Ensoniq

EnsoniqEnsoniq was an American company, founded in 1982 by Al Charpentier, Bruce Crockett and Bob Yannes (famous for designing the, still popular, SID chip), which produced electronic musical instruments and software during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1998 the company was aquired by Creative and merged with their EMU section however, by 2002 Ensoniq was basically dead when Creative ceased support of legacy products. To this day people send requests to the company asking them to place the legacy files (for E-MU & Ensoniq) back on their site but, although they have stated that they are considering it there is no sign in 2011.

Ensoniq started in business creating a little software drum machine and they are known for their "Mirage" range of samplers. Their first keyboard was the SQ 1 which featured digital waves, 8 stage envelopes and an analogue filter section.

If you are considering buying an SQ-1, or you just fancy a comprehensive sample set of the keyboard, please take a look at our Ensoniq SQ-1 sample DVD