Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments , principally samplers and synthesizers .
38-521: In spring 1983, former MOS Technology engineers Robert "Bob" Yannes , Bruce Crockett , Charles Winterble, David Ziembicki, and Al Charpentier formed Peripheral Visions . The team had designed the Commodore 64 , and hoped to build another computer. To raise funds, Peripheral Visions agreed to build a computer keyboard for the Atari 2600 , but the video game crash of 1983 canceled the project and Commodore sued
76-423: A complete sound-generating mechanism for each key in the keybed (e.g., a piano has a string and hammer for every key, and an organ has at least one pipe for each key.) When any key is pressed, the note corresponding to that key will be heard as the mechanism is activated. Some clavichords do not have a string for each key. Instead, they will have a single string which will be fretted by several different keys. Out of
114-500: A large number of audio outputs to a mixer. The stops or drawbars on the organ modify the signal sent from the audio-generating system, and the keyboard switches the mixer's channels on and off. Those channels which are switched on are heard as notes corresponding to the depressed keys. In classical music, a definition of polyphony does not only mean just playing multiple notes at once but an ability to make audiences perceive multiple lines of independent melodies. Playing multiple notes as
152-455: A number of varieties, including double, triple, and quadruple ocarinas, which use multiple chambers to extend the ocarina's otherwise limited range, but also enable the musician to play more than one note simultaneously. Harmonic ocarinas are specifically designed for polyphony, and in these instruments the ranges of the chambers usually overlap to some extent (typically at the unison, third, fourth, fifth, seventh or octave). Cross-fingering enables
190-490: A par with Lexicon's offerings, but at affordable prices. 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 did not manage to reinvent its workstation concept in order to survive
228-481: A single chamber to span an entire octave or more. Recorders can also be doubled for polyphony. There are two types of double recorder; drone and polyphonic. In the drone type, one tube is tuned exactly like a regular recorder with a range of approximately two octaves, and the other tube is a drone and plays the tonic note of the scale. The polyphonic recorder has two tubes with a range of one major sixth. With overblowing, some notes can be played an octave higher, but it
266-464: A synthesizer needs only 12 oscillators – one for each note in the musical scale . The additional notes are generated by dividing down the outputs of these oscillators. To produce a note one octave lower, the frequency of the oscillator is divided by two. Polyphony is achieved so long as only one of each note in the scale is played simultaneously. A forefather of octave divider synth and electronic organs. Octave divider technology similar to Novachord
304-624: A time, making it smaller and cheaper than a polyphonic synthesizer which can play multiple notes at once. This does not necessarily refer to a synthesizer with a single oscillator ; the Minimoog , for example, has three oscillators which are settable in arbitrary intervals , but it can play only one note at a time. Well-known monosynths include the Minimoog, the Roland TB-303 , the Korg Prophecy , and
342-414: A whole, such as a rhythm from a chord pattern, is not polyphony but homophony . A classical violin has multiple strings and indeed is polyphonic but harder for some beginners to play multiple strings by bowing. One needs to control the pressure, speed and angle well for one note before having an ability to play the multiple notes at acceptable quality expected by the composers. Therefore, even though
380-405: Is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic . Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic or paraphonic . An intuitively understandable example for a polyphonic instrument is a (classical) piano , on which the player plays different melody lines with
418-471: Is a synthesizer that can play chords, provided all the notes start and end at the same time ( homophony ). For example, playing a new note on top of notes already held might retrigger the volume envelope for the entire sound. Monophonic synthesizers with more than one oscillator (such as the ARP 2600 ) can often be patched to behave in a paraphonic manner, allowing for each oscillator to play an independent pitch which
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#1732863261671456-584: Is then routed through a common VCF and VCA . The earliest polyphonic synthesizers were built in the late-1930s, but the concept did not become popular until the mid-1970s. Harald Bode 's Warbo Formant Orguel, developed in 1937, was an archetype of a voice allocation polyphonic synthesizer. Novachord by Hammond Organ Company , released in 1939, is a forefather product of frequency divider organs and polyphonic synthesizer. It uses octave divider technology to generate polyphony, and about 1,000 Novachords were manufactured until 1942. Using an octave divider
494-563: The Gravis Ultrasound card. In 1994, production began on PC sound cards for home computers. The design of the video-game console Atari Panther 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 . Many games in
532-554: The Korg Monologue . Duophonic synthesizers, such as the ARP Odyssey and Formanta Polivoks built in the 1970s and 1980s respectively, have a capability to independently play two pitches at a time. These synthesizers have at least two oscillators that are separately controllable, and a duophonic keyboard that can generate two control voltage signals for the lowest- and highest-note. When two or more keys are pressed simultaneously,
570-556: 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) and the dual-OTTO machines (KT, MR, ZR). The latest incarnation, ES5548 OTTO-48, was used in the final line of Ensoniq studio products (ASR-X, FIZMO). Ensoniq also developed an effects DSP, ES5510 ESP, that
608-744: The Proteus 2500 module – the E-Mu/Ensoniq division was dissolved and support for legacy products was discontinued soon afterward. Ensoniq entered the instrument market with the Mirage sampling keyboard in 1985. At the price of USD$ 1695 it cost significantly less than previous samplers such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-MU Emulator . Starting with the ESQ-1 , they began producing sample-based synthesizers . Following
646-593: The Record 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), as well as KS-32 with full 76-keys weighted piano-keyboard. Later versions were produced with 32 sound-generating voices. The company's heyday
684-474: The VFX synthesizer, high-quality effects units were included, in addition most synthesizer and all sampler models featured disk drives and/or RAM 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 Dixie Dregs in a limited edition promotional CD Off
722-517: The classical guitar, is polyphonic, as are various guitar derivatives (including the harpejji and the Chapman stick ). Multiphonics can be used with many regular wind instruments to produce two or more notes at once, although this is considered an extended technique . Explicitly polyphonic wind instruments are relatively rare, but do exist. The standard harmonica can easily produce several notes at once. Multichambered ocarinas are manufactured in
760-458: The full-custom ICs for music and effects which were developed in house. While the core keyboard products were generally successful, there were some quality problems and increasing competition from Asian companies. An attempt to diversify into hearing aids was unsuccessful and put the company in financial peril. In the mid-nineties, they developed a line of very cost-effective sound cards which sold millions of units. In January 1998, ENSONIQ Corp.
798-557: The keys that share a single string, only one may sound at a time. The electric piano and clavinet rely on the same principles to achieve polyphonic operation. An electric piano has a separate hammer, vibrating metal tine and electrical pickup for each key. With a few exceptions, electric organs consist of two parts: an audio-generating system and a mixing system. The audio-generating system may be electronic (consisting of oscillators and octave dividers) or it may be electromechanical (consisting of tonewheels and pickups), and it sends
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#1732863261671836-534: The late MS-DOS era supported the Ensoniq Soundscape either directly or through General MIDI . In addition, Ensoniq devised an ISA software audio emulation solution for their new PCI sound cards that was compatible with most contemporary IBM PC games. It is speculated that this was an important factor in Creative Lab's acquisition of Ensoniq, because Creative/E-MU was struggling with legacy compatibility at
874-442: The left and the right hand - depending on music style and composition, these may be musically tightly interrelated or may even be totally unrelated to each other, like in parts of Jazz music. An example for monophonic instruments is a trumpet which can generate only one tone (frequency) at a time, except when played by extraordinary musicians. A monophonic synthesizer or monosynth is a synthesizer that produces only one note at
912-480: The lowest- and highest-note will be heard. When only one key is pressed, both oscillators are assigned to one note, possibly with a more complex sound. Paraphonic synthesizers, such as the Solina String Ensemble or Korg Poly-800 , were designed to play multiple pitches at the same time by using multiple oscillators, but with a common filter and/or amplifier circuit shared among all the voices. The result
950-407: The maximum number of notes is already sounding when an additional key is pressed. There are several ways to implement this: Modern synthesizers and samplers may use additional, multiple, or user-configurable criteria to decide which notes sound. Almost all classical keyboard instruments are polyphonic. Examples include the piano , harpsichord , organ and clavichord . These instruments feature
988-530: The mid and late '90s. In 1986, after making an agreement with Apple Computer , the same ES5503 DOC (Digital Oscillator Chip, marketed as "Q-Chip") used in the Mirage sampler (DSK-8, DSK-1, DMS-1), ESQ-1, ESQ-M and SQ-80 synthesizers, and SDP-1 piano module, was incorporated into the Apple II GS personal computer. Later engines, with 16-bit sample playback and internal digital filters, were ES5504 DOC-II (used in
1026-583: The multiple synthesizers. One of the most popular polyphonic synth featuring patch memories, also used E-mu's technology. One notable early polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 5 released in 1978, had five-voice polyphony. Another notable polyphonic synth, the Yamaha CS-80 released in 1976, had eight-voice polyphony, as did the Yamaha GX-1 with total 18 voice polyphony, released in 1973. Six-voice polyphony
1064-505: The new company, claiming that it owned the keyboard project. Renaming itself as Ensoniq, the new company instead designed a music synthesizer. Ensoniq grew rapidly over the next few years with the success of the Mirage and the ESQ-1. The plant in Great Valley, Pennsylvania employed nearly 200 people and housed the manufacturing facility. A number of successful products followed which all included
1102-408: The sound, often with a keyboard to trigger the oscillators. However, multiple oscillators working independently are a considerable challenge to implement. To double the polyphony, not only must the number of oscillators be doubled but the electronics must also function as a switch connecting keys to free oscillators instantaneously, implementing an algorithm that decides which notes are turned off if
1140-647: The success of these products, Ensoniq established a subsidiary in Japan 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 samplers ) providing an all-in-one "digital studio production concept" instrument. These were often called "Music Workstations". Starting with
1178-495: The time with their higher-performance PCI audio solutions. MOS Technology Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 440135456 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 06:54:21 GMT Polyphony (instrument) Polyphony
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1216-421: The violin family of instruments are misleadingly considered (when bowing) by general untrained musicians to be primarily monophonic, it can be polyphony by both pizzicato (plucking) and bowing techniques for standard trained soloists and orchestra players. The evidence can be seen in compositions since the 17th century such as Bach sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied solo violin . The electric guitar, just like
1254-666: Was acquired by Creative Technology Ltd. for $ 77 million. The acquisition was focused on the sound-card technology of the Ensoniq Audio-PCI. The musical products division, which was in financial trouble, was merged with E-mu Systems to form the E-Mu/Ensoniq division of Creative. Over the next three years the Ensoniq operation in Pennsylvania was gradually dismantled and shut down. After releasing an entry-level E-mu MK6/PK6 and Ensoniq Halo keyboards in 2002 – essentially keyboard versions of
1292-606: 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 polyphony , effects engine, sample-loading capabilities and even better synth and acoustic sounds. The DP series of effects rack-mount units offered parallel processing and reverb presets on
1330-401: Was standard by the mid-1980s. With the advent of digital synthesizers , 16-voice polyphony became standard by the late 1980s. 64-voice polyphony was common by the mid-1990s and 128-note polyphony arrived shortly after. There are several reasons for providing such large numbers of simultaneous notes: Synthesizers generally use oscillators to generate the electric signal that forms the basis of
1368-489: Was used in the machines from VFX on and the standalone FX units DP/2 and DP/4. OTTO-48 generation uses its greatly enhanced successor, ES5511 ESP V2. A combination of OTTO and ESP, ES5540 OTTOFX, was also developed and sold. The Ensoniq ES5505 OTIS/OTISR2, and ES5510 ESP (Ensoniq Signal Processor) were also used in various arcade games . They were all manufactured on the CMOS process. OTTO was licensed to Advanced Gravis for use in
1406-483: Was used to assign the limited 8-voices per manual into the notes. It was succeeded by the portable Yamaha CS-80 (1976), which was successful and became one of the most popular polyphonic analog synths. In 1974, E-mu developed the polyphonic technologies, and in 1977, released the 4060 Polyphonic Keyboard and Sequencer. It was developed under the collaboration with E-mu Systems. LEO used Armand Pascetta's polyphonic keyboard ( c. 1975 ) to control
1444-676: Was used. Polyphonic ensemble keyboard consists with one synth per key (totally 60 synthesizers), based on octave divider Patchable polyphonic synthesizer consists with three synths per key (totally 144 synthesizers), based on octave divider. In the early-to-mid-1970s, the voice allocation technology with digital keyboard scanning was independently developed by several engineers and musical instrument manufacturers, including Yamaha , E-mu Systems , and Armand Pascetta (Electro Group). The Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer and Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 were both developed in collaboration with E-mu Systems. Voice allocation technology
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