Ensoniq Mirage DSK-8

The Ensoniq Mirage was one of the first affordable samplers which first came out on the market in 1984. It is an 8 bit sampling engine and can hold 128kb of memory, 10 kHz to 33 kHz with up to 6.5 seconds of sampling time a 10 kHz. It has 8 voices, each of which each flow through the 8 resonant VCFs via the CEM3328 chip. Our unit is the model DSK-8 mk II keyboard with a Gotek floppy drive emulator with FlashFloppy firmware and 373 floppy disk images including the original Ensoniq sound library along with 8 Soundprocess banks. We can read and load real Mirage floppy disks images into this unit if you require it. The Ensoniq Mirage has been used in famous recordings by artists like Cocteau Twins, Men Without Hats, Prince, Jam and Lewis, Dead Can Dance, Stacy Q, Skinny Puppy, Slick Rick, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, The Cure, Emerald Web, Thomas Dolby, Big Audio Dynamite and in film scores by composer Chuck Cirino for the films Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Chopping Mall and by composer Paul Hertzog in the films Bloodsport and Kickboxer. Watch a demo here or here.
Image
Type of unit
Sampler
Brand/Make
Ensoniq
Synthesis Technology
Sample Playback with Analog Filters
External control
MIDI
Parts Capability
Monotimbral (1 Part)
Polyphony
8
Patch memory
digitally stored
Decade of creation
1980s