Library Organization

Ensoniq

American synthesizer manufacturer founded by former Commodore SID-chip engineers, in Malvern, Pennsylvania, in 1982.

Type
Organization
Subjects
Instruments Technology

Founded in Malvern, Pennsylvania, by former MOS Technology/Commodore engineers including Bob Yannes and Al Charpentier, who had designed the Commodore 64’s SID sound chip. The team incorporated in 1983 as Peripheral Visions, planning an Atari 2600 keyboard peripheral, and renamed itself Ensoniq after the 1983 video-game crash pushed them toward music synthesis instead — building the affordable Mirage sampler and ESQ-1 synthesizer/sequencer.

Works in the Library

  • Ensoniq INSTRUMENT

    Ensoniq ESQ-1

    Ensoniq's 1986 hybrid synthesizer/sequencer — digital wavetable oscillators through analog filters, multitimbral, and affordable.

    COMPUTATION SOUND INSTRUMENTS TECHNOLOGY

  • Ensoniq INSTRUMENT

    Ensoniq Mirage

    Ensoniq's 1984 sampling keyboard, priced an order of magnitude below the Fairlight and Emulator, that made digital sampling affordable.

    COMPUTATION SOUND MEMORY INSTRUMENTS TECHNOLOGY