Large selection of categorised presets
Three digital oscillators per voice
Complex LFO Waveforms, available for MSEG mode
Choose complex waveforms for each oscillator
Mono, Poly and Unison oscillator assignment
Switchable envelope modes
Volume control (DCA) per oscillator
Three menu states, for playing and editing
Resonant filter, modelled on a Curtis chip design
Three LFOs available per patch
Our assignable envelopes per patch
During the 80s, sampling technology was becoming an indispensable part of music production. The only problem was, all the really elaborate samplers came with a caveat; did you buy a Fairlight CMI, or did you buy a house? For us mere mortals, this was an easy sell – after all, a Fairlight wasn’t great at keeping the rain off your head while you slept. But as sampling tech matured, so did the prices, thanks in part to the likes of E-mu, Akai and the fledgling Ensoniq.
More than a Mirage!
In 1985, this new company entered the sampling age with a debut release. The Ensoniq Mirage was a vaguely affordable sampling keyboard, produced by some of the team that had brought the infamous Commodore 64 home computer to the market. By the time the SQ80 synthesiser arrived, music was chiming to the tones of digital synths. The Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50 were established favourites, but the SQ80 offered something slightly different, armed with its own floppy disk drive and an elegant editing and menu hierarchy.
This story is from the January 2022 edition of Computer Music.
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This story is from the January 2022 edition of Computer Music.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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