Ensoniq
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| Corporation | |
| Industry | Musical Instruments and Technology |
| Fate | acquired by Creative Technology (January 1998) |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Malvern, Pennsylvania |
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Key people
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Bruce Crockett, Al Charpentier, and Bob Yannes (founders) |
| Website | www |
Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally samplers and synthesizers.
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 the new company, claiming that it owned the keyboard project. Renaming itself as Ensoniq, the new company instead designed a music synthesizer.
In January 1998, ENSONIQ Corp. was acquired by Creative Technology Ltd. for $77 million, and merged with E-mu Systems to form the E-Mu/Ensoniq division. The fusion with E-mu sealed Ensoniq's fate. After releasing an entry-level E-mu MK6/PK6 and Ensoniq Halo keyboards in 2002 - essentially keyboard versions of 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$1500 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 the success of these products, Ensoniq established a subsidiary in Japan in 1987.
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