ensoniq Corp., Multimedia Division Product Information and Support Pages, 1997, retrieved December 27, 2005. Prince, Bobby.
'In Search Of The Ultimate. Wavetable Daughtercard.' Computer Gaming World Dec. 1994: 156-164. Weksler, Mike & McGee, Joe.
'CGW Sound Card Survey.' Computer Gaming World Oct. 1993: 76-84.External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to.