rwn@iham1.UUCP (Bob Neumann) (04/04/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR DIGITAL SAMPLE *** I finally got a chance to see the Ensonique Mirage at the Sound Post music store in Evanston, Illinois. My first impressions were mixed, although I should realize that for the low price of the instrument I am not going to get a Kurzweil or Emulator II. The price is $1695 -and their are NO DISCOUNTS (similar to when DX-7's were first introduced). Before the instrument was turned on, I played with the keyboard -the touch felt cheap. I would have preferred something a little nicer; the new Roland JX-8P and the Chroma Polaris both have a nicer feel, but that criticism is meaningless since the Mirage has MIDI and therefore can be controlled from other MIDI keyboard controllers. The salesman did not have a large selection of disks that had sampled sounds. The company does promise more sounds in the future. I believe the disks hold 3 or 4 sounds at the cost of $40.00 each. The grand piano and "slapped" bass were excellent, working well with the velocity sensitive keyboard. The grand piano sond seemed to last for a realistic duration without any apparent distortion, looping, etc. There were an assortment "orchestral hits" or "Fairlight Whoomfps" depending on what you want to call the sounds, which were in essence samples of recorded or real orchestras striking up a not or chord. A cymbal crash seemed to highlight the beginning of the sample. I was impressed until I heard a string/violin sample. I played various keys on the instrument near the top of the keyboard and every second or two a distinct audio "click" was heard, in addition to the string sound. I believe this is caused by the sample looping around. I was suprised that a factory sample would have such a poor loop with an audible click since the piano sample sounded so nice. The salesman did not have any disks that would show off how the instrument would replay a human chorus, background vocals, etc. The internal sequencer does not have any auto-correct functions, and the promised add-on sequencer was also not to have any auto correct functions. This may cause a problem with determining end-points of sequences if you wish to loop seqences perfectly in time with other drum machines or sequencers. There was also a sampling enhancement module promised in the future. This module, the salesman explained, was to provide better frequency response and longer duration of samples than is currently available on a stock Mirage. All in all, the instrument was impressive for its price range. Bob Neumann AT&T Bell Labs